I recently decided I want to photogragh all of the UP Heritage units. After several inquiries I found a website (http://www.drgw.com/) that traces these daily. Unfortunately, the information in the trace is obtained from UP somehow, and is often not accurate as far as departure and arrival times. For instance, last Sunday (5/6/07) the Mopac and the Katy units, along with the UP4141 (George Bush) were supposed to arrive in Pine Bluff, AR at 2 pm. I drove up there from my home (Ft Worth) and arrived at the yard there about 2 hours early and waited for 4 hours and they did not show. I was able to talk to an employee there who was very kind and gave me the phone #'s at the control tower and the roundhouse. Those guys were very helpful and checked the computer and informed me that those units were still somewhere in Illinois. I still had a great trip though and was able to check out a couple of museums and photograph a lot of locos. A few days later these units came to Ft Worth. Again the arrival time was inaccurate and I was not able to “catch” them coming in. The yard in Ft Worth is very large and difficult to find a good vantage point for photography. I spent the next several days trying to wait them out and get some photographs. I was able to find the Mopac unit and the George Bush units but it was very difficult to get a good photograph. I could not find the Katy unit at all (I guess it was in the shop). Yesterday afternoon I decided to drive over and check again to see if they were around. The god’s must have been smiling on me because, as I came through downtown Ft Worth, the Katy and the George Bush were headed out eastbound, about a 1/2 mile west of Tower 55. I was able to drive right up to tracks and get several photos and then follow along as they went past the tower and turned south where I took several more photos. I am having a blast chasing these and now I’m looking foward to finding the others.
Joel, You dont have to drive to Arkanas to see these units…Just hang around Centenial Yd and you should see them quite frequently…4141 is on the MHOFW nearly every week unless its in Chicago. At times Mopac Katy and 4141 are lashed up together…Look on railpictures .net,There are several pics of the Heritage units there…Happy Hunting…Danny |
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Joe
You asked a guy in the control tower about some locomotives?!?! Did anyone ask you any questions? You sure caught a break, if I were to have done that, I would have been sent to jail or something.[:O]
And for what reason??? No laws were broken and I did not trespass at any time. [?]
The No Trespassing is the key to everything. UP does not like non railroad employees for some reason even though usually us folks that chase the trains can save the crew life if they give us a chance. UP should get a clue.