Welcome to Texas...
So, to be clear, this was absolutely NOT the shot I wanted. In fact, when laying out my plans for each day, there were a few "must haves" on my list each of those days. Making the entrance into Texas crossing the iconic Red River was *definitely* on that list today. But, after the virtual bending over that was the traffic and construction situation in Durant, OK, I arrived with nowhere near enough time to get out on and prep for a shot from the paralleling US 69/75 crossing - and I would have needed to do a double back to boot.
So, moving not even a mile down track, this option for the tracks flying over US 69 as it cuts south and east away from both US 75 and the MKT line seemed like a decent consolation. Except...in order to get the shot I wanted meant standing out on the freshly spread asphalt with the midday sun beating down. Did I mention that the defect detector that I had recently heard on the scanner as part of its report out stated, "...temperatutre...1-0-5 degrees..." ?
After standing out there as long as I could, I took a quick respite from the sun and heat in the nearby shade. I thought that I would have a bit of warning/would hear the approach since I figured there'd be a heck of a racket of whistles and such as the train crossed over the Red River bridge, what with about (seemingly) half the county's population in, on, around, under, and about the tracks there. NOPE! The train snuck up without so much as a peep and I jumped out as much as I could to snap this (less than ideal) still...and had no chance at getting the video started.
Yep, that "good ol'" usual luck for me was certainly back with a vengence.
-Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4014
-UP (ex-MKT) Choctaw Sub, near MP U658
-Crossing US 69, Denison, TX
-August 13, 2021
TT1_2861_edited-1
Welcome to Texas...
So, to be clear, this was absolutely NOT the shot I wanted. In fact, when laying out my plans for each day, there were a few "must haves" on my list each of those days. Making the entrance into Texas crossing the iconic Red River was *definitely* on that list today. But, after the virtual bending over that was the traffic and construction situation in Durant, OK, I arrived with nowhere near enough time to get out on and prep for a shot from the paralleling US 69/75 crossing - and I would have needed to do a double back to boot.
So, moving not even a mile down track, this option for the tracks flying over US 69 as it cuts south and east away from both US 75 and the MKT line seemed like a decent consolation. Except...in order to get the shot I wanted meant standing out on the freshly spread asphalt with the midday sun beating down. Did I mention that the defect detector that I had recently heard on the scanner as part of its report out stated, "...temperatutre...1-0-5 degrees..." ?
After standing out there as long as I could, I took a quick respite from the sun and heat in the nearby shade. I thought that I would have a bit of warning/would hear the approach since I figured there'd be a heck of a racket of whistles and such as the train crossed over the Red River bridge, what with about (seemingly) half the county's population in, on, around, under, and about the tracks there. NOPE! The train snuck up without so much as a peep and I jumped out as much as I could to snap this (less than ideal) still...and had no chance at getting the video started.
Yep, that "good ol'" usual luck for me was certainly back with a vengence.
-Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4014
-UP (ex-MKT) Choctaw Sub, near MP U658
-Crossing US 69, Denison, TX
-August 13, 2021
TT1_2861_edited-1