South of Kyle, Texas, Amtrak's Train N0. 21, the southbound Texas Eagle glides over the Blanco River bridge at 7:55 pm on June 2nd, 2019.
SD40Ns 1842 and 1679 roll the southbound LAF-28 local across the Blanco River bridge just south of Kyle, Texas at 2:10 on October 22nd, 2019.
We're at MP196 on the Austin Sub in Mountain City, Texas as SD40Ns 1679 & 1842 switch the north end of the massive Texas Lehigh Cement plant at 11:35 on October 22nd, 2019.
Rainy day at Hunter.
8440 rolls northbound tonnage up Main Track 1 and across FM 1102 at 12:36 on November 7th, 2019.
The railroad never sleeps, and it doesn't take off on Sundays. It's 11:45 on the gorgeous morning of October 27th, 2019 as the comfortably overpowered southbound LAF-28 local drifts into Hunter, Texas on Main Track 2 with empties for set-out at the huge Martin-Marietta cement plant. SD40Ns 1842 and 1679 have things well in hand.
At 2:11 on the gray afternoon of October 24th, 2019 SD40Ns 1842 & 1679 lead the 57 loads and empties of the southbound LAF-28 local around the curve at Centex siding and into San Marcos, Texas.
It's 11:34 on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019 and we're setting them out with the LAF-28 local at Texas Lehigh Cement in Mountain City, Texas. After shoving a cut of loaded railroad-owned 4-bay coal hoppers onto the unloading track, the engineer in SD40N 1679 pulls forward with a cut of empty cement hoppers as the conductor rides shotgun in the 4-wheel gator. They'll pull forward clear of the switch and then shove the cars into the loading bay under the massive silo to the right.
SD4oNs 1842 & 1679 march southbound through Kyle, Texas with the LAF-28 local at 1:42 on a spectacular October 22nd, 2019 afternoon.
Roll-by at Kyle.
At 10:22 on 10/22/19, Amtrak train No.22 rolls down the main and past the LAF-28 local waiting in the siding at Kyle, Texas.
Just south of Kyle, Texas, SD40Ns 1842 and 1795 have the twenty-some-odd loads and empties of the LAF-28 local on the drawbar as they roll southbound over the Blanco River at 1:09 on September 23rd, 2019.
With Main Track 1 in the foreground, SD40Ns 1795 and 1842 roll the twenty-some-odd cars of the LAF-28 local north up Main Track 2 and across Centerpoint Road. They've been working the Martin Marietta cement complex down at Hunter and now, at 3:42 on October 2nd, 2019 they are about a quarter mile from tying down at Jama yard in San Marcos.
With Post Road cutting through the foreground, 7517 and 6298 lead boxcar tonnage north across the Blanco River at 12:50 on September 23rd, 2019.
After a long day of switching-out the on-line customers in Mountain City, SD40Ns 1842 and 1795 lead the 25 loads and empties of the LEF-28 local south near MP201.25 on Union Pacific's Austin Subdivision in Kyle, Texas at 3:58 on September 24th, 2019.
It's near 100 degrees in San Marcos, TX at 1:47 on the gorgeous late-summer afternoon of September 9th, 2019 and the photographer is fully immersed in the cool 72-degree waters of the San Marcos River as he makes this water level portrait along Main Track 2 of Union Pacific's Austin Subdivision. Trackage-rights tenant BNSF is bringing a long 6-engine freight off of the Lockhart Sub and heading south towards San Antonio.
It's 12:25 on August 22nd, 2019 as SD40Ns 1842 and 1714 bring the LEF28 local into San Marcos, Texas, rolling past Bobcat Stadium and across Charles Austin Street at MP208.85 on Main Track 1 of Union Pacific's Austin Subdivision. They've got a 20-car mix of loads and empties on the drawbar which they will set out in the tiny yard at Jama, just south of town near MP212.
Amtrak's Train No.22, the northbound Texas Eagle soars over the Blanco River at 8:49 on the spectacular morning of September 3rd, 2019 as it rolls up Union Pacific's Austin Subdivision between San Marcos and Kyle, Texas.
Years have passed since we foolishly scoffed at their sheer numbers and at the ho-hum nature of their parade on the high iron. Now we pine for the days, longing for a glimpse of nostalgia as surely as 1959 cried out for a Big Boy at Hermosa.
The once-ubiquitous has become secretive, elusive.
They are the reclusive goats, toiling away in branchline and local service, and shepherding their charges up and down the ladder tracks. And those curvaceous HT-C trucks are still the sexiest thing on rails, casting scoff at the figureless radial which surely lacks the necessary form to properly display summer beach attire.
They are hard to find, yet Union Pacific still rosters a large fleet of the Greatest Of All Time diesels:
Electro-Motive Division’s SD40-2.
Rebuilt and upgraded into SD40Ns at the Jenks complex in North Little Rock, their numbers fill the slots from UP 1550 to UP 2049.
Here, 43-year old 1714, built in July of 1976 as number 3510, and April 1973-graduate 3213 renumbered as 1842, roll north on the Austin Subdivision near MP201 at Kyle, Texas.
It’s 9:06 am on August 22nd, 2019 and the good-looking units have two cars of lumber for a customer up in Mountain City, which they will switch out for a mix of two-bay loads of cement powder and empty open hoppers and return south to their home in the small yard at Jama, south of San Marcos.
Rick Malo©2019
At 10:57 on August 22nd, 2019, AC4400CWs 6850 and 6565 roll a long string of coal empties up out of the Blanco River valley as they head north at MP201.25 on the Austin Subdivision near Kyle, Texas.
Water revelers hardly notice as C44ACCTE 5978 and FerroMex SD70ACe 4029 rumble across the San Marcos river on Main Track 1 of Union Pacific's Austin Sub with northbound merchandise at 5:11 on the afternoon of August 19th, 2019.
"In a world that knows no troubled waters, and Krispy Kreme donuts float to every shore on placid flows crossed by bridges with trains a-plenty..."---Don LaFontaine. ES44C4 8219 and C44-9W 5068 lead a southbound BNSF unit ethanol train coming off the Lockhart Sub as it glides across the San Marcos river at 2:00 pm sharp as the sun plays hide-and-seek in the skies over San Marcos, Texas on August, 19th, 2019.
"Twilight Eagle." We're in San Marcos, Texas as Amtrak's No. 21, the Southbound Texas Eagle led by Heritage unit No. 822, slides across the San Marcos River at 8:10 om on August 14th, 2019
"Highball the roll-by!" Amtrak's southbound Texas Eagle slams past a waiting northbound empty unit frac sand train at MP200.75 in Kyle, Texas at 7:21 pm on August 16th, 2019.
Union Pacific's M-K-T "Katy" Heritage unit, SD70ACe No. 1988 rolls northbound tonnage at track speed through Kyle, Texas near MP201 at 5:27 pm on August 6th, 2019.
Miss Katy rolls northbound tonnage into Kyle, Texas near MP201.25 at 4:39 pm on July 19th, 2019.
7962 and siblings roll a heavy northbound rock train across the Blanco River bridge at 1:58 pm on August 3rd, 2019.
Amtrak's Train No. 22, the daily northbound Texas Eagle rolls into Kyle, Texas near MP201.25 at 9:01 am on July 31st, 2019.
At 7:24 pm on July 29th, 2019 a late-running southbound Texas Eagle slides down the main while a freight rolls north through the siding at MP201 in Kyle, Texas
Perfectly Articulated.
Sunset near MP222, May 17th, 2019.
Children of the corn. BNSF units in the Goodwin siding near MP222, north of New Braunfels, TX, May 17th, 2019
In anticipation of the scheduled 7:12 pm station stop of the southbound Texas Eagle, the dispatcher has held a northbound double-stack train on Main Track 2 in Hunter, Texas at 6:50 pm on May 17th, 2019.