03/07/23

DAY 1 - 02/24/23

On Friday, February 24th, my father and I set out from my house in Austin. The goal for the weekend was to pick up three of my friends, The Texas Railfan, Carter H, and State of Texas Railfan and spend the weekend railfanning in Houston. While this was originally scheduled earlier in the month as a birthday celebration of mine, various delays culminated in the trip taking place over three weeks late. In the end, though, everything worked out well and the trip ended up exceeding all of our expectations. 

We picked up The Texas Railfan and State of Texas Railfan in Elgin, before immediately pressing on toward Houston to pick up Carter H further down the road. Alas, we only made it to West Point before a check of the southbound signals on the Giddings Subdivision revealed a train lined through. This turned out to be a southbound loaded coal train bound for the Calaveras Power Station near San Antonio. Moments later, we heard another horn coming south on the Giddings, leading us to check the northward-facing signals again. Sure enough, a train had been lined onto the Smithville Subdivision westbound. After just a few minutes, a southbound sand train came through. We left immediately after, needing to pick up Carter and already being late in doing so.

Further railfanning opportunities were scarce the rest of the way to Houston, so, as such, we didn't make any more stops before arriving at the hotel. 

DAY 2 - 02/25/23

After a night of minimal sleep, certainly not helped by the fact that the hotel fire alarm went off at 4 o'clock and that the room came with a coffee maker, we did our best to muster and leave early. From the hotel on the northwest side of Houston, the first location was Eureka Junction. Here, the Houston Terminal Subdivision and Eureka Subdivisions split. The junction retains several classic searchlight signals, which appeared threatened with replacement according to Google Street View imagery showing new track panels laying nearby. Alas, they were still standing when the five of us rolled up. Sure enough, a clear indication for a westbound on Track 1 was present. After setting up, we caught the westbound, a rock train bound for my neck of the woods, knocking the Southern Pacific classics to red. 

Our next stop was Tower 26, one of the main junctions in Houston. Our trip would largely be centered around this junction due to the traffic and proximity to the hotel. A westbound mixed freight was blocking the diamonds upon arriving, a hallmark of prescision scheduled railroading at its worst. After some time, the train began to move, taking 15 minutes to clear the diamond completely. The train had one unit on the head end, with one unit in the middle and another on the tail for distributed power. I estimate that train to have been nearly three miles long. Not long after, a southbound mixed freight crossed on the West Belt Subdivision with a rather enthusiastic conductor waving to all of us. Not long after, another mixed freight came northbound across the diamonds, also on the West Belt.

With several southbounds destined for the Houston Terminal spotted on the ATCS Monitor, we decided to move south to Sampson Street. Sampson Street is a spot on the West Belt Subdivision that has gained notoriety after the YouTube channel LIVE Trains launched a series of web cameras there. Also of significant note are the absolutely classic searchlight signals guarding the strange layout of turnouts in the area. These signals were purportedly installed by the Houston Belt and Terminal railroad. In this day and age, I would wager these as being some of the most classic signal installations in the state of Texas. As far as I know, the last operational dwarf searchlight signal in operation in Texas is located here. We would catch a total of three trains in the vicinity of Sampson Street, all southbounds. The first was a BNSF rock train with a Fakebonnet trailing. The two others were Union Pacific mixed freights, one of which stayed on the West Belt while another turned off onto the nearby Galveston Subdivision, surprising all of us. 

Sadly, the searchlight signals standing guard over Sampson Street are not long for this world. Our visit revealed new foundations for both wayside signals and crossing signals located throughout the area. Union Pacific appears to be planning a major modernization of this area, so the time is NOW to shoot these signals.

The five of us moved up to the trestle over Buffalo Bayou upon seeing another northbound lined through the area. This made for a rather scenic shot to begin with, which was only made better when a southbound train came into view. The northbound was a BNSF train with empty military flatcars, while the southbound was yet another Union Pacific mixed freight. We took a little while to pack up and leave Buffalo Bayou, which gave a northbound BNSF mixed freight the opportunity to jumpscare us. I got my video camera rolling handheld in the nick of time, so no photos of that one.

Back at Tower 26, an eastbound Union Pacific mixed freight appeared off the Houston Terminal, which promptly turned north, leading us to give chase to the Cavalcade Street grade crossing. We barely made it, no thanks to a preposterous set of traffic signals which gave a 20-second green light to nonexistent bikes in a new bicycle lane. This train had an EMD SD70M leader, a once-common sight which is becoming ever more rare with Union Pacific scrapping, selling, and storing many of theirs. We relocated north toward Belt Junction in time to catch a northbound BNSF oil train taking the southeast wye from the West Belt to the East Belt. 

With daylight running out, we stayed put at Belt Junction in order to catch two more trains lined through on ATCS. The first was a northbound mixed freight from the East Belt which turned north onto the Palestine Subdivision. I believe this to be train MHOAS, daily mixed freight traffic from Settegast Yard in Houston to Gateway Yard in East Saint Louis, IL. MHOAS regularly runs with intermodal containers on the bottom, making it fairly recognizable. After the monster MHOAS cleared, a southbound local with a single SD70M leading long-hood-forward took the same wye from the Palestine Sub to the East Belt. With no other trains around and good lighting disappearing, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

DAY 3 - 02/26/23

After a much better night's sleep, we headed out early, given that we only had until the early afternoon before we had to start heading back to Central Texas. When no one could come up with a good place to start off the morning, I decided to give my dad directions to Tower 26. Despite not being a very original idea, it proved to be a good one this morning, as we ended up hitting the tower at an excellent time. Seconds after getting out of the van, we heard the roar of a southbound BNSF mixed freight on the West Belt. Mere moments after the southbound cleared, an eastbound Union Pacific mixed freight off the Houston Terminal came up the northwest wye onto the West Belt. We scrambled into position just in time for it. Upon first arriving at the tower, I had seen a signal for a southbound train destined to take the northeast wye from the West Belt to the Houston Terminal. The northbound hadn't even cleared when the southbound appeared, being a relatively short Union Pacific intermodal. 

Not five minutes after the intermodal cleared, another eastbound got clearance across the diamonds heading straight. With four trains in less than half an hour, it's safe to say we arrived at the perfect time. After a brief lull, action picked right back up with a southbound mixed freight. This one, with all Norfolk Southern power in the lead, took the southeast wye from the Houston Terminal to the West Belt. Minutes later, ATCS showed another eastbound taking the northwest wye, so we repositioned just in time to catch it. It's a good thing we did, too, as two Canadian Pacific units were in the lead. I honestly am unsure as to whether this was a Kansas City Southern, Union Pacific, or BNSF train, but I would personally hedge my bets on KCS or BNSF. About half an hour later, we would see what was most certainly a KCS train take the same wye in the opposing direction.

Our morning luck soon turned into a terrific lull. While we were musing around at a different crossing, a westbound mixed freight building its train at Englewood Yard pulled out just far enough to block the entirety of Tower 26, sending the entire area into gridlock. While we tried to catch Amtrak 2, the Sunset Limited, departing the station, the train blocking the diamond, as well as two other trains held up by it, boxed Amtrak in. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see those trains as our attention was diverted north to the Lufkin Subdivision. One location we had all wanted to hit up was the Jensen Drive grade crossing. This intersection boasts a pair of 1970's-era Southern Pacific grade crossing cantilever signals, complete with their original mechanical bells. As the train approached, we looked forward to hearing the chorus of bells, but, when the lights activated...radio silence. Union Pacific had let both bells die and had not bothered to fix or even replace them. Union Pacific in Houston seems rather sloppy with crossing signal maintenance in my opinon, and this proved my point to everyone.

By now, we were at that time where we needed to start heading back to Central Texas. We said goodbye to Houston and entered Interstate 10 westbound. The day was not quite over yet, though. After dropping off Carter H, State of Texas Railfan, The Texas Railfan, and I, as well as my father spotted one more train crossing the diamond at West Point, headed westbound. We piled out of the van in the hamlet of Kirtley just in time to catch the westbound aggregate train. As the tail end of the train cleared, it concluded our wildly successful railfanning weekend in South Texas. I, for sure, had a great time, and I think everyone else did too. Thank you to State of Texas Railfan, Carter H, and The Texas Railfan for coming along as well as my father for taking us and putting up with our craziness.