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FEATURES 22 Richmond California's Parr Terminal A railroad less traveled in the Valley of Ashes Sean Zwagerman 28 Ben Bachman Feather River GP40s Western Pacific's second-generation motive power Ken Ranenne DEPARTMENTS 4 Editorial 5 PRN Letters 32 8 Expediter Images 12 CP Rail System Twelve pages of spectacular railroad images 14 Canadian National Contributing Photographers 15 Midwest Regionals 18 Santa Fe 53 Burlington Northern 54 Southern Pacific Lines 44 58 Short Lines The Hardest Mile 58 Transit A look at the top of Burlington Northern's Stevens Pass: An apex for photographers Ben Bachman 59 Illinois Central 80 Wisconsin Central Kenneth Lehman 82 Union Pacific 84 The Last Word 88 PRN Classifieds 88 PRN Advertising Index ABOVE: BN trains meet in the heart of the Cascades. LEFT: Rail pulled from the Cowboy Une, Crawford, Neb. COVER: On March 31, 1978, Engineer Bob Larson cap tured GP40 1778 on its maiden run through Feather River Canyon. Bob Larson photo, Ken Ranenne collection PACIFIC R'\ILNEWS (ISSN 8750-8486) is published monthly by Pentrex, Inc .. 2652 E. \ValnuL Pasadena, CA 91107. Second-class postage paid at Pasadena. CA 91109 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes 10: PACIFIC RAILNEWS. P.O. Box 94911. Pasadena. CA 91109. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $30 (U.S.) for 12 issues. $58 for 24 issues. Foreign add 56 for each 12 issues. Single copy S5 postpaid from Pasadena office (subject to change without notice). CHANGE OF ADDRESS: TIle Post Oroce docs 110\ rcgularly forward 2nd Class j\llail and P;\CIFIC RAILNEws is not responsible for copies not forwardcd 01' destroyed by the Post Office. Replacement copies/P.O. nOlificmions will be billed. Please allow us m least four weeks for any clddrcss change. ADVERTISING RATES: Contact PACIFIC RAILNEWS. P.O. Box 379. Waukesha. IVI 53187: (414) 542-4900. MAGAZINE SUBSCRJPTIO SERVICE: For all subscriplion problems and inquiries e,,1I1011 free in the U.S. and Canada: (8oo) 210-2211 or oUlSide the U.S. and Canada (818) 793-3400. EDITORIAL PACIFIC RAILNnvs The Details' of Change �RailNewsis a registered trademark of Pentrex, Inc. ' Publisher: Michael W. Clayton place and active in daily ser vice that were installed be Editor: Brian Solomon fore 1910, and there are ac Art Director & Managing Editor: tive towers that date back to Tom Danneman the 1880s. How many Pacif ic type steam locomotives Associate Editor: Carl Swanson remain in daily revenue ser Copy Editor: Katie Norton vice? None, of course-they Contributing Editors: Mike Abalos, are all long off the roster. Greg Brown, To m Kline, Eh'ond Lawrence, Yet when the Pacific was Wa yne Monger, G. Mac Sebree, considered the latest pre Dick Stephenson, Rich Wallace mier passenger power, it passed towers and signals Production Assistant: Dean Sauvola that are still working today. There are other sub Advertising Manager: Richard Gruber tleties in railroading that Operations Manager: Erica A. Becker deserve attention. A mani SP has been replacing its Union Switch & Signal searchlights fest freight of the late as it doubletracks the Sunset route. Neal W. Lutyens photo 1960s could easily have Submissions been pulled by Electro Articles, news items, and photographs are welcome he most intriguing aspect of the rail Motive SD40s remaining in service today; and should be sent to our Wisconsin editorial office. road industry is its slow evolutionary but originally these locomotives were Please include return envelope and postage if you wish your submission returned. PACIF1C RAILNEWS change. The railroad has been around adorned with class lights, not ditch lights, does not assume responsibility for the safe return for more than 150 years and in that time has and while they may have hauled piggyback of materia\. Payment is made upon publication. Texperienced tremendous change. But, many cars, they certainly did not haul double of these changes were implemented slowly. stacks. In the 1980s, most railroads in the Submit all photos, article submissions What is often most interesting to observers is United States phased out cabooses. At the and editorial correspondence to: the last active remnants of a once important same time, stack train service was intro PACIFIC RAILNE\VS system or technology. Because the railroad in duced. The overlap between these tech P. O. Box 379, Waukesha, WI 53187-0379 dustry is often slow to embrace change, there nologies was relatively short and, because are often tremendous contrasts in technologi often the first trains to lose their cabooses Submissions sent via UPS, Federal Express, or cal development found side-by-side. As ob were priority intermodal trains, pho similar courier must go to tbe following address: servers and photographers, we can often cap tographs of stack trains with cabooses are 223 Wisconsin Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186 ture fading technology and produce a record rare. Soon photographs that show Class I Phone: (414) 542-4900 of what was once significant. Occasionally, locomotives without ditch lights will be- Fax: (414) 542-7595 these photographs reveal a speak an earlier era. Some great disparity of technologi- day a photo of a safety cab Advertising Sales: (414) 542-4900 cal development, making for locomotive without ditch intriguing images. Compare the lights may be a curiosity, in Email: The interlocking tower much the same way that a pentrex@ao\.colll [email protected] was once a fundamental photo of a Berkshire type 76307,[email protected] part of the railroad scene. longevity of steam locomotive hauling All across the country, tow piggyback would be ers were found at junctions, signals and viewed today. Magazine Subscription Service: crossings, and other key in The changes taking Address all correspondence regarding subscrip tions (including new orders and renewals) to: stallations. Since the devel towers to place in railroading fore opment of remote power shadow what railroading PACIFIC RAILNEWS switches and systems such motive power may look like in the future. P.O. Box 17108 as Centralized Traffic Con For example, the once North Hollywood, CA 91615-7108 trol, the railroads have been prevalent searchlight sig consolidating conh'ol facili- nals-developed by the For all subscription problems and ties and eliminating towers (and the need Hall Signal Company in the 1920s and later inquiries call toll free in the for the employees who worked in them). mass-produced by Union Switch & Signal U.S. and Canada: Amazingly, this process has been going on and General Railway Signal-are being re for more than 70 years, but towers-often placed with vertical and triangular arrange (800) 210-2211 antiquated-are still active in 1996. ment color light signals. [n the future, outside the U.S. and Canada This same principle holds true for railroad searchlight signals may be as unusual as (818) 793-3400 signalling. Eighty years ago, the semaphore semaphores are today. (Please allow at least 4 weeks for address change) was the standard signal on railroads. By 1930 When observing the railroad, be cog semaphores were obsolete, yet in 1996 many nizant of such changes and look for con still remain on Class I railroads. [n recent trasts in technological development. Few years the remaining number of semaphores aspects of modern life employ such a great have been decimated, as railroads work to re range of technology, making the industry place them with newer signals. especially fascinating and enjoyable. Pentrex is a trademark of Pentrex Inc. Compare the longevity of signals and tow © 1996 Penlrex, Inc. All rights reserved. ers to motive power. There are signals in Brian Solomon Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 4-May 1996 READER S RESPOND Letters Fred Harvey: Author Responds The Last Word on eN My comments regarding the break-up of In reference to my article titled "Fred Harvey February's PACIFIC RAILNEWS came substan Canada were based on newspaper reports and the Santa Fe" (PRN, November 19 95, tially below the high expectations you have en that certain politicians in Alberta and British page 56), I would like to extend my gratitude couraged me to have for the magazine. Columbia were calling fo r secession if Quebec to Mr. Glover, for pointing out the error in the While it would take two pages to refute Ed left the Confe deration. No doubt this reflects main photo sidebar stating that The Castaneda Ripley's "Last Word ," a few salient points extremist sentiment not shared by all Canadi was the first Harvey House hotel. This error need to be made. (II1S, but independence fo r Quebec was once occurred as a result of my hastiness in caption If a government owning a railway choos an extremist idea too. As fa r as CN's route to ing the photo. A proper caption would have es to collect its "profits" as high fuel and the Orient is concerned, I presume you are re been better stated as such: "The Castaileda property taxes instead of dividends, obvi fe rring to the Prince Rupert line. While this first in a new luxury line of Harvey House sta ously these should not be debited to the op may be a shorter rail route from Chicago to tion-hotels, constructed in 1896 by the Santa erating ratio. Japan than Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Sp, Fe, under the reorganization instituted by new With the exception of the French-speaking or UP to California, CN certainly doesn't offer ly appointed railroad President Edward Payson majority in Quebec, there is little desire for expedited intermodal service over this route; Ripley." I also acknowledge the chronology of further separation and absolutely none to be and demographics will keep the container The Montezuma preceding The Castaneda; I part of the United States, largely because ships calling at L.A. and Oakland. Besides, would also add that while it was the first luxu those who want to be Americans can do so Japan is being eclipsed by China and South ry resort/hotel in New Mexico, it was located relatively easily. east Asia as the primary source of North off the main line, on a 6.4-mile branch. To the However, I do recognize that what Mr. Rip American imports. -Ed Ripley best of my knowledge, the structure is still in ley writes is probably an accurate reflection of use today as a private college. how others see us up north. However, I do take exception to Mr. Glover's Canadian National has several geographic Ranking the Grades tone and inference in referring to my efforts "as advantages, including a route from Japan to I especially enjoyed "Ranking the Western a travesty of history and conception." Chicago days shorter than through California, Grades." The headliner photo of Serrano on One of the definitions of the word "traves and the lowest crossing of the Rockies. Cuesta was just magnificent. How about ty" according to We bster's Dictionary, is " ... SP/Rio Grande having 14 out of the 25 grotesquely incongruous in style, treatment, or Dr. John Rye grades. (However, Central Oregon & Pacific subject matter." Prince Albert, Sask. now travels the Siskiyou.) What a tough rail- I would like to remind Mr. Glover that, for most of us, this is a hobby-not a profession. This magazine asked me to do a piece, limited to just 400 words, with a half-page photo graph. I volunteered to undertake the project, and to gain further insight into the history of Mr. Harvey, I purchased a copy of MEALS BY FRED HARVEY by James David Henderson. Since I had photographed The Castaneda and its accompanying streetside sign in Las Vegas, ew Mexico, in 1994, I decided to work the photographs into the text. When I took these photographs, I thought how truly wonderful it was to actually be able to do so; more to the point was the fact that The Castaileda hadn't been burned, grafittied, vandalized, or other wise bulldozed into oblivion. Further, Mr. Glover, I dispute your asser tion regarding my "failure to understand that Harvey operated many ordinary hotels and restaurants along the tracks for the accommo dations of passengers and railroaders alike ..." As one of the San ta Fe's devotees, I am fully You asked for MORE STEAM••. and TRAIN CHECK aware of the more commonplace restaurants more Power ... so we fired up the STARTING NO.I'----- __----' and hotels that Mr. Glover alludes to, and in boiler and added a 4-6-2 Montreal SINGLE CHECKS 0200-$9.95 0400-$17.50 and writing the piece, I took the liberty of presum 4-6-0 Baldwin to the diesels of: OR' Amtrak, Santa Fe, New York Central, DUPLICATES 0150-$12.950300-$22.50 ing that any follower of this great railroad had Union Pacific, Conrail and Illinois SHIPPING & HANDLING this basic knowledge . With the need to con Central. Still thundering out of the -""''-'-''�=''':'':;'===------+-=':'':= FOR PRIORITY DELIVERY,ADD $3.50 dense Mr. Harvey's truly significant accom past, are the Georgetown Loop's 3- D plishments into the smallest of narratives, I did truck Shay, and Grand Canyon's D CHECKBOOK COVER,ADD $1.00 1906 2-8-0. not include the lesser restaurants and hotels. D 7"", SoUItt ..1�. ,..Mt$2.00 To close on a positive note, I want to congrat TO ORDER CHECKS NOW - PLEASE ENCLOSE: TOTALI 1. A check payable to Identity Check Printers. (U.S. Funds) ulate all the co-authors of "Santa Fe: A Chronol A 2. voided sample check with changes clearly marked. NAME ______ogy, " and especially PACIFIC RAILNEWS; no other 3. A deposit slip This order lorm completely filled out magazine paid a better tribute to a finer railroad. 4. Daytime phone number: ( For your protection checks W':::-ill :-nte"'-d"'-a dd:-res - --Cunle- :-be""'Shi-'ppe-:-d s 55 :- to :- t he - pri we are instructed otherwise. Robert M. (Bob) Finan Los Angeles, Calif. Pacific RAILNEWS-5 road. Keep up the good work. A good maga "fail at what?" How can Cuesta be ranked at 60 mph. Now how about the obvious-a zine has become even better. nine while Raton is not on the list? Consider detailed feature on each of these grades ! the following (paying attention to your rank George F. Gross, M.D. ing system): Kevin EuDaly Lake Oswego, Ore. -Traffic: Raton gets more traffic, and the White River Productions operation is far more interesting. Coal trains Kansas City, Mo. To all who participated in the March 1996 is are dou bled over the grade with helpers; a sue of PRN, the best articles and photos I have manifest runs each way daily, as does an Am I have to say that your article "Ranking the seen in one issue in the past 20 years! Excel track daily; and occasionally hot piggyback Western Grades" was intriguing, and per lent! Thank you for your quality magazine pa ers are seen. haps, long overdue. I would like to make a per and reasonable price. I rank your maga -Scenic Splendor: Raton and Glorieta couple of nominations to both the active and zine as one of the very top two printed today. both have magnificent scenery. Though the abandoned grades. rolling hills of Cuesta are cute-they nowhere First to the active list. Keeping in mind Raymond Horton near match the mountain splendor of Raton your criteria, let's note Wall Hill on the Dako Phoenix, Ariz. and Glorieta. ta, Minnesota & Eastern. This former Chicago -Engineering Significance: There are both & North We stern line climbs out of the The article in the March PRN about western dramatic history and wild engineering on Ra Cheyenne River valley from Wasta to Wa ll for grades was excellent. Some of the photos were ton, certainly no less than Cuesta. about seven miles of 1 percent. Although a real knock-outs! -Uniqueness and Legendary Stature: Ra part is visible from 1-90, it is difficult to pho I was disappointed that Canadian grades ton is one of the best-known of all western tograph; the action is sparse, and runs mostly were not included. There are three that im grades-it towers above all the other active at night. This, by the way, would be the "east mediately come to mind. First is CP's Kicking grades on your list at 3 percent. ern-most" westerngrade. Horse Pass. This has a sustained 2.2 percent -Overall Appeal: Stand at Lynn as an east Secondly, on the abandoned routes. I found grade and the Spiral Tunnels (an engineering bound coal train hammers by, and the appeal it striking that your panel of experts over marvel-after all, it's two Tehachapi Loops, is difficult to match anywhere in North Ameri looked Snoqualmie Pass, in Washington, on installed underground!). The scenery is spec ca (I have never visited Saluda). the old Milwaukee Road, which had some tacular and access is easy. Second is CP's -Finally, What About Accessibility? Raton is pretty tough 2-plus percent, plus electrics for Rogers Pass, with 2.2 percent and 1 percent generally accessible while it sounds as though many years ! A more predictable oversight was ascending westbound on the Connaught and you're likely to get shot by irate landowners try that of the former Burlington Northern (ex MacDonald tracks respectively, and 2.5 per ing to photograph Cuesta- no thanks! Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) Deadwood cent on the western side of the pass. This is Other comparisons are equally flawed. It Branch in the Black Hills of South Dakota. also an engineer's playground, with the Mt. would have been much better to simply ask, There were four stretches of 3 ?ercent facing a MacDonald (nine miles), Connaught (six "Which grade is your favorite?" regardless of southbound train, and plenty of 2 percent miles) , and Mt. Shaugnessy (one mile) tun all the ranking system flaws. Even the MoPac against a northbound train. And the summit of nels; three significant bridges (including the out of Kansas City has a steeper hill than some the line, Dumont, was the highest point on the famed Stoney Creek arch); and the John Fox of these grades (1.43 percen t). BN proper (excluding the Colorado & South viaduct (roughly 4,000 feet long). Finally, The real point here is not to try to "prove" ern), for many years at 6,420 feet. In research there is the BC Rail climb from Lilloet out of Raton's significance, but rather to expose the ing for a long piece I wrote for one of Hoi the Fraser River Canyon. I've never visited obvious bias in this type of thing. Each of the Wagner's BN ANNUALS about the branch, I dis this grade, but it's 30 miles of continuous 2- western grades has merit, interest, uniqueness, covered that bit of trivia. plus percent that starts near the river and variety, and splendor; but these are all most On the grades that were mentioned, I ends up several thousand feet above the river, certainly in the eye of the beholder. Probably found it odd that not one of the Blue Moun with numerous tunnels and at least one the only thing in the article(s) I agree with, tain grades in Oregon was mentioned, even horseshoe curve. without reserve, is that Te hachapi does win, in though there have been some excellent pieces Keep up the good work, but don't neglect any opinion, by "a wide margin" when consid on that area. And please, don't stop the Abo us Canadians! ering a normal length grade-but how can lit Canyon grade at Sholle. It continues up to tle short Tehachapi compare to the Moffat Mountainaire, and there are several nice shots Jason Arnot Route, with a zillion tunnels, bridges, and the available from U.S. Highway 60 that magazine via the In ternet absolute epitome of mountain railroading? editors seem intent on ignoring. From the Big Ten Loops to Phippsburg, there If the intent of "Ranking the Western is more scenery than on most entire railroads. Nick Tharalson Grades" was to generate mail, you will no And the Arizona Divide-it seems hardly rea Cedar Rapids, Iowa doubt succeed. I have several points to make sonable to compare any short grade to a 214- about this strange "survey. " The question mile subdivision. In fact, the Arizona Divide I was very anxious to get the March 1996 is "Does your favorite pass pass?" implies hardly operates like a grade at all-the trains sue of PRN as I would find out the ranking of some grades fail-which begs the question are simply powered to fly over the subdivision the western mountain passes. As you warned readers, some passes did not make the list. (You surely knew you'd get a pile of mail on this!) Being biased toward train frequency, helper operations, diversity in traffic, lack of interference from man's other incursions upon nature, and considering the other criteria for selection, I am bewildered as to why the ma jority of the UP's La Grande Sub was not Now available, Schrader's "Newest" Railroad Gift ranked at least in the top 25, if not in the top Catalog. You are sure to find enjoyment while you 20. Yes, Te locaset and Encina hills did get the browse through the 88 pages, all in color, featuring number 26 slot, a minor consolation. over 800 top quality items. Designed for you, the It seems that rather than use the criteria set collector, modeler, and hobbiest. Our unique items forth to judge the passes, the panel judged are perfect for your home, office, or business. whether the trackage was on Espee, and some Please send $1.00 for a catalog to: what within close driving distance for most Californians (but not necessarily in that or Schrader Enterprises, Inc. der). it is true that Espee has had some of the 230 South Abbe Rd. Dept. PT more difficult routes to run in and out of the Fairview, Michigan 48621 Golden State, making for plenty of railfan and publication interest. 6-May 1996 If using the criteria set forth, I would have appeared in one of your captions: page 48, train a real hard time with the Modoc Line and P-LAME does not go to Medicine Lodge, Kan.; Cuesta being in the top 25 list. r also have the train terminates in Memphis, Tenn. G REAT some trouble with a line, such as the Siskiyou, ranking high because of its lack of traffic. Chris Butts If you ever rank anything again, I'd suggest Whittier, Calif. giving values to the various categories or criteria used in judging so as to give measurable values, I would like to offer a correction regarding the rather than the aesthetic or personal feelings train symbol description that you printed with that seem to have crept into this feature article. my photograph. The train symbol P-LAME Otherwise, I think PRN has now come to translates into Premium Service, Los Angeles the head of the pack in terms of a being a good to Memphis, not Medicine Lodge, Kansas. monthly railfan publication. Medicine Lodge was a former AT&SF 50.6 mile-subdivision in the territory known as its Curt Howell Eastern Region, so named for an on-line sta La Grande, Ore. tion in southern Kansas. At 12:01 a.m., Jan. 1, 1993, this subdivision ceased to be a part of The classic years of American "Ranking the Western Grades" in the March the Santa Fe branches as it was part of a line rails - the 1940s, 50s and 1996 issue of PRN gets an A-plus for its sale package sold to a new short line operator 60s - relived through unique topic, dramatic photography, and solid known as Central Kansas Railway. (For a de spectacular photography, in- text; and a writhe for your cover punditry. How tailed accounting see PRN, August 1993, "Fo depth articles, artwork, and about a similar feature on bridges and trestles? cus," pages 40-43). The P-LAME was a train personal interviews. $14.95 "Tricks for Scoring Bridge Points-Does born of the evolution of and conversion to Al for 4 issues (one year) Yo ur Span Suit?" comes to mind. phanumeric train symbols that the Santa Fe $19.95 outside the U.S. adopted in late 1 993; it was created to primar Alex Doyle ily handle J.B. Hunt trailer business. Wilmington, Del. The train was a run through/haulage opera tion that was a result of an agreement adopted The latest PRN, with the Great Passes sympo by Santa Fe and BN, on June 3, 1993, to pro sium, was really outstanding. Has there ever vide seamless service from Los Angeles been such an assemblage of great railway pho through to Memphis, Tenn. Numerous other tos? All of the following would go into any col trains utilize this agreement. The P-LAME lection of the hundred best: cover; pages 22- eventually replaced symbol Q-LABH (Quality 23; 26; 28; 33; 35; 39, and several others, in Los Angeles to Birmingham, Ala.), and it has cluding 31 and 41, are close runners-up. One now been superseded by symbol PSBBH (Pre for 12 issues (one year) notable feature is the creative exploration of mium-San Bernardino to Birmingham). All of $36.00 outside the U.S. the foreground in several-pages 31, 39, 4 1, this traffic originally dates back to the old and 51. [ envy you the power to "solve" that in "Avard Connection," so named for the Santa furiating Donner location at the old "Ameri Fe's junction with the Frisco at Avard, Okla. can" (page 28), where passenger trains paused Unfortunately, the Memphis J.B. Hunt traf PASSENGER TRAIN to admire the view until 1933. Anyway, the fic was lost to the Southern Pacific as a result Golden Age of Rail Photography is now. of congestion and delays occurring at the un JOURNAL dersized Burlington Northern facility there. Exciting news and features Fred Matthews on everything from yester San Diego, Calif. Bob Finan day's classic passenger Los Angeles, Calif. trains to today's Amtrak Concerning the March 1996 issue, is there no streamliners and commuter imagination left in the minds of those who pro After reading your article "Ranking the West trains. $30.00 for 12 issues duce PACIFIC RAILNEWS? Has originality been ern Grades" in PRN, I find it imperative that it (one year) $36.00 outside lost somewhere out in cyberspace? You start be proclaimed as absolutely one of the best yet the U.S. with a copied premise, (although you did give published anywhere. Dean Ferris credit for the original idea), and I have personally either ridden through or then stuff it into a boring format used three visited at least 18 of the 25 locations written LOCOMOTIVE & times previously in the past year alone (the BN about, including the Milwaukee Road's two anniversary issue, the farewell to the C&NW, passes, St. Paul and Pipestone, and pretty RAIL WA Y PRESERVA TION and the farewell to the AT&SF issues). much agree on most of your rankings, except The award-winning On a less sour note, no apology is necessary for perhaps Cajon, which probably should magazine of America's for leaving Stevens Pass out. I'm sure had it have been placed higher than No. 25. railroading history and been included, you would have given it the As for St. Paul Pass and Pipestone Pass on the artifacts, people and same h.·eatment it received in your BN Anniver the Milwaukee, I was gratified to be able to film places keeping this sary issue, or worse still, the treatment you gave the boxcabs and Little Joes in that area in 1973 history alive today. Donner Pass in this issue-an embarrassment by using a sound motion picture camera because $21.50 for 6 issues at best. To illustrate the bastion of the Southem today nothing remains but the remembrances. (one year) $24.50 Pacific, the grade by which entire classes of SP outside the U.S. engines, both steam and diesel were designed, John Petros with Amtrak goes beyond insensitive and lands Burbank, Calif. To Order, call Toll-Free: squarely in the realm of poor taste. It is sad that the life and variety Don Gul Caption Correction brandsen breathed into PRN has been so The top picture on page eight (PRN, March 1-800-2 10-2211 FAX 818-793-3797 or write: quickly removed by its current editors. 1996) is not Duplainville, Wis. It's the depot at Brookfield, with the original main of Mil Pentrex Circulation Department Martin Burwash waukee & Mississippi Railroad to Waukesha P.o. Box 94911, Pasadena, CA 91109-49 11 Burlington, Wash. to the right of the photo. Payment byVISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Money Orders, or checks (in U.S. dollars from U.S. banks only). The March 1996 issue was very well-done, some Thomas C. Bluecher very outstanding photos. However, one glitch Dubuque, Iowa Subscribe To day! IMAG6 BREAKING NEWS 1lpeditep Steve Glischinski An "all-rail" ore train (i.e., not destined to be transloaded onto a ship) using a Duluth Missabi & Iron Range, Wisconsin Central, and Conrail routing, loads at Eveleth Mines Fairlane plant at Forbes, Minn., on Feb. 29. These trains, normally led by WC locomotives, occasionally use Conrail locomotives. Stampede Pass to Reopen? supporters for reviving Stam pede. Container traffic through It's the worst-kept secret in west both fa cilities has increased ern railroading. Burlington North markedly over the past decade, ern's line across Stampede Pass, and both have invested heavily in dormant since 1983, may spring searching for still more business. back to life in 1997-and with The ports are concerned, though, trains led by Warbonnet-painted that service on the overloaded locomotives to boot. BN rail lines to Puget Sound Thirteen years ago, cutback (which Union Pacific relies on as minded BN management decided well) may deteriorate, causing it didn't need to operate the for ocean carriers to shift their ships mer Northern Pacific route across to Vancouver, B.C., or the ports the Cascade Mountains, which in of Los Angeles and Long Beach. cludes the 2.2 percent grade up to Returning Stampede Pass to op the Stampede Pass Tu nnel. The eration, port officials believe, line's traffic was diverted to the would pave the way more former Great Northern line growth; these officials appear to through Stevens Pass and the have won the support of BN combination of P and Spokane, now Burlington Northern Santa John Gruber Portland & Seattle trackage via Fe-management. Pasco and Vancouver, Wa sh. But restoring the rail line isn't On March 24, 1996, Yolo Shortline Railroad tests restored SP No. 1223 in However increasing traffic volume as simple as clearing brush and preparation for its first public operation scheduled for May 5. The 1914- has clogged the southern route, dirt off the tracks. In 1986, BN built Lima 0-6-0 had been on display at the Woodland, Calif. Fairgrounds. and the capacity of Stevens Pass is sold a segment of the NP main be constrained by the necessity of tween Kennewick and Cle Elum pumping diesel exhaust out of the to Washington Central (WCRC). ing, there's been little visible ports, ostensibly for export-bound Cascade Tu nnel for a half-hour af Thus to use Stampede as a progress. WCRC President Nick Yakima Valley produce. B SF, ter each train goes through. through route, BNSF must make a Tem ple has demanded that BNSF though, must be concerned about The ports of Seattle and Taco deal with WCRe. Though negoti grant his railroad trackage rights WCRC using those rights to han ma have been the most vocal ations reportedly have been ongo- over Stampede Pass into the dle UP traffic instead. Additional- a-May 1998 ly, the 9,834-foot Stampede Pass Tu nnel must be enlarged to acco FACT FOL DER mod ate doublestacks. Ultimately BNSF wants to by pass the Kennewick-Pasco area by restoring the former Milwaukee Amtrak 25th Anniver Road main line between Ellens sary lime Line burg and Lind, Wa sh., which As a tribute to Amtrak's 25th would reduce Spokane-Seattle anniversary, PRN compiled a rail mileage from 396 to 315. Difficulties abound here too timeline of important mile WCRC operates a portion of the stones from the first quarter Milwaukee through Othello, and century of the nation's pas- part of the remainder is now a • senger rail network. trail that outdoor activists want • to retain. Attacking the latter • • May 1, 1971: Amh'ak begins. problem, the state enacted legis • Nov. 1972: Amtrak orders lation in March consolidating 3,000 h.p. EMD SDP40Fs. control of the right-of-way in the : Wa shington Department of T.J. Jones • Oct. 1973: 57 Amfleet cars Transportation and providing for • are ordered from Budd, 70 preservation of the trail if the Burlington Northern Santa Fe has received its 'irst new 'reight cars. : additional SDP40Fs, and 11 track is restored. However con A consist o. these aluminum Johnstown America-built coal cars is • General Electric E60s. sidering the expected cost of shown in a BV222 coal train at Dallas, Texas, March 18, 1998. • May 1974: Turbo train $100 million, rails probably • maintenance facility opens at won't be laid until after the turn • • Brighton Park, Chicago. of the century. Opponents Gunning for UP could file objections with the • April 1975: 235 Superliner If BNSF and WCRC come to SP Merger Surfa ce Transportation Board, • terms, billions of dollars worth but the fireworks began early. On • cars are ordered. of containerized goods could be March 21 the National Industrial • July 1976: Original Superlin riding trains through the old March 29 was the last day that Transportation League, a ship- : er order is upped to 284 cars. NP's grand Cascade scenery parties opposing Union Pacific's pers' lobbying group, announced • Jan. 1977: Severe winter sometime next year. merger with Southern Pacific that its Railroad Transportation • weather hits, suspending • • many Midwest services. • Oct. 1979: Empire Builder • becomes first Superliner • • long-distance train. • Jan. 1981: Coast Starlight is • Stock Prices March • Stock Index1, 1996 • equipped with Superliners. • Stock Prices April 1 , 1996 • July 1982: Graham Claytor • becomes Amtrak president. - • Q. • July 1983: California Zephyr Q. • - - is rerouted over Rio Grande. • = 2 June 1984: Station at Gales c.:t • c:n - :::.::: • burg, Ill., is replaced with - - • = classic-styled depot. • = April 1985: L.A.-San Diego 1:1 • -- • .... Metroliner service ends. • = Jan. 1986: Budget cuts reduce 2 • • frequencies on several routes. • Dec. 1990: Amtrak orders • • new locomotives from GE. • June 1991: Pioneer is rerout • ed through Wyoming. • • Sept. 1993: Sunset Limited • derails in Alabama, killing 47. • Dec. 1995: Cuts totaling 21 • • percent of intercity rail ser • vice are announced. • • May I, 1996: Amtrak cele • brates 25th anniversary. Pacific RAILNEWS-9 SPEC IAL REPORT l{peditep cently privatized Canadian Na tional a likely buyer. As part of that same reorga nization, CP Rail announced on April 2 that it would close its Milwaukee dispatching office, which controls operations on CP's U.S. lines, by the end of 1996. Dispatchers and the Transportation Service Center will relocate to Minneapolis, af fecting 270 employees, while train service design and locomo tive distribution will move to CP's new Calgary headquarters. FRA Issues Ditch Light Rule Back in 1992, Congress directed the Federal Railroad Administra tion to require "substantially en hanced locomotive visibility mea sures"-that is, additional lights in order to improve grade crossing safety. After several years of study and hearings, FRA published its final rules on March 6. These rules confirm the standard the in John Cockle dustry has adopted-a triangular system of one headlight and two On Feb. 24, 1998, a recently delivered Talgo 200 train, similar to one in service in the Pacific Northwest, meets ditch lights. The ditch lights must San Joaquin No. 71 3, at Stockton, Calif. The Spanish trainset made demonstration tours in California and Nevada. be at least 60 inches apart, or 60 inches lower than the headlight. This requirement caused some Committee had voted to oppose tion to the Texas line mentioned ing whether the merger goes controversy because Canadian Na the merger unless UP agrees to a above, the RCT would have UP through as proposed, or if UP will tional units, which often operate long list of divestitures. Accord sell SP's Dallas-Houston and be forced to sell off big chunks of in the United States have ditch ng to lTL President Ed Em Lewisville, Ark.-Corsicana, Texas, SP in order to acquire the rest. lights spaced 44 inches apart. FRA mett, the trackage rights UP lines and set up "neutral terminal sidestepped the dispute by grand agreed to give BNSF after the railways" at Dallas-Fort Worth, New Name for CP Rail's fathering engines equipped with merger "do not provide for effec Houston, Beaumont, Brownsville, Eastern Lines 44-inch ditch lights before May tive competition in key areas." Corpus Christi, EI Paso, Amarillo, 30, 1994. Ditch lights must be at To remedy that, the NITL wants and Lubbock. The Chemical Man [n November 1995, CP Rail Sys least 36 inches above the rail, ex UP to sell SP's lines between ufacturers Association, represent tem said it would reorganize its cept that lights on push-pull cab Houston and ew Orleans; be ing the Texas shippers that would operations east of Chicago and cars may be 24 inches above the tween Houston, Memphis, and be most affected by the merger, Toronto into a separate business rail. Flashing lights are permitted St. Louis; between Houston and also announced its opposition. unit. On April 3, that unit got a but not required. Locomotives op the Mexican border; and between Union Pacific's railroad oppo name: St. Lawrence & Hudson erated over highway crossings at Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake nents took predictable stands. Railway. CP said the name is de 20 mph less, and historic locomo City, and NorthernCalif ornia. Kansa City Southern said the rived from the St. Lawrence and tives built prior to J 949, are ex During the week before the merger would reduce competition Hudson rivers, which "defined empt. All other locomotives must due date, UP announced that five for rail traffic generating revenues the north-south and east-west have ditch lights installed by the more states-California, Col of at least $2 billion and that axes of trade in this part of the end of 1997. orado, Iowa, Kansas, and Wash B SF trackage rights operations continent," and preserves part of ington-had decided to support would not be an effective substi the corporate name of the vener Canadian National and Illi the merger, increasing the number tute. Conrail argued the merger able Delaware & Hudson. Head of allied states to 17. On March would not reduce the cost of UP quartered in Montreal, SL&H nois Central to Build Facility 27, though, the Railroad Commis and SP operations much, and that will continue to downsize its rail sion of Texas cast a huge vote for SP is not a failing company and system while developing busi Canadian National and Illinois the opposition. Like the NlTL, won't die if UP doesn't rescue it. ness on its core lines, including Central announced joint plans to the RCT opposes the combination Yet to be filed are the argu testing of Iron Highway inter construct and operate an inter as anti-competitive unless UP ments of govergnment parties modal equipment between Mon modal terminal in Harvey, III., agrees to sell a large portion of such as the Department of Justice treal and Toronto in fall 1996. adjacent to IC's Moyers .Inter the SP to other lines. The RCT's and the Department of Trans Many observers expect to see CP modal Terminal (just south of list of proposed divestitures is portation. The stand Justice takes put SL&H up for sale if it makes Chicago). This 67-acre facility, longer than the NlTL's: in addi- may well be crucial in determin- any headway-and consider re- owned by IC and dedicated to 1O.May 1996 Paul M. Rome Built to transportthe Olympic name, the "Cauldron Car" passes Granville, Wis., heading from Northern Railcar to Union Pacific on March 18, 1998. When completed, the car will anchor a special 19-car passenger train that will travel more than 3,500 miles across the western region o. the United States as part o. the 1998 Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola. CN, will allow CN to consolidate five days per week and use IC's its Chicago-area intermodal oper Harvey intermodal terminal south ations. Construction should be of Chicago. At press time it ap completed by Dec. 1, 1996. peared that, at least initially, WC Illinois Central and CN antici will consolidate the CN trains pate this new facility will create with its own intermodal trains be line-haul interchange opportunities tween Neenah, Wis., and Chicago. for both carriers. "The most signif icant aspect of this initiative," said BNSF Begins Cameron CN President and CEO Paul Te lli er, "is that it effectively creates a Connection seamless intermodal corridor be Photo courtesy CalTrain tween Canada and the Midwest by Near Galesburg, Ill., Burlington completing the system comprised orthern Santa Fe has begun CalTrain has planted no trespassing signs in Palo Alto, Calif., and will of the St. Clair tunnel, the direct constructing the new Santa Fe begin issuing citations in May to trespassers along the right-D'-way. interchange at Harvey, and IC's B connection at Cameron that ovenight service to Memphis." will permit Santa Fe trains to op The facility is designed to han erate to and from B 's Galesburg cess to the main lines will be con trak service, and its elected offi dle 225,000 intermodal units per Yard. The $10.2 million project trolled by the Fort Worth et cials periodically complain about year with a provision for doubling involves laying 9,439 feet of work Operations Center (NOC), this lack. Presumably to quell this its capacity. The railroads antici track, constructed with 136 though Santa Fe's Schaumburg grumbling, Amtrak operated an pated initial yearly volumes be pound continuous welded ra il System Operations Center (SOC) inspection train from Newton, tween 75,000 and 100,000 units. and concrete ties. All switches will initially control the Santa Fe Kan., to Fort Wo rth, Texas, over Canadian National and Wis will have No. 20 frogs, permitting end of the connection. Santa Fe on March 8, using Santa consin Central Ltd. have an 40 mph operations. The connec By July I, BN expects to place Fe crews. The train observed San nounced a new joint rate inter tion will occupy 51.63 acres of another group of retarders in ser ta Fe's freight speed limit of 55 modal service dubbed "The Supe land the railroads acquired and vice at Galesburg, increasing the mph over this territory. Equip rior Connection" to signify both will have no grade crossings with number of bowl tracks to 48. ment for the train, including its intended high level of service public roads. The westbound leg The added capacity will allow DASH 8-32BWH (P32BWH) and that its Chicago-Western of the connection, permitting Galesburg to sort Santa Fe car 509, one Superliner transition Canada connection moves via Su westbound trains to transfer from load traffic and build solid trains sleeper, and Amtrak inspection car perior, Wis. The new service was the BN to the Santa Fe, is sched for connections at Chicago and Corridor Clipper, deadheaded to scheduled for an April 1 startup. uled for completion on May 29. other locations. ewton on the Southwest Chief WC recently upgraded its main On June 18, the eastbound leg of and returned from Fort Wo rth to line and offers the shortest the connection , allowing east Amtrak Looks at Oklahoma Chicago on the Te xas Eagle. mileage between Chicago and Su bound trains running on the San Th anks to Elson Rush, I-larry perior. The trains, to be numbered ta Fe to enter BN's Galesburg Since 1979, Oklahoma has been Crossman, C. Mac Sebree, and In and \19 by C , wm operate Yard, should enter service. Ac- one of the few states without Am- Mike Cleary. PRN PacifiC RAILNEWS-ll RAIL �EWS CP Rail System SUBMISSIONS: Articles. news items. and pho. itographsRa are welcomeilN and shouldew be sent to sour ' Wisconsin editorial office. Please include return envelope and postage if you wish your submission returned. PACIFIC RAILNEIVS does not assume re sponsibility for the safe return of material. Pay ment is made upon publication. Railroad Columnists AMTRAK/PASSENGER-Dick Stephenson 72 19 Summitrose, Tuj unga, CA 91042 AT&SF-Elson Rush P.O. Box 379, Waukesha, WI 53187 BURLINGTON NORTHERN-Karl Rasmussen 1 1449 Goldenrod St. NW, Coon Rapids, 1\1N55448 CN NORTH AMERICA-Mike Cleary 1395 W. Jessamine #206, SI. Paul, MN 55108 CENTRAL OREGON & PACIFIC-Daniel J. Sheets 220 1 Brittany Dc, Eugene, OR. 97405 CP RAIL SYSTEM-Karl Rasmussen 1 1449 Goldenrod St. NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55448 ILLINOIS CENTRAL-Erik Coleman 412 Ta nglewoocl Ct., Vemon Hills, IL 60061-1954 E-mail: [email protected] KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN-Michael Hasbargen 1718 King Eider Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47906 MEXICO-Clifford R. Prather P.O. Box 925, Santa Ana, CA 92702 MODERN POWER-Sean Graham-White JeU Hampton 743 Park, River Forest, IL 60305- 1705 E-mail: [email protected] Only a few times a year does the sun rise directly over the rails. On March 15, 1998, CP Rail MONTANA RAIL LINK-Kyle Brehm eastbound train 420 waits for a signal at the Wisconsin Central diamond at Duplainville, Wis. P.O.Box 20826, Billings MT 59104 E-mail: [email protected] ON-LINE COORDINATOR-David C. Warner FINANCIAL actions, the future appears bright for CP E-mail: 70672.3 [email protected] Limited as revenue grew at a rate of 12.5 E-mail: [email protected] Asset Write down Incurs Loss percent during 1995. MIDWEST REGIONALS The level of profitability for CP in 1996 (CC&P and IAIS) Dave Kroeger Because of substantial writedown in rail as will be driven by a change in top corporate 5720 Johnson Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 sets, CP Limited (the parent of CP Rail Sys management; David O'Brien will succeed Bill (All others) Andrew S. Nelson tem) reported a loss of $823.5 million for Stinson as chairman in May. O'Brien became 34 1 S. Main, Pearl City, I L 61062 1995, compared to a profit of $393.1 million CP's president and chief operating officer in SHORT LINES WEST-Wayne Monger in 1994. A $704 million charge was taken early 1995 and implemented major organiza 1409 lillman SI.. Suisun City, CA 94585 against rail assets in eastern Canada and the tional changes late last year. He has mandated SHORT LINES MIDWEST-Bob Thompson United States, even though rail properties re aggressive financial goals for CP Rail System Route 6, Box 7070, Paris, TX 75462 ported 1995's operating income at $360.3 this year, requiring operating income to exceed SP/SSW-Brian Jennison million. Freight volumes increased 5 percent $500 million, net income of at least $224.4 P.O. Box 3519. Reno. I\ry 89505 from 1994 levels, with coal and sulfur load million, and a reduction in the company's op ings up while grain traffic was down. De erating ratio from the 1995 level of 90.4 per SP (D&RGW)-Riehard C. Farewell 9729 W. 76th Ave., Arvada, CO 80005 spite these fourth-quarter accounting trans- cent to 82 percent. TRANSIT-G. Mac Sebree 11111 NW 19th Ave., Vancouver, WA 98685 UNION PACIFIC (West)-Wayne Monger 1409 lillman St., Suisun City, CA 94585 _Midwest Rail Magazins_ E-mail: CompuSelve 73563,2652 UP (C&NW, MP)-Michael W. Blaszak tay abreast of the ever-changing Midwest rail scene with Midwest Rail magazine. MIDWEST 21 1 South Leitch Ave., La Grange, I L 60525 RAIL is a 30-to-40 page glossy black-and-white monthly publication dedicated entirely to theS Midwest region. We print current news of the Class One and regionals that operate in the WISCONSIN CENTRAL-Mike Abalos Midwest region along with feature articles and photography. Read what all of your friends are 3425 W. 79th St., Chicago, IL 60652 talking about! Read it in MIDWEST RAIL first, fast, and always in a timely manner. $18 dollars MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: a year keeps you on track. Not sure you want to subscribe? We will send you our most current Address all cOITcspondcnce regarding subscriptions issue for $2.50 a copy. Send your check or money order payable to "Midwest Rail" to: (including new orders and renewals) to: PacificRailNews Midwest Rail Magazine, P. O. Box 171, Vandalia, MO 63382 P.O. Box 17108 North Hollywood, CA 91615-7108 Dealer inquiries and advertisers are welcome! For .dl subscription problems and inquiries call toll free in the Photographic and manuscrip t submissions are always welcome and needed. Write us for our current photo/article request list and payment ra tes. Look for our ta ble at selected ra ilroadiana shows across U .S. and Canada: (800) 210-221 1 outside the U.S. and Canada (818) 793·3400 the region to meet members of our staff, purchase issues, and hear what we are all about! 12-May 1998 CORPORATE lously no one was killed, although several CP new autorack train, No. 747, was inaugurated; a employees were injured. Soo GP9 2408 was de significant increase in traffic in February forced CP Plans Negotiations with CN stroyed in the accident, while Soo GPI5C 4102 CP to operate multiple sections of the 500-series and MP 15AC 1535 received serious damage; symbol trains. Train 20 I was handling auto traf CP Rail's new management team will reopen CP SD40-2 5725 and EMD SD40 6503 sus fic business into the St. Paul suburb of Cottage talks with Canadian National regarding the tained minor structural scars. Yard operations Grove during early March; previously, this traf consolidation of facilities in eastern Canada to were disrupted for nearly a week as wreck-dam fic moved on train o. 501 . eliminate duplicate trackage, yards, and main aged cars and locomotives were removed, and Minnesota Commercial began operating in tenance structures and encourage the sale of replacement track and switch panels were in to CP's St. Paul Yard again in early March. marginal secondary and branch lines to short stalled. line carriers. Previous negotiations in 1994 On Feb. 7, an unusual incident took place MOTIVE POWER at Sewal, Iowa, just north of the Missouri bor failed because the federal government and CP MLWs Continue the Battle disagreed about the value of CN properties. It der on the former Milwaukee Road Kansas is believed that the recent privatization of CN City main line. Nine cars of a 51-car train de Venerable locomotives from the Montreal Lo will serve as a catalyst for consolidation. railed, eight of which were loaded with 750- comotive Works are still being operated in the pound bombs owned by the Air Force. The Midwest, albeit in fewer numbers than in bombs were being moved from Concord, 1995. CP MLW C-424 4205 was noted on a ROUTE STRUCTURE Calif., to Crane, Ind., for disassembly and were drag freight operating over Indiana Harbor KC Line for Sale? not equipped with fuses and did not explode. Belt at La Grange, III., on Feb. 9. Two derailments took place in the vicinity As of mid-February, CP had 206 leased units Speculation regarding the disposition of CP's of Sudbury, Ont., in mid-February, necessitat on line (or en route), with 48 units recently route between Chicago and Kansas City cen ing detours via CN, over CP routes in the added from Electro-Motive Division, Helm, and ters on the Union Pacific-Southern Pacific United States, and on Burlington Northern Montana Rail Link. Nine 6500-series SD40s merger and whether the combined carrier Santa Fe. On Feb. 13, a 41-car eastbound in were obtained from EMD, while 21 SD40/ may have to make further concessions to ob termodal train operated over BNSF between SD40-2XRs (Livingston, Mont.-rebuilt SD40s) tain Surface Transportation Board approval. Noyes, Minn., and St. Paul; the train was led came from MRL, with 18 assorted EMD-pow A possible alternative involves selling the by CP SD40-2s 5622/5904/5853 and operat ered units en route from Helm (GP38s and SOO-mile Chicago to Kansas City route to ed via Fargo, .D., and Staples, Minn. SD45T-2s). Locomotives leased to CP from Wisconsin Central. CP handled several BNSF detours be MRL are considered "B-units." CP Rail plans to CP Rail has formally embargoed the former tween New Westminster, B.C., and Couts, return the nine GP20Cs leased from Generation Milwaukee Road secondary line between Alb., during the second week of February. Locomotive this spring and has been shopping Blooming Prairie and Comus, Minn. Service The detours were caused by flooding and for replacement power. Four MP 15DCs ac on this route has been sporadic in recent years mudslides in the Pacific Northwest. because of the lack of on-line shippers and the Wisconsin Central's well-publicized derail quired from North Louisiana & Gulf as os. improved movement of southern Minnesota ment at Weyauwega, Wis., on March 4 caused 42-45 will retain these numbers and be desig grain traffic via Austin and Mason City, Iowa. many WC detours to operate over CP between nated as Soo locomotives. New Lisbon and Duplainville, Wis. (see Wis Montreal Locomotive Works RS-23s 8023, 8040, and 8045 were sold to Windsor OPERATIONS consin Central column for details). & Hantsport, which now rosters a dozen of st. Paul Mishap TRAIN SYMBOLS this model. Th anks to Mike Bartels, Steve Bayorgean, CP Rail operations across the Upper Midwest X As Opposed to Z Mike Blaszak, Mike Cleary, Pf. Gratz, Fred were severely hampered by the derailment of Hyde, Glenn Lee, Peter Phillips, Charlie BN train 144 in St. Paul early on Feb. 15. Train Designations for CP System trains operating on Shannon, and TRAFFIC WORLD. 144's brakes did not function on the rear 90 CSX between Detroit and Chicago now use an percent of its train while descending the grade "X" prefix instead of the former "z" prefix. A Karl Rasmussen on the main east of the old Union Depot com plex; the train reached speeds near 50 mph as it approached the interlocking plant at Hoffman Avenue. The BN dispatcher was unable to re verse a switch for a mainline movement that would have led No. 144 into the midst of the for mer Milwaukee Road classification yard. LMX B39-8s 8572/8589 and 44 cars of the 89-car � Streamli�$20.009��� train plowed into the CP yard office, destroying MoPac's it and an overhead pedestrian bridge. Miracu- Colorado Eagle on Monument Hill 18" x 24" $20 each With 18 years of Personalized 17" x 22" Service to Railfans, we can $20.00 help you select the best. Twin Star We alignourradiosforoptimum Rocket performance in the RR band. WRITE OR CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION All five prints $80.00 ppd. Add $4 per order shipping �::; / (Texons: Pleose odd 8% soles tox.) SOUTHWEST Send 3-stamp SSAE for HUGE LIST of over 200 other RR prints. ELECTFtONICS Send Check, MO, VISA, Me info to: P.o. Box 1099 • Prescott. AZ 86302 PRINTS AND HOBBIES �;;;:.:.�� (520) 445-1942 "'-�"7� "It's smart to buy from an FCC ficensed technician " Overland Limited on Donner Pass See our complete stock at NMRA, long Beach, in July. Pacific RAILNEWS -13 RAIL NEWS Canadian National January 1997 will be assigned road numbers 5626-5730. As a result, some Grand Trunk Western GP38-2s and CN SD38-2s will have to be renumbered. The S075Is will likely be assigned to western Canada. Canadian National's SD40 rebuild program was completed on Dec. 29, 1995, with the re lease of SD40u 6028. On Jan. 27, the unit was observed leading S0701 5606 on train 439 northbound on the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific. CN's decision to acquire new locomotives end ed the rebuild program prematurely, leaving ap proximately 230 unrebuilt SD"rI0'S�n the roster. Because of an upswing in traffic, CN re called 30 units leased to Union Pacific, leased four additional units from Helm, and reactivated a number of locomotives stored serviceable, including all remaining Bom bardier HR-6 1 6s; Montreal Locomotive Works M-636s 231 3, 2323, 2335, and 2338; and 10 GMD 1 s (1,200 h.p. l i ght road switchers produced by EMO's Canadian sub sidiary, General Motors Diesel Ltd., between 1958 and 1960). Recent Canadian National retirements in clude SW 1200Rs Nos. 1308 and 1326; M LW Michael Gramm C-630Ms 2028 and 2033 (the last C-630Ms 80701s are now common on Canadian National trains running on the BN8F. On March 2, 1996, remaining on the roster); M-636s 23 10, 2319, 2320, 2325, 2327, and 2332; HR-412 561 1 leads CN 341 as it rolls through the Highlands, III., suburban stop on BN8F's tripletrack main. 3589 (one of only 10 of this model on the roster, and the first to be retired); SD40s 5152 and 5174; and GP40-2L 95 17. FINANCIAL $325 million in 1995 compared to $337 mil lion in 1994. Operating ratio improved to CN Reports Loss lor 1995 89.3 percent in 1995 compared to 89.4 per CN SHORTS cent in 1994. Cold and Snow Snarl Operations On Jan. 24, Canadian National Railways re A nine-day strike in March 1995, extreme ported income from continuing operations weather conditions during the fourth quarter, Heavy snow, high winds, and cold tempera (excluding special charges) as $267 million, or and a generally soft economy throughout 1995 tures caused severe service problems on CN's $3.32 per share, compared with $194 million, had an adverse affect on CN's financial perfor main line through northern Ontario in Jan or $2.43 per share last year. During 1995, CN mance. However the railroad did reduce its op uary. On Jan. 19, VIA's westbound Canadian incurred total special charges of $1.07 billion erating expenses for 1995 to $2.7 billion, a 5 stalled in a snowdrift in a particularly remote to cover the costs of redeeming or repurchas percent improvement over 1994. Labor and area east of Hornepayne, Ont. Two CN loco ing debt. The net loss from continuing opera fringe benefit expenses fell by 9.4 percent, and motives sent to rescue the stranded passenger tions for 1995 amounted to $804 million, or its operating revenues for the full year were train were unable to dislodge it; another three $10.01 per share, compared with 1994 net in $3.02 billion, down 4.8 percent from 1994. units were then dispatched from Hornepayne come of $180 million, or $2.26 per share. Op This drop was attributed primarily to a 23 per to assist. Finally 12 hours behind schedule, erating income, excluding special charges, was cent decline in grain products revenue. CN's in the Canadian limped into Hornepayne with termodal and forest products revenue also fell seven locomotives and eight cars. A freight off slightly in 1995. These declines were offset stalled at Armstrong, Ont., and two others by slight increases in coal, sulfUl� automotive, stalled on the Caramat Sub between Horne and industrial products shipment revenue. payne and Armstrong, bringing rail traffic at Thunder Bay to a standstill. MOTIVE POWER On Jan. 25, CN eliminated the crew change point at Rivers, Man., on the transcontinental CN S07518 main line. Crews will now operate for 288 miles of the Rivers Subdivision between Win The 105 SD751 locomotives on order from nipeg, Man., and Melville, Sask. EMD to be delivered between June 1996 and Canadian National recently announced the elimination of 79 car inspector and clerical po sitions in Saskatchewan, including 26 posi • •• • """...... =. u;;;.... ."' ...... ,.. tions in Saskatoon. The company plans to trim EVENTS: another 1,000 jobs over the next four years. Feather River Railroad i>a >l:1 1�l ���.�9 �; J,9,?fo6 Than.ks to Tr ent Baumbach, James Brock, Railfan Phot0 � PI:tf' s.J? �$. mbep14; 1996 !l !'l � '!y �pte BRS Can.adian National, P. /. "operate·11 1 -co' !" p i'a'h1 T6) 832-4532 BRANCH LINE, 9 � .§m-g �19 Gratz, Jim Lewis, and Karl Rasmussen. SOCIETY P.operO. Box�i 608,�� : Portola,���: Californiai:-;:�: ER 96122. RIVER RAIL(916) 832-4131 Mike Cleary 14-May 1996 RAIL NEWS The Route Of Phoebe Snow...... $24.95 by Shelden S. King Midwest Regionals Pennsy K-4's Remembered...... $ 6.95 by Frederick Kramer Electric Trains To Reading Terminal...... $17.95 by Wes Coates The Handsomest Trains In The World...... $15.95 by Greenberg & Kramer The Morristown & Eric Railway ...... $ 8.95 by Bob Pennisi 26 Miles To Jersey City...... $ 8.95 by Pete Komelski Lehigh Valley Railroad Passenger Cars...... $13.95 by Mickey & Warfel Railroad Stations Of New England Today Vol. 1 The Boston & Maine...... $ 7.95 by Mark Beauregard. The Northeast Railroad Scene series (a brief look before Conrail) by Bob Pennisi Vol. 2 The Lehigh & Hudsou River...... $ 4.00 Vol. 5 The Jersey Centra!...... $ 6.00 Vol. 6 The Penn Centra!...... $10.00 Change At Ozone Park ...... $18.95 by Herbert George The Hard Coal Carriers - Vol. 1 Two Elgin Joliet & Eastern 8038-2s pull across the diamond at Leithton, III., after delivering a coal train to Wisconsin Central. This tower will soon be razed to make room lor a second track accommodating the extra traffic generated by Metra commuter trains on the WC. The Hard Coal Carriers - Vol. 2 (NEW) "Camelback Twilight" (The last Years of Jersey Central's Passenger Camelbacks.) CC&P railroad's main line links the Fort Worth, by GerardBernet...... $ 19.95 Texas, area with the Mexican border at Pre A 96-page soil cover book with over 130 photos, maps, Merger Update sidio, Texas, using a former Santa Fe line. diagramsroster & data info. Black & white with color South Orient is the first railroad to operate covers, this book not only tells ofthe locos, but also the passenger cars they pulled. Also a look at Dunellen yard Although coordinated operations between premium cross-border intermodal traffic to alHl some towers. This book is a diesel lovers look at Illinois Central and Chicago Central aren't Mexico, with a tri-weekly run between Cresson, camelback operations on the CNJ. scheduled for several months, IC motive Texas, and Chihuahua, Mexico. It also handles power is now prevalent on CC&P. Several IC three 10,000-ton grain trains per week from Hard Cover Books: SD40-2s and GP40Rs have been sent to assist BNSF destined for Mexico. Traffic increases We arc now handling total distribution of Tri-State Railway Historical Society books: power-short CC&P; and complete IC unit have led the railroad to lease five GP38s from The Lackawanna Railroad in Northwest New Jersey grain train sets (with both IC locomotives Great Western Railway. South Orient hopes to by Lowenthal & Greenberg.""""".. $39.95 and hoppers) have been dispatched to Cargill expand its Mexican traffic base by handling elevators in Iowa. more grain, cotton, feeder cattle, and auto parts. each In late February, a rail grinder and other ...... $2.50 Our catalog lists over 5500 dilTerent steam, diesel, track equipment were sent by lC to work the EJ&E electric & trolley photos printed on 8xlO paper, CC main line in Illinois. In the Chicago area, all UP Connection The catalog also lists books of other publishers, CC trains now terminate and originate at lC's videos and misc. railroadiana. Markham Ya rd. While the fate of many CC&P Catalog.",$l.OO (free with order) Union Pacific's plan to construct a new connec facilities is undecided, IC has announced that (new catalog each March) five dispatching positions will be relocated from tion to the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern received a ORDERING INFORMATION: the CC&P office in Waterloo, Iowa, to the chilly reception from about one hundred West Orders under $25.00 add $2.00postage & handling Homewood Operations Control Center when Chicago residents during a March 13 public New Jersey residents add 6% sales tax Foriegn orders add 10 % [or shipping (minimtull $4.00) coordinated operations begin in late 1996. meeting. According to UP drawings, 23 homes (allow up to 4 weeks for delivery) Chicago Central is now using Union Pacif would be affected by the connection, which would handle about 20 freight trains a day. ic power to expedite coal trains moving east Dealer inquiries invited. from Council Bluffs . SOUTH ORIENT GET A GREATNIGHrS REST Pullman House WHILE VISITING THE RAIL· Bed & Breakfast Inn ROAD MUSEUM AND ENJOY· Expansion into Mexico Dept. 205 256 Commercial St. · Portola, CA 96122 ING THE FEATHER RIVER CANYO P.O. Oox 114 South Orient hopes to expand into Mexico by The Inn offers a relaxing. casual, and N� Flanders, NJ 07836 informal boarding house aunosphere leasing Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico's with hometown hospitality and service. j ...l line from Ojinaga into Chihuahua, Mexico; re (916) 832-0107 .��te/\ C' cently, traffic has been relatively heavy. The A must fo r all Western rail enthusiasts! Railroad Theme. Pacific RAILNEWS -15 Eleven of these homes would be demolished to move contaminated dirt, which was then from a Peabody mine across the road, but re make room for the new track. A UP representa trucked to a facility south of Waynoka, Okla., cently Environmental Protection Agency regula tive said that the company has not yet decided for disposal. However, the dirt traffic is now tions regarding the Clean Air Act have forced to build the connection, largely because UP has routed via BNSF to a new disposal facility at the power plant to switch to low-sulfur coal. yet to reach an agreement with EJ&E regarding Avard, Okla. operations over the latter's line. Central Kansas Railway is moving 1,500 cars IOWA INTERSTATE of rock for a highway project west of Great OMNI TRAX Bend, Kan. This traffic comes off the South Union Pacific Detours Kansas & Oklahoma at Moline, Kan., and Central Kansas Abandonments moves via new trackage rights on the SP. The Starting in late March, Iowa Interstate began 30-car rock trains were to begin operating in handling Union Pacific detours between Des Central Kansas Railway is shrinking its network February or March, run two or three times per Moines and Council Bluffs, Iowa. The first de of former Santa Fe lines by abandoning little week, and continue for about five months. tour train operated March 20, with Chicago & used appendages. On April 10 CKR expected North Western SD50 7027 leading two UP to abandon the westernmost 30.3 miles of its ILLINOIS & MIDLAND SD40-2s. Six empty coal trains operated via Englewood Subdivision, between Protection Iowa Interstate on March 27 and 28, and re Operations Update and Englewood, Kan. This trackage (the outer pOl·tedly, UP may run six to eight trains daily most part of the 120-mile branch from Rago, over Iowa Interstate through the end of summer. Kan.) is in poor condition. Illinois & Midland (former Chicago & Illinois Union Pacific is planning extensive trackwork Midland, purchased on Feb. 9 by Greenwich, CKR is also planning to abandon 33.4- on the former C&NW main in westem Iowa. miles of the McPherson Subdivision between Conn.-based Genesee & Wyoming Industries) Marion and McPherson, Kan. The only cus has recently modified its operations. All l&M DM&E tomers on the line were grain elevators at trains are now operated on an "as needed ba Marion and Hillsboro that hadn't shipped sis" and are not scheduled, as they had been Colony Line Acquistion anything by rail in at least two years. The pro with C&IM. However, traffic has been heavy. jected abandonment date is April 12. Marion The railroad has been moving unit grain trains On Feb. 22, Dakota, Minnesota & Eastem filed will continue to be served by UP's former from Union Pacific at Crescent in South Pekin, an application to acquire UP's (fOlmer Chicago Rock Island line, over which Santa Fe exercis III. Illinois & Midland's Powerton switch job & orth Western) 203-mile line between es trackage righ ts. (working up to seven days per week) delivers Colony, Wyo.; Rapid City, S.D.; and Crawford, Central Kansas Railway's corporate affi li the grain loads to American Milling Co. in Neb., with the Surface Transportation Board. A ate, Kansas Southwestern Railway, is consider Pekin. The railroad also serves Commonwealth May 1 closing is planned. Dakota, Minnesota & ing abandoning its former Missouri Pacific line Edison's Powerton Station, moving coal from Eastern plans to increase employment on the between Conway Springs (located southwest of both UP and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Colony Line from the present 41 to 50 posi Wichita) and Hardtner, Kan. (on the Okla Illinois & Midland receives unit coal trains tions. Union Pacific union members complained homa state line). Except during the seasonal from SP, most of which are delivered to the Kin these jobs will not pay as well; DM&E respond grain rush, this route had seen little use. At one caid Power Station at Taylorville, III., south of ed that its average compensation per operating time, Kansas Southwestern used the line to Springfield. This plant previously burned coal employee, including benefits, is $54,434. Meanwhile, the Northern Hills Regional Rail Authority is planning to issue tax-exempt Now THERE IS A HANDY RESOURCE bonds to finance construction of a 12.7-mile connection between the Colony Line at White BOOK THAT PRESENTS wood and the Dunbar resort on Deadwood TECHNICAL ASPECTS WITH Hill. The Dunbar, which is being developed by A FEELING FOR THE JOY OF Kevin and Dan Costner, acquired the right-of way by swapping 640 acres of property with STEAM LOCOMOTIVES. the U.S. Forest Service and buying land from a private owner. Construction of the 3.2-mile segment from the resort to the abandoned FIRING C&NW right-of-way at Deadwood is to begin A PA §§[ON !FOR. this year, in conjunction with development of' the Dunbar's golf course. The line, which will loop over itself' to gain elevation, will feature STEAM two trestles, including a 960-foot wooden tres tle that developers claim may be the largest of' A new 128-page hardcover book by noted its kind built in the 50 years. The nine-mile traction authority Gordon E. Lloyd takes the segment between Deadwood and Whitewood reader on an all-color tour of the three is scheduled for completion in 1997. Chicago Interurban lines: Chicago Aurora & Thanks to PI Gratz, Steve Smedley, Allan Elgin, Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee, Hunt, Keel Middleton, Lance Wa les, Erik and Chicago South Shore & South Bend. By DARRELL TILCOCK Coleman, Michael W. Blaszak, CENTRAL STAN The fascinating background of Sam Insull's A HANDBOOK DAIW TIMES, and Dale E. Bread. WRITTEN By A STEAM LOCOMOTIVE FIREMAN traction empire is related through its storied --- ,00-- Dave Kroeger and Andrew S. Nelson history and over 300 color photos taken THE NOVICE 8: VETERAN STEAM LOCOMOTIVE DEVOTEE along the lines during the 19505 and 1960s. _TO ___ A, ailable June I. 19'J6. INSPIRE DEPTH & MEANING To THEIR STEAM ENCOUNTER Order today at the ILLUSTRATED ev ERIC DUNN special pre-publication price of ' @ $40 + $3.50 postage, $5 fo reign. EXPLICIT COMPONENT PHOTOS Include streel address for UPS delivery. METICULOUS ARTWORK, 52 PGS. NJ residents add 6% lax. SEND $7.95 PLUS $1 .50 S&H TO: After 6/1/96, price is @ $49.95. Switch Stand Publishing Morning Sun Books, Inc. P.O. Box 544 11 Sussex Court Benicia, CA 94510 P. O. Box 828 Edison, NJ 08820 1.,;> White River Jel., VT 0500 1 18-May 1998 Rail video tapes at great prices! Now Handling Railfan Ti metables from McMillan Publications from Altamont Press S� 1jou SUtu lti77 A&R • AMERICAN ALTAVISTA ' ANDOVER JUNCTION ' BERKSHIRE ' BIG E • CHARLES SMILEY ' CHICORY ' CLEAR BLOCK ' CRV • DIGITAL IMAGE WORKS ' EAST END ' ESSEX ' GTVP • GANDY DANCER ' GOODHEART ' GREEN FROG ' GREG SCHOLL ' HERRON • HIGHBALL ' HOPEWELL · ICON VIDEO ' JMJ • LAMMERS ' MARK 1 • MIND'S I • MO-KAN VIDEO ' OVERLOOK STATION ' PENTREX • PLETS EXPRESS ' RAIL INNOVATIONS ' RAILWAY PRODUCTIONS ' REVELATION AUDIO-VISUALS ' SANTA FE • SUNDAY RIVER • TRAINS MAGAZINE ' THREE D'S RAIL VIDEOS ' WB VIDEO ' ZULEKA CHA RLES SMILEY PRESENTS PENTREX Continued Videos Cajon Pass Tour ...... $23.95 What's New - Continental Divide ... (VIA Rail) . . $14.75 Chatsworth & Santa Susana Btocks (SP) . $23.95 BIG E PRODUCTIONS Copper Canyon (Mexico) . $28.95 CSX - Southern West Virginia Coal ...... $28.95 Santa Fe Desert Tour ... $23.95 CR and NS at Sliver Creek ...... $33.95 Denver & Rio Grande Western . . $31.95 Tehachapi, The Tour ...... $23.95 Mojave Desert Thunder (ATSF, Amboy, CAl $27.95 Doublestacks Over Tehachapi . .. $14.50 Union Pacific's Mojave Gateway ...... $23.95 Santa Fe Around Temple, Texas . $23.95 G. TRAIN VIDEO PRODUCTIONS (GTVP) Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge .. $14.95 Santa Fe-NS Joint Track East of Kansas City $31.95 Eastern Kentucky Coal . . . $28.95 BN - Sand Hills & Butte Subs . $28.95 SP Around Klamath Falls . $25.95 . .. Eastern Quebec Ore Lines - Vols 1 & 2, ea . 523.95 BN - The Thayer Sub ...... $28.95 SP on Steins Pass ...... $27.95 Can Fraser Canyon Route (CP and CN) . $14.75 yons, Tunnets & Passes of the West $28.95 Stacks on the Middle Division (CR) . $29.95 Great American Train Rides-Vols 1 to 4, ea . $1 1.75 CSX - Allegheny SubdivIsion ...... $24.95 The Trains of Tehachapi . $29.95 Green Bay Route (GB&W) . $28.95 CSX - Corbin's C. C. Subdivision . $28.95 Wisconsin Central - 1995 ...... 527.95 CSX - KD Subdivision ...... $28.95 CRV PRODUCTIONS Horse Shoe Curve ...... $28.95 Into the Allegheny Range - Vols 1 and 3, ea. 528.50 CSX - S&NA North Subdivision .... . $28.95 Santa Fe's Final Years . $31.95 Union Pacific's Pocatello Subdivision .. $28.95 DIGITAL IMA GE WDRKS Into the Allegheny Range - Vol 2 . $15.95 GOODHEART PRODUCTIONS Kansas City Southem . . . $28.95 Pennsy Steam & Electric - 1936-1952 (b&w) $29.95 Last of the Giants - Vol 1 . . . . $14.95 No. 26 t - New River Adventure ... $23.95 Pennsy in NJ - NY&LB and PRSL (color,b&w) $29.95 No. 26t - Power of the Mitwaukee Road. $23.95 G. TRAIN VIDEO PRODUCTIONS (GTVP) Last of the Giants - Vols 2 and 3, each $28.95 Mexico's Pacifico Railroad . $28.95 No. 261 - Rebuitding a 4-8-4 ...... $31.95 CN - Fall on the Dundas & Strathroy Subs . $28.95 Steamtown Grand Opening ...... $23.50 Missouri-Kansas-Texas ...... $28.95 GREEN FROG PRODUCTIONS NS - Main Line Through the Heart of Dixie $28.95 GREEN FROG PRODUCTIONS Montana Rail Link ...... $28.95 Monon - The Hoosier Line ...... $31.95 Amtrak's Catijomia Zephyr ..... $31.95 Cass & Mower Logging Trains ... $23.95 Amtrak's CaliforniaZephyr-2nd Edit. Pacific Electric-Remembering the Red Cars $28.50 $23.95 Conrail - The West Slope . $31.50 Best of Passenger Trains - The West ..... Powder River Basin Coal Trains . $28.95 $25.75 Rails New Orleans ...... $31.50 Chicago Odyssey-Vol 1 (2 tapes) ...... $59.95 Railfanning Southern Calif in the 1950s . . .. $27.95 The Florida East Coast ...... •. $35.50 ...... Raton Pass . . . . . $28.50 Chicago Odyssey-Vol 2 (2 tapes) $59.95 The South Shore of the 1970s . $31.50 Classic Steam Sand Patch Grade ...... $28.95 of the 20's Through the 40's $23.95 Union Pacific-Super Railroad - Vol 1 . $31 .00 CSX-Vol 1 Atlanta to Chattanooga . $31 .00 HIGHBALL PRODUCTIONS Santa Fe's Arizona Mainline . $28.50 CSX-VoI 2 Chattanooga to Nashville . Santa Fe's Mojave Mainline ...... $28.50 $31.00 The New England Central ... $23.95 CSX-VoI 3 Nashville to Louisville . $31.00 ICON VIDEO PRODUCTIONS Santa Fe's New Mex Mainline-Vols 1 & 2, ea $28.50 CSX-VoI 4 Louisville to Cincinnati . Santa Fe's Pasadena Subdivision . $27.95 $31.00 Farewell to the Santa Fe (California) .. $12.95 CSX-VoI 5 Evansville to Chicago . Santa Fe Salute . . $23.95 $31.00 Tehachapi - Eve of Change . $14.95 Empire Builder ...... $31.95 MO-KAN VIDEO Santa Fe: The Diesel Locomotive . . . $14.95 Empire Builder-2nd Edition ... $14.95 SD40-2s in the Canadian Rockies . . $14.75 Missouri Hotspots 1995 . $29.00 Erie-Lackawanna (2 tape set) $56.95 PENTREX Steamtown Grand Opening . $23.50 Tehachapi ...... $23.75 Illinois Central (2 tapes) ...... $59.95 Along the Pocahontas District (NS) . $23.50 tapes) The Joint Line (Denver to Pueblo) . $23.50 New York Central Odyssey-Vol 1 (2 $54.95 Amtrak Across America ...... $14.95 The Rathole ... (Norfolk Southern). $28.50 New York Central Odyssey-Vol 2 (2 tapes) $54.95 California Zeph r...... $9.50 Nickel Plate and AC& Y ...... $23.95 y The Stormy (SP's Lordsburg Dist) . . $28.50 MARC Railroading - Summer 1994 . $14.95 Throu h The Rathole - Cab Ride . . . $14.50 Pacific Northwest Kaleidoscope . $31.95 Northern Railroads - Vermont & Neighbors .. $22.95 � Penns lvania Railroad ...... $31.95 Today s Chicago Railroads ...... $31.95 y The Milwaukee Road - Val l, 2 and 3, each S14.95 Today's Steam Across America . Rails Chicago '95 - The Hot Spots $23.95 Volumes 2 and 3 . . . . $23.50 S23.50 U-Boat Suvivors . Rio Grande Od�ssey (2 tapes) ... $56.95 Three-volume boxed set . S38.00 ...... $28.50 Rock Island Railroad ...... $31.95 PLETS EXPRESS Union Pacific's Feather River . . . $28.95 St. Louis Sojourn ...... $31.95 Warehouse on Wheels (CP Rail) . $14.75 Salute to the SOO Line . $38.50 Santa Fe Odyssey - Vol 1 (2 tapes) . $52.95 Wisconsin Central ...... $28.95 The Trains of Winter ...... $31.95 PLETS EXPRESS Santa Fe Odyssey - Vol 2 (2 tapes) $50.95 REVELA TlON AUDIO VISUAL Santa Fe Odyssey - Vol 3 (2 tapes) .. $40.95 C&NW's Iron Ore Route . $27.95 Birth of a Viewliner . $23.95 Steam in the 50's - Vols 1 and 3, each . $27.95 TRAINS MAGAZINE C&NW in Northwest Wisconsin . $38.95 Steam in the 50's - Vol 2 ...... $19.95 Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern . $31.95 On Location - Cascade Crossing $22.95 Union Pacific Odyssey - Vol 1 (2 tapes) .. $50.95 u aCifiC ...... •. $31.95 Union Pacific Odyssey - Vol 2 (2 tapes) .. $50.95 What's New - Railfan Timetables R l�:C;���78;: GREG SCHOLL VIDEO PRODUCTIONS A��� Superior Winter (CP Rail) .. $23.95 AL TA MONT PRESS America By Rail - Vol 1 - The Heartland .. $19.95 Alcos in the Highlands America By Rail - Vol 2 - The West Coast $19.95 California Region #7 (CA) ...... $13.00 (Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia) ... $23.95 both America By Rail tapes . $35.95 Intermountain Region #2 (WY,MT & S. 10) $11.00 Algoma Central Railway .... $23.95 Cab Ride Over Kicking Horse Pass . $23.95 Pacific NW Region #3 (WA, OR & N. ID) . $10.00 CP Rail North of Superior .. $23.95 Cab Ride Through the Rockies Rocky Mountain Region #3 (CO, UT & NV) $12.00 CP Rail's Big Alcos ... $23.95 Volumes 1, 2 and 3, each ...... $23.95 Southwest Region #2 (AZ and NM) . $7.00 Muskoka Railroading .. (Toronto area) . 523.95 Canada's Canyon Route ...... $23.95 The Tail End (ride a CN caboose) . $23.95 CN's Yellowhead Pass .. $23.95 LAMMERS VIDEO MEMORIES RAIL WA Y PRODUCTIONS CP's Kicking Horse Pass ...... $23.95 The KA -GatewayTV to the Southwest . $26.50 Santa Fe Main Line Series Chicago & North Western Mainline West . $45.95 MIND 'S I Chicago to Kansas City . $23.95 HIGHBALL PRODUCTIONS Alaska - Steel Rails Midnight Sun . $30.60 Kansas City to Gallup . $23.95 Bridge Line-CP Rail's D&H ... $27.95 Alaska II - Where Trains Fly and Eagles Soar $23.40 Gallup to Los Angeles . $23.95 Conrail's Chicago Line - Vol 1 . $27.95 Alaska III - Giants in the Dark . $30.60 all three Main Line tapes . $69.95 Conrail's Chicago Line - Vol 2 . $27.95 MO-KAN VIDEO REVELA TION AUDIO VISUAL Conrail's River Line . $27.95 Santa Fe's Chillicothe Subdivision .. $29.00 Broadway Limited ...... $23.95 Crawford Hill ...... $27.50 Santa Fe's Panhandle Subdivision . $29.00 Towers: CSX's Living Relics . 523.95 Highball Over Tehachapi ..... $27.50 Santa Fe's Waynoka Subdivision ...... $29.00 TRAINS MAGAZINE Highball Through the Rathole . $27.95 ree in KC (ATSF. BN and UP) . $29.00 On Location - Appalchian Conquest .... $22.95 Sand Patch Weekend ...... _ . _ . $27.95 P�,.J T��r On Location - BN's Chicago Racetrack . $22.95 Santa Fe Across Arizona ...... $27.95 Across Donner Summit . $28.75 On Location - Cajon Pass ...... $22.95 Sherman Hill ...... $27.50 Across Marias Pass ...... , . , .. $28.75 On Location - Horseshoe Curve . $22.95 Southern Pacific in Southeast Arizona . $27.95 Alaska Railroad ...... $31.95 VIDEO RAILS (Pentrex) The Fight for Soldier Summit ...... $27.50 Amtrak's Auto Train ...... $28.50 Amtrak - The Surf Line ... $23.95 The West End - CSX's Mountain Div .. $23.95 Amtrak's Northeast Corridor-Vols 1 & 2, ea . $28.95 Beaumont Hill ...... $23.95 Thunder in the Wasatch . $27.50 Arizona's Shortline Railroads . Blue Mountains - Vols 1,2 and 3, each . $23.95 JMJ PRODUCTIONS $28.95 Arkansas & Missouri .... 528.95 Cab Ride - Amtrak's Surf Line . $15.75 Vintage Rails - Vol 1 . (D&H) ...... $31.95 British Columbia Railway ...... $31.95 Cab Ride - Beaumont Hill ...... $15.75 Vintage Rails - Vol 2 . (UP & NKP) ...... $31.95 Burlington Northern'sCrawford Hill .. $23.50 Cab Ride - Cajon Pass ...... 515.75 Vintage Rails - Vol 3 . (PRR, Milw Rd, etc.) $31.95 Cajon Pass & Tehachapi Loop . $31.95 Great Northern - Vols 1, 2 and 3, each . $21.75 Vintage Rails - Vol 4 . (FEC) ...... $31.95 Calijomia Northern .... $28.50 Train Wrecks, Crashes & Disasters . $23.50 Vintage Rails - Vol 5 . (ACL and SAL) . $31.95 Conrail Hot Spots East ...... •.•. $28.50 UP's Turbines of the Wasatch ... $23.95 Postage & Handling � United States: $4.00 per order (no charge for orders over $100.00) tJ'tdeIt ftom: Canadian and international: $4.00 for first item; $2.00 for each additional McMILLAN PUBLICATIONS, INC. 9968 West 70th Place 500 Titles in Stock U.S. and Canadian • MasterCard Write for free list Credit Card Holders • Visa Arvada. Colorado 80004-1622 . Order ToU Free • I Discover Colorado residents · 1 �800-344-1106 • American Express 24-Hour Fax: 1-303-456-2049 i { Mon.Sat 8 I.m. to 8 p.m.; Sun 1 p.m. to e p.m., Mountain add 7.50% tax T1me Information: 1-303-456-4564 RAIL NEWS Santa Fe Both photos, Dan Munson Burlington Northern Santa Fe is planning to increase the maximum speed of intermodal and doublestack trains to 79 mph where permitted. Westbound Santa Fe test train S-CHLAl-13, led by DASH 9-44CW 853 and two other six-axle GEs, rolls through Fifth Street Yard in Kansas City, Kan., on March 13, 1998. The test train, with a mid-train DPU (Distributed Power Unit) DASH 9, operated at a maximum speed of 70 mph. CORPORATE the largest of which is the Brotherhood of office staffing from the present 850 to an even Maintenance of Way Employees. tual 1,600. Krebs himself has arranged to buy Big Unions Ratify Merger Agreements Through the end of March, BN and Santa land in Texas and build a house for his family. Fe remained separate railroads, but there were The implication is that B 'SF will vacate Burlington Northern Santa Fe announced on signs they might be merged as soon as April. Schaumburg entirely after the Santa Fe dis March 5 that members of both the Brother Work was proceeding on a new freight train patchers relocate to Te xas late this year or next. hood of Locomotive Engineers and the Unit symbol system for the merged company, but Former BN Chairman Jerry Grinstein ought ed Transportation Union had ratified agree we haven't heard anything officially about lo to be a happy fellow these days. In addition to ments resolving issues related to the merger comotive renumberings. sharing RAILWAY AGE'S Railroader of the Year of BN and Santa Fe. These workers belong to Robert Krebs may be yielding to board pres award with Rob Krebs, he received a check the second and third unions to accept imple sure to consolidate BNSF's corporate offices at for $1.5 million upon retirement in late 1995, menting agreements, joining the Transporta BN's Fort Worth office campus. Krebs told the and options for 59,800 shares of BNSF stock tion Communications Union (representing FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAJvl in March that ad with a cash value of $1.6 million. BNSF will the clerks), which ratified its agreement in ditional functions would shortly move from pay Grinstein another $750,000 over the next December 1995. Implementing agreements Schaumburg to Fort Worth, including the law three years for "consulting," and give him an now cover about 20,500 employees, or about and corporate communications departments. office and secretary too. He will also receive a 50 percent of the BNSF workforce represent "Once we hit that critical mass in Fort Worth," generous pension. These details were revealed ed by unions. BNSF needs to complete imple Krebs said, "everyone wanted to be here." Inter in the BNSF proxy statement for the 1996 an menting agreements with additional unions, nal projections call for an increase in Fort Wo rth nual meeting, which was to take place in Fort lS-May 1998 Worth on April 18. Grinstein agreed not to that can deliver 150 locomotives in September locomotive power controlled from the lead work for BNSF competitors during the three starting from a clean sheet of order paper in unit using the Harris Locotrol III system. On year consulting assignment. March. BNSF would like to buy more DASH March 13, train S-CHLA 1-13 departed Chica 8-40CW (C40-8W) units similar to Santa Fe's go with a 7,1 OO-foot consist of 19 stack cars NEW POWER 800 class. The later DASH 9-44CW (C44-9W) equipped with ECP brakes. Units 653, 936, units in the 600 class, though they produce and 624 and business car BNA 9, the Mer First BNSF Locomotive Order? more horsepower, have had reliability prob amec River; led the train out of Corwith Yard, lems not experienced by their earlier counter with the 671 cut into the consist about Speaking before the National Grain and Feed parts, including electronic fuel injection diffi halfway back. Operating at a maximum speed Association on March 15, BNSF CEO and Pres culties and flaws with GE's high-adhesion of 70 mph, the train ran with no problems to ident Rob Krebs said he would ask the BNSF trucks. The trick will be to convince GE to Emporia where the 671 was repositioned at board, during its April 15 meeting, to approve a build a superseded model. If GE won't, BNSF the rear of the consist for the remainder of the 12 percent increase in the 1996 capital budget. will reluctantly accept DASH 9-44CWs. The uneventful trip to Los Angeles. Additional dis Krebs said he would use the money to buy new railroad is not interested in GE's a.c.-traction tributed power tests on stack trains were locomotives in order to improve service to grain models for high-speed service. scheduled later in March. shippers and other customers. While Krebs re Nobody at BNSF will speculate regarding The Locotrol III-equipped SD75Ms also portedly mentioned a $150 million budget in the paint to be applied to the new units, except are being tested in distributed power con crease to buy 75 to 100 new locomotives, we to say that "Grinstein green" will only be ap sists. On March 7, train U-RSGV I-07 (unit understand from internal sources that the com plied to locomotives with a.c. traction motors. train, Rustler Springs, Texas, to Galveston, pany is considering spending $200 million to Texas) departed Rustler Springs, with the buy 150 new units. HIGH-SPEED STACKS 8268 leading the 895 and 666 on the point The new locomotives are needed because and the 8270 cut into the 95-car consist of BNSF has apparently been unable to squeeze Distributed Power Experiments sulfur loads. Picking up 25 carloads of significant efficiency gains out of the BN mo potash, apparently at Carl sbad, N.M., the tive power fleet, while freight traffic has be Out on the railroad, BNSF is planning to in 120-car, 14,792-ton train continued to Galve gun to increase. As of March 20, Santa Fe had crease the maximum speed of intermodal and ston without incident. Distributed power loaned 130 locomotives to BN, and there were doublestack trains to 79 mph where grade and tests on Tu cson Electric Power coal trains no prospects these units would return any curvature permit fast running. This would im loaded on the Defiance Spur in New Mexico time soon. Santa Fe has enough power left to prove asset utilization and customer service, were planned for later in the month. handle its business during the slack winter and keep BNSF one step ahead of Union Pacif If BNSF decides to try a 79 mph test run, season; but if the BN side of the house can't ic, which plans to upgrade the Golden State the locomotives assigned to the test train will give back the ATSF units it is using by the Route into a competitive Chicago-Los Angeles probably be several customized 500-c1ass time peak season begins, Santa Fe wi ll be raceway after the Southern Pacific merger. DASH 8-40BWs. GE has modified the 505, power-short. To achieve this goal, BNSF is evaluating 525, 526, 536, 549, 551, 561, 567, 571, and General Electric is the only one of the two the new technologies of electro-pneumatic 580 for faster running by substituting 42-inch builders (GE and Electro-Motive Division) braking systems (ECP brakes) and distributed wheels for the stock 40-inch wheels and reset- Carl Loucks ...SELLING RAILROAD TIMETABLES Salute To The P.O. Box 484, North Haven, CT 06473 PUBLIC TIMETABLE SPECIAL: The history of your favorite road told in timetables. Three system timetables, one from the 1940's, SOOFeaturing theLI ScenicNE & one from the 1950's and one from the 1960's. Choose from ATSF, ACL, B&M, B&O, CB&Q, His toric Soo Line Railroad C&EI, C&NW, C&O, CV, D&RGW, D&H, DL&W, An action packed contemporary look at the Soo Line from Chicago through Roundout IC, L&N, LV, MILW, MP, NH, NYC, N&W, PRR, and on to Milwaukee. The Soo is then seen working across scenic Wisconsin and along SLSF, SOU, UP, WAB, WP. the picturesque Mississippi River to the Tw in Cities. From Minneapolis and SI. Paul you'll Each set, three timetables ...... $20 see the line covered across Minnesota and North Dakota to a connection with the CP Rail n's Any six sets of three each, at Portal. The action includes: yard switching, locals, mainline freights, and a pace 18 Timetables ...... $80 scene. See 15 different models of Soo ·diesel power with everything from GPTs to EMPLOYEE TIMETABLES.. . SD60M's! Plus Amtrak and Metra run thru's and connecting roads: CP Rail, BN, TC&W, ATSF - System 1992...... $15 RRV&W, WC, CN, CN&W, and the DM&E. BN - Northern Corridor 1993 ...... $20 2 HOURS • BEAUTIFUL COLOR • LIVE AUDIO & NARRATION CR - Albany Div 1993 ...... $20 CR - Harrisburg Div 1993 ...... $15 CNW - System 1992 ...... $20 CSX - Baltimore 1994 ...... $20 CSX . C&O Business Unit 1994...... $20 D&RGW - System 1977 ...... $20 GTW - System 1981 ...... $15 NS - Tennesse Div 1995 ...... $15 NS - Georgia Div 1993 ...... $15 NS - Piedmont 1993 ...... $15 SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER! SOO Line System 1987 ...... $15 � SP - Northern 1986 ...... $15 o� S42.95 • UP - System 1991 ...... $20 PLUS SHIPPING & HANDLING: USA $4, CANADA $5 WISCONSIN RESIDENTS ADD 5% SALES TAX Any Five Above Just ...... $60 REGULAR PRICE $47.95 • OFFER EXPIRES 6/30/96 VISA / MC / AX New Catalogue Issued Monthly Sent with each order or SSAE PO BOX 217 . A PaCific RAILNEWS ·19 that the northeastern concession would generate $400 million in revenue, but it has no figures for the comparatively weak CH-P line. To operate the concessions, BNSF is con I sidering forming a joint venture with at least one Mexican company, but declined to identify candidates for this partnership. MOTIVE POWER BNSF SD75M Order Complete Delivery of the 8251 -class SD75Ms was com pleted on March 11, when the 8275 arrived at BN's Clyde diesel shop from EMD's London, Ont., plant for set up (preparation for revenue service). The 8275 made its first trip on the point of Chicago-Alliance train Q-CHAL9- 13 on March 13, leading SD40-2s 5072 and 5125. After the decision to base the new SD75Ms on BN was reversed in mid-Febru ary, Clyde delivered newly received units to Santa Fe after setting them up for service. SD75Ms 8256, 8263, and 8266-8275 all gen erated their first revenue ton-miles on Santa Fe rails, pulling intermodal trains. Herb Johnson During the short stint of the BNSF-Iettered SD75Ms on BN, the 8253 and 8254 were as On March 18, 1998, Burlington Northern Santa Fe train 198 (Chicago to Los Angeles) rolls by white signed to a coal train bound for Swepco at crosses placed on Cajon Pass in memory of the crewmen who died in the derailment on Feb. 1, 1998. Welsh, Texas, and were interchanged to Kansas City Southern on Feb. 29 along with KCS SD60 743 as the trailing unit. The KCS ting the factory-installed 75 mph overs peed tives represent 40 percent of the revenue San crew reported that they did not know how to control. An ECP-equipped consist will be used ta Fe expects to earn from these trains, every interpret the Integrated Cab Electronics desk to take advantage of the better braking perfor effort was made to meet AOE's schedule. top control display on these units and could mance of the new technology. not determine how to keep the 8254 running SOUTH OF THE BOARDER when its alarms began sounding. PASSENGER Seeking to recover 65 million horsepower BNSF to Mexico hours owed by Conrail, Santa Fe began cap American Orient Express turing Conrail locomotives delivered on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Director of Mexi Q-NYLA starting Feb. 28 and using them in The first of six American Orient Express trips co Operations Eduardo Luckie was quoted in a general service around the system. Conrail scheduled over Santa Fe rails during 1996 de March 2 FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM article as may have had the last laugh, though, as some parted Los Angeles on March 24 for a three saying that his company plan to bid for 50-year of the units it gave up were those unpopular day trip to El Paso, Texas. After operating concessions to operate two segments of Ferro former Santa Fe C30-7s it bought for its lease from Williams, Ariz., to the Grand Canyon catTiles Nacionales de Mexico when offered by fleet. The results were predictable: Conrail over Grand Canyon Railway, the 14-car AOE, the Mexican government. Luckie said BNSF 557 (formerly Santa Fe 8090) died on the symboled F-LAEP 1-24, discharged passengers would go after the northeastern concession, cov M-KCBA3-05 on March 5 and was found to to luxury motor coaches and deadheaded back ering main lines from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico have oil in the radiator water. Santa Fe shipped to Williams, where customers later reboarded City, and the northwestern or Chihuahua-Pacifi the out-of-service locomotive back to Conrail. the train to continue east. The train reached co concession, which includes the old CH-P To peka Shops completed work on an un Santa Fe, N.M., over the Santa Fe Southern. main line between Topolobampo on the Gulf of usual project in March: wreck repairs to UP However because of a lack of turningfa cilities California and Ojinaga on the Texas border and DASH 8-4 1 CW 9509. This unit was leading there, it ran backward from Santa Fe to Albu connecting trackage to Juarez, opposite El Paso. UP train LACSZ-20 at Colton, Calif., on Dec. querque, where it went around the wye before These are the same concessions UP and Kansas 21, 1994, when it was shuck by a lUnaway auto proceeding to El Paso. Because on-time incen- City Southern are likely to pursue. FNM projects rack car that had rolled out of Santa Fe's San Bernardino auto terminal. Since Santa Fe was responsible for the collision, it picked up the tab for the repairs. Santa Fe used the 9509 on Colorado Railroad Museum a few runs between Kansas City and Newton while awaiting UP radio equipment to make The Railroad Book Source sure everything was working properly before giving the yellow unit back to Uncle Pete. Livingston Rebuild Center outshopped a CALL US FIRST! 800-365-6263 number of former Santa Fe C30-7s for lease Members receive discounts! Best Selection of Biggest & Best RR during March. The locomotives, including for Call for information, and charge to mer Santa Fe 8102, 8104, 8106, 8107, 8108, Railroad Books Book Catalog $2.00 your credit card, today! 8111, 8112, 8113, 8115, 81 16, 81 19, and We stock over titles (refundable with first purchase) 1000 8121, were repainted black with a pale yellow from throughout the nose and frame, reminiscent of the last North country, hundreds of ern Pacific scheme. LRCX initials appear in videos, calendars, and black on the nose and cab sides, with the unit gifts available. Colorado Railroad Museum number painted on each side of the hood in P. O. Box 10, Golden, CO 80402-0010 large yellow numerals. Six of the LRCX units FA ST PERSONAL 800-365-6263 / 303-279-4591 / fax 303-279-4229 went to work on BN, while the others headed SER VICE! to Mexico for lease to FNM. 20.May 1996 OPERATIONS Panhandle also received a 40 mph, 13,560- Southern Pacific began operating more-or foot CTC siding. CTC allows trains to pro less daily manifest trains between Hutchinson, Freight Service Changes ceed on signal indication without written or Kan., and Houston, Texas, via Hutchinson-Fort verbal authority, giving the dispatcher more Worth trackage rights obtained from Santa Fe Effective Feb. 27, Santa Fe commenced run flexibility in controlling train movements. under the BNSF merger settlement. These ning priority trains Q-CVBA1 and Q-BACV1 Asphalt roadbed for the new second main trains carry SP symbols I KCHOQ (Kansas City between Clovis, N.M., and Barstow, Calif. track between Goodwin, Okla., and Coburn, to Houston quality) and I HOKCQ, but Santa The Q-CVBAl, running three days a week, Texas, was ready for tracklaying by mid Fe calls them F-KCHO I and F-HOKC 1. They picks up a block off the 198 train (United March. The existing track was realigned just operate over SP between Kansas City and Parcel Service, Chicago Terminal to Southern east of Higgins, Texas, on March 5 to allow Hutchinson because SP's trackage rights over California) and carries it to Barstow. This the new track to fit under the U.S. Highway Santa Fe between those points are limited to in service replaces train Q-WSBA1 (Willow 60 overpass. termodal and automotive trains. SP grain trains Springs, Ill., to Barstow) and keeps the 198 Effective March 12, the stations of Quin from Hutchinson to Galveston and Corpus out of Barstow Yard. The Q-BACVl, which lan, Okla., Hoover, Texas, and Cuyler, Texas, Christi also have used the trackage rights route. operates five days a week, delivers Kansas were removed from the operating timetable While SP's ubiquitous 100-series AC4400CWs City, Alliance, and Willow Springs traffic to because of track changes resulting from the are common power on these trains, at least fo ur Clovis, connecting to the 893 (United Parcel double-tracking project. At the same time, units still wearing Rio Grande black and action Service Southern California to Kansas City the 45 mph restriction on eastbound trains orange also have appeared. In south Te xas, Terminal); Q-CVAL1 (Clovis, N.M., to Al exceeding 6,500 tons while descending Cur Santa Fe hosted SP rock trains from Rosenberg, liance, Texas); and Q-WSLA 1 (Willow tis Hill was rescinded. Trains now can oper Texas, to Galveston during March. Springs to Los Angeles) trains and keeping ate at the 70 mph timetable speed through On March 31, as Amtrak train 3, the west the 893 and Q-WSLA1 out of Barstow. this territory. bound Southwest Chief, rolled west through Santa Fe continued to tinker with Kansas Ribera, N.M., the head-end crew noted a City schedules as it became apparent SPECIAL MOVES group of teenagers under bridge 799. 1, a 154- Burlington Northern's Murray Yard could foot wooden trestle across the Pecos River. By not switch cars as quickly as the NOC in Detours and Tr ackage Rights the time Amtrak 4, the eastbound Southwest Fort Worth had projected. Beginning March Chief, showed up later in the afternoon, its 4, Santa Fe restricted Murray Yard deliveries Track maintenance on BN's St. Joseph Subdi crew noticed smoke rising from the bridge. to BN and Southern Pacific interchange traf vision forced BN trains 23, 26, 181, and 182 The crew stopped the train and watched the fic and cars bound for Atchison and St. to detour over Santa Fe between Kansas City blaze consume the old bridge in about 15 min joseph, apparently now handled via BN and Denver on weekdays for about four utes. There was nothing train 4 could do but trains. Wellington began making additional months starting March 12. back up to Albuquerque, turn around, and blocks bypassing Murray, including CP Because of a maintenance window on the head east over Santa Fe's Southern Route Rail/Kansas City Southern and Norfolk former Katy main line from Temple, Texas, to main line via Amarillo for a very late Chicago Southern auto racks. Two more switch en Fort Worth, UP detoured one to three east arrival. Amtrak 3 and 4 detoured over the gine jobs were added at "Argentine West," as bound trains, (or empty coal, and grain trains) Southern Route until Santa Fe's engineering crews sometimes refer to Wellington Yard. per day over Santa Fe between those points department completed a replacement culvert Meanwhile, Santa Fe plans to restore four from Jan. 22 through April 1. at this location. The few freights that normally tracks at Emporia Yard for additional An SP derailment at Lizard, N.M. (30 use the Glorieta Subdivision detoured via switching capacity. miles west of El Paso), on Feb. 27, caused the Boise City and Amarillo. On March 25, trains M-KCLJi (Kansas Friendly-an affectionate name for the SP-to Th anks to Rich Wa llace, fohn C. Smith, City, Mo., to La junta, Colo.) and M-LjKC 1 detour four intermodal trains and the west Fred Frailey, Bill Farmel; Kyle Brehm, We s were extended to Pueblo and resym boled bound Sunset Limited over Santa Fe between Leatherock, William Ertman, fohn Kirk, M-KCPU 1 and M-PUKCl. These trains be El Paso and Deming, N.M., and three inter and fayhawk. gan handling some Barstow traffic, which modal trains over Santa Fe between Vaughn, they exchange with new Albuquerque trains N.M., and Colton, Calif. Elson Rush M-LJAQI and M-AQLj I at La Junta, along with additional scrap and lime traffic for the CFI steel mill at Minnequa, Colo. The tri weekly M-AMPU I and M-PUAM 1 trains be tween Amarillo and Pueblo via the Boise City Sub were boosted to four days per week I saw one of those new units last at the same time. weekend .. �w are they ...I think it was ENGINEERING More Centralized Traffic Control nUlnber 53 (or was it 54) .. �ll, I'ln prettysu re Another eight miles of automatic block-sig it was on a northbound. I sure wish I had written naled double track, from CP5232 east of Pan handle, Te xas, to CP53 14 east of Lee, was in the process of being converted to Centralized it all down ... Tr affic Control in March. This conversion left only 19 of the original 50 miles of ABS equipped double track between Pampa and Introducing Ul.e new Train TrackerTM System from Water Amarillo remaining to be upgraded to CTC. LvelInd ustries . Designed for railfans wll.Owant to keep a complete record of Ul.e trains iliey watch . Contact us now fo r details . Or, for a limited time, order item TISOO1 - a complete GLACIER StarterSetfo r a special price of just $15.95 (save 20%!) . NATIONAL PARK Izaak Walton Inn Essex MT 59916 • (406) 888-5700 Dept. p. P.o. Box 700463 • Plymouth, MI48170 • 1 800 WLI-RAIL · [email protected] ��=�"���ci�< Pacific RAllNEWS-21 Richmond Californ ia's Text and Photography by Sean Zwagerman he railroad remains, even in this age of the freeway, the most significant and symbolic man-made feature of the American landscape; in our folklore and literature, the rail road is second only to the river as a symbol of commerce and settlement, of flight and freedom, of travel into the unknown. As a landscape element, the railroad is at its most majestic in those Tsettings where it must match the scale and power of the surrounding topography in order to overcome it, soaring across broad rivers on infinite bridges or clinging to mountains on chiseled ledges. But in such places where the railroad assumes the magnificence of its sur roundings, it also appears the most intrusive and discordant: a span of concrete thrust against the flow of the Mississippi, a steel inclu sion imbedded in Sierra granite. Down from the mountains and away from the rivers, amid scenes less fabulous, and on a scale less sublime, the railroad blends into the man-made surroundings, with the mountains of rust, the fog of dust, the metallic thunder. Fitzgerald's valley of ashes is a place to overlook, to hurry Amber and dump their loads of furnace coke down into soot-black through as quickly as possible en route to some place refined and hopper cars. A jagged confetti of scrap steel arrives in gondolas beat cosmopolitan. But the stark landscape of industrial America and its en and rusting and indistinguishable from the waste they carry. The "obscure operations" deserve a closer look. For the coal trains la cranes swing buckets of the tangled metal out over the docks and in boring eastward over Donner Summit and the scrap metal serpents to the guts of the Pisces Explorer, drizzling a rusty rain onto the men winding westward through the Feather River Canyon begin and end below. Like the landscape of mountains and rivers, this man-made their journeys here-in the valley of ashes. terrain has its own peculiar hazards. A slippery mixture of rainwater, Through the morning fog, a forest of cranes as tall as redwoods red bauxite, and jagged rocks of coal coats the docks. Trucks heavy sways beneath two cliffs of rust-streaked steel, the Amber and the with tubs of scrap metal speed through the mud toward the ships. Pisces Explorer. Gigantic clamshells plunge into the holds of the Cranes IO-stories high move around the piers like prehistoric mon- 22.May 1996 sters. Beneath their steely legs, rows of freight cars creep silently, OPPOSITE PAGE: No. 2285 in the fog outside Levin Terminal, Oct. 28, pushed by an unseen locomotive. In years past, the small locomotives 1990. ABOVE: Parr Terminal SW900 1195 seems lost among a forest of that inhabit these docks were camouflaged in rust red and ashen gray. cranes on the Pisces Explopep as the train switches the docks at Levin Now they are little squares of blue and white, reflecting the spots Te rminal on Feb. 1, 1998. where the sky is gradually breaking through the fog. From these same docks, Kaiser steel built and launched Liberty and Victory ships during World War II. Old photographs show never quite recovered from the war. Beyond the depressing tene the harbor and the shipyard surrounded by a landscape of fields ments which once housed the shipyard workers, the cantilever and dirt roads that are now covered by the city of Richmond. But cranes at the Port of Richmond stand immobile, as ships pass by though the city has grown, Richmond and its waterfront have on their way to the Port of Oakland. Pacific RAILNEWS-23 Another view shows Parr Terminal 1195 switching at Levin Terminal. The Ambep, docked at "A" Berth, is loaded with coke for Geneva, Utah, while the Pisces Explopep, at "B" Berth, is loaded with scrap bound for Korea. Next door at the Levin Terminal, however, the cranes are rarely idle. The story of how the Kaiser shipyard and its railroad came to be the Levin Rich mond Terminal and the Parr Terminal Railroad is more circuitous and uncertain than Parr's 2.7 miles of trackage. Phone calls to local historians and a retired Parr employee in Utah uncovered additional ambigui ties. Parr engine No. 1, a tiny four-wheel gasoline lo comotive, and its sister No. 3, a six-wheel diesel, ap parently came from a Nevada mining railroad. Both of these eccentric little yellow engines had sand domes, tall smokestacks, and manual transmissions. One of them may have survived. No. 2, an Alco S-2 from the Santa Fe, was given away and its whereabouts are un certain. All these engines were lettered "Levin Rich mond Terminal," though the railroad is called the Parr Terminal. What is certain is that the Levin Cor -- OTHER RAILROADS poration bought the facility from Parr Terminal 12 years ago; Sims purchased the scrap metal operations from Levin about five years ago; and the little Parr Te rminal Railroad has kept its name and kept busy throughout these changes and vagaries. SCALE "We're a bulk terminal," says Levin's Lew Hallo ST. ran. "If it can fit in a bucket and a freight car we'll 23RD APPROX. 1/4 MILE take it." Such versatility has found the Parr Railroad YARD SP MAIN TO STEGE (SP, AT &SF INTERCHANGE) hauling carloads of the mundane-sand and clay-and 24.May 1998 the bizarre-tapioca and pig feed-to the interchange yard at 23rd Sh·eet. Hills of red bauxite rise from the docks as ships are unloaded, then gradually disappear as the ore is shipped by rail to Kaiser Aluminum. Met al from the Sims/LMC scrap yard is shipped to Korea on freighters such as the Pisces Exp lorer. But the cargo that keeps the railroad and the terminal busiest is fur nace coke from China and Japan, most of which is sent via the SP to a steel plant at Geneva, Utah. Moving furnace coke from Japan to Richmond to Utah requires tremendous coordination. A calendar in the railroad office lists the ships, their cargoes, and the dates they will be berthed at Levin Terminal. The terminal has a contract with the shipping companies to unload a certain tonnage of coke every day. It is a constant struggle getting SP to deliver enough empty railcars; and without the cars, Levin cannot meet the terms of the contract. The result is demurrage fees for delaying a ship in port, fees that quickly amount to $50,000 to $75,000. Railroad operations must coordinate the arrival of ships and the availability of cars. There will often be two locomotives operating at once, one "in yard" and one "out yard." The "in yard" job pushes empty cars alongside the ships and pulls out the loads, while the "out yard" crew begins the day with a run to the inter change yard at 23rd Street. This trip of less than two miles is itself a complicated affair, since the rails be neath the switcher's wheels belong in vadous places to Pan� SP, and Santa Fe. Lew Halloran must call both the Santa Fe in Richmond and the SP in East Oakland to let them know that a Parr engine is on its way to 23rd Street. The crew will make this trip two or three times, returning from the interchange with cuts of empty hop pers. Returning toward the terminal, the switcher rounds the corner onto Wright A venue then backs the cars into Parr Ya rd. From there, this "out yard" engine transfers strings of empties to the "in yard" crew to ex change for cars loaded with coke, weighs the loads, and hauls them back to 23rd Street. At night, an SP lo cal hauls the coke cars out of 23rd Street and parks them next to the main line at Stege. When the Parr Ter minal has delivered enough cars to fi ll the siding at Stege, SP deploys locomotives from Oakland and oper ates an RIGVC (Richmond to Geneva coal) from Stege, over Donner Pass, and on toward Utah. All of Levin Terminal's employees can work on the Parr Telminal Railroad; the crane operators can also run the locomotives, so there are 13 qualified engi neers, six of whom work regularly on the railroad. Men are working on different levels of the Pisces Explopep, as diminutive Parr Te rminal Any of Parr's three locomotives may be used at any 1195 goes about its switching business at Levin Terminal on Feb. 1, 1996. time, on either job. All three locomotives came to the Parr Terminal from neighbor, Sims/LMC Recyclers. At times Sims assumes the appearance of a railroad graveyard, ous home on the Arcata & Mad River Railroad, amid the timbered scrapping great numbers of old SP locomotives. Saved from oblivion mountains of Humboldt County. Engine 002 last waited upon the in the valley of ashes were SP SW900 1195, NW2E 1335, and Wi ne Train as Napa Valley Railroad No. 50. Much to Parr Term i SW 1 200 2285. They have since been given new paint and new life nal's dismay, Sims also uses its heavy diesel rail crane as a switcher, as power for the Parr Terminal. One of them has also been renum which tends to reduce Parr's track to scrap metal. And of course, bered. Several years ago, a grand renumbering plan based on the "the problem with a scrap yard," as Lew says, "is that they tend to Terminal's address-402 Wright Avenue-began and ended with drop scrap everywhere." NW2E 1335 becoming 1402. Before it was repainted, the engine ran Like the devotees of other eccentric hobbies, such as those who around with "1335" on the cab and "1402" on the numberboards. restore old cars or collect barbed wire, railroad photographers grad The railroad is quite self-sufficient: Parr Terminal employs two ually begin to specialize. Some prefer trolleys, while others want mechanics; cranes are always hanging nearby for heavy lifting; and nothing to do with trolleys. I once overheard two steam enthusiasts spare parts are available across the street at the scrap yard. Though whispering about the diesel "conspiracy. " I am told some people no longer affiliated with Levin Terminal, Sims/LMC has its own even find Amtrak trains interesting. The Parr Terminal exemplifies small and elusive rail operation. A number of eccentric and diminu my own fascination with the remote, the obscure-the railroad less tive switchers have been sighted creeping amidst the scrap heaps traveled. On short lines the human element is tangible, local history over the years. Currently two battered 44-tonners toil beneath the remains vital, and small treasures lie hidden in the valley of ashes. mountains of scrap metal, occasionally emerging beyond the fence Th anks to Lew Halloran, Bill Buffalow, and the employees of with a few sway-backed gondolas. Engine 00 1 is far from its previ- the Levin Richmond Te rminal. PRN Pacific RAILNEWS-25 By Ken Rattenne n a chilly afternoon in January 1980, the distant throb of diesels reverberates across the east end of California's Feather River Canyon. Western Pacific freight TOF approaches Portola, Calif., after ascending 70 miles of mountain railroad. This train, running on a tight schedule, is led by five weath ered GP40s-WP's preferred locomotive model. Western Pacific's diesel fleet was comprised en tirely of four-axle locomotives, distinguishing it from all other western Class I railroads, which by the mid 1960s, had large fleets of high horsepower, six-axle locomotives. Electro-Motive Division's four-axle, 3,000 h.p. GP40 became the core of WP's modern fleet. The railroad eventually rostered 44 standard units, and 15 GP40-2s (a similar, improved model in troduced in 1972-primarily the use of replacement modules in the electrical cabinets-on the GP40 de sign). The Wobbly-as it was affectionately known Ken Rattenne to its fans-boasted one of the largest fleets of GP40s in the West. met by the high horsepower, six-axle models (also in Western Outcasts troduced in the 1960s) than by the four-axle GP40s. Of the big western railroads, Great Northern, Union Electro-Motive Division manufactured 1,201 GP40s Pacific, Northern Pacific, and Santa Fe did not order for sale in the United States, 24 units for Canadian any new GP40s (though UP bought secondhand units roads, and 18 for Mexico between November 1965 years later), and Southern Pacific acquired a mere and December 1971. While the GP40 was one of eight units through subsidiary Cotton Belt. Western EMD's most popular four-axle road units, finding fa operating departments favored EMD's six-axle, 3,600 vor with companies in the East and Midwest, it was h.p. products and purchased 1,000 of its SD45s and not as popular with western railroads. The demands similar locomotives (including the F45 cowled varia of hauling heavy trains up the grueling mountain tion) during the 1960s and early 1970s-representing grades found on many western railroads were better more than 80 percent of the sales of these models. 28-May 1998 The Initial Order the 067 traction motors was controlled by a magnetic Having just emerged from amplifier system that never worked properly. Switches Tu nnel 4 at James, Calif., In 1965, WP was in the midst of a unit replacement in the electrical cabinet controlling transition would of the eastbound BN-170 has program that found the railroad purging its aging fleet ten hang up, causing the unit to unload. Western Pacific an ample 15,000 horses of EMO IT and F7 A cab units, replacing them with also experienced problems with dynamic brakes and of WP's best road power twenty-two 2,500 h.p. GP35s. The GP35 proved to be traction motor flashovers on the GP35s. The railroad on the point. Ready to do one of EMO's less-successful models, largely because of temporarily derated the units to 2,000 h.p. in 1964 and battle with the Highline the design of its electrical system. The rotational energy 1965 while EMO worked to correct these problems. are GP40-2 3553 and produced by the turbocharged 2,500 h.p. 567D3a Needing additional powel� WP looked to EMD for a prime mover was converted to direct current by a 032 more reliable locomotive. EMD introduced the GP40 GP40s 3530, 3525, 3518, main generator that could not produce more than 2,400 in fall 1965, and WP's primary interchange partner, and 3543. amps without burning out. The flow of this power to Denver & Rio Grande Western, ordered 13 of the new Pacific RAILNEWS-27 Dave 8tanley When first purchased, the units sight unseen-taking delivery of them in January Competition U30Ds were well-liked for 1966. Taking the Grande's word, WP ordered 10 their exceptional pulling GP40s for May 1966 delivery, trading in a like number Like most western railroads power-they could haul of worn-out World-War II era FT A and B-units. in the 1960s, WP initially ex more tonnage per unit These first GP40s, numbered 3501-35 10, looked pressed an interest in six-axle than GP40s, and at higher similar to WP's GP35s, but had several important dif power; and after the delivery ferences. The trucks were spaced two feet further apart, of its first GP40s, it road-test speeds. However, soon allowing for a 3,600 gallon fuel tank (1,000 gallons ed EMD's SD45. these units spent more more than on the GP35s); the dynamic brake blister In February 1967, EMD time in the shop than on was longer, and the tlu'ee exhaust fans that sat on the sent an SD45 demonstrator the road. WP U30D 3087 long hood were all of the same diameter (the GP35 had test set to Stockton, Calif. ; is still resplendent in its a smaller center fan). The internal differences were sig and WP operated the units on Zephyr paint as it leads nificant. The GP40 featured EMD's new 16-cylinder several road freights. The rail 3525, 3503, and 3514 turbocharged 645E3 prime mover rated at 3,000 h.p., road was especially impressed through Serpentine an AR 10 alternatOl; and four D77 traction motors-all with the pulling abilities of the Canyon on June 1, 1971. new building blocks developed by EMD for its new 40- SD45s on its steeply graded series locomotives. Thjs combination proved far more Keddie to Bieber, Calif., High Ken Rattenne collection reliable than the trouble-prone design of the GP35. The Line. However WP, unlike its first 10 WP GP40s also came with standard footboards neighbor Southern Pacific, had a very favorable 1 per rather than the pilot plows that had found favor with cent ruling grade on its main line; and as a result, it western roads, and Pyle-National headlights, consisting did have the same need for high-horsepowel� six-axle of a single large bulb and separate reflector. They were motive power on that route. Also because WP and its painted in the enduring and colorful silver-and-orange interchange partner Rio Grande were competing for "Zephyr" scheme. These units used some trade-in parts east-west traffic on the Overland Route against the from WP's IT units. The most obvious surviving com significantly more powerful UP-SP combination, WP ponents were the Blomberg h'Ucks that were upgraded could not afford to subscribe to the long, slow "drag to handle D77 motors. freight" mentality. To attract traffic, WP and D&RGW The early GP40s did have some difficulties-often had to offer something that UP-SP did not. Thus, the case with new models-shortly after their delivery. while WP was intrigued by the impressive tractive ef Road crews complained about inconsistent traction fort of the six-axle locomotives offered, management motor field shunting, and roundhouse mechanics were decided that high-horsepower, four-axle locomotives finding the high power rectifier diodes unreliable. were more appropriate fo r the railroad's operations. Plus, the automatic wheel slip control system-a new WP also felt that SD45s were more expensive to oper design-proved problematic. As a result when the ate. Not only were they beyond WP's locomotive bud units were running in multiple, they did not load prop get at the time, but the ongoing cost of unit mainte erly. Once these bugs were worked out, however, the nance and physical plant upkeep necessary to operate GP40 proved to be a very reliable locomotive. six-axle locomotives in the tortuous Feather River In 1967, Western Pacific ordered an additional six Canyon convinced the railroad to order General Elec units, Nos. 351 1-35 16; these locomotives were identi tric's U30Bs instead (which WP had tested in Novem cal to the first 10. ber 1966). GE offered WP five U30Bs at the cost of 2S-May 1998 four SD45s-a bargain that the mechanical depart after the few initial bugs were resolved, the GP40s la Dropping down through ment would question in later years. WP accepted five bored without serious problems. the Sierra foothills, a U30Bs in September 1967, numbered 751-755. An four-year-old GP40 3503 other 15 U30Bs arrived in 1968 and 1969, and two Adding to the GP40 Fleet leads a westbound past former demonstrators were purchased from General James Siding. In spring Electric in a 1971 bargain-basement deal. In 1970 WP placed a third order for GP40s-1 0 units, 1970, the unit still looks Electro-Motive Division was not the only manufac Nos. 3517-3526. This order was painted in WP's new much the same as it did turer to court WP with high-horsepower, six-axle road "Perlman green" scheme and featured EMD's standard when it Ie" the EMD plant units. In February 1969, Alco sent three of its 3,600 twin-sealed beam headlights instead of WP's signature h.p. "Century" C-636 demonstrators to Stockton, Calif., Pyle National lights. After delivery, the railroad ap in 1966. for evaluation. These locomotives were Alco's answer to plied red-and-white oscillating lights to the low nose the SD45. The mechanical department's tests revealed of each unit (a feature also found on its U30Bs), and no surprises, and it concluded that these six-axle diesels large pilot plows, correcting a mix-up at the factory put additional stress on curved rail. Westem Pacific did that resulted in the order arriving with small plows. not place an order with Alco; several months later, Alco Internally these units contained several design im announced its departure from the locomotive business. provements developed by EMD, including the elimina By 1969, WP had collected solid data on both its tion of traction motor field shunting. Plus, there were EMD and GE units and found that the EMDs per improvements to the rectifier diodes and to the IDAC formed better. Although the GE "U-Boats" were ex wheel-slip system, which showed a dramatic improve cellent pullers, there were serious flaws in their en ment in performance over the first two orders. gine design. The U-Boats also tended to spew oil and The final order of 18 GP40s (3527-3544) came in suffered from frequent engine failures. By contrast, August and September 1971. These units came from Pacific RAllNEWS.29 RIGHT: Against the Min neapolis skyline, 3015 is on point of the Wisconsin Central transfer into BN's Northtown Yard on April 17, 1994. In 1983, most WP GP40s were stored. Some were later rebuilt for use on the WC. BELOW: Thankful to still be work ing and not collecting dust in a deadline, WP 3513 displays its new identity as Missouri Pacific 662 on June 3, 1984, in Hous ton, Texas. The air-condi tioner housing atop the cab pinpoints this locomo tive's heritage. Dean Sauvola the factory with nose The Bicentennial Twins mounted signal lights and the now-standard In early 1976 Western Pacific chose GP40s 3540 and large pilot plow. Addi 3541 to wear patriotic colors-red, white and blue tionally WP upgraded for celebration of the nation's bicentennial. These the order to include GP40s became 1776 and 1976 respectively. The 1776 extended-range dy was painted in March 1976 and spent a month touring namic brakes, a fea the railroad. Later the pair roamed the WP system, ture not found on ear with the operating department insuring that the spe lier GP40s. cially painted units always led trains. On Fourth of July Reid McNaught photo, In 1972, Western weekend 1976, both locomotives were floated across Ken Ranenne collection Pacific placed an order with EMD for GP38-2s. San Francisco Bay from Oakland to San Francisco However WP canceled the order when GE offered a aboard WP's car ferry Las Plumas (Spanish for feath cheaper alternative; WP ordered GE's higher-horse er) for public display on the Embarcadero. The pair power U23B instead. were in good company, sharing the spotlight with SP's GP40P-2 3197, Santa Fe's SD45-2 5701, Amtrak Western Pacific GP40-2s F40PH 203, and a bicentennial train supplied by WP. In 1979, both bicentennials were repainted in the In 1972, EMD implemented a number of improvements orange-and-green "New Image" paint scheme and re to its locomotive line: the most important were modifi turned to their original numbers. cations to the 40-series electrical system. Electro-Motive Division identified the improved models with a "-2" suf Early Retirements fi x, and the units were henceforth known as "Dash 2s," Accordingly, the GP40 was superseded in EMD's cata Not all 59 GP40s and GP40-2s were on the roster when log by the GP40-2. Westem Pacific took delivery of five UP took over WP in 1982. On March 28, 1970, 3505 GP40-2s (3545-3549) in July 1979, painted in WP's was destroyed at Floka, Nev., in a fatal derailment along "New Image" scheme (more orange on the cab) and with a pair of the GP35s. This unit was sent east to featuring air-conditioned cabs and extended range dy EMD as a trade-in for WP 3523. Ten years latel; in namic brakes. However, WP did not opt for the truck April 1980, another two units, 3527 and former Bicen mounted shock absorbers that appeared on many other tennial 3540, were destroyed in a fiery derailment at Dash 2 units. These locomotives did not feature the Hayward, Calif., that killed two employees. standard lighting set found on the majority of WP's Following a derailment in 1971, Westem Pacific sent power and were delivered with only the single twin 3506 back to EMD at La Grange, Ill. EMD returned it sealed beam headlight above the windshield. as the first GP40 painted in the Perlman green paint. Western Pacific's final locomotive order before the UP merger was for an additional 10 GP40-2s (3550- Rebuilds 3559), delivered in April and May 1980. These units were fully equipped, featuring a full lighting package, In 1980, WP sent 15 of its oldest GP40s, Nos. 3501- air conditioning, and the standard large pilot plows. 3516, to Morrison-Knudsen in Boise, Idaho, for re- 3U-May 1996 building. As a result of this investment, these locomo ally returned to their lessors. The units in the best tives survived on the UP well beyond the rest of the WP shape, former WP 3501 -35 16, were cycled through GP40 fleet. Each completed locomotive was repainted the paint shop, renumbered 65 1 -665, and assigned to in WP's New Image paint scheme and featured oscillat MP for service on trains in Texas and Louisiana. ing headlights placed on the nose of the short hood, giv One locomotive, GP40 3532, received a coat of ing these units the same lighting package as the balance Armour yellow soon after the merger, with Western of WP's road fleet. Another visible modification follow Pacific lettering in the UP style. Union Pacific soon ing rebuilding was a boxy protrusion housing the cab decided against preserving WP's identity, and no other air-conditioning unit-a new feature for these units. units were painted this way. Merger Madness Back on Home Turf In 1983, change was in the wind for WP's fleet. After The 65 1 -665 lasted on the MP for only a short the railroad merged with UP in December 1982, time before UP decided to reassign the units back to changes in power assignments came quickly during the former WP mainline terminals. These locomotives, first few months. In 1983, UP began pulling GP40s which had served WP as road power, were now as from service and placing them in deadlines in Stockton, signed to locals and yard jobs. Union Pacific preferred Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah. Eventually most found six-axle locomotives for road assignments. their way to a single mammoth deadline in the Sierra WP's rebuilt GP40s outlived their GP35 cousins, foothill town of Oroville, Calif., and finally Portola, which also had been rebuilt by MI<. However most of Calif. Many of these units eventually migrated east for these units were retired by UP in 1993, leaving only the start-up of the ill-fated Chicago, Missouri & West the GP40-2s, three SW 1500s, and four rebuilt SW9s ern in 1987. Today most of them can be seen in the ma as examples of WP motive power on UP. In 1991 for WP's last two months of roon and gold of the more sucessful Wisconsin Central. mer WP 3545-3550 were modified to allow electrical existence found the rail· There were exceptions. The GP40-2s were assigned mating with the newly constructed slug-units, and to road pressing everything to jobs on the former WP once held down by WP's day labor on as UP 3002-3007 respectively. it had into road service. GP9s and GP20s. Others were sent east to help with While the WP name and most of the railroad's lo DriHing down the east branchline duties on other parts of the UP system. comotives are gone, the railroad survives as a key side of Altamont Pass on They were particularly prominent on the MP in Texas. component of the Union Pacific System; its main line Nov. 13, 1982, the San Upon evaluating the condition of the GP40 fleet, now carries more trains than it ever did under WP. Jose Manifest heads for UP's mechanical personnel determined that the 15 These fortunes may change, though, if UP successful GP40-2s and the 15 rebuilt GP40s were the most use ly merges with SP since UP plans to divert much of Stockton. Helping GP40 ful. The balance of the unmodified locomotives were the traffic moving through the Feather River Canyon 3529 is a high hood GP20, sent to Little Rock, Ark., for storage and were eventu- and over Altamont Pass to SP routes. PRN two F7s, and a GP40·2. Ken Rattenne Pacific RAILNEWS.31 mages·········································· · I Sean Graham-White hotographers striving to create images produced is limited only by each compelling images have captured photographer's imagination . the railroad from many vantage On Feb. 28, 1991, after having lunch points, embracing both traditional and with the Iowa Interstate's Iowa City Pinnovative angles. The spectrum of the roundhouse crew, photographer Sean 32-May 1996 Howard Ande line between the Chkago area and Coun cil Bluffs, Iowa. Further east on the for mer Rock Island, Chicago Metra com muter train No. 52 1 pulls past Joliet Union Station on Feb. 24, 1996 (above). Metra provides frequent daily passenger service between suburban Joliet, Ill., and Chicago's La Salle Street Station. A three-headed Union Switch & Sig nal searchlight guards Southern Pacific's Bakersfield Line at Mojave, Calif., on Nov. 6, 1976 (right). The US&S search- light was standard on SP for many Don R. Flynn years; recently, however, the railroad has begun replacing it with colorlights using a triangular light pattern-much to the dismay of signal aficionados. One of the best-known railroad pho to locations in Southern California is Sullivan's Curve in Cajon Pass. Noted for its unusual rocks, this curve was named for pioneer railroad photogra pher Herb Sullivan who took many pho tographs here in the 1920s, 1930s, and Graham-W11ite captured a mechanic 1940s. An eastbound Santa Fe inter grinding the railroad's SW1 200 250- modal train, led by DASH 9-44CW former Missouri Pacific No. 1299, 653, climbs through Sullivan's Curve on (above). Iowa Interstate operates the for a clear Sept. 9, 1995 morning (follow mer Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific main ing spread). Elrond Lawrence photo. Pacific RAILNEWS-33 mages·········································· · I ne can learn much about railroad A grass hopper rests on the bu ll ing by observing its details; the as gear for a set of locomotive wheel at tute photographer tunes into the the Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern subtleties of the little picture: billowing fa cility at Iroquois Junction, 1 1 1. (be Osmoke, a resting hoppel� a rail pile. low middle). The Kankakee, This stack of Chicago & North We stern DASH 9-44CW 8730 (the Kenneth Lehman last GE DASH 9 delivered to C&NW) reveals that all is not functioning properly beneath the hood (below left). Black smoke coming from a modern locomotive with electronic fuel injection indicates improper combus tion (too much fuel and not enough air) ; there could a mechanical prob lem with the locomotive's fuel injec tion system or its turbocharger, or an electrical control problem. Wes Carr Lance Wales 3S-May 1995 Beaverville & Southern still maintains Neb. (below). A favorite line for photog a small roster of Alco diesels. raphers for years, the Cowboy no longer The rail from Chicago & North West serves as a through route (much of it has ern's abandoned Cowboy Line in western been abandoned and removed), though Nebraska is stored in a pile at Crawford, portions remain active today. Pacific RAILNEWS.37 mages ...... I Scott Bontz lectro-Motive Division's well noon, an A-B-A lashup of F-units leads known "bull dog" nose F-unit is an the westbound Golden Gate past the American classic. Many of today's east switch at Gateley-the siding a locomotives are of purely utilitarian de mile west of the Santa Fe's Pinole, Esign; the F-unit displays the quintessen Calif., depot (opposite page, bottom). tial 1930s era aesthetic that has been Southern Pacific's doubletrack Cal-P largely forgotten by modern designers. main line is visible at the left. Symbolizing the effect of the jet On Aug. 14, 1978, two Burlington plane on the long-distance passenger Northern F-units and a GP9 lead train, a 747 flies over the stripped and westbound BN train No. 175 past a gutted hulk of an F-unit in the Alaska set of General Railway Signal Railroad's Anchorage yard in Septem semaphores near Prosser, Wash. This ber 1995 (above). former Northern Pacific line is now Only a few minutes away from operated as part of Washington Cen Richmond, Calif., on a 1955 after- tral (opposite page, top). 3S-May 1998 Dick Dorn Fred Matthews Pacific RAILNEWS·39 Images··········································· Don R. Aynn a ITt-a in F40PH-2 900, the San converted by SP in the early part of this Francisco, rests between assign century. Presently this historic structure ments at the Southern Pacific is unused-it was damaged in the 1989 roundhouse at Lenzen Street in San Loma Prieta earthquake-but an ISTEA CJose, Calif., on Jan. 8, 1986 (above). (lntermodal Surface Transportation Ef Built by South Pacific Coast as a nar ficiency Act) enhancement grant and row-gauge facility, this roundhouse was other funding sources have been 40- May 1998 Lance Wales secured for its relocation and preserva An eastbound Chicago Central & tion. Locomotives for the San Francis Pacific 104 car unit coal train led by co-San Jose "commutes" (now operat GP38 2000 passes through Irene, Ill., ed by the Joint Powers Board-the city on an overcast 1995 Independence and county of San Francisco and San Day (above). This year Illinois Central Jose and Santa Clara counties) are now plans to reacquire the CC&P, which it maintained at the San Jose depot. spun off in 1985. Pacific RAILNEWS.41 mages · ···· ····································· · I J.D. Schmid Bill Lang and Debbie Vigil 4:57 p.m. on Oct. 7, 1983, an eastbound empty Canadian Pacific coal train creates an enormous amount of exhaust as it climbs out of Athe siding at Glacier, B.C., after meet ing VIA Rail No. 1, the westbound Canadian (above). One of Amtrak's aesthetically contro versial GE AMD 103s pauses with the Southwest Chief at Lamy, N.M., on Dec. 28, 1994 (right). Passing through Eagleton, Ark., on Sept. 9, 1995, Kansas City Southern SD40-2 68 1 leads a northbound inter modal train towards the summit of Rich Mountain. KCS still uses oscillating headlights; now relatively unusual, these headlights were once widely used by many railroads (opposite page). Wes Carr photo. PRN PaCific RAILNEWS-43 here are dozens of reasons why we as rail They ought to. fans admired the Great Northern Railway, but The most spectacular route is Wenatchee National what we enjoyed most was its mountain goat. Forest Trail Number 1587, also known as the Rock Has any railroad ever had a finer herald? Lake Trail, which begins near a point on the railroad Whether it appeared on a paper cocktail napkin or a known as East Berne and ends at an abandoned fire steam locomotive tender, the goat was unmistak lookout site on the summit of Rock Mountain (eleva Eable-evocative and authentic. tion 6,852 feet), one of ason Ridge's high points. It GN's mountain goat was a fi tting symbol because is difficult to imagine how the scenery could be any the railroad's St. Paul to Seattle main line threaded its finer-or the climbing much tougher. The North Cas way through excellent goat country. Once domes came cades are famed among mountaineers and backpack to the newly dieselized Empire Builder in the 1950s, ers for grueling trails, and the Rock Lake Trail is as passengers could gaze upward and actually spot a goat demanding as any, zigzagging up 95 switchbacks as it BELOW: In July 1998, a BN or two as the Pullman green-and-orange streamliner ascends a grand total of 4,200 vertical feet. Ta ke intermodal train, led by skinned the southern boundary of Montana's Glacier plenty of water because the sun can be brutal, shade GP39-2 2702 and two 01 National Park. Indeed, Glacier and GN were almost scarce, and no streams are encountered until Rock BN's B32-8s, rolls through synonymous. The railroad worked behind the scenes Lake, just below the top. East Berne. Three B32-8s to get the park established, built hotels and chalets, What's the payback? Well, views of the railroad were on a short-term constructed miles of foot and pack trails during the begin almost as soon as you lock the car and contin lease and were returned 1920s, and promoted tourism in western Montana ue, largely uninterrupted, to the very summit. In to General Electric in right up to the dawn of the Burlington Northern era in deed, the higher you go, the more track you can see. March 1991 . BOTTOM: 1970. The puzzling part is why GN did not make a The sensation is similar to that of peering out the Westbound train No. 1, led similar effort in Washington State. Certainly it could window of an airplane-yet more interesting. Ex not have been due to any lack of Alpine scenery. In the traordinary is the only way to describe it. Of course, by 8040-2 7125, ap region between the Canadian boundary and Stevens there are plenty of other mountain railroads in the proaches East Berne. Pass alone-the North Cascades-there is three times West, and a great abundance of high clim bing Forest Backlight illuminates the as much glacial ice as in all the other mountain ranges Service trails as well; but Rock Mountain's particu- heavy exhaust as the of the lower 48 states combined. train negotiates the tight There are also plenty of goats. One of the best curves on July 14, 1994. places to see them is atop a chain of minor peaks known collectively as . Nason Ridge. Looming . . � . ... directly above the north . side of Burlington Northern Santa Fe . . right-or-way for approx .: . . LicltemlJasser . La/(c imately nine miles be .. ... , tween the east portal of Cascade Tunnel and the tiny railroad outpost of i·· . . .. . Merritt, these steep ...... mountainsides make an Old Cascade obvious, almost un avoidable, backdrop for Tunnel . train pictures-yet very . ' . . . few photographers have � . $ · · . · actually ventured up . . �e\ Summit t, : • onto the ridge itself. • ..... ""�� La • . Grace • , • e •E • � • Lakes -(• tiP'n.. .. • • • · • >;.owboy • • . C • .. Mountain -•• ...... \- • .: Josephine .- Lake . :" . . .. To Skykomish, ...... Seattle :. . Josephine Lake . .. . •'" • • . Murphy Lakes . . . Pacific Crest • ...... • /.. . . National Scenic Trail ...... Trap Lalw Surprise - . . Lak : Spark Plug 1 : Lake � ' ': Glacier •• Thullder MOllllla;" Lakes Lake J( . .. f . . .. , Square Lake 48-May 1998 When the mountain goat is mentioned, images of Montana's Glacier National Park may come to mind. But the Nason Ridge above Stevens Pass is also home to the mountain goat-the ubiquitous symbol 01 the Great Northern Railway. Lake • Nason Merrill Lake Rock Rock Lake Mountai�n Rock Lake Trail o SCALE (Wenatchee National Forest Tr ail No. 1587) I MILES Arrowhead �I Mountain ..Laile E/bel Loch Eileen e J lim Hill -"\ Mountain e Lake jlllillS Lake DOIwid • WiMP 16nto86.9 n "i,"allkllm Lal :Oake Mary DMAP AREA "" ••Lake Flora Lake Margaret e Lake Ednn Carler Lake , Lake Alice , Pacific RAILNEWS-47 Obviously you do not. You are not in some cli mate-controlled bunker back in Fort Worth. You are trudging up a mountainside, and that's the beauty of it. Yes, the going is tough. The sweat will probably have already soaked through your T-shirt, and you will almost certainly be gasping for breath; but far too much of the time we devote to photographin,g train is spent in a state of semi-suspended animation, cool ing our heels, waiting for something to happen. Even the busiest main lines can remain quiet for hours on end. A good book helps, and some railfans even man age to doze off; but for most of us, waiting is a frus trating, tedious ordeal. Up on the Rock Mountain Trail, however, nobody complains about sitting around. Rest stops are something to look forward to-and to be dragged out as long as possible. In fact, when you first flop down on the ground, you may not think you'll ever want to move again-al though the sound of a freight in the distance usually brings weary hikers back to life. From points near the top of the trail, it may be possible (using a good pair of binoculars) to spot the headlight of a westbound all the way down at West Winton (milepost 1686.9). If not, the Merritt detector (milepost 1690.0) provides a dependable warning. And if you don't have a radio, the thundering chant of the diesels will definitely cap ture your attention, as soon as the engines sink their teeth into the 2.2 percent grade that begins near mile post 1693. Then, and for the next 15 to 20 minutes, you can follow the train's snail-like, thunderous progress as it crawls up the valley and ultimately coils around the base of Rock Mountain itself. THE NAsa CREEK VA LLEY may have been used by In dians traveling across the mountains, although proba bly not to any great extent. Miners built a pack trail through Cady Pass, about 15 miles to the north, in 1860; however, it seems likely that the first white man to set foot on the gap in the main divide of the Cas cade Range, now known as Steven Pass, was John F. Stevens himself, the famous Great Northern surveyor who also discovered Marias Pass in Montana. The original G line across Stevens Pass (utilizing temporary switchbacks at the summit) was completed in January 1893, less than three years after the work began, although that makes its construction sound much too easy. Ramming a railroad through the moun tains has always been tough. In the 19th century it was an inch-by-inch, blood-and-guts battle against weather, biting insects, bad food, soggy blankets, late pay, primi tive equipment, and age-old, obdurate stone. One of the biggest challenges on the east slope of Stevens Pass The further you climb up lar combination of countless, dizzying aerial van turned out to be the section at the foot of Rock Moun the switchbacks on trail tage points and heavy-duty mainline action is prob tain, where ason Creek plunges down a staircase of Number 1587, the more ably unsurpassed. Although little-known, this is ac cataracts in a narrow gorge. Thousands of tons of solid track becomes visible. In tually one of the premier train-watching sites in rock had to be blasted apart, moved around, and rear a view from high up on North America. ranged in order to create a right-of-way. The crowning Thanks to the existence of a powerful "dispatcher's glory was a beautiful, curved steel bridge spanning the the trail in August 1995, link" (frequency 160.500), radio reception is excel gorge's most spectacular section-although few people BN train 21 is seen loop lent, extending from the Cascade Tu nnel all the way got to admire it, unless they leaned out a coach win ing along Nason Creek and down the hill to Wenatchee and well out into the dow at exactly the right moment. Trains did not stop through Gaynor Tunnel. Columbia Basin. Usually, 10 to 12 different talking there, and the first, extremely primitive road was not detectors come in loud and clear, as do all communi built until the 1920s; it was not really passable by ordi cations between train crews and the BNSF Seattle nary vehicles until the 1 940s, effectively limiting pedes East Dispatcher or the Wenatchee yardmaster. With trian visitors to mule deel� black bears, and the local so much information pouring in, a scanner is seldom section crew-who stored tools and supplies in a little silent for more than a few minutes at a time; it is easy shed just up the line at a spot known as Gaynor. to form a precise picture of the traffic situation, al According to some sources, a "flagstop"(an option most as if you had the glowing lights of a Centralized al stop) was also located there; if so, it is hard to imag Traffic Control display right in front of you. ine why. Even during the summer months, Gaynor 48-May 1996 on the pass, fought the good fight at Gaynor, ABOVE: The cool, crisp au but ultimately became so thoroughly mired it tumn day is interrupted could neither advance or retreat; the crew had brielly by the unexpected to set out into the swirling maelstrom on foot. appearance of Santa Fe Somehow these crew members survived, S075M No. 200 on the although many others didn't. It wasn't so point of BN eastbound much the massive amount of snow that was grain train G-27, as it the problem; rather it was the rain and mild crosses Nason creek on temperatures that subsequently triggered avalanches throughout the North Cascades. A Oct. S, 1995. LEFT: To the number of slides hit the railroad-the worst south, snow lingers in the one resulting in 96 deaths over on the west higher elevations of the slope, at Wellington. At Gaynor, a series of Chiwaukum Mountains as avalanches roared down Arrowhead Peak (di BN train 3, a Chicago to rectly across Nason Creek from Rock Moun South Seattle intermodal tain) and dumped a 100-foot thick mass of train, rolls by with an wet snow, boulders, and splintered trees on S040-2 leading. top of the track. The stalled rotary did not budge for two weeks, and GN did not return to a semblance of normal operations for at IllUSt have seemed as if it were on the dark side of the least a month. In fact, operations would never really 11100n; in the winter, the isolation became intense. be the same in Stevens Pass. Management concluded Without snowshoes or skis, a person on foot is help that the line leading up to the 2.5-mile summit tunnel less here-and trains sometimes were bogged down then in use was simply too dangerous, and decided to too. Keeping the railroad open was a constant battle. replace it with the present Cascade Tunnel, completed THE A punishing storm shut down the entire line for a in 1929. At the same time, the entire route between week in 1904, but that was a trip to the beach com Wenatchee and Skykomish was electrified-banishing HI=IROES1i pared to the incredible white onslaught of March steam from Nason Creek, except for the occasional use miLE 1910, when big, wet flakes spilled out of the sky for of huge R 1 articulateds as pushers during World War days on end, often accumulating at a rate of a foot or II. In 1949, the curved bridge across the Nason Creek Illore per hour. A rotary plow, one of many in action gorge was replaced with a straight span and a 675-foot Pacific RAILNEWS-49 East of Berne, the rail tunnel (the "Gaynor Tunnel"). Installation of huge road crosses Nason ventilation fans at the east portal of Cascade Tu nnel in Creek on this impressive 1956 allowed diesels to take charge of all trains on the bridge. On June 1, 1995, pass, but like the juice jacks they replaced, the covered BN train 15, a Chicago to wagons and Geeps of the 1950s were far from immor Seattle intermodal train, tal. As the first generation of Big G dieseldom faded away, time ran out for GN itself. The year was J 970- has a Conrail locomotive the era of Burlington Northern had begun. trailing in its consist. Amtrak took over BN passenger service shortly af terward-and soon shifted the Empire Builder to Stampede Pass. The Builder returned to home turf a few years later, but the big story on this part of the former GN main line has been the explosive growth of intermodal traffic. This, in turn, has created capac ity problems, since only one train is allowed inside Cascade Tu nnel at a time. As a result, many of the conventional freights and grain trains that once strug gled up and over the Cascades now utilize the former orthern Pacific/Spokane Portland & Seattle route via Pasco and the Columbia River Gorge. Neverthe less hikers climbing up Rock Mountain can anticipate seeing at least two or three trains, and a similar num ber on the way down. The trailhead, clearly marked by a small Forest Ser vice sign, is just off the north side of U.S. Highway 2, not far from a maintenance road leading down to East Berne (the east switch of a 12,323-foot conh'olled sid ing). Getting lost on Rock Mountain itself would ap pear to be a major accomplishment, but for people though in some years the snow may not melt com who like to have a map along anyway, the trail appears pletely until August. Sudden changes in the weather on the United States Geological Survey 7.5-minute se are possible at any time, so carrying a daypack loaded ries quadrangle "Labyrinth Mountain," as well as on with warm clothing and rain gear is a good idea. Bring the Green Trails IS-minute quad "Stevens Pass." The at least one quart of water per person as well. total distance from base to summit is between four For most of the way up, the views are to the south THE and five miles, with an average elevation gain of about and east, out across Nason Creek toward the Chi 1,000 feet per mile. Significant flat stretches are all waukum Mountains and the Alpine Lakes Wi lder HJ:lRDEST but non-existent. The best photographic opportunities ness. As you ga in elevation, Alpine monarch such as mlb.E begin less than a quarter of the way up, and some hik Mt. Daniel, Mt. Stuart (second highest non-volcanic ers may decide that's far enough, since a trip to the peak in the Cascades), and majestic Mt. Rainier summit is generally an all-day project. The upper trail come into sight; at the summit, an additional panora can normally be walked from July through October, al- ma of toothy, uninhabited mountains is revealed to 50-May 1998 the north. On a clear day, you can pick out Mt. Bak Since the diesels are now almost a full vertical Stevens Pass has its er, near the Canadian border; but what really cap mile below, you might think it would be a little hard share of cloudy days. But tures your rapt attention is astonishing Glacier Peak, er to hear them-but the throbbing exhaust chant could there be a finer day a lordly, 1 0,52 1 -foot volcano less than 20 miles away. seems incredibly loud. If you close your eyes, it's al on Stevens Pass than this Save some film for the goats. most as if you were right there at trackside. However June 1, 19951 Arrowhead They are not exactly tame, but if you don't talk even with the aid of a telephoto lens, a long stack Mountain looms in the loudly or move suddenly, the goats of Nason Ridge train is just a thin silver thread. Its progress seems background behind east may allow you to get remarkably close. (They are at ant-like; at first glance, you may have trouble telling tracted by salt.) Yet even if the goats fail to appear if the train is moving at all. bound BN train 1 S, led by a (and if the truth be told, they often do), it's Rock Mountain is a fa scinating vantage point, per clean "whiteface" S04O-2. difficult to stay disappointed in such a spectacular lo haps because we so seldom think of the railroad quite cation. Until the next train comes along, you may like this-miniaturized (yet by no means trivialized) in even forget about the railroad for a while. the revealed vastness of the American West. PRN Pacific RAILNEWS·51 mb aboard for an adventure packed tourC� of America's passenger train service as Amtrak celebrates its twenty-fifth anniver sary! F�om the early years wheFl a variety of motive' power and an eclectic mix of passen ger cars pioneered Amtrak service to the new Genesis locomotives and high speed corri dors oJ the 1990s, Amtra k's colorful history rolls across the screen. You'll see historic footage of famous pas senger trains of the Pennsy, New York Cen tral, Gr.eat Northern, Santa Fe and others. Then enjoy great views of Amtrak throughout its 25 year history. Highlights include the Southwest Chief, Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, Desert Wind, Sunset Limited, and cit,her well known trains as they travel the Northeast Corridor, Hudson Division, Horse Shoe Curve, Chicago Hub, and many more exciting routes. Travel to scenic lecations across the coun try to see Amtrak at its finest. A fascinating , mix of motive power, onboard views of popu lar trains, cab rides, spectacular runbys, gor geous scenery, and nonstop action bring you the best of Amtrak Across America! Color. 30 Minutes #AMTRAK25 $1 9.95 Check or Money Order Visa/MasterCard Discover/American Express Please add $4.00 shipping per order, plus $1.00 for each additional tape. Canadian customers add $5.00 shipping per order, plus $1.00 for each additional tape. All other International customers add $10.00 per tape. , Order Line: 800-950-9333 24 Hours A Day FAK 818-793-3797 MAG6 P.o. Box 9491 1, Pasadena, CA 91 1 09-491 1 CA LL OR WRITE FOR FREE CA TALOG RAIL NEWS Burlington Northern MISHAPS Winter Woes ----. -- _._------For the barely four-months-old Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, February was a 29-day nightmare, with nearly continuous service interruptions caused by harsh weather and flooding in the Pacific Northwest and a series of expensive wrecks. Just after midnight on Feb. 15, train No. 144 with 89-cars lost its air and careened into CP's St. Paul yard office facilities (see CP Sys tem column for details). The next day, 14 cars of No. 17 derailed at Audubon, Minn. (be tween Detroit Lakes and Dilworth, Minn., on the former Northern Pacific main line), forcing the railroad to detour trains on other routes; normal service was restored late on Feb. 17. With service barely back to normal from the Audubon derailment, 33 cars of train No. 808 derailed between Little Falls and Staples at Cushing, Minn. (also on the former NP), on Feb. 28. Once again BN detoured trains; ser Bob Plough vice on this single track line was restored on the afternoon of March 1. The heavily utilized Former Frisco GP38-2, leading the last westbound BN train---No. 91GG7--over the Wichita Sub (ex main line between Minneapolis and Dilworth, Frisco from Neodesha, Kan., to Wichita, Kan.) passes the depot at Augusta, Kan., on March 15, 199G. Minn., is now blanketed with a series of slow orders pending the return of warmer weather, which will allow crews to properly repair weak Some of the details concerning the 4,000 5256 and SD40 5209 were borrowed to move areas in the railroad subgrade. It is expected miles of lines BNSF wants to sell are now avail potash empties to Canada on March 2. that a number of rail replacement and roadbed able. The Santa Fe branch lines in Kansas have Thanks to Jim Asplund, Mike Bartels, Mike FUMSIES NORTHWEST, P/. reconstruction projects will be required been sold, and the following package of BN Blaszak, Mike Clew)l, throughout this corridor during the summer. lines should be sold by June 1: 314 miles of Gratz, Joel Hawthorn, Te rry LaFrance, Glenn trackage in the vicinity of Moscow, Idaho, in Lee, Greg McCommic, Dominic Nicandri, RAIL CORPORATE cluding routes running from Palouse to Mar WAY ACE, Dan Schwanz, and TIIAFFIC WORLD. shall, Wash.; Palouse to Bovill, Idaho; Palouse Damage Award Surprises BNSF to Moscow; Moscow to Arrow, Idaho; Cheney Karl Rasmussen to Davenport, Wash.; and Davenport to Coulee, Burlington Northern Santa Fe was surprised Wash. Farmrail has expressed interest in the by $250 million in damages awarded by a network of fonner Frisco branch lines in Okla Crow Nation Tribal jury to the families of homa; howevel; none are currently for sale. New Book!! Ready Now!! three tribal members killed in a 1993 grade BURLINGTON NORTHERN: crossing accident. The accident involved a MOTIVE POWER COAL HAULER legally intoxicated motorist and occurred on and BN's Bighorn Subdivision at a rural crossing BN Locomotives to Be Overhauled COAL COUNTRY TRACKSIDE GUIDE A 25-year historical summary of BN's coal hauling within the Crow reservation south of Lodge operations IlY author Patrick C. Dorin, with a detailed Grass, Mont. (near the Little Bighorn Battle Burlington Northern GP39-2s and SD40-2s trackside guide to the Powder River Basin, Crawford Hill field National Monument). The railroad ex will be overhauled and painted at Topeka this and their feeder lines by author Robert C. Del Grosso. Learn how BN unexpectedly entered the coal hauling pects to appeal the judgment before the Tribal summer with the latest pinstripe variation of business in 1970 and how it has since become Ihe Appellate Court and the U. S. District Court the white face scheme (at press time it was an country's largest low-sulfur coal hauling railroad. The in Billings, if necessary. trackslde guide takes you into Coal Country with detailed ticipated that their Casacade green will be re maps, timetables, and text as to where the great train Tn late February, BNSF announced plans to tained). Meanwhile, BN's former Frisco watching sites are. 188 glossy b&w photos, 196 pages, close three locomotive maintenance facilities GP15-1s (1375-99 series) are being moved to 5-1/2'x8-1/2" format Perfect bound. Leam the history of located on the Burlington Northern at Denver, BN coal operations, coal fleet motive power, coal hoppers, Glendive, Mont., for inspection. the mines it serves, and how to get on-site. $29.9lS Springfield, Mo., and Galesburg, III. These Motive power remained tight throughout ••• closures are expected to save $8.9 million in February, with locomotives from other railroads BURLINGTON NORTHERN: RAILROAD GtANT annual operating expenses. All 435 employees being used throughout the system. Illinois Cen OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST affected will be offered jobs at other BNSF tral SD40 6067 was noted on No. 238 at North Describes ali mountain passes, scenic line segments, maintenance facilities. Of the 136 locomotives town on Feb. 18; Chicago & North Western yards and depots, notable tunnels, bridges and other land currently maintained at Denver, 96 will be marks found along the BN and MRL mainlines and BN GP50 5074, BN SD40-2s 7861/6332, and EMD branch lines from MT to CA. Data, historic capsules and sent to Lincoln; the remaining 40 will be reas SD40- 1 6303 led train No. 218 into Minneapo dates, terrain descriptions, timetables and maps. 225 signed to lnterbay Yard in Seattle. The 366 lo lis on Feb. 27; Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 halftone b&w photos, 208 pages, Perfect bound. $26.9lS ••• comotives currently maintained at Springfield 5860 helped BN SD9s 6156 and 6107 on the Prices include 4th Class P&H will be reassigned to Kansas City, Minneapolis, CP transfer to St. Paul on Feb. 16.; CP SD40-2 => Dealer Inquiries Welcome ¢: Tu lsa, Okla., and Memphis, while the 10 yard 5425 worked with BN GP38-2 2295, GP39V --- units based at Galesburg will be relocated to 2983, EMD GP38-2 787, and Santa Fe B23-7 Great Northern PacIfIc Publications Clyde yard in Chicago. 6402 on No. 144 on Feb. 17; and CN SD40-2W Route 4, Box 627A, Bonners Ferry, ID 83806 Pacific RAILNEWS-53 RAIL NEWS Southern Pacific The 1996 MERGER NOTES rather than via Tennessee Pass. The trains are symboled as PUGjM/GjPUM (Pueblo to Railnet Directory Third Central Corridor Carrier? Grand junction, Colo. manifest). Colorado's Rail Advisory Committee, associat $3.95 per book ed with the state's Department of Transporta OPERATIONS tion, has sided with efforts to create a third Texas Coal Tr ains JJ "Premier Edition major rail carrier through the state. Colorado's governor, opposing the creation Starting in january, unit coal train symbol One of the first truly com of such a carrier, has given his conditional AICLC, which runs from the Axial mine to prehensive directories for support instead to the UP-SP merger. One of Coleto Creek, Texas, and freight DVHOQ railfans, providing ad his conditions stipulates that the rails be left (Denver to Houston quality) began using in place on those lines targeted for abandon trackage rights over BNSF. A single crew dresses, phone numbers, ment for either one year after the merger or takes each train from Pueblo, Colo., to Strat descriptions, etc., about following completion of improvements (total ford, Texas, running via La Junta, Colo. ; Las businesses and organi ing $90 million) to UP's former Kansas Pacif Animas, Colo.; Springfield, Colo.; and Boise zations which support ic main line. SP's Tennessee Pass crossing is City, Okla. At Stratford, a Cotton Belt crew among the lines whose abandonment is con takes over and forwards the trains to Dalhart, railroad related hobbies. tingent upon the merger. Texas, using SP's "Cotton Rock" (former On March 28, the City Council of Reno, Rock Island) line; the trains then continue to Send check or money order to: Nev. , voted unanimously to oppose the Fort Worth on BNSF. Railnet Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger. The PO Box 246M city was not opposed initially, and had been MOTIVE POWER negotiating with Union Pacific to mitigate Memphis, Indiana 47143 SD90MAC To urs SP tra ffic congestion in the downtown area. (Train traffic through Reno may double as a In early March, UP 8000, an upgradable result of the merger, as UP trains are rerout SD90MAC (presently equipped with EMD's ed off the former Western Pacific Feather 710G prime mover) made a partial tour of River Canyon route and new Burlington SP's routes. Northern Santa Fe begins running. However Southern Pacific's 30-year-old GP30s and this increased level of traffic, about 24 to 27 SD45s from Denver & Rio Grande We stern trains per day, is about what SP ran through are still working revenue operations, painted Reno in the mid- 1 970s, before the loss of in the classic Rio Grande black and orange. perishable traffic, the Western Pacific-Union The remaining GP30s, assigned to Pueblo Pacific merger, and other factors.) The city and Denver, are often assigned to local ser was hopeful that an agreement with Union vice, while the SD45s, (some of which had Pacific could be reached, but, as formal com been in storage) operate in mainline service. ments had to be filed with the Surface Trans D&RGW SD45, No. 5320, led symbol freight pOl·tation Board by March 29, and talks be GjROM (Grand junction to Roper manifest) tween the city and the railroad were still in westbound across the intermountain desert the preliminary stage, the council was urged on jan. 26. At Tucson on March 2, two Rio by its outside counsel to oppose the merger. Grande SD45s were spotted in a lashup of Presumably the city's position could be re pure D&RGW locomotives on symbol versed if UP is willing to pay to alleviate the HOWCM (Houston, Te xas, to West Colton, traffic problem. Estimated costs to do so Calif. manifest). range from $120 million to build several In California, a few of Southern Pacific's grade-separated highway crossings to $450 venerable SD9s remain in service. On March million to reroute the SP tracks to the north, 27, the Fresno Turn (Roseville-Fresno, out of the downtown area. Calif.) was spotted in Modesto with an SD9 in consist. SD9E, No. 4371, was still active CENTRAL CORRIDOR at Roseville, used occasionally on the Ro Te nnessee Pass Derailment Changes seville Hump. As of April, there were no ac tive GP9Es. Operations Southern Pacific's VLEYC (Valmont pow er plant to Energy mine unit-coal) trains and The fatal runaway derailment on Tennessee some of the unit-taconite trains are now oper Pass in February has resulted in operational ating with distributed power units (radio changes on the 10,000-foot-high mountain controlled remote helpers). Loaded DPU crossing. Eastbound helpers are now assisting equipped unit-coal trains operate with a pair descending westbound trains by providing ad of SP's AC4400CWs on the point, a pair of ditional dynamic braking. Previously the AC4400CW remotes entrained 70 cars deep, helpers re turned light (without a train) to and occasionally a single AC4400CW as a Minturn, Colo., after shoving eastbounds over rear-end helper; westbound DPU-equipped �(W/L --W�W� Tennessee Pass. Low-priority traffic, of the taconite trains operate with a pair of PU BL.ICA TIONS sort that moved in the ASRVM (the symbol of AC4400CWs on the point, another pair as POBox 1734 - La Mirada CA 90637 the train that derailed) is now routed through mid-train remote helpers, and a third pair on Denver and via the Moffat Tu nnel main line the rea r end. 54-May 1998 DONNER PASS Winter Woes A strong winter storm hit the Sierra on Feb. 20 and Feb. 21, dumping up to five feet of snow. On Feb. 21, SP deployed a ballast regulator and a flanger at Norden, Calif., to clear the tracks. Meanwhile an RVROM (Roseville to Roper manifest), already suffering from engine problems, struggled up to Norden, where the crew went off-duty, having worked to the limit of the federally mandated hours of service. The stopped train fouled the main line, delaying Amtrak No. 6, the eastbound California ZephYI; and the OANSF (Oakland to Norfolk Southern forwarder) running behind. To clear the line, SP dispatched Amtrak No. 6-with 14 cars and a SP freight unit on the point (added because of the extreme weather)- around the stopped freight at Norden and sent the Truck ee, Calif., helpers up the hill to tie on and bring the RVROM down into Truckee. The RVROM was re-crewed at Truckee and sent on its way (normally a crew would have been sent up to Norden, but parallel Interstate 80 was closed for snow removal). JeH Hampton As a result of this congestion at the sum mit, a westbound coal train (which had left An eastbound Southern Pacific train on the Sunset Route passes the ubiquitous cactus at Sparks, Nev., at 11 a.m.) had to wait on the Shawmut, Ariz. (about 110 miles west of Tucson) on March 2, 1998. west slope of Donner, in the Truckee River Canyon at Floriston for six hours. When SP realized that the coal train's crew could not Jose. The units, the 63 12, 63 13, and 6354, join blocked the highway until the unit could be make it to Roseville, and with weather condi GP40-2s SP 7943 and Cotton Belt 7960 as San jacked up and rerailed later that afternoon. tions making a re-crew en route unlikely, the jose local power. On Feb. 2, the 7943, 6354, railroad decided to bring the train back east and 63 13 teamed up to handle 43 cars of coal, TEXAS NOTES to the yard at Sparks. The Truckee helpers eight cement empties, and their caboose up to went down to the bottom of the hill at Law the Kaiser cement plant at Permanente. To SPV Inspects Tr ack ton, crossed over, went back to Floriston on make the 3 percent grade to Permanente, the the No. 1 (westbound) track, tied on to the train was brought up in three sections. On Sunday, March 17, the Department of coal train at Floriston, and towed it against The Monterey Local went on the ground in Transportation's Budd-built SPV2000 No. the current of traffic back to Sparks. Eight the Watsonville packing district on Feb. I; the 10-a diesel-powered track inspection vehi hours later, with a fresh crew on board, the lead axle of GP60 97 10 derailed in front of the cle-arrived in Houston from New Orleans, af coal train went west again. old depot, but SP maintenance-of-way forces ter inspecting Sunset Route trackage. Later the On Feb. 22, after the storm, SP operated were able to rerail the unit using blocks. car continued on to San Antonio, Texas .... the two spreaders in tandem from Truckee to Emi Heavy rains over the weekend of Feb. 4 track speed on SP's Bellaire Line west of Hous grant Gap to clear the railroad. Using a mainte flooded the main line at the Elkhorn Slough, ton was raised from 10 to 20 mph, although nance-of-way window after the hot KCOAF railroad east of Watsonville junction (between there are still some slow orders in effect. (Kansas City to Oakland forwarder) got over mileage 103.5 and 104.5); water also came up Union Pacific has announced that, as part of the pass, the GP38-2 4809 pushed one spread to the rails near Moss Landing, and there was its post-merger upgrade plans, SP's Englewood er and the GP40-2 7649 pushed another on the subsidence in the roadbed near the spring Yard in Houston will be upgraded and stream parallel tracks up out of Truckee to Shed 47. switch at Logan. When the rains abated, con lined. Currently SP services diesels at the Hardy One spreader followed the other on the single ditions returned to normal. Street engine facility, three miles from Engle track through the "Big Hole"-tunnel 41, then The CIBAT and the BACIT (City of Indus wood; and light power servicing moves shut both spreaders went back to work at Norden, try to Bay Area trailers and its eastbound coun tling locomotives back and forth have created a spreading the double track down to Shed 1 0, terpart) have begun handling autoracks bottleneck. New servicing facilities are planned and the single iron on to Emigrant Gap. (freight cars specially designed to move auto for Englewood as part of the upgrade; the mobiles) again. The CIBAT drops off loaded Hardy Street facility would then be phased out. COAST LINE racks at Newark, Calif. , in the morning, and Thanks to Dave Burton, Rob Carlson, Bill the BACIT picks up empties on its way railroad Farmel; Joe Ken; Sam Reeves, Orlo Elfes, H. W Notes east (geographically south) in the evenings. Farewell, D,: R. Harmen, Eric Hannon, Steven The cars are taken from Newark to Warm Coons, Ben Kerr, To m Kline, Mike Murray, On Jan. 24, a WSWCM (Warm Springs to West Springs by the Newark Switcher for unloading. Wayne Mangel; Te d Benson, To m Muellel; Bob Colton manifest) made it all the way to Santa SP suffered a series of minor but annoying Plough, and the SP Info rmation Neh:vork. Margarita, Calif., before it was determined that derailments in the Bay Area in February and the engineer wasn't qualified to take the train March. On Feb. 23, the "Country Switcher" put R.C. Farewell and Brian Jennison down Cuesta to San Luis Obispo, Calif. Fortu Cotton Belt GP40-2 7249 and one car on the nately, a crew was on duty in San Luis Obispo ground at Mulford, Calif. That same day, the to take the westbound WCKFM (West Colton, "Santa Cruz Local" derailed its last unit, SP Calif., to Klamath Falls, Ore., manifest) up the GP40 7616, and several cement loads on the RAIL INVESTMENT SERVICE hill; it was driven up to Santa Margarita and curve at Orby. The lead two units were uncou For free research rcpans on illveSlinent opportunities brought the WSWCM downhill, then climbed pled and headed light into Watsonville Junction in the Rail Sector, please call K. Eric Crook toll free: back on its WCKFM. to be used as that evening's "Santa Clara Turn." === 1-800-827 -6766 === On Jan. 29, the (Oakland to San jose mani On March 6, the "Monterey Local" coming into or write to K. Eric Crook, Corporate Services Specialist DEAN WITTER REYNOLDS INC. fest), also known as the San jose Turn deliv Watsonville Junction derailed on the Salinas 889 Harrison Ave., 2nd Floor ered three GP35Rs to do local work in San Road grade crossing ; Cotton Belt GP40-2 7259 II Riverhead, NY 11901 Pacific RAILNEWS. 55 RAIL NEWS Short Lines ARIZONA & CALIFORNIA MAGMA ARIZONA Nacozari Mexican Railroad, and the other at Naco, Ariz., with the FNM. Passenger Specials Update SP&SW now operates only 64 miles of track as it recently abandoned and scrapped The Arizona & California (AZCR) operates Magma Copper's Magma Arizona Railroad 10 miles of the Douglas Branch between Paul 297 miles of former Santa Fe trackage be continues to operate into 1996, despite an im Spur and Douglas, and the 5.5-mile Bisbee tween a junction with Santa Fe's Needles Sub, pending end of operations. Normally, the rail Branch running north from Bisbee Junction to at Cadiz, Calif., and the Phoenix area. road operates on Tuesdays with occasional ser Warren, Ariz. On the weekend of March 16-17, AZCR vice on Thursdays or Fridays. Once known for SP's doubletrack project on the Sunset operated a pair of special passenger trains. its Baldwin locomotives, the railroad is now Route has eliminated the original Douglas The trains were powered by GP38 3802 and using borrowed Alco RS-3s 9 and 13 from Branch connection in central Benson. Now the GP38-2 3804 and consisted mostly of bor Magma Copper's San Manuel Arizona Rail SP&SW connects with the SP at east Benson, rowed cars from the BNSF business car fleet road. Magma's last remaining Baldwin unit, where a new wye and yard were built. including both the Atchison Topeka & Santa S-8 No. 9 (former McCloud River 31), is Fe and the Burlington Northern full-length stored at Magma, Ariz. Magma's Baldwin Li KEOKUK JUNCTION dome cars, a pair of former Transcisco Tours ma Hamilton S-8 No. 8 (built for the Medford double-deck lounge cars, power/dorm car Corp. of Oregon), was purchased in late 1995 Purchased by Pioneer Stampede Pass, and AZCR round-end obser by the Southern Oregon Chapter-National vation car Apekunny Mountain. The Satur Railway Historical Society and moved by flat Pioneer Railcorp announced on March 12 day train, named the Cactus Blossom Spe car to the Willamette & Pacific Railroad shops that it had purchased the 38-mile Keokuk cial, carried shippers and other railroad in Albany, Ore., for storage pending the Junction Railway. Beginning service in 1857 guests from Wickenburg, to Parker, Ariz. The planned historical reconstruction of the Med as a terminal railroad operating on trackage following day, the special ran a round trip be ford Corp. logging line west of Medford, Ore. built as part of the Keokuk & Des Moines tween Parker and Salome, Ariz., for employ Valley, Keokuk Junction (reporting marks ees and their families. SP&SW KjRY) was later leased and purchased by the To solve its locomotive shortage, AZCR Rock Island. Looking at Mexico has borrowed GP15-1s 102 and 106 from sis In 1995 KJRY handled 6,000 carloads, ter railroad CaliforniaNorthern. generating a revenue in excess of $2.5 million Kyle-owned San Pedro & Southwestern, based dollars. Pioneer, based in Peoria, III., also op in Benson, Ariz., plans to build a new cross erates the Alabama Railroad, the Alabama & border spur less than a mile long at Bisbee Florida Railway, the Decatur junction Railway, junction near Naco, Ariz., to connect with Fort Smith Railroad, the Mississippi Central Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico (FNM). Railroad, the Vandalia Railroad, and the West SP&SW is a shortline railroad operating the jersey Railroad. former Southern Pacific Douglas Branch , which once had two cross-border connec TACOMA BELT LINE tions-one at Douglas, Ariz., with the former New Yard to be Built Tacoma Belt Line, owned by the city of Taco ma, plans to construct a $6 million car storage and train staging yard next to the Port of Taco Hea viest ma. The new rail yard will occupy part of the aml1late"d coTcr cover& 'Film area where Milwaukee Road's Tideflats Yard his new historf-of the grand olerlouisville S{ was torn out nearly 15 years ago. Tacoma Nashville is by a team of noted authors and Bel t's yards have become a bottleneck for Thistorians. Union Pacific and Burlington Northern dou illustrated with photos from the official files blestack trains serving the growing Port of of the L&I'i and other sources, this is the com Tacoma. Local officials have nicknamed the plete stOty of the line, detailing important ele ments inclucling coal traffic, passenger travel project "the banana slug" (based on the shape and cars, freight traffic and cars, steam and of the half-mile long yard) and anticipate the c1iesel locomotives, rosters, maps and c1iagrams. first five tracks will be built and in service by This huge, superbly printed book is bargain the end of 1996; an additional four tracks will priced at $29.95 + $4.00 SIH and is expected to be added in 1998. ship in early Sp ring 1996, but if you order before May 30, 1996, you can buy it for only $25.95 + BLUE MOUNTAIN $4.00 SIH. (Check or money order only-sorry no credit card or phone orders.) Repair Funding Approved In mid-March, the Washington State Legisla ture approved $1.5 million for repairing damage to the 9)-mile Blue Mountain Rail road (BMRR) and 113-mile Palouse River Virginia residents add 4.5% tax, Railroad caused by severe flooding in Febru Foreign orders add $8.00 extra postage. ary. On the Blue Mountain Railroad, most of Send for the complete list of fine quaUty railroad books available from ILe. the funding will be used for rebuilding the $13.95 paper, illustrated, at bookstores TLCPublish ing, Department PRN washouts along the Touchet River in the or order 1-800-822-6657. Route 4, Box 154 - Lynchburg, m Prescott area on the north end of the rail 24503-9711 UNIVERSI�¥ OF CALIFORNIA PRESS road. The BMRR had previously repaired the 56-May 1996 south end of the line between Walla Walla and Weston, Wash., and on its connector line from Wa lla Walla to its junction with Union Pacific at Wallula. BMRR officials expect that funding will arrive by April to reopen the line to Seneca Foods in Dayton, Wash., so that the railroad can begin shipping hun dreds of carloads of canned asparagus. Palouse River Railroad's funding will be used for repairing the track between Colfax, Wash., and Moscow, Idaho. This project has aroused controversy as local rail-to-trails groups would prefer the railroad to use the parallel Burlington orthern's Palouse Subdi vision line, which is now for sale, so that the Palouse River Railroad's own line can be con verted to a nature trail. LOUISVILLE & INDIANA Operations The Louisville & Indiana Railroad (reporting marks L1RC) began operations March 12, 1994. It operates 107 miles of line, using for mer Conrail trackage between Louisville, Ky., and Indianapolis, Ind., and trackage rights Ted Blis over Conrail into the former New York Cen tral Avon Yard in Indianapolis. In addition to On March 16, 1996, Arizona & California 3804 leads the Cactus Blossom Special deadheading at its interchange traffic with Conrail, L1RC in Wickenburg, Ariz. The equipment, consisting of five BNSF business cars and A&C's round-end terchanges with CSX at Indianapolis, Sey observation car, ran from Wickenburg to Parker, Ariz., to accommodate shippers and other VIPs. mour, and Jeffersonville, Ind.; and Louisville, Ky; CP Rail at Louisville; Indiana Rail Road and Indiana Southern at Indianapolis; MG bus by 6 a.m. The turn to Jeffersonville leaves AdministTation Class 4 standards that permit 40 Rail at Watson; and Norfolk Southern and Pa at 8 a.m. and returns approximately at 8 p.m. mph running. Railroad officials feel that the ducah & Louisville at Louisville. The railroad has a healthy traffic base, and time gained by operating at 40 mph does not Louisville & Indiana's general offices and handled more than 21,000 carloads in 1995. Its justify track wear and tear. maintenance facility are located in Jefferson primary customers include Colgate-Palmolive's Thanks to PI Gratz, Louisville & Indiana ville, Ind., across the Ohio River from Clarksville Plant (the world's largest toothpaste Railroad, LIRC Marketing Manager Darren Louisville. Train crews are based both there factory); Conrail's Flexi-Flo terminal and Wagner, TII AFFIC WOIILD, jOu/I NAL OF COM and at Columbus, Ind. Turns areoperated from Kitchen Kompact at Jeffersonville; Arvin Indus MEIICE, james R. Doughty, Don Sywassink, john Columbus to Indianapolis and Jeffersonville. tries at Columbus; Wicks Lumber at Southport, IIIman, Te d Ellis, Steve Habeck, Norm Holmes, L1RC's "turn" (meaning the train makes a Ind.; and Holm Industries at Scottsburg, Ind. jay Lewis, Bob Harbison, Brian Kreimendahl round trip) to Indianapolis leaves Columbus at LlRC rosters ten GP 16s acquired from CSX. Ilia Compuselve, and Dave Bono via Internet. 10 p.m. and runs directly into Avon Yard, Top train speed is limited to 25 mph, though the swaps cars with Conrail, and returns to Colum- railroad maintains its track to Federal Railroad Wayne Monger and Bob Thompson 1�IAR\'\ MISSOURI HOTSPOT5-1 995 2 hrs Visit 15 railfan hotspots throughout Missouri. See trains of UP, SP, SF, BN, N5, KCS, GWW, AMT and CP Rail. Observe busy rail action in Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Neosho, Bucklin and others ...... $29.00 SANTA FE'S CHILLICOTHE SUB ...... 2 hrs Visit the first subdivision out of Chicago to Ft. Madison, IA (228 miles). See red units pulling SF's premier intermodal fleet. All mid-1995 footage. Lots of SD75Ms...... $29.00 BIG THREE IN K.C. (SF, UP, BN) ...... 2 hrs A 1995 look at the 3 rail powers in the KC area. Western railroading is currently undergoing tremendous change. This video provides a timely view at the 3 major roads in KC. .. $29.00 Write for free video catalog -Titles - Narration - Music ·Available in VHS only ·Add S2.00 S/H for each tape -MO residents add 6% sales tax ·If ordering 2 or more tapes, deduct S1 per tape. MAKE CHECKS/MONEY ORDERS PAYABLE TO: MO-KAN VIDEO 425 Leslie Drive, Independence, MO 64055 PaCific RAILNEWS· 57 RAIL NEWS Tr ansit linked to the rail station and Market Street by underground walkways. Apparently the present Transbay Bus Terminal would be demolished and replaced by an underground rail station. The new bus terminal would be located across Beale Street between Mission and Howard. LOS ANGELES Angels Flight Returns, So Does Digging Since Feb. 24 Los Angeles has had its beloved Angels Flight back, rebuilt and in a new loca tion. It's not quite the same as the old Angels Flight, which closed in 1969, but close enough and in a dramatic new setting, framed by skyscrapers. And the fare's 25 cents, up from the old nickel. Huge redevelopment projects that literally took the top off of Bunker Hill and replaced tenements with glass high rises doomed the old funicular, which closed in 1969. When politicians promised its return, nobody be lieved them. Well, after 27 years the politi cians finally delivered. Moved south from Third and Hill streets to near Fourth Street, the new Angels Flight has G. Mac Sebree new rails and an upper station house and low er archway that look like the old ones-and to After 27 years, Angels Flight is back. In this March 1998 view, the two cars, Olivet and Sinai, some extent might be. make their way up and down the relocated funicular in downtown Los Angeles. The two tracks MTA is going ahead with Red Line tunnel share a common center rail, except at the midway passing point. ing under the Hollywood Hills despite legal threats from homeowners fearful of the blast ing and disruption of aquifers. The 2.5-mile SEATTLE previous measure did pass in the city of Seat tunnel wi ll link Hollywood with Universal City. tle, there is room for cautious hope. The Red Line extension from Mac Arthur It's Back: Light Rail, Commuter Rail Park to Wilshire and Western is to open July SAN FRA NCISCO 16. And the 6.5-mile Hollywood subway final Hurting from the 53-47 percent defeat of last ly resumed construction in February after last year's $6.7 billion rail h'ansit plan, the Regional Turnback to Open in September? June's startling tunnel collapse at Hollywood Transit Authority is going back to the voters Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, which was Nov. 5 with a scaled-down, $3.7 billion proposal For years workers have been toiling to build San blamed on the previous contractor. that drastically reduces the rail portion and em Francisco Muni's $202 million Metro Turnback phasizes high-occupancy vehicle freeway lanes. project to correct a 20-year old design mistake; PORTLAND But the plan, which analysts give a better now comes word that it will open in September. chance of passage, does call for a $1.4 billion, Howevel; in "Muniland," such promises always More Woes lor Willamette Tr olley 16-mile light rail line linking Boeing Field to rate a question mark until they actually happen. the University District via downtown. And it At present, the five Muni LRT lines (J, K, Early February rainstorms, followed by flood would establish commuter rail along Burling L, M, N) terminate at the stub-end under ing, dealt more trouble to the Willamette ton Northern Santa Fe tracks between Ev ground Embarcadero Station, a bottleneck Shore Trolley tourist line; however, the line erett, Seattle, and Tacoma/Lakewood at a that often delays service on the five lines with was expected to resume partial operations on cost of $669 million. their 125,000 weekday riders. When the Turn March 30. A new landslide buried a 50-foot The new proposal, drafted by staffers af back opens, the tracks will continue in a new section of track on the heels of earlier land ter extensive public hearings, was presented tunnel surfaces at the Embarcadero-Folsom in slips, which had tossed debris onto the tracks on March 23 and may be fine-tuned before tersection. Some cars will terminate at a near four times over the past year. the election; but apparently the plans for by underground railyard; others will continue Willamette Shore Trolley planned to use a light and commuter rail are pretty well set. on to a new terminus near the CalTrain station Blackpool double-decker, towing a generator Electric LRT would tunnel under First Hill, at Fourth and King streets. trailer plying the southern half of the line, while Capitol Hill, and the Ship Canal after passing Plans for extending CalTrain to a telminal at the northern half is repaired, hopefully with the through the 1.3-mile downtown bus tunnel, the site of the present Transbay Bus Terminal help of a Federal Emergency Management Agen opened in 1990 with streetcar tracks installed have advanced with approval by the Peninsula cy grant to the city of Lake Oswego. More than to allow for future LRT operation. On the Corridor Joint Powers Board. This would re a mile of the line was under water on Feb. 9. south end, LRT would use private right-of-way quire a nine-block extension (two-thirds of it Th anks /0 Julian Wo linsky, Eli Bail, Jim to reach Boeing Field and on the north end underground) of CalTrain tracks from the Wa lker, William D. Middle/on, Steve Mor could be later extended to the Northgate area. Fourth and King sh'eets tenninal, which would gan, Charles Ve rcelli, RTN, WHEEL CLICKS, By giving suburbanites enhanced freeways continue as a stop interfacing with Muni LRT. and SEATrLE PosT-INTELLlGENCER. and HOV lanes and inner-city voters LRT, The Peninsula Conidor Joint Powers Board RTA is attempting to craft a winner. Since the also wants to build an adjoining bus terminal G. Mac Sebree 58-May 1998 RAIL NEWS Illinois Central NEW FACILITIES From Champaign, the former Havana District still plies westward 10 miles to Seymour. In Baton Rouge District addition to other industry traffic on the west UNION PACIFIC POWER side of Champaign, the branch serves grain el Historical Roster of Diesel, Plans have been made to build a bulk transload evators at Seymour and Bondville generating Tu rbine and Electric Locomotives ing and storage facility adjacent to Illinois Cen about 50 carloads of grain per month. Also tral's Baton Rouge District and the Mississippi near Champaign, IC serves a large grain eleva River in rural St. james Parish in southern tor at Rising, 111., (on Conrail's Pekin Sec Vo lume 1: Diesel Cabs Louisiana. The 180-acre facility will handle fer ondary) shipping about two to four unit grain 1934 - 1962 tilizer, liquid bulk, ore, coal, and coke and will trains per month. Also busy this season is the transload these commodities between trains and fragment of the former Gruber Line (original barges or ocean-going vessels. The driving force Charter Line) from Clinton north to Hey behind this project is the construction of a plant worth, III., where a busy Cargill elevator fills on adjacent property that produces direct-re many carloads. duced iron (DRI). The DRI plant would receive raw materials from the bulk facility via rail, and ST. LOUIS then ship finished products via rail to mills served by IC in jackson, Miss., Memphis, Ten n., Operations Change and Kankakee, III. The $50 million project is to be completed by mid- 1997. Significant changes have taken place with IC's St. Louis-area operations. Intermodal trains OPERATIONS 105/106 now operate between Chicago and East St. Louis via the Gilman District to Tr affic Up Springfield, 111., and the Gateway Western Rail way from Springfield to Venice Yard via Rood Lately, traffic on IC's jackson, Miss., to Mo house, III. Both trains depart at midnight: 105 by bile, Ala., Beaumont District has been higher from the Moyers Intermodal Terminal and 106 Dick Winegar than usual, hosting up to a dozen trains per from Venice Yard. The trains usually meet in day. The only regular freights include mani Springfield around 6 a.m., where IC and Gate • Unit by unit roster of fests JAMO/MOjA (Jackson-Mobile), inter way We stern crews swap trains and return modal trains 109/1 10, and a local wayfreight. home. Regular manifests ESME/MEES (East Alco, EMC, EMD, FM, The increased traffic is primarily attributed to St. Louis-Memphis, Tenn.) now handle all St. and GE cabs. unit coal train movements to power plant Louis-Memphis intermodal traffic. Southbound • Unit by unit history including stockpiles in Mobile, Ala., and Moss Point, ESME now departs East St. Louis at 2 a.m., Miss. (on the Mississippi Export Railroad). laying over at Fulton, Ky. , for eight hours, be renumbering, rebuilding and Most coal now comes from low-sulfur western fore arriving in Memphis after midnight. MEES disposition. mines, and the locomotives often run through now leave Memphis at 7:30 a.m., laying over • Complete UP rosters for: on these trains, providing a colorful alternative (for approximately 12 hours) at Fulton, to to basic IC black. Locomotives from Burling leave behind Amtrak No. 58, the City of New May 1947 ton Northern Santa Fe, Kansas City Southern, Or/eons, and arrive in East St. Louis on the June 1957 Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Wiscon second day at approximately 9:30 a.m. October 1965 sin Central (operating under the guise of SP) appear on these trains. The heavy traffic has DEPOT NOTES • Spotting features - body proved challenging to dispatch as this panels, fa ns and pilots. unsignalled route operates using track permits, Gilman to Close and features infrequent, short sidings. • 185 pages with photos. With signal changes nearing completion, the BRANCH LINES Gilman, 111., depot is expected to be closed by the end of May, with all operations transferred Only $29.95 Grain Tr affic Booming to the dispatcher at Desk 2 at the Homewood plus $4.00 shipping/handling (III.) Operations Control Center. Gilman is Grain prices are reaching record levels, and considered the last "outpost" on the Illinois Order from: grain elevator operators have found they can Central; the operator here controlled the junc afford to ship even more grain by rail than tion between IC's Chicago and Gilman Dis Willamette Falls Publications they did in the past. This winter even eleva tricts and their crossing of the To ledo Peoria & 11831 S.W. 3rd tors that normally do not see much rail ser Western Railway. Until the early 1990s, the Beaverton, Oregon 97005 vice were relatively busy, while the big unit operator handled all of the Centralized Traffic train customers were even more so. In Central Control between Kankakee, 111., and Gilman. Illinois, a few little-known branch lines have The depot building will remain in service for come to life. These left-over stubs were once maintenance-oF-way purposes only. Ironically, part of IC's vast web of trackage that blanket Amtrak does not stop at IC's Gilman Depot, ed the state. At Ranto ul, 111., the former but rather at a small bus-stop style "Amshack" Rantoul District runs west about seven miles at the south edge of town near U.S. 24. to a large elevator at Dewey, 111., shipping Thanks to: Doug Butzow, Danny Johnson, about four 60-car trainloads per week. This Mark S. Lambert, Mark Llanuza, Jon Ramo, line also runs east of Rantoul about four miles and Pf. Gratz. to Dillsburg, 111., where an elevator there has produced a handful of carloads this season. Erik Coleman Pacific RAILNEWS· 59 RAIL NEWS Wisconsin Central Bob Jones noted, "It's part of our plan. It's good business and it's the right thing to do." Concerns regarding the potentially explo sive nature of the burning cargo greatly ham pered clean-up efforts. At first the situation was deemed too dangerous to combat, and a decision was made to let the fire burn out. More than two weeks after the derailment, a skilled demolition expert performed a con trolled detonation of the derailed propane tankers eliminating the risk of violent, un planned explosion. This allowed WC and wreck clean-up specialists from Hulcher to fi nally clear the wreckage and Weyauwega's outermost residents to return to their homes. WC reopened its line by March 19, and all the remaining evacuees were back in their homes by March 22. While the official cause of the derailment has not been determined, a broken rail is the suspected culprit. DETOURS Three Weeks of Reroutes With the western portion of the Neenah Sub JeU Hampton out of service for the better part of three weeks as a result of the derailment, WC ar On March 13, 1996, eastbound Wisconsin Central ore load rolls through Columbus, Wis., on CP Rail. ranged alternate routings for many trains that WC detoured on CP while its main line was closed because d' the derailment at Weyauwega, Wis. normally traverse the line. The Superior, Wis., to Chicago iron ore trains were most severely hampered, and two routes were used to detour WEYAUWEGA tank cars of propane/liquefied propane gas and them. Loaded trains were routed primarily via two tankers loaded with sodium hydroxide. The the Superior Sub to Junction City, then south The Details cars carrying propane ignited immediately, and on the Valley Sub to the CP Rail connection at !lames quickly spread to a nearby feed mill and New Lisbon, where the trains headed east on Monday, March 4, 1996, began like any other convenience store. The prompt response of the former Milwaukee Road, Tomah, and Wa late winter morning in central Wisconsin. It L022's train crew put emergency response tertown Subs to Duplainville, Wis. At Du was partly cloudy with temperatures in the sin teams into action almost immediately, led by plainville, specially assigned WC locomotives gle digits when the Wisconsin Central crew for Weyauwega Fire Department Incident Com coupled onto the rear of the detour trains and local freight L022-04 reported for duty at mander Jim Baehman and Wisconsin Central pulled them around the wye. The weight of Stevens Point around 4 a.m. The crew brought Ltd's Terry Corson from WC's Operations Con the ore trains resulted in the engines remain its two locomotives, SD45 6525 and GP40 trol Group. All residents within two miles of ing on the rear of the trains to assist the trains 3003, from the locomotive servicing area into the derailment were evacuated. Fortunately, the up the short grade through Waukesha. the yard, coupled onto an 81-car train (assem derailment did not result in any injuries. Empty trains followed their normal routing bled from connecting trains T004, T006, and Bob Jones, WC's assistant vice president, via the Chicago and Neenah Subs to Neenah, TOI4), and completed air brake testing; and the was getting ready for work at the railroad's gen then used the Shawano Sub to Argonne, Wis., L022-04 departed Stevens Point at 5 a.m., des eral offices in Rosemont when he was alerted and then operated westward on the Bradley tined for Neenah, Wis. With no other trains be about the derailment by the dispatcher's office Sub to Ladysmith, Wis., to rejoin their normal tween Stevens Point and Neenah, the crew had in Stevens Point. Jones had developed disaster route on the Superior Sub for the remainder a straight shot. Howevel� an hour after leaving procedures for the WC, and the time had come of the run to Superior. As detours entered the Stevens Point, the train rolled through to put those plans into action. By 8 a.m., WC second week, the Valley Sub/CP Rail routing Weyauwega (about 27 miles west of Neenah) began contacting hotels and motels within 30 was also used by Stevens Point-Shops Yard and derailed at Wisconsin Highway 110 and miles of the disaster to secure lodging for all trains T002 and T008, which had their blocks Waupaca County Road X crossing (just north evacuees. By nightfall, officials were dispatched (car cuts) adjusted to carry primarily Milwau of central Weyauwega) creating an emergency to the area to handle claims and reassure resi kee and Chicago cars that were then set out at situation affecting 1,650 residents. dents that the railroad would cover all expenses Duplainville and Waukesha respectively. Cars 19 through 53 (counting back from the associated with the derailment and evacuation. The L022/L023 local trains working be locomotives) derailed, including 14 pressutized These costs included lodging, payrolls and rev tween Stevens Point and Neenah and most of enues of affected businesses, inspections and the T002ITOO 1 road trains ended up taking the structural damages to homes, expenses of the long way around the derailment; they were NORTH AMERICAN RAILROADS VOL. 1 American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, routed over the Superior Sub between Stevens SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER ...$24.95 and damages to farm property and livestock. Point and Junction City, Wis., then onto the 500 full color photos on CD ROM (reg. $29.95) Weyauwega residents and officials appreciated Valley Sub north towards Bradley, and east over Photos of trains, yards. structures, and bridges on the BN, we, u�, CP, RI, WC's quick and thorough response to the de the Bradley Sub to Argonne for the final leg of MILW. CNW, 500, CGW, MAL. and more. For Windows and Macmtosh. railment. Weyauwega Mayor Judy Weismall the detour southward on the Shawano Sub to (612) 782-6982 B & B Products Co., 1325 42nd Ave. N.E., Minneapolis, MN 55421 said, "[The WC] stepped right up and they've Neenah. Most of the Stevens Point-Green Bay Add $5 Shipping. MN Res. add 6-112 percent Sales Tax. been there for people on a regular basis." WC's FL088/FL089 trains also used this routing, but SO-May 1995 several of these trains (as well as some of the Stevens Point-Shops Yard TOOS/T007 trains) were routed south on the Valley Sub from Junc tion City to South Necedah, where they were detoured via UP's former Chicago & North Western Eau Claire Sub (the Adams Line) east ward towards BJ (north of Butler Yard near Mil waukee). The trains then continued east on the Milwaukee Sub to Wiscona and the junction of "The Trains of Te hachapi" the Granville Branch for the 7. I-mile trip to the This videotape won't show you all the scenic cOlU1ection with Fox Valley & Western's West highlights of Te hachapi, but it will show you Bend Sub used to reach Shops Yard at North the incredible number of Santa Fe and SP Fond du Lac and Green Bay. The reroutes and trains that ran over Te hachapi in a 24-hour detours ended on March 20, when WC re period in October 1995. Many classic views opened the line through Weyauwega. are shown, including trains shot at Caliente and the Loop. 118 min. $29.95 FINANCIAL Earning Below Expectations "SF South of Te mple, TX" The AT &SF in Te xas has an unhurried First quarter earnings were anticipated to be pace compared to the transcontinental line. well below analysts' expectations and signifi At Te mple, the West Coast line connects "SF-NS Joint Track East of K.C." cantly below the $9.9 million earned during with the KC to Houston main. This tape Thirty miles east of Kansas City, Santa Fe the same period last year. The shortfall was at shows over 30 hrs. of action south of Te mple and Norfolk Southern share their track for a tributed to a slowing of economic activity for on SF's busiest line in Texas, in October distance of thirty miles. This joint track is the commodities handled by the railroad, plus ex 1995. 65 min. $23.95 busiest part of SF's high-speed steel freeway penses associated with fighting severe winter between Chicago and Kansas City. This tape weather conditions and the Weyauwega derail shows 25 hrs. of action on the joint track in ment-which alone will result in a $2.5 mil October 1995. 128 min. $31 .95. lion pre-tax charge to income to cover insur ance deductibles. While traffic volume rose in "Mohave Desert Thunder" March, it will not be enough to offset the low The Santa Fe's Needles subdivision hosts er than expected volume handled during the the fastest freights in the U.S., and nowhere first two months of 1996. do they run any faster than on the relatively On Feb. 24, WC announced that a WC-Ied flat track around Amboy, California. This consortium in Great Britain has acquired own tape shows 24 hrs. of incredible action on ership of British Rail's three freightload compa nies. Wisconsin Central International Inc. in the Santa Fe main line between Siberia and vested approximately $45 million for a 32 per Cadiz in October 1995. 82 min. $27.95. cent equity interest. In recognition of its leader RAILFAN & RAILROAD says that our videotape Stacks on the Middle Division ship of the consortium, the company will be "will be much sought after by historians many years from now," and that "i nfo granted options to acquire additional shares. maniacs and fo lks interested in operations wil l love this show." OPERATIONS Other recent videos (length and # of trains varies with price as above) are: New Dispatching Positions "Stacks on the Middle Division" - 24 hrs. along former Pennsy west of Harrisburg-$29.95. "CR & NS at Silver Creek" - 24 hrs. at railfan hotspot 30 miles west of Buffalo-$33.95. "The Joint Line-BN & CP at Newport"- 24 hrs. on busy joint track south of SI. Paul-$33.95. Two new dispatcher positions were added in "CN & CP Around Portage La Prairie"- 24 hrs. on both of Canada's Transcons-$29.95. January. Now in addition to the East and West "Wisconsin Central 1995"- Views around the system including 24 hrs. on Byron Hill-$27.95. Dispatchers, a North Dispatcher works daily "BN's Racetrack at Naperville"- 24 hrs. on famous BN triple track outside Chicago-$29.95. to handle operations on all of the northerly "Amqui, TN-CSX Hotspot"- 24 hrs. at busy CSX junction north of Nashville-$29.95. subdivisions, while the new Central Dispatcher "IC around Edgewood"- 24 hrs. around busy IC junction in central Illinois-$25.95. handles the former Fox River Valley West "NS East of Bluefield"- 24 hrs. on busy former N&W coal line to Roanoke in 1995-$29.95. Bend and Black Wolf Subs and the former "CSX Around Rocky Mount"- 24 hrs. around Rocky MI., N.C., on CSX Florida main in '95-$25.95. Green Bay & Western Whitehall Sub in addi "Santa Fe at Lebo" - 24 hrs. on Santa Fe main line at Lebo, Kansas, in 1994-$29.95. tion to the Neenah, Valley, and Plover Subs "The Immensity of It All II" - 1 00 trains in 24 hrs. on UP in Nebraska in 1994 (2 tapes)-$44.95. Monday through Friday. On weekends, the "Rochelle - Illinois Hotspot" - 24 hrs. on BN & CNW at Rochelle in 1993 (2 tapes)-$39.95. We st Bend Sub is handed by the North Dis patcher, while the Neenah and Black Wolf Railroading today is undergoing tremendous change, and nobody explains these Subs are taken care of by the East Dispatcher; changes as well as Big "E" Productions. If you are interested in contemporary the Valley, Whitehall, and Plover Subs go to operations or in seeing complete trains, we have the videos for you. All trains the West Dispatcher. On weekdays the East are shown in their entirety and are identified by symbol and destination. Dispatcher is solely responsible for the busy Chicago Sub, while the West Dispatcher han dles the Superior, Minneapolis, Medford, and Dresser Subs. A radio frequency change was to be be come effective during the first quarter of 1996: 160.335 will be the new road channel on the BIG "E" Productions Whitehall and Valley Subs. P. O. Box 75 Th anks to Steve Smedley, Bob lones, Art Schiller, The Associated Press, THE DAILI' Greenland, NH 03840 HERALD (fll. ), and Wisconsin Cen tral Tra ns 800-832-1228 24 hrs a day. Visa, Mastercard, Discover Card portation Company. check, or MO. Add $4.00 for shipping and handling plus $1 .00 for Mike Abalos and Ray Weart each additional tape. All tapes shipped by priority mail. VHS only. Pacific RAILNEWS-Sl RAIL NEWS Union Pacific TIDEWATER BYPASS Work Progressing For nearly 40 years, the city of Modesto, Calif., has been working to remove the former Tide water Southern main line from the center of Ninth Street. A 1995 agreement between UP, the city of Modesto, and SP will allow UP trains destined for the south end of the Tidewater Southern to operate over the SP main line be tween Lathrop and south Modesto. Construc tion began in late FeblUary on the new connec tions between the SP Fresno Line and the Tide water Southern at south Modesto (Butcher town). Installation of switches and completion of connecting tracks were finished in late March. The north end of this project at the UP SP crossing at Lathrop will feature a new con nection track allowing trains to move directly from Stockton, Calif., on the UP to the SP main line. Grain trains should be using the new con nection by June. However, UP local LCW4 1 working the Tidewater Southem from Stockton to south Modesto (it departs Stockton around 8 a.m. weekdays) may continue to use the Ninth T. Hoover Street trackage until the end of 1996. Union Pacific SD90MAC 8006 leads an eastbound coal load at Spoon Bune, Wyo. on March 14, 1996. Spoon Bune is located between Crandall, Wyo., and Joyce, Neb., on UP's Powder River Sub. ALTAMONT SLIDE Part 2 MERGER NOTES drawing immediate protection payments under Another very wet winter in northem California the New York Dock conditions. Two other siz B of LE and UTU Withdraw Opposition has again affected the UP main line into the Bay able unions, the Brotherhood of Maintenance Area over Altamont Pass. One mile west of of Way Employees and the Transportation Altamont summit (at the same location where a During March, Union Pacific reached "hand Communications Union said they would con similar problem occured last year [see May shake" agreements with the Brotherhood of tinue to oppose the merger. 1995 PRN] , a waterlogged hillside began mov Locomotive Engineers and the United Trans The National Industrial Transportation ing during the first days of March. The hillside portation Union under which the unions with League, a Washington lobbying group repre began moving slowly at first, raising UP's track drew their opposition to the planned Southern senting shippers, announced on March 21 that structure by only a few inches each day; howev Pacific merger. While most details were not di it would oppose the merger unless UP agrees er the movement accelerated, and the track was vulcred the B of LE said that UP had agreed to to sell several key lines: SP's Houston-New raised by four feet in two days by March 7. To tre t t e 1,023 engineers likely to be adversely : h Orleans line; SP's Houston-St. Louis line; SP provide temporary trackage, UP maintenance affected by the merger as severed employees, trackage from Houston to Flatonia to Placedo, employees reinstalled the shoo-fly track put in rather than requiring each engineer to prove Texas, with trackage rights to BrownSVIlle and place last year (featuring sharp, 10-degree he or she had lost employment or pay. This from Flatonia to Eagle Pass, Texas; and SP curves), using part of the abandoned Southern would allow each affected employee to begin trackage from Denver/Pueblo to orthern � Pacific right-of-way. The track will be restraig�lt California, along with trackage nghts to ened later this summer when the ground dnes Kansas City. Presumably NITL wants someone out. Meanwhile, all trains have a 10 mph slow other than Burlington Northern Santa Fe to order through the area. MOBILE GAIN acquire this trackage; it "concluded over whelmingly that the trackage rights gra�ted by BRANCH LINE NOTES Union Pacific to the BNSF do not proVIde for ANTENNA effective competition in key areas." Reno Branch Update Tu ned to Railroad Band Tn a joint news release issued March 8, the Th e one you 've heard about! Ports of Tacoma and Seattle announced their The northern half of the former Western Pacif • Increased range agreement supporting the UP-SP merger. The ic Reno Branch (a steeply graded segment of • 5/8 wave, 3db gain parties agreed to improve port ac�ess from the former Nevada-California-Oregon narrow • Tuned for optimum Sensitivity, gauge line) may no longer be jeopardi ed by 160-161 Mhz. UP's Seattle Sub and expand capacIty across ;;; • Magnetic mount UP's lines to Chicago, with the proviso that the proposed UP-SP merger. [n the 1111tlal passenger trains would not be squeezed out by merger filing, the northern 19 miles of the ���:pt:G growth in freight volume. Seattle and Tacoma Reno Branch were scheduled for abandonment Specify scanner type represent the second largest market for con in favor of reconnecting the south end of the We specialize in all railroad communications. tainer traffic in the United States, trailing only Reno Branch to the SP main line in downtown $62 Reno. Now because of engineering and opera 901 -755-1514 Southern California; 50 percent of the traffic @ Railcom handled through these ports originates or ter tional problems with the long-unused UP-SP Box 38881 , Germantown, TN 381 83 minates in the Midwest or on the East Coast. connection at Reno and the daily volume of 82-May 1998 loaded LPG tankcars destined for an unloading UP stored its leased Amtrak F40PHs in early site on the north edge of Reno, UP has decided March before returning them to the passenger ��Y Co. Pacific RAILNEWS.S3 CO MMENTARY The Last Word • • • With Ed Ripley All of these mistakes are similar to the mental er rors that we make too often around the home. Each could have been nullified with greater care, fore sight, and devotion to duty. But when lapses are not avoided on a railroad, their consequences dwarf the minor household annoyances most of us experience It's Up to You from time to time. DURING THE DISASTROUS MONTH of February 1996 and continuing into March, missteps such as these led to an embarrassing, costly, and deadly series of railroad accidents across the country, from northern New Jersey to Cajon Pass to the small town of Weyauwega, Wis., which had to be evacuated for weeks after a string of propane-filled tank cars de railed on the Wisconsin Central. Anyone who has helped operate a railroad can em pathize with the feelings of those who are charged with finding out why these accidents occurred, and trying to make sure they don't happen again. I've watched paramedics and coroners remove bodies from railroad wrecks, blood-soaked remains so com pletely crushed and disfigured as to make ob elvers physically sick. I've had to call relatives to inform them that an employee near and dear to them wouldn't be coming home again. I've sat in those end less safety meetings with a bunch of other weary man agers, trying to think of some process, some method, some inducement to help employees overcome those David Palmer all too-powerful human traits of physical and mental laziness that sometimes lead to these horrible results. Anermath 01 the latal wreck between Amtrak's Capitol limited and a MARC commuter train. And of course we never did come up with any magic bullet. Accidents can be avoided, in my view, only by improving the mental conditioning, or olling out of bed in the early morning dark toughness, of the people who operate, maintain, and ness of your room, you slip on a worn throw supply railroads. Employees must be trained not only rug, which you should have thrown away to do everything the right way-every time-but also months ago, and tumble to the floor. Reaching for to develop the attitude that they will do everything ailroads Rthe newspaper at breakfast, you tip over the orange right and follow the rules-every time. But training R juice, slopping a sticky mess on the floor. Backing the won't produce an immediate payoff, and progress generally car out of the driveway, you are distracted by oncom will always be incremental. ing traffic and knock down the garbage can, spewing It would be incorrect to conclude, on the basis of trash into the street. this rash of accidents, that there hasn 't been any regard the These everyday mishaps could have been avoided. progress. Railroad safety has improved dramatically You could have noticed that the rug was getting slip in the decades since I entered the industry, partly be FHA as a pery underfoot. You could have been more careful at cause of the railroads' massive investment in up the wheel of your car. You could have eliminated graded track and modern rolling stock. There aren't these hazards. But like 99 percent of your fe llow hu many Rock Islands out there today. Safety starts bureaucratic mans, your impatience, procrastination, and lack of with good fundamentals, and contemporary rail foresight led to accidents and losses-minor annoy roads generally provide their employees with ade nuisance that ances, true, but accidents and losses nonetheless. quate tools to do their work. Now put yourself on the payroll of a railroad or Another reason railroads are statistically safer rail supplier. After rail rolls out of the mill with ther now than in the 1960s and 1970s is that the employ takes lorever mal stresses or metallurgical problems, or develops ee count has declined precipitously by any mea flaws undetected by the railroad's engineering de sure-total number of employees, employees per to accomplish partment, it cracks in pieces under the weight of a train, and employees per million gross ton miles. train. Relieved that the air test is finally good on a When fewer people are assigned to work a train, cold, wet night, the carman doesn't see a kink in an there are fewer people who can get hurt when some anything airhose or a heat-discolored wheel. The train crew, thing goes wrong. Getting rid of cabooses, for exam having been over the hill a thousand times before ple, has had a positive effect. For every derailment without incident, doesn't bother to activate the rear prevented by an alert employee spotting a sticking end device that permits the engineer to apply air brakeshoe or a shifted load from a caboose, there has brakes from the back of the train before starting over probably been more than one injury from slack ac the crest. The engineer forgets the previous signal in tion, derailment, or that most dreaded of caboose dication and rolls past what should have been a re rider's nightmares-the rear-end collision. stricting signal at track speed, right into the path of Railroads also have learned from their past mis an oncoming passenger train. takes by adopting or revising operating rules to pre- 64.May 1996 vent their reoccurrence. There's a body behind duction in air pressure in the train line. The every rule, according to an old (and unfortu benefit is that ECP brakes set up immediately nately true) industry saying. Aside from the and uniformly, rather than slowly from front to unpleasant duty of cleaning up wrecks, rail back as is the case when brakes are controlled roads have powerful incentives to operate by air pressure. As a result, ECP brake safely. Railroad accidents cost money and dis equipped trains can stop within a shorter dis Coming in the rupt service to shippers, much more so than tance. Tests of an ECP brake-equipped stack the errors the competition commits. Smashing train on Union Pacific, for example, yielded an up a truck usually makes one customer angry; average stopping distance reduction of 30 to derailing an intermodal train could make 40 percent, and as much as 70 percent on the June hundreds of customers mad. 2.2 percent descending grade of Cima Hill. The Of course, there has been a regulatory di faster crews can stop trains, the more likely mension to safety ever since an earlier, and they will be able to avoid potential disasters. worse, series of disasters prodded Congress in The swift and even response of ECP brakes to creating the Federal Railroad Administra should also permit substantial reductions in Pacilic tion. The FRA acts as the beat cop assigned to brakeshoe and wheel wear, saving the railroads watch the industry and make sure it acts in a money. Technical issues, such as feeding elec responsible manner. It has established a book trical power to each car to operate the control full of regulations governing everything from valve, have yet to be resolved. RailNews air brake tests to operating speeds to the placement of handholds on cars . The FRA POSITIVE TRAIN SEPARATION SYSTEMS would like sends inspectors onto railroad property to wise use electronics to increase the safety of make sure all equipment that doesn't meet its railroad operations. The idea is to use the Glob regulatory mechanical standards is repaired or al Positioning System satellites deployed by the sidelined. Until recently, the FRA even Department of Defense to relay the location of charged the railroads for this activity. each train to a dispatching centel; where com puters would monitor the movement of all this RAILROADS GENERALLY REGARD the FRA as a bu equipment and remotely apply the brakes to reaucratic nuisance that takes forever to accom prevent collisions. The primary problem de plish anything. Case in point: the FRA pub signers of a GPS-based control system have to lished tules requiring railroads to use two-way face is that even the most precise location end-of-train devices on most trains in 1993, but measurements-which, for national security the agency still hadn't formally adopted them reasons, are currently available only to the before the Cajon Pass derailment. Too bad-the military-are accurate only within 50 feet. new rules, if followed, could have prevented That's not focused enough to detect which of that wreck from OcculTing. two or more multiple tracks a train is on. But There's no question that the latest series the installation of fixed monuments at siding of disasters will turn the public spotlight on locations may overcome this obstacle. FRA's perceived failings. Two accidents in The potential safety benefits of PTS sys volved commuter trains, and there's no tems are enormous. Even if an engineer falls quicker way to make members of Congress asleep or is stricken by a heart attack, the sys sit up and take notice of railroad issues than tem would prevent his train from colliding to involve commuters. For instance, Rep. Su with another. The economic ramifications are san Molinari (R.-N.Y.), chairman of the staggering as well. PTS would render conven House Railroad Subcommittee, ripped FRA tional signals obsolete and allow management PRN goes to up and down for sitting on years-old rule to control operations in "dark" territory (rail making proposals before beginning a series of road lines without signals) with the same pre hearings about the accidents. It's likely a cision as on lines equipped with Centralized Washington chastised FRA will emerge from these in Traffic Control. Railroads could safely reduce quiries with enhanced powers to write new train crews from two persons to one, or even safety rules and a directive to complete the none, although I wouldn't want to be around -Fred Matthews takes process on a tight timetable. when the first Section 6 notice (the notice un Even if the new rules turn out to be costly, der the Railway Labor Act to commence bar a look back at the thoughtful railroad managers know the indus gaining) making that proposal shows up at the try is better off, at least in some ways, with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers or the GN, Np, sPas, and FRA than it would be without it. The FRA re United Transportation Union. jects a number of rules proposed by the public Neither ECP brakes nor PTS systems, Milwaukee Road main and the unions which the industry considers though, will prove a cure-all. They won't pre unwarranted, and the agency's existence pre vent defects in rails, wheels and axles from lines in washington vents the states from adopting 50 different sets causing derailments. They won't keep ignorant of railroad regulations that would be a night motorists from challenging trains at grade mare to keep track of, not to mention obey. crossings. They won't even keep veteran rail -Ben Bachman's The public emphasis on preventing a recur roaders from forgetting the safety rules and rence of this series of wrecks may speed the stepping right in front of a moving train with Pugetopolis: A look introduction of two technologies that hold the out looking-and, yes, I've had to deal with promise of improved railroad safety: electroni two such cases in my career. at modern railroading cally controlled pneumatic brakes and positive The issue of railroad safety will always train separation systems. come right back to the diligence of the person in the urban Seattle Several railroaders have told me that ECP nel operating, maintaining, and supplying the brakes, which go by a variety of trade names, railroad. Employees must know how to per Ta coma region represent the biggest technological break form their jobs safely. They must have the through in railroading since diesel propulsion. tools to get the work done. And they have to What ECP systems do is control the applica have the mental determination to ignore short To subscribe, call tion of air brakes throughout a train instanta cuts and take the safe course, day after day af neously through electronics, replacing the pre ter day. As that old safety slogan aptly advises, sent procedure of setting brakes through a re- in the end, "It's up to you." PRN f800) 210-221 1 Pacific RAILNEWS.S5 SAN DIEGO TROLLEY INAUGURAL run on Old RAILROAD VIDEOS: 2-hr. VHS tapes. Vol. No. I & 2 Town Line: June 8, 1996; covers entire system with shop (Soo/WC/CNW/BN). Vol. No. 3 (BN & CNW at EXCHANGE Classifieds tour and new SD 100 cars. Information LSASE: Rochelle, Illinois)' Vo l. No. 4 (All Soo), Vol. No. 5 (All SDERyA, Box 89068, San Diego, CA 92 1 38-9068. BN), Vol. No. 6 (Cajon Pass), and includes stereo cas Phone George Geyer (6 19) 284-0998. 389-390 sette tape with each video. Ten percent donation to SAME LOW PRICE: 30e a word/S7.50 per issue FOBNR. $25.95 each, plus S3.50 S/1-1. WI orders add minimum. Payment in advance. PRN reserves the right GREAT COLORADO RAILROAD EXPEDITIONS! 5.5 percent tax. Green Block Productions, 3609 Milwau to edit all copy and refuse any listings. Ads cannot be Join the West's most comprehensive "High Iron" tours kee Street, Madison, WI 53714. 390 acknowledged, nor can proof copies be sent. Closing on multi-day 4x4 expeditions. Ride up to six of Col date: two months before issue date. Count all numbers, OJ'ado's historic and modern railroads. Travel to historic CALIFORNIA BY TRAIN, BUS & FERRY. Visit hun name, and address. Home/office street address and railroad sites and drive abandoned railroad grades dreds of destinations by rail. Color maps and detailed lo telephone number must accompany order. Mail to: amidst spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery. First-class cal transit inFormation. $18.95 postpaid to CTP. P.O. Classifieds, Pentrex Publishing, P. O. Box 379, lodging, great meals, museums, all excursions included. Box 6427. Whittier. CA 90609. 383-397 Waukesha, WI 53187. Limited seating, reserve early! American West Expedi tions, P.O. Box 2975. Durango, CO 81302. (800) 770- TED ROSE WATERCOLORS. Original paintings avail able or commission the artist to create custom art. Con NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1886. E-mail: [email protected] 390-391 tact: Ted Rose, P.O. Box 266. Santa Fe, NM 87504. America's Leader in Rail History, Preservation, and En SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RAIL MAPS/GUIDES: (505) 983-948 1. 374-397 joyment. For information about membership in the soci Choose Cajon, Te hachapi, Los Angeles, San Diego Surf, ety (or any of our 167 chapters in the United States, just $1 1.95 ea. plus S3 S&H. Steel Rails West, P.O. Box Canada, and England), just write to the following ad 591 17, Norwalk. CA 90652. 388-390 dress. 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Travel the entire route in a marvelous public relations documentary filmed during the 1950s when the California Zephyr was at the peak of its popularity. Rare footage shows the California Zephyr speeding from Chicago to Oakland behind CB&Q E-units and powerful F-units of the Denver & Rio Grande and Western Pacific. Historic images taken from trackside capture the beautiful train against scenic vistas of amazing variety. The famous loca tions visited along the route offer travelers non stop entertainment. Enjoy a complete tour of the Zephyr's luxuri ous vista domes, lounge cars, dining cars, coaches, and sleeping cars. From Chicago to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, step back to the time when elegant passenger trains were the preferred mode of travel and the California Zephyr was the Queen of the Fleet! Color. 30 Minutes #VR003 Retail value $29.95 Special Price ju st $9.95 Offer Expi res June 30, 1996 Check or Money Order Visa/MasterCard Discover/American Express Please add $4.00 shipping per order, plus $1.00 for each additional item. Canadian customers add $5.00 shipping per order, plus $1.00 for each additional Item. All other International customers add $10.00 per item. California residents please add 8.25% sales tax Order Line: 800-950-9333 24 Hours A Day FAX 818-793-3797 MAG6 P.O. Box 9491 1, Pasadena, CA 91 1 09-491 1 CA LL OR WRITE FOR FREE CA TALOG INDIANA _MAINLINES Shot over a 3-year period, Volume I of CSX's Indiana Mainlines covers the routes of the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The firstsegment followsthe Sf. Louis line from Vincennes to Lawrenceburg. The second segment includes freight and passenger action on the line from Indianapolis to Liberty. The third segment begins with a brief look ofaction in Chicago before heading east for Wellsboro, Walkerton, Nappanee, Bremen, Garrett, and Indo. Volume I of CSX's Indiana Mainlines features the eclectic losh-ups typical of CSX, high-speed freight and passenger trains, and some surprises! 120 minutes • $35 • VHS Color with Live Audio and Narration
Prn 199605.Pdf
