This colorful trio of first generation Buttheads stand at Bolton's mill in Vernon, Texas on May 15, 2017.

Westbound BN coal empty near Vernon

UP 844 meets it first train at Vernon as the 2 DPU motors pass by my location.

UP Steam on BNSF rails.

UP Steam on BNSF rails. Also my last shot of the 844 and then highball to the house.

A westbound Maersk/Yang Ming stacker glides west from Vernon behind Warbonnet Dash 9 686, sister 4190, CSX SD40-2 8070 (ex-FLS/L&N), and Yellowbonnet SD40-2 6748 (ex-ATSF 5089) at 1620. Neat fact... (more)

Although I'd prefer three SD40s, the harmony of the Dash 9 and trail 7024's 645 in Run 8 sounded great as they entered the shadows of grain elevators on both sides of the tracks at 1733. Catching... (more)

A new GEVO runs as DPU on eastbound coal as it crests a little rise leaving Vernon.

Big MACs rule the roost with coal on the Red River Valley Sub. Here BNSF 9890 dips west with empties outside of Vernon.

Someone left the crew door open on this DPU as this empty coal train roars west out of Vernon.

UP coal eastbound on the rolling hills running via trackage rights over BNSF rails.

Morning stacks ride the roller coaster eastbound departing Vernon behind a cancerous-looking BNSF 850.

Distributed power BNSF 8967 is about to descend into the abyss and into a giant cloud of coal dust left behind by its eastbound loaded coal hoppers.

Shiny new hoppers really accent the landscape as loaded coal thunders east with BNSF 9613 running as a DPU. Note the lead unit's exhaust at the top of the ridge in the background!