The Brownsille Turn – Pic of the Day
February 25, 2010
Two MP GP18's are westbound through San Benito, TX on March 13, 1980
The MP used to run a local from Harlingen, its primary yard in the Rio Grande Valley, to Brownsville, about 25 miles southeast. It typically would do its work en route to Brownsville and deliver whatever cars were needed at the Brownsville Yard. Once their work was done at Brownsville, the crew would run around their train and return to Harlingen.
It seems that the Harlingen hostler didn’t set up the engines back to back, so the local’s crew has the pleasure of running long hood forward.
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Southwest Rails 
Ah, San Benito … I was just there photographing ……… a LARGE steam engine …. !! I wonder if the old MP-era station sign is still there? While looking out the passenger car dutch door on the same train’s trip from Houston to Hearne, I noticed the Magnolia station sign is still there … just a little more worn.
That’s one of the few jobs I never worked on the Brownie. I worked some yard jobs in Harlingen, the Mission TSE, and the Harlingen Turn from Kingsville, but never the Brownsville Turn. While I never “worked” in Brownsville, I trained on all the jobs there, including the transfer job into Mexico and back.