BNSF
and Other Railroads
March & April 2003
No more talking hot box detectors!
BNSF has filed to abandon some track in Kansas.
No more talking hot box detectors!
As
of March 4th, BNSF shut off the talking part of most of the Defective
Equipment detectors along the Transcon. The
Emporia and Panhandle Subs were shut off that day.
The detectors now only talk if there is a defect.
Many new dragging equipment detectors had been installed to protect
bridges and concrete ties in the past several months.
They are called exception reporting only detectors, or in other words,
they talk only if there is a defect or if the detector reads three axles or less
such as on M of W equipment. While
some may see this as anti railfan tactics, it was actually done to eliminate
some of the radio traffic that causes problems especially with the dispatchers
giving out instructions.
In Mid March, the siding at Miami, TX that had been blocked for over two weeks with machines and work trains was cleared as equipment moved out of the Miami area. Namely the P-811 Concrete Tie gang. It has moved east to Canadian, TX and finished up on March 20th as concrete ties were placed on a curve between Clear Creek and Glazier, TX. In order to help out the dispatchers working the Panhandle Sub, a new job has been created on Sunday through Thursday from 07:00 until 23:00 called the Panhandle Sub West Split dispatcher and is called DS 101 on the radio. The Dispatcher handles the territory from Kingsmill to Haney, TX. They use the previous radio channels of channel 36 east of Amarillo and 55 west of Amarillo. This helps out the Panhandle West dispatcher (DS-6) move trains as the tie gangs have a work window Sunday through Thursday. Traffic is backed up and waiting on the gangs to clear so the Dispatcher has too much to do since there is a local out there at Pampa switching at this time and work trains trying to move ballast and tie cars into position for the next day. The job was abolished on April 2nd after the track gangs moved east out of the Miami area. All three of the work trains that were assigned at Canadian were abolished by April 1st as well.
In addition to the trains that have been detouring via the UP between Hutchinson and Vaughn, and between Emporia and Albuquerque on the Northern Route due to the Blitz, some additional trains detoured due to heavy traffic on the Transcon. Several grain trains used the Northern Route from Emporia to La Junta, then the Boise City sub to Amarillo before heading west to their destination. One notable detour was the G-EDYDHT train that ran via this route. It would have been sensible to run via the UP from Hutchinson to Dalhart, but instead it ran via the BNSF on a round about route. After getting to La Junta, it could have used the ex ATSF to Trinidad then the ex BN to Dalhart, but instead, it ran to Amarillo via the Boise City sub and then used the ex BN to reach Dalhart. The empty train did run from Dalhart to Trinidad then the Northern Route back to Illinois and Iowa. Another strange detour was the U-JOLPIT1-11. It ran via the ATSF from Joliet to Galesburg, and then used the Cameron Connection to get on the BN and run via West Burlington, Omaha, Lincoln, Oxford, McCook and Denver. Instead of going west via the ex D&RGW, it turned south and ran via the Joint line to Pueblo and La Junta, then on to the Boise City sub and to Amarillo where it rejoined the Transcon for a trip to Pittsburg.
Detours are as follows for the first four weeks of Phase 2 of the blitz:
Via the UP westbound from
Hutchinson, KS to Vaughn, NM.
91 trains. Includes symbols P-CHILAC1, P-CHIRIC1, H-KCKBAR9, Q-NYCLAC1, & S-CHIOIG3.
75 trains. Includes symbols Q-SBDCHI1, P-LACCHF1, P-LACCHF3, P-LACCHI2, H-MODSEL9.
Via the ATSF Northern route
Westbound from Emporia to Albuquerque (Ellinor to Dalies)
45 trains. Includes symbols Z-WSPLAC1, Z-WSPLAC8, Z-WSPLAC9, Z-WSPPHX9, Z-WSPNBY8, Z-KCKLAC1.
6 Trains. Includes 1 each of symbols D-RICCHI1, B-SBDWSP2, X-ELPLIN1. The B-SBDWSP1 detoured this way twice and the X-DHTEDY5 detoured from Trinidad to Emporia once.
7 Trains. Includes 1 each of symbol G-EDYDHT5, G-AUXFVX1, G-PLHSWA9, G-LINCLO1 & G-EDUSMR1. The G-EDUHER1 detoured this route twice. All loaded grain trains.
5 Trains. Includes 1 each of symbol X-BARCCD1, X-HERLIN1, X-BARMAN1, X-FTXRED9, & X-SWAPLH9. All empty grain trains.
1 Train. The U-JOLPIT1-11
23 Trains. Includes symbols P-RICBIR1, Q-LACBIR1, & Q-CLOBIR1.
12 Trains. Includes Symbols P-BIRLAC1, V-MEMSBD8, & Q-ATGLAC1.
3 Trains.
All were the Q-STLCLO trains.
That makes a total of 268 trains diverted from the Panhandle Sub over a four week period between March 3rd and March 30th. A total of 230 of them were diverted from the Wellington to Amarillo pool while 38 were diverted from the Enid to Amarillo pool. Detours will continue at least until April 9th and maybe longer. The tie gangs are about on time with the project. One hold up was the bridge east of Attica, KS getting rebuilt. The BNSF was having trouble getting the pile driver moved from Shattuck, OK to Attica to be used with this project and it was delayed about a week in not being moved.
The Concrete tie gang finished work on the 19th of March
leaving the wooden tie gangs to finish their work.
The wooden tie gangs finished on March 27th and had the next
two days off. The gangs moved east
on Sunday and Monday the 31st and 1st of April to start
work between Roland and Milan, KS. Surfacing gangs are still working in the
Canadian to Glazier, TX area though.
All work between Codman and Lora is now finished for the tie gangs so the
dirt work has started for the 2nd main track.
On March 10th, earth movers started making the roadbed working
east from Codman towards Miami. On
March 25th, an off track pile driver was in place to drive pilings
for the new bridge just east of Codman. The
new main track will be on the North side of the original main for the most part.
Rumors are at this point; that the sidings at Miami and Lora will be left
in place and the elevator at Miami will be demolished for the new main track.
It has not been used to for quite some time.
The undercutters are moving from the Panhandle Sub to Courtney, MO east
of Kansas City for work in that area. At
least two ballast trains ran from Kingman, AZ and Pedrenal, NM to Courtney for
this project. Look for some train
delays in the area east of Kansas City with traffic backed up.
Last month I mentioned the Wichita Corridor project that is scheduled to
start soon according to the Wichita Business Journal.
Apparently, they had some information wrong.
According to one of my sources, neither the BNSF nor the UP have signed
the agreement to raise the tracks through downtown Wichita.
They seem to be at odds as to who will run the project and who will pay
for running over it, etc. As this
project sits longer, it may not happen. That
will remain to be seen. One other
interesting tidbit about this is that BNSF has speculated about using the line
from Mulvane to Newton then east to Ellinor as a second main line for the
Transcon instead of adding a second track next to the existing track via El
Dorado and Matfield Green. This
would be directional running with trains running one direction on the Transcon
between those two points and running the opposite on the other.
The only problem is that Amtrak uses the Northern route between Newton
and Emporia and would not be part of the directional traffic making one of the
two trains running against the current of traffic.
Again, this is all rumor so far….
New train S-LHACXN1 began operations on March 8th. The train departs Los Angeles Harbor on Saturday only at 19:30 unloading directly from the ship. This is a Maersk train that operates to Chicago and is handed off to the NS at Ashland Avenue for movement to Croxton, NJ. It arrives in Chicago at 01:00 on Wednesday for a 75’30” trip across the former ATSF Transcon. This train was actually put into the BNSF plan on February 18th, but not ran until March 8th. Another new train, the S-CHILBI7 started on March 5th. It departs Chicago on Sunday only at 23:00 and arrives in Long Beach at the ITC terminal at 06:00 on Thursday. This train is considered as “time sensitive” as it moves empties from Chicago to return on ships to the Orient. It has an 81 hour schedule across the Transcon.
New Nissan’s have been moving east from Long Beach during February and March on an as needed basis with train V-WATLPC3 as the symbol. The trains usually carry an Albuquerque, Denver (Irondale) and Kansas City block as well.
Beginning on March 31st, train S-NSAWEL has been added to depart an NS connection at Chicago and run to Wellington to switch. The train then departs Wellington as either an S-WELLAC3 or the cars depart on other trains, usually the S-LPCLHA train. It is scheduled out of Chicago at 20:00 daily except Tuesday and arrives in Wellington the next afternoon at 15:00. Due to not having a switch engine at Wellington except on daylights, it gets switched the next day. Beginning on April 2nd train P-CHILAC5 was added to depart Chicago on Thursday & Friday at 06:00 as an advanced section of the P-CHILAC1 train. It carries mostly empty international double stacks for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 01:00 on Day four for a 69 hour trip across the BNSF.
On
March 12th, BNSF operated an Ethanol train out of Rock Island, IL to
Los Angeles, CA. The train departed
Rock island on the 12th with four BNSF Dash 9-44CWs, the 5493, 5443,
5430 & 4595 pulling 95 tank cars weighing 12,485 tons.
The head and rear tank cars were loads of corn syrup for the UP at
Riverside while the middle 93 tanks were for Exxon/Mobile at Los Angeles.
The train came from the Iowa Interstate at Cedar Rapids and was
interchanged to the BNSF at Rock Island. It
originated at various ADM plants on the IAIS.
The train carried a symbol of G-RCIRVE7-12 as it departed Rock
Island standing for Rock Island to Riverside, CA.
At Winslow, the symbol was changed to the more appropriate G-RCIVRN7-12
standing for Vernon, CA where the Exxon/Mobile plant is located.
In
an effort to help the Iraqi people, four train loads of wheat are being shipped
to Iraq originating at Enid, OK on the BNSF.
BNSF is calling the trains Operation Freedom Grain Trains.
They are part of the Humanitarian aid for the Iraqi’s.
There have been 200,000 metric tons of wheat released from the Bill
Emerson Humanitarian Trust with another 400,000 tons available if needed.
The Bill Emerson Trust is an emergency reserve administered under the
Secretary of Agriculture. It is
available for humanitarian relief for developing countries to allow the United
States to respond to unanticipated food crisis.
BNSF started the trains by getting two engines out of the shops at Topeka
and moving them to Newton for the first train to get the empties needed.
ATSF 647 & 691 departed Topeka on the 25th of March
heading for Dodge City as light engine move D-TOPDDC1-26C.
At Dodge City, they picked up a train of empty BNSF cars and headed to
Enid, OK via Newton and Arkansas City as train X-DDCENI9-27S.
Upon Arrival in Enid those two engines plus BNSF 4662 picked up a train
of loads as train G-ENIGAT9-28A of mostly cars lettered for the H&S
Railroad with a few AOK cars thrown in to make a 110 car loaded train weighing
14,741 tons. This train departed
Enid at 04:40 the morning of the 29th and arrived at Galveston on the
morning of the 30th at 08:09 for unloading into a ship.
That train carried over 11,000 tons of wheat.
The second train departed Enid at 19:00 on the evening of the 31st
as train G-ENIGAT9-30A with ATSF 924 leading BNSF 4621 & 894 with 105
loads of Wheat in BN and BNSF grain cars weighing 14745 tons.
Again with over 11,000 tons of wheat for Galveston.
It arrived in Galveston at 21:02 the evening of the 1st of
April. Train 3 was the G-ENIGAT9-03A
departing Enid on the evening of April 3rd at 20:29 and arriving in
Galveston at 04:13 on the 5th. It
had BNSF 4984, 4939 and ATSF 932 pulling 110 BNSF hoppers with 15,586 tons
trailing it. It had just over
12,000 tons of wheat aboard. Train
four is scheduled to depart Enid on April 6th.
All trains went to ADM Farmland at Galveston.
Seen in Wellington, KS on March 23rd was ex N&W caboose 518559. It departed Wellington on the rear end of the local for Waynoka on Monday the 24th and then moved in local service on Tuesday the 25th from Waynoka to Amarillo. It was headed for a private owner at Albuquerque named Tommy Bolack.
BNSF has 97 active GP50s that for the most part have be used very little since the merger. They have been part of the BNSF surge fleet and still are, but what a surge they have had lately. Solid sets of GP50s and GP40Xs along with the ex BN GP40Ms have been spotted on the Transcon during late March and early April. The Ex BN GP50Ls as they are called have been derated to 3000 horsepower to match the GP40Ms, while the ATSF GP50s are still rated at 3500 and 3600 horsepower along with the GP40Xs. The BN GP50Ls are numbered 3110 – 3162. The Ex ATSF GP50s are numbered 3163 – 3207, and the GP40Xs are numbered 3030 – 3039. The Ex BN GP40Ms are numbered 3000 – 3029. All together, the four axle fleet of 3000 horsepower plus EMDs totals 125 units. Designed for high speed service, they have been used on everything lately. They were actually re-activated from the surge fleet to handle military trains. One of the surprising facts is that they have been running often on the potash train out of Carlsbad, NM. The potash train carries a G symbol since it is reported to the Agriculture group making it a G-CRLKCK symbol.
On March 17th, at Wellington, KS, train G-CRLKCK4-11 had GP40Xs 3038 & 3032 with GP50s 3180, 3198 & 3185.
On March 23rd, train Z-FRSCHI1-20 arrived at Chicago with GP50s 3180, 3198 & 3185, which in turn departed on train P-CHIRIC1-23D.
On March 24th, train M-KCKBEL1-23 departed Kansas City with 9 GP50s! Power was the 3112, 3119, 3117, 3175, 3148, 3204, 3114, 3113 & 3140. Of these, the 3204 and 3175 are ex ATSF and the rest were green ex BN units. The 3204 was the only Heritage painted unit of the consist. Of those, only the 3119, 3117, 3175, 3148 & 3204 continued west to Belen. The other four were cut at Clovis to go to Carlsbad.
On March 25th, train X-BARLIN1-22 was seen in Las Animas, CO with BNSF 3008, 3122 & 3031 for power. (GP40M, GP50L, GP40X).
On March 27th, train G-CRLKCK4-27 departed Clovis with GP50s 3114, 3113, 3140, 3112 & 3119. All Green ex BN units pulling 78 loads and 16 empties with 10471 tons.
On March 28th, the G-CRLKCK4-28 departed Carlsbad with GP50s 3204, 3148, 3175 & 3117 with 75 loads and 10187 tons.
On April 2nd, train G-ENIEAP9-02 departed Enid, OK with 108 loads of sorghum weighing 15,446 tons behind GP50s 3166, 3115, 3134 & GP40Ms 3022 & 3015.
On April 5th,
train P-CHISBD1-05 was seen arriving at Kansas City with Green GP40Ms
3009 & 3005 leading Blue GP40X 3032.
Other surge fleet power is the SD45-2 fleet. BNSF still has several SD45-2 and SD45-2Bs active in the fleet. SD45-2 6482 was seen leading a large consist east out of Amarillo on March 27th on train M-PHXKCK1-25. The 6482 was the lead unit with BNSF 6360, 549, 2564, 6723, 3193, CSXT 7391 & BNSF 5468 with crossing collision damage in the consist. The BNSF surge fleet is down to having only 46 units laid up good order as of April 5th.
One
interesting locomotive that shows to be in Topeka in LUPE status is BNSF GP7
3821 and slug 3966. This is one of
BNSF oldest active units. It is
former ATSF 1311 and originally ATSF 2879.
The November 1953 EMD product has been having engine problems while it
worked at Amarillo. It has been
sent to Kansas City for evaluation and was taken out of the game there as of
March 31st. The Slug is
former ATSF 1125, ex ATSF 125 and originally a UP GP9B #158B built in February
1954. Both are Heritage Painted
units. Also GP7 3835 that was
damaged in a wreck in the Amarillo yards involving two remote control yard sets
has been placed in LUPE status at Topeka as of March 7th.
BNSF moved some ex DRGW GP35s along with an Ex SP GP35 recently. Train H-GALBAR1-27 departed Galesburg with BNSF SD40-2s 7025, 6377, 6726 & 7023 for power. Tucked in behind the power and in shiny gray & maroon paint were GP35s CEFX 3029, 3048, 3034 & 6671 heading for Fresno, CA for Rail America. The 6671 is the ex SP while the other three are ex DRGW. The ex SP unit was mis-billed, however, and is now returning from Barstow on train H-MODSEL9-02 heading for Cincinnati via the CSX through Chicago.
Moving west on April 3rd & 4th across Kansas And Texas was train M-KCKBEL1-02 with BNSF 7868, 6468, 6752 & 2243 for power. Tucked in behind the power were the trio of ex Amtrak F40s for the Grand Canyon Railway. They are lettered GCRY 237, 239 & 295.
LRSX GP9 906 is at Attica, KS where it has been leased by the Victorian & Southern from the Blackwell Northern since last November. It is billed to move to Wellington, KS and the BNR to join sister unit 907 at Blackwell. Both units are in Kiamichi Railroad paint and are ex KCS GP9s.
Arriving at Kansas City on March 24th was train G-EDUFTX9-23 behind ATSF Dash 8-40CWs 888, 849 & 946. AT Kansas City, it picked up Heritage painted BNSF 6828 on the rear of the consist.
Seen in Hutchinson, KS on the morning of March 25th on detour
train Z-WSPPHX9-24N were Warbonnets ATSF 947, 620, BNSF 4713 & ATSF 907.
At Albuquerque, that power was cut and swapped with the Z-WSPLAC925N
train and sent to Los Angeles. The
947, 620 & 4713 ran back east together out of LA on Train Q-LACNYC1-27C with
the 4713 getting cut at Emporia, KS. The
947 & 620 lasted together for several more days working west to Clovis on
train V-MCISBD3-31 then down to Carlsbad and back on trains L-SWE0021-03 &
L-SWE0031-04 on April 3rd & 4th before heading west
out of Clovis on train Z-CLOPHX9-04.
SOO Line units have been spotted in strange places again this month. Pairs of SOO SD60s have been seen solo and with BNSF power on the BNSF west of Kansas City. One such train that was really strange was seen at Metro, TX with BNSF GP60M 161 leading SOO SD60s 6008 & 6010 both in the white SOO Line scheme on train Z-WSPALT9-02 seen on April 3rd.
Seen at Amarillo, TX on March 15th was train V-MCISBD7-14 with a pair of Red SOO Line SD60s, the 6044 & 6055 leading the Auto Max train. Also seen at Amarillo just after dark on April 4th, was train V-MCISBD8-02 with SOO SD60s 6050 & 6025 for power.
Train M-KCKBEL3-22 was seen at Mulvane, KS on March 23rd with UP AC6000 7552 leading the train with BNSF SD40-2 6717, Slug 3961 & GP7 3824 leading it. The 6717 had engine trouble prior to reaching Mulvane, so when the train finally struggled to Wellington, it picked up CSX Dash 8-40C 7582 & SD40-2 8208 behind the UP unit for power. The two CSX units had came to Wellington on a S-BPAWEL3-22 train that was switched out and departed Wellington with BNSF 1057 for power.
Besides the UP unit above leading a BNSF train. UP SD70M 5120 has lead at least two train on the BNSF during March. It has been running around on the BNSF since March 5th coming to us at Barstow on the 5th and being returned to the Up at Kansas City on the 5th of April. On March 18th, it was seen at Amarillo on train H-BARTUL1-16 leading UP SD90MAC 8030 for sole power on the train. The 5120 was again leading the 8030 along with ATSF 869 on train Z-ALTWSP9-26 seen at Arkansas City, KS on March 26th. A couple of other trains with notable UP power have been the N-MEMBAR1-27 with UP 4945 leading the BN 9284, BNSF 5416 & 4149 out of Springfield, MO; and the M-BARKCK1-23 seen departing Clovis, NM with BNSF 4704, 7816, UP 4218, UP 4481 & BNSF 4983.
Unusual foreign power on the El Paso Sub was train M-BELELP1-03 on April
4th arriving at El Paso with CSX
7503 leading BNSF 7882. Since
that CSX unit ran to El Paso, it had to come back and did so on train
X-ELPMCN1-03 but trailing BNSF 4830 & 4125.
A rather odd consist on the M-AMSKCK1-16 was observed at Augusta, KS on March 17th. The train had Heritage painted SD40-2 6956 leading green BNSF SD9 6162, NS GP38AC 2849 (with a high hood), green SD40-2 BNSF 7817, Dash 9-44CW 1109, and Heritage painted GP38 2243 with wreck damage from an incident in the Amarillo yards. The SD9 had come out of Memphis on an M-MEMTUL train then to Amarillo on a M-AMATUL train. Really odd to have a former BN SD9 on the Transcon.
The
Rest of the ex ATSF Dash 8-40BWs are being re-lettered currently to BNSF.
While they still have the ATSF Warbonnet, that probably won’t be for
long. ATSF got a second order of
Dash 8-40BWs in 1992 numbered 560 – 582.
The 580 was repainted in November 1999 to Heritage 2 colors.
It was reported then that the rest of the 23 units were supposed to be
painted in Red & Silver Warbonnet as the 573 was when it was painted in
September of 2000. Currently, there
are 13 of those 23 that are scheduled for Heritage 2 colors.
The 505 is also scheduled to be repainted into Heritage 2 colors.
It was one of the last units painted into BNSF Red & Silver Warbonnet
in 1997, but was recently seen in Amarillo, TX with the nose in solid red
primer. The ATSF 564 has also been
seen with large patches of primer on the cab and it too is one that is scheduled
for Heritage 2 colors. As reported
in other places the Dash 8-40CWs are also being cycled through the shops and
getting a coat of Heritage 2 paint. Several
are getting the BNSF lettering treatment like the 894 that was seen by myself on
April 5th.
At 09:40 on March 30th, train H-GALBAR1-28 derailed lines 80 – 87 of their train. This was the rear eight cars of their train. The crew had just made a rear end set out of 28 cars at Haney, TX (Just west of Amarillo). After the conductor re-hung the ETD, he got permission for the train to make a back up move under the rules to pick him up. Unfortunately, he forgot to line the switch back where he had just made the set out and backed into the standing cut of cars with 8400 tons of train. The rear eight cars were empty and derailed turning sideways on Main two. One of them blocked Main one for a short period. Main one was cleared at 13:20 and Main two at 17:40 the same day. Several trains were delayed due to this incident resulting in some crews going dead on the law returning east from Clovis to Amarillo.
At 03:45 on April 5th, train M-CNIGAL1-05 operating with IC SD40-2s 6002 & 6131 derailed 8 cars at MP 37.3 near Joliet, IL on main two. Lines 35 – 42 derailed with 6 of the cars on their sides. Of the derailed cars, 6 of them contained plastic pellets and two contained hazardous material. No Haz Mat release was incurred fortunately. There were two covered hopper loads of plastic pellets that were compromised and spilled their contents on the right of way. Main two was where the train was operating, with main one not affected except for close clearance.
At
08:45 the morning of March 18th, train E-SLPCAM0-62 derailed both
head end units and 28 empty coal hoppers on single main track between Hedley and
Clarendon, TX. The train had BNSF
SD70MACs 9928 and 9446 on the head end with 9973 operating as a DP unit on the
rear of 128 empties. The train hit
a broken rail derailing both head end units and the head 28 cars all upright.
All 28 of the empties ended up crossways on the main line though.
This is CTC island territory, so the train was running between one of the
CTC islands and unaware of the broken rail when they hit it at 49 MPH.
The track was returned to service at 22:45 that same night.
BNSF has recently converted this section of track from Non Block to CTC
Islands. Had it been full CTC, the
track circuit would have indicated a problem and the train would have been
moving at Restricted Speed
BNSF has
filed to abandon some track in Kansas.
The ex SLSF line from Wichita running north/northwest out of Wichita to Valley Center is still in place but has not been used by either the BN or the BNSF for quite some time. The BN used to take loads of cement to the ready mix company in north Wichita. A total of 6 miles of track are to be abandoned on this piece of property from two miles north of the old BN yard in North Wichita to Valley Center. In addition, the track that is still in place from Augusta to Wichita will be partially abandoned. Augusta is at MP 484 on the old Frisco and starting 10 miles west of that and running to a junction near the ATSF at North Junction in Wichita will also be abandoned. This is a total of 11 miles. The track has already been cut at all major street crossing in Wichita. The City of Augusta is trying to establish some sort of short line or port authority on the remaining 10 miles west out of Augusta and wants to keep that track in place from the connection with the ATSF Transcon at Augusta to Andover. All track to be abandoned is within Sedgwick County and BNSF will salvage the rail and ties on the line (Or sell them to someone to salvage). The rail line was originally part of the SLSF from Pierce City, MO to Wichita via Columbus, Fredonia, Beaumont and Augusta, KS and then on to Geneseo to a connection with the Union Pacific, via Valley Center, Burrton, Buhler, and Lyons, KS. The part north of Wichita has been out of service and mostly abandoned for several years. BN quit using the line from Augusta to Wichita after the 1995 merger with ATSF. Part of the line is now owned by Watco in Eastern Kansas.
The South Kansas & Oklahoma will have a special train from Winfield to Fredonia, KS on May 10th, 2003. The train will run on the former ATSF fourth District of the Eastern Division between those two cities. The cost of the train ride will be $30 per person and include a picnic lunch at Fredonia. The train will depart the old ATSF main Street Station at Winfield (Now Gambino’s Pizza) at 09:00 and return there about 18:00 that evening. The train consist will have the trio of unpowered RDC cars owned by SKOL. All cars have been refurbished and ride nicely. They are air conditioned also. The trip is sponsored by Heart of the Heartlands and the SKOL. Tickets are available at Engine House Hobbies in Wichita and only 150 tickets will be sold. Deadline for ticket sales is May 7th at 17:00.
BNSF
will be operating a special train this year for employees with the possibilities
of some of the public getting to ride the train as well.
It is the annual Employee Appreciation Special and will operate on the
Kansas and Southwestern Divisions. Starting
on May 30th, the train will make trips out of Emporia, KS.
May 31st & June 1st, it will be in Wellington,
KS. June 2nd, 3rd,
& 4th it will make four trips in the Amarillo area.
June 6th, the special will be in Lubbock and on the 8th
& 9th, it will be in Clovis for three trips.
June 10th will have the special in El Paso and on the 11th
it will make two trips out of Belen. The
14th it will be in Raton and on the 15th it will be in La
Junta. The 16th will
have it finish up in Newton. Employees
are limited to four tickets each. The
special is listed on the BNSF Public Web site and any updates can be seen there.
The
UP also ran a special train that departed Council Bluffs, IA on March 24th.
The special was a grain shippers special with one engine and six business
cars. There were eight cars from
Council Bluffs to Kansas City, but two of them were cut and sent to Mid America
Car. The train ran from Council
Bluffs to Kansas City, Herington, Pratt, Dalhart, El Paso and arrived in Tucson
on the 25th late at night. It
laid over in Tucson for the 26th & 27th then departed
on the 28th just after midnight for Council Bluffs arriving back
there during the day on the 29th.
All moves of the train were deadhead moves just to position the cars in
Tucson on the 26th & 27th.
Reminder
from last month’s notes…
A
recent report is that a special fan trip will be ran across the Watco lines in
Kansas during May. The special
train is to leave the KCS yard in Kansas City (Knoche) on May 16th
and run to Pittsburg where it will get on the SKOL and run via ex SLSF, MP and
ATSF tracks to Winfield, KS. After
leaving Pittsburg, the route will take it to Cherokee, Sherwin, Cherryvale,
Fredonia, Moline and Winfield where it will lay over for the night.
It is to depart Winfield on the 17th of May and run on BNSF
trackage rights to Wichita then use the ex MP to Hutchinson and then the ex ATSF
to Great Bend. It is to lay over at
Great Bend. Departing Great Bend on
the morning of the 18th, it will use the ex ATSF to Scott City, then
the ex MP to Towner, CO where it will interchange with the Colorado, Kansas
& Pacific. It is to layover at
Towner then depart there the morning of the 19th heading west to NA
Jct. where BNSF will take it to Pueblo and eventually Denver via the BNSF (Joint
Line). The line west of Towner
right now has cars stored on it so if they are still going to be stored in May
when the train operates, they will return to Hutchinson and return via Amtrak.
The move to Denver from Pueblo if made, will probably be combined with a
BNSF freight train. Plans now only
include two cars, the Caritas and Cimarron River, both private cars.
With the country worrying about terrorism, sometimes we go a little overboard. And sometimes it is just that the public is ignorant of what is going on. The UP had a rail grinder working along parallel highway K-61 between Hutchinson and Medora, KS on April 5th. Several motorists called in to the Reno County 911 center about a train on fire as they drove along the highway. Two fire trucks were dispatched to find the burning train. Of course the only thing that was “burning “ was the sparks coming from the grinders under the train. One railfan that was chasing the train reported that the fire dept. showed up to check out the train. BNSF has published a pamphlet for employees telling them to beware of unusual or suspicious people and to report them to the Resource Protection Solutions team. While it does not specify railfans, it implies that if they are being suspicious or acting abnormal to report them. Please Railfan Responsibly. Also, several derails have been stolen off of railroads in East Texas. If anyone sees a derail missing find one of the phone numbers on a signal relay box and report it to the BNSF or UP.