ALL ABOARD.....

Today I chased trains... or I should say chased a train. There is a railroad museum at the Fair Park grounds in Dallas, Texas. Having outgrown its space, a new Museum of the American Railroad has been built in Frisco, Texas and now the contents of the old museum must be relocated to the site of the new museum. You'd think it would be relatively simple to relocate train engines, freight cars, and passenger cars to a new location.... being a matter of hooking the couplings and off they go on the connecting track. WRONG!!

First, many of the cars and engines are not in working condition, having been neglected or out of service for many years. Based on the website[s] I've been following, some of the cars are made track-worthy by repairing the wheels, oiling bearings, replacing minor parts. Other units aren't as easy and must be loaded on flat cars to get them to the new location.

Regardless, the process has been ongoing since late last summer. Then the State Fair of Texas intervened and the relocation activities were halted until after the conclusion of the Fair.

Activities have resumed in recent months and weeks. Of course, the main items that I hope to capture with photos have yet to move.... 2 massive train engines that will not be able to travel the rails under their own power. (They will be transported via flat cars). I am told the 2 extremely large engines will be the very last pieces to move.

Today was a gorgeous day and there were more cars being moved. As I mentioned above, it is not as simple as it would seem. Today proved no exception.

I knew the train was on the move and headed to my "secret" spot I'd scoped out for when the actual move of the 2 engines took place. As I waited, word started coming via Facebook that there were delays. Bearings were overheating on some of the cars and oil was being added. Then there was a crew change. Knowing another location where I could see the train with ease, I headed to the new location in the hopes I'd get lucky. I hit the jackpot! The train was on a siding and would undergo the changes and maintenance as reported, so the time it would be side-tracked would be longer than expected.

Upon reaching the location of the siding, I watched the new crew emerge from a van that provided the transportation. Another truck carried the men with the oil cans and other gauges for making sure the bearings were still working.

Two BNSF trains side by side. The green one on the left is the one which carried the vintage cars. The orange train on the right was actually a coal train and would eventually move south (the direction going away from camera rather than coming toward me). Within about 10 minutes the coal train moved away.

Wait a minute! Here comes another train from the north, also heading south on the track just vacated by the coal train.

Finally there was a clear view of the entire vintage consist.

This Pennsylvania RR engine #4903 has an interesting history. It was an electric engine and was built in 1940. In June 1968 it was used to pull the funeral train of Senator Robert F. Kennedy from New York to Washington, DC. (Google is a wonderful invention!)

The remaining cars were not marked well enough for me to locate additional history. Here is an old engine.

Another old engine in desperate need of paint.

A caboose from another era. In a way it is sad... they are rarely seen today.

A wooden boxcar...

An old passenger car...

These 3 cars remind me of Army green.... transporting soldiers during WWII.

This passenger car (dining car?) was in a major state of disrepair. Hopefully someday it will be returned to its former glory. The curtains in the windows seem to tell tales of long-ago grandeur.

And that is how I spent my afternoon chasing a train. At least it wasn't a wild goose chase!!

Until another adventure....