Waiting at the crossing in Flatonia, Texas, we got a bit excited to see a vehicle train led by a CSX engine coming our way. As it got closer, it looked odd, but as it was still in a cloud shadow we thought that perhaps that was why. As the train hit the diamond, the sun popped out and it was clear that this was a particularly faded engine – the yellow nose was not the usual yellow (perhaps due to a wreck, based upon the bent railing on the nose) and the blue had faced to a pastel shade. Sixteen-year-old CSXT SD70MAC 4773 was teamed with Kansas City Southern de México AC4400CW 4500 in the older gray paint scheme to power Union Pacific train AWFEGR-27, a repositioning move from Westfield TX to Eagle Pass TX.
The first railroad operated in Texas was the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway from Harrisburg (now part of Houston) west to Alleyton prior to the Civil War. In 1868 the railroad was reincorporated as the Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio Railroad, which continued to build west through what is now Flatonia. The GH&SA became a part of the Southern Pacific Railroad (and was the oldest segment of the mighty SP).
After the GH&SA built through Flatonia, the line was bisected by the north-south line of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway Company, which in 1892 came under the control of the SP (becoming part of SP subsidiary Texas & New Orleans in 1934). So, this crossing was, for well over 100 years, the intersection of two Southern Pacific routes, rather than the crossing of two different railroads.
And, CSXT 4773 has been repainted since this encounter. (Flatonia, Texas – October 27, 2016)
