Interesting day seeing and riding a train.

 I'm a train buff , Always have been. And I think it is pretty safe to now say, "always will be". Interesting also, is that while I rode deep into south Oak Cliff to the UNT Dallas Station, before transferring to the 415 bus which took me even more deep. 

My original intention was to see the old Red Bird Mall. It did undergo a name change to the Southwest Center Mall, a massive amount of roof in South Dallas. Malls are somewhat falling from grace and are not as fashionable as they were once upon a time. But, as some know, this time of year is still hard on me, even though I did end the 20 year long mourning for my son's untimely death last year. So, I retreated to going that extra few miles to see the old malls new face and name. Another time might be better suited for such a visit. 

I had a very good lunch---A super Taco Bowl at an indoor super Shell station. Actually was about the same size as Fuel City but no where as large as Buc-ee's. The Dallas area has two Buc-ee's and I haven't been to either one yet. I have been in the massive one in New Braunfells, south of Austin. But, I must say, Taco Casa was matching up for price and quantity as any Buc-ee's or even Dallas' Fuel City, (sorry, Brandon) when it comes to food. Taco Casa cannot come close to Fuel City's number of pumps, but the two combined come no where close to Buc-ee's 60 pumps for starters.

On the the trip outbound, I saw the DG&O ( a short line) engines waiting for the big bucks intermodal crossing the T&P bridge over the Trinity being pulled by Union Pacific engines. A fairly normal scene, I might add. But on the inbound trip is where a first for me was encountered under Reunion Town at Union Station. It runs both Red Line and Blue Line, Dart light rails, and also the regular diesel electric engines that pull the TRE between Dallas and Ft Worth. It is the same as a commuter rail with the double deck cars.Then, the famous Texas named trains that Amtrak runs cross country. But there it was, on all four tracks, the two Dart trains, the TRE and the Amtrak at the same time at the Union Station. I only wish that I had been on the platform and not onboard the Dart moving. I have ridden the TRE to Ft. Worth and that is a pampered trip from down town to down town. The TEXrail, is yet not ridden by me, but I hope to be able to ride it in the fall. That leaves the two other rail systems that are in various stages of construction. The Dart Silver Line--not light rail,but diesel electric like the TRE and of course, the Bullet Train from Dallas, Ft. Worth to Houston in 90 minutes. 

 Dart is the largest light rail system in the US with 93 miles over 5-counties and 500-million passengers in 25 years.

Dart also just approved a new underground system ( a second in downtown Dallas). So, if you are a train buff, Dallas is the place to be.

Least we not forget our amazing DFW International Airport with three control towers, 7-active runways with a future 8th just waiting for traffic to increase even more. Acreage larger than Manhattan. Pre Covid-19 the number of Internatinal  carriers serving Dallas, three major Package delivery cargo lines, and the increasing foreigh air cargo that here. Just this week, American has returned to the volume pre-Covid-19, they say.

The Aspen Trees In The Sierra Nevada

Some how, trains and planes have found away into my soul. The joy that I get out of watching them work is not from some mechanical ability that I have, but from the dynamics of how they operate. My mom had told me that when I was a baby, I had been on a train and had let the sounds of the thumps in the rail joints put me to sleep. While mom was able to confirm before she passed that my earliest memories that I had described to here were when I was 18 months old. So the train ride was not remembered having been made before my 18 months of life. But I can tell you, in my roomette aboard the Zephyr, that ride of shifting from side to side also put me to sleep as most of the tracks today are seamless and therefore, no clicking and bumpidy bump bump sounds.

Several decades ago, I had taken the San Francisco Zephyr, now known as just the California Zephyr. Boarding first, the Lake Shore Limited along the lower Great Lakes, it carried me to Chicago where I transferred to the Zephyr after a four hour lay over. One of the things that makes riding the train that romantic concept was that trains don't rush. While they work hard to maintain their schedules, the mechanics of railroading just some times allow for delays. But, ever since then, I have wanted to complete that trip from Denver, to Salt Lake, to Reno, to Truckee, California and on the last couple hundred miles to Emeryville, California. Had I completed the trip on my initial ride with Amtrak, I would have been routed up to Cheyenne, Wyoming out of Denver. I've been to Cheyenne by car so the change would be a welcome one for me in as much as the upper Colorado River provides some of the greatest scenery through Nevada's Carson range of the Sierra and of course, the western Sierra from California's Central Valley into the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

In search of web cams along the Zephyr's route, I found one in Truckee, California. The camera catches both the # 5 and the #6 as they stop at the downtown rail station which the camera pans. Looking at the station and both ends of the tracks from East bounds to West bounds as well as the main part of town at Donner Pass Road and Bridge Street. There is also a lot of freight trains, but the Zephyr has priority (Amtrak). The lines in Truckee are run by the Union Pacific Railroad. Any how, when the camera hits the mid section view, the Aspens are along the ridge on the far side. But, there are a couple right under the camera where the tops show. The colors are getting better day by day at 7,000 feet elevation.  Which is another item of the Zephyr and the freight trains. Railroading presents those problems and if you like to see long trains with many many engines it is because the mountain inclines are steep in the area. One of the two tunnels is inoperable at the moment so the east bound and west bound must share the one open tunnel. Still, it is the pulling and pushing of long freights trains up and down the mountains that require such make ups of 4 lead engines, 2 in the middle and 1 on the end. In the winter, you get to see some pretty spectacular snows. The Truckee station is also the regions Track Management and they have a couple of snow trains that go out and clear the tracks in the passes where the heavy snows have slid down onto the tracks. One heck of a snow blower and plow I might add. All of which can be viewed from the web cam.

The Truckee Airport is for general aviation and some pretty big jets land there.It is in the heart of ski country as well as Lake Tahoe. During the summer and ski season, the tarmac is full of private jets. I even saw a single engine jet land there a few weeks ago. It was the first one that I have seen with a single engine. Cute little thing. You can really tell the men from the boys by the price of their toys. 

So, as we are officially in Meteorological fall already (Sept 1 to Dec 1) not to be confused with Astrological fall which hits around the 20-22 of September that some still follow. While going to the DPS to get my drivers license renewed, I rode the bus. That was my first outing since my last discharge from the hospital. over 4 months ago. Being able to ride and just look out the window at all the changes that have been made since my days of working my shoot wagon wheel. I took buses that took me down some of my old wagon wheel route. There were a lot of trees with flipped leaves. Past post have talked about the meaning of flipped leaves. In short, a sure sign that fall is not getting ready to start, it already has. 

Where planes are concerned, American has started parking planes again on the SE quad of the 18's line up and wait area. No sign, this thing is anywhere near over with the layoffs and a second parking of planes. Old Doug has his hands full, as does his new counter part at United's, Scott Kirby, on the job as CEO just over 100 days! Ouch! That reminds me. I should go rest a bit.

Update---In just the wee hour or two since posting, American has removed the 11 planes that they had parked in the SE quad of 18's line-up-and-wait area.  All the construction vehicles that are working on the 18's upgrades are now parked there. They could have been moved to other areas of the airport but I don't think so. I'll have to check the flight logs at Victorville and see if they have put any into storage that matches the static number of yesterday.

I will try to keep you updated to those that want updates. It is news in the Airline Industry and that means jobs for a lot of people and a potential adjustment for share holders at-large.

A Few Heavies

American Airlines is obviously a big user at DFW International Airport. Normally, the bulk of the fleet coming in are the workhorse craft, MD-80s. Yesterday, I noticed few MD-80s but a lot of their Regional jets flown by American Eagle. It took me a while to realize that the rest of the traffic was fairly normal then it hit me...what I was seeing was the Hurricane Sandy backlash with equipment stuck in places where they couldn't get out etc. That equipment had to be filled in with something else until the planes could flow back into the system. I have one word for the visual shock.....amazing!
Here are a few heavies arriving.

A China Airlines Cargo 747 on final to Runway 18R

A British Airways Passenger Flight also with 747 equipment.
I liked the old name--- BOAC. It had a romantic ring to it.