The Austin Area Regional Railroad
June 20, 2006

It's the last day of spring, the longest day of the year, but somehow
it doesn't seem long enough as the sun is setting rapidly. The Austin
Area Regional Railroad (reporting marks AUAR) is a 245 mile long
shortline running from Giddings, Texas to Llano, Texas. That's a
Spanish name, pronounced "E-Onno" and not "Lanno" like the local gringo
calls it. I'm at the east end of the line, and the Giddings end of the
line can easily be mistaken for abandoned.

Note: Image numbers with hyperlinks lead to maps of the photo location.

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Image 1: About 3 miles west of Giddings, TX. The tracks are hard to see.
Note the switch stand to the left.
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Image 2: Just across the road, the track is a little more visible.
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This is at the east end of McDade.
Image 3: Tracks haven't been used in quite a while. looking west
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Image 4: And looking east.
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Image 5: This is Butler, TX.
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Image 6: The last online shipper on the Austin Regional
 and a supplier of crushed rock for one of the cement factories.
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Image 7: Just a few hundred feet east of the gravel pit is a bridge over
a very wet crossing. There is a dam downstream that causes this.
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Image 8: But let's go back to the gravel pit.
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Image 9: Also in Butler, an online shipper who hasn't
needed the tracks for a long time. This is looking north.
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Image 10: Same location looking south.

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