It's Just A Thought, but Texas Central Railroad's Bullet Train is

passing very, very,very close to Mustang, Texas.The smallest town in Texas with a population of 21. It's the same little 77 acres that Dallas Maverick owner, Mark Cuban just purchased and said in media reports that he did a friend a favor and he didn't know what he would do with the town, if anything. 

Remembering, of course, Cuban IS  of  an entrepreneurial spirit to begin with. The environmental studies passed and have been certified. The law suits that challenged the Constitutional base that Texas Central Railroad is not a railroad is coming up on the court docket in early 2022. That case and others cited Amtrak as being a very much defined railroad has helped to overturn and reverse previous cases filed by property owners and higher courts reversing the lower courts decisions. 

This is a very important legal issue that Texas needs with it's growing hub for transportation in the area of an inland port to handle intermodal containers on the rails. But, my gut feeling is that Mustang, Texas is going to end up being a very important part of that Texas Central Alignment Route along the Union Pacific tracks.It also has the great potential of putting an amazing piece of passenger comfort in Dallas, Arlington and Ft.Worth.

Just think how much fun, as well as a time saving and parking fees eliminator if you could ride Dart or TRE or TEXrail or Silver Line or A-Train to a Cowboys game; Rangers game; or a Mavericks game or a Star's Hockey  game at the AAC. And let's not forget the recent talk that the Dallas Convention Center may be closer to a wrecking ball than any of us know, plus the new convention center would  just so happens to be re-aligned very near the new Bullet Trail Station on the west side of Lamar south of I-30. Or even on top of it.  The bigger picture is being painted piece by piece and as of yet I have heard no one even thinking about how it all fits together. Let Mark and the others make their money and just give us civilians that train.  Dallas Metroplex needs this if we are to be the Chicago of the South. We are so close.The private landowners need to also realize in Texas Spirit  that this project is bigger than any of them, or anyone person  individually. It is for the greater good of all Texans overall in the end chapter.

The Intermodal Way

Realizing that some have yet to figure out what inter modal is, much less how it works, the idea of economics is greater than meets the eye. There is another side to inter modal that some main stream journalist have yet to figure out, too. Sure, articles have appeared about the tank car problem shipping oil via the rail. The accident-grabbing articles of print and visual media on the subject are beginning to pile up in the search engines. Yet, not a single one that I can find have made mention of the flammable and dangerous gas materials that ship over ground transport and end up on  the rail.  In other words, no one has paid any attention to the fact that danger as great or greater than the tank car problem moves over the rails every hour of ever day with hazardous material placards on the end and sides of the trucks anchored down on inter modal rail cars.

The danger is real. The risk is not as bad as one might think but there is risk and danger none-the-less. The US Department of Transportation Haz-Mat List and Codes are easy enough to look up on the web site. In fact there is a HazMat Code List.pdf file on the site also.

The First Cherry 

For the sake of argument, let's say that a trucking company's rates are $1.50 per mile. The rail road sends its cars down the rail for $1.00 per mile. If the trucks can go the distance on what we once called Piggy-Back shipments, then the trucking firm profits $0.50 per mile or they have reduced their cost by the same amount. It makes no difference except in accounting methods. There is also something else to consider. By using inter modal or flatbed piggy backing trailers, you have meet your competitions  rate-per-mile for most of the distance. So the advantage can work for the majors as well as the smaller businesses. It also enables companies like Target and Walmart to bring their goods to their stores at a lower price. In short. Inter modal shipments-which can include piggy-backing- are here to stay on the landscape of commerce.

Today, I found five major trucking firms, including freight forwarding Moguls like FedEx and UPS along with Roadway, J.B. Hunt, KLLM and two frozen food plants with  reefers on the same inter modal train makeup. It must be remembered that shipping containers can ship via rail and truck both and inter modal trains are stacking  containers two high per car. That is the beauty of inter modal cars and it also reduces cost even more.

The Second Cherry

On several of the FedEx Pigs, the HazMat Code Placards flashed red for flammable and also for Danger on materials with gas.  Learning to look for these placards when you are sitting at a crossing instead of listening to your favorite tune and zoning out as the train rolls by could save your life. In being aware of your surroundings also includes things like this, especially in the world that we live in today.

The Third Cherry 

The last cherry to roll up was something like a stroke of luck of being in the right place at the right time  Had I been on the back side of the train, with the No Trespassing signs posted, I would not have been able to get the shots that I got. Instead, by the luck of fate I was on the public street side of the tracks and had an interesting perspective of light and angles. Here are a couple of shots to support this article.

Pigs from both FedEx and UPS with the red placard on the end of the FedEx trailer. This is the prize finding a UPS and a FedEx end-on-end on the same train make up with the HazMat placard as a bonus.

The shipping contaner for JB Hunt can take another container of the same length on top unless it is marked for no stackers.

 

DART Does It Again -- 4 Months Ahead of Schedule.

Texans should be proud of their state government projects. Especially, the transportation sectors. The Dallas High 5 Project was about a 7-year project and finished a year early. The LBJ-I35 remake was another multi-year project and it is nearly finished and still running ahead of schedule. But, the still amazing project of connecting DFW International Airport to the DART Rail System, already the largest light rail system in the country, finished 4-months early with Inaugural Service direct to Terminal A at DFW International that began on August 18th, just two weeks ago today.

I rode the Blue line from LBJ-Central on TI Boulevard to the west end station in downtown Dallas where I got off to catch the Orange Line to DFW. I could have ridden the Orange line from LBJ-Central and not had to change trains, but I am a people watcher and I like the hustle-bustle of downtown, the sounds, the smells, the muted train whistle. Generally, a crowd of people like to talk, but the train stations are different. People are in their own little worlds with their ear buds in their ears.  It seems every one has them. Except me. I use a pair at home when the cat sleeps and I want to listen to a pod cast or catch an episode of Comedy Central. But when I am out shooting, the last thing I want is to have wires hanging from my ear canals.Besides, waiting for the train to arrive at LBJ-Central or waiting for the same train downtown for DFW is elementary. In fact, it gives me 10-15 minutes of people watching and breaks up the train ride.

After catching the Orange Line it was just another train ride until after the stop at the Beltline station. I had ridden Orange line that far once before after the Beltline station opened. Although it is located on DFW International Airport property, the connection route on to Terminal A is about a 4-mile run through scrub brush until it comes out at the connector to 114 Carpenter Freeway and Royal Lane briefly before turning south and heading on the east side of the traffic cross-overs  and the bridge taxiway from Terminal A to runways 18L and 18R. Runways 17L,17C and 17R are located east of the Dart tracks. There is also two cross-wind runways; one on the far east and one on the far west edges of the airport.  The connection switch to the future Cotton Belt Line is already in place and ready to go. Let's all hope the money can be found and construction begins earlier than expected finishing earlier than the completion date in the future, once the future construction begins. I ask the question if there was any shuttle service to Founder's Plaza where watching the big heavys come in on 18R is done but there is not one currently. That is the one bad part of service to DFW. Riding the Dart to DFW to watch the planes from Founder's Plaza cannot be done via Dart.

Pulling into the new Terminal A station was exciting. Finally, getting to DFW without the parking and doing it with no-stress travel, it was easy to see why anyone would ever want to drive to DFW again unless you were picking up a rental car, but you can have those delivered to your hotel, so that problem is also eliminated. It just makes sense to ride the DART! It's a no-brainer.

I was talking to a TSA

Walkway from DART train platform to Terminal A-14 entry

Inspector that was on the platform talking with people as he was doing his check-list of how the service was going on Inaugural Day. He stated to  me that inside Terminal A, "you can get a drink and a candy bar at the newsstands, but if you want real food, you must go through security". It makes sense. So those of you that want to ride the DART to DFW just to test it out, it's a fun trip and you can get a candy bar and a cold drink before you catch your ride back to where ever you got on board. The TSA Inspector was nice but still doing his job. 

Terminal A Platform at DFW International Airport.

DG&NO 146

Short lines have long been the workhorse for Class 1 railroads. Without them, life as we know it on the rail would be one big mess. They are the interurban lines that move by switching out full and empty rail cars to the end user, bringing them to a central yard and separating cars to and from the Class 1 railroads. It's like a big wagon wheel hub with the Class 1 railroads on the outer rim and the short line(s) at the hub. In transportation, the railroads use it. The trucking industry uses it. The airlines use it (both passengers and cargo). Fed Ex and UPS and the USPS and DHL use it. Ocean-going and Great Lakes ships use it. The military use it.

Years ago, one of the large paper companies, as it applies to shipping and routing, would load a rail car on the west coast and simply route it to the east coast with no other destination. Their logic was that one, they didn't have to pay warehouse charges; two, it saved tons of time; three, before the rail car got to the east coast, one of their locations nation wide would need the material on that car. If they did not, then the dispatcher would simply route the car again to west coast. The transportation cost via rail was still lower than paying warehouse charges and in and out fees.  This, of course, fell under the general definition of logistics, or the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet some requirements. The above example is about as classic  of an example as it gets.

 

One of the new generation diesel-electric RP20BD that is being used by Dallas short line DG&NO. It is also being ordered by BNSF, Kansas City Southern Railway and Union Pacific. The engines are controlled by computers and are capable of remote operations. Let's just say it is more environmental friendly and cost efficient.

The Dallas High Five

Doing a little research on the High Five after-the-fact turned up some interesting facts.
1. There are 5-high interchange stacks in Houston
2. There are 5-high interchange stacks in Los Angeles

Dallas is the third major city in the US with 5-high stacks. What was discovered is that the Dallas High-5 is 10 feet taller than the 5-high stack in California. California's is 110 feet above grade and the Dallas High 5 is 120 feet above grade.

It was early on that I was sure that while on the 5th level, I was able to look eye level at the 10th floor  of one building. Well, I forgot to figure the angle difference into the equation and that accounts for two more floors.  That, is absolutely somewhat insane, but the more you drive it, the more you adjust and it doesn't seem that it is really that bad. Then, on the other hand, the Ambassador Bridge that carries traffic from the US at Detroit into Windsor, Ontario, Canada is a beautiful suspension bridge. The height from the crown of the bridge deck to the water line below on the Detroit River is---yep--120 feet. That ads a whole different perspective to the equation.

I do remember when the fist column was being poured at the old cloverleaf at 75 and 635. I drove it every day then. But that one column, that is the tallest of them all (200 plus columns) , was like looking at a towering red wood. I just could not wrap my brain around a roadway on top of that column.

It is easy to see unsuspecting travelers using either 635 or US 75 being in a stage of fear or fright. I'm just amazed that more have not  frozen up.

The Heart of the Dallas High 5 Interchange

 

The Procession of Good-Bye For Big Boy (Part II)

A Railroader for real.

A second shift of a real railroader

Coming into Irving under cover of darkness.A more dangerous trek for this real railroader.

A continuance of The Procession of Good-Bye for Big Boy.

Next Stop: Terminal A DFW International

Today, as a strong cold front was passing overhead, but before the temperatures dropped the 40 degrees the weather boys were advertising, I boarded the Red/Orange Line at the Central/LBJ station in North Dallas and headed to the new Belt Line Station that opened December 3rd. This summer saw the orange line open from Bachman Lake to the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. Now, another 4 miles of extension is added  and reaches a critical mass area.

On December 03, the North Lake Station Opened at Cottonwood. Golfers would recognize the area as the Four Seasons Resort. And...the Belt Line Station, while Westward sounds rather conservative, the actual surprise,grand trump, what ever adjective one would use, that makes this different for the largest light rail system in the whole of the United States, is  this: it's sitting on airport property at DFW International. That's inside the fence. That's different rules and regulation for building. But, it's the final leg that will end at Terminal A at DFW in December 2014 with the last extension. There are few airports in this nation that have  a direct rail link into a terminal. That means that in 2014, you will be able to deplane,get your luggage, use the airport system to transport you to terminal A from any terminal  and ride to downtown Ft. Worth,Denton,Dallas,Garland,Rowlett, and Plano, or get off in Addison or Carrollton and take a cab to those area hotels. The details will come forth, most likely as the time nears the completion date, but the point being made here is that the connections from DFW International to area cities in the metroplex will be most unique for  transportation connections. That's a big deal.

It took just over an hour each way.

The New Belt Line Station on DFW Property.Overnight parking,
750 car lot.

Belt Line Name Placard

Westward to Terminal A at DFW.Note that the tracks are laid but the overhead power lines need to be placed, but 24 months is not a long time to wait for this transportation  link.

 

General Aviation

General Aviation has its ups and downs. [ (C) dallaspaparazzo.com ] [R] All puns aside, general aviation is a great business. So, I have designed a few business products for general aviation use. They will soon appear in the store section. If you are a fixed base operatror,manage a flight school or operate a general aviation service and would like to know more, email the blog. There is an actual US Postage stamp in the works on the Zazzle brand for general aviation. If it gets approved, we'll let everone know.

Stairway to Heaven?

The new Orange Line's Urban Station in Las Colinas comes closer to completion. This is the stairs from the platform up to the second level where the old Las Colinas Monorail system can be accessed.Beyond this station is the Irving Convention Center. It will be be termination point until the Beltline/DFW segment is completed in a couple of years.