July & August New From The Road
(from the man out on the road)
Traffic
Special Trains and Special Moves
Shortlines
Service Interruptions
A UP derailment between Dalhart & Liberal has forced the UP to detour via BNSF again. Two trains each way have detoured via the BNSF between
Vaughn & Kansas City on the 21st & 22nd. The UP had a 21 car
derailment that blocked the main line. The derailment occurred on the evening of
the 21st, when a westbound UP stack train had stopped at the east switch
of the siding at Tyrone, OK. After the train stopped, they went into
emergency. The conductor walking his train found the 21 cars blown over on their sides by a wind gust estimated to be at 90 + MPH. An eastbound
sitting at Tyrone waiting on the westbound was not affected by the wind.
Two small derailments occurred in Kansas on the 3rd & 4th of August that
interrupted traffic. An eastbound M-BELKCK1-01 derailed an empty tank
car near the rear of their train at Milan, KS as it departed the siding. While the car did not turn over, it put the train into emergency. The
crew discovered the car derailed and it had damaged the rail for about ½
mile. BNSF track people were able to make temporary repairs and allow trains to again begin to move over the main line. The derailment
occurred about 22:00 forcing the main line to close on the single main
track east of Milan. The main line was opened at 03:30. Shortly
after
traffic began to move on the main line, another derailment at El Dorado
again closed the main line. The crew of Local L-KAN2221-03 derailed a hopper car in a hand throw crossover at MP 175. They were pulling out of
the Texaco Refinery and crossing from one main line to the other when the
car derailed on the crossover. The cause was a switch improperly lined.
Due to this, three eastbound and three westbound Z trains were detoured via Newton.
The UP suffered a derailment that affected BNSF on August 4th at 03:30.
The derailment happened on Cajon Pass at Summit at MP 55.9. A pair of
locomotives had just shoved an eastbound train up the hill and cut off at
Summit. The pair of helpers were sitting on main 2 (south) at summit as a
westbound UP train crossed over from Main 2 to Main 1. For some reason, the crew backed their power into the side of the westbound train
derailing 9 loads of corn syrup and their two helper units. Of the
derailed cars, 7 of them were on their sides and one of the UP units
suffered a fuel tank rupture. The westbound train was the F-ANPLB1-01
running on BNSF trackage rights. Since the incident occurred at 03:05
AM, I would assume that crew fatigue played a big part in the collision.
Both main tracks were blocked for about 16 hours. BNSF considered
detouring via UP tracks from Los Angeles to Vaughn, but decided not to
take this option.
The UP had another derailment that affected BNSF traffic on August 9th
near Springfield, CO. UP Empty coal train F-CCCQEY1-08 was hit by a
loaded tractor trailer at the Highway 160 crossing just south (railroad
east) of Springfield. The rig caused the lead two units to derail as
well as the head 20 cars in the train. Approximately 650 feet of the
Boise City sub was torn up resulting in traffic being held at La Junta or
Amarillo. The driver was fatally injured when the truck burst into
flames. The 160 highway crossing has automatic warning devices. The
train was an empty returning via BNSF trackage rights from Coletto Creek,
TX.
Traffic
Something that I have been forgetting to include in my notes is that the
Ice cold Express is a very successful train. For those of you that have
seen it, you know that it operates twice per week now. It still has
overflow traffic. Several trailers seem to be moving each day in regular
TOFC service on train Z-WSPLAC4-xx. They are being moved as regular
trailers and not road railers. In other words, they ARE on flatcars. Some of this traffic is trailers that miss the cutoff times at Naperville
so they get trucked to Willow Springs to be loaded on to flat cars for
the trip to California. Very few eastbound trailers are handled via
regular TOFC service, but a few have been spotted on the Z-SBDWSP train.
The ICE train has had several Swift Trailers in the consist of the train
from the beginning, but now they are getting some Clipper Express
trailers as well. I have only seen them in the westbound trains, but I
imagine they move eastbound as well. The westbound Clipper trailers that
I have personally seen, all contained frozen candy.
Speaking of the ICE train, it is now operating the Southern Route via
Amarillo again. Beginning with the departure from Naperville on July
28th, it was routed south via Wellington, Amarillo and Belen. Both
westbound and both eastbound trains are routed via the Southern Route
currently. The reason for the change is that it takes less crews to
cross the railroad via the Southern route than the Northern route.
Train P-SBDCHI has had a small change. The Monday & Tuesday departures
of this train are now P-SBDCHC trains going to Cicero instead of Corwith.
Blocking is still the same. This change was effective July 1st.
In
addition to the P-LACATG trains that run-through on KCS and NS to
Atlanta, BNSF has added train S-LGBATG5 to run from Long Beach to
Alliance with a Sunday Departure. The train replaces the S-LGBALT train
and is a Maersk train. It departs Long Beach on Sunday at 04:30 with an
arrival in Alliance at 16:05 the third day for a 57' 35" trip via
Amarillo. Business on the Atlanta Run-through trains has been good.
Good enough that on Sundays or Mondays, there has been a Clovis section
of the eastbound train. It has not been unusual to see a P-CLOATG3 train
departing Clovis on Sunday or Monday. The P-RICCLO train has been
changed to a P-RICATG moving via Amarillo. This reduces the need for the
P-CLOATG3 trains. The departure dates for these trains are Tuesday -
Thursday. The train runs a s pure NS Atlanta/Charlotte train.
A new train operating from Clovis on Monday & Saturday is the P-CLONWO
train that replaces a S-CLOPEA train. The traffic is blocked at Clovis
for New Orleans instead of Houston and the train only has a set out
Houston set out.
In order for the Utah Railway to better facilitate switching at Provo,
train M-RRBDEN has been re-activated to replace the M-RRBPVO. This is to
allow the Utah to have a through train schedule to fill at Provo. From
what I can tell, there is still a Provo to Denver train that operates as
needed east of Provo.
BNSF has been getting some sporadic coal moves from York Canyon to
Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. Train C-YCMAMA9-01 arrived in Amarillo on
August 2nd with 50 cars of coal. The head 25 cars were for Ada, OK; the
next 10 were for SupRock, TX; and the rear 15 were for Sweetwater, TX.
Those for Sweetwater show to be for Lone Star Industries at Sweetwater
and the TXOR. The cars for SupRock were for Texas Industries, and the
cars for Ada were for Holnam. The Ada cars departed Amarillo on train
C-AMATUL9- 02. It had the 25 cars of coal on the head end followed by
various manifest traffic for Enid and Tulsa. The power for the train
from Raton and the train to Tulsa was SD70MACs 9548, 9804, & 9941. The
cars were mixed ATSF and BN open hoppers. This was the second move of
coal to Ada. This first was in late July. During Mid July, this
train
operated twice as train C-AMAARK0-01 & 02 taking loads of coal from
Amarillo to Wellington, then via Mulvane to Ark City. Part of the coal
was destined for Monarch Cement in Humbolt, KS. This traffic moves via
the SKOL between Winfield and Humbolt. On August 17th, BNSF ran another
different version of this train from York Canyon to Arkansas City. It
was train C-YCMARK0-01. The train took a rather unusual route. It
departed York Canyon and ran over Raton Pass to Trinidad where it turned
south and ran via the former BN line to Amarillo. At Amarillo, the train
set out the head 15 cars for movement to Sweetwater on the connection
track between the Red River Valley and Herford subs. After that, they
backed onto the Hereford sub and headed east to Wellington with a fresh
Panhandle Sub crew. At Waynoka, the train made a stop to set out the
rear 20 cars that were moving to Ada, Ok and Holnam. They will move via
a M-AMATUL train to Tulsa for movement to Ada. The remaining 30 loads of
coal moved on to Wellington and then to Winfield where they were set out
to the SKOL. The power ran light to Arkansas City. Power for this
train
was BN SD70MAC 9489, ATSF Dash 9-44CW 602, BN SD70MAC 9451. {
OK, you fellows from Texas. I could not find Suprock, TX on a
timetable
or a map, but it is somewhere near Teague or Dallas. Any help on finding
this one is appreciated. Also, I do not know who Holnam is at Ada, Ok.}
I am assuming that it is a cement plant, but I don't know.
Quite a bit of grain has been moving in late July and early August, much
of it to the Texas Panhandle. One such movement was train G-MNSSMR9-02
that ran from Nebraska to Summerfield, TX. It had a strange engine as
the leader. KCS AC4400CW 2010 was leading BNSF 6871, BN 6831, BNSF 793
and a solid set of 108 new BNSF covered hoppers. Another odd movement of
whet was train G-NEWWNK1-01. The train with 54 cars of wheat was moving
to Enid as the final destination. It ran to the Waynoka yards and was
held for the above mentioned C-AMATUL9-02 train. The train looked like
something off of the original BN as it had mostly BN covered hoppers and
a pair of BN SD40-2s. Other grain trains have gone to Hereford and
Black, Texas. One other odd movement of wheat recently moved from
Shattuck, OK to Lincoln, NE.
As reported by Dan Munson, the 1st train over the rebuilt Olathe
connection between former BN and ATSF trackage should have occurred Friday
August 4th. Speed over the turnout on the BN side is 10 mph; speed is 20
mph on the turnout on the ATSF. Trackage in-between is good for 20 mph.
Trains will stop to pick
up and drop off pilots at the Dennis Street crossing on the BN side.
This is used for trains that are now built in Argentine and are headed
for Tulsa or Springfield via the former Frisco lines and the Fort Scott
Subdivision. Apparently residents in Olathe are not as thrilled as the
railroad is about this new connection. The track crosses several busy
streets at grade and until the crews on the former BN side get qualified
to operate via the Santa Fe between Olathe and Argentine, the trains will
have to stop and get a pilot. The 10 MPH turnout on the former BN side
will also cause some hardships on motorists.
On August 7th, BNSF started a new stack train between Houston and Watson,
CA. It is the S-HOUWAT westbound. It departs two days per week
westbound from the Port of Houston and departs one day per week from
Watson at the Los Angeles Harbor. I do not have the symbol for the
eastbound move yet. It departs Watson on Mondays and arrives in Houston
on Fridays. The westbound train departs on Tuesdays and one other day
that I am not sure of yet either. It is scheduled out of Houston at
23:59 with an arrival in Watson at 20:59 the 4th day for a 71 hour trip.
The new train will help reduce road traffic at the Port of Houston.
The
Port of Houston Authority's Barbours Cut Terminal will load traffic for Maersk / Sealand and ship it to the west coast via BNSF. Last fall,
the
Port Authority completed a $15-million renovation and expansion of the
rail container loading facility at Barbours Cut. Containers being moved
by BNSF had previously been transported to its facility near Houston's
Hobby Airport. Containers then were unloaded and trucked to Barbours
Cut. With this new rail service, containers are now transported by train
directly to the Barbours Cut Terminal. This new service will also help
the Port Authority's pledge to reduce emissions that impact air quality
in the Houston area.
Back to the Top
Special Trains and Special Moves
Spotted on BNSF's westbound roadrailer train, the Q-NPVSBD1-08N, were six
BNSF Business cars heading for San Bernardino. The cars were the Power
Car, Snoqualmie Pass; Sleepers Rollins Pass, Donner Pass, & Marias Pass;
Business car Mississippi River; and dome Lounge Glacier View. The
train
was pulled by Dash 9-44CWs 4651 & 4737 with 42 trailers behind the
business cars. For some reason, the train made it's way over the
Northern Route departing Newton at 04:30 on the 9th, some 6 hours ahead
of schedule. The train made a very leisurely trip to Dodge City covering
the 15 miles in almost 7 hours. Reportedly, guests on board the train
included customers and prospective customers. The train made an extended
stop in Dodge City to allow other guests and BNSF officials to join the
trip there. (Reports were that Dave Dealy (AVP Southern Lines) was on
Board). Mr. Dealy and the Business cars came back east on train
Z-SBDWSP1-11 running via the Southern route.
Train M-KCKBAR1-04 had a very unusual car in it's consist that I spotted
in Amarillo on August 5th. It had a Santa Fe caboose bringing up the
rear of the train! The car was moving from [Fair], Iowa to San Diego as
a private move. It had no Trespassing signs on both doors. Aside
from
one window being broken on the side, the car looked to be in very good
shape. The number was ATSF 999565, a CE-9 rebuild from the late 1970s.
Another Caboose seen in Amarillo on the 5th was DMHX 42001 that was also
headed for San Diego. It was to move on train H-ALTBAR1-05.
For those of you on the East Texas Main lines that have been seeing
BNSF's Automax cars moving in regular manifest service, you are not
seeing things. These cars are going to Gunderson Southwest at Cleburne
for warrantee work on the cars. Some of the cars are moving via vehicle
trains to Oklahoma City, then on via manifest traffic to Cleburne. Most
will return empty from Gunderson to Kansas City in manifest service as
well then be put back into the Auto Max pool. Honda America has said
that BNSF is doing a fantastic job of hauling Hondas damage free via the
Auto Max system. BNSF has enough of the cars in service to run about
three trains per week now. When this service started in September of
1999, it was just a block of cars on a train, then a solid train of Auto
Max cars about once every 10 days. Besides the BNSF cars in the
pool,
the trains have also been carrying CSX and Soo Line cars. The Soo cars
are lettered SOO, but have Canadian Pacific markings on them. Both are
painted a light tan color. BNSF has also been repainting their fleet
from white to the light tan color.
The Circus train will move to Wichita next week. BNSF will take the
circus train from Colorado Springs next Monday morning and run it to
Wichita arriving there early on Tuesday morning. The performers cars
will be spotted at Newton near the passenger station while the animal
and support cars with the circus wagons will be spotted at Valley Center.
The animals will remain on the train until daylight when they will be
unloaded for a walk to the Kansas Coliseum about 5 miles from Valley
Center. When the circus concludes on Sunday, the train will again be
handled by BNSF to Moline, IL for another performance. It will depart
Wichita (Valley Center) early Monday Morning.
Omnitrax has already dispersed the CKRY GP38-s that were delivered to the
CKRY early this summer. Rumor are that Omnitrax is hurting for money so
the Geeps have been leased out. The Blue & white CKRY painted 381
& the
Primered 382 are on lease to the Fort Worth and Western until they
receive their four GP38s that should be arriving before too long. FWWR
has purchased 4 GP38-2s.
Operations on the Blackwell Northern have been going well this summer.
The Blackwell Northern is a leased operating from the SKOL operating
between Wellington, KS and Blackwell, OK via the former ATSF lines. The
track is owned by the state of Oklahoma and the Blackwell Industrial
Authority. (The state owns the track from the state line south to
Blackwell and the BIA from the State line north to Wellington). The
operation uses a leased SKOL GP7, the 1601 that came to the SKOL from the
Chicago Central. It is originally a MKT locomotive. The Blackwell
Northern took over operations in late May from the SKOL who is still the
designated operator by the BIA. The SKOL had been making about 3 trips
per month on the line as traffic had dwindled to near nothing. The SKOL
claimed that the BNSF was taking profits from them when the served the
International Multifoods flour mill at Blackwell. They claimed that BNSF
took the cars at Wellington and the profits as well. The new operator
has worked out some sort of deal and is able to move loads of wheat into
the mill and will be moving loads of flour out very soon. During July,
about 40 loads of wheat moved into the mill via rail. Several empty
airslide cars have moved to Blackwell that should be showing up loaded in
the next few days. The Blackwell Northern also is moving sand to the two
foundries at Blackwell.
On Sunday August 6th, the Wichita Eagle ran a story about the Kansas
Railroad "crisis." The CKRY recently had a listing of rail lines that
were up for possible abandonment. I listed some of these lines in my
last report. One of the most amazing lines that was up for abandonment,
was the Medicine Lodge line that runs from Attica to sun City, KS. This
former ATSF line did over $7 Million in revenue in 1992 when the Santa Fe
sold it to the CKRY. While CKRY still brings about 20 - 25 loads per
week off of the line, business has dropped on the line due to the way the
CKRY has done business. There is talked of the state of Kansas forming a
port authority similar to what they did to save track on the former Rock
Island several years ago. That it the track now operated by the Kyle
Railways across Northern Kansas. Following is a report from
the
Wichita Eagle, and the Hutchinson News that ran after the state held the
"Crisis" meeting in Hutchinson. Also, first is a report from one
of
those present.
BNSF was represented yesterday by John Davis, from the grain group in
Fort Worth. CKR's Bagby (quoted in the stories) was the only one from
their outfit. Mike Ogborn, the OmniTrax hatchet-man from Denver wasn't
there, and I was hopeful he'd finally turned the Wichita CKR guys loose
to run their own RR. I overheard Bagby tell someone, however, that Mike
wanted to be there, but was sewing up some deal in Canada. Davis took
some heat from the Protection Co-op man and others about BNSF's
selectivity in regards to who can "co-load" for 26-, 52- and 100-car
special rates. He tried to be forthcoming, but really wasn't. Company
line all the way. In the end, it's obvious that BNSF/UP have way too
much control over which Shortlines get cars, good rates, etc. UP wasn't
represented at all, and took some criticism from a few grain men. All in
all, though, the best quote came from an elevator man who stood up and
said flatly, "Let's face it, nearly all our current problems can be
traced to one company -- CKR." Nodding heads all around. I looked back
to see the look on Bagby's face, and he'd apparently taken the opportunity to disappear to the restroom at that point.
Hutchison News
Kansas groups: Halt rail abandonment (8/05/2000)