the dispatcher will set up the signal and switch just moments before a train highballs, so you have to be ready to act quickly.
It’s amazing to watch a big stack or vehicle train accelerate out of town. De- pending on weight and priority, trains will have as few as two — or sometimes just a single unit — and as many as five or six locomotives up front. Some stack trains and manifests will have Distrib- uted Power Units (DPU’s) on the rear, especially those taking the Mineola Sub. Although UP’s modern GEVO’s and ACe’s don’t put out the smoke of their predecessors, their big prime movers and exhaust can fill the town center with the sounds and smells of big-time railroading. In fact, when you consider the pounding it takes, it’s sur- prising the point where the Corsicana crosses the Mineola Sub doesn’t see more maintenance and rail welding than it does. However, track inspectors make it a habit to constantly check this and other critical points in Big Sandy. When traffic is heavy, three or four trains will stack up just east of town, so that immediately after one leaves, the next one will show up. As some of the trains are run-throughs off NS and CSX, foreign power is not uncommon. If Amtrak or another train on the Mineo- la Sub is close, the dispatcher will hold a westbound train coming off the Pine
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RAILFAN.COM
ABOVE: With the switch lined for the former Texas & Pacific route out of Big Sandy, UP 7861 West changes crews before proceeding onto the Mineola Sub on May 29, 2010. RIGHT: On March 26, 2012, a UP welder and his helper repair the crossing of the ex-Cotton Belt and ex-T&P in Big Sandy, as a westbound prepares to depart down the Corsicana Sub (the very line these men are working on). This busy junction takes a pounding and requires constant maintenance.
Bluff Sub at Big Sandy until it passes. If, on the other hand, a low-priority freight is approaching, the dispatcher will sometimes put it in the siding (if eastbound) or hold it out of town (if westbound) until the train coming off the Pine Bluff has departed. With all these choreographed moves possible, it’s wise to carry a scanner to keep abreast of developments. About a half- mile west of the crossing on the Corsi- cana Sub is a siding in which UP some- times parks entire trains, a cut of cars, or maintenance equipment. Once trains depart Big Sandy on ei- ther sub, they quickly reach speeds up to 60 m.p.h. and above. If you plan to follow a hot westbound “Z” or stack train out of Big Sandy on the Mineola Sub and photograph it, you better get a head start. Otherwise, it’s liable to be
quite a spell before you catch up unless it has a meet because of the speed lim- its and stop lights in the many small towns along the line.
For the first few miles out of Big Sandy westbound, the Mineola Sub heads virtually straight through the forest along U.S. Highway 80. In con- trast, the Corsicana Sub negotiates tight and meandering (and some super- elevated) curves south of town and
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