Excitement and anticipation were in the air as steam locomotive #261 made the first run of her maiden journey! Milwaukee Road's big Alco had been pulled from the National Railway Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, under the direction of North Star Rail in March, 1992. In record time, the 261 was torn down, refurbished, rebuilt and readied for her inaugural run. On September 14, 1993, engineer Steve Sandberg eased the big 4-8-4 back to life in Minneapolis, MN. The Northern type locomotive, painted in high-gloss black, ran back and forth under her own power for the first time since her restoration. She passed her first tests with flying colors and was ready for her inaugu­ ral excursions which were scheduled for the follow­ ing weekend in Fond du Lac, WI. The following day saw #261 on the roae; pulling a short train across Wisconsin Central tracks. She was running at slow speeds during her break-in, but by day three the big locomotive was operating at full track speed, while crowds gathered trackside to cheer her on. North Star Rail put on a great show, kicking off #261 's revival and entry into the steam excursion business. People came by the hundreds to marvel at the magnificent machine thundering up and down the line between Fond du Lac and Stevens Point. Pentrex was on the spot to bring you all the action, including the locomotive's ferry move from Minne­ apolis, as well as its inaugural excursion. This is history in the making, captured for your enjoyment! Join Pentrex in a salute to America's newest steam giant: Milwaukee Road #261 - Rebuilt to Run. 60 Minutes #PEN-261 $29.95 ¥'� p P.O. Box 94911, Pasadena, CA 91109 PACIFIC RAIL. NEWS 1 6 Vanishing Towers: San Jose Sentinels Southern Pacific's College Park and Santa Clara towers Ken Rattenne 24 Montana: The Last Best Place Mountain grades, boundless plains and unforgettable railroading Tom Danneman 36 Focus Wisconsin: C&NW's Clyman Sub Following the malt trains on the state's other beer line Andrew S. Nelson A southbound loaded KCS coal train passes Texarkana's CB Tower in November 1989. Mel Finzer PACIFIC RAILNEWS and PACIFIC NEWS are registered trademarks of Interurban Press (a California I DEPARTMENTS I Corporation ), a subsidiary of Pentrex, Inc. PUBLISHER: Michael W. Clayton 4 EXPEDITER 46 CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN EDITOR: Don Gulbrandsen 6 KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN 47 CP RAIL SYSTEM ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Andrew S. Nelson 10 SANTA FE 48 SHORT LINES ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Carl Swanson BURLINGTON NORTHERN REGIONALS EDITORIAL CONSULTA NT: Mac Sebree 12 49 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Elrond G. Lawrence 14 UNION PACIFIC 51 PRN LEITERS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Dick Stephenson 36 FOCUS WISCONSIN 53 PRN CLASSIFIEDS ART DIRECTOR: Tom Danneman 40 IMAGES OF RAILROADING 53 PRN ADVERTISING INDEX SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES THE LAST WORD ADVERTISING MANAGER: Richard Gruber 44 54 COVER: On a beautiful Montana morning, a Burlington Northern eastbound led by a whiteface GP50 glides down the 1.2 percent of Marias Pass' eastern slope at Summit. Montana's mountains are just part of the state's appeal; miles of freight-heavy track­ age and unparalleled scenery keep people coming back for more. Tom Danneman 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: PACWIC RAIL NEws, P.O. Box 94911, Pasadena, CA 91109. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 530 (U.s.) for 12 issues. $58 for 24 issues. Foreign add S6 for each 12 issues. Single copy $5 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 copies/P.O. notifications will be billed. Please allow us at least four weeks for any address change. ADVERTISING RATES: Contact PACWIC 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. To promote the proposed Fastrak commuter service between Oakland and Brentwood/Suisun-Fairfield, SP, BART and Amtrak ran daily trains with borrowed Metrolink equipment Sept. 20-24. A Suisun-Fairfield-bound train is shown at Pinole, Calif., on Sept. 23. The rides were free, but lack of publicity limited ridership to around 50 per train early in the week; by Friday, trains averaged more than 100 passengers. Eric Blasko As bid on high-speed rail projects, TIMEof September, TO TALLY the THE bill forBILL: dam­ THANKAmtrak YOURasked CongressCONGRESSMAN: for a meaning the German-built ICE ages incurred in the Flood of $381 million operating grant for and Swedish-built X2000 train­ 1993 approached $130 million fiscal year 1994-it got only set tours did not go for naught. according to Association of $351.7 million. Consequently, American Railroads President Amtrak announced that it Al- Edwin Harper in testimony be­ would have to cut service on mostBIG BUCKS lost in theFOR applause BART: over fore Congress. Harper said the various trains. In PRNterritory, the construction of several ma­ • industry's total cost of coping the River Cities, between St. jor new light rail systems is the a with the flooding could ap­ Louis and Carbondale, m., will fact that BART, the Bay Area's proach $300 million. be eliminated in favor of con­ heavy rail metro, is building ex­ Here's the itemized bill: 60 necting bus service. The Texas tensions aimed at increasing miles of washed away track, Eagle will become tri-weekly the present 71.5-mile system $60 million; 783 miles of south of St. Louis. The Pioneer, by another 34.5 miles. trackage damaged by flood­ combined with the California The 34.5 miles of new double ing, $32 million; repair and re­ Zephyr between Denver and track will add 11 stations and build bridges, $14 million; re­ Chicago, will become tri-weekly more than 18,000 parking place and repair 300-500 sig­ west of Denver. spaces, and open service to new nals, $1 4 million; replace and These cutbacks, in addition areas, including San Francisco repair 300-500 turnouts, $3 to ones slated in the East, are International Airport. Nearly 24 million; water damage to expected save Amtrak $11 mil­ miles is already under construc­ 1,719 freight cars and 16 loco­ lion annually. Amtrak also said tion. The Concord line is being motives, $7 million; buildings, that more cutbacks may be nec­ extended 7.8 miles to West $1 million; detouring 2,877 essary, including closing lightly Pittsburg at a cost of $506 mil­ trains, $51 million. The $130 used stations. As for funds for lion. The East DublinlPleasan­ million figure for physical capital improvements, Amtrak ton extension is being built as a damage went even higher in asked for $250 million and re­ branch off the Fremont line. The late September when heavy ceived $195 million, but does 14-mile segment begins at the rains again hit the Midwest, not foresee any serious cut­ Bay Fair Station and will put affecting BN, KCS, SP and UP backs in capital projects. BART tracks in the median of operations in Missouri, Congress also appropriated Interstate 238 and 1-580. The LLI Kansas, Illinois and Oklahoma. enough money for Amtrak to price tag is $517 million. Further 4 • DECEMBER 1993 along is the 1.6-mile extension from Daly City to Colma, costing $170 million. Set to open in 1995, the Colma extension should add 18,000 daily riders. As soon as financing and route options can be settled, this line will be extended 6.4 miles to San Francisco International Air­ port. BART's fourth major ex­ tension is planned from Fre­ mont to Warm Springs, but vari­ ous disputes have put this $540 million extension in doubt. BART is pushing another 200-mile expansion that could be up and running quickly­ commuter trains. BART would use SP and UP rights-of-way to run trains to Suisun-Fairfield! Brentwood and to San Jose, both from Oakland, and from Stockton to San Jose via Liver­ more. As many as 15 trains per day could be running in two or ABOVE: In what local newspapers three years at a cost of $100- called the "earliest heaviest" 200 million. The railroads, eager snowfall, five inches fell in central for revenues, are anxious to co­ Colorado on Sept. 13, 1993. operate, but BART has not GP39E 2934 had already done come up with a finanCing plan. battle with a tree that had fallen over the tracks as it led a mani­ fest over the Joint Line at Larkspur, WYOMING COALUnion FOR PacificTHE Colo., on Sept. 13. Amazingly, the andPEACH Chicago STATE: & North Western temperature in Denver the day have started moving coal out of before was 92 degrees. Tim Tonge WYOmlng's Powder River Basin RIGHT: No, Wisconsin didn't sprout mountains; rather, Wisconsin & to the Georgia Power's Robert Southern's executive train made a W. Scherer generating plant at pleasure trip from Milwaukee to Forsyth, Ga., the nation's Montana in August. On Aug. 20, largest coal-fired power plant. 1993, E9As lOAf 1OC rested be­ The plant is capable of burning hind the Iwak Walton Inn, adja­ 14 million tons of Wyoming coal cent to Burlington Northern's route annually, equivalent to more over Marias Pass. Doug las Fear than 1,000 110-car coal trains. UP/C&NW will move 700,000 tons of coal to the plant during U.S.) and incutting costs by in­ the alternative rail route the fourth quarter of this year creased automation (British Rail IndustryCOAST LINE observers PIPE areDREAM?: accusing through the San Joaquin Valley.