Monday, December 15, 2008

heading home

Saturday, November 8...

Before we started back toward north Texas, I spent a few hours along the former Texas & Pacific main line (now the UP Toyah Subdivision) in far west Texas between Van Horn and Sierra Blanca. The temperature was in the low 20s, and the dispatcher was having lots of trouble with frozen switches and broken rails. Lots of trains were nearby, but the cold weather trouble was slowing them down. Still, I managed to catch a few... it's always an enjoyable experience to shoot a few photos along the tracks in one of my favorite parts of the state.

Westbound MFWEP rolls downgrade approaching Allamore, Texas. The train has just crested the summit of the hill at Crusher -- the highest elevation on the former T&P.

MFWEP west of Eagle Flat.

MFWEP holds the siding at Sierra Blanca to meet an eastbound.

Eastbound stacks at Sierra Blanca, TX.

A meet at Eagle Flat

Racing through Allamore.


After a late breakfast in Van Horn, we started for home. Miss C was in a hurry to get back to see her boy, so our stops were limited, and we made the most of the 80 mph speed limit on I-10 and I-20 west of Odessa...

We did make one stop in Toyah to document the dismantling of the town's landmark steam-era water tower. Wonder where that tank is headed?

The first time I've ever driven 80 mph (legally). I believe the speed limit was still 75 when I was out there a couple years ago...


Miss C was behind the wheel for the home stretch as we overtook an 18-wheeler on I-20...

And that concludes our adventure. Let's see, our trip lasted a week, but it has taken me THREE WEEKS to post enough blog reports and photos to do it justice. And it's been over 5 weeks since we got back. Amazingly, this was only the FIRST HALF of my two-week vacation! Stay tuned for a look at what I did during that second week.

WSC

np: KTCK 1310 "the Ticket" post-game analysis on last night's Cowboys win over the Giants

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2 Comments:

Blogger Martin Burwash said...

Great report on the road trip, Wes. I'd say I wished I could have come along, but hey, we all know about the two's company three's a crowd gig!

Martin

11:40 PM  
Blogger Bayou said...

At this rate, we will see Christmas pictures around Easter.

Have a Merry Christmas.

4:10 PM  

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