Mockingbird yard

On Friday I made a visit to Dallas Garland & Northeastern's Mockingbird yard in Dallas. This was the first chance I'd gotten to shoot one of the SW1504s. Produced by EMD for export to Mexico, a handful of these bulky switchers have recently made their way back to US soil. Three of these units, now owned by Helm Leasing, are currently in service on the DGNO.

A typical view of west Dallas / east Irving: warehouses, chain link fences, and trains. CEFX 2575 idles at Mockingbird yard on Friday, Feb 8.

HLCX 1524 switches at DGNO's Mockingbird yard.

HLCX 1524 (SW1504) at Mockingbird yard.

DGNO 3800 at Mockingbird yard

Colossus greeting

WSC

np: Jim Lauderdale / Ralph Stanley - "Boat of love"

hither and yon

Go back to school

The kids went back to school last week, so I had a chance to get out and take a few pictures. I chased a BNSF genset from Alliance to Saginaw on Tuesday, and went over to Carrollton on Wednesday to track down a pair of Gensets on the Dallas Garland & Northeastern.

M's first day of First Grade

BNSF Genset 1228 leads a southbound yard transfer out of Alliance on August 28, 2007

BNSF 2196 on a yard transfer at Saginaw on August 28.

Roadrailers and Schneider truck near Alliance Airport

Gensets on the Dallas Garland & Northeastern at Carrollton, TX. August 29, 2007.

Switching boxcars on the DGNO at Carrollton. August 29.

L's school starts at 0745 this year! That means we have to leave the house by about 0725, about an hour earlier than we were leaving last year. After I get home from work each night at 2300, I have just enough time to watch "King of the Hill" before I have to go sleep. After the kids went to school on Monday, I was so tired that I laid back down and took a nap! Come to think of it, I did that on Thursday as well.

K's sisters arrived in town on Friday to celebrate the Labor Day weekend and K's mom's birthday. We decided to spend most of Saturday at Six Flags... (M's second time this summer and L's fourth). I managed to get a few rides in before I had to leave for work.

L enjoys the swings during another visit to Six Flags

front-seat view on the Judge Roy Scream


M enjoys a ride at Six Flags

Football season is upon us

Aaah yes, it's time to start spending Saturday mornings laying in bed as long as I can get away with, watching College GameDay and waiting for the early games to start. There's not much at the professional level of sports that can capture the excitement and energy of a crowd of college students, alumni, and other football fans hamming it up for ESPN's tv cameras, eagerly awaiting the kickoff of a big game. Top it off with witty banter from the likes of Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, and you've got some quality Saturday morning entertainment. I don't get to watch many of the games (due to my work schedule), but at least I've got that.

I somehow doubt that College GameDay will be coming to the SMU campus anytime soon, but that's where K and I will be on Monday as we root for the Mustangs in their season opener against Texas Tech. And if things don't work out for the Mustangs, at least I'll have the Cowboys opener to look forward to on September 9 against the Giants.

By the way, did you see what happened to Michigan on Saturday, losing to I-AA Appalachian State? You gotta like your national championship hopes being over with by the first of September -- OUCH! I've never cared much for Michigan; Mom and Dad both attended Ohio State, so I'm kind of locked in to being a Buckeye fan, insofar as Big Ten athletics are concerened. September 1st would have been my dad's 68th birthday (he passed away in 2003). It's hard to think of a birthday present he would have enjoyed more than seeing Michigan lose to a I-AA school! If the sports bars in Heaven were carrying the game on their big screens, he was probably there, buying a round of Wild Turkey shots for all the Ohio State alums. Happy birthday, Dad.

WSC

np: SportsCenter

nr: Ayn Rand - the Fountainhead