Easily Overlooked…

I got out to chase the SP Heritage unit, UP 1996, as it came into Houston about 4 weeks ago. Once the pursuit was over, I came across a two other trains on my way home. I meant to post them shortly after my post on the UP 1996, but I forgot about them. The 2 trains are quite unremarkable, which is probably why I forgot about them.

UP intermodal ILBNO waiting for its outbound crew at Englewood Yard, March 29, 2010

UP symbol ILBNO denotes Intermodal Long Beach, CA – New Orleans, LA. The Englewood bowl yard extends across the majority of the background, with the Houston skyline in the distance.

200mm lens perspective of the ILBNO from the Wayside Ave overpass

After shooting the ILBNO, I came across a manifest moving south on the West Belt sub. I set up near just north of Cullen for the shot of UP 9701 South, the MHOFP train, (Manifest Houston – Freeport, TX) which is mostly empty tanks for Dow Chemical.

UP 9701 passing CP H237 on the West Belt sub in Houston on March, 29, 2010

Today, these trains are quite forgettable because they’re  so unremarkable.  Yet the unremarkable train of today is the OMG! train of tomorrow.

The moral of the story? Get them while you can….