1994 CALENDARS

Richard Steinheimer's Ma5Jnificent Tralns® New for 19941 Master railroad pho­ Those Magnificent Trains® tographer Richard The ultimate train calendar! Featuring Steinheimer captures 12 stunning images of American rai/­ railroading's glory roading, steam and diesel, both old days in 12 fabulous and new. black & white 12" x 12", full-color images. A must for railfans of all ages. 12" x 12" ColoradoNarrow Gauge Classic railroading in the cen­ tral Rockies from the Colorado Railroad Museum. 12" x 12", full-color

Those �nificent Trains Dafebook.® Howard Fogg's Trains A datebaok of Featuring 12 gorgeous new American railroading paintings of railroading's containing 36 full­ glory days by the master rail­ color jJhotos. road pOlnte'i Howard Fogg. 5" x 7", spiral-bound 12" x 12", rull-color

PRICES 7 Calendar $12 2 Calendars $20 3 Calendars+ $9/each Order 5 and get one FREE Shipping $1 p!3r calendar for US and Canada American Streetcars Red Cars/Yellow Cars Foreign. orders add $4 per calendar Classic photos of trolleys from Early views of Los Angeles No COD's across America appear in this Transit Line yellow cars and timeless calendar. Pacific Electric red cars. 12" x 12", full-color 12" x 12", full-color US Funds Only CAresidents add 7.25% sales tax Visa and Mastercard welcomed

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The Lakers Cruise across the Great Lakes in our 1994 calendar of these classic steamships. 12" x 12", full-color PACIFIC RAILNEWS

Santa Fe's Harbor Sub 16 Memories of growing up along an unusual branch line Bob Finan and Joe Blackwell

24 UP's Nebraska Expressway The busy Council Bluffs Sub between Gibbon and North Platte Jim Gilley

32 Focus Colorado: D&RGW Tunnel 29 A Moffat Route monument to the conquest of the Front Range R. C. Farewell

3 Focus California: Portola 6 A rail enthusiast's paradise anchoring UP's Feather River Route Randy Woods M.D.

Images: Illinois Central Santa Fe train U-SBWA at Harbor City, Calif., on the 48 Harbor Subdivision on April 24, 1993. Bob Finan A sampling of action along the "Main Line of Mid-America"

PACIFIC RAILNEWS and PACIFIC NEWS are registered trade­ DEPARTMENTS marks of Interurban Press, a California Corporation. I I PUBLISHER: Michael W. Clayton 4 EXPEDITER 42 ILLINOIS CENTRAL EDITOR: Don Gulbrandsen CHICAGO NORTH WESTERN SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Andrew S. Nelson 6 & 43 ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Carl Swanson CN NORTH AMERICA 45 REGIONALS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: 9 Elrond G. Lawrence UNION PACIFIC TRANSIT EDITORIAL CONSULTANT: Dick Stephenson 10 46 CP RAIL SYSTEM IMAGES OF RAILROADING ART DIRECTOR: Tom Danneman 11 48 14 BURLINGTON NORTHERN 53 PRN CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISING MANAGER: Richard Gruber 32 FOCUS COLORADO 53 PRN ADVERTISING INDEX 36 FOCUS CALIFORNIA 54 THE LAST WORD 40 SANTA FE

COVER: Another day ends as Union Pacific SD60M 6309 crosses the Platte River just east of North Platte, Neb., on July 3, 1992. In the distance, a Sand hills thunderstorm rages, having yielded to sunshine only a few minutes earlier. Starting on page 24, take © 1993 PENTREX a tour of one of the busiest freight lines in the world, UP's Council Bluffs Sub. Jim Gilley

PACIFIC RAILNEWS (ISSN 8750·8486) is published monthly by Interurban Press (a corporation), 2652 E. Walnut, Pasadena, CA 91107. Second·class postage paid at Glendale, CA 91209 and additional mailing offices . POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: PACIFIC RAn..NEWS, P.O. Box 94911, Pasadena, CA 91109. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 530 (U.S.) for 12 issues, S58 for 24 issues. Foreign add S6 for each 12 issues. Single copy S5 postpaid from Pasadena office (subject to change without notice). CHANGE OF ADDRESS: The Post Office does not regularly forward 2nd Class Mail and PACIFIC RAILNEWS is not responsible for copies not forwarded or destroyed by the Post Office. Replacement copiesfP.O. notifications will be billed. Please allow us at least four weeks for any address change. ADVERTISING RATES: Contact PACIFIC RAiLNEWS. P.O. Box 379. Waukesha. WI 53187; (414) 542·4900. MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: For all subscription problems and inquiries call: (800) 899-8722 or outside U.S. (818) 793·3400. Like the Swedish X2000, Germany's InterCity Express toured the West Coast this summer. With Congress' re­ cent gutting of Amtrak's high speed budget, both the ICE and X2000 tours could be for naught. The train­ set, including its accompanying F69ACs, is shown at Martinez in Cajon Pass on Aug. 23 ,1993. Don R. Flynn

SUNSET LIMITED DERAILS IN and 126 others were injured. the nearby Mobile River, be­ ALABAMA: At 2: 58 a.m. on Clifford Black, spokesman for came lost in the dense fog and Sept. 22, Amtrak's eastbound Amtrak, stated that 189 pas­ ended up in the unnavigable Sunset Limited derailed into a sengers and 17 crew members waters of the bayou, when one swamp known as Bayou Canot were aboard. All three locomo­ of the barges broke loose, just north of Mobile, resulting in tives (a new Genesis Series lo­ striking the bridge just prior to the worst wreck in the passen­ comotive and two F40s) and the Sunset's passage. ger carrier's history. Forty-four four of the eight cars in the people were confirmed dead, consist derailed. Coast Guard GOOD-BYE GATEWAY?: • helicopters and volunteer While other carriers were grad­ • boaters helped rescue surviv­ ually shaking the mud off their ing passengers and retrieve physical plants and resuming TENN. the dead, while divers were normal operations after the dispatched to look for bodies Flood of 1993, there was still in one Superliner submerged doubt as to whether Gateway in 25 feet of water and in the Western would survive. The lead locomotive. railroad, which lost its bridge GA. The train derailed as it tra­ over the Missouri River and versed the Bayou Canot suffered a 2,200-foot washout, Bridge, a single-track structure now needs a cool $12 million with an authorized speed limit for repairs. Getting that money of 70 mph. A 132-car CSX may be difficult, thanks to fed­ freight had passed the scene eral disaster relief allocation just before the accident and re­ rules. There is a pool of $21 ported no problems with the million slated for smaller carri­ structure. However, Coast ers damaged in the flooding, Guard logs showed that 12 but only 15 percent of that minutes before the accident, a money can go to a single state, tow captain with Warrior & and only 20 percent can go to a Gulf Navigation Co., radioed single carrier. The most Gate­ that he'd "lost his tow." Re­ way could receive in its first ports indicate that the tow, pass at the funding is $4.2 mil­ LLI lion. Reilly McCarren, GWWR's which was supposed to be on

4 • NOVEMBER 1993 president, stated, "Until I know whether or not that 15 percent cap will apply to us, we are a little bit in limbo .. . based on our less than sterling record of profitability, I don't anticipate private capital be­ coming available to us. The possibility of a recurrence of the flooding makes it hard to attract private dollars." A limit in the amount of aid could put the railroad out of business. It is estimated that GWWR's Mis­ souri River bridge at Glasgow, Mo., will not be repaired until December, and only if enough federal money is allocated to complete the project. GWWR's future was further clouded on Labor Day weekend when a barge struck Gateway's bridge over the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Mo., causing $400, 000 in damage and closing the bridge until at least October. GWWR is currently detouring trains over Burlington Northern rails via Springfield, Mo.

KYLE ON SOGGY GROUND: ABOVE: Another 4-8-4 is under With many in the industry talk­ steam, as former Milwaukee Road Class S-3 No. 261 rolls over ing about the travails of Gate­ Wisconsin Central trackage at way Western and its battle Owen, Wis., on Sept. 16, 1993, on with the Flood of 1993, few its way to North Fond du Lac, heard about the troubles expe­ Wis., for two North Fond du Lac­ rienced by Kyle Railway in Stevens Point excursions on Sept. Kansas. This summer's rains 18-19. Trailing the 26 1 are a tool shut down the company's car, a diner and lounge car. Solomon Division for 30 days, John Gruber RIGHT: Fox Valley & stranding more than 500 cars. Western was a little more than Kyle hired several cars for the eight hours old when ex-Green grain rush, but those cars sat Bay & Western C-424 321 worked still on Kyle rails while their the first FV&W job on former owners collected per diem GB&W rails, seen here at Wiscon­ charges, essentially leasing a sin Rapids, Wis., on Aug. 28, dead asset. Kyle's vice presi­ 1993. None of the GB&W Alcos dent and general manager, were stenciled "WC" and all are Rick Cecil, estimated that lost now stored. Andrew S. Nelson revenue would outweigh track a damage two to one. Kyle did suffer significant lines. The takeover was slated mer Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 No. operation, only the second Al­ track damage, however, with for late September. 261 over the Wisconsin Central co-built 4-8-4 in service. For rails under as much as 12 feet Lines included are the North­ from Fond du Lac to Stevens more information about future of water in some places. Fur­ western Pacific, the Schellville, Point, Wis., on Sunday, Sept. 19. trips call 1-800-261-RAIL. Napa and Vallejo lines, the West A trip for the public was run ther aggravating the problem MORE WATER: was water washing away bal­ Valley line between Davis and Sept. 18.The North Star Rail Burlington last as it receded coupled with Tehama and the Los Banos line crew had finished rebuilding Northern suffered more flood­ the lack of ballast outlets in between Tracy and Los Banos. the locomotive in Minneapolis, ing in late September in Kansas Kansas. Kyle, like other smaller The lease will not affect an Minn., just a week before the and Missouri. BN's St. Louis­ railroads affected by the flood­ agreement with the Golden weekend trips. The 261's return Springfield, Mo., Cuba Subdivi­ ing, is eligible for federal relief Gate Bridge District and three to operation began two years sion was closed because of funds, but how much it will re­ counties in their planned pur­ ago when the locomotive was wash-outs (stranding SLSTA ceive out of that limited pool chase of the former NWP line. rolled out of the National Rail­ 1522 in Springfield). Flooding remains to be seen. CNR's CEO will be David L. road Museum in Green Bay, also closed the following BN Parkinson, who established Wis. Built in 1944, 261 was one subdivisions: River Sub south SP SPINS OFF TRACKAGE: Santa Fe-spinoff Arizona & Cali­ of 10 S-3 Class locomotives on of St. Louis; Thayer Sub south­ Southern Pacific announced on fornia Railway. the Milwaukee. The locomotive east of Springfield, Monett Sub Sept. 9 that it has agreed to last saw active service in early southwest of Springfield; and lease 348 miles of branch lines CMStP&P 261 HITS THE 1954 and was donated to the the Witchita Sub in eastern in Northern California to the RAILS: Three hundred mem­ museum in January 1956. Now Kansas and western Missouri. California Northern Railroad. bers of the Soo Line Historical based in Minneapolis, 261 is See this month's Union Pacific CNR will file a petition with the & Technical Society welcomed the largest coal-burning loco­ column for an update on flood­ Interstate Commerce Commis­ another Northern back into ser­ motive west of the Mississippi affected trackage in Kansas, sion for authority to operate the vice when they rode behind for- and, when UP 844 returns to Missouri and Illinois. PRN

PACIFIC RAILNews • 5 CHICA NORTH WESTERN

Capital Partners, L.P. and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jemette, along with UP's related stock purchases increasing its ownership share to 31.6 percent, would cause UP to acquire control of North Western, making its appli­ cation ripe for disposition. The commission said it would issue a new procedural sched­ ule for filing of trackage rights applications by the protestant railroads shortly.

Return of the S045

When two Chicago & North Western SD45s, 6523 and 6529, appeared at the Pro­ viso diesel ramp on Aug. 1, our first thought was that North Western had found a buyer for these long-stored secondhand fuel hogs. Not so; the company was return­ ing the old warriors to service. Resumption of full operations after the summer floods had receded, along with a resurgence in coal traffic, resulted in a severe motive power shortage. The flood left other rail­ roads short of power, too, and when North Western asked around for more units to lease, nothing suitable could be had. The last run for C&NW's isolated Duck Creek-Kelly, Wis., line came on Aug. 12, when FRVR To keep traffic moving, C&NW was GP9s 4502/450 1 lead train WUGBA (Wausau-Green Bay) through Pulaski, Wis. C&NW contin­ forced to dig deep into its dead lines and ues local operations in the Wausau area, connecting with Wisconsin Central. Mike Blaszak reactivate some SD45s. By mid-August the 6523 and 6529 had joined one-of-a-kind re­ Chairman Schmiege, in the release, built SD45 6500 in service around the Twin Flood's Financial Impact said that "the company is relieved that the Cities. Meanwhile, original North Western impact to our railroad was minor com­ SD45 944 and secondhand 6540, 6543 and Chicago & North Western issued a press pared to what other railroads in our ser­ 6576 had passed through the Proviso diesel release on Sept. 7 commenting on the ef­ vice territory experienced." He expects shop for evaluation. The 944 looked rather fect of the summer floods and other re­ C&NW's fourth quarter earnings to be rough upon its return to Chicago, as it was verses in the railroad's income. Accord­ back on track ...The Michigan miners' missing its number boards, class light lens­ ing to the company, the flood and a strike strike began Aug. 1 and ended during the es, bell, seats and builder'S plates. by miners in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, first week of September. The ore trains out We expect the company to store the which cut off the railroad's ore traffic, of Escanaba, Mich., did not operate regu­ SD45s as soon as demand dips or the new were expected to reduce the company's larly (if at all) during this period. General Electric C44-9Ws show up. pretax income by $14 million in the third quarter. Freight revenues dropped by $12 million due to the flood and $2 million UP Control Case Proceeds Plaines Coal Movement Shifts to C&NW due to the strike, but these losses were partly offset by revenues from detouring In a Sept. 2 decision, the Interstate Com­ Earlier this year, Commonwealth Edison trains. Expenses increased by $10 million merce Commission denied the motions of decided to shift a number of Chicago­ over budgeted levels, including $2 million several protesting railroads and rail labor to bound coal movements onto the C&NW for track repairs. Another $4 million in dismiss Union Pacific's application for au­ from competing lines. One of the affected track work, not included in these figures, thority to control C&NW. ICC determined movements had been routed over Chicago will be capitalized. that the recent sale of stock by Blackstone Central & Pacific from Council Bluffs to Edi-

COMING NEXT MONTH IN

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6. NOVEMBER 1993 son's Plaines generating station near Joliet, ill. In Edison's rebidding of its rail contracts Motive Power Notes during 1992, CC&P lost the portion of the haul between the "Bluffs" and Chicago. MP15DC 1304 became the first switcher to PACIFIC RAlLO Edison originates coal for Plaines at mines receive C&NW's Operation Lifesaver paint NEWS served by both BN and C&NW, and the scheme. This locomotive arrived in Proviso originating road gets the road-haul move­ in fresh paint on Aug. 6, but the very next NEWS STAFF ment to its CC&P connection near Chicago. day it derailed while spreading ballast in From January through early August, the yard. GP38-2 4601 had received Opera­ Edison shipped BN-originated coal to tion Lifesaver paint during July; it was News/information submissions: If you would like to share items on any of the topics listed below, please Plaines. BN delivered the eastbound trains spotted at Beverly, Iowa, in its new colors contact the appropriate columnist at the address list­ to CC&P at Cicero Yard. Mid-August saw on July 9. These repaints bring the total ed. NOTE: Do not send photos to the columnists, Edison switch to the Antelope Mine on number of C&NW units in this scheme up and we ask that you please not ask the columnists to the North Western. C&NW delivered its to eight. GP7 4120 was painted old yellow send you photos or information. first regular Plaines train to CC&P on Aug. at Transco and left Oelwein, Iowa, Aug. 26 17. These trains (symboled ATPLC) oper­ on the way freight. RAILROAD COLUMNISTS ate like other eastbound coal trains until Also on the way freight that day were 17 AMTRAK/PASSENGER-Dick Stephenson they reach Proviso. North Western uses dead GP7s which had been stored at Oel­ 444 Piedmont Ave. #128. Glendale. CA 91206 the Indiana Harbor Belt to reach CC&P' wein: 4185, 4189,4196, 4379, 4381, 4386, AT&SF-Elson Rush because IRB has removed its crossove; at 4388-4389, 4392-4393, 4396, 4398-4399 and P.O. Box 379. Waukesha. WI 53187 Provo Junction,crews of eastbounds must 4496-4499. All of these units had been re­ BURLINGTON NORTHERN-Karl Rasmussen proceed into Proviso Yard 9 and run their tired for at least several months and many 11449 Goldenrod St. NW. Coon Rapids. MN 55448 CN NORTH AMERICA-Mike Cleary power around the train to operate over the were lacking number boards and other com­ W. ponents. The units were stored in Cedar 1395 Jessamine #206. St. Paul. MN 55108 Harbor Hill connection from the yard to C&NW-Michael W. Blaszak Rapids for a while and later disappeared, IRB. Once on the Harbor, trains cross over 211 South Leitch Ave .. La Gronge.IL 60525 to the easterly main track and proceed to apparently on their way to the scrapyard. COMMUTER-Dick Stephenson Broadview, where they ascend the con­ 444 Piedmont Ave. #128. Glendale. CA 91206 CP RAIL SYSTEM-Karl Rasmussen nection with the CC&P main. C&NW pow­ 11449 Goldenrod St. NW. Coon Rapids. MN 55448 er and crews operate straight onto the Ball & Bar Shorts ILLINOIS CENTRAL-Greg Sieren CC&P (picking up a CC&P pilot, at least 1713 Elder Street No. 101. Waukesha. WI 53188 initially) to deliver the trains to Hawthorne Wisconsin Central's takeover of the Fox KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN-Michael Hasbargen Yard, returning to Proviso with light loco­ River Valley on Aug. 28 had no impact on 1208 Valley View Drive. Monett. MO 65708 motives. CC&P uses the reverse route to C&NW train service. All four of the Provi­ MEXICO-Clifford R. Prather deliver empties to Proviso with its own so-Green Bay trains (two in each direc­ P.O. Box 925. Santa Ana. CA 92702 REGIONALS-Dave Kroeger power and crews. Volume is expected to tion) continued to operate, using their 525 6th Ave .. Marion. IA 52302 C&NW symbols over the entire route. build to two to three trains per week in SHORT LINES WEST-Wayne Monger However,FRV power was quickly re­ each direction by March, with some origi­ 1409Tillman St.. Su�un City. CA 94585 nating at the Rochelle, Wyo., mine (sym­ placed by WC SD45s,and these units be­ SHORT LINES EAST-Bob Thompson boled RMPLC). gan appearing regularly at Proviso. Anoth­ Route 6. Box 207. Paris. TX 75462 SP /SSW-Joseph A. Strapac Even as this shift was occurring, Edi­ er WC SD45, the 6417, was spotted work­ ing a fiber optics cable train on the Har­ P.O. Box 1539. Bellftower. CA 90707 son began routing coal from Decker, SP (D&RGW)-Richard C. Farewell vard Subdivision between Fox River Grove Mont., to its Powerton, Ill., station via BN. 9729 w. 76th Ave .. Arvada. CO 80005 As a result, the number of trains C&NW is and Arlington Heights, Ill. , on Aug. 21-22. TRANSIT-Mac Sebree delivering to Powerton via the new Chica­ C&NW is installing power turnouts at 11111 NW 19th Ave .. Vancouver. WA 98685 go & Illinois Midland connection at Cres­ Ogden Junction outside the Global 1 inter­ UNION PACIFIC-Wayne Monger cent, Ill., has dropped off substantially. modal terminal in Chicago to allow trains 1409Tillmon St.. Suisun City. CA 94585 to pass through this high-crime area with­ out stopping. At Global 2 in Proviso Yard, FOCUS CORRESPONDENTS paving of the expanded container/chassis South St. Paul Construction Mike Abalos. Greg Brown, Rich Farewell, Paul yard has been completed. C&NW began Fries. Dave Gayer, Wayne Kuchinsky, Carl M. For two years C&NW has tried to expand building a new east-west track between Lehman, Scott Muskopf, Dan Pope, Ken Rat­ its South St. Paul Yard onto the former Ar­ 44 Main and 1 Main at Proviso on Sept. 2. tenne, Dick Stephenson mour meat packing site. Blocked by the Thanks to Karl Rasmussen, Brian city, C&NW decided to reconfigure and ex­ Buchanan, Bill Eley, Lance Wa les, Dave SUBMISSIONS: Articles, news items and photographs pand the yard within its existing property Kroeger, Roland Manz and Kenneth J. are welcome and should be sent to our Wisconsin editori­ al office. When submitting material for conSideration, in­ lines this summer. New tracks are being Larson. clude return envelope and postage if you wish it returned. built and others extended, while welded PACIFIC RAILNEwS does not assume responsibility for the safe return of material.Payment is made upon publication. rail is being placed on the yard leads. North of the yard, old industry tracks and EDITORIAL ADDRESS: Submit all photos, article sub­ lead tracks are being replaced with long missions and editorial correspondence to: TRACTION PACIFIC RAILNEWS sidings for unit train storage. Prototypes and Models P.O. Box 379, Waukesha, WI 53187 At Belt Yard across the Mississippi, all (414) 542-4900 ties and rail for the new tracks were in "The magazine for the traction enthusiast" FAX: (414) 542-7595 CompuServe: 76307,1175 place as of early September. To switch this • Great Photos • Book Reviews • 36 to 44 pages • Hints yard from the south (to avoid blocking the Submissions sent via UPS, Federal Express or similar • Letters • Maps courier must go to the following street address: CP main to the north) without operating PACIFIC RAILNEWS over the Mississippi River bridge, North 923 Friedman Drive, Waukesha, WI 53186

Western is thinking about building a new BUSINESS ADDRESS:Address all correspondence reo lead adjacent to the municipal sewage dis­ garding subscription and business matters to: posal plant. SUBSCRIBE TODAY Pentrex P.O. Box 94911, Pasadena, CA 91109 For a few weeks in August, Chicago­ 6 Bi-monthly Issues (818) 793-3400 Twin Cities freights PREMA and EMPRA FAX: (818) 793-3797 Only ...... $1600 were resymboled PRVPA and VPPRA Magazine Subscription Service: For all subscription 12 Issues Only ...... S3000 (Proviso-Valley Park (Savage), Minn.), but problems and inquiries call (9 a.m.-5 p.m.Pacific time): Mail to: Box 526, Canton, Ohio 44701 (800) 899-8722 or their customary symbols had been re­ Dealer Inquiries Welcome outside the U.S. (818) 793-3400 stored by Sept. 1.

PACIFIC RAILNews • 7 It's Back--and it's

Better Than Ever I•

• The best in Western rail 1993 Pacif'ic RailNevvs Annual photography

• Special sections on WP, NP and MKT

• Railroading at night

RAILS WEST keeps getting better and better. This year's edition not only contains what you've come to expect from RAILS WEST­ outstanding photography covering today's Class I, regional and shortline railroads­ but we've also added chapters recollecting fallen flags Western Pacific, Northern Pacific and Missouri-Kansas-Texas, as well as a special section on night photography. All in 64 color-packed pages and all for only $9.95. Be sure to reserve your copy of RAILS WEST 1993 today. Ready in November. #RW093.

A Special Edition Of

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Photo above by James S. Belmont. Photo at left, Wayne Monger collection.

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Pentrex • P.O. 94911 • Pasadena, CA 91109 CN NORTH AMERICA

two trains per day, being interchanged with Washouts Divert Traffic the Chicago & North Western. Motive Power Notes New symbols for potash and sulfur Heavy rains caused numerous washouts trains operating to and from Chicago were As of July 26, the following leased power over 13 miles of track near Redditt, ant., introduced during August. The new sym­ is in service on the CN North America on July 27. Traffic was rerouted for several bols for potash loads and empties are System: EML GP38-2s 763, 772, 775, 790, days. Most trains, including all high-priori­ 374/375, which replace the 7601761 sym­ 794, 795, 800, 806 and 813; GSCX GP40 ty trains, were detoured between Win­ bols. Sulfur trains now run as 376/377 in­ 3702; HLCX (ex-Detroit Edison) SD40s nipeg and Longlac, ant., via Fort Frances stead of 7801781. 001, 002, 005, 013, 015 and 016; NRE (ex and Thunder Bay. Some lower priority Various summer track projects made C&NW) SD40s 869, 870, 872, 878, 882, trains including 218, 219 and 302 were de­ DW&P even more of a nocturnal railroad 886, 889 and 892. Except for GSCX 3702, toured over the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacif­ than usual. The few southbound trains that which is assigned to Taschereau Yard in ic and Grand Trunk Western via Chicago. arrived at Ranier during the day were often Montreal, all leased power is assigned to Most trains were operated over the held until late in the afternoon. Northbound GTW at Battle Creek. Burlington Northern between Superior train 339, which normally makes most of its An increasing number of CN units are and Chicago, but BN had flooding prob­ run during daylight hours, has been leav­ now equipped to lead in the U.S. As of July lems of its own and the resulting traffic ing Pokegema as early as 2 a.ill. 26, 332 units are equipped including all 55 congestion and shortage of crews caused It appears that all eight GTW (ex-UP) C40-8Ms, 44 GP9s, 87 SD40s, 36 SD40-2Ws, a few trains to be detoured over CP (Soo SD40s will eventually be assigned to the 10 SD40us, 14 GP40s and 83 GP40-2L(W)s. Line) between St. Paul and Chicago. Winnipeg-Chicago pool. The 5931 is the Some interesting motive power was ob­ only unit that has not yet arrived, it vilas to served on these trains. Two of the east­ be repainted following the release of the Prairie Region Operations bounds had pairs of General Electric 5935. The 5934, which was the only unit C40-8Ms, which cannot operate through left running in the yellow interim GTW Following are the remainder of the west­ the tunnel at Sarnia, ant. Therefore, these scheme is at Battle Creek, Mich., and will bound high-priority and interregional units were turned back west at Belt Rail­ be the last unit to be overhauled and re­ freights operating west of Winnipeg as of way's Clearing Yard in Chicago. This re­ painted. So far, the 5907 is the only DW&P June 1993. These trains were inadver­ sulted in train 392 leaving for Montreal unit to be repainted into the CN North tently excluded from the PRN September with DW&P SD40 5909 and two CN SD40s. America scheme. 1993 issue: The 5909 then worked its way back to 261: Toronto-Vancouver OOCL double­ Toronto on train 393, to Capreol on train stack traffic; operates Tuesday, departing 303, and then to Hornepayne on train 337. CNNA Painting Process 3:05 a.m. The wandering 5909 stayed in Canada un­ 263: Toronto-Vancouver Evergreen Lines til Aug. 7 and was certainly one of the first Applying the CN North America paint doublestack traffic; operates Tuesday, de­ DW&P units to circle the Great Lakes. scheme to locomotives is a five day pro­ parting 9: 45 a.m. cess as follows: 265: Montreal-Vancouver OOCL double­ DW&P News Day 1: Apply brown epoxy primer, and stack traffic; operates Tuesday, departing white primer as required for logos and 10:15 p.m. Traffic on the DW&P slowed down consid­ stripes. 341: Chicago-Vancouver general freight; erably during the summer as the seasonal Day 2: Mask white as required for cab let­ operates daily except Monday, departing movement of potash came to an end. Traffic tering and front and rear CN logos. Paint 11:59 p.m. most days during the summer consisted of red cab, nose and long hood end. 353: Winnipeg-Edmonton general freight; the usual four general freights in each direc­ Day 3: Mask white on long hood, apply operates daily via Dauphin, departing tion and a few potash and sulfur trains per gray patch for North America map, paint 11:30 p.m. week. Despite this seasonal decline, trains cab interior tan. 359: Winnipeg-Prince George BC Rail 340 and 341 to and from Chicago continue Day 4: Black body color and reflective tape empties; operates as required, departing to run heavy most days. It is likely that a on sills if black sets up in time. 12:01 a.m. second manifest schedule will be added in Day 5: Apply clear gloss coat to entire unit Thanks to Bob Anderson, Bytown Rail­ this corridor during the next few months. including trucks and fuel tank. Touch up way Society, Bob Johnson, Mike Kiriazis, By late August traffic had started to pick up handrails with brush as needed prior to Bryce Lee, Karl Rasmussen and John with heavy potash traffic, typically one or clear coat. Vournakis.

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PACIFIC RAILNews • 9 UNION PA CIFIC

be operated solely by UP, as next year the within a few months of being torn out, Eastern Idaho Branches Sold new short line will begin serving some of once again became a vital link in the na­ the active sugar beet loaders. It is un­ tion's rail system for a few weeks. This Coffeyville, Kan.-based Watco outbid San known if the change of ownership will af­ portion of the former MoPac Kansas City­ Antonio, Texas-based RailTex for the 269 fect the flow of beets by rail. Pueblo, Colo., line no longer even sees miles of Union Pacific branch lines in Ida­ Idaho's Gay Branch saw its last rev­ even a UP local, but the route was used by ho. The new short line will be named enue movement in mid-August. For 47 both UP and Southern Pacific trains de­ Eastern Idaho Railroad. years the open pit Gay Mine northwest of touring around flooding in the Topeka and Watco will reportedly establish the Pocatello supplied raw phosphate ore for Kansas City areas with up to a dozen headquarters at Twin Falls, with branch the FMC Corporation and the J.R. Sirnplot trains per day using the line. offices in Rupert and Idaho Falls. Watco is Corporation chemical plants in Pocatello. also considering opening a third branch With the reserves now exhausted at the office at Pocatello. The actual takeover is Gay Mine, ore for FMC is coming by rail Locomotive Fleet News not expected until December; a final sales from the Dry Valley Mine, while ore for agreement must still be reached and the Simplot comes by rail from the Smokey Another significant diesel locomotive has Interstate Commerce Commission must Canyon Mine, both north of Soda Springs. been added to the Historical Locomotive approve the sale. Collection at Cheyenne, Wyo. Arriving in The northern portion of this package Cheyenne on July 8 from Laredo, Texas, (see PRN 356) consists of five lines near Floods Continue to Cause Problems was SD40X 3042. This unit becomes the Idaho Falls, totaling 116 miles. The back­ first the SD40-series model preserved. bone of this system is the remaining 51 UP operations over many flooded main Built by Electro-Motive Division in May miles of the Yellowstone Branch from Ida­ lines didn't return to normal until early 1965, this unit was numbered 434-C and ho Falls to Ashton. Other lines include the September. On Sept. 3 the railroad finally was one of the test beds for the then-new ll-mile West Belt Branch from Ucon to had all affected main lines back in opera­ 645 prime mover. Menan, the 10-mile St. Anthony Branch tion with the reopening of the Chester The seven remaining ex-Western Pacif­ from St. Anthony to Egin, and the 39-mile Subdivision between St. Louis and Poplar ic GP35s still on the property in August East Belt Branch from Orvin to NeWdale. Bluff, Mo. Through the end of August, were pulled from the dead line at North Also included is a four-mile remnant of the UP's official cost estimate for flood dam­ Little Rock, Ark., on August 21-23 and Goshen Branch. age had already exceeded $50 million. temporarily reactivated to help alleviate This set of branches is very active, Unfortunately, heavy rains in Kansas motive power shortages associated with shipping agricultural products throughout and Missouri in late September brought flooding. All units were to be kept in local the year, especially frozen potato prod­ new flooding and line closures. As of Sept. service. The 793 was sent back to former ucts. As part of the sale, UP will continue 27, the River Subdivision was closed due home rails at Stockton, Calif., as part of a to provide and maintain the UPFE reefers. to flooded trackage near Marshall, Mo. pending court case. These units are being The southern portion of this new rail­ The 11 trains regularly using this line leased on a day-by-day basis. road consists of four branch lines totaling were detoured over the Sedalia Sub. The Two more units disappeared in July 154 miles in the Twin Falls area. The back­ De Soto Sub was closed Sept. 23-24 by from the rapidly shrinking list of ex-Mis­ bone of this section is the 75-mile Twin several washouts between Blackwell and souri Pacific locomotives still painted blue. Falls Branch running from Minidoka to Cadet, Mo. The Cherokee Subdivision GP38-2s 2234 and 2327 were painted yel­ Buhl. Also included are the 58-mile North south of Kansas City was closed Sept. 25. low and lettered for UP. GP15-1s 1620 and Side Branch from Rupert to Wendell, the The beleaguered Chester Sub remained 1655 plus GP38-2 2307 were relettered for nine-mile renmant of the Raft River Branch open throughout the flooding, but crews UP in July. from Burley to Declo and the 12-mile rem­ had to work feverishly to keep ahead of UP is moving closer to testing LNG-fu­ nant of the Oakley Branch from Burley to the rising Mississippi, lifting the rails in eled locomotives. In August the first proto­ Martin. Both of these branches may be sub­ places by two feet. type LNG tender was completed and was ject to abandonment as trains are operated Several branch lines were heavily dam­ to be mated with the EMD test locomo­ only during the autunm sugar beet harvest. aged by the earlier flooding, including the tives. The second prototype LNG tender is The 1993 Idaho beet harvest is sched­ Plainville Branch near Paradise, Kan., expected to be completed in October and uled to begin on Sept. 21 and run through which is slated for abandonment. Mean­ sent to General Electric to be mated with early December. This will be the last year while, the former main line between Os­ the GE test locomotives. Both tenders that these various sugar beet trains will awatomie and Herington, Kan., which was have a 30,000 gallon capacity.

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10 • NOVEMBER 1993 Effective in September, UP began refer­ mentioned that the much needed dredg­ will head to Las Vegas behind the E-units. ring to new Dash 8 series General Electric ing of the ship channels at the Port of Oak­ West of Las Vegas, 3985 will take over locomotives as C41-8Ws, following the land will proceed. Meanwhile, the Port of for the run into Los Angeles. On May 21- lead of other carriers. L.A. pulled out of the Alameda Corridor 22, two Ontario-Barstow round trips with project, which may prevent this proposed 3985 are planned before the train heads rail and truck route to the ports of Los An­ back to Salt Lake City and Cheyenne. As Around The System geles and Long Beach from being built. if this were not enough, UP will be in The Nevada Public Utilities Commis­ northern California in the first two weeks Dissatisfaction with statements made by sion has ruled that UP must reinstate the of July for a series of trips in conjunction Rio Grande Pacific Corporation concerning local freight agents at both Winnemucca with the 10th anniversary of the Portola the planned sale and operation of the and Henderson. The major concern at Railroad Museum. As the theme of this Joseph Branch in eastern Oregon, has Henderson that the PUC had is the large celebration is a gathering of first genera­ prompted Wallowa County to hire an out­ volumes of hazardous materials moving in tion "covered wagons," all of these trains side consultant to evaluate the plans of and out of local industries without having will be powered by the E-units. Though the proposed shortline operator. Transfer a local UP employee to maintain contact the exact schedules are not yet settled, of operations to the new Idaho, Northern with local safety officials. there will be at least two Bay Area-Porto­ & Pacific was to have occurred on Sept. 1, The large signal equipment shop at la round trips, four Portola-Keddie round but UP is delaying the changeover until Pocatello has been slated for closure in trips on July 2-3, and even a rare-mileage early 1994. October, with the loss of 25 jobs. trip from Oroville to Westwood over part Only weeks after American President May 1994 is the 125th anniversary of of the Bieber Sub on July 9. Tickets were Lines decided to focus future operations the completion of the first transcontinental scheduled to go on sale in early October. on the Port of Los Angeles, two events railroad at Promontory, Utah, and plans for Call (801) 355-5871 for information. clouded the future of that decision. First, steam and diesel excursions, plus a cele­ Thanks to George Cockle, Jim Baker, President Clinton, during a visit to Oak­ bration on May 10 at the Odgen are nearly Th ornton Wa ite, Wes Leatherock, Kevin land, promised that the long-sought 200 final. There will be a multi-day excursion Gulau, Pat Thunherst, Curt Howell, Steve acres of U.S. Navy land at the Port of Oak­ powered by the 3985 from Omaha to Kalthoff, Steve Van Denburg, THE MIXED land will be leased to the port for expan­ Odgen during the first week of May. TRAIN, FIIMSIEs, CmCAGOLAND'S RAILROADS, sion of the intermodal terminal. He also The following week, the UP excursion GPC-NHRS, THE DIAMOND and UP Corp.

CP RAIL

Recovering From the Floods

CP reported that at least one portion of its system was under water from late June until early August. Company sources indi­ cate that the damages to track and equip­ ment totaled $15 million, not including lost revenue. Because of these out-of-pocket expenditures and its position as a "small" Class I operator, CP will likely apply for federal disaster assistance. It was estimat­ ed that more than $10 million would be re­ quired to repair 160 miles of trackage ad­ jacent to the Mississippi River and that engineering forces would be pulled off other projects to make the necessary re­ pairs, delaying other planned projects un­ tillater in 1993 or possibly 1994.

Corporate News: Revenues Up

For the second quarter of 1993, CP Rail re­ ported that its revenue increased by $49 million to $861 million, with operating in­ It's rare to see Oakway SD60s on the CP east of Portage, Wis., site of WP&L's Columbia III come correspondingly doubling to $44.2 power plant, but in late August the 9028 and 9057 made a trip to Bensenville, III. Here the million. Coal shipments from British duo leads CP train 214 past the depot in Sturtevant, Wis., on Aug. 26, 1993. Tim Lyford Columbia dramatically increased from 1992 levels, rebounding from last year's mine 2,500 carloads per month under the plan, end-of-train devices from Union Switch & strikes. Income was held back due to de­ with less than 20 percent of its 10,000-car Signal for $1.2 million. creases in Canadian grain exports to Rus­ fleet of covered hoppers tied to the pro­ sia, however. For the balance of 1993, CP gram (as compared to 40 percent of BN's expects a gradual increase in profitability, 24,000-car fleet tied to COTs) ... CPOs con­ Operations: Canadian Symbol Changes tempered by the loss of revenue and repair solidated train crew management office in costs associated with the Midwest flooding. Montreal will employ 70 people, combin­ CP has adjusted a number of train symbols CP has won ICC approval for a new ing services currently provided at 30 loca­ reflecting changes in markets across system of advanced purchase of transport tions across Canada. The office will re­ Canada. Glycol trains between Blackfalds, for wheat and durum, called Protected duce employment in this area by 100 posi­ Alta., and Chicago are now symboled 769/ Equipment Rate Exchanges or PERX (simi­ tions over the next two years ... In sup­ 770, with the Blackfalds-Port Moody, B.C., lar in concept to BN's Certificate of Trans­ port of its commitment to reduce cabooses train assigned 7711772. The Medicine Hat­ portation-COT-program). CP will offer where ever possible, CP has ordered 100 Coquitlam, B.C., methanol trains have

PACIFIC RAILNews • 11 been renumbered to 773/774. Symbol 410 this summer. The 4200- and 4700-series were retired during July. As of July 31, CP has been assigned to handle Coquitlam MLWs are commonly operated into Chica­ reported that three C-630Ms, 14 M630s (Vancouver)-Toronto traffic on the days go, with GATX, Helm and NRE SD40-2s of­ and 31 M-636s remained active (48 units), symbols 402 and 472 are not separately ten working trains into the Windy City with that total diminishing by five units operated. Train 486 will handle Winnipeg­ from the east. In support of that point, effective Aug. 10, with C-630M 4501, Montreal traffic, including cars from train train 553 was noted in Montreal on Aug. 4, M-630 4565 and M-636s 4702, 4703 and 410 when 472 is not running. with freshly painted CPRS SD40 5508 lead­ 4733 withdrawn pending retirement. CP tested BN SD60MACs 9500 and ing NRE SD40-2 3130, GATX SD40-2 7359 To replace these units (and likely the bal­ 9503 in grain train service between Moose and CP SD40 5404 ...CP celebrated Fami­ ance of the fleet), CP has been negotiating Jaw and Coquitlam and was impressed ly Day at Shoreham, Minn. , on Aug. 21, with Helm Leasing for a large group of sec­ with their performance across the moun­ with CPRS GP38-2s 4404/4406 handling ondhand EMDs. Candidates for lease to CP tains (two units could handle 10,000 tons eight passenger cars in a push/pull mode include 18 ex-MPIUP SD40s recently re­ of grain on many grades). Sister 9502 was between the shop and Arden Hills. turned from Mexico and shipped to AMF in used for adhesion tests in Montreal early Montreal for shopping. Helm has offered to in August. The last of the units was re­ add dynamic brakes to ex-MP (now UP) turned to the U.S. on Aug. 12. Mid-Summer Motive Power Report SD40-2s 4090-4114, which will become sur­ Due to installation of welded rail on plus as UP takes delivery of more SD60Ms CPOs River Division between Lake City and As of Aug. 1, CP had 199 yard and 979 and C41-8Ws. CP has also looked at a group River Jct., Minn., in August and Septem­ road locomotives in service in Canada, of 20-30 CSX GP38s and GP40s that are ber, CP was operating several westbounds with an additional 34 units stored service­ available for lease via Helm. As of late Au­ over the BN between La Crosse, Wis., and able and 17 units stored unserviceable. At gust, Helm had prepared seven ex-UP St. Paul, Sundays through Thursdays. the same time, D&H was assigned 69 SD40s for lease to CP (3006/3015/3060/30661 Trains typically detoured over BN include units, including its own pair of Alcos (RS- 30871309313120), with five additional units Nos. 205, 421 and 430 ...With the loss of 11 5002 and RS-36 5017) and 10 GP38-2s. on short-term lease to DM&E, which may barges on the Mississippi this summer, Twenty-nine CP units are listed as D&H be available in October (SD40 3105 and much of Soo's grain hopper fleet has been assets (although recent tax law clarifica­ SD40-2s 6000, 6100, 6365 and 8507). Illinois held captive at Gulf Coast ports for ex­ tions may negate these transactions), with Central has also contacted CP for the possi­ tended periods. The hoppers will be need­ 25 SD40-2s leased from GATX and a trio of ble lease of SD40s 6013, 6015, 6054 and ed for expected heavy spring wheat crops similar units leased from NRE. SoolCP is 6058. As of mid-August, CP still had Helm in Minnesota and the Dakotas this fall and responsible for 336 locomotives, including SD40-2s 6366-6370 and 6388 assigned to St. winter ...Due to tight crew and motive the nine Geeps "sold" by CP in 1992 ... Luc (Montreal) for maintenance. power availability in August, CP filled out The six-axle MLW fleet is rapidly dying, nearly all westbounds departing St. Paul with units set aside as they require signif­ to the 120-car limit ...With many Soo icant repair. C-630M 4507, M-630 4512 and Report From the Shops SD40/SD40-2s at Calgary for overhauls and M636s 4720 and 4737 were scrapped in painting, Bensenville has been the recipi­ June, while M-630s 4508, 4550, 4551 and SD40 5517 received the Q-tron package, ent of CP/Delaware & Hudson pool power 4568 as well as M-636s 4725 and 4731 with sisters 5501, 5508, 5509 and 5520 ex­ pected to receive similar treatment by year's end. Work on Soo's 25 units is pro­ gressing nicely, with SD40-2 786 and SD40 DREAMS, VISIONS 6403 expected to be done by Sept. 1. Sis­ ters 749, 780 and 6405 were ready for & VISIONARIES shopping during mid-August. At that time, 11 former Soo units had been re­ painted into the CPRS scheme. CP plans to complete 137 overhauls of its own locomo­ In the Mountains of Utah hy Jackson Thode tives at Calgary in 1994, with an addition­ & James Ozment. Early construction on the al 25 Soo units scheduled for Class I over­ Rio Grande in the Utah Desert and Across haul and painting. It appears that Shore­ Soldier Summit. ham will only work on four-axle yard and Palmer's General Other Narrow Gauge by local power in the future. Robert LeMassena. Mexican National Soo's active GP40 fleet is back up to 21 Narrow Gauge units, including 17 former Milwaukee units The Denver Post Frontier Days Special by in the "bandit" scheme ... D&H's 10-unit Richard Kreck and Kenton Forrest. fleet of GP38-2s will be renumbered to es­ The GreatestTrain by Alexis McKinney. tablish a continuous block of 7303-7312 ... Union Pacific's Articulated Steam Power Photography by Richard H. Kindig. 240 Ex-Norfolk Southern SD40-2s 5475-5485, pages , over 300 photographs . while classified as booster units, are In stock now! $42.95 equipped with hostler controls and can (Please add $3.25shipping & handling.) move independently ...BN ran its nine GP20Cs through Northtown Shop in mid­ Send $2.00 (refundable) for the CRM 1993 Book & Video Catalog August, shipping them to Soo at Shoreham (Over 700 Railroad Books & Videos) for evaluation-CP may equip the units with the "Smart Start" package and lease For Fast Service For FAX Service them from owner Generation II ...Soo Credit Card Orders! Credit Card Orders ! SW1200 328 was pulled from storage and is leased to North Star Steel in St. Paul ... 1-800-365-6263 303-279-4229 Wreck damaged SD40-2s 6615 and 6616 were noted in St. Paul on Aug. 28 and ap­ Income from book sales goes toward rail preservation peared bound for Canada for repair ... Ex­ Conrail GP9 7332 departed St. Paul on Aug. COLORADO RAILROAD MUSEUM 28. This unit was supposedly earmarked for PO Box 10 the Gopher State Tra nsportation Museum. Thanks to Mike Blaszak, Mike Cleary, Golden, Colorado 80402-0010 CP Limited, Fred Hyde, Mike Kiriazis and TRAFFIC WORLD.

12. NOVEMBER 1993 mtrak'S search for new equip­ mentA to serve the Northeast Corridor created an opportunity for ABB­ Traction to demonstrate its futuristic X2000 trainset. The sleek, high-speed train amazed everyone from Amtrak's engineering department to the riding public with its looks, speed, and its ride. In cooperation with ABB-Traction, the Swedish State Railway, and the Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak initiated testing of the X2000 in Decem­ ber, 1992, after modification for use on u.S. rails. By February, 1993, the X2000 began scheduled revenue service, run­ ning from Washington, D.C., to New York City, and occasionally on to New Haven, CT, and back. Pentrex takes you aboard the train for a close-up look at the remarkable technology at work in the X2000. Amtrak's manager of performanceand tests explains how the X2000's radial, self-steering trucks, car body tilt func­ tions, and regenerative braking sys­ tems operate. Climb into the cab of the X2000 as we zip down the corridor at an incred­ ible 135 MPH. You'll see passengers walking, writing, and eating comfort­ ably in the spacious cars, experiencing the smoothest and quietest rides at maximum speeds. Then we go track­ side and airborne for shots of the train racing through the countryside. The speed and comfort of the X2000 are the result of its advanced engineer­ ing. Take a ride into the future as Amtrak and ABB-Traction show off this impres­ sive trainset. Pentrex is pleased to bring you Amtrak's X2000 Demonstration. 30 Minutes #PEN-X2000 $19.95

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By mid-August, BN reported that de­ lays, which had been as much as two weeks during the height of the flood, had been reduced to two days or less. Inter­ modal service between Chicago and Den­ ver had been restored, with a guaranteed transit time of less than 27 hours. Service on the line between Lincoln, Neb., and Kansas City was restored during mid-Au­ gust (the 208-mile route experienced 15 miles of washouts and seven miles of mudslides or other roadbed damages), al­ though significant problems remained across portions of Missouri at Cape Gi­ radeau, between Brookfield and West Quincy and between Hannibal and West Alton. By late in the month, BN still had 73 miles of track under water and was evaluating some secondary lines for po­ tential abandonment, due to excessive restoration costs.

Coping with Capacity Restraints

In the short term, BN continues to wres­ tle with equipment shortages, exacerbat­ ed by a backlog of shipments tied to the Leased Burlington Northern SD40G 7303, a former MoPac unit rebuilt by Morrison Knudsen Midwest flooding. Because of the intense and owned by GATX, rests near the former CB&Q passenger station in Casper, Wyo., on heat and humidity experienced in the April 15, 1993. The depot, still used by the railroad, was recently refurbished. A.J. Wolff Deep South this summer, BN concentrat­ ed its equipment and staffing resources $200 million, BN Chairman Gerald Grin­ on moving coal, attempting to develop a Update on Flood Repairs stein was leading the preparation of a loyal customer base for expanding lucra­ disaster relief package to be submitted tive, long-term contracts. With the em­ Burlington Northern hoped to have all to Secretary of Transportation Federico phasis on coal, moving grain became a trackage affected by the " Great Flood of Pena. Once everything was tallied, BN secondary priority, with a significant 1993" back in service by Labor Day, even said flooding cost $75-80 million in re­ backlog of traffic built up in the central though officials indicated that repairs pairs and lost revenues, cutting net in­ part of the system. would not be completed until year's end. come for the third quarter by 55 cents With vital main lines back in service, With industry-wide damages in excess of per share. BN found itself severely short on motive

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14 . NOVEMBER 1993 power. Orders came out of BN headquar­ and truck production up 10 percent from slated to occur within 60 to 90 days. NSPC ters in Fort Worth to lengthen trains and 1992 levels, the rail industry has experi­ has been idled since Aug. 1 in a strike by reduce horsepower ratios whenever pos­ enced a 13 percent increase in the num­ United Steelworkers of America. sible. Despite these directives, at least ber of vehicles handled, resulting in spot 10 to 20 trains are held each day, await­ equipment shortages. BN has participat­ ing available locomotives. A short-term ed in this traffic growth, with dedicated Motive Power Notes solution was to lease spare power from trains 33 and 34 seeing longer consists Conrail, which came in the form of 22 over the summer months. Number 34 op­ EMD SD70M demonstrators 7000-7002 GP40s. One of the first assignments of erates in two sections on some days, were to be assigned to BN from late Au­ the Conrail locomotives found units 3197 filled out with manifest and inter modal gust until late October, to be based out of and 3221 working No. INT out of Min­ equipment as deemed necessary ... BN's Alliance, Neb., for testing in coal train ser­ neapolis on Aug. 25. Another remedy motive power shortage forced some un­ vice. These units will replace the 9500-se­ was to take advantage of available Mon­ usual units into road service in August. ries SD60MACs, which have been barn­ tana Rail Link motive power on trains be­ Unique GP9Bs were included, with units storming on other carriers throughout the tween Laurel, Mont., and Spokane, 600 and 602 spotted at Clyde (Chicago) summer months ...BN continues to re­ Wash. In July and August, several BN on Aug. 9 ... Traffic increases on the ceive SD40-2Ms from MK, corning in MPI trains traversing MRL were spotted with Hinckley Subdivision between Minneapo­ attire rather than BN paint and 7300-se­ solid blue motive power consists. lis and Superior, Wis., has prompted work ries road numbers as earlier reported. to improve traffic flow for BN and tenants Units 9023-9047 will come to BN on a Chicago & Northern Western and CP Rail long-term lease basis. The first unit of the Rethinking The Pacific Northwest System. The entire summer was check­ group, 9023, was spotted on No. 2 arriv­ ered with slow orders caused by track ing Minneapolis on Aug. 13. Sister 9038 Beyond the immediate traffic crunch, BN work. A two-mile siding is being con­ was also noted in the Twin Cities on Aug. still faces a major capacity problem in the structed south of Cambridge, Minn. BN 28, working on the point of No. 144 ... Pacific Northwest. Because of likely in­ also plans to re-deck the former GN steel Thanks to the power shortage, pool pow­ creases in doublestack and grain traffic, bridge over the Kettle River in Sandstone, er has skyrocketed on the BN. Trackside management is looking at several options Minn., before the snow flies. observers are accustomed to a variety of to relieve existing bottlenecks in the State CR, CSX and GTW units paying off credits of Washington. With additional business from run-through BN power on coal trains coming to the Port of Tacoma, BN is eval­ Settlement Reached to Eastern utilities; such occurrences uating reopening the ex-Northern Pacific peaked during August. Number 15 ar­ main line over Stampede Pass and moving An out-of-court settlement has been rived in Minneapolis Aug. 28, powered by traffic east over Washington Central to reached between BN and Twin Ports citi­ CSX C30-7 7002 and SD40-2 8010. Adding Pasco. East of Pasco, planners are exam­ zens who were affected by the June 1992 to the variety, two other intermodal hot­ ining the cost of re-laying rail on the for­ Nemadji River chemical spill south of Su­ shots worked into the Twin Cities the mer Spokane, Portland & Seattle main line perior, Wis. The plaintiffs' attorney stated same day with Rio Grande GP40s. Filling to Spokane. This would establish a dou­ the settlement was a "multi-million dol­ out a colorful day of operations, Cotton ble-track route in this heavily used corri­ lar" one. Details of the settlement will be Belt GP60 9283 and CSX GP40-2 6279 dor, which could accommodate both the released in October. handled the ST814 taconite empties into grain and doublestack business expected More bad news for BN could be found St. Paul, and later collaborated with BN to develop over the next 5-7 years as 70 miles northwest in the Hibbing, Minn., SD40-2 7037 to power a UP330 potash trans-Pacific shippers look at more land area. National Steel Pellet Company of train for East St. Louis. Th anks Kiriazis, bridge routes to avoid the bottleneck at Keewatin, which BN serves, stated it to Fred Hyde, Mike NORTHWEST RAILFAN, Dave the Panama Canal. would stop all mining and proceSSing op­ Glenn Lee, Tiffa ny, TRAFFIC WORLD and MINNESOTA LOOking at the busy "Funnel" between erations indefinitely when its parent com­ NE WS WA TCH Spokane and Sandpoint, Idaho, BN may pany finds another taconite pellet source, consider reinstalling trackage on the for­ mer Great Northern main line to reach the MRL connection, allowing traffic to be di­ verted off the "Highline." "GRAND ISLAND CROSSING" by noted railroad illustrato,· Robert West.

Operating News Briefs

Nine cars of a westbound 33-car train de­ railed near Monroe, Wash. (20 miles northeast of Seattle), on Aug. 23, includ­ ing three containers hauling chemicals. No injuries were reported, but a five­ block area was evacuated when a gaseous cloud was spotted drifting from one of the cars. Residents were allowed to return to their homes the next day. Rail service was restored on Aug. 25 ...On Aug. 20 and 22, BN interchanged unit grain trains with Norfolk Southern at Immediate release of Jelsma Graphics' first prim, depicting the crossing of the Union Pacific and Jacksonville, Ill. These trains came south Burlington railroads in Grand Island, Nebraska in June 1954. It's 7:00 a.m., the sun is staning to via Beardstown, Ill., and used the north­ rise as several trains converge at the junction. The westbound "City of San Francisco" is running west quadrant of the Jacksonville inter­ late, while an eastbound C.B.&Q. Zephyr is waiting for a green signal. Printed on 80 lb, Saxony, change, reversing direction to move east Loe embossed paper, mailed in round shipping tubes. on NS. The Aug. 20 train used two BN Coming: CHEYENNE CROSSING 1991 (U.P. and B.N.) and two NS units into Jacksonville, with Artist proofs (I-80) S80.00 the BN units swapped out for two addi­ Signed & Numbered $40.00 JELSMA GRAPHICS tional NS locomotives for movement east Shipping & Handling $4.95 P.O. Box 878 - Dept PR toward Tuscola, Ill.... With automobile VISA & MIC Accepted Fernandina Beach, FL 32035-0878

PACIFIC RAILNews . 15 , s anta F e s

16 • NOVEMBER 1993 ajon ...Tehachapi ...Donner ...Feather River ... these famous railroad locales seemed as far away as Memories of C Europe to two teenagers without a car. So, as young railfans growing up in Torrance, Calif. , we had to find solace in observing the activities Santa Fe provided on its • branch to the Port of Los Angeles, known then as the Harbor District, but today called the Harbor Subdivision. Built in three growing up sections beginning in 1886 and culminating in 1925, the line's charm grew in direct proportion to the areas it helped urbanize. As we grew up, watching daily operations on the line, something became quite apparent : The Harbor wasn't a branch line ; it was really a main line in disguise, featuring along an unusual through-freights, locals, and territorial switching jobs-all packed into a 30-mile single-tracked railroad. Throw in prob­ lems related to moving tonnage over an undulating track pro­ file, and the cyclical nuisances of motive power and freight branch line car shortages, and we had a fascinating stretch of railroad.

Bob Finan and Joe Blackwell

LEFT: On July 9, 1976, five days after the nation's 200th birthday celebration, bicentennial S045-2 5702, one of five such painted units, headed up the First Wilmington Turn at Watson Yard in Wilm­ ington, Calif. The rear unit of the lash-up is a CF7 being picked up and returned to San Bernardino for repairs. ABOVE: Back in the early 1980s, Santa Fe was not a railroad one associated with coal but here we see a unit coal extra led by GP20u 3027 at San pedro: Calif., in July 1981. Both photos, Bob Finan

PACIFIC RAILNews • 17 --- --

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18 • NOVEMBER 1993 OPPOSITE PAGE: Two ungainly looking CF7s, working the Fourth Watson Road Switcher, depart Harbor Belt Line Railroad Pier A Yard with a cut of cars bound for Watson Yard in September 1983. Joe Blackwell ABOVE: The 539 prime mover in Alco S-2 2326 chirps away as the unit pauses in front of the Torrance, Calif., depot. Mark Effie collection LEFT: U36C 8708 is in charge of a westbound extra, with both of Santa Fe's SD45Bs in the lash-up, about to duck under the Harbor Freeway at milepost 22 in Harbor City, Calif., in February 1984. Joe Blackwell

and 2810-2811, and 2828 (no dynamics). racked up many miles alternating between hauling the Hobart Turn (the daily turn that ran between Hobart and Watson yards, discontin­ ued in the early 1980s), and being stationed at various depots on the line for switching chores. As for the unorthodox, from mid- to late 1968, Santa Fe ex­ perienced a severe motive power shortage. As a result, the Ho­ bart Turn was forced to utilize lash-ups of four, five, and even six 1500-class Alco S-4s and 2322-class S-2s that Santa Fe had modified for mUltiple-unit operation. This proved to be quite frustrating for crews, however, as it was a rare when all of the aging Alcos in any given lash-up would perform properly. Rewind On another afternoon, the First San Bernardino/wilming­ ton Turn (today's 1-828 and 2-828 trains, but originating in We both stuck close to the Harbor sub into adulthood. Joe Barstow). as a result of that same power shortage, was forced hired out as a switchman for Santa Fe in 1978 and he has to run with a quartet of the 2100-class Alco RSD-5s, making been been an engineer working out of Los Angeles' Hobart what may have been the only time a set of four of those par­ Yard since 1980, a career that offered him the chance to fulfill ticular units ran on that train. Pairs of these were used briefly his lifelong dream of piloting the Wilmington Turn over the on the Hobart Turn, however. Harbor. Bob also stayed in the L.A. area, working as a chief And then there were the radio-controlled helpers. One engineer for a company that operates high-rise office build­ morning in September 1969 a westbound unit grain train ings, and still enjoys railroading as his prime hobby, while al­ came with one of the then new 5590-class SD45s, equipped so running a photography business on the side. as a Locotrol Master, leading three other SD45s. Sixty-three Looking back, we remember the Harbor District featuring cars deep in the train were three more SD45s, a former B-unit everything from the average to the unorthodox. As for the av­ converted into a radio control receiver car, another SD45, 22 erage, there were a group of GP7s that we referred to as the more cars and a caboose. Harbor's "resident" Geeps. Units 2650-2651, 2653-2654 (tor­ Special trains were also a regular occurrence on the Har­ pedo boat-boiler equipped), 2764 (dynamic brake equipped), bor. Every fall up through 1967, Santa Fe ran a "Fisherman's

PACIFIC RAILNews . 19 SANTA FE'S HARBOR SUB

-- HARBOR SUB LOS ANGELES -- AT&SF TRACKAGE RIGHTS

-- OTHER RAILROADS (NOT ALL SHOWN)

= FREEWAYS

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Fiesta Special" from Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal The Phoenix Railroad and return. The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus train was also an annual visitor, with performances at the Fo­ It's been said that what once was will be again; Super Fleet rum in Inglewood. Santa Fe ran the train to Lairport for un­ red-and-silver is a good example. Look at what took place over loading and stored the equipment at Lawndale. the last 20 years. During that period, the Harbor basically died. Considering all this line offered, could you call it a branch? The line lost all of its on-line depots (except for Watson Yard) and territorial switching jobs, many of the industries served by Railroaders the Harbor closed for good, the daylight-running Hobart Turn, and Third San BernardinolWilmington Turn were abolished (the Near milepost 21, we placed a "train order semaphore," Second San BernardinolWilmington Tum ran for approximately (which we made from a piece of scrap wood, painted bright two years in the mid-1960s, but it was always kept it on the yellow with a red stripe on it) and nailed it to the whistle post books, running when necessary), and the First San Bernardi­ for Torrance Boulevard. We used this to notify our friend Ed, nolWilmington Turn began originating in Barstow, eventually the regular conductor on the Wilmington Turn, that we had a leading to nocturnal running beginning in the fall of 1978. message for him. We would hand up the message to him with During this period, AT &SF sporadically ran general mer­ an old train order hoop that he had procured for us. He would chandise Harbor extras , and unit grain, potash, borax, copper always drop off a message and train orders picked up on the concentrate and coal trains during daylight hours (all of fly at Riverside Junction. Jim, his regular engineer, occasion­ which can and do still run), but their lack of a set schedule ally would let us ride with him for a few minutes, while they meant catching them was by pure luck. made their daily set out in the Pass siding, and drop us off as The renaissance of the Harbor Sub can be summed up in they departed for Watson Yard. Jim had a distinctive horn one word-containers-thanks to the expansion of the Port of blowing sequence for grade crossings, and was always good Los Angeles. At one time, most containers were ferried by for "Run Eight" after the head end cleared Crenshaw Boule­ truck from the Port to Hobart Yard and vice-versa. Direct rail­ vard on the train's return trip to San Bernardino. only shipments were confined to loaded COFC 89-foot flats

20 • NOVEMBER 1993 OPPOSITE PAGE: B40-8W 534 brings the warbonnet scheme back to the Harbor Sub, seen here with the S-HOLB (stack Houston-Long Beach) running through the "Forest" at Torrance, Calif., in Aug. 22, 1992. ABOVE: The railroad that never was-SD45r 5338, bedecked in fresh "Kodachrome" paint of the failed SPSF merger, heads up an extra at Torrance, Calif., in April 1986. LEFT: CF7 2548 leads two GP35s with the Hobart Turn on Monaco Hill in September 1978. Santa Fe would find a used-locomotive market for its CF7s. Three photos, Bob Finan

There are only two eastbound stack trains, the S-LBFW (Long Beach-Fort Worth), and the S-LBKC (Long Beach­ Kansas City). Of the two, only the S-LBKC seems to run in daylight, "seems" meaning it gets out of Watson approxi­ mately at sun-up on Sundays. The S-LBFW (Long Beach-Fort Worth) leaves on Mondays in the middle of the night. Their scheduled departure times are totally dependent on the ar­ rival of their respective ships, however.

Besides Stacks occasionally on the rear of the San Bernardino/Wilmington Turns . But that has since changed with the rise of the Pacific One of the reasons the stack trains are forced to run in Rim, along with the use of the United States as a land bridge. sunlight is a new daily business the Santa Fe out-bid South­ Currently, there are three westbound stack trains using the ern Pacific for, the "Slab Steel" train. This is an expedited Harbor each week. Two are scheduled-S-HOLB (Houston-Long train as Santa Fe is obligated to meet a tight turnaround Beach) and S-KCLB (Kansas City-Long Beach)-and the other schedule. The trains are symbolled U-WASB (Watson-San represents new business. The new stack is symbolled S-Wll..B Bernardino) and U-SBWA (San Bernardino-Watson). On duty (Winslow-Long Beach), or S-CVLB (Clovis-Long Beach) and is a at Watson at 8 p.m. eastbound, the train takes imported slabs combination of Maersk and K Line containers set out at of Brazilian steel to Kaiser, and returns the previous nights' Winslow, Ariz ., or Clovis, N.M., by other trains. If this business empties to the Harbor to be reloaded. Power for this train is takes hold, Santa Fe will run trains twice per week, symbolled usually a minimum of four of Santa Fe's newer four-axle blue­ S-CHLB (Chicago-Long Beach). All stack trains run through to and-yellow units. This is also one of the heaviest trains on the I.T.S. facility in Long Beach, via trackage rights over the SP. the Harbor; recently a loaded eastbound run was noted

PACIFIC RAILNews • 21 with eight units and 95 loads, weighing in at 13,000 tons. a.m., Saturdays and Sundays off, works from Redondo Junction The westbound 1-828 train, on duty at Barstow at 4 a.m., to Van Ness Ave ; YHB 203, referred to as Job 203, on duty 3: 15 and the eastbound 2-828 out of Watson (both previously the a.m., Saturdays and Sundays off. It serves the Malabar Yard area. Wilmington Turn) are now running daily during daylight The best way to find out if anything is running on the Harbor hours, mainly due to the conflicting schedules of other trains is to politely inquire at the yard office at Watson. The other op­ and the ensuing congestion on the line. Once the 1-828 arrives tion would be to take a look at Hobart Yard. Anything that is at Hobart, usually between 11 :30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., a crew is parked facing westbound on the middle main track is bound for called and it is on the move back to Watson anywhere from the Harbor. The yard is easily viewed from parallel 26th Street. 2:30 to 5:30 p.rn. Once it arrives, the crew backs the train into the yard through the east leg of the wye, and cuts off the pow­ Photographing the Harbor er. Eventually, they get on the 2-828 (train length usually re­ quires doubling and sometimes tripling over), make an air The Harbor Subdivision literally makes a big "C" on a map. test, and head back to Hobart Yard. On Saturday mornings it's After leaving the main line at Redondo Junction, it runs due common for the 2-828 crew to go dead on the law after having south for a little more than a mile, then turns due west, then to wait at Watson for one or more westbounds. A dogcatch south again, and then east, arriving at Watson Yard. crew is driven from Hobart to bring the train into town. Perhaps the single most significant item of photographic Since the 2-828 originates in Barstow, power can be any­ interest is located in the least photogenic area: Santa Fe's last thing from the oldest to the newest, and anything in be­ remaining "Magnetic Flagman " (wig-wag) in Southern Cali­ tween, including occasional pooled power. An interesting his­ fornia. You will find this gem at the 49th Street crossing, in torical observation regarding this train: When the San the heart of a warehouse district. It is best shot in the after­ Bernardino Shops were still rebuilding locomotives, it was not noon, looking east, with a westbound train. uncommon to use the Wilmington Tum for shakedown runs Better photo opportunities are unfortunately getting rarer. for the units, because if problems developed, the train was The majority of these are found between the former station site aimed back to San Bernardino anyway. of Lawn at milepost 8.8 and Watson. From there, others are at : Road switchers round out the action on the Harbor Sub, with Lairport, milepost 13.6 (you can get photos with jets landing at four jobs working out of Watson Yard, and two jobs working out Los Angeles International Airport quite easily); the "S.P. Cross­ of Hobart Yard. Their on duty times and days off are as follows : ing" at milepost 14.6 (SP's ex-Pacific Electric El Segundo At Watson: RWB 611, 1st Watson Roadswitcher, on duty 7:05 Branch); the ascending westbound grade and former Siding lo­ a.m., Sundays off; RWB 621, 2nd Watson Roadswitcher. , on duty cation at Monaco between mileposts 17.0 and 18.5; the 3 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays off; RWB 631, 3rd Watson Madrona Avenue overpass in Torrance (close to Alcoa at Roadswitcher, on duty 8:55 p.m., Saturdays off; RWB 641, 4th milepost 20.1); the "forest" along Madrid Avenue in Torrance, Watson Roadswitcher, on duty 9 a.m, works daily. near milepost 21.7; between Arlington and Cabrillo avenues At Hobart: YHB 112, referred to as Job 112, on duty 6:30 alongside Torrance Park; and anywhere between Ironsides,

22 • NOVEMBER 1993 OPPOSITE PAGE: Leading train 2-828, SD45r 5395 is joined by a D&RGW SD4OT-2 and an SD45B at Malabar Yard on May 29, 1993. ABOVE: GP35 3392 leads the First Torrance Switcher on trackage built to serve industries once served by the To rrance Oil Spur (abandoned in 1972); this replacement trackage was used for only five years. LEFT: The Wilmington Turn, led by SF30C 95 14, rolls by the last "wig-wag" on the Santa Fe in Southern California, at the 49th Street grade crossing near Malabar Ya rd, in August 1992. Three photos, Bob Finan

milepost 23.3 and Watson (a good westbound morning shot can be had from the Vermont Avenue overpass).

The Future

Two things will affect this line as a through Santa Fe route. First, the Harbor was included as a "window dressing" to the lines sold by Santa Fe to the Southern California Regional Railroad Authority. Whether or not SCRRA plans to ever use it for light or commuter rail is unclear. The more likely scenario for the Harbor's demise would be if Santa Fe became a tenant (jointly with Union Pacific) on the proposed Alameda Corridor Project, a new double-track, be­ low-grade-Ievel route to be built by the City of Los Angeles and the ports of L.A. and Long Beach over existing Southern Pacific right-of-way. SP doesn't want to sell it for less than what its asking, and the interested purchasing parties are be­ ginning to tire of SP's maneuverings. The issue may well be decided in the courts, and communities along the proposed route will obviously have something to say as well. Whatever transpires, the bottom line is that Santa Fe is go­ ing to serve the harbor, and serve it well, as it has since 1925. Thanks to Don Jocelyn, Bob Petersen, and Phil Serpico, author of SANTA FE'S ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC, a historical account of the lin es that make up the Harbor Sub. This article is dedicated to the late J.R. "Red " Trembley, Harbor District conductor. PRN

PACIFIC RAILNews • 23 The Council Bluffs Sub from Gibbon to North Platte, one of the world's busiest freight main lines

OPPOSITE PAGE: It's rare to find things moving slowly on the Council Bluffs Sub, but on Aug. 8, 1993, a massive tie replacement program west of Cozad slowed everything down as SD60M 6304 crawled through town with a westbound coal empty. ABOVE: The Buttermilk Curves between Farr and Brady got their name after, according to legend, a train carrying buttermilk negotiated the curves a bit too fast, tipping over the milk cans. Here an APt stack train bound for North Platte cruises through in June 1993. Both photos, Jim Gilley

JIM GILLEY

flickering glimmer of light pops over the horizon, dis­ A scenic delight this main line doesn't offer. In fact, the torted by the heat waves rising from the roadbed. A scenery in most places is nearly non-existent, taxing your pho­ faint rumble grows louder as the train approaches. tographic creativity to the limit. Along this route the trains YouA feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. You hope move too fast to get good roster shots, and the scenery is too that this train will somehow be remarkable, that it will have mundane to capture inspiring action shots. Remember, we're the power you want to see, that it will have that special talking about more than 100 miles of double-track main line freight car you've been looking for. You experience the exhila­ with scarcely a hint of a curve or even the slightest grade. ration of a mile-long train racing past at nearly 70 mph. And So, why then would anyone then want to railfan the UP be­ then it's over. Just like that. tween Gibbon and North Platte? The reason is simple : trains, The train recedes into the distance and the calm returns. lots and lots of trains. Once again, you notice the breeze blowing and the insects humming along the right-of-way. Just as you become con­ A Transcontinental Beginning vinced the excitement is over, another headlight appears in the distance, and you witness the saga all over again. Such The Council Bluffs Subdivision is replete with history as it is the nature of railroading along the Union Pacific between was part of the first transcontinental railroad built between North Platte and Gibbon, Nebraska. 1865 and 1869. Rails were laid west from Omaha beginning in This, though, is not a story about splendid scenery nor of the summer of 1865. It was a full year later when rails passed marvelous feats of physical engineering. It is a story about the present-day site of Gibbon Junction, Neb., a locale of in­ one of the busiest sections of mainline railroad in the world, significance at the time. of dozens of trains every day, of seeing so much traffic you By August 1866, the rails had passed Fort Kearney, Neb. decide to ignore certain trains because they somehow aren't On Oct. 6, 1866, the transcontinental route reached the 100th what you're looking for at the moment. Meridian, a milestone near Fort Cottonwood, Neb., some 247

24 • NOVEMBER 1993

THE STEEL FREEWAY FROM GIBBON TO NORTH PLATTE

NEBRASKA N _MAP AREA

UNION PA CIFIC OTH ER RAILROADS � INTERSTATE HIGHWAY S

ROADS (NOT ALL SHOWN) C§J U.S. HIGHWAY S \ill STATE HIGHWAY S KEY INTERSTATE EXITS MAP BY TOM DANNEMAN

the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad, which fell under UP control via a Supreme Court ruling in 1916. Mean­ while, in 1913, the Hastings & North­ western Railroad (under control of UP) built the Gibbon Cutoff between Hast­ ings and Gibbon Junction, giving trains a more-direct route to and from the impor­ tant rail center of North Platte. As traffic on the Nebraska Division grew, UP began adding a second main track. The first double-track segment on the west end was between milepost 184 and milepost 194 through Kearney, com­ pleted in 1900. By 1910, the entire line from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to North Platte had been double-tracked.

Rails Of The Platte River Valley

The rails closely follow the north side of the Platte River Valley between Gib­ miles west of Omaha. By the end of 1866, the railhead ex­ bon and North Platte, crossing the river just east of North tended just past Brady Island, about 20 miles east of North Platte. By UP terminology, No. 1 Track is the north main, Platte, Neb. The remainder of the line into North Platte was used for westbounds, and No. 2 Track is the south main, completed in early 1867, with Omaha-to-North Platte service used for eastbounds. At Gibbon Junction, the line splits, beginning that March. North Platte quickly became a division with the Marysville Sub diverging southeast and the Council point on the railroad, and a large engine facility and yard Bluffs Sub continuing east. were built there. Those interested in a historical account of The Council Bluffs Sub continues as double track all the the rest of the transcontinental railroad should look at Robert way to Council Bluffs, though much of the traffic departs UP G. Athearn's UNION PACIFIC COUNTRY, or Maury Klein's UNION rails at Fremont at the interchange with the Chicago & North PACIFIC : THE BIRTH OF A RAILROAD. Western. From Fremont, North Western delivers UP traffic to The Pacific Railroad Act had called for five routes to con­ Chicago. The remainder of the Council Bluffs Sub between verge with the transcontinental railroad near the 100th Fremont and Council Bluffs sees mostly coal traffic, inter­ Meridian. In September of 1872, the Burlington & Missouri changed with C&NW at Council Bluffs. River Railroad became the first one to establish such a con­ The Marysville Sub is largely a single-track route, though nection. Its route entered Nebraska at Plattsmouth and con­ UP intends to double-track most of it during the next decade. nected with the UP at Kearney Junction. Many other railroads Heading southeast from Gibbon, the trains eventually reach had ambitions to connect to the transcontinental line, but Kansas City, the next major terminal on the line. From K.C., most never made it. One of these was the St. Joseph & Den­ UP trains can head to St. Louis, Little Rock, Ark., or Fort ver City Railroad, which made it as far as Hastings, Neb., be­ Worth, Texas. fore running out of money. A good portion of UP's present-day Marysville Subdivision now runs along this route. Just Like One Big Billiard Table In October 1879, the Hastings & Grand Island Railroad con­ nected Hastings to the transcontinental main at Grand Island, There is scarcely any noticeable grade between Gibbon Neb. This railroad connected to the St. Joseph & Western (for­ and North Platte, on average about 0.13 percent west­ merly the St. Joe & Denver City), whose tracks completed a bound. Two short sections (less than a half mile each) of 0.4 route to St. Joseph, Mo. In 1881 this line was reorganized into percent (near Alfalfa Center and again near Elm Creek) are

26 • NOVEMBER 1993 OPPOSITE PAGE: The Burlington Northern pool power immediately Northern, which normally lists crossovers only by milepost, identifies this as a "Juke" coal train bound for Jeffrey, Kan. Techni­ UP has given station names to its crossovers. Therefore, don't cally, the train is symboled CEBJK-03, but railroaders use its nick­ expect to see any signs of civilization at the timetable sta­ name inspired by its symbol of the 1970s and 1980s, JKUE. BN tions of Buda, Alfalfa Center, Simonds, Spring Creek, Vroman, moves the train between Northport, Neb., and Eagle Butte Mine, or Keith ; these are all just crossovers. Wyo. ABOVE: Chicago & North Western SD40-2 6923, in the "new, This route had been double track with Automatic Block old" yellow paint scheme, leads a westbound stack train though the Buttermilk Curves on Labor Day 1992. Both photos. Jim Gilley System since the second main was built between 1907 and 1910. However, within the last three years, UP has converted the segment between Gibbon and North Platte to Centralized as steep as this line gets. Consequently, trains east of Traffic Control, which, when combined with the high speed North Platte receive considerably less motive power than crossovers, allows faster trains to overtake slower ones with trains west of North Platte, which must meet the challenge minimal delay. The Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) sys­ of Sherman Hill. tem used at the Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha is set Curves are likewise few and far between. Tangents are up to take full advantage of this technique, requiring little in­ the norm here, the longest being the 11-mile stretch between tervention from the dispatcher. Josselyn and Lexington. There are only 12 curves between There are seven equipment defect detectors between Gib­ Gibbon and North Platte that span an angle of more than five bon and North Platte. Unfortunately, none of them will "talk" degrees. The largest (in terms of how much the direction of unless there is a defect ; hence your only warning of an ap­ the railroad changes) is at Beck, just east of North Platte, proaching train will be the headlight in the distance. You al­ which spans an angle of 61 degrees. However, the sharpest most never see a train anywhere on this line waiting because curves are "Stockyard Curve" at Bicentennial Avenue in East of traffic-trains on the Council Bluffs Sub keep moving. North Platte and the east "Buttermilk Curve" (which is super­ elevated by 5.5 inches) near Farr. Another noteworthy curve Operations is situated just west of Brady. Track speed is 70 mph over virtually all of the line., except Union Pacific centralized all of its dispatching to the Harri­ at North Platte where trains must not exceed 55 mph west of man Dispatching Center in Omaha two years ago. The East milepost 281, and 45 mph west of the Platte River bridge. The North Platte Dispatcher controls the stretch of the Council other three restrictions between Gibbon and North Platte are: Bluffs Sub between Gibbon and North Platte. You can listen 45 mph through Kearney; 60 mph through Gothenburg (both in on UP Channel 2, 160. 470., the only frequency you'll need, due to grade crossings); and 65 mph through the Buttermilk unless you head east of Grand Island, where the Omaha Dis­ Curves west of Farr. Few trains have trouble making track patcher takes over on UP Channel 4, 160.740. East of Gibbon, speed unless they have locomotive trouble (a rarity with UP's the Marysville Dispatcher controls the Marysville Sub on UP fleet) or encounter high winds (a more common occurrence). Channel 3, 160.515. UP has installed numerous crossovers and eliminated The crew districts east of North Platte are some of the many sidings along the Council Bluffs Sub. Unlike Burlington longest on the system. For eastbound trains from North Platte,

PACIFIC RAILNews • 27 ABOVE: In the Great Plains, landmarks are often man-made, like the elevator at Cozad. Here Oash-8 40CW 9378 is about to cross the lOath Meridian with a 92-car PRNPB- 19, one of many run-throughs from the C&NW. Jeff Spady RIGHT: C&NW 5060 8050 approaches Kearney with a K-Line stack train on May 23, 1992. BN still runs a local into Kearney over UP tracks between Hastings and Kearney, having abandoned its own route in 1975. Greg Shoemaker FA R RIGHT: On its last run before being repainted, UP's "Oesert Storm" 5040-2 3593 heads west through Kearney with a military special on Sept, 28, 1991. Jim Gilley

the next crew change is either at Fremont or Council Bluffs . Most freight trains, and all of the hot intermodal trains, change crews (and railroads) at Fremont, 243 miles east. On average, this run takes a little less than seven hours ; hot shots, however, will make it in less than five hours, while a drag might take more than 10 hours. A few freights and all eastbound coal trains change crews at Council Bluffs, a run of 282 miles, taking an average of about 11 hours. For Kansas City-bound trains, the crew change is at Bring Plenty of Film Marysville, Kan., 246 miles southeast from North Platte. The run between North Platte and Marysville is supposed to take For sheer traffic volume, the stretch between Gibbon and about five and a half hours for a hot shot and 12 hours for a North Platte is tough to beat. More than half of all trains on slow freight. The average run is about 10 hours. Almost all the system traverse this section of track. Although not the trains make the l07-mile run between Gibbon and North Plat­ busiest section of track on the UP (that honor falls upon the te in about two and a half to three hours. nine-mile stretch just west of here between North Platte Eastbound trains rarely have any difficulty keeping time on and O'Fallons), few places can boast of an average of 80 the Council Bluffs Sub's double-track main. However, west­ freight trains per day. On some:days, more than 100 will bound trains off the Marysville Sub will sometimes die on the travel this stretch of track in a 24-hour period. Traffic is hours-of-service law ifthey have encountered congestion on the heaviest on Friday and Saturday and lightest on Sunday and single-track. UP has been spending considerable money on cap­ Monday, but even a light traffic day on the Council Bluffs ital improvements to move traffic on the Marysville Sub more ef­ Sub puts most places to shame. ficiently. Undoubtedly, within the next decade, the Marysville Perhaps a few personal experiences can serve as testimo­ Sub will handle trains as quickly as the Council Bluffs Sub. ny to the traffic level here. On a recent expedition on this line,

28 . NOVEMBER 1993 I caught 23 trains in good light on a single day and easily ignored more , thal'l that number that weren't to my liking. I can also recall numerous late afternoon sessions lasting only a few hours where I shot between 10 and 15 trains. On another occasion, I spent about two hours one afternoon on a bridge in Kearney, waiting for a friend to get off work. During that time, I managed to shoot 14 west­ bound trains from the bridge. The Council Bluffs Sub sees a good variety of trains. There are definitely many coal trains , but manifest freights are nearly as common. At cer­ tain times of the year, grain trains seem almost as plentiful. Intermodal trains, both piggyback and dou­ blestack are also frequently seen on these rails. One thing is for sure, traf­ fic today is much heavier than it was 10 years ago. The coal trains on the UP come from several sources : Powder River Basin, interchanged with C&NW at South Morrill, Neb.; Powder River Basin, interchanged with Burlington Northern at Northport, Neb.; Hanna Basin, which is a direct UP route ; and rarely, Colorado or Utah coal, in­ terchanged with SP at various points. At any given time, there are approxi­ mately 200 coal trains operating on UP's system. All general freights on this portion of the railroad terminate or originate in North Platte. Inbound freights are reclassified at the two massive humps in Bailey Yard (see PRN April 1991). Coal trains, most intermodal trains, and unit grain trains run through North Platte with only a crew change and a brief power servicing. When it comes to intermodal traf­ fic, Santa Fe is often the first railroad many people think of, mainly be­ cause intermodal accounts for such a large percentage of its total traffic. However, Union Pacific operates more intermodal trains than Santa Fe, and a trip to the Council Bluffs Sub attests to that. Many of the inter­ modal trains run during daylight hours on the Council Bluffs Sub, in­ cluding mile-and-a-haU-long solid doublestack trains for The Great Yellow Fleet American President Lines. The two hottest trains on this stretch of the UP are the You will see a fair variety of motive power here-just about CHLAZ (Chicago-Los Angeles intermodal) and the LAAPZ, anything UP considers suitable for mainline action can be which hauls APL doublestacks from Los Angeles to Chicago. found. However, don't expect to see any foreign power (save Both trains make the trip in about 60 hours and are cleared to C&NW) on the point. UP's automatic cab signals (ACS) see to r�n 70 mph. The hottest trains from the Marysville Sub are it that only ACS-equipped locomotives are in the lead. the KCNPZ that moves trailers between Kansas City and Union Pacific's motive power of today is far more interest­ North Platte, and the SLOAZ .. which hauls a mixture of trail­ ing than it was 10 years ago. UP has invested over $ 1 billion ers and doublestacks between St. Louis and Oakland. in new locomotives since 1988, creating the largest modern Identifying UP trains can be a chore. Most trains do not fleet in the country. The endless parade of SD40-2s has given mention their symbol over the radio, but instead are referred way to SD60s and C40-8s. Conventional and comfort cab units to by their lead unit number. There are so many trains run­ of both models are the mainstay of today's UP motive power ning at all hours of the day and night that identifying them by fleet. An occasional SD50, C36-7 or C30-7 will add a little fla­ schedule is also nearly impOSSible. vor to the lineup. And yes, for those of you who admire the

PACIFIC RAILNews • 29 SD40-2, there are still an adequate number of trains powered by these aging critters. Common Alpha Codes On Most coal trains are powered by three C40-8s or SD60s. Freight trains are powered by just about anything, but two big The Council Bluffs Sub GEs or EMDs, or three SD40-2s, are fairly typical arrangements. Freights frequently have the recently converted SD40-2R "B" AS: St. Louis (Alton & Southern) ME: Memphis units trailing in the consist. CB: Council Bluffs NL: North Little Rock Pool power from C&NW is quite common, especially east CH: Chicago NP: North Platte of North Platte. SD40-2s, SD50s, SD60s, and C40-8s often lead CS: Chicago (Canal Street) OA: Oakland over this stretch of the UP, the only non-UP power to do so. ON: Dupo, III. PO: Portland Other roads whose power you'll frequently see trailing in­ EL: Elkhart, Ind. (Conrail) PR: Chicago (Proviso) clude BN, Santa Fe, CSX, and Norfolk Southern. FW: Fort Worth PT: Chicago (Proviso) GI: Grand Island, Neb. SC: Salt Lake City Hints And Suggestions HO: Houston SE: Seattle KC: Kansas City, Kan. SL: St. Louis Besides the tremendous traffic volume, the other major ad­ ST: Stockton vantage of this area is accessibility. You won't need a four KS: Kansas City (18th Street) wheel drive, nor will you have to trespass to get your shots. If LA: Los Angeles TA : Tacoma you're into pacing shots with a video camera, these too are easi­ LB: Long Beach, CA ly obtained from parallel U.S. 30. There are grade crossings al­ Notes: All coal trains (this table excludes coal trains) are preceded by most every mile, and since one is not much different from an­ "C," while grain trains are preceded with ooGL"if loaded, or "GEH if emp­ other, you can shoot just about anywhere with the same results. ty. Most other trains will have letters appended as a suffix rather than a Most trains on the Council Bluffs Sub travel at 60 mph or prefix. Common suffixes include: Z=intermodal; A=manifest; B=second better, and chasing them is pointless, since they don't stop section; V=autoracks. Numbers one through seven indicate day of week. l=Monday and 7=Sunday. Some trains will have codes for the road they anyway. Furthermore, U.S. 30 is prime hunting grounds for interchanged with with appended to their symbol. such as KCNPNS the Nebraska State Patrol and the numerous county sheriffs, (Kansas City to North Platte. Norfolk Southern). eagerly awaiting your contribution to their coffers.

30 • NOVEMBER 1993 Consequently, one simple strategy is to simply to drive along U.S. 30 until you see a headlight in the distance, then turn off at the next crossing and shoot. You'll run out of film in no time using this technique, though you may not be overly excited with the results. Do not despair though, there are good shots to be had here, if you're willing to look for them. Explore some of the small towns along the right-of-way and look for interesting backdrops. And make the lighting work for you ; if you leave the tracks before sundown, you will miss the most spectacular shots of the day. To your favor, if you completely botch a shot, not to worry; another train will be by in a little while, and you can try again. One final hint ; if you haven't been here in a few years , you would be wise to return. UP has removed the pole lines from both sides of the right-of-way. Although some will no doubt mourn the loss of this classic right-of-way dressing, the ab­ sence of the poles has opened up many new shot possibilities. Above all, never give up looking for shots that you might have overlooked. If you are patient, persistent, and willing to look beyond the obvious, you can obtain a some memorable im­ ages from the Council Bluffs Sub. Remember, the challenge here is not to find trains, but rather to find decent shots of them. The sheer traffic volume has to be experienced to be be­ lieved. With interesting motive power, a good variety of trains, plenty of action, and virtual armchair accessibility, it's easy to overlook the lack of scenery here. One thing is for cer­ tain; you won't go home without seeing a train. So next time you're headed across the country, perhaps going to one of the more glamorous train watching locations, get off Interstate 80 and take U.S. 30 between Gibbon and North Platte. You'll ex­ perience first hand what big time railroading is all about. I would like to thank the following employees and consul­ tants of Un ion Pacific for their gra cious help with this article: George Cockle, Paul DeLuca, Dan Ewoldt, William W. Kratville, Ken Longe and Don Sn oddy. OPPOSITE PAGE: UP 6034 rolls eastward through Gothenburg on a blus­ For a more-detailed description of the Council Bluffs Sub tery Nov, 24, 1991. Gothenburg was at the heart of UP's track renewal between Gibbon and North Platte, I recommend NORTH PLATTE: program of 1991. TOP: The lack of trees in this area posed a great A GUIDE TO OPERATIONS AND FACILITIES by Donald Park problem when building the railroad, as wood for everything from ties K. II, to campfires had to hauled in from many miles away. Shown at available from Parkrail, Apt. L-138, 1025 Oxford, Ft. Collins, Maxwell, a loaded coal train heads east for Oklahoma in June 1993. CO 80525. If you are interested in late steam and early diesel Both photos, Jim Gilley ABOVE: Headed for Fremont to interchange era photography from this area, ch eck out HIGH IRON TO NORTH with C&NW, S060 8046 rolls through Gibbon Junction in August 1993. PLATTE by Arthur E. Stensvad, available fr om South Platte On the left is the junction with the busy Marysville Sub. Tom Donnemon Press, Box 163, David City, NE 68632. PRN

PACIFIC RAILNews • 31 32 . NOVEMBER 1993 TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY R.C. FAREWELL EXCEPT AS NOTED

mmediately west of Denver, the Denver and Salt Lake City by a consider­ Front Range of the Rockies rises able margin, thus enabling his railroad to from the Great Plains like a turreted offer lower freight rates than those ad­ fortress.I There are no foothills to help vertised by rivals Denver & Rio Grande ease the transition into the mountains. and Union Pacific. As one might expect, the eastern slopes Moffat arranged financing for his pro­ of the Front Range are a major obstacle ject. Shortly thereafter, in 1902, Moffat set to the passage of anything and every­ about building his Denver, Northwestern thing, including wind, weather and man & Pacific main line west from Denver. A and his railroads. direct assault was chosen as the strategy There have always been those who to conquer the Front Range. A westward look upon such obstacles not as barriers, run from Denver on a series of linked tan­ but as challenges. One of those individu­ gents brought the DNW&P to the first up­ als was David Moffat. Moffat's dream was thrust slabs of the Front Range escarp­ the emplacement of a standard-gauge ment at Rocky, milepost 18. West of Rocky, mainline railroad west from Denver a circuitous, climbing and flanking maneu­ through the Rockies to Salt Lake City. ver was accomplished by running north­ By building such a line Moffat calcu­ ward in and out of the mouth of Coal lated that he could cut the distance re­ Creek Canyon to reach the steeply sloping quired to ship merchandise between hillsides of Plainview, milepost 24. 5. Mof­ fat's surveyed alignment then climbed Early morning at Tu nnel 29 on the Moffat though the upthrust rock slabs of the Route sees RODVT (Roper-Denver trailers) Flatirons toward the natural gateway of descending through the east portal and en­ South Boulder Canyon. tering the wild depths of South Boulder The canyon's deeply incised course Canyon. SD40T-2 5349 leads a rare solid would ultimately lead the DNW&P to the lash-up of Rio Grande motive power. base of the Continental Divide itself. A 90-degree turn into the canyon was ac­ complished at milepost 26.91 by con­ structing tightly curving Tunnel No. 8. By 1903, construction of Moffat's railroad had reached well into the wild interior of the canyon. The lower reaches of South Boulder Canyon are not a gentle, meandering val­ ley, but rather are highly vertical, very nar­ row and strewn with boulders. Nonethe­ less, Moffat's route-finders persevered and defined a serpentine tunnel and trestle­ prone route high on the southern walls of the gorge and its side hollows. Surveyors were able to hold the ruling grade of the alignment up the canyon to 2 percent, far

PACIFIC RAILNews • 33 less than the gradient of the descending stream. Because the DNW&P and South Boulder Creek both climbed westward at different gradients, they eventually met, at the site of a series of great granite mono­ liths that guarded the entry into the wildest and steepest part of the canyon. The monoliths presented a significant ob­ stacle, but the engineers chose to simply bore through them. The westernmost and final monolith was the most difficult to deal with. Its eastern face was conquered with a bore lo­ cated at milepost 36.38, referred to as Tun­ nel 29. Then, a roadbed shelf was blasted along the adjoining granite cliff face west of the tunnel. The westbound approach to Tunnel 29 required a continuous horseshoe curve whose arc began at the west portal of nearby Tunnel 28. The eastbound approach to the roadbed shelf and Tunnel 29 also required a continuous curve, but in the reverse di­ rection. To make the alignment curvature operationally usable, South Boulder Creek had to be crossed on a bridge at milepost 36.45, at the west end of the shelf blasted from the cliff face. The original pile trestle across the creek has been replaced ; the present structure is a 104-foot steel span. West of Tunnel 29, South Boulder Canyon opens up and becomes much more subdued with a lesser gradient. There, DNW&P's builders wisely installed a passing siding whose east switch is just west of Tunnel 29 and its adjacent ap­ proach bridge. This siding, at milepost 37.0, is referred to as Pinecliffe. As initially constructed, Tunnel 29 was ultra-short, only 78 feet long. Of that rela­ tively minuscule distance, 39 feet of tim­ bering was required to insure a secure ceiling. Tunnel 29 exists today much as constructed, with the exception that the interior timbering was replaced by sprayed concrete gunnite in 1953. The east portal, a bare granite face, was strengthened with long rock bolts during 1992. They are nearly invisible against the gray of the granite, however, and only the presence of large, square rusting washers gives hint of the rock bolts' presence.

Operations Today

Current Southern Pacific operational patterns through Tunnel 29 are relatively straightforward. Westbound, Monday-Sat­ urday finds a hotshot United Parcel Service train, DVRVF (Denver-Roseville forwarder), roaring upgrade through the tunnel district between 5:30 and 7 a.m. Ifthere are de­ lays, the train may show up somewhat lat­ er. Amtrak's No. 5, the westbound Califor­ nia Zephyr, can usually be found climbing through the area between 11 a.m. and noon each day. Westbound empty unit coal trains can traverse the area at any time, however same-direction bracketing of Am­ trak's passage is not uncommon. TOP: At 78 feet, Tunnel 29 is short as Front Range tunnels go. This image of SSW 8092 on the Eastbound movements include a noc­ head-end of D&RGW train No. 102, the Rai/blazer, clearly shows the stubbiness of the tunnel as turnal to mid-morning passage of GJDVM well as the massive, rounded nature of the granite monoliths that the bore pierced. ABOVE: The (Grand Junction-Denver manifest). Late af­ monolith country around Tunnel 29 is timeless. Witness D&RGW 1210, a 2-8-2, recorded by Dick ternoon to early evening finds RODVF Kindig on June 25, 1939, as it piloted the Exposition Flyer eastbound out of Tu nnel 29 while en (Roper-Denver forwarder) dropping down route to Denver. The nine-car train was coasting downgrade at 25 mph. R.H. Kindig through Tunnel 29. Shortly thereafter, nor-

34 • NOVEMBER 1993 mally well before sunset during the long line at Pinecliffe. South Boulder Creek is Precautions days of summer,Amtrak's eastbound No. bridged by SH 72 on a sharp curve at the 6 descends through the tunnel district en bottom of the canyon. Immediately west of During late spring and into earlysum­ route to Denver. this bridge, a small dirt road exits SH 72 to mer South Boulder Creek's flow east of the Most of the numerous eastbound load­ the northeast and winds between a row of gauging station and below bridge 36.45 is ed unit coal trains pass through the Tunnel summer homes and SP's right-of-way em­ extremely swift. The current along the fish­ 29 area between late evening and 4 a.m. bankment. This dirt road can be followed erman's trail can be very dangerous, espe­ Not infrequently, though, the longest days about a half mile to its dead-end at a small cially to small children. Finally, although of mid-summer find the last of the east­ parking area and a Denver Water Board westbound SP traffic can be heard some bound unit coal parade reaching Tunnel 29 stream flow gauging station, just west of distance away throttled in RUN 8 climbing well after dawn. the entry into the vertical sides of South out of the west portal of nearby Tunnel 27, Traffic density over the Moffat Tunnel Boulder Canyon. eastbounds descend into the Tunnel 29 main line sometimes can be quite heavy. A fisherman's trail leads along the rail­ area in a quiet manner. Dynamic brakes Moreover, Amtrak's operations demand road and stream eastward into the gran­ and their give-away whine are usually not priority. As a result,Pinecliffe siding is a ite monolith country. After a short Walk, activated until bridge 36.45 is crossed. PRN commonly used meeting place for same­ the trail leaves the right-of-way at SP's direction or opposing operations. At 7,000 36.45 bridge and drops down the north feet long and blessed with a relatively side of the creek. By continuing farther subdued gradient, Pinecliffe is especially along the trail you can reach more hos­ attractive to SP's dispatchers for meets be­ pitable country on the east side of the tween numerous 105-car unit coal trains. bore. Once on the other side, Tunnel 29's merits for photographic opportunities be­ Access come immediately obvious. SP's radio chatter can be heard Access to Tunnel 29 area is easy and throughout the area on Road Channel 4, direct. From the junction of Colorado high­ frequency 160.455, and is repeated on ways 72 and 93 northwest of Denver, fol­ 452.900. Interestingly, as Road Channel 4 low SH 72 westward into the Front Range is also utilized for part of the Tennessee and climb to the headwaters of Coal Creek Pass main line, the mountains sometimes Canyon at the hamlet of Wondervue. Con­ play tricks and allow the repeater channel tinue west for a quick and scenic descent to echo not only Moffat Tunnel main line to the bottom of the canyon and a meeting chatter but that of Tennessee Pass radio with South Boulder Creek and SP's main traffic as well.

.. 7?JOC,allde To . .... " ' '''' " .. , Moffat Tunnel TUNNEL 29 AND VICINITY

, I"� 'to ."

..... '. 7961 1 . •1 . ! ... j .... , ...... 0.'" . : -' "" ., . :" 8040 , !

"" II,. " '1 " "",,

8486 " 1, " I, "" III. "" , .. '�' , ;�;ll�! .' :i�::,� -':�':· ��;��;h��::,�>",�:'�:�i�:�;�0:.; :::"'''""''

Denver .. ... :""�::::"" . 1930 . " " ' " ''''' '''' ''' .." . ,,,,,''' -�- -J . : . . " . ' • . • ",'I , '" ",. , " . ... . •• ... .

MAP BY R.C. FAREWELL

PACIFIC RAILNews • 35

A Rail Enthusiast's Paradise Anchoring Union Pacific's Feather River Route

OPPOSITE PAGE: SD60M 6102 leads two Dash 8s on an eastbound out of the Chilcoot Tu nnel in April 1993. Long gone are the days of beat-up WP GP35s, GP40s and U30Bs rolling along the Feather River Route. ABOVE: The MINPV (Milpitas-North Platte autos) departsPortola on April 27, 1993, as another eastbound waits in the hole. In the background are the depot and museum.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY RANDY WOODS M.D.

ituated in the Sierra Nevada moun­ tains of Northern California, the small town of Portola has a strong as­ Ssociation with railroading. Long recognized as Western Pacific's eastern gateway into the famed Feather River Canyon, this divi­ sion point was once home to a station, roundhouse, turntable, steam and diesel shops. Western Pacific fell upon hard times in the 1960s and 1970s and the fate of rail­ roading in Portola and along the Feather River Route was in question. Fortunately af­ ter the merger with Union Pacific in 1982, the new management invested heavily in upgrading the physical plant that had suf­ fered from deferred maintenance. Traffic levels soon began to rise, and a decade later the "Feather River Route" is healthy again. The desert, mountain, and canyon scenery around Portola has made this area a favorite among railfans and two recent

PACIFIC RAILNews • 37 steam-powered passenger excursions through Feather River Canyon attracted crowds wanting to see Union Pacific loco­ motives in action on the former WP route. In 1991, thousands flocked to see steam on this line for the first time in nearly 40 years as UP 8444 and 3985 doubleheaded to the Sacramento Railfair. One year later, the Challenger repeated this trip as it headed to the National Railway Historical Society con­ vention at San Jose. While these trips gen­ erated a lot of interest and publicity, it doesn't take steam to get excited about rail­ roading in this beautiful, rugged territory.

Railfanning Around Portola

On a typical day 15 to 20 trains pass through Portola including doublestack, TOFC, automobile, general manifest, and coal movements. In addition to through trains, a local operates out of Portola, trav­ eling down the Loyalton Branch about once a week to service the Sierra Pacific Lumber Mill. Train frequency around Portola usual­ ly picks up in the late evening with a heavy flow of westbound movements. Traffic con­ tinues to roll in both directions during the night. The mOrning remains busy and east­ bounds predominate, providing the best opportunities for photography. Things qui­ et down during midday as track and main­ tenance crews work on the line. The main seldom strays far from Cali­ fornia Highway 70, making it easy to fol­ low trains. The best plan is to rise early and head west into the canyon and wait for an eastbound. The MINPV (Milpitas­ North Platte autos) and OANPZ (Oakland­ North Platte intermodal) are scheduled each morning and it is common for one or two other eastbounds to run with them through the area. This can result in some dramatic railroading through one of the most scenic regions of North America.

A Morning on the Railroad

Imagine a cold dense fog rising from a clear mountain stream. The misty haze is suddenly pierced by the oncoming head­ light of the STOG (Stockton-Ogden). Soon SD60 6262 bursts out of Tunnel 31 (mile­ UNION PACIFIC IN post 280) as it leads a six-unit consist PORTOLA thundering toward the Keddie Wye. You PORTOLA, CALIF. DETAIL jump in your car and the chase begins. Twenty minutes later, you arrive at William's Loop (milepost 294) and find the temperature 15 degrees warmer under blue skies. Following close behind is the STOG (Stockton-Ogden) and you become sur­ rounded by grinding, squealing rail action. Next comes a detour down SH 89 and a cou­ PORTOLA ple of backroads for photos at Clio Trestle (milepost 314) before heading to Portola.

ROCKY POINT • -- UNION PACIFIC

-- ROADS (NOT ALL SHOWN)

-- PORTOLA RAILROAD MUSEUM TRACKAGE

STATE HIGHWAY @ To Reno � COUNTY ROAD

MAP BY DON GULBRANDSEN AND TOM DANNEMAN 89

38 . NOVEMBER 1993 When you arrive in Portola, the STOG OPPOSITE PA GE: The STOG (Stockton-Ogden) rolls over Clio Trestle on April 27, 1993, behind an has already changed crews but the train impressive lash-up. After UP merged WP into its system, bridges like this one, as well as other holds its position in the yard (milepost 322). structures, received new coats of paint. TOP: 5040-2 3761 leads an eastbound two miles east The reason for the delay is soon evident as of Portola along Rocky Point Road. Tracks here run along the North Fork of lhe Feather River. the MINPV hasfollowed hot on the heels of the STOG. The MIN PV departs first and you 707, which was assigned to yard service in harsh conditions, but due to the diligent wonder whether to continue the chase. The Portola during the 1960s.Another impres­ work of UP crews the trackage remains in sight of a clean unit on the point and sive diesel is the massive DDA40X 6946. excellent condition. Although many rail­ thoughts ofthe tunnel at Reno Junction The museum is open daily, weather per­ fans were saddened by the loss of West­ (milepost 342) prove irresistible and the mitting, and boasts a popular rent-a-loco­ ern Pacific, they can take comfort that pursuit continues into the desert landscape. motive program, which is also in operation with Union Pacific in control, the railroad­ Ifyou wish to observe railroading at a year-round. Visitors have traveled from all ing legacy at Portola remains alive. more leisurely pace, all you have to do is over the world to sit in the engineer's seat Thanks to Marvin Dunn of UPand Bruce stay around Portola. More than 140 Union and operate a locomotive on the museum's. Cooper of Portola Railroad Museum. PRN Pacific employees work out of the terminal, balloon track. Train rides are also available including train crews, supervisors, and a va­ during summer weekends and at special riety of maintenance personnel. The small events such as Portola Railroad Days during yard and station can be viewed from the August and Railfan Day in September. walkway of the Gulling Street Bridge, which crosses the north fork of the Feather The Battle Continues River. Heading east out of Portola, the scenic main line along Rocky Point Road is Running the railroad through this hostile another favorite train watching location. terrain is a difficult task as snow, heavy rains, and rock and mud slides continually A First-Class Railroad Museum hamper operations. The winter of 1992-1993 was unusually severe and the deep snow When visiting Portola, you should be forced Union Pacific to call in a rotary plow sure to visit the Portola Railroad Museum, from Cheyenne. While UP was successful at which was formed by the Feather River Rail keeping the main open, it was unable to Society in 1983. The museum is located at keep sidings clear, forcing it to fleet trains the former Western Pacific diesel shop, between Gerlach, Nev. (milepost 438), and which is generously leased by Union Pacific Oroville, Calif. (milepost 203). Although this for just $1 per year. This working museum did result in delays, traffic moved. has a collection of 35 locomotives; more Despite its continual battle with the el­ than half are operable. Western Pacific fa­ ements, Union Pacific has turned this into vorites include 921D, an F-unit that once a busy and profitable route. The line re­ powered the California Zephyr, and GP7 quires a lot of maintenance because of the

PACIFIC RAILNews • 39 ELSON RUSH

It's getting hard to find second generation power leading trains run by Class I carriers, but such was the case on Aug. 22, 1993, when Santa Fe GP30 2744 led an eastbound manifest up Cajon Pass. With more C4 1 -8Ws arriving, older models like this may be on the way out. Ron Butts

clear one of the ballast cars that had Flood Mop-Up washed off the original bridge on July 10. Disney Dream Train Drowns On Aug. 16, two work trains began un­ Santa Fe placed the new south main loading about 500 cars of rip-rap and fill The gaping hole which the flood punched in bridge at illinois Division milepost 364.4 in material to "fill the hole" under the Santa Fe's finances-reportedly $50 million service Aug. 13. Unlike the new north bridges. Completion of this project al­ in expenses and lost revenue-caused track bridge across the 220-foot washout lowed Santa Fe to lift its 10 mph slow or­ Chairman Rob Krebs to cancel "Mickey's at that location, the south track bridge in­ der over the new structures. 65th Santa Fe Express" passenger train corporated a steel through girder span to By Aug. 25 train operations over the tour with steam locomotive 3751 that Krebs illinois Division had returned to normal, had approved. though delays of one to two hours were According to insiders, Krebs demanded common due to lingering slow orders. that Disney bear the entire expense of Burlington Northern continued to detour both leasing the 3751 from the San some Chicago-Kansas City trains between Bernardino Railroad Historical Society and Bucklin, Mo., and K.C., as it did not expect operating the train, in addition to its own You need our help to reopen its own line before Sept. 15. promotional activities. Disney refused, and to select the best one. Gateway Western also detoured over San­ Krebs used that as an excuse to cancel the Serving the Railfan community ta Fe between Kansas City and La Plata, trip on Aug. 25. Santa Fe's marketing peo­ for 16 years, we align our radios ple had planned to invite customers to for optimum performance in the Mo., and Norfolk Southern between La ride segments of the trip, but those plans RR band. Plata and St. Louis until its bridge was knocked out at Louisiana, Mo. became casualties of the flood. WRITE OR CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION. Two mistakes in our previous Santa Fe flood coverage need to be corrected. The SOUTHWEST Argentine diesel shop apparently was not BN Derailment Blocks Haulage Route flooded July 10. Also, Santa Fe didn't use ELE C TnONIC S business car diner Fred Harvey to feed the A 29-car BN derailment at White Oak,Okla., bridge workers at milepost 364.4; a meal on Aug. 22 disrupted Santa Fe operations service car normally used to support track on the Tulsa-Memphis-Birmingham "It's smart to buy from an maintenance gangs was assigned instead. haulage route. Train Q-LABHl-19 (Los An-

40 • NOVEMBER 1993 geles-Birmingham) was stuck behind the gin date. Thus, L-IL01-1-10 is the "01" lo­ The remaining Regional Manager of­ derailment and had to hold until the track cal out of Corwith Yard, Chicago, on the fices officially closed during August. With was cleared. Westbound Q-BHLAl-21 de­ tenth of the month. all significant decision-making already toured from Springfield, Mo., to Kansas transferred to Schaumburg and the new City via BN and ran over Santa Fe west of operating divisions, the offices simply there. BN reopened the route on Aug. 23. SD70s Demonstrate on Santa Fe handled routine personnel and mainte­ In other detour news, SP detoured nance recordkeeping, functions trans­ some trains via Santa Fe, using AT&SF pi­ Electro-Motive Division's trio of SD70M ferred to a new System Support/Mainte­ lots between Colton and West Riverside, demonstrators, 70001700117002, spent nance office at Kansas City. Calif. , and presumably over Union Pacific about a week on the Santa Fe during Au­ west of there, to avoid a rail relay project gust, accompanied by test car 112. The on its own main line, which commenced units were first assigned to train Chico Chatter Aug. 21. SP's maintenance window ex­ S-CHLAl-18, departing Corwith on Aug. tended from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays 18 with 6,700 tons, and train S-LACHl-20, Milk isn't the first agricultural product through Tuesdays, until Sept. 14. which left L.A. on Aug. 20 with 6,300 tons. most people would associate with New After arriving at Corwith, the units went Mexico, but that's changing. With abun­ west again on train 1-188-23 on Aug. 23, dant land, a climate that's not too severe Symbol Changeover Implemented returning to Chicago on S-LACHl-26. Re­ and large markets in neighboring Arizona portedly, the demos "rode well, pulled and Texas, New Mexico has vaulted With the flood crisis abating, most numeric well and reacted very well to the con­ ahead in milk production to rank 20th train symbols were changed to alpha sym­ trois," although the crews needed time to among the states (as of 1991). Feed grain bols on Sept. 1 "as part of Santa Fe's contin­ become familiar with their integrated cab for cattle isn't produced locally, and Santa uing efforts to improve operations," accord­ electronics. Santa Fe crews suggested a Fe will move an increasing volume of Mid­ ing to a letter to the railroad's intermodal few minor design changes to the EMD western corn into the "Land of Enchant­ customers. As previously reported, trains personnel accompanying the units . ment" for cattle. 198, 199, 398, 891, 893 and 991 retained Meanwhile, MPI SD45 rebuilds are still Santa Fe is vacating the A Yard office their symbols because United Parcel Service running on the Santa Fe, though not the at San Bernardino as of Sept. 27. The prop­ didn't want them changed. A revised list of same four (9017-9020) the company tested erty will be turned over to Metrolink for alpha symbols shows changes from the list before the floods. Train 1-668-23 even had storage track construction. According to printed in PRN 358: The 606 and 616 trains a pair of the dark blue and gold units (9037 the San Bernardino Safety Tracker, Gener­ (Borger-Amarillo) become locals L-PH09-1 and 9023) on the point, leading SDF40-2 al Motors has told Santa Fe it wants to and L-PH1 0-1 rather than symbol freights 5260 and SF30C 9500 out of Waynoka, Okla. start unloading autos at San Bernardino H-BGAM1 and H-AMBGl. Enid, Okla., sec­ by the end of the year; a frenzied rebuild­ tions of the 674 trains are symboled ing of the B Yard is expected. H-ENOK1. Sections of train Q-BAHO origi­ New Intermodal Trains Thanks to Jayhawk, O. R. Bixler, nating at Temple, Texas, are symboled Starpacer and Mexico Jake. H-TEHO. The 315 train (Argentine-Dallas) Train Q-CHPX is a new Chicago-Phoenix becomes M-KCDA1, while the 331 train service, carrying intermodal traffic, includ­ (Kansas City-Clearing Yard, Chicago) be­ ing that from UPS. The first train reportedly comes M-KCMC1. Numeric 415 (Newton­ ran Aug. 22, with just 23 cars, though the Dallas) and 426 (Wellington-Amarillo) are third train sported 67 cars behind C40-8Ws now M-NWDA1 and M-WLAM1. 866, 886 and 847. Train Q-MELA began op­ Trains listed as intermodal in the table erating from Memphis to Los Angeles in receive the " Q" prefix. Chicago-Dallas in­ August, although sporadically at first. The termodal symbol 185 becomes P-CHDA1 initial train, which left Memphis on Aug. 22, rather than Q-CHDA1, while Barstow­ had just 17 cars behind two locomotives. Richmond 889 becomes Q-BARI1 rather The first few runs of Santa Fe's new Los than P-BARI1. Four new Q symbols have Angeles-Mexico City stack trains went pret­ been established: Q-CVFW (Clovis-Ft. ty well. Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico Worth) ; Q-ESKC and Q-KCES (St. Louis­ operated the S-EPMX on time each week; in K.C. via GWWR) ; and Q-WLOK (Welling­ fact, timekeeping in Mexico was better than ton-Oklahoma City) . Belen-EI Paso Q-BEEP in the U.S. Santa Fe has instituted a weekly is classified as a "P" rather than a "T," S-MXLD (Mexico City-Laredo) symbol, but with a P-BEBH symbol set for Belen-Birm­ that merely covers operation of "revenue ingham. The 589 becomes T-HORI1 (Hous­ empty " intermodal cars on the rear end of ton-Richmond) ; the "PE" symbol for the UP's Mexico City-Chicago stack train. Most Pearland intermodal terminal is not used. traffic to Mexico City is inbound, and Santa The 879 train becomes T-BARI1. Fe contracts with UP to reposition excess Local and roadswitcher symbols also empties in Texas and the Midwest. SOUTHERN PACIFIC In Color is a 128- were changed on Sept. 1 to modified al­ page hardcover detailing the glory years after phanumeric designations. In this system, WWII to the early Sixties. The last of steam is the first character of the symbol is "L" or Centralization Update shown along with the pioneering diesels that "R, " indicating whether the assignment is a wrested control. Clean Daylight and Black local or a roadswitcher (each has different At 9:35 a.m. on Aug. 24, dispatching control rules regarding the work the crew can per­ of the Central Region was shifted from Al­ Widow paint schemes photographed across the form). The second and third characters are buquerque, N.M., to the Consolidated Sys­ entire system! Available 12/1/93, order this book the letters signifyingthe division, as fol­ tem Operating Center at Schaumburg, ill. loday al the special pre-publication price of: lows : IL=Illinois ; EA=Eastern; KS=Kansas ; Many of the Albuquerque dispatchers had $40+ $3.50postage, $5 foreign. Give street OK=Oklahoma; NT=North Texas ; ST=South moved to Schaumburg in advance of that address for UPS delivery. NJ res. add $240 tax. Texas ; PH=Panhandle ; PC=Pecos; NM= date. No unusual problems with the switch Afler 12/1/93, price is $49.95. New Mexico; AZ=Arizona; SC=Southern were reported. A few reassignments of pri­ California ; VA =Valley ; LA=L.A. Terminal. mary radio frequencies were implemented: The fourth and fifth characters are the AAR Channel 36 (160.650)-Kansas City­ Morning Sun Books, Inc. �, number assigned to the local, the sixth Wellington; Channel 72 (161. 190)-Welling­ 11 Sussex Court character is the section (usually 1) and the ton-Canadian, Texas ; Channel 55 (160.935) Edison, NJ. 08820 BOOUIJIC. seventh and eighth characters are the ori- -Canadian-Clovis, N.M.

PACIFIC RAILNews • 41 ILLINOIS CENTRAL

This month, we're glad to welcome a new jointly by IC and BN from Metropolis, Ill., and occasionally two trains per day, even Illinois Central columnist, Greg Sieren. to Paducah, Ky. ) at Metropolis, Ill., with IC on weekends. Among the symbols loaded Greg encourages everyone wh o has news taking over from Metropolis to Memphis. are the UKMMOIUMOKM trains ladened fr om up and down the IC system to con­ SP ran several trains from both Chicago with export coal for the Alabama State tact him at the address listed on page 7. and East St. Louis, Ill. , to Memphis and Docks in Mobile. The UUEL symbol is em­ New Orleans, resulting in both the main ployed on loaded trains for Union Electric line and the Edgewood Cutoff seeing SP at Labadie Mo., with ULUE for returning The Detour Parade trains. As of late August, SP was still de­ empties. This train is operated in conjunc­ touring on the IC between Pickneyville, tion with UP and routed from Benton to Illinois Central was a savior for many ma­ Ill., to East St. Louis, Ill. East St. Louis. Symbol UUEL2 designates jor railroads when the great flood of 1993 IC also handled Amtrak's Texas Eagle trains loaded for the Union Electric plant at hit, hosting detours from Amtrak, Santa from Chicago to Memphis due to problems Joppa, Ill., which operate via BN trackage Fe, Burlington Northern, Southern Pacific on Union Pacific's De Soto and Chester sub­ rights from Metropolis Junction to Joppa and Union Pacific. In total, IC handled divisions in Missouri. UP was a minor play­ Junction. An occasional train for the Cook 160 foreign movements between July 7 er in running trains over the IC with some Coal dock just west of Metropolis Junction and Aug. 4. trains rerouted from East St. Louis to Ben­ on the BN is also loaded at Galatia. AT &SF detoured from Chicago south to ton Ill., and from East St. Louis to Memphis. This past summer saw the IC running both Memphis and New Orleans, though six test coal trains (symbolled UBNEV) from most trains left IC rails at Memphis, Tenn. Memphis to Evanston, Miss., in conjunction Symbols 188 and 189 were most prevalent, Strike Affects Coal Traffic with BN. CSX's contract is up at the end of with an occasional 133 making an appear­ this year and the power plant wanted to ance. These were basically make-up trains The coal strike in southern Illinois, which test Western coal using this routing. to get Chicago westbound loadings out of started in April, has affected IC coal traffic, the Windy City. Trains Q-RICH (Quality forcing the railroad to lay off some brake­ Richmond-Chicago) and 916 also made an men in the Benton, Ill. , area. Most mines Grain Traffic Strong occasional northward appearance. are trying to load trains with mine man­ BN ran several detours, namely trains agement dOing the loading and IC man­ During the first part of August, IC's grain 20/21 and 143/144· from Chicago to Mem­ agement running trains. Old Ben mines 24, mill loadings were up 45 percent and phis via both Cairo, Ill. , and the Edgewood 25 and 26 and the Rend Lake Mine are all grain was up 80 percent over 1992's re­ Cutoff in southern Illinois. BN also routed on strike and are only loading trains when sults, due in part to the Upper Mississippi these trains via its line to the Paducah & feasible. The Old Ben mines typically sup­ being closed to navigation. Connection Illinois Railroad (a paper railroad owned ply coal for the BRT-Georgia Power and the grain was coming in strong from CP Rail, BRT-Tennessee Valley Authority that oper­ BN, Chicago & North Western and Norfolk ate to Paducah Ky., for connection with the Southern. Two to three grain extras per Paducah & Louisville for the trip out to the day have been operating south out of barge terminal at Grand Rivers, Ky. Chicago, with an occasional originati.on The strike has also forced Illinois Pow­ out of Mattoon, Ill., that handles traffic er Company at Baldwin, Ill., to purchase from Decatur and Peoria, Ill. coal from sources other than the idled Common loaded grain symbols are nearby Peabody Coal Company mine. GSORS South-Reserve, La.), GPERE Do you like colorful passenger trains ( Norfolk Southern and UP have been deliv­ (Peavey-Remy, La.), GSOHV (South to Hel­ powered by E-units and passenger F­ ering coal to IC at East St. Louis for for­ vetia, La.), GSODS (South to Destrehan, La.) units ...Wo uld you like to see a book on warding to Baldwin, with power from GSONO (South to New Orleans). GCARS these trains written by someone who both roads running through. The NS (Cargill to Reserve, La.,), GSOME (South to worked for many years as a Traveling trains are symbolled UESBA/UBAES. The Memphis) and GMAME (Mattoon-Mem­ Passenger Representative ... Would you UP trains are symboled UUPBAIUBAUP, phis). Some grain trains pick up blocks of like to read a book about the and are occasionally handed to the IC at grain hoppers dropped off by scheduled passenger operations of a railroad that Sparta Ill., instead of East St. Louis. trains at Memphis and get a GME prefix. really cared about passengers as well The Kerr McGee Mine at Galatia, Ill., a Grain bound for Mounds, Ill., is moving on as their corporate image? Then this non-union mine, has been busy loading scheduled trains CHME (Chicago-Mem­ book is for you. This third in the series of trains for several destinations, loading one phis) and GLCA (Glenn-Cairo). Great Northem pictorials features the streamlined passenger era authored by John F. strauss, Jr., former GN Ry. TPR, assigned primarily to the incomparable ARNOLD T, Empire Builder. Included are passenger I I SAv:"f�RS car rosters, passenger advertisements, .wo new t apes .. timetables and much, much more. See See the trains and motive power you read about in PRN and other news magazines! Our 2-hour VHS Hi-Fi Stereo GN's famous and colorful passenger videos each feature a variety of non-stop mainline action shot at different locations throughout the Midwest or South ­ trains during the Streamliner Era. west - without narration over the live sound - each tape includes a handy information/line-up shee\ . Order by November 30, 1993 at the SOUTHWEST SAMPLER MIDWEST SAMPLER VI special Pre-PubUcation Price of $40 + April 1993 August 1992 - June 1993 $3.50 shipping/$5 foreign. GN Volumes Over 90 trains, including: SF and SP mainline action in Over 100 trains, including: The last BN E- unils, CR SO- 1 + 2 are still available at $49.95each + New Mexico and Arizona featuring SF 20-cylinder power, BOM's, EMO SD-70M's, IAIS Alco, SF Willow Springs line new SF C42-8W's, SPSF merger paint, SP semaphores, relocation, WC new SO-45's, CNW GP-50's plus AMT, Order Today from: $3.50 s+h/SS Foreign. DRGW units, new SP paint and MORE! CCP, EJ&E, KCS, SOO and MORE! $24.95 per tape I $4 S&H per order I Send for free catalog --=r-(W./L -WtUfLW� POBox 1734 PN VISA/MC/Check/Money Order ARNOLD VIDEO PRODUCTIONS La Mirada. CA 90637-1 734 P. O. BOX 2241 Dealer Inqu�esare Itwned I IL residents add 6.5% tax GLEN ELLYN, IL 60138

42 • NOVEMBER 1993 Empty grain hoppers are moving north that operates a Venice, Ill.-to-Du Quoin, Ill., ton Rouge, La., in early August ...IC has either in blocks on scheduled trains or on turn to connect with I031I04. I05 has an esti­ seen an influx of colorful run-through pow­ empty unit grain trains GNOCH (North­ mated departure time at Venice of 11: 30 er. CHJA departed Chicago on Aug. 1 with Chicago), with one to three trains per day p.rn. and is expected to arrive the following locomotives 201113138/9569 and picked up running depending how loadings are on morning at 9:30. It should be noted that IC CSX 8100 and D&RGW 5353 at Cham­ the scheduled freights. All grain trains are intermodal trains have two-person crews paign, ill., so they could be dropped off at using the Edgewood Cutoff in both direc­ and now run from Markham all the way to Mattoon, Ill., for a grain train. IC sees regu­ tions, except those destined for Mounds, ill. Fulton Ky., before changing crews again. lar UP and NS power on coal trains. There also have been Conrail and Gateway West­ ern units spotted on IC freights ... SD40X Pig Train Update IC Shorts 6071 has been spotted back in service as of August ...IC is slowly adding ditch lights Following the completion of the new inter­ IC won the gold Harriman safety award for to locomotives ... In June, SP leased 315 modal facility at Markham near Chicago at mid-sized Class Is in 1992, resulting in em­ IC hoppers, and C&NW leased an IC hop­ the end of 1992, IC added a pair of inter­ ployees being rewarded with a nice look­ per trainset in July ...IC has started a modal trains between Memphis and ing clock with the IC logo in August ... monthly employee newsletter, the first of Markham by extending the schedule of John D. McPherson was appointed vice which appeared in March 1993. The trains I031I04. I03 is listed at Markham for 9 president of operations in August. He will newsletter came as a surprise to employ­ p.rn. and I04 is listed at Memphis for 9 p.rn. have the transportation, mechanical and ees because they haven't seen that type of Both trains operate via Cairo while I011I02 engineering departments reporting to him publication for eight years. now operate via the Edgewood Cutoff. With ...XNOBR was the symbol used for the Thanks to John Crupenter, Mike Abalos, this schedule addition, trains 1111I12 have Ringling Brothers circus train move from Mike Cleary, Randy Olson, Tom Binger, Jon been abolished and replaced with an I05 Mays Yard in New Orleans to the UP in Ba- Roma, A. Lincoln and Illinois Central.

: SOUTHERN PA CIFIC LINES

Power wasn't available ; crews were dying was torn up and rammed through the Cash Rolls in From Stock Offering on the law. Every terminal-even those on back wall of the adjacent Boone Hardware the Pacific Coast-displayed some conges­ store. No injuries were reported. Judging from public response, SP's stock tion as SP tried to return to normal. About SP has upgraded DAESF (Dallas-East St. offering of Aug. 10 was a success. De­ $40 million was lost as a result of flood de­ Louis forwarder) into a super-hot UPS TOFC mand was heavy enough that SP owner lays in June and July. operation. As well, HOCHQ (Houston­ Philip Anschutz sold off $45 million of his One solution used by SP was to route Chicago quality) has been created, replac­ personal shares under prearranged terms. tonnage via BN through Springfield, Mo. Ex­ ing semi-scheduled PBCHM (Pine Bluff­ Anschutz, however, still retains control of amples include ESEYD (East St. Louis-Ener­ Chicago manifest), the latter now being op­ SP with 52 percent of its stock. During the gy Mine detour) and frequently run ASGJD erated as needed for lower-priority tonnage. introductory offering, 34.5 million shares (Alton & Southern-Grand Junction detour). Other new operations include CHESF of SP Rail Corp. were sold. The initial ask­ A second routing found traffic flowing over (Chicago-East St. Louis forwarder), creat­ ing price was $13.50 per share, well below the Cotton Belt to Jonesboro, Ark., then via ed as a rebirth of Illinois Central's "Sling­ the original price of $20. However, by the BN to Kansas City. Some unit-coal opera­ shot" intermodal service. Interestingly, for end.of the first trading day, outstanding tions were tied down until flood waters re­ all its stature as a high-priority operation, shares of stock had jumped 12 percent in ceded. Included were EYICC (Energy Mine­ on Aug. 1 CHESF was noted leaving value, to $15.12. Industry analysts at­ IllinoisCentral coal), SNESC (Skyline Mine­ Chicago's Bedford Park with 14 loads, no tributed the initial lower stock price to the East St. Louis coal) and TCESC (Terror empties, and powered by the vintage duo fact that most investors feel SP is highly Creek Mine-East St. Louis coal). of D&RGW SD45 5315 and SP GP35 6632. leveraged, faces tough competition and is Unit-coal changes include the introduc­ marginally profitable at best. tion of CPBNC, operated between the Co­ Lead underwriters Morgan Stanley & When is a Short Line Not a Short Line? op, Utah, coal load-out and a transfer to Co., Salomon Brothers, and Kidder, Peabody the BN in Kansas City. & Co. expect that the combined stock and When SP leased and sold some of its low­ SP operated special passenger move­ debt sale produce $760 million before will volume Oregon branch lines to non-union ments west from Denver on Aug. 2 and payment of an estimated $36 million in un­ shortline operators, a challenge was imme­ Aug. 18 to demonstrate SF's physical plant derwriter fees. SP intends to use the net diately raised by nine rail unions, arguing to financial analysts. The operations were proceeds to retire and prepay high interest that SP had simply worked a deal to get out symboled as XPSGR and were powered by rate debt and purchase new equipment. of collective-bargaining agreements, which two SP GP60s towing Anschutz Corp. In early September, SP announced it guarantee that all work for SP will be per­ business cars California and Kansas. Inter­ would save more money by trimming its formed by SP employees. Under the leases, estingly, XPSGR's group of exclusive pas­ payroll to approximately 18,000 employees SP pays the operators of its erstwhile sengers were not treated to boarding at by the end of 1994. Employment figures as branches a fee for each car they deliver. the Victorian elegance of Denver's Union of July 30 stood at 22,053. An arbitrator has ruled that these short Station, but rather in the somewhat more lines are legitimate and not simply non­ industrial setting of Rio Grande's Track 5 union surrogates for the SP. It was found in nearby North Yard. More Delays that SP couldn't profitably operate the lines, even though "public convenience and ne­ The sure way into the Midwest for SP dur­ cessity" required their continued service. Motive Power ing much of the flooding this summer was the old way, via Corsicana, Texas, and Pine The recently announced order for 25 Bluff, Ark., but that route was quickly over­ Operational Notes SD70M units from General Motors is sched­ whelmed. SP's own detoured trains and uled for delivery next summer. An early, overflow from other carriers disrupted rail SP put 11 cars of a manifest freight on the tentative number assignment puts them operations for more than two months, even ground at the hamlet of Boone, Colo., early right after the SD40T-2s at 8574-8599. though SP facilities weren't damaged. in the morning of Aug. 19. During the de­ In August, General Electric demonstra­ Trains were delayed all over the system. railment a section of mainline trackage tors arrived for coal-train testing in Col-

PACIFIC RAILNews • 43 leased to SP and initially operated as a matched set is now separated and dis­ persed throughout SF's system. Quartet member MRL 204 was noted in the motive power consist of SNESC (Skyline Mine­ East St. Louis coal) on Aug. 11 while MRL 200 was recorded at Denver's North Yard fuel tracks on Aug. 25. Once in a while pure sets of D&RGW power can still be found operating. Wit­ ness CKEYC (Cherokee Power Plant-Ener­ gy Mine coal) of Aug. 10, which was noted at Troublesome, Colo., with D&RGW 5511, 5512, 5388, 5386, 5374, and 5344. Although D&RGW high-hoods are now history, Denver's North Yard is again pop­ ulated by early Geeps, this time wearing gray-and-scarlet, and occasionally yellow­ and-red. Through late August, North Yard's ever-changing high-hood fleet in­ cluded SP SD7R 1512, GP9E 3792, and SD9Es 4342, 4345 and 4370. General Electric B30-7s 7848, 7849 and 7852 went through Burnham Shops' "re­ Southern Pacific's Va lentine Sub in Texas, the line over Paisano Pass, features some of the seal" program in August-a first in a shop railroad's most impressive trackside scenery east of California. B40-8 8074 leads a west­ known for its EMD specialization. However, bound manifest through the high desert near Altuda, Texas., Aug. 7, 1993. Wes Carr these GE units appear to be there on a con­ tract with their builder for maintenance ser­ orado. Three C40-8Ws were leased by GE contingents. Interesting additions to the vices, freeing SP employees for other tasks. from CSX, units 7843-7845, built in late lease fleet include those GP40-2s recently 1992. SP officials expect to place an order used by Amtrak, as well as units from far­ for GE six-axle units in the near future. away Maine Central. Even Montana Rail Another Texas Hot Spot The count of leased units was up to 369 Link has been leasing SD40s to SP. On the by late August, with Conrail SD40s, ex-Con­ other hand, Union Pacific power has-for Wes Carr nominates SP's Valentine Subdi­ rail GP38-2s (relettered for EMD), ex-Santa the most part-returned to home rails. vision in West Texas, specifically the area Fe GEs and IC SD40s among the largest The Montana Rail Link SD40 quartet between Marathon and Marfa (including Paisano Pass, 10 miles west of Alpine), as worthy of attention. The Valentine Sub runs from Sanderson (west of Del Rio) , to El Paso, 309 miles. This single-track CTC RAILF AN ACCESSORIES line has passing sidings approximately T-SHIRTS, HATS, MUGS, GLASSES & MORE! every 10 miles, and features high-density (15 to 20 trains during daylight hours) SP T-SHIRTS: intermodal traffic. 100% Preshrunk Cotton Trains passing through West Texas orig­ Sizes S-M-L-XL: $13.99 inate in Dallas, Houston, Memphis and XXL: $15.99 New Orleans. Amtrak's westbound Sunset Pennsylvania GG-l Limited (perhaps Amtrak's least-pho­ Union PacificTurbine tographed train) makes a daytime appear­ Union Pacific DD-40AX ance on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Union Pacific U-50C The Valentine Subdivision also connects Union Pacific SD-60M the South Orient Railroad's Presidio Line to New York Central E-7 its trackage from San Angelo ; South Orient Northern Pacific FT has 11 miles of trackage rights over the SP Alaska RR F-9 between Alpine Junction and Paisano. Alaska RR GP-49 The landscape is attractive, featuring Amtrak F-40PH rugged mountains and barren high desert N&W J-Class 4-8-4 HA TS: $4.99 EACH GLASSES: $3.60 EACH country. The steep grade of Paisano Pass Norfolk Southern SD-60 presents an obstacle for westbound trains Santa Fe GP-60M Amtrak MIL Union Pac. 4-8-4 #844 climbing out of Alpine. U.S. Highway 90 Santa Fe B40-8 BN NKP Pennsylvania K-4 4-6-2 closely follows the tracks east of Van Santa Fe FP-45 CBQ NS Norfolk Western J 4-8-4 Horn; it is rare to completely lose sight of Rio Grande SD-50 Chessie NYC Santa Fe F-7 the rails from this highway. EMD SD-60 Conrail PRR MUGS: $4.99 EACH Believe it or not, Paisano Pass towers Southern Pacific B39-8E CSX DRGW Amtrak NYC over either Tehachapi or Cajon, topping Conrail B40-8 GN UP B&O NS out at 5,074 feet a few miles west of CNW C40-8 LN WM Conrail PRR Alpine. Westbound trains face a 1.03 per­ BN GP-50 GN SF cent grade, while eastbounds have a bit LMX B39-8E EL UP Susquehanna B40-8 more difficulty with 1.11 percent incline. But don't let that "Alpine" name fool you. Santa Fe C40-8W Department� PRN CSX C40-8W This is serious desert country, with fero­ 343 Lincolnway We st / South Bend, IN 46601 cious heat during the summer months, Order Toll Free: 1-800-225-6509 Fax: 1-219-282- 1057 and few services. Thanks to H. W Farewell, Fred Fields, or Write For Free Catalog. Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Check or Eddie Sands, G. Ray Hound, Fred Codoni, $3.50 for shi in to the 48 Continental States. Mone Order. Add Wes Carr and SP's Information Center.

44 • NOVEMBER 1993 REGIONALS

September. Former Union Pacific (ex-Mis­ four BN SD40-2s, and three Chicago South Fox Valley & Western Begins souri Pacific) U23B 547 was also leased for Shore & South Bend GP38s were seen in a short time, but it was failure prone and Winona, Minn., in early August. DM&E At 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 28, Wisconsin Cen­ was returned to Silvis , Ill. has picked up four Eureka Southern GP38s tral subsidiary Fox Valley & Western be­ on a three-year lease; they have been re­ gan operations on the former Fox River cycled through the shops at Huron. All Valley and Green Bay & Western railroads . Government Halts Be Rail Strike four are in the Eureka Southern paint The last GB&W movement, Green Bay­ scheme with DM&E stencils. The Huron East Winona train No. 1, tied up in Wis­ The British Columbia provincial govern­ shop forces have painted GP9 1471, and it consin Rapids at 5:54 a.m. on the 28th, led ment ordered 1,600 striking BC Rail workers has been named City of Wa tertown, and by C-424s 311 and 319 and C-420 323. The to report back to work on Aug. 26, and im­ two more GP9s, 1477 and 1483, have also last FRV train was an ANPRA (Antoine­ posed a 90-day cooling-off period. The ef­ been painted but are not yet named. Proviso manifest) which departed Green fects of the strike, which began on July 19, DM&E has been receiving southern illi­ Bay on the evening of Aug. 27. The end were rippling through the province's econo­ nois coal from CP Rail at Winona Junction. came sooner than expected as no one was my. More than 200 workers were laid off at This coal moves to a power plant in certain when the arbitrator would hand rail-dependent businesses during the strike, Rochester, Minn., in ICG hoppers. This traf­ down his ruling, nor when the WC would and another 1,000 mining and pulp mill jobs fic used to move on the C&NW to Winona, act on it. The changeover occurred so sud­ were threatened when Labor Minister Moe then to a SooIDM&E routing. denly that some GB&W employees report­ Sihota took action. Prior to the return-to­ Several engineering projects have been ed to work in Green Bay later in the morn­ work order, BC Rail had approved a media­ going on the eastern end of the DM&E, as ing on Aug. 28 only to find themselves tor-developed settlement package, but the Waseca-Winona main is in the midst of locked out of their locker room as unions had postponed a vote citing proce­ a $5.7 million track rehabilitation project. WCIFV&W personnel had gone through dural problems in the agreement. Also included is the main west to Manka­ and changed the locks during the night. to, which has had several crossings and Immediately after the sale closed, oper­ sidings upgraded. DM&E shed some track­ able Fox River Valley power was stenciled Blue & Gold News age this past summer, abandoning the for WC. What's ironic is that most FRV Sioux Valley-Watertown line, and the Ab­ power went from being stenciled "FRVR " A lot has been happening on the Dakota, erdeen-Hecla line, both in South Dakota. to "WC" as only four units were ever Minnesota, & Eastern recently. DM&E has Thanks to Wi sconsin Central, Bob Eis ­ painted in FRV colors. Currently, all of leased several units from Helm, 6365-6370 then, Allan Hunt, THE MIXED TRAIN, Michael GB&W's Alcos are stored, though they (ex-Milw/Soo SD40-2s), SD40s 6000 and Udelhoven, Sonny Sellers, Dale Wh itmee, have been reactivated a unit at time for 6100 and SD40-2 8507. Also on lease were Wi lliam Sp itzer and Dan Grossell. short-term service. The 479-mile FV&W will operate sepa­ rately from Wisconsin Central, but has No More Simple Runbys made arrangements with WC to provide If you are interested in operations or in seeing customer service and train dispatching, complete trains, Big "E" has the professionally

both based out of Stevens Point, Wis. A MISSABE RAILS edited videotapes for you. Expert commentary third dispatching desk has been added to Duluth Missabe & tells the story of today' 8 railroading and handle the newly expanded system. We Iron Range RR $40 changes over the years. All trains are seen in will provide more operational information 47. • Reg.120 Min 95 95 their entirety and are identified by symbol and as it becomes available. LTV STEEL ORE LINES destination. NEW "The D&H In Transition" LTV/Erie Mining RR - F9's . Alcos· Baldwins Take a look at the D&H in the spring of 1993 Iowa Interstate Notes when the D&H was in transition from being an 90Reg . 38.95Min • . $32 95 independent railroad to being a member of the Iowa Interstate finally reopened through Canadian Pacific system. ALCO's and leased Des Moines on Aug. 13, a month after being TACONITE TRAINS OF MINNESOTA units ruled the line between Saratoga and washed out in West Des Moines, forcing Iron Ore Roads: . IAlS to detour on the BN. However, as fate DMIR· CYPRUS· BN LTV Binghamton. 53 minutes. 47 $25.95 + $4.00 for S&H. would have it, West Des Moines was hit Reg.120 Min .95 $40 • 95 again by more heavy rain on Aug. 28, which NEW - "Dorval · A Canadian Hot Spot" This tape looks at the awesome action around shut the IAlS down again until Aug. 31. GREEN R4" &V�ES,TEIIN. With all the wet weather this past sum­ Look at the GBW Dorval. just west of Montreal, where Via. CP, Plus connecting RR'. mer, especially on the Newton-Council and CN trains run side by side. ALCO'a were Bluffs segment, train crews have been Reg.100 �.95 Min $32 • 95 running on both the CP and CN in the spring of barely making it to and from the "Bluffs " NICOLET BADGER 1993 when this was videotaped. 93 minutes. within the 12-hour limit on account of many NORTHERN $29.95 + $4.00for S&H. slow orders, especially on the Atlantic­ ¥���s D:f1���rl:rIW! "Conrail along the Mohawk" See 20 hours of action on CONRAIL's main line Council Bluffs portion. The wet weather Reg· I33.95 played havoc with interchanging cars with $28.95 along the Mohawk River in New York. No train Cedar Rapids & Iowa City in Iowa City, so missed. Videotaped in October, 1992. IAlS shifted to CIC Junction at Homestead, 67 minutes. $27.95 + $4.00for S&H. west of Iowa City, for interchange. In other "Southern Pacific 1992 Update" This tape looks at operations on SP's busy interchange news, Iowa Interstate now Sunset Route, scenic former Rio Grande. and takes only its TOFC/COFC trafficto the UP I $1.00 ea. additional SP's former CRI&P Golden State Route . ramp in Omaha, and brings them back into ...... "_" .•• 5% sales tax Council Bluffs ; all other traffic is dropped in CheckJM.O./Cr.v�,urr,'�·e·. 97 minutes. $29.95 + $4.00for S&H. the UP Pool Yard in the Bluffs . BIG "E" PRODUCTIONS On the motive-power front, National P.O. BOX 75 Railway Leasing GP i0 7718 (ex-Illinois EXPRESS® - GREENLAND, NH 03840 54720 Central) was being leased as of early VHS on y. �tapes �ppedby priority mail.

PA CIFIC RAILNews • 45 MAC SEBREE TRANSIT

nounced program, but much more work needs to be done overall. The two lines were recently linked to­ gether as a through route, using the ele­ vated downtown Chicago Loop. Despite steep ridership declines in recent years, politicians cringe at the prospect of aban­ donment because both routes serve Black and Hispanic neighborhoods that are heavily transit-dependent.

Denver

LRV TESTING SET TO BEGIN • The first rails for Denver's LRT have been laid, and the overhead is up over a short section of line between the Colfax Av enue viaduct and the Operations Facility next to the old Denver & Rio Grande Western right-of-way, so that the first of 11 light rail cars from San Diego's Santa Fe Depot is where the trolleys meet the trains. Every few minutes a San Siemens Duewag can be tested. The cars Diego Trolley train bound to, or from, the temporary terminus at Cedar Street/County Center glides by, often passing one of the frequent Amtrak San Diegan consists awaiting are being built at S-D's Sacramento facility. return to Los Angeles. North of this point, trolley and train tracks parallel each other all Utility relocation has been finished the way to the future Old Town trolley station. Fred Matthews downtown so that street trackage can be laid. The entire line is scheduled to open tation. By closing the lines this year, the for service next fall. Chicago beleaguered agency could save enough in operating costs to bridge a $33 million 'L' SHUTDOWN LOOMS? • Faced with 1994 funding shortfall. In the meantime, Los Angeles declining revenues and an aging infras­ CTA would find capital funding for the tructure, Chicago Transit Authority has project by delaying other federally-ap­ PASADENA LINE "SAVED" • In a compro­ been thinking the unthinkable : complet­ proved projects. mise decision nearly everyone expected, ly shutting down one or two elevated rail Of course by 1995 or 1996, CTA would the Metropolitan Transportation Authority lines serving declining neighborhoods. have to come up with operating funding to board has found $40 million to complete fi­ But, now CTA has come up with a com­ resume service, a prospect more likely to nal design of the Pasadena Blue Line, and promise plan that may please every­ succeed if the two lines were brought up promised to come up with another $57 mil­ one-or no one. to standard. Both lines have rusting ele­ lion to launch construction later this year. The proposal calls for shutting down vated pillars that badly need replacement. The MTA adopted a $3.7 billion budget the Lake and the Englewood-Jackson Park Some pillars of the Lake Street structure in late August following the belated discov­ lines for a $300 million, two-year rehabili- have been replaced under a previously-an- ery that shrinking sales tax revenue posed a danger to much of the MTA's ambitious rail construction program. The shortfall is at least $258 million. Except for the Red PASSENGER TRAIN PRINTS Line subway, local funding pays for a very large share of the rail program-a situation Artists -All in Various Color that may change if local politicians can get ACL "Champion" - diesel - 20 x 28" - $50 their hands on more federal money. ATSF Chief - steam - 16 x 20" - $20 Under the new spending plan, opening ATSF Super Chief - diesel - 18 x 24" - $20 of the Pasadena light rail line would be de­ B&O - "Ambassador Ltd" - steam - 16 x 20" - $20 CRiP - "Twin Star Rkt" - diesel - 18 x 22" - 520 layed from November 1997 to April 1998. DRGW "Cal. Zephyr" - diesel - 18 x 24" - $25 The first construction contract, covering a Katy - "Texas Special" - diesel - 17 x 22" - $20 new rail crossing of the Los Angeles River MP "Colorado Eagle" - diesel - 19 x 25" - $15 near downtown, will start later this year. NYC - "20th CentulY" - steam - 16 x 20" - $20 The Pasadena line will cost $841 million. N&W - "J" and #1218 - steam - 16 x 20" - 520 PRR - "Broadway Ltd" - steam - 16 x 20" - $20 It was expected that L.A.'s new mayor, SAL - "Orange Blossom Special" Richard Riordan, would push hard for a diesel -20 x 28" - S50 start on construction of a rail line crossing SP "Overland" (Black Widow) - 18 x 24" - $20 the San Fernando Valley, because much of SP "Sunset Ltd." - diesel - 18 x 24" - $15 SRI{ - "Crescent Ltd" - steam -16 x 20" - $20 Riordan's political strength C0mes from UP "City of LA" - diesel - 24 x 26" - 525 this bastion of conservatism. However, the UP "Overland" - steam - #844 - 18 x 24" - 525 MTA decided to postpone action on the Many, Many, Many more!!! Valley line until it can attract federal fund­ ing. Valleyites are still divided over Send 3-stamp LSSAE for HUGE LIST Add S3/order shipping whether a rail line is needed and, if so, Send check, MO, VISA, MC info to: where it should be built. A tempest has brewed over whether • tTraCkSlde(PRINTS & HOBBIES some sections of the downtown Red Line �� - '" subway tube were built too thinly. Radar .- ' P.O. Box 690)03 .... testing allegedly showed that 2,082 linear Houston, TX 77269-0503 feet of tunnel had 6 to 8 inches of concrete

46 • NOVEMBER 1993 where specifications called for 12 inches. Valley and north to University Town Cen­ commuter trains running on a 76-mile Ev­ The hullabaloo caused the firing of a con­ tre, with eventual extension to Oceanside. erett-Seattle-Tacoma route at a cost of struction management official who was The North Line isn't dead, but has $320 million. Later, a $7.2 billion, 105-mile supposed to oversee the construction, and been postponed to "after 2000." Aside rail transit network would be created, initiated a hurry-up testing and repair pro­ from the issue of funding, it appears that which would include major subway con­ gram. Critics charged that the thin walls the North Line is losing out because it par­ struction in parts of Seattle. of the tunnel would give way in the event allels the planned commuter rail corridor, Observers are skeptical that the voters of a major earthquake. scheduled to begin service early in 1995, would buy such an expensive project. Per­ The one-millionth passenger rode and also because there has been heavy haps the region should settle for just the L.A.'s new commuter train system, lobbying against it by NIMBYs (Not In My commuter rail, since both major railroads, Metrolink, in August. Paid ridership is up Back Yard) who live in the area. Burlington Northern and Union Pacific, to 8,100 daily, with 60 percent of the rid­ The Mission Valley line will directly welcome the idea with open arms and are ership concentrated on the San Bernardi­ serve a host of shopping centers, apart­ eager to cooperate. no and Riverside lines. A major expansion ment and condo buildings, the city's prin­ Th anks to Fred Matthews, Los ANGE­ of Metrolink service into Orange County cipal stadium, and will link up with the LES TIMES, Wh eel Clicks, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, may be delayed for six months because East Line just north of La Mesa. PASADENA STAR -NEWS, Richard Skelnar, purchase of 24 additional cars has been The Seven Year MTDB Rail Schedule, re­ RTN, and Bombardier. the subject of an argument involving two cently revised, shows Mission Valley open­ builders, Caltrans and the MTA. The new ing for service in July 1997, but the North cars will be different from the present Line on hold pending further Board action. Bombardier-UTDC double-deckers. They will be built by Morrison Knudsen as a - part of the " California Car" order ar­ Seattle PA CIFIC RAIl:.NEWS ranged by Caltrans. They also will be $5 million more expensive. TRANSIT PLAN APPROVED • A $13.2 bil­ BA CK ISSUES A VA ILABLE lion regional transit plan calling for rail transit and commuter rail, as well as major AT ORIGINAL COVER Memphis bus improvements, has been adopted by the Puget Sound Joint Regional Policy PRICE MEMPHIS TROLLEY A HIT • The new Council. The plan mandates creation of a Some issues are in limited quantities, downtown Memphis, Tenn., heritage trol­ transit authority by King County (Seattle), so hurry! For a complete list send a ley line, which began operations May 2, is plus either Snohomish (Everett) or Pierce self-addressed long (#1 0) envelope to: very popular. Patronage has averaged (Tacoma) counties. 6,000 daily. The line runs north and south Also, a sales tax measure must be ap­ PENTREX in Main Street and uses four single-truck proved by the voters in the counties af­ P.O. Box 94911 cars from Oporto, Portugal, built to J. G. fected. If passed, the first result would be PASADENA, CA 91109 Brill designs. They were extensively refur­ bished after arrival in Memphis. Two double-truck W-2 cars from Mel­ bourne have also been acquired, and will be restored and placed into service to INTRODUCING VOLUME II meet ridership increases. Limited Edition - 1000 Copies Signed & Numbered

Mexico City

BOMBARDIER BREAKTHROUGH • The TBE IR BORSE 8c I Mexican subsidiary of Canadian-based Bombardier Inc. has been given a US$51 Vo lumes I & II million contract to refurbish 234 rubber­ tired Mexico City subway cars. The work Totaling will be carried out at the Bombardier Concarril plant, located in Ciudad Saha­ 750 - 8 1/2 x 11 gun in Hidalgo, about 40 miles south of the capital. Concarril previously lost out in compe­ Pages tition for additional light rail cars for Mon­ terrey and Guadalajara. Hardbound

600 + Unforeseen San Diego

TROLLEY PRIORITIES SET • An exten­ Large Format sion of the San Diego Trolley east through the Mission Valley will take precedence Black & White over the Mid-Coast segment to the north. That decision has been made in light of Photos the area's bitter recession and the finan­ cial squeeze on San Diego's ambitious Experiences Amplified by Longhand Legends from the 40's and 50's light rail expansion plans. SANTA FE• Mop · UNION PACIFIC · RIO GRANDE · FRISCO · AND OTHERS Startup of service to Old Town is sched­ -+ PREPUBLICATION OFFER +- uled for mid-1995. That line, which paral­ Vol. I 500 pages $55.00 BOTHVOUlJl&. lels the Santa Fe main line (actually now dAMES BURKE Vol. II 250 pages $35.00 $7500* owned by the county) is under construc­ (303) 241-3340 • PresentVOL I. Holders Credited$55.00 INel. 'HIPPING tion. From Old Town, the projected routes go in two directions: east along Mission P.O. Box 3347 GRAND JeT., COLORADO 81502-3347

PACIFIC RAILNews _ 47 l� ______

OF RAILROADING Illinois Central

GREG SIEREN

he Illinois Central of today is a much leaner railroad In 1988, the railroad reverted to its pre-l.972 name, T than it was only a decade ago. The railroad, known Illinois Cenu-al, and adopted the logo used today. Unfor­ as me Illinois Central Gulf fro m 1972 to 1988, was a near­ tunately most people in me hobby fail to see what the Illi­ ly 10,000-mile system after the 1972 merger with the nois Cen tral has accomplished since then. IC has be­ Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. But in the 1980s, under the Harry come the most efficient railroad among Class Is, and also Bruce administration, the railroad sold off bits and one of the safest. In 1992 the railroad achieved an opera­ pieces of its system to reduce debt and trim its size. tion ratio of 70.7 percent, the best in me industry among To day, IC has approximately 2,900 employees who the likes of' Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, while oversee the now 2,700-mile system extending from Chica­ also winning the gold E.H. Harriman Safety Award. go to East Sl. Louis, III., Baton Rouge, La., New Orleans Some of us who know the Illinois Central grew up and Mobile, Ala., making it the 10th largest railroad in with it, while others of us worked fo r it. There is some­ the United States. lC's traffic is made up of coal (27.5 per­ thing about IC that grows on you, be it the Paducah cent), chemicals (13.5 percent), grain (1 l.1 percent) , in­ rebuilds, the obscure Edgewood Cutoff, the grain ele­ termodal (9.8 percent), grain mill and food products (8.8 vators of the Illinois prairie , or the locals that provide percent) , paper (8.7 percent) , pulpwood and lumber (8.9 service to the bac kwoods logging operations and the percent) , bulk (7 percent), and metals (2.5 percent) . The refineries of the deep South . The Illinois Central of railroad's major competitors are considered to be the today is truly a modern version of the "Main Line of Mississippi River and the Interstate highway system. Mid-America." PRN

48 • NOVEMBER 1993 " Main Line of Mid-Atnerica"

OPPOSITE PAGE: The southbound Mt. Pulaski Turn rolls past a wig-wag at Chesterville, III., on Jan. 24, 1992. This job, which originates at East Peoria, III., exchanges cars with trains from Springfield, Decatur and Clinton at Mt. Pulaski, III. Steve Smedley LEFT: A GP38-2 leads a string of NORX bathtub gondo­ las across the Kankakee River at Kankakee, III., on Nov. 11, 1989. Paul Meyer BELOW: GP40r 3133 leads Chicago-New Orleans train 1-CHN-12 at Crupp, Miss., on IC's Ya zoo District on Oct. 13, 1990. Mike Abalos

PACIFIC RAILNews • 49 1� ______"_Ma_in __ L_ i_n_e__ o_ __f M__ id__ -A __ m__ e_r _i__c a_" ______OF RAILROADING

ABOVE: One of IC's plant rationalization projects was single-tracking much of its double-track Chicago-New Orleans main line. Here SD40r 6053 leads a southbound freight in newly single-tracked territory at Cobden, III., on Oct. 8, 1991. John E. Car­ penter OPPOSITE TOP: Active towers were becoming a thing of the past along the Ie in the late 1980s and early 1990s. GP10 8463 leads the southbound Clinton-Gilman turn past the tower that guarded the Norfolk Southern crossing at Gibson City, III., on March 24, 1990. Dave Fasules OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Deep within the Shawnee National Forest, a southbound freight pops out of tunnel No. 2 on IC's Edgewood Cutoff, run­ ning from Edgewood, III., to Fulton, Ky., on Oct. 28, 1990. John E. Carpenter

"

50 • NOVEMBER 1993 \'

PACIFIC RAILNews • 51 PASSENGER TRAIN ANNUAL 1993, PA SSENGER TRAIN JOURNAL's popular companion edition-available now!

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his year's ANNUAL features the best of both the new and the old in passenger railroad­ ing. In-depth feature articles include: Amtrak's highly successful California Capitol T Corridor; the intense competition between the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas, Chicago & North Western's 400s and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy's Zephyrs in the Chicago- Twin Cities corridor; and a detailed look at the now-retired Chicago Metra/ Burlington Northern E-units and the locomotives that replaced them. Also featured in this edition is the Year in Review, highlighting in words and pictures the major passenger railroading events of 1992. And, as always, PASSENGER TRAIN ANNUAL features some of this country's best railroad photographers in 64 color-packed pages. #PTA093. • PRN CLASSIFIEDS WESTERN

RATES: 45C a word/40C a word for ads running ley Railway SOCiety, P. O. Box 486, Hyde Park, MA RAIL VIDEO and three or more months/$ 10 per issue minimum. 02 1 36-0486. 360-362 RAIL MAP/GUIDES! Payment in advance. We reserve the right to edit TED ROSE WATERCOLORS. all copy and refuse any listings. Ads cannot be Commissioned paintings Sam Pottinger's STEEL RAfLS WEST presents: acknowledged, nor can proof copies be sent. on subjects of your choice. Recent works available 266, "SELECTIONS FROM OUR Closing date: two months before issue date. for purchase. Contact Ted Rose, P. O. Box San­ 87504. (505) 983-9481. 359-370 VIDEO LIBRARY" Count all numbers, name and address. Home/of­ ta Fe, NM fice street address and telephone number must RAILROAD COMMEMORATIVES. 1 oz. silver accompany order. Mail to: Classifieds, Interurban coins/bars. Pennsylvania GG-l , New York Central Press, P.O. Box 379, Waukesha, WI 53187 Hudson, Burlington Northern E-9. 523.95 each. Write 580, THE C&NW COWBOY LINE IS BACK. Revised softcov­ for free brochure: Silver Rails, Inc., P. O. Box La 60525. 360-361 er edition of "The High, Dry & Dusty," by Rick Mills Grange, IL 168 and Jim Reisdorff. Includes pages of text and WE MANUFACTURE railroad conductor caps, brass 537.95 52.50 photos on C&NW's western lines. with conductor badges, and conductor uniforms (sack 163, shipping from South Platte Press, Box David coats, trousers, vests) in authentic railroad configu­ 68632. 360-361 City, NE rations. Ticket punches and coin changers also KANSAS CITY RAILFAN GUIDE: The one source for available. Write for pricing information: Transquip 91 18914 CAJON PASS - A VIDEO RAIL GUIDE. Kansas City railfanning. Maps, directions, schemat­ Company, Bluejay Road, Chalfont, PA or Filled 215-822-8092. 353-361 wilh dozens of specials, meets and unusual ics and train symbols for railroads in Kansas City telephone movemenls. Specials include sleam engines of and surrounding area. 518 postpaid, and Okla­ ORIGINAL RAILFAN TIMETABLE. Each edition con­ all three Western lines, the ICE lrain, and movie homa Railfan Guide, 525. David Moore, 90 1 Angel tains the essential information you need trackside. specials. Modem molive power including Amtrak's Court, Cleburne, 76031 . 360-363 TX These are not reproductions of employee timeta­ P32PHs. Laid out in the same manner as our rail "SANTA FE RAILWAY SYSTEM STANDARD DIAL" Seth bles, each frequency, station, milepost, talking de­ map/guides, below. Hosled by Ms. Lynn Garrett. Thomas clock from Rendondo Junction. Very rare. tector, helper district is carefully researched, in Approx. 2 hours. SAVE $4: PURCHASE ABOVE #4 516.50, TAPE + CAJON RAIL MAP BELOW FOR JUST Own a piece of history. Excellent, 52950. (619) 267- easy to read format. CALIFORNIA PACIF­ $36. 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PACIFIC RAILNews • 53 BV ED RIPLEV

umbling through the traffic, a doublestacked wall In the capricious world of California politics, howev­ of merchandise mounted on articulated railcars er, nothing can be taken for granted. Shortly after the makes its way through the congestion of Los An­ deal was announced, Richard Riordan, a conservative Rgeles. A mile in length, the ponderous train blocks sev­ Republican, was elected to succeed L.A. Mayor Tom eral grade crossings, snarling traffic as it overwhelms a Bradley, a Democrat. Bradley's Port of L.A. commission­ physical plant built for less ambitious consists. If the ers would now be replaced with new ones picked by Ri­ train is unlucky enough to derail, particularly under one ordan. Suddenly, embarrassing questions began to sur­ of the frequent highway overpasses, those streets could face about what was increaSingly cast as Bradley's deal. be tied up for hours. Just as bad is the threat posed by Most fundamentally, does SP own the San Pedro some denizens of the tough neighborhoods surrounding Branch? To save money during their 19th Century con­ the tracks, ready to take advantage of any stop by climb­ struction period, railroads often chose not to buy proper­ ing on the train and popping open containers like Christ­ ty for right-of-way, instead settling for an easement, or a mas presents till they find easily fence able merchandise. right to use the property for railroad purposes. A sub­ More than two million containers per year enter and stantial proportion of the San Pedro Branch, it turned leave the U. S. at the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and out, was constructed on easements by SP predecessor Long Beach. Of these, about half move beyond South­ Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad in the 1860s. That's ern California by rail. Some are transferred between been good enough title to support a railroad on the sur­ railcars and ships at on-dock loading facilities, with face of the land for a century and a quarter, but would it trains making the tortuous trip through the wasteland permit excavation to place the railroad in a ditch? SP re­ of crumbling houses between the ports and downtown sponded that none of the underlying landowners had L.A The rest, maybe 800,000 a year, move by freeway challenged its right to improve the railroad in the past, to one of the three major intermodal terminals operat­ but only litigation would erase all doubts. ed by the region's railroads, making a conspicuous con­ Next came that old bugaboo, environmental contami­ tribution to traffic congestion and smog, and providing nation. After the April deal, engineers installed monitor­ a highly visible target for threatened truck traffic bans. ing devices up and down the hne looking for pollutants. Southland politicians, facing an elec­ Apparently traces of heavy metals torate increasingly angry about traffic were found throughout the corridor, congestion, smog and crime, developed and neither SP nor the government a solution to this problem more than 10 wants to be stuck with the $10 million years ago-the Alameda Corridor. In to $90 million clean-up bill. Finally, the place of the San Pedro Branch, South­ Alameda railroads had failed to negotiate a -1 ern Pacific's disused original line be- trackage rights arrangement for com­ tween downtown and the Port of L.A mon use of the Alameda Corridor. along Alameda Street, they proposed a Riordan's commissioners took office grade-separated heavy-duty rail line, to on Aug. 17, and the next day the Port be used by all three railroads, along­ Corridor- of L.A withdrew from the sale, citing side a rebuilt arterial highway that these concerns. At first Long Beach would handle local truck traffic. On­ gamely said it would proceed regard­ dock railterminals at the ports, for both less of L.A's action, but on Aug. 30 it containers and bulk commodities like Opportunity too pulled out, recognizing this project coal, would be encouraged. The bene­ is too big to finance on its own. fits would be many : less grade cross­ Riordan doesn't want to kill the sale. ing blockage, less noise, less crime, The mayor issued a statement to "reaf­ higher train speeds and hundreds of firm my commitment to the Alameda thousands of truck movements a year Missed? Corridor Project as a critical component off the roads. The cost would be enor- of our strategy for economic growth, " mous-almost $2 billion-but the public could expect re­ but he demanded resolution of the title and environmen­ imbursement from the railroads through user fees. tal questions. Beneath the surface, though, it appears Though the idea is laudable, the Alameda Corridor these outstanding issues are just a pretext for hammering project has had a rocky history. Despite the improve­ down SP's price. The railroad's $260 million take would be ment the new route would represent over their indirect more than half what Santa Fe received from Southern Cal­ and overburdened lines to the port, Santa Fe and Union ifornia authorities for 340 miles of line-almost twenty Pacific showed little enthusiasm at first, reluctant to times as much trackage. To show SP who's boss, the trade something of value for trackage rights. SP, mean­ politicians rammed a bill through the state legislature ear­ while, was initially hostile. Why should we, huffed San ly in September permitting Caltrans to condemn the San Francisco, turn over the competitive advantage of our Pedro Branch at its "fair market value, " or the $70 million direct port route to our competitors? Another advantage or so it's taxed at. It's not likely this ploy will SP wanted to guard was access to the Intermodal Con­ succeed-under federal law, only the Interstate Com­ w tainer Transfer Facility. SP was the only one of the three merce Commission can authorize a sale-but it indicates railroads to participate in this "near-dock" terminal pro­ the parties are heading toward a knock-down battle. moted by the ports, and the ICTF had become increas­ For its part, SP is defending the $260 million price as ingly important to SP since its 1986 opening. fair. The faltering railroad needs every cent it can When the ports began putting serious money on the squeeze out of this transaction-it took an unexpected table, the railroads became more interested. UP agreed $40 million hit during the floods of July and August. On to sell a critical stretch of property in 1991. SP, by now Sept. 1, SP told investors that if the Alameda Corridor desperate for cash due to its precarious financial posi­ sale doesn't close by early 1994, "other sales will be tion, continued to bargain. Finally, in April 1993, SP and necessary" for the company to survive. We can only the ports agreed on the sale of 18 miles of the San Pedro hope that the parties in this high-stakes game can reach Branch for $260 million. A half-billion dollars in federal, an agreement that prevents an SP bankruptcy while pre­ I state and local financing was lined up, and it looked as if serving the benefits of the Alameda Corridor project for I- this important project would at last get underway. Southern California and the rest of the nation. PRN

54 • NOVEMBER 1993 • If you enjoy railfan photography, you should be reading The RAILFAN PHOTOGRAPHER. Just ask our readers: "An excellent publication." B. Morgan, MD /"Thanks for giving railfans very pertinent, practical and useful information." D. Fishel, IN / "Beautiful printing, top quality!" J. Scott, OH /"I appreciate the way you show us great photos and describe how they were taken!" J. Best, TX / "The magazine has fired me with new enthusiasm." Y. Sos, Australia / "Keep this magazine coming." H. Bach, PA / "I really enj oy your magazine, and look fo rward to each edition." J. Hart, TN / "I really enjoy the 'How to' nature of the mag. I' ve picked up a lot of good hints." G. Vielbaum, CA

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• 406 = :JDAY • Ye s, 3 days are all you have to wait to receive your first five issues. Use your major credit card and our toll free number, or order by fax - 602-786-5735 - and your order will be sent the next business day by 2nd day air. Send mail orders to PO Box 787, Higley, AZ 85236-0787. 1f@\QJffi. ©&.m1ID% $27.25 for six issues (plus fivefr ee issues), Check, Money Order, or Major � U::n'IT Credit Card. Canadian - $35.50; Foreign - $55.00, U.S. funds only. (Because 2nd Day Air is available only in the United States, this three day time period applies only to U.S. orders, and excludes weekends and holidays. Mail orders will also be sent 2nd Day Air, but the total time from your sending your order to receipt of magazines will of course total more than three days. Canadian and foreign orders will arrive in the normal 1st class mail delivery time. This offer is good for a limited time.) Winlep Along The Oppep Mississippi The Upper Mississippi River Valley supports heavy mainline operations, and when there's freight to be moved, the depth of Winter can't keep the cars from rolling. Pentrex was there to witness the Winter action on the rails of the Soo Line, Burlington Northern, Chicago Northwestern, Chicago Ce ntral, Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern, and the Green Bay & Western. The lines run along the frozen banks of the Mississippi River or cross over it in the area be­ tween Clinton, Iowa, and Winona, Minnesota. Pentrex follows the tracks as they wind along the river bluffs and climb out of the valley. Junctions and diamonds in the towns of Savanna, Illinois, Dubuque, Iowa, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, pro­ vide us with plenty of lineside action. Freshly painted locomotives gleam u!\de\ the sunny skies of a crisp January day, workers trudge through the snow to uncouple cars and sweep out switches, and rarely seen cabooses slide past in surprising numbers. There's no end to the beauty and drama of railroading in Winter Along The Upper MisSissippi. 90 Minutes #PEN-MISS $�9 .95 Cali/oPHia 's Baldwin Diesels In an on-going effort to preserve the memory of the unique generation of diesel locomotives that revolutionized American rail transport, Pentrex has captured early Baldwin diesel locomotives on three different California shortline railroads. Until recently, the Trona Railway ran six-axle Baldwin switch engines built in 1952 and 1954. The AS-616's are no longer on the railroad, but Pentrex visited them when they were still hauling natural chemicals in their beautiful red, silver, and black paint schemes. Two different shortlines operate with Baldwin switchers in North-Central California. The Amador Central Railroad, owned by the Georgia Pacific Lumber Company, utilizes two S- 12 locomotives. Forty miles south, the Sierra Railroad operates three Baldwin switchers. We see the last of the S- 12's working the line on the Sierra Railroad's final Baldwin days. From the vast Mojave Desert to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, Pentrex brings these hard­ working Baldwin legends to you to savor forever. You'll enjoy the sights and unmistakable sounds of this vanishing breed in California's Baldwin Diesels. 60 Minutes #PEN-BALD $29.95