The Trains at Fair Park Are Thinning

The next consist to move at month's end

The brakes are being rebuilt.

The Big Boy on the left. Over 1 million pounds of steel!

     The old trains at the former Museum are just about gone. The next big consist is being readied to move across the Union Pacific tracks out of Fair Park to the BNSF yard in Irving before being moved those final miles to the new Museum at Frisco. Looking at what's left, shows the years of neglect while on display at Fair Park.
     Of course, the Big Boy move will be the last to go. It is the biggest locomotive under steam that I have ever seen. I must say that. This is the one that everyone has been waiting to see on live rail again. The enjoyment of seeing an old steam locomotive under it's own power moving on the tracks is still exciting. To see this locomotive under it's own power will be an experience of a life time.
     Meanwhile--here are a few pictures from Fair Park. There are a couple taken from the other side of a chain link fence and the slight grey blur is the camera's reaction to the object in the lens. The Facebook page for the museum is saying that the move will be March 31. That's a Sunday and the TRE will not be running. That means that the trip should have live rail free from traffic to move to Frisco. It would not be expected to have this piece of equipment sitting on a yard siding at Mockingbird or Irving yard. It would be assumed that it will move non-stop from Fair Park to Frisco in one move. That is, of course, just an assumption. There is a little bit of politics being played out by a few and that always spoils the broth some.

Moving on the Rails (1 of 2 post)

The tank cars were used for support in the move and are not part of the museum collection.

The Last Car

Here are a few images of the old rail cars moving to a museum as they passed between the Medical District and the Wye at Irving where they are spending at least one night.

Timing Is Everything and ..........

On Sunday's last trip to Fair Park before the State Fair, the Chinese Lantern Festival had created some very tall Lotus Blooms. The thought did cross my mind as to how they would be used. Today, a sky crane helicopter lifted them from the staging lot near Gate 5 to the Lagoon where they were placed. Now only did I miss the lift, I missed seeing them in the large lagoon where the big swan paddle boats can be rented. It's just one of those things......you cover what you can and sometimes it works out and some times it does not.
The train move has occupied some time. The Chihuly glass exhibit has been at the Arboretum for nearly five months and it leaves the first week of November and the pumpkin display opens this Saturday for it's annual run. On top of that---the Perot Museum of Science and Nature opens in it's new building in downtown much earlier than first announced. The new 5-acre deck park opens too! There is a lot of stuff happening! The old adage that it never rains but what it pours seems to be holding true.

Waiting to move to Frisco

Most likely, the big boy will be the last to leave Fair Park
 

With just the things mentioned here would  add another $100 just for parking and admissions. Gas and food would be extra, of course. The cost of an enjoyable hobby today is an expensive undertaking, though not complaining. So for now, since timing is everything and I came up short today.....here are a couple more shots from this past Sundays shoot.

 

Perot's House of Dreams

Ross Perot donated 50M. That donation was directed toward moving the Museum of Nature and Science from Fair Park into the heart of Downtown and an ever-growing Uptown. The new 174-foot tall building (that's the equivalent of a 15-story building)  which  has an impressive glass box on the outside  houses a 54-foot escalator. The behemoth staircase at Busch Gardens in Florida isn't enclosed in glass. But, where technology and history meet there is sometimes a chain reaction and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science certainly will create that chain reaction. Columbus,Ohio's COSI is an amazing place for science and industry, but the Perot Museum of Nature and Science will surpass COSI in short order.

This image was taken from on board the M Line as it crossed Woodall Rodgers.