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KCS dedicates North Texas intermodal terminal
This is the longest sentence fragment I’ve seen in newswire: “The facility, located in the far northeast suburbs of Dallas, that more than doubles the lift capacity of the cramped Dallas ramp built in the 1950s.”
Can’t wait to see it. I’ve spent many an afternoon, and a few all-nighters, watching them switch the Zacha Junction site, creating trains, then heading out to the Meridian Speedway, eastbound. It always seemed far too small and cramped for a city the size of Dallas. This seems much more reasonable, though Wylie is not exactly “Dallas.” It’s a good 20 miles out, but Dallas has shaken off its railroading past and most of the rail activity has moved to the surrounding countryside and small towns, where real-estate is cheap for large switching yards, and the danger of being surrounded by Dallas growth is at least ten years away.
That leaves Dallas as a “railroad ghost-yard,” where one who knows where all the tracks were can still find bits of abandoned trackage hiding from the bulldozers, builders and pavers. But that just makes the challenge all that more enjoyable, piecing together bits of Dallas’s railroading past through pictures, Google Earth, stories, and any other sources that one can find. Even the railroad museum has moved to far-outlying Frisco, a 30 minute drive from Dallas when the traffic permits.
KCS is our only big railroad in East Dallas, while UP and BNSF operate north, south, and west. Norfolk Southern apparently has a deal worked out with KCS for access to Dallas on the Meridian Speedway, as more than half the locomotives I’ve seen pulling intermodal trains in and out on the east side are NS. I’m beginning to wonder how much operational differences exist between the Big Five US railroads, and if the difference between them amounts to more than a few microns of paint on the engines.
But good to see that the investment continues, that with all the loss of our area railroads, growth is still at large, and good, positive change can be reported.
Shooshie
Well, like I said at the end of the story, Zacha ain’t dead yet, so KCS is keeping the ghosts at bay for now. Who would’ve guessed 20 years ago KCS would be the last Class I operating a yard of any significance in Big D? I know I’d have said, “KC-who?”
I have noticed the absence of train activity at the Dallas Intermodal facility. I miss it. I have watched many of trains come and go on the line between Dallas and Wylie. I would like to go up and see the Wylie facility soon. One other observation like one of the others noticed, I frequently wondered why NS was on the point and if not the only locomotives on trains running that track when it belongs to KCS. There were KCS trains and a mix of NS power. Sometimes I would see UP and BNSF power that came down from Wylie to the Dallas Intermodal Yard. I will miss all that activity. There is still a short line that serves Garland, Texas that came to that yard. I wonder if it will make the trip to Dallas or Wylie now. That short line intercepts the KCS main line in Garland.