By B. Smith and CE Hunt
These days Drill-Tex is obtaining most of their drilling mud from a plant in Oklahoma along the MKT. I wondered over and snapped a couple of pictures yesterday.
Stepping back a bit, I was able to get the other MKT hopper in the picture and the PC hopper as well. Don’t see too many of them around here!
You never know what one will see on the Southwest Spur. The early 1970’s were incredible for railfanning. (The Southwest Spur is set in 1972.) The abundance of road names (including recent fallen flags, such as the GN, NP, CB&Q, NYC and Pennsylvania) was astounding. The PC was only 4 years old in the picture.
Note: In 1972, the Katy was a great going concern and had been for a century! Until Christmas Day, 1872, no railroads connected Texas with the rest of the United States. One that day, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway crossed the bridge over the Red River and entered service into Texas. That was only seven years after the Civil War! The MKT would survive until its takeover by the UP in 1988.
Note from the editor (CE Hunt)
As well as a railfan, modeler and amateur rail historian, I am a writer. I often weave a few subtle rail themes into my novels because, well, I can’t help myself.
If you are a reader and enjoy travelling, you might enjoy my Steve Miles series–A Moveable Marfa and The Sommières Sun. I am currently working on the third installment of the Series. My character, Steve, loves railroads and it comes out as he works to save rail service to his adopted home town of Marfa, Texas. It isn’t a major theme, but I included it to get folks to think about the importance and even the beauty of rail service. Both books are available in paperback and kindle. I’d most appreciate it if you checked the series out. It would help support the expense of this site as well. Thanks!
Book #1 — A Moveable Marfa
Steve Miles is suddenly wealthy. Now he has to discover what that means as he moves from the bureaucratic rat race of Washington, D.C., to the laid-back peace of Marfa, Texas. Of course, he finds that wealth doesn’t equal personal fulfillment and, after many challenges, decides to embark upon a journey to figure out who he really is.
Follow along on this thoughtful and at times, humorous, journey as he navigates the cultural complexity of an artist colony in West Texas, suffers his quirky family, explores the crowded but lonely streets of Paris, experiences the second coming of the “Lost Generation,” gets to know a very free-spirited Brazilian neighbor, and explores the culture of numerous villages in the South of France to ultimately find love and a far deeper self-awareness.
Book #2 — The Sommières Sun
Steve Miles continues his journey to finally discover who he is while pursuing a complicated but wonderfully rewarding relationship with a woman from another, older world. He navigates the eccentricities of the West Texas art colony of Marfa, a collection of intriguing, and at times downright weird, characters in Paris, and the relaxed village life of southern France. From experiencing a hurricane in New Orleans, to delving into the world of Tiki culture to ultimately letting go and becoming who he really is meant to be, Steve fills in the gaps with insightful observations about life. Ultimately Steve finds he must reconcile his beliefs with French perspectives on a host of modern social issues. The Sommières Sun is a genre bending tale that it is part travel writing, social commentary, humor and coming of age.
Rails West 