Power Notes

Warbonnet Watch

November 7^th

Train Z-ALTWSP9-07 (Alliance, TX to Willow Springs, IL) was seen near El Dorado, KS with ATSF Dash 9-44CWs 601, 676 & 679 for power.

November 9^th

Train X-DEXEDU9-08 (Dexter, NM to East Dubuque, IL) was seen at Harper, KS with ATSF Dash 8-40CW 877, ATSF Dash 9-44CW 640 & BNSF Dash 9-44CW 790.

November 11^th

Train G-CRLKCK4-09 (Potash train from Carlsbad, NM to Kansas City) had the BNSF 4702, ATSF 807 & ATSF 642 for power seen at Kingsmill, TX.

Remote Control Notes

Besides the Ex ATSF GP7 that has been working at Sand Creek in Newton, KS as a Remote Control switch engine, BNSF SW1500 3419, in Heritage colors has been at Sand Creek during Mid November coupled to BN GP28 1520. CEFX 2009 & 2016 have also been at Newton for testing of Remote Control along with BNSF 2559. The 2009 & 2559 are at Newton as the second yard job working at Newton with Remote Control. The CEFX 2016 has gone to Springfield, MO for training. It first needs to have an alternator changed out by CIT group. It has also made a few trips on the local from Springfield to Monett prior to being assigned to yard service. These CEFX GP20Ds are painted in the current CEFX blue with white stripes and lettering.

Train H-KCKBAR9-18 had the BNSF SW1500 3429 in the consist departing KC on the 18^th of November. It was going to Stockton, CA for training crews on Remote Control. Supposedly, by the end of 2003, over 600 yard jobs on BNSF will be Remote Control operations. Remote Control has brought about a Union battle. The Carriers signed a contract with the United Transportation Union in August to allow UTU members the right to operate the Remote switchers with the black box. The UTU men come the ranks of switchmen thus cutting off the engineer. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers has filed a complaint that the engineer should run the black box. The BLE feels that this is engineer’s work and not that of the trainmen. The UTU man get paid an extra 46 minutes of overtime to operate the box while the BLE had offered to run the remote for no extra money. A recent ruling by a federal judge on the Remotes operations says that if the crews are operating the engine from the cab, then an engineer should be present. Otherwise, the person controlling the locomotive with the black box should be outside the locomotive cab.

Pool Power

BNSF continues to use NS units on the Q-NYCLAC west of Kansas City on a semi regular basis. Seeing a trio of NS Dash 9-40CWs on that train in the Texas panhandle is becoming a normal occurrence. Seeing CSX power coming from Memphis on a vehicle train is a normal sight also. The eastbound moves of the NS and CSX power can sometimes become strange. One instance was on train Q-LACKCK3-04 (ALL KC traffic) with BNSF 4150 leading NS 9011, 9329, & 9467. They can be on almost any train including manifest trains and grain trains. Once in a while, they go west on something odd as well. This happened on December 6^th when train G-KIOELP1-06 departed out of Kiowa, KS with BNSF 5341, NS 9392 & 9467 for power. The train was loads of wheat from Alva, OK moving to El Paso for export to Mexico.

Some unusual power lately has been CN power. For a while last year, CN power was becoming a regular occurrence out of Memphis and out of Chicago on run-through trains that would end up going west of Kansas City. On November 11^th, train V-BIRCLO7-10 (Birmingham, AL to Clovis, NM) was seen at Pampa, TX with CSXT 7886 & CN 2501 for power on the mostly Automax train. Another train with CN power was the M-KCKPHX1-02 seen at Wellington, KS on December 2^nd with BNSF Dash 9-44CW 1047 & CN SD75Is 5665 & 5787. Those two units came west to Kansas City from Logistics Park after it came in on CN train 395. After they made the trip to Phoenix, they returned back east on train Z-PHXWSP9-05 with the BNSF 1047 & 7153 leading the pair of CN SD75Is.

Odd Power

Due to the West Coast Port Traffic being high during October & November, BNSF has had several of the older units out and running. These include the SD45-2s. Some even show up in unusual places such as on a work train out of Wellington, KS. The W-WELWEL1-20 had BNSF 6505 & 7067 for power. The 6471 was used with a pair of SD40-2s on November 20^th as well on train S-LPCLHA3-19 with the following consist: BNSF 6721, 6471, & 6354. As of December 6^th, 26 of the SD45-2s were out running around on BNSF. Two of them, the 6472 & 6473 were both on trains that ran through to the TFM. Two more, the 6477 & 6478 were both on CN run-through trains.

Also due to the port lockout, there have been some unusual trains running with unusual consists. On November 11^th, a train of mostly empty containers was seen in Amarillo, TX with the symbol of P-FTMRIC3-10. This train showed to have 44 loads (loads of empty containers) weighing 2420 tons and was pulled by Dash 9-44CW 1058. Seeing a train with one unit on doublestacks looks really strange. Train S-FTMLHW3-10 at least had two engines on 90 loads of empty trailers. It had the BNSF 5299 & ATSF 903 for power on 4919 tons and 8367 feet also seen at Amarillo on the 11^th. One other odd symbol was seen in Kansas City on the 11^th, that being S-BPACLO3-10 with 47 loads only weighing 2686 tons and having CSX units for power. CSX 9051 & 7640 were the power for the train of empty containers.

Another strange consist was seen on November 11^th at Canadian, TX. Train V-MCISBD8-10L had a pair of B23-7s and a GP9B for power. The consist was: BNSF 4235, 4227, & 1700. Both GE’s were in ATSF blue & yellow while the GP9B was in Heritage paint. The 1700 has more or less been a normal resident on the Claremore local out of Tulsa. The GP9B was seen returning on November 17^th, also at Canadian, TX on train M-PHXKCK1-14 in the following consist: BNSF 970, ATSF 832, BNSF5457, 2357 & 1700.

Traffic

BNSF ran train V-ALTKIO4-09 from Alliance, TX to Wellington, KS where it sat for two days, then on to Kiowa, KS with 68 empty tri level auto racks for storage. The power for this train was BNSF SD70MAC 9440. On November 27^th, BNSF ran a second train of auto racks to Kiowa to store. Train V-ALTKIO4-27 departed Alliance on the 27^th and ran to Wellington. It sat there for Thanksgiving Day, then ran the next day to Kiowa to store 55 empty tri level auto racks. Power for this train was SD40-2 6838 & GP60M 129. Storing auto racks in early November illustrates the US economy right now. New car sales are evidently still sagging, as it is unusual for auto racks to be stored until early spring or late winter.

During the last week of November and the first week of December, the ATSF Northern Route gained a few trains for a few days. Due to a track window at Ustick Tower in Murray yard at Kansas City, MO. BNSF detoured several trains via the Northern Route between Kansas City and Denver. Train H-KCKDEN4-02 with BNSF 4999 & 7312 ran west on the 2^nd with train H-PASKCK1-29 running east on the 2^nd with BNSF 784 & 4560 for power. Two more westbounds ran on the 3^rd with train H-KCKDEN4-03 & H-KCKPAS1-03 rolling across the little used main line. In addition to the manifest trains, at least two Lawrence Coal train loads ran via the northern route. Train C-JRMLRT1-04 & C-JRMLRT1-05 both operated via the Northern Route. The C-JRMLRT1-04 with BNSF SD70MACs 9980 & 9529 up front and 8895 & 9781 as DPUs on the rear met train E-LRTJRM1-02 with SD70MACs 9871 & BN 9520 at Garden City on November 29^th. While BNSF has been routing the empty coal trains across the La Junta Sub for quite some time, the loads are coming this way again because of the Ustick Tower track window. Just due to congestion on the Freight Main line, train Z-LACKCK ran via Raton Pass twice on the Weekend prior to Thanksgiving. At least one bare table train ran west the day before Thanksgiving also. BNSF also routed an empty coal train that comes from the UP at Little Rock via the Thayer Sub and Springfield. Train E-RWBCAM0-42 was routed via the La Junta Sub on the 3^rd of December, also due to the Ustick Track window.

Train change.

I missed this one from August. Beginning on August 28^th, BNSF extended the M-LINDIL train that had operated from Lincoln to Dilworth to a M-KCKDIL running from Kansas City instead.

BNSF has been using a set of Montana Rail Link covered hopper cars for grain service during November. The cars are the ACF type of curved side, but I believe that they are built by Greenville. They are all painted in the MRL blue with the large MRL logo on them. At least 88 of them have been running together as a unit train supplemented by BNSF cars as needed to fill the train to the proper size. Train G-CATGUC9-03 was the first one to use the MRL cars with 20 BNSF cars departing Canton, SD on the 3^rd of November for Guernsey, CA. The cars all returned empty on train X-FRSJAS9-10 to Jasper, MN but were diverted to load again at Canton. Departing Canton on November 16^th, was train G-CATKIN9-16 with 111 cars using 23 BNSF as additional cars running to Kings Park, CA. The same train returned as the X-FRSPLH9-27 from Fresno to Pleasant Hill, IA. They were loaded again and were seen departing Pleasant Hill on the 3^rd of December as train G-PLHSWA9-03.

The Boeing trains had a little change lately. The train runs from the Boeing plant in Wichita, KS to a connection with a westbound P train at Lincoln, NE for Seattle, as train J-WICLIN. It departs Wichita on Tuesday, Thursday & Friday on a normal basis. Traffic includes full 737 fuselages, and parts cars. Beginning on November 12^th, the center section for the new 757 is being shipped via rail as well. The first train departed Wichita on the 12^th as train J-WICLIN9-12 with BNSF Dash 8-40BW 513 & 5 cars including one center section for the 757. The nose and tail sections of the 757 should also be shipped via BNSF soon.

Train Z-LACNYC1 became very hot for departures from Los Angeles on November 14^th through the 17^th. These four trains had priority over all trains except Amtrak. It seems that they had heavy concentrations of Yellow Freight and Roadway. Apparently, BNSF had been moving UPS traffic at a priority and had not handled some of the other traffic as well as needed. Yellow complained and BNSF responded by moving these four trains with a minimum of delay.

The BNSF Bare Table trains can sometimes be really strange. Sometimes they are nothing more than a rolling storage track. Departing Auburn, WA on November 23^rd, was train B-AUBCHI5-23. It was sitting in Galesburg, IL on November 27^th when it became train B-GALWEL5-27 moving 6900 feet of doublestack equipment westbound to Wellington, KS for temporary storage. AT Wellington, the yard crew switched out 5 cars that had to be returned to CSX at Chicago. The remaining 6000 feet of train then departed Wellington on December 3^rd with BNSF 4688 for power as train B-WELALT5-03 for loading at Alliance, TX.

Special Trains

BNSF ran train Z-WSPPHX9-11 with ex ATSF biz cars 31, 29 & 5 on the rear. The 31 is the full dome named Bay View (ex ATSF 60), the 29 is the low level lounge named Valley View (Ex ATSF 62) and the 5 is the Business Car Atchinson (Ex ATSF 52). These cars were used for a special out of Glendale, AZ on November 16^th for transporting children from Camp Sunrise and from the foundation for Burns and Trauma that had been burn victims on a short train trip. Camp Sunrise offers special programs for children who have or have had cancer and their brothers and sisters. Volunteers from the BNSF and the Arizona Railway Museum hosted the kids and the train that ran from Glendale north on the BNSF then returned to Glendale.

Train O-PHXPHX1-16 consisted of the three BNSF business cars plus 7 more from the museum including at least two ex ATSF cars. Power for the train was a pair of Ex ATSF GP35s, the 2585 & 2583.

Another Special Business car train was seen leaving Kansas City the morning of November 3^rd, just after midnight. Train O-KCKBAK1-02 (Kansas City to Bakersfield) had BNSF Dash 9-44CW 4363 for power with Business cars 65 (Sleeper Raton Pass), 50 (Power car Sleeper Stampede Pass), 2 (Business Car Columbia River), & 30 (Full Dome Lounge Glacier View). The business cars were originally to be put on the end of train Z-WSPSBD4-02, but for some reason, the air would not release on the Glacier view. In order not to delay the Z train, BNSF cut the Business cars off and put an engine on them to see what would happened to the air problem. It went away and the special four car train ran west off the fuel pad at Argentine. Those four returned as a business car trip on the rear of the Z-FRSCHI9-05 train.

Later the same day, BNSF moved 8 business cars on the rear of train Z-KCKLAC9-03 from Kansas City to San Bernardino. Passenger cars 51 (Power/Baggage car Snoqualimmie Pass), 77 (Baggage Car), 66 (Sleeper Cajon Pass), 44 (Bi level coach Colorado River), 43 (Bi level coach Rio Grande River), 41 (Bi level coach Flathead River), 10 (Diner Lake Superior) & 4 (Business car Missouri River) were on the end of the Z train. Not sure what these are for, but possible a Santa Claus special in Southern California.

A Santa Claus Special is planned on December 7^th on the Topeka Sub running from Kansas City to Lawrence and return on two different trips.

BNSF handled the Art train in South Texas during November. For quite sometime, the Art Train has been handled as a special train while on BNSF and on the UP. This movement of the Art Train had it at the end of several freight trains. It appears the Art Train came to BNSF from the UP at Temple on the 6^th of November. BNSF moved it on the rear of train M-TPLTUL1-06 to Fort Worth where the FWWR took it for a week. It came back to BNSF on the 13^th of November and moved back to Temple on the rear of train M-KCKTPL1-11. It arrived in Temple on the 14^th and was switched to the rear of train M-TPLSSB1-14 where it was on display at Silsbee for several days. It then moved on the rear of train M-SSBTPL1-20 to Somerville for switching where it rode the rear of train H-HOUGAL9-21 to Galesburg, IL, then on train M-GALBRC1-23 for movement to Chicago and the NS for furtherance to Michigan.

Service Interruptions

BNSF had no major derailments on the transcon this month to affect traffic. There were some minor derailments like trains derailing a car or two entering the yards. On Thanksgiving morning, just after midnight, the M-KCKPHX1-27 derailed several cars in the Waynoka yards, blocking the west end of the yards, but not affecting the main lines at all. Other delays this month were mainly track work related. Traffic on the Panhandle Sub has been disrupted in Mid November. BNSF decided that there was a need to replace several ties with a mini tie gang doing what BNSF termed “Emergency Tie Replacement” between Canadian and Codman, TX. Many places, the ties were broken due to a soft roadbed. This meant that many trains were held at either Wellington, KS or Amarillo, TX (Crew Change points) to allow the tie gang to have 4-hour windows. Welders were also taking time to field weld some places where rails had broke and been repaired with angle bars. November 13^th & 14^th, the tie gangs had the main line tied up in the Texas Panhandle. Several trains went dead on the hours of service law due to the tie gang taking longer than anticipated to clear the main line. The tie gang also got a late start both days due to the times of Z trains. The eastbound fleet of Z trains did not clear until just after noon, with some westbound Z trains showing up earlier than anticipated making them work their four hour window in two hour segments. Many eastbound trains were slowed to 45 MPH between Belen and Amarillo so that Amarillo did not get clogged with trains waiting to depart.

On November 21^st & 22^nd, Bridge & Building took the Missouri River Bridge out of service for four hour shots to make bridge repairs. The Missouri River Bridge at Sibley, MO is a single track bridge, so traffic had to be halted to allow the work to be completed. The bridge was to be taken out of service at noon each day. This also meant that many trains needed to be staged on line or held at Kansas City or Fort Madison until they could be moved. Some eastbound manifest trains (H-BARGAL) were held at Wellington on those days until they could be moved through the limits of the bridge without impairing other traffic. Nothing was to be let out of Fort Madison after 07:00 each day until Noon except the Z-WSPSTO9 and the Z-WSPKCK9 as they would have to make the bridge before the window closed. At least two trains were routed via the Brookfield sub in order to not delay them as much. They were the V-KCKGAL1-21 & the M-IHBKCK1-20.

Kansas & Oklahoma Railway; SKOL

Western Kansas was very dry last summer. So dry in fact that the milo normally raised for cattle feed did not do well and feedlots in Western Kansas are importing corn for cattle feed. The co-op elevator at Scott City, KS is receiving unit corn trains ranging from 30 – 75 cars at a time from this November until next summer when the corn and milo gets cut in Kansas. Trains from the UP and BNSF are being delivered to the K&O at Hutchinson and Wichita for them to take to Scott City. Scott City is about 60 miles east of the Colorado border in West Central Kansas and is on the end of the former ATSF Great Bend District that runs 120 miles nearly straight west from Great Bend. Scott City is also on the old Missouri Pacific tracks that run west from Geneseo to the Colorado border. This is part of the old MP line from Kansas City to Colorado. The corn is coming in from Iowa and being distributed by the Scott City Co-op to various feed lots. In November of 2001, corn and milo were piled on the ground at Scott City because the elevators were full. Quite different this year from last when a few truck loads of corn came from Nebraska. The elevator is still buying all the local corn they can, but there just isn’t enough. There are 13 large feedlots around Scott City dependant on corn to feed over 200,000 head of cattle. In 2000, over 6 million bushels of corn was raised in Scott County and all of it went to the area feed lots. Due to shipping the corn from Iowa rather than buy it locally, it does cost the feedlots more money to feed the cattle. Hopefully, say the feedlot owners, the corn crop will be better next year and they won’t be shipping corn in by rail.

The K&O got another unusual movement from the UP on November 19^th. The UP gave an empty unit coal train to the K&O for storage. The UP 7240 brought the train of all DRGW cars to the K&O at Hutchinson. The K&O picked up the train with WAMX 3522 & 7001 for movement to Jetmore, KS for long term storage.

The K&O has picked up another HLCX engine for use around the Wichita area as of November 15^th. It is HLCX 4403. The 4403 started out life as IC 3072, then to ICG 3072, then to Amtrak as the 656 and HLCX 656. Now it is the 4403 and still painted in Amtrak platinum mist and black. It is a GP40-3 as classed by Helm Leasing. Also, KCPL 6813 has been in the K&O shops for quite sometime. It started out life as ATSF 2418A, a TR4. It has had a cab added and is painted in a nice shade of blue. The DSLX 457 that was in the K&O shops for quite some time has shown up on the H&N at Hutchinson, KS. It was originally a Nickel Plate NW2 and lastly was an EJ&E unit prior to becoming Diesel Services 457.

Santa Claus will be riding the rails into Winfield on former ATSF tracks on Saturday, December 7^th. He will arrive aboard the rear of a SKOL train with two specially decorated cabooses and the three de-powered RDC Cars that SKOL has. The train will come in on the SKOL westbound on the former ATSF tracks and will make stops prior to arriving in Winfield at Longton at 11:00 AM, Elk Falls at 11:45 AM, Moline at 12:45 PM, Grenola at 2:00 PM, Cambridge at 3:15 PM, Burden at 4:00 PM, New Salem at 5:00 PM and then Winfield at the old Main street Station that is now Gambino’s Pizza at 6:00 PM. The train will remain in Winfield overnight then depart at approximately 9:00 AM Sunday morning for Fredonia. Volunteers from the SKOL and Heart of the Heartlands Railroad Club will staff the train.

Medicine Lodge, KS & Blackwell, OK.

The Branch Line that serves Medicine Lodge, KS has had several changes this month. As I reported last month, the Blackwell Northern was appointed as temporary operator of the line after the guys that were operating on it as the Kansas Southern lost the contract. On November 25^th, the New Hampshire & Vermont (a Florida Corporation) took over operations on the 41-mile line. The Medicine Lodge line is owned by A&K Metals under the guise of The Victorian & Southern. The Blackwell Northern had obtained an ex KCS GP9 that came to them from Locomotive Repair Services at Tulsa in Kiamichi Railroad colors. The Blackwell Northern is leasing the LRSX, but sub leased to the NH&V for a short time. The NH&V is supposed to get a locomotive lettered SMNR 3518 that was CANX 3518. It came to the BNSF at Peoria, IL on November 13^th lettered as CANX 3518 and billed to the VSRR at Attica, KS. It has been working on the Southern Manitoba Railroad, which is also owned by A&K Metals. The 3518 should be an M420, really strange for Medicine Lodge, KS. The pair of Mid America Leasing (MALX) CF7s used by the Kansas Southern were at Attica for about two weeks after they gave up the line, then were moved back to Medicine Lodge for storage. They are out of service due to numerous problems. LRSX that is at Medicine Lodge is the ex Kiamichi 906, Exx KCS 4164 and Nee KCS 164.

AT Blackwell, OK, the BNR now has the sister engine to the LRSX 906, LRSX 907 for their operating locomotive. LRSX 907 moved to Blackwell from Tulsa via locals to Kansas City, then Emporia, then to Wellington on the BNSF. It arrived in Wellington for interchange to the BNR on November 22^nd. LRSX is ex Kiamichi 907, Exx KCS 4165 & Nee KCS 165. Both the LRSX 906 & 907 are in Kiamichi colors of brown & white.