OH CANADA!, Retro Belle, NJ Transit car & more

The day started with a rain showers, AGAIN!, in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area and the local weather gurus forecasting an 80% chance of rain all day. Despite the forecast, I thought I would go to the BNSF Cherokee Yard and see if anything interesting was arriving and departing.

Glad I did because the rain stopped not to long after I arrived and I found there was a couple of Canadian Pacific ES44AC's in the consist of the departing High Priority Manifest, Tulsa, OK to Galesburg, IL (H-TULGAL9 10).

When I saw the H-TULGAL, I thought a shot from the 23rd Street bridge would offer a different vantage point & perspective of the Cherokee Yard rather than the trackside level shots that I normally post.

As you can see the bridge gives you a good view of the yard & the work that is going on.

The first shot shows the H-TULGAL staged in receiving/departure track 4 (RD4) as the carmen complete the air tests.
The receiving/departure tracks are numbered 1-7 from left to right in the picture with the TULGAL sitting in RD4. The tracks in the picture are almost always used to build trains that are departing Tulsa,


A little closer shot of the H-TULGAL power with the Tulsa Diesel shop, fuel shed/rack, & the Claremore, OK local SPR466/467 power in the background,


A shot from the bridge of the CP ES44AC's,


As the H-TULGAL departed the yard I headed to downtown Tulsa to catch the train as it exited the Yard Limits and entered the BNSF Cherokee-sub at the Urban crossover signals (mp423.0) located between Elgin St. & Greenwood Ave.,


CP 8881 at Urban crossovers,


CP 8810 going away shot at Urban crossovers,


At Urban crossovers again to catch the High Priority Manifest Tulsa, OK-Kansas City, KS (H-TULKCK1 10) as it departed with a Kansas City Southern ES44AC in the Retro Belle paint. Never get tired of seeing the KCS engines in Retro Belle colors,


KCS ES44AC Retro Belle on H-TULKCK,


Yard Job 105 (Y105) generated some interest when it left with an ex-New Jersey Transit passenger car on its way to the Sand Springs interchange track located in downtown Tulsa just north of the Arkansas River bridge,


Ex-NJ transit car on its way to the Sand Springs interchange track,


Loaded coal train Eagle Butte Mine, WY-Madill, OK (C-EBMMAH) arrives in Tulsa for a crew change & to continue its trip to the Western Farmers company power plant near Ft Towson, OK in SE Oklahoma,


After the arrival of the C-EBMMAH, the empty coal train Kirvin, TX Big Brown Texas Utilities train-Rawhide Mine, WY (E-KBBRWM) arrived in RD 9,


E-KBBRWM waits its turn to go as the C-EBMMAH departs Cherokee Yard,


High priority manifest Tulsa, OK-Teague, TX (H-TULTEA1 10) departed with about eight flat cars loaded with locomotive chassis' & trucks,


Locomotive chassis' & trucks on flats,


Locomotive chassis on the H-TULTEA.

Hope you enjoy the pictures & until next post,

Good Hunting!

ES44C4, B-25 & a Skycrane

On Friday evening (5/8/09) I had the opportunity to catch the first production unit of the ES44C4 model as it came in on the High Priority Manifest, Eagle Pass, TX-Tulsa, OK (H-EAPTUL.

Here the H-EAPTUL has just entered the Restricted Limits (R/L) of the BNSF Cherokee Yard located in Tulsa with the BNSF 1075 on the point and BNSF 660 in trail position,

Coming around the east leg of the wye in Tulsa,

Going away shots of the ES44C4




At Sand Springs Pogue Airport this weekend a new business hosted a open house to the public to come view their new facilities and aircraft on display.

One of the aircraft was a World War II vintage North American B-25 Mitchell Medium Range Bomber.

Here is the B-25 Martha Jean as she makes a pass over the airport runway before landing,
On the rollout after landing on runway 35,

Nose art of the Martha Jean,

FINALLY! a quick peek from the sun lets me get a better picture


B-25 Martha Jean departing Pogue Airport,



Some of you, in the Tulsa, OK area, might have seen the big helicopter working over downtown last Sunday. It was a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane that was changing out some cooling towers on a couple of buildings downtown.


Hope you enjoy the pictures of the train & the occassional planes.

KCS Retro Belles brighten up a dreary day in Tulsa, OK

Tulsa, OK is a decent spot to railfan with a public road that parallels almost the entire length of the BNSF Cherokee yard. The receiving tracks are adjacent this road & with trimmer engines putting trains together, Tulsa trains arriving & departing & the changing of crews for intermodals, coal trains & unit trains usually means it can be active many days out of the week.
That turned out to be the case on the cloudy & damp Sunday.

The best catch of the day was a pair of KCS ES44AC Retro Belles leading the loaded coal train Caballo Mine, WY-Texas Utilities Big Brown Power Plant Kirvin, TX (C-CAMKBB). This train had all KCS power as the next picture after this one will show,


A pair of KCS EC44AC's in gray scheme were the DPU's on the C-CAMKBB


The KCS C44AC DPU's on the C-CAMKBB pass the head-end of the E-KBBCAM in the yard after crew change,


The C-CAMKBB passes under the 41st Street Viaduct that is adjacent the famous Ollie's Railroad Theme Restaurant off of old Route 66 in west Tulsa,


ES44AC's as they pass just south of Ollie's,


Going away shots of the Retro Belles,


As the C-CAMKBB was waiting for a crew change, the Kirvin, Big Brown power plant-Caballo Mine, WY empty (E-KBBCAM) was entering the yard for their crew change & trip back north,

SD70ACe in the consist of the E-KBBCAM,

The Eagle Butte Mine, WY-Madill, OK (C-EBMMAH) arrived for a crew change at Cherokee Yard. This train will continue south on the BNSF Creek-sub & will handed off to the Kiamichi RR for the trip to the Western Farmers Company power plant in SE Oklahoma near Fort Towson, OK.


DPU's on the C-EBMMAH were this KCS C44AC & SD70MAC with wedge logo,


BNSF SD70MAC with wedge logo,


Looking down into the Cherokee yard & at DPU's of C-EBMMAH,


High Priority freight Tulsa, OK-Galesburg, IL (H-TULGAL1 03) departs BNSF Cherokee Yard & a black/yellow GP35 is in the consist,


A Grand Elk Railroad/Watco GP35 was tucked in behind the power on the M-TULGAL,


Going away shot of the Grand Elk RR GP35 on the M-TULGAL,

The Manifest Tulsa, OK-Lincoln, NE (M-TULLIN1 03) departed right after the H-TULGAL,

M-TULLIN1 03 power as it departs.

The intermodal Q train Atlanta, GA-Los Angeles, CA (Q-ATGLAC) departing Tulsa after crew change.

Though it was not a very nice weather day, it turned out to be a good railfanning day with 13 trains being observed in a little under 6 hours

Enjoy, have a great week & as always

GOOD HUNTING!

Saturday/Sunday ES44C4, BNSF Operation Lifesaver, NS & more

Howdy,

Got out this weekend to do a little picture taking in & around the Tulsa, OK area. Got a few good catches so here we go,

Got my first glimpse of one of the ES44C4 engines that BNSF recently purchased.
The BNSF 6601 was in the consist of the Oklahoma City, OK-Tulsa, OK (M-OKCTUL)that arrived on Saturday

Here is closeup of truck assembly of the 6601

Speaking of the M-OKCTUL, here it was coming east on the Avard-sub about 7 miles west of the BNSF Cherokee yard in Tulsa,



The day started off with the Barstow, CA-Tulsa, OK (H-BARTUL) arriving off the Avard-sub and entering the BNSF Restricted Limits with a warbonnet on the point.


Here is the H-BARTUL after they had backed into Receiving track 8 (RD8) at Cherokee Yard.

Another interesting arrival was the NorthYard, Ft. Worth, TX-Tulsa, OK (H-NYFTUL) with a new SD70ACe on the point.


Tulsa, OK-Birmingham departed with a NS SD60 in the consist,

The UP arrived midday just as the sun came out long enough to shine on the MoPac tranfer caboose they use for back up moves in and around the Tulsa area.

Sunday morning began with the departure of the Tulsa-Galesburg, IL train with a GP28-2 Operation Lifesaver engine in the consist & a total of 134 cars.

Final images of the day include the Eagle Pass, TX-Tulsa, OK (H-EAPTUL) 7 miles west of Tulsa on the Avard-sub &

the Enid, OK-Tulsa local (SPR8052) at Shirk siding (mp 436.1) inbound to Tulsa's Cherokee Yard.