Flatonia - Texas Hot Spot DVD
Flatonia is home to the only train watching platform or pavilion aimed at railfans in the state of Texas. Flatonia is 119 miles west of Houston and 89 miles east of San Antonio on the former Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific, Sunset Route. When we were there the trains of four railroads – Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, BNSF, and Amtrak - ran past the Flatonia Photo Pavilion as the railfan platform is called on the west side of town. In addition, Tower 3, which used to control the crossing of UP’s Glidden and Cuero subdivisions near the photo pavilion, and a former Southern Pacific caboose have been preserved in the Flatonia Rail Park in downtown Flatonia just south of the Glidden sub. UP’s Glidden subdivision between the outskirts of Houston and San Antonio is part of their busy Sunset Route while the north-south Cuero sub that crosses the Glidden sub at Flatonia is best known for being part of SP’s Dalsa Line and for hosting the Blue Streak Merchandise until the BSM was transferred to a routing via Kansas City and the former Rock Island Golden State Route. This program shows 24 hours of action at Flatonia in May of 2009. “Flatonia – Texas Hot Spot” is 96 minutes in length. This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration.
- Video Format: DVD
BNSF Fort Worth Subdivision DVD
The north end of BNSF’s Fort Worth Subdivision between Gainesville, Texas and Alliance Yard, BNSF’s large intermodal, auto, and carload classification yard serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is one of BNSF’s busiest lines in Texas. Part of the former Santa Fe main line between Kansas City and Houston, this track handles a lot of intermodal, grain, and mixed carload traffic between the Midwest and the great state of Texas. The UP takeover of the Southern Pacific in 1996 gave BNSF access to more chemical plants along the Gulf Coast, and much of this new traffic flows north on the Fort Worth sub. In spite of the current recession, this line is still handling near record levels of traffic, especially when export grain is moving to ports on the Gulf Coast. This program shows all the trains for over 24 hours on the north end of BNSF’s Fort Worth Subdivision including what fans call the “Metro pig dance” in May of 2009. “BNSF Fort Worth Subdivision” is 79 minutes in length. This DVD has the option of being watched with or without narration.
- Video Format: DVD
