Santa Fe News

September & October 2002

BNSF and Other Railroads

Special Trains 
Traffic
West Coast Port Lockout 
ERRATA: 
Logistics Park 
Service Interruptions 
Loco Notes 
Pool Power 
Remote Control Yard Jobs 
Warbonnet Watch
Depot News 
Track Purchase 
Abandonment



Special Trains


                BNSF as well as predecessor ATSF has always taken of the
UPS business.  BNSF proved their loyalty to UPS again on September 19th.
When a three pack was bad ordered at Belen off of train Z-LACWSP9-18,
BNSF handled it in a special train to make the UPS sort time in Chicago.
Train Z-BELWSP9-19 ran from Belen to Willow Springs with BNSF Dash
9-44CW 4933 and three pack spine car TR 300681.  The special train
departed Belen at 09:45 on the 19th, only 2 hours and 30 minutes after
the Z-LACWSP9-18 departed.  It arrived in Willow Springs the next
afternoon 1 hour and 5 minutes after the Z-LACWSP arrived.


Traffic

                On Mondays, train Z-DENCHI9 has been cut back to depart
out of Omaha.  The power and crew come out of Lincoln with an on duty
time of 19:25.  Train Z-OMACHI9 is due out of Omaha at 20:40 with
arrival in Chicago the next morning at 10:30 for a 13' 50" trip.  The
train runs via Creston to the Cameron Connection, then uses the Santa Fe
to Chicago.  This train began operations on September 9th.  It gets a
new crew at Galesburg also.

                Another new intermodal train is the Z-KCKSBD1.  The
train is due out of Kansas City at 22:00 on Friday & Saturday.  It is
set to arrive in San Bernardino at 10:00 on Sunday & Monday.  It started
operations on September 20th and has a 38 hour schedule from Kansas City
to San Bernardino.  The train is blocked with all San Bernardino traffic
out of Kansas City with double stacks on the head end followed by TOFC.
It picks up both blocks at Clovis also.  The train does not replace
anything, but is a new train added due to intermodal volumes increased
during the peak intermodal fall shipping season.  The train sort of has
an eastbound counter part, but its symbol is the Q-LACWSP1.  It was
initiated on September 26th with a Friday & Saturday Departure from
Hobart Yard.  It is due out of Los Angeles at 19:30 and arrives in
Willow Springs at 06:30 on Monday & Tuesday for a 57 hour trip across
the Transcon.  The power of course runs light to Chicago or with
whatever double stacks that may be destined for Corwith.  Blocking for
the train is all Willow Springs TOFCs with no work scheduled in route.
The Q train is an overflow off of the Z-LACNYC2 and does not handle LTL
traffic.  Only Trailer load, IMC and Cold UPS traffic.

                Last Month I reported that BNSF had not been running the
Ice Cold Express trains since late July.  Effective September 5th, the
Q-BCACHC & Q-CHCBCA trains were dropped form the active schedule.  All
Reeferailer traffic now moves via other BNSF Z trains on flatcars.  The
Z-FRSCHI is one of the primary trains that hauls reeferailer traffic.
It is not uncommon to see 15 or so of the trailers on that train.


West Coast Port Lockout

                Traffic has been severely down on BNSF (and other
railroads too, I am sure) since the West Coast Dock Workers walked out
on a temporary strike on September 28th.  The Dock workers came back to
work on the 29th only to find the Port Authorities had locked them out.
There are 29 ports on the Pacific Coast of the US that are shut down due
to the lock out that has continued for a week.  On Monday, September
30th, BNSF quit taking shipments of international containers until the
situation is cleared up.  By Thursday, October 3rd, export grain
shipments had been halted as well.  Also on the 3rd, BNSF quit accepting
Perishable meat and poultry products moving in refrigerated cars
destined for California, Oregon or Washington, due to the congestion at
the ports and the with the ports shut down, there is no where to take
the traffic if BNSF accepts it.  The eastbound train line up coming from
California for the 1st week of October has looked strange with no stack
trains and very few P trains operating.  There are still a few P trains
and Q trains operating since domestic container traffic is not affected.
Westbound, there has not been any stack trains operate since September
29th.  The P trains have been limited also.  Some of the P trains have
been rather small that have operated with only 40 - 50 cars.  The
lockout is affecting more than just the railroads.  The Nissan plant in
Tennessee was going to shut down by Friday, October 4th if the lockout
was not over; since they could not get the parts they needed still
sitting on ships in the Pacific ports.  The Toyota plant in California
was in the same predicament.  President Bush could step in and order the
lockout ended and give each side a 60 cooling off period in which they
will be back to work.  So far, he has not done that.  USA Today reports
that the lockout is costing the country up to $1 Billion per day in lost
wages.  Not mention what it will do to the economy during the Christmas
buying season.

                By October 6th Port traffic was stored in sidings and
yard tracks about everywhere it could possibly be stored along the
Transcon.  Many places, the entire train was stored and others, it was
just a large cut of cars destined for Long Beach or Los Angeles Harbor.
Some traffic was backed up as far as Black, TX, just west of Hereford
waiting on the lockout to end.


ERRATA:

                Last Month, I called the BNSF three letter designation,
LHA, LaHabra on the UP.  While the BNSF computer lists it that way, BNSF
is actually using LHA to stand for Los Angeles harbor APM Terminal.
This is the new Maersk Terminal.


Logistics Park

                On September 5th, the new BNSF intermodal and automotive
terminal at Joliet, IL opened for business.  The new facility was
temporarily being called Arsenal since it was at the old Joliet
Ammunitions plant site.  It is now officially called Logistics Park
Chicago.  Trains destined to and from there carry a three-letter
designation of LPC.  A small ceremony was held on September 6th for the
automotive side.  On October 14th, a ceremony is to be held opening the
intermodal side with BNSF 6976 (painted for Maersk) in attendance.

By mid September, the old BN auto terminal at Naperville was to close
and all the traffic was to go to Logistics Park.  Initially, the only
train symbols to operate out of LPC were the V-LPCPTL and V-LPCLAC
(LaCrosse, WI).  The 1st train to operate from the Santa Fe side west of
Kansas City directly to Logistics Park was the V-BELLPC3-16 departing
Belen on September 16th with 57 loads of Nissans from Mexico via El
Paso.  The train set out the rear 16 cars at Kansas City leaving 41
loads of Nissans for the new Logistics Park pulled by the ATSF 881 &
BNSF 6800.  Another train with the symbol of V-WATLPC3-25 departing
Watson, CA with 52 loads of mixed destination autos.  Only 46 of them
departed Belen with 15 of those going to Kansas City.  The rest went to
Logistics Park.  BNSF has also changed the service on train V-MCISBD8.
It has carried an A suffix for most of its life, now it carries an L
suffix (V-MCISBD8-24L for example) The L designates it as a Logistics
Park Visitor.  It departs the IHB at McCook and stops in Logistics Park
for a set out and pick up.

Since the BNSF gained access to the new Oakland International Gateway
last spring, the only train that has been using it on a regular basis
was the Q-OIGCHI train.  During September, train P-CHIOIG3 ran at least
twice that I noticed.  One was on September 18th with train P-CHIOIG3-18
with engines 4396 and 5264 pulling 69 loads all for Oakland.  Many were
empty containers and others were mixed loads for many different ocean
carries.  Scheduled for October 5th departing out of Chicago is a
S-CHIOIG3-05 if the lockout is cleared up.  It had not departed as of
19:00 on the 5th.

                The Z-NBYWSP has had two instances that I can document
where it had an auto rack on the rear of the train.  It is very unusual
for the old 991 train to carry an auto rack.  One such train was on
September 10th departing Amarillo.  Train Z-NBYWSP9-09 only had 36 loads
with the one loan autorack on the rear.  The train actually departed
Richmond with 9 autoracks on the rear of the train.  The other 8 were
cut off at Clovis heading for Yale, TN and the NS for a ride to Georgia.
All were Toyota vehicles.  The one car that went through was supposed to
cut at Clovis but rode to Chicago on the hot shot instead as it was
headed for Dayton's Bluff, MN.  The other trip that I can document an
autorack on the Z-NBYWSP was on September 13th.  At Waynoka, Ok, train
Z-NBYWSP8-12 had 57 loads and one auto rack for Dayton's Bluff on the
rear of the train.

                The week ending September 21st saw US railroads move
more intermodal freight than ever before in one week.  Much of it was in
anticipation of the Port Strike/Lockout.  According to the AAR, 206,454
trailers and containers were moved, up 9.6% from the same period last
year and 1.9% from the week ending August 31st, 2002, when the previous
record was set with 202,551 trailers and containers.

A new grain facility is being built at Friona, TX.  This is supposed to
be a grain loading facility for unit grain trains of wheat and other
small grains grown in the Texas Panhandle.  The track is to be a loop
track built along the BNSF main line.  No word yet as to when it will be
put into service.  Another new grain loading facility is being built at
Shattuck, OK also along the BNSF Transcon.  I am not sure whether this
will be a loop or just more track space for the elevator.  Dirt work is
in process now but no loop is present yet.  Building this facility at
Shattuck may hurt the Southwestern Railway that operates the former ATSF
Shattuck Branch from Shattuck, OK to Spearman, TX.

Service Interruptions

                At 09:05 Arizona time on September 21st, train
Q-RICALT1-19 derailed lines 17 through 24 on their sides at Nelson, AZ
at MP 459.8 of the Seligman Sub.  The train was on Main 2 with the cars
derailing to the south and not affecting main 1.  Trains could be
operated around the derailment on Main 1, but with delays due to heavy
traffic.  No hazardous material was involved in this derailment.  The
cause was a journal bearing failure on line 17.  Apparently, a hot box
detector caught this, but the conductor failed to find the proper car
and continued thinking that nothing was wrong.  Main 2 was returned to
service at 18:00 on the 22nd.

                Another derailment occurred on September 27th at
Broncho, NM (just east of Mountainair) on the Clovis sub.  At 15:35 MT,
train H-BARKCK1-26 was crossing over from main 2 to Main 1 when they
derailed lines 22 through 43 in the crossover.  The cause was again a
failed roller bearing, but this time it wasn't from the conductor
missing the car.  It had just passed a hotbox detector only a few miles
back and had no noted defects.  Both main tracks were blocked due to
this $1.3 million derailment.  Main 1 was put back in service at 07:30
the morning of the 28th and main 2 was back in service at 11:20.
Several trains were detoured via the Northern route via Raton Pass and
Dodge City due to this derailment.  At least one westbound and 6
eastbounds were detoured.  The westbound was the Z-KCKSBD1-27.
Eastbound, they were the Z-LACKCK9-26, Z-LACNYC2-26, Z-LACWSP1-27,
Z-LACKCK1-27, Q-LACWSP1-27 & the Z-LACKCK1-28.

                Two other major service interruptions have been
Hurricane Isadore and Hurricane Lili.  Both closed the BNSF in Louisiana
for two days each.  Hurricane Isadore closed the yard at New Orleans on
September 27th through September 29th.  Hurricane Lili closed the main
line from Iowa Jct. to New Orleans from October 2nd until October 4th.
The Yard and Intermodal facility opened on the morning of the 4th at
07:00, but service was not restored until late evening on the 4th due to
track people cleaning all the trees and downed power lines off the
track.  Some delays were still being experienced due to lack of local
power at various locations.


Loco Notes

           By the end of September, all of the 2002 order of BNSF
Dash 9-44CWs had been delivered.  This includes the number series 5269 -
5223 & 4199 - 4147.  Reports are that for 2003, BNSF will get 100 more
Dash 9-44CWs numbered 4146 - 4047.  The first 50 of them may be built in
the fourth quarter of 2002 and delivered in 2003.  In addition, BNSF is
to receive 50 AC4400CWS for 2003 numbered 5603 - 5652 above the trio
they received as a test in November of 1999.

                Some of the new 4100s have been having problems and are
restricted to trailing unit status.  It seems they catch on fire.  The
problem has been electrical fires in the cab coming from the back wall
with possible injuries to BNSF personal.  Not all of the 4100s are
having this problem, just a group that was delivered in the middle of
the number series.  I do know that 4185 was one of those units although;
I do not have all the numbers.

Pool Power

Pool Power has been really plentiful across the BNSF Transcon lately.
Train V-MCISBD727 was seen arriving Clovis, NM with a pair of white SOO
line SD60s.  The train had SOO 6002 & 6026 for the sole power.  The two
units were cut off and ran west on the V-CLORIC7-29 train and made it
all the way to Richmond, CA.  There they laid over on October 1st and
returned east on Q-RICCHI train.  The engines were on Horsepower hours
from CSX and were to be returned to CSX.  Another Set of SOO units that
came from CSX departed McCook, IL on October 4th with train
V-MCISBD7-04A.  They were passing Fort Madison on the morning of the 4th
with the SOO 6018 & SOO 6062 for sole power on the train.

                Another really unusual locomotive move was seen
departing Gainesville, TX on October 1st.  Train Q-FTWKCM1-30 had BNSF
4306 and DMIR 869 leading 92 Triple Crown roadrailers.   The DMIR is an
ex B&LE SD38AC and was last reported to still be in B&LE colors.

The pool power has been unusual lately in the fact that the normal NS
and CSX power that runs through on westbounds is appearing on other
trains as well.  It is normal for the Q-NYCLAC to have NS run-through
power to Kansas City and often beyond.  One such move was seen on
September 22nd at Wellington, KS when train Q-NYCLAC1-21 arrived with NS
9207, 6552 & 8343 for power.  The V-MEMSBD may have CSX power that goes
all the way to California.  When the power gets out west, it has to come
back on anything BNSF needs power on.  One such move was on September
18th.  Train P-LACCHI2-16 departed Amarillo, TX with BNSF 4788, NS 8419
(Ex CR), NS 9185, & NS 9205.  (Dash 9-44CW, Dash 8-40CW, 2 Dash
9-40CWs.)  Other strange applications of NS units have been seen on
train G-EDYDHT5-16 at Amarillo, TX on September 17th.  That train had
BNSF 1015, BN 7823, NS 9253, BNSF 4572 & BN 3156 (Dash 9-44CW, SD40-2,
Dash 9-40CW, Dash 9-44CW, GP50).  The oddity about the NS unit in this
case is that it is one of 7 on the NS that has the large Operation
Lifesaver 25th anniversary logo painted on the side.  (NS 9250 - 9256.)

                October 2nd, BNSF train H-BARKCK3-30 arrived in
Wellington, KS with the following consist:  BNSF 5382, CN 2594 & FURX
8126.  Also on October 2nd, train G-CRLKCK4-01 (Potash from Carlsbad,
NM) had BNSF 4679, NS 9511 and BNSF 753 as it arrived at Clovis from
Carlsbad.    October 5th had BNSF train M-PHXKCK1-02 passing Waynoka
with an unusual consist of BNSF 1008, NS 5324, NS 5017, & BNSF 2500.
(Dash 9-44CW, Ex CR GP38-2, Ex CR B40-8, GP35).  On October 4th train
M-TULAMA1-03 departed Enid, Ok with ATSF 911 leading NS SD40-2 3380.
MPEX SD45 9532 has been seen in Kansas again recently.  Train
M-KCKPHX1-01 was seen departing Emporia, KS with the BNSF 4442, BNSF
6344, MPEX 9532 & BNSF 7021 for power.

                A few odd UP & CN units have been spotted in unusual
places also.  On September 21st, train Z-FRSCHI1-20 arrived at Clovis
with BNSF 4723 leading the UP 6632 & SP 189.  The 4723 is the Microsoft
Simulator engine.  On October 2nd, train B-LACWSP1-30 departed Amarillo
with BNSF 1080, ATSF 337 & UP 9579 with 66 empty TOFC cars.  Train
G-ENIWCL1-30 (Enid, OK to West Colton, CA) had CN 2620 leading BNSF 8636
arriving at Amarillo on October 1st.  Train Q-SBDCHI1-27 arrived at
Belen, NM on the 29th of September with BNSF 8211, 4839 & CN 5793 for
power.

                Finding a through freight train on BNSF without some
sort of Dash 9 on it is becoming rare these days.  A few did show up
lately though.  Train P-CHIRIC1-04 was seen arriving at Amarillo on
October 5th with BNSF 8703, BNSF 8625, BNSF 6333, BN 7904. (GP60, B40-8,
2 SD40-2s).  The first two were in Blue & yellow and the last two in
Green & white.  No Heritage colors at all and no Dash 9s.

                Finding four SD40-2s on a long distance freight is
almost impossible any more.  But it happened on October 5th.Train
M-KCKPHX1-04 was seen at Pampa, TX with four SD40-2s.  They were the
BNSF 6790 (green), BNSF 8059 (green), BNSF 7801 (Heritage 1) and BNSF
7832 (Heritage 1).  All four were ex BN units as well.  Remember not too
long ago when BN SD40-2s were on almost every BN train on the system?
Now try to find four of them on the same train and see how long that
takes.  One other train with four SD40-2s was seen at Roswell, NM with
BNSF 8051, BN 8042, BNSF 6742 and BNSF 6929 leading train G-CRLKCK4-10
on September 12th.  The 6742 is an ex ATSF while all others are ex BN.

Remote Control Yard Jobs

                Starting October 7th, all yard jobs at Barstow are to
become Remote Control Yard jobs.  A few have been RCOs all year long.
There has been talk of trying to add a second slug to each mother unit,
which would put a slug on each end of the SD39.  This will probably not
happen, but it would make an interesting configuration of
Slug/SD39/Slug.  On September 17th, the local from Lubbock to Amarillo
had SD39 6202 in the consist heading for Denver and eventually Lincoln
for RCO training.  BNSF 2249 (GP38-2B) has been at Clovis for several
months, but is now moving to Denver for RCO training.  It is taking a
rather round about route to get there.  It departed Clovis on the local
moving to Amarillo, then moved to Fort Worth on a M-AMAFTW train.  From
there, it went to Kansas City via the M-TPLKCK.  It is now heading for
Kansas City and should move to Lincoln then to Denver.

                Rumors are that by the end of the 2nd quarter of 2003,
3/4 of the yard jobs on BNSF will be Remote Control jobs.  There are
some 800 daily yard jobs on BNSF and about 600 of them will be remote
jobs.  The only problem is that the Remote jobs do not get as much work
done as a full yard crew.  If work piles up, then an engineer is called
to run the engine to try to catch up the work.  This has been done at
Newton, Kansas City, Clovis and Barstow that I am aware of.

Warbonnet Watch

September 7th, 2002
Train Z-WSPRIC9-05 departed Kansas City with ATSF 645 leading BNSF 794 &
792.  All three Dash 9-44CWs.

September 25th, 2002
Train Q-SBDCHI1-24 was at Winslow, AZ with BNSF 814, 8241 & 788 (Dash
8-40CW, SD75M, Dash 9-44CW) for power.

October 1st, 2002
Train V-SBDKCK4-30 departing Kingman, AZ was seen with a trio of ATSF
units.  The train had the 656, 848, & 660 for power on 56 auto racks.
Those same three units had gone west on train Z-KCKSBD1-28 departing
Kansas City on the 28th of September.

Several other instances were recorded this month of just two Warbonnets
on a train, but no other three unit sets were noted.  One such two unit
set was on September 14th at Clovis when train P-PHXCHI1-13 arrived with
ATSF Dash 8-40CW 876 & Dash 9-44CW 649 for power.

On September 25th, train Z-LACKCK9-24 departed Clovis with ATSF Dash
9-44CW 676 & Dash 8-40CW 872 for power.

On September 28th, train V-KCKSBD3-27 had ATSF 951 & ATSF 579 for power
departing Kansas City.

Seen departing Wellington, KS on the morning of September 29th in the
pre-dawn hours, was train S-CWSLBP1-28 with BNSF 599 & ATSF 614 for
power.

The former ATSF South yard at Wichita, KS is now Kansas
& Oklahoma's Gilbert Street Yard.  In that yard is car JTTX 136432
billed to Motive Power Equipment Solutions in Greenville, SC.  This car
carries Vulcan Chemicals 65 ton GE that was at one time Air Force #100.
It has been out of service at Vulcan for some time sitting southwest of
Wichita at Vulcan Chemicals.

Depot News
During the last week of September, Amtrak moved back into the ATSF
(BNSF) Depot at Garden City.  Amtrak had been using a small construction
trailer at Garden City for most of this year due to the City of Garden
City has had the depot remodeled.  BNSF crews use the east end of the
depot since a road switcher crew is stationed there.  Amtrak will share
the west end with bus company TNM&O.  The Bus company will move in on
Oct. 1st.  The depot is a 1907 built "early county seat style" depot
with the angled bay windows on the front and ends.

The city removed the two large framed photos during renovation (one a
hand-colored shot of the 1951 Super Chief on Wooton curve and the other
a scenic shot of the Grand Canyon). The Amtrak agent has asked for them
to be returned but the city replied they would have to check with the
architect to see if it fits in with his "vision." They have placed a
(non-working) restored wood stove in the waiting room, and refinished
the wooden benches.

Track Purchase
                On October 1st, BNSF announced that it had purchased
about 100 miles of track from the Shipper Consortium Inc.  The track is
between Council Bluffs and Bayard, IA.  It connects with the BNSF at
Council Bluffs.  BNSF has been operating the line since 1982 as a lease
agreement for the Shipper Consortium, INC. The track is former Milwaukee
Trackage.   Current opportunities on the line include a grain shuttle train loader at
Templeton, Iowa, and an ethanol plant at Coon Rapids, Iowa.

BNSF is working with the State of Iowa to secure public funds to help
maintain the line based on current and future business opportunities in
the area. In addition to Bayard, Coon Rapids and Templeton, the line
also serves Aspinwall, Dedham, Defiance, Earling, Manilla, Manning,
Neola, Panama, Persia, Portsmouth and Underwood.

Abandonment
 The former Missouri Pacific Line between Kiowa and
Hardtner, KS is up for abandonment as of October 3rd.  The 9.93 miles
was built by the Kiowa, Hardtner & Pacific and leased to the Missouri
Pacific for most of its life.  It is still owned by a family in
Hardtner.  The line was part of the MP Hardtner Branch from Hardtner
Jct. in West Wichita through Conway Springs, Argonia, Anthony, & Kiowa.
It became part of the UP under the UP-MP Merger in 1982.  In 1991, it
was leased to the Kansas Southwestern, a shortline operating several ex
MP branches in South Central Kansas.  This included the Hardtner branch,
the line from Conway Springs to Radium and the line from Wichita through
Hutchinson to Lyons and Geneseo.  The 9.93 miles of the former MP line
has not seen any traffic since about 1994 or 1995.  The last traffic to
use the line on a regular basis was a haz mat transfer station at
Stumps, halfway between Kiowa and Hardtner.  In 1998, the BNSF took the
BNSF/KSW crossing out at Argonia since the KSW cold not afford to repair
it.  This ended service west of Argonia on this line.  The KSW abandoned
the line from Conway Springs to Kiowa about 2 years ago and the track
was ripped up.  The KH&P was left in place with a connection to the BNSF
siding at Kiowa.  The only traffic that has been on the line since 2000
is some BNSF track machines stored on the connection.  The only rail
related industry in Hardtner is the OK Co-op.  OK Co-op also owns the
elevators in Kiowa along the BNSF main line and the abandoned part of
the MP/KSW.  The MP depot still stands in Hardtner as of last spring.