Laid over from delivering a grain train to the Port of Houston, PTRA uses it and 2 sisters for switching duties at the Pasadena yard.

Back when they were new, I was stalking them on the old 'Central across northern Ohio. The old NYC main had a lot of similarities with the original UP main across Nebraska.

Just the day before, the BHZ from NP had this as part of 7 WP GP40/-2s brought in, and they were the beginning of the WP influx into Texas after the merger.

Still in a state of disbelief that these were running again, and that I got another one on the point. All three of the 3 afternoon TOFCs from NP that day had them on the point.

Built from SP U25B 6754. By the mid 80s it had calmed down, with a dropoff in pool power, but back in the late 70s, here on Opelousas Street near the Hardy Street shops, you could not BUY a parki... (more)

Back in the good 'ole days, when you had free run of the place without a release.

A number of these were assigned to PTRA duties in their last days; 106 and 91 wait on air to take a transfer to Pasadena.

This is what happens when you don't watch the switch indicators. Engineer assumed that the siding switch was properly lined, but not only was it not, it was not lined against him completely, so h... (more)

After the first order of Dash 8s were delivered, GE had still not fixed a pesky problem of imitating Alcos between notches 3-5.

These were everywhere around Houston during this time, but the 'chromes were the ones I was after. Just settled in to my takeout meal from the Fish King when the clouds broke long enough to get t... (more)

Got some breaks in the storm clouds over at Englewood, so I thought I'd try Settegast and see if I could catch some storm light there. Can't believe I resorted to shooting SD40s, but it's all I h... (more)

UP's version of rebuilt switchers; this is ex MP SW9 1233.

I think this was one that had been recently repainted at the Settegast paint shop, but not 100% sure.

One more from the SD45 invasion of Texas. WP GP40s, original UP SD45s and ex Rock Island GP40s were abundant during these days.