Tag Archives: texas

Some Long Horn Cattle!

Twice a day at the Fort Worth stock yards, they do a drive of the long horn cattle.  They take them through the street up the center of the yards with the crowds gathered around.  They are very specific about where you can be.  There are markers that you must stay behind and they police latecomers closely to not try and get in front of those that have been waiting.  Also, you are not allowed to be low down.  Crouching is not allowed.  I think it might be so you can move away quickly if required.

The cowboys herd the cattle on horseback.  The cattle themselves seemed pretty docile on this occasion.  They are not kidding when they are called long horn cattle.  The horns on these creatures are absolutely enormous.  They move relatively slowly up the street so, once they had passed us and the crowd started to disperse, I was able to walk up the street quickly and get to the other end before they had all gone through.

Fort Worth Stock Yards

A work trip to Texas included a weekend where I was free to do some exploring.  I decided that the Stock Yards in Fort Worth would be worth a look.  I knew a little about it but not much.  There were the buildings left from the time when the yards were actively trading cattle.  These are now repurposed for the tourist business.  They also have some of the surrounding buildings like the hotels and bars that probably are still serving much the same purpose as they always have.

A lot of exhibits were set up with people in costume cooking or working with traditional crafts.  These were in a variety of tents.  They didn’t seem to be getting a lot of visitors and I felt a little conspicuous photographing them as a result but I guess that is all part of the attraction.  There was more to come but that will be another post.

My First A350-1000 – Thanks Qatar

The A350-1000 has started to be delivered in some numbers.  However, none of the operators that I get to see regularly has any in their fleet at this point.  Some of the early deliveries went to Qatar Airways and they have been flying them to Dallas.  Since I had a free weekend in the area on a work trip, I decided to catch my first examples.

Things conspired a little against me, though.  On the Saturday, the weather that had just passed through had left some northerly winds which meant the approaches were coming from the south which is not so handy for getting shots.  I did find a location but it wasn’t a great spot.  Heat haze was still a bit of a problem and the angles were rather limited.

On the Sunday, normal service was resumed with a southerly flow.  However, just before the A350 showed up, they decided to do a sweep of the runway.  They moved arrivals to the inside runway which meant it the Qatar jet was a bit far away compared to everything that had been arriving on the outer runway a short while before.  Still, I got the shots.  It also taxied out just before the sun went down.  However, they crossed to the other side for departure so not much of a shot opportunity.

Crystal Palace II

This one is for some of the Brits who read this blog.  The pictures are a bit sketchy as they were taken from a moving car (I was not driving)!  I was in Dallas for work and noticed this building from a distance.  I figured I would try and get some pictures as we drove by.  The building is apparently a modern construction but, to my mind, it appears to be a direct reproduction of the original Crystal Palace.  Obviously not a reproduction after it burnt down but it does look just like it.  Anyone from Texas – Gary, I am looking at you – that knows anything about this building?

Two Special American 737s – At Last

American Airlines has painted a number of its jets in liveries of the airlines that went into it over the years.  It happens that, as I write this on a plane, I just saw an A320 in American West colors as we taxied out.  They painted up three 737s in special schemes and I had a poor record of seeing them.  Two of these, the TWA scheme and the Reno Air scheme, both showed up at DFW while I was there waiting for a flight home.  The TWA scheme landed just after I got there so I saw it while riding the inter-terminal shuttle.  I then had it taxi out past me a little while later.  Sadly it took off from the other side of the field.  The Reno jet followed later and it did take off from our side so I felt like I had finally checked out something that had evaded me for too long.

The Mad Dogs Aren’t Gone Quite Yet

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a jet that has had its time and is now rapidly disappearing from the skies of the US.  However, they aren’t all gone.  American Airlines has been a big user but the arrival of 737s and A319s means they are heading to the desert in large numbers.  I had assumed that meant they were a rarity but DFW is clearly still seeing a lot of them.  I was taking a shot of any of them that showed up since I might not get many more chances.  I have, of course, shot them a lot of the years but this was a nice final encounter.  Strange how pleased you are to see something that used to be a bit of a yawn.

My First A220

The A220 (or C Series CS100 if you are not yet ready to have it labeled as an Airbus) has been in service for a while but, until recently, I hadn’t seen one.  Then, while I was on the shuttle between the terminals at DFW, we came around the terminal that Delta uses and I realized that the jet that had just pushed back was an A220.

It was early evening so the light was quite nice.  The shape of the jet was quite distinctive.  Aside from the cockpit shaping, the wings are quite large (giving it quite decent range capability) and the large fans of the Pratt GTFs are conspicuous.  It is not a bad looking jet the Delta colors looked good on it.  Sadly it taxied to the other side of the airport so I didn’t see it depart but it was nice to finally see one for real.

DFW

Returning from a work trip to Dallas, I was flying out of DFW.  I got to the airport in plenty of time so, with a bit of time to kill, I decided to take a ride on the train that runs between the terminals.  It makes a loop of the whole airport in both directions.  I decided to see what you could see from the train and did a whole loop of the airport.

First, it is not a great photo platform.  Aside from shooting through the windows (which were actually not that bad), the stations are not well located for viewing the ramps and, when it has a clearer view, it is moving at speed and is a pretty unsteady base for shooting.  There are always reflections too, of course.

DFW is an American hub and that is pretty obvious as you head around the terminals.  No shortage of American jets including a few remaining MD-80s and one of the special scheme jets too.  The longer view across the gates with the multiple fins was a shot you could get at a number of places.  It wasn’t just American though.  Obviously other airlines use the airport.  It happened that a British Airways 747-400 had pushed as we got there and the train runs around the perimeter of that ramp so we saw it from almost all sides.

If you have a bit of spare time while waiting for a flight at DFW, I would definitely take a ride around the terminals.  It is a lot more interesting than sitting waiting at a gate and the food options weren’t great either so take a ride and see what is going on and where people are going to and coming from.

Got My Eye on You

I have been in downtown Dallas a couple of times recently for work.  One of the places we have had dinner is across the road from a small park area that has a sculpture of a giant eyeball at one end.  It is a bit creepy to be honest.  I photographed it on my way to dinner when the sun was still going down.  When we came out, it was fully dark so I figured I would get another shot.

Take Your Pick When Refueling

The F-105 Thunderchief (or Thud) is a beast of a plane. Sadly I never got to seem them in action.  One is parked outside at Cavanaugh in Addison TX.  Its camo is a bit bleached by the Texas sun (it was just over 100 degrees the day I arrived and that was towards the end of the afternoon).  The thing that caught my eye, though, was the refueling receptacle or, more specifically, receptacles.  USAF aircraft have the flying boom refueling system.  This was not always the case and jets like the F-100 had flight refueling probes for the hose and drogue method.

I assume that the Air Force was in a transition mode when the F-105 was being designed so they had both.  On the upper side of the nose there is a ramp for boom refueling to take place.  Below that on the port side is a retractable refueling probe for hose and drogue use.  I didn’t realize that any jets had been built for both (aside from the UK and French E-3s which are a bit larger and more able to accommodate the extra kit.  I wonder which one was more regularly used since the techniques for each type differ.