Houston

This Texas city page will cover Houston as well as Beaumont. Everything comes to Houston and there is lots of action as well. Grain trains and lots of chemicals move through Houston. Grain trains mainly head to Galveston for shipment overseas and the chemical trains come and go to Pasadena, TX, home to some of the largest chemical plants and refineries in the world. Be real careful where you go taking pictures in Houston because there are a lot of rough neighborhoods. One wrong turn and you are in the middle of the Barrio and you better Hablo Espanol and drive a low-rider to fit in.

A pair of EMD lease engines switches the PTRA yard in Pasadena, TX next to the Crown Refinery seen in the background. All of the foreign power and assorted types of power are gone now, replaced by dozens of PTRA's own blue MK 1500 switchers. The track in the foreground is the SP mainline that runs south along highway TX-225 to the former SP Strang yard in La Porte.
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Fresh out the EconoRail paint shop, this set of Longhorn Railway engines, #7603 and 7606 (X-Port of Beaumont, X-O&CE) are waiting to be delivered in this August 3, 1997 photo taken in downtown Beaumont, TX.
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Passing the old SP depot in Orange, TX on January 25, 1998, is this westbound BNSF mixed freight headed for Houston. Orange is located between Lake Charles and Beaumont.
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Just east (actually north) of the downtown Orange, TX is Echo siding. Two NS (UP) freights wait for crews, leaving the mainline open. This shot was taken on January 25, 1998 on the west end of Echo. Echo is a very good meet point with two long sidings and only one crossing on the east end.
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The Houston Belt & Terminal Railway used the downtown Rusk St engine facility to service all the BN and ATSF engines that called Houston home. This classic January 5, 1992 shot pictures a lot of stuff that is now gone including the HB&T switchers seen sticking out of the engine house to the left. The Maxwell House Coffee plant can be seen from I-45 near downtown. The Port Terminal Railway Association (PTRA) now services BNSF power at the Old South yard off of the I-610 Loop to the east of town.
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January 8, 1994 finds a eastbound Georgetown Railway (GRR) rock train on the SP mainline just at the base of the Englewood hump tower.
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Now closed, Hardy St SP shops hosted quite an assortment of power just about anytime you visited the area. This shot was taken from the overpass at the Hardy St end of the former SP facility. The Houston skyline can be seen in the backgound. The facility in the background was used to perform major rebuilds including engine overhauls and painting. Engines emerged from the shops looking and running like brand new.
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Headed east along Makawa Rd near the back of Hobby Airport in Houston, TX is this assortment of power including a C44 widecab, a C36-7, a GP60M, a GP30, a SD and a couple of LMX's for good measure. The BNSF eastbound train is approaching the T&NO Jct. near the former HB&T Old South yard just off the I-610 Loop in the southeast part of Houston in this August 8, 1999 picture.
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A Cotton Belt GP60 leads a westbound double stack train past Tower 17 in Rosenburg, Texas. This is where the UP and BNSF cross west of Houston.
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East of Englewood Yard in Houston, along highway US-90 we find an assortment of UP, MPI and SP power on a stack train running elephant style, overtaking some rarely seen SP AC4400 on a mixed freight. Both trains are headed eastbound towards Beaumont and onto Avondale, LA this April 6, 1997 day. The SP AC4400's are normally reserved for the coal trains so it is rare for us down south to ever see any of the newer power. Moments before this shot a westbound ATSF train passed headed for Houston.
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