The “Born Too Late” Club
“I was born too late” is a common sentiment in the railfan community. These 3 images from Dallas Union Terminal drove the point home to me because some of my first railfan “trips” consisted of 12 year-old me riding a city bus to downtown Dallas and wandering around the, by 1971, lonely platforms.
These images (photographers unknown) from my collection aren’t dated, but context clues suggest they are from the early 1960’s meaning I was born 10 years too late.
Dallas Union Terminal 0-6-0 #7 worked until the the early 60’s at which point it was donated to the Age of Steam Museum at Fair Park in Dallas. It was It’s now under the auspices of the Museum of the American Railroad at Frisco.
ATSF E8A 87 parked at east end of the platform. Did the E’s work the Dallas section of the Texas Chief?
My favorite image is SSW 1004, a 9/43-built Baldwin VO1000, passing the east end of the platforms. It was retired in 1963. A fair amount of SSW VO1000’s were sold to the Georgetown and Texas-Southeastern railroads but 1004 was not. I can’t find a disposition for this unit. Any info you might have would be appreciated.
Southwest Rails 
There has always been a “too late” sentiment from RR fans, including myself. The rails themselves seem to be timeless and all our families used the trains in times past. At one time working for the RR was a real goal and came with much accolade – not in 40 years! I, myself, have those memories after having a grandfather who worked for the B&O in the 20s and 30s. After that we got to ride on family passes – who can forget that?
The next generation got to mourn common names: MKT, SP, T&P, Cotton Belt and more. These names were connected to where we live…”Union Pacific” appeals to no one, no patch of ground, no name place.
However, we are making the memories for tomorrow and our children will remark on “how things used to be”.
Well said!