Sunset Station by the Alamo Dome. Easy access, right on the UP mainline, plenty of parking, public propery, SP 2-8-2 on display to look at when no trains running by.
That is a good place, Russell. I forgot about that. I also go to East Yard. Be sure to stay off RR property; no problems taking pictures if you do. Also, Kirby, Texas is good. Kirby is on FM78 between East Yard and Converse.
To find the locations in Google Earth, search "Kirby, Texas" and "East Yard Club, San Antonio, Texas." That gives you the other two rail fan locations I know about.
East end of Kirby Yard today, 01 Dec 2007. Two NS engines sitting alone near the fuel racks. I thought it was unusual that they were not in a MU lashup. I think they are both C40-9s; one wide cab and one not.
On this same subject, I just visited a few rail fan spots this afternoon. While the Sunset main line will still be a busy place for watching transiting trains, the East Yard seems to be in a removal mode. Most all of the repair and intermodal tracks are gone. I can understand the intermodal tracks, as that is moving to Kirby, Texas, (adjacent to San Antonio on the east side), but I think that switching in San Antonio is getting pretty small. The yard adjacent to Kelly AFB on the south side may still be active for switching cars headed for the border. I didn't check it. Maybe the switching is moving to Kirby, too?
Railfanning remains slow in San Antonio. Took a picture of this CEFX at Trans Texas Rail repair facility. Kirby Yard and a pair of Genset locomotives. These probably switch the auto off loading facility, but that will slow drastically soon. This lone SD70ACe coupled to a six car stack train (30 car section) and went to Houston to deliver the load. This is a light train in any measure of the subject. SSW9699 unpatched in San Antonio today. Very unusual, I think. I also heard of a Union Pacific 18 engine light move on the MKT line to the north last week. That is a lot of engines not being used on the border.
I spent the afternoon checking the railfan spots in San Antonio. Not one freight car other than in Kirby Yard and East Yard. All the old downtown industry sidings have been closed including those along the Sunset Station area. The Hayes street bridge will come down soon, I think. I know traffic is light, but this was more than I thought would be happening. I had my camera and did not take one picture. Part of my issue was wanting to get the correct sun angle for a good picture, but other than the two locations mentioned above, there were no railcars anywhere. I didn't go to the southside and the old Kelly AFB yard. I think UP still uses it for north-south traffic. In any case, most of the areas now have chain link fences around them. I shouldn't whimper so much, I know.
Out again today. It's very slow; Sunday, of course. The engine terminal is almost empty of work. here are photos of the engines I saw. PRLX 3002. This engine had a crew around it; I am not sure it was part of the privately owned repair facility. It was outside the fence. Two engines. BNSF 3170. GP40. [edit] Corrected: GP50. BNSF 6304. GP40? I've never seen it with this few engines. It is the first time I could see this car. The best of the day to me. SP 62857 syrup car used as an oil storage. Slow, slow, slow. At least I did see these few trains. That's more than the last two times I went out. PRLX is "Private Rail Limited." I think it is an SD70.
3170 looks like a GP50, 6304 an SD40... and what is 3002? The rear radiator section looks like the one on NS's new PR43Cs, so this is another Progress rebuild. But check out that side walkway - like an AC4400!
I'm glad I found something unusual. So I'm just bemoaning the situation and by golly, the San Antonio coal train goes by! Two pulling and one pushing. Patched. SATX coal gons. Patched and pushing. That was it for Sunday.
These were taken on January 18th, 2010 at the Eastyard. My wife took the pictures as I drove the wrong way on a one way street!
Found these 2 SP's at the Kirby yard today. Didn't have time to grab pictures of a Norfolk Southern further down the track. Sorry about the camera phone quality. Unpatched 8580...
If you want to watch trains from a different perspective, go have dinner at Chart House Steaks in the Tower of Americas.
I saw this loco, or part of it, behind another train at one of my spots while filming video. So I chased it to the Kirby yard and got this pic. Don't forget to watch the video in my link below!
National Train day at the Sunset Station Mexican(?) covered hopper. I had not seen one like this before. KCS. Close and lock door before moving... TBOX hicube.
