Santa Fe News

Other Railroads Also

August & September 2002

Service Interruptions 
Traffic  
Union Pacific Traffic 
Power Notes 
Warbonnet Watch 
Depot Notes 
Shortline Notes 
Miscellaneous


Service Interruptions


                On August 12th, at 20:45 and lasting until 00:30 on the
13th, Weatherdata Inc., issued a high wind, tornado and flash flood
warning at various locations on the La Junta sub.  Only Amtrak train #4
was involved in the wind warnings, and it wasn't actually delayed -
until it got near Hutchinson.  A communications tower belonging to Koch
Energy fell across the BNSF main track at MP 221.4, three & 1/2 miles
southwest of the passenger station at Hutchinson and was also tangled in
the pole lines and code line for BNSF.  Signal maintainers had to wait
until the storms passed to work on removing the tower.  Apparently
Amtrak #4 got a short delay waiting on the track to be cleared.  No
other damage was reported to BNSF in the area.  The UP had some damage
to the Morton yard near where the tower blew across the BNSF tracks.
Several grain cars and some autoracks blew over on their sides.  Reports
were of 90 MPH + winds.

                Storms also hit the Avard sub with wind and heavy rain
near the Carmen, OK area.  BNSF set out BNSF GP60M 102 to be used in
emergency ballast train service on the Avard Sub on the 13th to handle
rip rap out of Waynoka to the Carmen and Dacoma areas where water
rushing along the tracks scoured the ballast in several locations.

                AT 17:25 on August 6th, train Z-LACWSP8-06 went into
emergency at West Flagstaff, AZ.  Inspection of the train revealed that
lines 25 - 35 were derailed upright on main 2.  Main track 1 was not
affected, so traffic could be ran without too much delay.  Just a long
section of track that was single track around the derailment.  Main
track two was put back in service the next afternoon at 16:50.  No cause
was determined for the derailment.

                At 20:50 PM on August 30th, train Q-STLCLO1-29 was
stopped on main 2 at Friona, TX, 35 miles short of it's destination at
Clovis, NM, due to Weatherdata Inc issuing a high wind advisory.  It was
raining and the wind was blowing hard when the train went into
emergency.  Inspection of the train revealed that lines 15 through 18
were derailed and on their sides on Main 1.  This is 13 platforms of
intermodal equipment.  There were 13 loaded and 10 empty containers and
trailers that were turned over.  Two containers contained hazardous
material, but no compromises were reported.  Main two was put back into
service at 00:15 on the 31st for less than a four & 1/2 hour outage.
Main one wasn't so lucky.  It was out of service until 11:40 on the
31st.  The train had 19 rail cars total.  No detours for this
derailment, but several trains were slowed to 45 MPH approaching the
location until a track was cleared.  BNSF could have routed trains south
out of Canyon, TX to Lubbock, then back west to Texico, NM in order to
route around the problem if necessary.  The total damages for this
derailment were about a quarter of a million dollars due to loss of
lading.

                Remote Control operations on the BNSF have been
virtually trouble free since start up earlier this year.  There was a
problem on August 28th at 12:30 PM at Galesburg, IL with a Remote
Control yard job, but it was not due to the remote control operations.
It was due to stupidity of a trespasser on the BNSF property.  The
Remote control Yard job was shoving a large cut of cars into the ramp
track that would be the outbound train H-GALBAR1-28.  About 40 cars from
the locomotive, a trespasser tried to crawl through the moving train,
slipped and lost his right leg when it got ran over by the cut of cars.
Besides the yard job being delayed due to this incident, the H-GALBAR
was delayed for nearly 2 hours, and Amtrak #4 was delayed for about 10
minutes while low enforcement officials finished their investigation.

                At 04:25 Pacific Time, the same morning, a derailment
occurred at Elmo, CA on the Bakersfield, Sub.  Again, it was caused by
outside intervention.  Train Z-FRSCHI1-28 derailed all four locomotives
and the head 14 cars of loaded containers and trailers.  A truck hitting
the track at high speed and knocking it out of alignment caused the
derailment.  Two of the engines were on their sides and the 14 cars were
in a pile.  Fortunately, there were no injuries to the BNSF crew.  A gas
pipeline was also damaged and clean up had to be halted until it could
be repaired.  The single main track was out of service until 06:00 on
the 29th.  The derailment was an expensive one with the loss estimated
at nearly $5 Million.  Five Z trains detoured via the UP between
Bakersfield and Fresno.  They were the Z-WSPNBY9-26, Z-WSPNBY8-26,
Z-NBYWSP9-28, Z-NBYWSP8-28 & Z-STOWSP1-28.  There were 12 Amtrak trains
involved also.  They all terminated at Fresno and returned as other
trains, while passengers were bussed between Fresno and Bakersfield.  A
total of 38 other trains ere delayed due to the derailment.

                Another Service Interruption was recorded on September
4th south of Mulvane, KS on the Ark City Sub that was due to outside
influences.  AT 09:40, a county road maintainer backed his grader up
onto the BNSF Ark City sub about 5 miles west of Mulvane to make another
pass on the gravel road.  He had failed to notice that there was a train
coming even though there were flashing lights and gates at this
crossing.  The operator of the road grader was killed on impact, the
lead four operating locomotives of the BNSF local from Newton to
Arkansas City derailed with one on it's side.  The head 6 cars plus a
FURX locomotive behind the working consist also derailed upright.  The
lead loco, BNSF 6753 turned on it's side spilling approximately 1000
gallons of diesel fuel into a dry creek bed.  The L-KAN0091-05 had
locomotives BNSF 6753, 2135, 6945 & 2550 for power along with FURX 1170
for Baytown, TX moving from Wichita.  There were no injuries to the BNSF
crew.  The Ark City sub was out of service until 09:00 on the 5th.  This
also meant that the local from Arkansas City to Newton could not be
operated later on the 4th.  Also, train Z-ALTWSP9-04 was delayed due to
traffic coming off the Douglas sub that was originally routed via the
Emporia and Ark City sub via Mulvane.

  Traffic

For some reason, the Northern route hosted a Z train On August 7th &
8th.  Train Z-ABQWSP9-07 departed out of Albuquerque with 11 loads
weighing 667 tons.  The Z train was pulled by BNSF Dash 9-44CW 5401.
The trailers on this special Z train were all UPS trailers.  The reason
for running it is not clear, but the traffic from Albuquerque was in
danger of being late, so BNSF ran a special train to get the traffic in
Willow Springs as soon a possible.  The train showed about 8 hours late
leaving Albuquerque and showed into Willow Springs only 4 hours late.
Possibly, UPS had problems at Albuquerque and could not make the
connection at Belen on time.

                BNSF operated another abnormal train on the Northern
Route on August 25th.  Train H-KCKDEN3-25 departed Kansas City with 95
cars.  Out of the 95 cars, 52 of them were empty tank cars and boxcars
for Coors at Golden, CO.  The remainder of the train was manifest
traffic for Denver including some auto racks for Irondale.

                Speaking of Auto Racks.  In early August, BNSF moved
some 27 Auto Max cars from storage on the Panhandle Northern at
Panhandle, TX to Kansas City.  The cars with AOK reporting marks had
been stored in Panhandle for over a year.  They are now being seen
moving on the BNSF with loads of Hondas from the plant in Walbridge, OH.

                Train P-SBDCHI has been changed.  It is now the
Q-SBDCHI.  It departs San Bernardino at the same times it did, but
arrives in Chicago an hour earlier.  It is scheduled out of San
Bernardino at 23:00 on Tuesday through Saturday and arrives in Chicago
at 16:30 on Wednesday through Sunday for a 63 hour and 30 minute trip.
It's departures on Tuesday, Thursday & Friday were changed from the P
train to the Q symbol on August 2nd, while the Wednesday & Saturday
departures were not changed until August 20th.


Train symbols have changed for several BNSF stack trains in early
August.  As of August 10th, all stack trains that had a LBJ symbol were
changed to a LHA symbol.  LBJ stands for Long Beach "J" Pier, and LHA is
for LaHabra on the UP side of Long Beach.  Symbols such as S-LHACHI,
S-LHANYC, S-LHACWS, S-LHAPTR, and most of the westbound counterparts are
now showing up on the BNSF.


The BNSF "ICE" train that normally runs once per week between Bell, CA
and Cicero, IL, has not been running in either direction.  The train is
the reefer railer train that BNSF started only a couple of years ago and
has changed terminals several times both in the Chicago and Los Angeles
area.  The traffic is still moving on BNSF, but it is moving on other Z
trains.  Most every Z train that operates from California to the Chicago
area has at least one of the Reefer Railers on a flat car.  Just a quick
count in Amarillo on September 6th revealed the following:  Train
Z-WSPSBD4-05 had 5 of the reefer railers, The Z-WSPLAC7-05 had 7 of the
trailers, the Z-WSPSTO9-06 had 14 of them, and the Z-WSPRIC9-05 had 1
Reefer Railer aboard a flat car.


Union Pacific Traffic


The Union Pacific ran two empty coal trains on the Duncan, Enid & Lost
Springs subs recently.  This is the old Rock Island Texas main line.
The line does not normally host coal trains, but the pair had been
stored at Waurika, Ok for a month or so and UP decided to use the Rock
Island line rather than back track to Texas and use the normal coal
route.  Train C-SACD1-12 was spotted in Caldwell, KS on August 16th,
while the C-SACD1-14 was spotted in Wellington, KS on August 20th.  The
trains are from the San Antonio Power Company with cars lettered SATX.
The second train even included CNW 8572 in the consist.

UP has also been having trouble getting trains across the former Rock
Island.  The vehicle traffic and a few odd Manifest trains that show up
on occasion are blocking the railroad.  There are not enough long
sidings to make meets in, so the trains tend to sit for long periods.
On September 3rd, the southbound vehicle train sat at Riverdale, KS for
nearly 6 & 1/2 hours waiting on two trains to run north.  The next
siding to the south is at Caldwell and it had a northbound local and a
loaded rock train tied down there waiting to get run around by two
trains.  Evidently this was the auto train from Oklahoma City and the
regular manifest train, the M-FWWT.  The same thing happened about a
week prior to this as the vehicle train went dead on the law at Caldwell
only 50 miles out of Wichita.



Power Notes


First Union Rail Leasing has something like 140 lease returned BN and
BNSF SD40-2s that they have in a lease fleet.  Most are still painted in
BN green.  General Electric is leasing 50 of them for use on BNSF due to
the high failure rate of the Dash 9 fleet lately.  One of the problems
with the Dash 9s has been air compressors failing.  On more than one
occasion, the air compressors have failed on the GEs leaving a train
stranded without enough air to release the brakes.  The FURX units are
free roaming units and can be seen in any service from Z trains to
ballast work trains.  They are also lead qualified so they can be seen
leading on some trains, but usually are finding themselves back in the
consist.

Power short has not been a normal word on the BNSF for about a year, but
that is just what BNSF has been finding itself lately.  Several of the
surge units that have been stored at Northtown and Barstow have been
activated and used in through freight service during August.  Most of
these are SD40s and SD45-2s.  Other trains have had some real strange
power.  The M-KCKPHX has been one of note lately to have unusual power.
The M-KCKPHX1-25A departing Kansas City on the evening of August 25th
had a blue & yellow GP30 leading a trio of SD40-s.  The consist was the
2406, BNSF 6718 (Heritage 1), BNSF 7046 & 6780 (still green & white).
The M-KCKPHX 1-22 had a GP35, GP39-2, GP15-1, GP38, GP38-2, & a GP39M.
They were the 2642, 2941, 1484, 2247, 2357, & 2813.

Foreign power has been plentiful during the hot August days in Kansas
also.  SOO SD60 6043 & SOO SD60M 6059 are on Horsepower Hours payback
time from the CP.  The red SD60s came to BNSF at Northtown on August
12th, and ran to Kansas City on train M-SUPKCK1-13.  They then made a
trip to Phoenix on the M-KCKPHX1-16 with BNSF 4509, SOO 6059 & SOO 6043.
The power stayed in tact all the way to Phoenix and returned on train
Z-PHXWSP9-20 with the consist arranged like this:  BNSF 4509, SOO 6043,
SOO 6059 & BNSF 5277.  It made another trip to Phoenix on train
Z-CHIPHX1-22 with the 5277 in the lead, and then returned to Chicago on
train P-PHXCHI1-25.  The original plan was for the two units to work off
Horsepower hours until the end of October.  The 6059 was due back on CP
on October 27th but for some reason CP wants it back ASAP.  The 6043 is
still schedule to operate on BNSF until November 10th, so look for the
bright red SD60 at a town near you.  SOO 6061 has been running on the
BNSF transcontinental main line lately also making a trip to Phoenix.
It is the replacement unit for the 6059, but for some reason has been
having problems and was returning east on a M-PHXKCK1-28 not running.
It was in the consist with KCS 2037 and several BNSF units.  The consist
looked like this as it departed Amarillo, TX:  BNSF 1086, 1063, 6787,
4195, 6858, SOO 6061, & KCS 2037.

                A strange use for an SD60 was seen on August 23rd &
24th.  Local train L-KAN0351-23 departed Amarillo, TX heading for
Waynoka, Ok with EMD 9056 in the lead followed by BNSF 4236 in ATSF
blue, BNSF 2166 in BN green and BNSF 8634 in Heritage 1 colors.  The
last two units were for the Pampa to Amarillo local and were set out at
Pampa, TX.  The Big EMD returned the next day from Waynoka on the
L-KAN0361-24 trailing the 4236 (B23-7).  Seems strange to see the SD60
that was once the pride of the BN coal trains leading a local.

                The remaining SDF40-2s that had been stored at Barstow
have been moved to Topeka for scrapping.  Five of them moved on August
1st out of Barstow on the H-BARKCK1-01 as reported last time.  Five more
moved on August 9th departing Barstow on the H-BARKCK1-09 in the
following consist:  BNSF 6798, 6304, 6320, 6968, 6967, 6960, 6974, &
6963.  On August 25th, the remaining three departed Barstow on train
H-BARKCK1-25 in the following consist:  BNSF 5457, 6966, 6969, 6975,
8028, 7307, 4590 & 6309.  Also note on these two trains, the former ATSF
SD40s that have been stored and are part of the BNSF surge fleet.  The
6304 & 6309 were temporarily released for service across the BNSF but
are expected to be back in storage by mid September as more of the new
Dash 9-44CWs get delivered.  Also note BNSF 6320 is a former BN SD40,
the 6309, and it too is temporarily released from the surge fleet
storage with a mid September schedule for being back into storage.  BNSF
6314 has also been released form surge fleet storage and has lead a
couple of trains.  One was on August 26th out of Newton on train
M-NEWKCK1-26 leading BNSF 6753 & 4209 along with FURX 7245 and a pair of
ex TM GP40s from storage at Wichita on the K&O, the FURX 1161 & 1165.
The two FURX GP40s were moving from the K&O at Wichita to Valley Park,
MO for the Missouri Valley Park RR.


Warbonnet Watch

August 26th,

                Train S-LBPCWS1-22 departed Kiowa, KS with a trio of
Warbonnets just after dark on the 26th.  It originally departed Amarillo
with the ATSF 802 & 646 for power, but the 646 developed problems and
died at Waynoka.  Train P-LACCHI2-23 had set out an engine at Kiowa for
the following stack train, so it departed Kiowa with ATSF 802, ATSF 646,
& ATSF 841.

August 27th,

                Train P-LACCHF1-25 was seen in Wellington, KS with BNSF
8215, ATSF 900 & ATSF 611 for power.

August 30th,

                Train G-WELGAT9-29 departed Ark City, KS the evening of
the 30th with the following power:  ATSF 603, ATSF 854, ATSF 803 and
BNSF 8277.  It had departed Wellington earlier in the day with BNSF
7139, 5454, 7807, 6749, & 2573 trailing the four Warbonnets.

September 2nd,

                Train P-LACCHF1-01 was seen on the Clovis sub at
Mountainair, NM with BNSF 741, ATSF 843 & ATSF 862 for power.


September 5th

                Train Z-WSPALT9-05 ran from Chicago all the way to
Alliance, TX with the same consist, all BNSF GP60Ms still in Warbonnets.
They were BNSF 160, 155 & 149.  Departing Chicago on the same day, was
train Z-WSPRIC9-05 with a set of Warbonnets.  All were Dash 9-44CWs, but
not all the same class.  They were ATSF 645, BNSF 794 & BNSF 792.

I was recently asked about how many ATSF Warbonnets are still in
service.  Here is a count of just ATSF units with no BNSF markings as of
August 10th.

GP60Ms                 4
GP60Bs                  7
Dash 8-40BWs                14
Dash 9-44CWs                93
Dash 8-40CWs                143

In addition, there are 3 GP7s stored at Pasco that are still on the
roster as ATSF units and one GP9 leased to the Stockton Terminal that is
a ATSF unit.


Depot Notes

                AT Lubbock, TX is the National Ranching Heritage Center.
On the grounds of the museum is a railroad display that includes the
ATSF depot from Ropes, TX.  The depot is to be restored and bids are
being accepted for the work that could take up to one year.  During that
time, the railroad exhibit will be closed.  The depot is a #2 branchline
standard built in 1918.  Ropes is about 25 miles southwest of Lubbock on
the former ATSF Seagraves Branch.  On a short section of track at the
museum is a CB&Q steam engine, two ATSF stock cars and a FW&D caboose.
Also a railroad stock yard is on the site.  The museum is on the Campus
of Texas Tech. On 4th street in Lubbock.

                The ex ATSF depot at Plainview, TX is a County Seat
style brick depot and it now belongs to the city of Plainview.  While
nothing definite has been announced for the depot's future use, it has
had the roof replaced and a coat of paint on the wood trim.  It sits
along the former ATSF Plainview sub on the south side of the main track.

                On August 13th, The Union Pacific donated the former
D&RGW depot at Antonito, CO to the community.  The depot was built in
1880 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and is made out of local
quarried lava rock.  It was in regular passenger service until 1951.
At this point, the city has not announced what the plans are for the
depot.



Shortline Notes

                The West Texas & Lubbock railroad is now using a new
connection built by the state of Texas at Broadview, TX instead of the
former ATSF connection at Lubbock.  The WT&LR is the operator of the
former ATSF Lehman & Bledsoe Districts that run southwest of Lubbock.
The original track through downtown Lubbock was torn up for a new
freeway so the state paid to build a new connection at Broadview, west
of Lubbock on the Slaton Sub.  The WT&LR has trackage rights on the BNSF
from Broadview into Lubbock now.

In late August, the BNSF announced that they had leased about 100 miles
of former ATSF track in East Texas to the Timber Rock Railroad, Company.
(TIBR).  Timber Rock is a Watco company with headquarters at Pittsburg,
KS.  TIBR has the track between Kirbyville and Tenaha, TX on a 10 year
lease.  The track is part of the former ATSF Longview branch.  Through
trains operated on the branch for a while after the UP/SP merger, but
those through trains between Memphis and Houston now use an all UP
routing.  The ATSF branch ran north from Silsbee to Longview, a distance
of 187 miles.  The Oakdale branch that ATSF operated into Louisiana took
off of the   Longview branch just north of Kirbyville, TX and J&E Jct.
The ATSF abandoned part of the branch from Oakdale to DeRidder, LA
several years ago, then BNSF sold the remaining 39.4 miles from
Kirbyville to DeRidder to Timberrock in 1998.  TIBR can interchange
traffic to BNSF at Kirbyville and Tenaha.  BNSF was running a local from
Silsbee to San Augustine and another from Longview to San Augustine,
about midway on the branch.  Currently, BNSF still operates a local
called the L-GFC0141 daily except Sunday out of Silsbee to Kirbyville on
duty at 21:00.  They also run a local from Longview to Tenaha on duty
daily except Sunday at 07:00 returning the same day as train L-GFC0081.
TIBR took operations of the line at 12:01 Central Time on September 3rd.
TIBR does get one occasional through train they handle for BNSF.  A unit
Fly Ash train originates at Martin lake Jct. at MP 184.9 23 miles south
of Longview near Beckville and runs to New Orleans to interchange with
CSX.  There is an empty movement of this train that returns from New
Orleans to Martin Lake Jct. also.  Symbols for the Fly Ash train are
U-MARNEW loaded and U-NEWMAR empty.

Miscellaneous


                The UP made some changes to the siding at Bucklin, KS
recently.  The state of Kansas wanted a new underpass on highway 34 that
goes under the former Rock Island Golden State Route, so the road has
been lowered and widened.  The UP is re-building the bridge at the same
time and is moving the siding a little further north away from the main
line.  The siding has a wye that connects to the old Dodge City Branch
of the Rock Island now owned by the Boothill & Western (Formerly the
Dodge City, Ford & Bucklin).  The UP took out the wye to rebuild the
siding, and then replaced them.  They then cut them back out and made
the siding a shoo-fly to rebuild the main line bridge, currently under
construction.  They are supposed to put the switches back in which means
that they MAY still connect to the BH&W and transfer cars at Bucklin.
Boothill & Western now only sends cars to the BNSF at Dodge City from
it's elevator at Wilroads Gardens and South Dodge City.  The BH&W has
burned off the weeds along the right of way from Bucklin about two miles
towards Ford, KS and then sprayed weeds from there to Wilroads.  No one
know if they will interchange at Bucklin or not, but the option for the
two railroads is still open.

                In Wichita, KS, the BNSF and UP are supposed to start a
work crew in September to start raising the old ATSF and CRIP tracks
over many of the city streets.  In the late 1920s or early 1930, if I
remember correctly, the city of Wichita, the state and the railroads
built an elevated portion of the Santa Fe, Rock Island and Frisco
through downtown Wichita.  This new portion of the elevation will extend
in both directions to help promote traffic moving on the railroads and
the city streets better.  Rumor is that both crews will work together on
the two year project to separate the grade between trains and the
public.  Due to this, part of the Great Plains Transportation Museum
will be interrupted.  The west edge of the museum is next to the double
track main line owned by Wichita Terminal Association and used by the
BNSF, UP and K&O.  The Museum is supposed to get a new connection the
main lines from the south instead of from the north where it currently
comes in from.