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Friday, August 11, 2017

Honoring First Responders



Yesterday morning, I got the word that Norfolk Southern 911, the Honoring First Responders special unit, was leading the MAVEW-09 (Manifest Avondale, LA to Englewood Yard, TX, originating on the 9th day of the month). Hoping to be a first responder after I am done with college, I knew I HAD to catch this unit leading. So I headed out and went on a wild goose chase for it. I drove past a few trains on my drive, but I only stopped for one. A BNSF manifest (M-LALDYT?) was stopped with a Canadian Pacific AC44 trailing! With CP being my favorite class I, I absolutely had to snap a picture of it.

After that, I proceeded to Beaumont, and instantly drove in circles around town to no avail of 911. FINALLY, at about 7pm, I saw 911's headlights in the yard while it got a crew change. The first place I caught it was Langham road. I got mediocre pictures of it there, but I got video.

After the head end passed, I hopped in my car to get new batteries for my scanner. In the video from Langham, you can hear the scanner annoyingly beeping repeatedly. I eventually caught up to the train in China, I could not get my still camera out in time for a still photo, but I shot it on video.

The third and final place I caught it is Devers, TX. I managed to get a really good video with a silo in the background there, and this picture:

So here are my videos from this chase:

Oh, and I am leaving for Nebraska on August 24. It will for sure be bittersweet leaving Texas forever! I will be railfanning in Newton, KS and Belle Plaine, KS on the drive up. If you want more info on possibly meeting up with me there, shoot me a message using the contact form on the right! Thanks for reading!

~Matt