December 2002 & January 2003
Power Notes
Dash 9s and SD40-2s
Extra Engine Moves
Warbonnet Watch
Unusual Power
Remote Control Assignments
Cowls
Traffic
Panhandle Sub Blitz
Passenger Notes
Misc.
On December 14th, El Nino took the first casualty on BNSF. It closed the UP main line that BNSF uses to reach the former WP Highline. There was a mud slide on the UP in the Feather River Canyon at MP 266.5 between the stations of Belden and Virgilia. These stations are between Oroville and Keddie on the former Western Pacific. Mud up to 10 feet deep and 100 feet in length covered the rails. The mud slide occurred at 11:50 AM PST closing the Canyon Sub for about 12 hours. IT not only covered the rails, but it also took out some poles along the tracks. BNSF requested detours on the UP from Klamath Falls to Stockton, but UP refused due to signal problems and track capacity. BNSF did run one lengthy detour. Train H-VBCBAR9-13 ran it’s normal route from Vancouver, British Colombia to Vancouver, WA, then it detoured by running east to Pasco, WA and then Sand Point, ID. It then ran through Great Falls and Mossman, MT to Billings; then via Sheridan and Gillette, WY to Edgemont, SD and Alliance, NE. It then turned west towards Denver and then south on the Joint Line to Pueblo where it stayed on the ATSF to La Junta, and then down the Boise City sub to Amarillo where it ran the Transcon to Barstow. It did not arrive in Amarillo until the 18th of December.
BNSF suffered a derailment at Planada, CA on December 15th at 07:40 PST. Train Z-RICWSP1-15 derailed 8 cars blocking the single main track. Planada is about 75 miles south of Stockton near Merced on the Stockton, Sub. The train was leaving the siding at Planada when the head 8 cars derailed blocking the main track and adjacent Santa Fe Ave., a two-lane highway. Both the main track and the siding were damaged. The 8 cars carried 35 containers and two trailers. No haz mat release occurred. The track was out of service all day on Sunday the 15th and was put back in at 03:05 on Monday the 16th without signals at the east end of the siding and main track. The cause was reported to be a broken rail at the switch. During the outage, BNSF detoured the following trains via the UP between Bakersfield and Stockton:
Eastbound:
Z-PTLBCA1-13, S-OIGLHA3-15, Z-NBYWSP9-16.
Westbound:
Z-WSPNBY9-13, Z-MEMRIC1-13, Z-WSPSTO9-14 & Z-WSPRIC9-13.
I was recently asked how many BN units are still listed on the BNSF as BN units. Here is a breakdown of BN units still in the BNSF computer as of December 9th, 2002. Most all of the units have been relettered for BNSF that will be lettered BNSF. Note that the GP15s and GP10 are stored. Out of over 300 SD70MACs bought by BN, only 100 of them are still lettered as BN, the rest have become BNSF units.
GP15
2 - 1
stored
GP10
9 - All
stored
GP28
19
GP38/-2
17
GP39M/V/E
18
GP50
8
SD40-2 70
- 15 of them are on the
DM&E
SD60M
57
SD70MAC 100
Total 300 units.
In addition to that, I feel that I need to recount the ATSF units still lettered for ATSF and on the BNSF roster. These include:
GP60M 1 – the 135
Dash 8-40BW 14 – All numbered between 561 & 582
Dash 9-44CW 93 – 600 Class
Dash 8-40CW 142 – 800 class
GP7 3 – All stored
GP9 1 – The 2260 leased to the Stockton Intermodal Facility
Total 254 units.
Dash 9-44CWs are everywhere on the BNSF and more are ordered for 2003. There will be 50 new Dash 9s-44CWs delivered in January to BNSF. They are to be numbered from 4146 – 4097. This will probably spell the end for several of the SD45-2s and some of the SD40-2s that are surge protection units. Many of which have been operating this fall and early winter and are now headed back to storage in Barstow, Northtown and other places.
The first of the 2003 order was delivered to BNSF at Cicero, IL on January 6th. Train E-CXENRM0-17 (empty coal train from CSX at Chicago) arrived in Cicero Yard at 01:33 on the 6th with the following consist: BNSF SD70MACs 9407& 9655, & New Dash 9-44CWs 4140, 4121, 4126, 4102, 4116, 4125, 4097 & 4098. All eight Dash 9s were set out at Cicero for BNSF to set them up for service. It appears all 50 of the new Dash 9s are to be delivered to the BNSF at Cicero except the 4130 that is showing to be delivered to the BNSF at Kansas City via NS.
Train H-MEMBAR1-19 arriving at Amarillo on December 21st had a solid set of SD40-2s that is becoming a rare sight on BNSF. It is still common to see SD40-2s and even see them in pairs, but having four of them together is a rarity in the 21st Century on BNSF. The four SD40-2s were all lettered for BNSF and were the 6361, 6743, 7147, & 7328. Another All SD40-2 Consist was seen at Waynoka, OK on December 29th on the unit steel train, the U-JOLPIT1-30 with the 6893, 7842, 6766 & 7819 pulling the 60 loads of steel weighing over 7200 tons. This train was unique in that they were all lettered for BNSF, but none were in BNSF colors. The 6893 & 6766 were ex ATSF units in blue & yellow while the 7842 & 7819 are ex BN units still in BN green & white.
Those Dash 9s even show up on locals and work trains on occasion. While I know that BNSF has some locals that regularly use big power, those that operate between Wellington, KS and Amarillo, TX do not. During 2002, GP60Ms, Dash 8-40BWs, & SD40-2s have become common on these locals. The local between Wellington and Waynoka seldom has 6 axle power as the yard at Alva, OK is only good for 4 axle power. The L-KAN0351 and L-KAN0361 that operates between Amarillo and Waynoka has seen SD40-2s almost as normal power since early spring of 2002. Part of the reason for that is because the traffic for Pampa, TX is now set out at Waynoka by through trains (Usually the M-KCKPHX) and hauled to Pampa to be set out and switched by the L-KAN0341. This eliminates a train stopping on the Two main tracks at Pampa and causing a bottleneck. At Waynoka, the train can pull into the yards, do the work and be ready to go without much bother to the main lines. To illustrate my point, the L-KAN0351-09 from Amarillo to Waynoka on December 9th and the return trip, the L-KAN0361-10 had BNSF GP35 2626 and Dash 9-44CW 1064 for power. On December 31st, train P-LACCHF1-29 set out an engine at Waynoka for the L-KAN0361-31 to use. It departed Waynoka with the 1116, BN 6363 & BNSF 6787 with 88 cars weighing 6560 tons. The two SD40-2s would be less than 1.0 Horsepower per ton and climbing Curtis Hill would have been difficult at best.
SD40-2 7071 showed up at Amarillo during December sporting new Heritage 1 paint and new decals along the battery box and under the cab window. The engine had a GE type sticker on it complete with GE logos saying that it was a Tier 0 emissions locomotive. The loco was also equipped with the auto start system and had a sticker under the cab showing K9-APU equipped and another showing Ecotrans Technologies.
The 50 Ex BNSF SD40-2s that GE was leasing form First Union Rail (FURX) have all been sent back to Livingston, MT and take off lease to the BNSF. GE was leasing them as protection for the Dash 9s that had been having too many failures. One of the more prominent failures on the Dash 9-s lately has been the air compressor failing to start. This isn’t too big of problem on a Z train with 4 units and 60 cars, but becomes a real problem on an empty grain train with 2 units and 110 cars. The air compressor on one Dash 9 (Or one other locomotive for that matter) will not pump enough air to get the brakes released on that many cars especially when it is cold. When this happens, another engine must be taken off of another train to help the stranded train. Otherwise, it is not safe to try and move the large train with only one working air compressor.
On January 1st three engines from train Z-MEMRIC1-29 were at the roundhouse in Amarillo, TX with wreck damage. The BNSF 4676, 5361 & ATSF 929 were seen with damage to the front of the consist and all along the left side of the consist. It appeared that the train had possibly hit a truck somewhere near Amarillo, but I could not find the report on the collision. BNSF SD40-2B 7500 was also seen in Amarillo in mid December with damage to the handrails along the left side of the unit.
BNSF moved a set of UP SD60s from Northport, NE to near Alliance, NE in late December. UP delivered the units to the interchange track at Northport in Mid November. BNSF inspected the units and finally moved them to Alliance starting after Christmas. The engine numbers were UP 5989, 5963, 5968, 5987, 5988, 5989, 5990, 5991, 5992, 5993, 5994, 5996, 5997 & CNW 8052. All units moved to Alliance Trinity Rail (Progress) just east of the BNSF Alliance yard.
BNSF also is moving a pair of old BNSF geeps from Washington to California. BNSF GP9 1618 (Ex BN 1861) and BNSF GP7 1327 (Ex ATSF 2119) to Coast Rail Services at Anaheim, CA.
December 14th
Train S-CHFLHW1-14 seen at Marceline, MO with BNSF 8219, 126 & 128
December 15th
Train Q-LACNYC1-12 had BNSF 4714, 4717 & ATSF 804 for Power at Matfield Green, KS.
December 11th
Train P-CHIRIC1-10 had ATSF 872 leading SD75Ms BNSF 8281 & 8207 at Pampa, TX.
The 4714 & 4717 came back west on the 11th (See Above) with the ATSF 652 trailing on train Z-WSPLAC9-10 at Emporia, KS.
December 30th
Train S-LHTCHI3-30A had BNSF 865, ATSF 883 & BNSF 101 at Shattuck, OK.
Train V-MCISBD8-13 was seen at Emporia, KS on December 13th with all CN power. The train had CN Dash 8-40CW 2453 & SD50F 5445 for power. Eastbound train Q-LACNYC3-13 had all NS locos for power. Not that all unusual except that it was a solid set of NS power at Belen, NM and two of them were SD40-2s. The train had Dash 9-40CWs 9522 and 8719 with SD40-2s 3328 & 6120. Train V-MCISBD7-10 ran from Chicago to California with a pair of BNSF SD70MACs. The train had BNSF 9498 & BN 9611 for power. They returned east on train Z-SBDWSP4-14 with the 9498 leading the 9611 and ATSF 834 and BNSF 4463 as seen at Valentine, AZ.
BNSF has started a class at Amarillo to train crews to use the Belt Pack Remote Controls for switching the ATSF & BN yards. The class started on January 6th with assignments to start by February 7th. On the ATSF side, the two lead jobs each shift and the night Rip Track Job are to become Belt Pack jobs. The BN side has one lead job on each shift that will be a belt pack job. This will be a total of 10 jobs becoming Remote Controlled. Currently in Amarillo for training and use are BNSF GP39-2 2715, & GP38s 2242, 2243 & 2244. Argentine Yard at Kansas City is supposed to become a Remote Control yard in the near future with the trimmer jobs and other yard jobs becoming Belt pack assignments. A rumor that I have not been able to confirm was that the Remote Control Jobs at Clovis had been cut off and replaced by standard yard jobs. This was due to not getting enough work done with the Remote Jobs.
If you want to purchase a Santa Fe cowl unit, act quickly. BNSF has only a few left still in tact. There are still 6 of the original 18 SDF40-2s (Ex Amtrak) still in one piece at Topeka. Those remaining are the 6961, 6966, 6970, 6972, 6977, and the Maersk painted 6976. One of them was scrapped a few years ago and the remaining 11 have been scrapped at Topeka during 2002. The trio of ex ATSF SDF45s still remain in tact as well, the 6550 – 6552 still sit east of the shops.
BNSF had a couple of trains in late December that were the strange faces in strange places trains. On December 16th train M-CHCKCK1-14 arrived in Wellington, KS for switching. This is a Cicero, IL to Argentine, KS train that Argentine could not get to, so it was sent the 224 miles west to Wellington. The train arrived in Wellington with 67 loads and 54 empties and 9627 tons pulled by BNSF 8231, 2211, 2507 & 2429. The cars had destinations of Southern California; Kansas City; Fort Worth; Galveston; Provo, UT; Tulsa; and even Pasco, WA. The train was switched out at Wellington and the cars forwarded in many other trains to destination.
On January 2nd, train G-MANDEN1-29 arrived in Amarillo, TX. The symbol for the train is a grain train from Mandan, ND to Denver, CO. The train arrived in Denver with 51 loads of wheat for Southern California and Dalhart, TX for the UP to take to Arizona. It had a handful of manifest traffic trailing it. Since Denver was buys, the train was sent to Pueblo for switching. That made sense since all the cars would have to travel through Pueblo anyway. At Pueblo though, the 51 loads of wheat were set out and more manifest traffic was picked up and ran to Amarillo via the FW&D line. The train arrived in Amarillo with engines 7047, 6886, & 7144 pulling 48 loads and 21 empties weighing 6317 tons. Interesting to note in this train were 33 loads of rail from Minnequa, CO on 92 foot flatcars with short bulkheads. They were forwarded on train M-AMSKCK3-04 (Amarillo south yard to Kansas City Argentine Yard). Those 33 loads were for interchange to the CSX at St. Louis and forwarding to Nashville for their use.
Last month I reported a movement of Mercedes Benz automobiles from Chicago to Watson, CA via BNSF. Again in mid December, BNSF moved another train of Mercedes Benz autos to Southern California. Train V-MCISBD5-14 departed Chicago on December 14th with 52 loads of high value German autos pulled by CSXT 7761 & HLCX 598. The power was swapped at Kansas City for BNSF 4590, 6360, 2175 & 4227. The last two units in this consist were set out at Wellington for the Wellington to Waynoka local.
Over the Christmas and New Years Holliday’s BNSF curtailed much of the manifest and local traffic. All intermodal trains ran as needed and all coal and grain trains operated to meet the customer’s need. While many of the locals were cut off during the Holliday period, some manifest trains had to do local work. Such was the case on December 27th when train M-KCKDEN1-27 departed Kansas City via the former ATSF Northern Route instead of via Lincoln, NE as normal. The train with BNSF Dash 9-44CW 721 & ATSF Dash 9-44CW 631 ran via the former ATSF via La Junta to move traffic to Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City, Garden City and La Junta.
Starting at 06:00 AM on Christmas Eve, BNSF parked many trains so crews could have time with their families. The plan was to use away from home terminal crews as much as possible to get them back home in time for Christmas. In most cases, BNSF did an admirable job getting crews home. Most of the parked manifest trains did not start again until 06:00 on December 26th. Some of the stack and vehicle trains parked moved beginning at 14:00 on Christmas day. In order to save fuel, BNSF operated many trains at reduced speeds. Beginning on December 23rd, all trains system wide that qualified for 70 MPH were ran at 60 MPH while in power. If a train was coasting down hill, it could run up to 70 MPH. On December 21st BNSF began slowing certain trains on the former BN lines North of Kansas City to 45 MPH. This extended to all BNSF trains by December 23rd. The general track bulletins stated that all Eastbound “S” symbolled trains with the day symbol of 21 – 31; All westbound “S” symbolled trains with the day symbol of 22 – 02; All westbound “V” symbolled trains with the day symbol of 22 – 31 and all eastbound “V” symbolled trains with the day symbol of 22 –31 were restricted to 45 MPH. This again was for fuel conservation, so if the train could coast faster, they were allowed to do that. These speed restrictions also depended on the crew’s time on duty and the train’s tardiness. The Dispatcher could override the instructions if needed. All restrictions were lifted by January 3rd.
BNSF again completed a perfect UPS Peak season record. BNSF moved all the UPS traffic without a single failure during the Peak Shipping season of Thanksgiving to December 23rd. BNSF has only had one year when they did not have a perfect season. That was last year when a derailment in Montana caused 7 trailers to not make the UPS goal in Seattle. Santa Fe had completed several perfect seasons prior to the BNSF merger as well.
The new grain loop for unloading unit trains at Friona, TX should be opened during January. The new elevator at Shattuck, Ok for loading of unit trains is built with the track work and much work for the loading/unloading facility to be done. BNSF will serve both of them. On the Boise City sub, a new Pig farm is to be built near Dumas (50 north of Amarillo) There is a possibility that BNSF will get service to haul feed to that facility or they may use the Super Sweet Feeds at Dalhart that BNSF already hauls unit trains to.
Starting in late spring 2003, BNSF will conduct a Panhandle Sub Maintenance Blitz. Most of the track work is to be concentrated between Canadian and Codman, TX. The east switch of Canadian is at MP 454 and the end of two main tracks at Codman is at MP 483.4. The blitz will include new wooden ties on the existing main track between those two locations, and the sidings at Mendota, Lora and Miami. The Blitz will also include new ballast, and undercutting of existing roadbed where the mud has created hoes in the roadbed, new rail on curves and other places that need replacing, and a new main track starting at Codman and going east. The new main track is supposed to be from MP 483.4 at Codman to MP 470 at Lora taking in the sidings of Miami and Lora. There is a possibility that the second main may be extended as far east as Canadian if there is enough money available. Some new rail has already been laid on the curve between Canadian and Clear Creek (East of Canadian) on January 2nd. All the new rail that is being laid is 141-pound rail instead of the standard 136-pound rail. This extra five pounds per yard give BNSF the opportunity to grind the rail and keep it in place a little longer. The extra five pounds is all in the head of the rail and designed for that purpose.
In addition to the work between Canadian and Codman, a new fly-under is to be built near control point Eastern at the east edge of Amarillo. This will be a new connection from the Ex ATSF Boise City sub to the Ex BN Red River Valley sub main one that was originally the Rock Island main line. This will allow trains coming geographically south (railroad east) on the Boise City sub to pass under the Hereford Sub (Transcon) un-restricted and enter the BNSF Red River Valley sub eastbound. Trains can currently use a track known as the coal chute at East Tower in Amarillo to go west on the Dalhart sub, but that takes them back to Trinidad and Pueblo where they just came from. The coal chute is for coal trains that come down from Colorado on the former BN line to enter the Boise City sub and operate about 6 miles on Ex ATSF trackage to the Harrington Southwest Public Service Power plant north east of Amarillo. This new fly-under will allow loaded coal trains to use the Boise City line to run to Fort Worth and beyond without making a long detour such as via the Plainview sub to Slaton then across the UP to Fort worth from Sweetwater or to Temple via BNSF. This new fly-under is also to allow directional running between Pueblo and Amarillo. The loaded coal trains and other manifest traffic will use the ex ATSF from Pueblo east to La Junta, then east to Las Animas Jct and to Amarillo via Boise City, OK. The empty coal trains will continue to use the ex BN line across Trinchere pass and Trinidad to reach Pueblo. In essence, it will be South on the Santa Fe and North on the BN. When the direction running is put in place, BNSF will have it’s hands full as there are four home terminals involved with the moving of trains. AT Amarillo, there are ATSF and BN home terminal crews while La Junta has Home terminal crews for ATSF and Trinidad has home terminal crews operating both ways out of Trinidad. They go to Texline on the south end and Pueblo on the north end. La Junta has the same arrangement with crews going to Pueblo westbound and either Boise City or Amarillo eastbound depending on the train.
In Addition to the work in Texas, the Arkansas River Bridge at Mulvane, KS is to be rebuilt at the same time. It is on the Emporia Sub and part of the Transcon. In order to accomplish all this, BNSF wants to take up to 20 trains per day off the Transcon for the 2 –3 weeks it will take to complete. The UP has advised BNSF that they will accept 5 westbound trains daily and 1 eastbound train daily between Hutchinson, KS and Vaughn, NM. Those must be premium trains and will be daylight only trains. A minimum of traffic could use the ATSF Northern Route via La Junta, but due to crew problems and the tunnel at Raton, don’t look for much to develop there. Some traffic could also be detoured south at Augusta, KS to Fort Worth, then west across the UP Baird Sub to Sweetwater and on to Clovis. Other trains will be staged to move when the maintenance window closes. The M of W is supposed to have a solid 8-hour window on each weekday. With the way traffic is on the Panhandle sub, Monday & Tuesday traffic won’t amount to much as far as detours go. Wednesday – Friday will have more trains needing to detour. Nothing is set in stone yet as BNSF may not reroute any traffic and simply schedule it to run through at night with a very minimum of delay. Union officials and the railroad will meet in February to decide how to handle crews and trains. Stay tuned for the details as they become available. In addition to the work mentioned above, the Amarillo yard is scheduled to get new ties after the Panhandle Sub blitz is finished.
In 1985, Amtrak moved out of the Kansas City Union Station. Amtrak has used a small building on the grounds of the Union Station under the Main Street Viaduct since that time. On December 9th, Amtrak moved back into the restored Union Station. The Station is used by the Daily Southwest Chief’s in both directions, the pair of Ann Rutledge’s and the pair of Missouri Mule’s. The latter two run across the state of Missouri to St. Louis. Union Station hosted 207 trains during the 1920s from 12 different railroads. Now it just has Amtrak and the 6 daily trains. The first train out of the newly remodeled Union Station was train 304 to St. Louis followed by the arrival of train #4 the Southwest Chief. No changes in the track arrangement were needed for this move. A ribbon cutting ceremony was scheduled for December 17th.
Beginning in Mid December is a new passenger excursion train called the Quartz Mountain Flyer that operates north of Altus, OK on ex ATSF tracks. The Quartz Mountain Flyer will use a pair of refurbished coaches that are now owned by Farmrail, who currently owns the tracks. Farmrail will also provide power for the train. The quartz Mountain Resort area is about 20 miles north of Altus, OK. These tracks originally belonged to the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient and were acquired by ATSF through stock purchase in 1928. Santa Fe sold the line to short line operator Farmrail in May of 1991. The two Farmrail coaches will hold 65 passengers each and a third is expected to be available in 2003.The train will load passengers at the intersection of Oklahoma highways 44 and 44A where 44A cuts off to go to the Quartz Mountain Resort. The train will run North of the boarding area for about 15 minutes then return back to the boarding area. The first two trips were scheduled for December 14th departing at 10:00 AM and running to Lone Wolf. Santa Claus was to board the train at Lone Wolf for a few minutes to entertain guests. The second trip was for 1:30 that same day. Ticket prices were $12 for adults and $7 for children.
The Enid Railroad Museum has obtained a new passenger car for their fleet of cars. The executive lounge car was built for US Army in 1955 and came to Enid from the A&M. Amtrak 3100 was moved to Enid via BNSF from Monett, MO after A&M delivered it from Springdale, AR. The car was first used by the Army as a hospital car. Amtrak purchased the car in the 1970s refurbishing it to a lounge car. It was remodeled again in 1988 and used by Amtrak as a lounge and dining car. The car is valued at approximately $80,000. The car will be named Wanda Lee after museum director “Watermelon” Campbell’s wife, who passed away last year. The museum hopes to have the 86 foot car ready to roll for the annual Okeene Rattlesnake Roundup in May of this year.
One other thing worth noting this month, Look for the Garden City Western to restore the approximately 6 miles of track between the current end of track and Scott City to make the connection with the K&O at Scott City. When the Santa Fe sold the branch line from Garden City to Scott City to the Garden City Northern a few years ago, they would not let them interchange at Scott City because that would allow them access to the MP tracks. Now that both railroads are Shortlines and the MP has been sold also to the K&O, the connection will most likely be re-established. The Garden City Western, current owner of the branch north out of Garden City, has normal operations to Shallow Water about 6 miles south of Scott City. The K&O operates nearly on a daily basis to Scott City.