Out & About – October 4, 2012

The beginning of October is one of my favorite times of the year. The worst of the summer heat is over and the sun is low enough in the sky to allow photography all day. As such, it didn’t take much for me to get out of the house on Thursday, October 4, 2012, as soon as I heard the Glidden sub DS tell KCS 4612 that he would see 2 westbounds at Sugar Land.

My first stop was “Prison Road” crossing, near MP 26 of the Glidden Sub. About a mile west of the east switch of Sugar Land, it’s the designated parking place for eastbounds so they don’t block crossings. Upon arrival, I was able to get a shot of the 4612, in the company of a gray KCS SD70ACe, patiently holding its intermodal train.

The first well car had an interesting pair of 53′ containers.

Next up would be the two westbounds as promised by the DS, but it was still too early to have decent light for a westbound here. After a bit of deliberation, I moved east about 1.5 miles to Oyster Creek. The sun hasn’t come around here either. My final answer was a wide-angle wedgie hoping to make the best of a backlit situation.  After a 10 minute wait, the IAVLB-3  (Intermodal Avondale – Long Beach) train came into view.

Since the light at Oyster Creek wasn’t all that, so I headed back to Prison Road crossing with a new plan. Even if the light for the westbound wasn’t that good, maybe I could get a shot of the it meeting the KCS 4612 at the east end of Sugar Land siding.

Shortly after setting up, UP 6712 leading  the MEWEG-04 (Englewood – Eagle Pass) came into view. Had I known an ex-C&NW patch unit was the leader, I would have opted for a more broadside view. Hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it?

As the MEWEG was passing by me, the DS called KCS 4612 to advise “I’m ready for you at the east end of Sugar Land.” As soon as the MEWEG cleared, the eastbound KCS was already on the move.

Wanting better nose light on the KCS 4612, I headed about 4 miles east to the Dulles Avenue grade crossing where the track turns into the sun a bit just enough to fix the nose light issue.

The KCS local was right behind the 4612, so I stayed put to capture it. I chose to mix it up a bit, shooting from the other side the track.

The DS advised the two foremen working the Form B’s related to the Heacker-Missouri City  double-tracking project that there wouldn’t be any traffic for a few hours.

No trains? No problem. I’ve been wanting to catch up with the double-tracking work anyway, so I headed east. That will be the topic of my next post…