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| Railfanning Saginaw, TX, part 1 of 2 (1284086) | |||
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Railfanning Saginaw, TX, part 1 of 2 |
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Posted by Dave on Sun Apr 6 01:01:33 2014 Friday was a terrible weather day but that didn't stop my friend Ken and I from heading up to Saginaw, about 8 miles north of downtown Ft. Worth, to take some pictures. Along the way we stopped off to snap a few photos before we arrived at the interlocking. At Saginaw we met Steve, a friend of Ken's who is a dispatcher on the BNSF and a former engineer.Three main lines run through Saginaw. The two main tracks of BNSF's Wichita Falls Subdivision (the former Fort Worth & Denver main line to Amarillo) run through town from southeast to northwest. BNSF's Fort Worth Subdivision (former Santa Fe) from Gainesville to Temple runs through Saginaw from north to south. And Union Pacific's Duncan Subdivision (the former Rock Island line from Wichita KS) approaches town from the northwest, running parallel to the BNSF Wichita Falls Subdivision for several miles south from Hicks Airport. At Saginaw Interlocking, the UP line curves to the south to parallel the BNSF Ft. Worth Sub toward downtown Ft. Worth. Traffic on the BNSF lines consists primarily of coal, grain, mixed freight, and intermodal. Many trains stop at the Saginaw Yard office to change crews. Other trains operate via the former BN North Yard and change crews there. Also appearing on BNSF's Fort Worth Sub are Amtrak's daily Heartland Flyer trains, which operate between Oklahoma City and Ft. Worth. Additionally, UP trackage rights trains operate over both BNSF lines. UP's own line, the Duncan Subdivision, hosts mixed freight, grain, and rock traffic. Here is a map of Saginaw interlocking and the yard:  A couple of miles south of Saginaw Yard are three bridges, one for each main line. Ken heard on the scanner that the Heartland Flyer was heading our way so we pulled off the road and trotted between the bridges to grab some photos:   Not five minutes after the Flyer passed we heard a Forth Worth & Western job was the way on the adjacent line. We see GP38-2 #2007 on the point followed by GP50 #2012:    From here we drove up to Saginaw, passing a number of older engines on the dead line still wearing Sante Fe's classic yellow and blue paint scheme. But those pictures are for another day. We passed three trains on the ready track, one southbound and two northbound. We positioned ourselves by the former SP depot that was moved to Saginaw about 10 years ago. After waiting a bit one of the northbound trains for Oklahoma left the yard and headed our way. BNSF Dash 9-44CW #4740 was on the point followed by sisters #4135 and #4839 hauling a solid train of grain cars. In the photo, note the remains of the old cantilever signal tower behind the new signal gantry:   About 20 minutes later the scanner came to life and we heard the UP dispatcher clear a southbound rock train to enter the interlocking and head down to Tower 55. UP ES44AC #7796 did the honors and stuck her nose out from behind the depot, followed by two more units, the first a repainted SP AC4400CW #6627 and then UP AC4400CW #6431:   More photos tomorrow! |
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