A Special Issue Of

PASSENGER TRAIN JOURNAL

nllual AND USER'S GUIDE FOR 1992

For the first time, the e ditors of Passenger Train .; Journal bring you a complete update on

the North American light rail scene in one 64-page publication: the 1992

Light Rail Annual and User's Guide!

City after city is adopting light rail- it's the rail success stQry of the decade! Don't be without this comprehensive publication, the first of its kind ever released. Centerpiece is the User's Guide, documenting in photos and statistics every light rail system and heritage trolley operation in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Contains complete rosters of cars, line listings, and det.ailed maps.

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A southbound Rio Grande AICLC coal train visits Colorado's Air Force Academy in June 1 984. R.C. Farewell

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NEWS

20 BN's West End Coal trains abound on this double-track route into Galesburg

Darren K. Hill

32 Santa Fe's Barstow Diesel Shops An inside look at a state-of-the-art locomotive facility

David C. Crammer

38 Focus Texas: Austin Discover railroading in the Lone Star State's overlooked city

Carl M. Lehman

40 Focus Colorado: Air Force Academy Great scenery, lots of trains and it's not off-limits to railfans

R.C. Farewell

50 Images: The Wide-Nose Revolution Crew comfort cabs are everywhere in the West these days

I DEPARTMENTS I 4 EXPEDITER 6 UNION PACIFIC 8 AMTRAK/PASSENGER

10 CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN 12 REGIONALS 14 SOO LINE 15 CANADA WEST 16 SANTA FE 18 BURLINGTON NORTHERN

19 SHORT LINES 38 FOCUS TEXAS 40 FOCUS COLORADO 45 SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 47 TRANSIT 50 IMAGES OF RAILROADING 54 THE LAST WORD 55 PRN ADVERTISING INDEX 55 PRN CLASSIFIEDS

COVER: In May 1 992, an eastbound Burlington Northern coal train glides down the 1 . 1 8 percent hill into Burlington, Iowa, on the little-photographed West End. C30-7 5532 and two roster mates power the train which, in minutes, will thread its way through downtown and cross the Mississippi River into Illinois en route to Galesburg. Tom Danneman

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LLI 4 • AUGUST 1 992

Two of the three former Transcisco F45s-power for the defunct Sierra 4ger ExpreS9-Sold to short line Wisconsin Southern have emerged from Wisconsin Central's North Fond du Lac shops repainted for their new owner. The 1 002 and 1 003 make up train 4 1 8 at Horicon, Wis., on June 1 9, 1 992, before departing on their first trip to Milwaukee. The third unit, 1 00 1 , is still undergoing repairs and repainting at the WC shop. Tom Kidd

SHORT ·LlVED STRIKE: Two days after it began, Congress stepped in to end a strike that paralyzed the nation's rail system. President Bush signed legislation at 1: 02 a.m. June 26, ordering a return to work for the duration of a 38-day negotiating period.

Trains stopped rolling after midnight on June 24, when the International Association of Machinists struck CSX. Most major freight railroads responded to the CSX strike by halting operations. Soo Line, whose workers are covered by local contracts, continued to run trains throughout the dispute. Prior to the strike deadline, Amtrak canceled or shortened the runs of most long-distance trains. Once the dispute started, Amtrak suspended all operations, except for Northeast Corridor and Chicago-Milwaukee (Soo Line) service.

Union Pacific joined the other Western giants in suspending through freights and yard operations on June 24, but UP said it would continue operat-

ing the Seattle solid waste train-which is required to move by contract.

The legislation that ended the shutdown established a 35-day cooling-off period during which negotiatiations will continue. Twenty-five days into the process,labor and management will present their best offers. At the end of the 35-day period, an arbitrator will chose the best offer and use it as the final settlement. The settlement will be forwarded to the president, who has three days to accept or reject the deal. If accepted, it will become an approved contract. If not, unions will regain their right to go on strike, and railroads regain their right to impose a lockout.

Although brief, the rail shutdown cost the nation $1 billion each day, according to some economists. Railroads move two-thirds of the new cars produced in the United States, more than half the lumber used for construction and coal used for producing 60 percent of the nation's electricity.

SANTA FE'S BIG DEAL: On June 18, eight southern California transportation agencies announced that they had reached an agreement to buy 340 miles of Santa Fe right-ofway and other property for $500 million. The properties will likely be conveyed in three closings during the next year.

The agreement brings the Southern California Metrolink commuter system a giant step closer to completion, clears the way for extension of the Blue line light rail system from Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal to Pasadena and allows Santa Fe to retain trackage rights necessary to continue its extensive freight operations in the area. As part of the agreement, the transportation agencies involved agreed to pay for more than $80 million in capital improvements to boost capacity on the San Bernardino, Olive and San Diego subdivisions. The multicounty Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA) is also obligated to provide

double track through Santa I Ana Canyon, probably extend

ing between Esperanza and at least Corona. SCRRA also gained trackage rights on the San Bernardino Sub, from San Bernardino via Fullerton to Redondo Junction.

The Southern California lines acquired from Santa Fe include: • Pasadena Sub, San Bernardino-Los Angeles.

I ·San Diego Sub, Fullerton-San Diego. • Olive Sub, Atwood-Orange. ·Escondido Sub, OceansideEscondido. ·San Jacinto Sub, HighgroveSan Jacinto. ·Redlands Sub, San Bernar-dino-Mentone. ·Harbor Sub, Redondo-Wilmington. ·Mission Tower-Redondo Junction (in L.A.).

NORTH WOODS CHEMICAL SPILL: Sixty thousand residents of the Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis., area were evacuated in the early morning hours of June 30 after a Burlington Northern freight train derailed on the Nemadji River bridge, five miles south of Superior, spilling a benzenebased chemical into the river. The accident caused a fish kill and sent a bluish-white chemica! plume over the nearby cities, but no serious injuries were reported. Most residents were allowed to return to their homes by evening. The 57-car freight train was bound for Minneapolis when it derailed about 2:30 a.ill. June 30. Three tank cars derailed off the bridge structure, dropping 50 feet to the river below. One of the cars, carrying a 44 percent solution of benzene, broke open on impact.

DESERT LINE WORK SUSPENDED: California's San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad, which owns the historic desert line between San Diego, Tijuana and Plaster City, has suspended efforts to reopen damaged sections of the 146-mile line. The SD&IV operates the former San Diego & Arizona Ea�tern Railway line under contract from the current owner, San Diego's Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB). The board bought the line in 1979 to expand the San Diego Trolley to El Cajon, La Mesa and San Ysidro.

Service across the desert

came to a halt in 1983, after two of the railroad's 17 trestles were damaged by fire. Fire struck again four years later, this time collapsing two tunnels northeast of Jacumba. The two bridges were replaced and insurance provided $7.5 million to reopen one of the tunnels, but that money proved insufficient to complete repairs. The railroad said it will seek other sources of funding. SD&IV continues to operate freight service over the San Diego Trolley line and uses a 46-mile line into Mexico.

SP OFFERS NEW COMMUTE ROUTE: Bay Area commuters may have a new way to get to work in the future. On June 17, SP offered to allow commute trains to use 70 miles of track between Suisun City, Fairfield and Brentwood and the BART stations at Richmond and West Oakland. SP officials said trackage rights over its system would alleviate traffic on parallel interstates and would cost much less than a BART expansion. Public agencies would have to band together to sponsor the service and provide operating subsidies. The California Department of Transportation would supply locomotives and cars, possibly operated by Amtrak crews. SP said it hopes to operate a test train soon and said if all goes smoothly, six weekday-morning commute trains could be running in a year.

ABOVE: Newer UP wide-nose units have started tuming up with startling regularity on C&NW freights on the east-west main. On June 1 3, 1 992, Dash 8-40CW 9469 switches the PRNPA before departing from West Chicago, III. Steve Smedley BELOW: Since early this year, South Orient Railroad has been operating a big chunk of little-known ex-AT&SF trackage in western Texas. On May 14, 1 992, GP9s 200/20 1 pull a string of tankers through Ballinger, Texas; the train is returning to San Angelo from the AT&SF interchange at San Angelo Junction. Wes Carr

PACIF IC RAILNews • 5

A Union Pacific APL doublestack in the Blue Mountains at Kamela, Ore., on May 23, 1 992. Both APL and this mountainous line are in the news: A UP official said a congestion-easing tunnel was unlikely, even though APL may soon send more trains over this route. Lindsay Korst

Highline Reopens

The first train operated north from Keddie, Calif. , through Tunnel 2 on June 16, nearly 28 months after an arson fire collapsed the tunnel. The "Westwood Turn" picked up the week's carloads off the AImanor Railroad at Clear Creek Junction. Through trains to the BN connection at Bieber, Calif., were expected to start the week of June 21.

UP management is attempting to come to a new Highline operating agreement with its unions. The railroad would like to close Oroville as a crew-change point for Highline trains. Crews are already qualified to operate out of Portola and/or be taxied to Keddie to pick up the trains as an interdivisional run. There is once again

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6 . AUGUST 1 992

talk that UP, BN and the operating unions are trying to come to an agreement that would eliminate Bieber and allow UP crews to go all the way to Klamath Falls over BN.

E9s Go In For Rebuilding

The questions of where and when the A-B-A set of E9s owned by UP and stored in the railroad's historical locomotive collection at Cheyenne would be rebuilt have finally been answered. On June 6, E9s 951, 970-B and 949 departed Cheyenne and made their way to VMV at Paducah, Ky. Some reports suggest the two E9As will be rebuilt with a single 12-cylinder 645 prime mover rated at 2,000-h.p. with a head-end power generator set, while the 978-B will be only cosmetically restored as a slug and/or fuel trailer. In this configuration, the A-B-A set would only have 4,000 h.p., which is not quite enough to handle the occasional 28-plus car passenger trains seen in company service.

Blue Mountain Tunnel DoubHul

Following several months of silence, UP officials have commented on the prospect of drilling a tunnel under eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains. Under the proposal, UP would eliminate the traffic bottleneck caused by 34 mountainous miles west of La Grande by constructing a 12- to 15-mile tunnel that would run from near Hilgard, on the east, to near the sidings of Camp or

Duncan on the west. The May 28 edition of the LA GRANDE OBSERVER quoted La Grande Subdivision Director of Operations Phil Aylward as saying the cost of the tunnel would be $425 million and that it would take 10 years to construct. He said that it would be doubtful that the railroad would go ahead with construction-even with a positive report from the feasibility study now under way-since UP desires costs from capital improvements be recovered within three years.

Aylward also expressed doubt that running trains through a tunnel under the Blue Mountains instead of over them would bring a $140 million gain per year in income. He did mention that UP may consider double-tracking the entire line to increase capacity. Currently, UP tries to hold to a lid of 28 trains per day over the Blue Mountains-the level at which traffic flows with a minimum of problems.

Commuter Trains Over Altamont Pass?

In late May, UP operated an inspection special for officials from county governments and transportation experts over California's Altamont Pass. With the push elsewhere to start commuter services over existing rails, an ideal corridor for such a service is Modesto/Stockton to the Bay Area over Altamont Pass. As more and more people have bought homes in the San Joaquin Valley and are commuting on Interstate 580 to business parks in the Livermore Valley, in the San Jose area and even San Francisco, auto traffic has reached crisis proportions.

Starting with two or three trains operating west to the Union City BART station (next to UP's main line) in the morning and east in the evening, the trains could form the core of a much larger and muchneeded network. UP is proposing a twoyear trial run.

Hoisington Subdivision Service Cut

The 562-mile Hoisington Subdivision in Kansas and Colorado is better known as the former MoPac main line west to Pueblo, Colo., and as the current SP (D&RGW) main line between Pueblo and Herington, Kan. To UP, this line goes nowhere, provides a rival railroad with a competing main line and no longer supplies its owner with any through traffic.

The line continues to be true to its original purpose of causing problems for UP-it was built to connect the Gouldowned Missouri Pacific and D&RG nearly 108 years ago. From the completion of Western Pacific in 1909 until the UP-MPWP merger in 1982, this route was a key bypass around former Harriman empire members UP and SP.

Now, SP trains operate with trackage rights between Pueblo and Herington,

·where the SP "'Cotton Rock" line to Kansas City crosses. More than a year ago, UP applied for abandonment of 90 miles of the ex-MoPac from Osawatomie, Kan., west to Council Grove, Kan., 27 miles east of the SP crossing at Herington.

On April 16, the eastbound local LHV50 was the last train to operate over the 39 miles of track between Council Grove and Lomax. Service from Osawatomie west to Lomax and then north on the "Topeka Industrial Lead" to Overbrook will be on an as-needed basis until the abandonment is approved, or a shortline operator is found. UP will continue to operate a local train a few times per week all the way west to Pueblo and east to Council Grove out of Hoisington. Motive power will now be moved in and out of this area by way of the ex-OKT main line through Salina instead of by way of Osawatomie.

APL Renegotiates Contract; New Terminal Planned

Seven years ago, Union Pacific and American President Lines signed a landmark agreement that set off the doublestack train revolution. With three years left on the originall0-year agreement and with increasingly competitive pressures on APL's land services from other doublestack operators, UP and APL have agreed on new terms for the next three years of operations.

The renegotiated contract will save APL about $28 million per year on its UP doublestack train operations. UP is able to offer reduced costs thanks to recent labor agreements allowing just two crew members on a train instead of three. Additionally, UP is now allowed to include container traffic from other doublestack operators in APL trains. This eliminates the need to run a short doublestack train for just APL traffic.

Within four months, APL is expected to decide on where it will build a $208 million "gateway megaterminal" on the West Coast-a decision that will have wide-ranging impacts on Western railroading. This monster container terminal will be larger than anything now on the West Coast; it will require 288 acres of land and will be able to handle as many as five container ships at once. In the running for this megaterminal are the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma and Seattle. At the moment, APL moves containers through Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle.

.

In 1991, APL accounted for 16 percent of all imported container shipments and 12 percent of all exported container shipments on the West Coast, well above Number Two Sea-Land. Upon opening the new terminal, APL will move a majority of its container traffic to this new facility.

The initial leaders in this contest are Seattle and Los Angeles. Seattle, one day of transit closer to Japan than the other ports, is proposing to build an appropriate-sized facility that will include rail access onto the docks for direct ship-rail loading. Los Angeles, in spite of the cur-

rent severe congestion problems for container traffic, has already announced plans for a 288-acre site as part of its Pier 300 project which includes direct rail access. Oakland has a favorable site available and is home to APL's corporate headquarters but may loose out due to further problems dredging the ship channels in San Francisco Bay for APL's giant C-l0 container ships.

As far as possible effects on UP, the selection of Seattle or Tacoma will further aggravate congestion in the Blue Mountains. Oakland would be a good choice for UP, but a major siding extension program on the Feather River Service District would be quickly needed. In Los Angeles/Long Beach, congestion problems to and from the harbors will not be solved for nearly 10 years until the Alameda Corridor is completed.

Locomotive Notes

The search for locomotive systems that operate on alternative fuels, such as liquefied natural gas, is expanding. On May 28, UP announced that an agreement has been reached with General Electric to participate in the development and testing of a system to use LNG. GE is developing a LNG high-pressure, late-cycle injection system that can be used in the current Dash 8 line of locomotives. The railroad expects the units from GE and from EMD will be ready for testing in the second half of 1993.

In early 1993, another type of LNG-fueled locomotive will arrive on UP for testing. Two low-horsepower

' switch locomo

tives will be produced from the combined efforts of Morrison Knudsen and Caterpillar. The prime movers will be the proven Cat 3500-series engines which run on LNG and are already in service around the world in various applications.

As of mid-June, 26 of the 188 units to be converted into "B-units" this year were done and on the road-three are C30-7Bs and the rest are SD40-2Bs. Seven locomotives were retired at the end of May, all from the "Mexico" motive power fleet. These units are SD40s UP 3070, UP 3080, UP 3086 and MP 3002, plus GP40s MP 632, MKT 170 and MKT 174.

The number of locomotives remaining in Katy and Missouri Pacific colors continues to dwindle. On June 6, only two MKT units remained in Katy green, SW1500 53 and GP40 200. As for units in Missouri Pacific blue, 50 units remain in service. These units are MP15DC 1378, SD40-2 3270, 11 GP15-ls and 37 GP38-2s.

The road slug set of 3002/S303/3003, which we mentioned last month as being reclassified to switching duties, continued to be used in helper service in the Blue Mountains out of La Grande, Ore., in May and June

Thanks to Bill Maltby, Steve Kalthoff, Chris Fry, Curt Howell, P.J. Gratz, George Cockle, Ken Meeker, Tom Messer, THE MIXED TRAIN, FLIMSIES, NORTHWEST RAILFAN and Union Pacific Railroad.

PACIFIC RAIL NEWS

NEWS STAFF

News/information submissions: If you would like to share items on any of the topics listed below, please contact the appropriate columnist at the address listed for each section. NOTE: Do not send photos to the columnists.

RAILROAD COLUMNISTS

AMTRAK/PASSENGER-Dick Stephenson 1595 E. Chevy Chase #20. Glendale. CA 91206

AT&SF-Elson Rush P.O. Box 379. Waukesha. WI 53187

BURLINGTON NORTHERN-Karl Rasmussen 11449 Goldenrod st. NW. Coon Rapids. MN SS448

CANADA WEST-Doug Cummings 5963 Kitchener SI.. Burnaby. BC V5B 2J3

C&NW-Michael W. Blaszak 211 South Leitch Ave .. La Grange.IL 6OS25

COMMUTER-Dick Stephenson 1595 E. Chevy Chase #20. Glendale. CA 91206

D&RGW-Richard C. Farewell 9729 w. 76th Ave .. Arvada. CO 8CXXlS

ILLINOIS CENTRAL-David J. Daisy 746 N. Bruns Lane Apt. A. Springfield.IL 62702

MEXICO--Clifford R. Prather P.O. Box 925. Sonta Ana. CA 92702

REGIONALS-Dave Kroeger 525 6th Ave .. Marion.IA 52302

SHORT LINES-Robert C. Gallegos P.O. Box 379. Waukesha. WI 53187

SOO LI NE-Karl Rasmussen 11449 Goldenrod st. NW. Coon Rapids. MN SS448

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TRANSIT-Mac Sebree P.O. Box 6128. Glendale. CA 91225

UNION PACIFIC-Wayne Monger 1300 Southhampton Rd. #214. Benicia. CA 945 10

CONTRIBUTING TRANSIT COLUMNISTS

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FOCUS CORRESPONDENTS

Mike Abalos. Greg Brown. Rich Farewell. Paul Fries. Dave Gayer. Steve Glischinski. Wayne Kuchinsky. Carl M. Lehman. Scott Muskopf. Dan Pope. Ken Rattenne. Dick Stephenson

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PACIFIC RAI LNews • 7

ENGER Bugged by the Feds

Amtrak service over a wide area was severely delayed in mid-June when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration clamped down on Amtrak for its cleanliness and sanitation methods in dining and lounge cars. Trains such as the Coast Starlight, Southwest Ch ief, Desert Wind and Crescent incurred delays of up to five hours due to swapping equipment or cleaning and inspection of food handling areas.

Amtrak and the FDA reached agreement by June 15 on a program of improved cleaning, inspection and training for Amtrak's employees. Amtrak also has contracted with a leading pest control firm to eradicate infestations from its cars, including follow-up inspections and treatment. Various contractors have been used in the past but not with any consistency, or broad coverage throughout the many states where Amtrak maintains its equipment.

Motive Power Shifted

Amtrak decided in June to change the assignment of some of its P32BHs, taking

A Traction Time Machine PRODUCED wrrH THE COOPERATION OF"

"flll-: 11 Ui\lOIS TMtno� Scx'!ET\

most of them off the San Diegans and putting them onto the Capitols, the San Joaquins and covering some of the assignments on the Coast Starlight. These units have performed better on long-haul runs such as the Southwest Chief, Sunset and Desert Wind, where they may be mixed with F40s. In their place have been some F40s new to Southern California, such as 342 and 349 which were shipped from Oakland to L.A. via SP freight June 12-13, with others following. F40s from the first order, with the smaller capacity HEP are expected back, with units 220-224 and 229 picking up the traces on the San Diegan s, where timekeeping is critical.

Reportedly, Amtrak personnel in Oakland have experienced some annoyingthough humorous-problems with the GEs. Apparently, on occasion, the toilets in Horizon Fleet cars go into automatic flush when connected to the HEP on the P32s, flooding the cars until the HEP is disconnected.

Leased GP40s of the 650 class have also augmented the L.A. pool. On June 12, GP40 No. 661 was switching at L.A. as part of a multiple day stint in that service, and sister unit 656 was the trailing unit on the Sunset arriving that day, in the company of a P32 and an F40.

time machine will transport you

back to the great traction era, when the Illinois Terminal reigned supreme in the Land of Lincoln. Produced in cooperation with the Illinois Traction Society, this great video features the big orange traction cars, the blue-and-silver streamliners, heavy trolley freight drags, PCC trains rolling across the great McKinley Bridge into St. Louis, the Alton Limited cars - even the meandering Alton-Grafton railbus!

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Sunset Extension Postponed

Amtrak announced in June that the extension of the Sunset from New Orleans through Mobile and Jacksonville to Miamicreating the railroad's first transcontinental train-has been postponed until April 1993. The State of Florida was slow to ante up promised monies to CSX for track and station improvements. The equipment situa:tion will not be as tight next year either.

A development related to this move was the decision by Amtrak not to suspend the St. Louis-Carbondale R iver Cities. The little-used train is expected to accommodate increased Kansas City/St. Louis-Florida ridership thanks to the Sunset extension, and Amtrak wants to evaluate how significant this clientele will be before it drops the train.

New Contract, New Services

Amtrak has increased its involvement with contract operations by taking over operation of the Peninsula Commute service in the Bay Area and Metrolink, the commuter service due to start in Southern California in October.

This program features the camera artistry of such prominent railfans as Doc Blackburn, Bill Janssen, Truman Hefner, and Vic Uzofi, plus maps, graphics, and still photos from the ITS collection. Most of the scenes are in color, a few in black & white, and the footage dates back as far as 1939. Sound is both natural and augmented. VHS only.

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8 • AUGUST 1 992

These contracts have meant transfers and hiring in a variety of job descriptions, including dispatchers. That is an expansion of sorts, because previously here in the West Amtrak has always been the tenant, never the operator of railroad passenger services. It has successfully operated the commuter service under contract with MBTA in the Boston area, and that set the pattern for expansion. These new services are expected to contribute to Amtrak's profits, and are seen as one of the ways that the agency is running more like a business, and less like a subsidized stepchild.

Other Southern California Changes

The important agreement between Santa Fe and Metrolink is covered in Expediter. The expected impact on Amtrak and its operations is not very great. In time the Southwest Chiefwill probably be moved from the Pasadena Sub to the San Bernardino Sub to operate via Fullerton. The agency at Pasadena generates a fair amount of revenue, and there is nothing to say that an office at Pasadena, either directly or as a commission agency, cannot continue.

Another change that will come in the next year or so is that with the completion of the new Ontario station, the stop at the former SP station in Pomona will be discontinued. Strange as it may seem, the Sunset carries passengers from Pomona to L.A., an example of how desperate people are for commuter service in Southern California, even riding on a tri-weekly train.

The Sunset operates via the Alhambra line in and out of L.A. since the State Street line has been sold to Metrolink for its commuter operations. This routing could resume in the future, but not for a number of months.

Business Levels Remain Good

Despite a soft economy Amtrak continues to enjoy good business in the west. Anyone who has tried to make a sleeping car reservation on a long-haul train lately is aware of this fact. One reason is the $7 return fare which remains in place on various trains including the San Diegans, serving as an incentive for all but holiday blank-out periods.

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Amtrak has started shifting its P32BHs off the San Diegans and onto Western long-haul trains. On April 30, 1 992, for example, the 500 had the eastbound Desert Wind in tow in Cajon Pass. The new GEs have reportedly been solid performers on the long-haul trains. Don Bowen

New Stop

At the April time change Amtrak established a new stop at Lovelock, Nev., for the California Zephyr. This location had previously been a crew change, and the train stopped there anyway. So last month when

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an Amtrak employee actually debarked from the train there, the crew was mildly surprised, and told the employee he was the first person they had seen actually use the new stop. Let's hope there are others.

Thanks to Bill Farmer, Ed Von Nordeck, Bob Schneider, Wayne Monger, Norm Peterson and Kristopher Lundt.

COAST LINES DEPOTS LOS ANGELES DIVISION

by Lee Gustafson & Phil Serpico

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PACIF IC RAl LNews . 9

CHICA DW&P interchange at Pokegama Yard.

C&NW has not commented on the results of the test, or whether the company may consider a wide-cab or cowl design (an extra-cost option) for its next order of C40-8s.

"C42-8s" Visit Texas

Last year we noted that the final three units of C&NW's 1991 order for C40-S locomotives were rated at 4,200 h.p. instead of the 4,000 h.p. promised in GE's catalog. Not entirely happy with the performance of its SD60Ms, Burlington Northern arranged to borrow these units in June, assigning them to a Utility Fuels (Houston Light & Power) coal train bound from Wyoming to Smithers Lake, Texas, on the Santa Fe for evaluation. The test results, though, apparently weren't satisfactory, as the train stalled on the hill at Northport, Neb. BN loaned C&NW three SD60Ms for the duration of this round-trip test.

Two C&NW S060s and an 50 1 8 switch the NPPRA at West Chicago, I I I . , on June 1 3, 1 992. Unfortunately, the depot now houses the Chamber of Commerce, not the railroad. Steve Smedley

Freight Traffic Notes

C&NW and CSX commenced a test movement of taconite from Tilden Mine, Mich. , to Gulf States Steel at Gadsden, Ala., in late April. CSX provided three trainsets of hopper cars to C&NW at Proviso for this 10-train movement. C&NW moved the empties to Tilden Mine (as train CTISX) and returned the loads to Proviso (as train ISCTO) for interchange to CSX. Both railroads did everything possible to expedite the interchange and encourage this new customer to commit to a long-term transportation contract.

C&NW Tests BCR Locotrol Units

Searching for the next leap in productivity, Chicago & North Western concluded longpending arrangements to test two of BC Rail's Locotrol-equipped General Electric C40-8Ms in May. The system allows an engineer in the leading unit to control one or more Locotrol-equipped locomotives elsewhere in the train by radio without the use of multiple-unit cables.

Canadian National (Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific) delivered the pair of red-whiteand-blue cowls, BCR 4607 and 4617, to C&NW at Superior, Wis. C&NW moved these units to Fremont, Neb., where they were assigned to a special 150-car loaded coal train departing on May 8. This train was an ECPPC (East Caballo Mine, Wyo.Pleasant Prairie, Wis.) symbol, but it in-

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1 0 . AUGUST 1 992

cluded 38 coal loads which had been set out earlier by an NABPC coal train. BCR 4617 was teamed with C&NW C40-8 8520 and UP C40-8W 9477 on the point, while BCR 4607 shoved the rear of the train in accordance with the engineer's commands. The BCR units were removed at Boone and trailed the power of an empty coal train out to the Powder River Basin.

The second Locotrol test, starting at Shawnee Junction, Wyo., on May 12, involved another 150-car train weighing 20,900 tons. BCR 4617 rode the point along with C&NW C40-8s 8577 and 8542. (C&NW claims no effort was made to get these specially painted units together for the test.) On the hind end BCR 4607 was joined by C&NW 8562, running but isolated. After this test the BCR units ran to Proviso, where they remained till the end of May when they were moved back to the

However, North Western, along with Southern Pacific and BN, lost the Fairfield, Ala., ore business this spring when the contract ran out. Fairfield is now buying taconite from the Minntac plant on Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range; Wisconsin Central and CSX move it south. As a result, Ishpeming-Proviso trains ISSWO and SWISX run no more and SP power is no longer regularly seen at Proviso.

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North Western instituted train service reductions on May 2 as a profit-boosting move, even though freight traffic has increased somewhat so far in 1 992. Train CYPRA from Clinton to Proviso was eliminated, with local work reassigned to Kansas City-Proviso train KCPRA. ProvisoButler train PRBUA, last restored to the schedule book in October 1 990, was also dropped, with train PRGBB rerouted over the Kenosha Subdivision to handle Waukegan traffic. Various switcher, wayfreight and overtime reductions were also implemented.

C&NW began seasonal sand train service to Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Co. in Elmhurst, Ill. , on May 24. The train assigned to this customer, consisting of 35 ore jennies, runs empty to South Beloit, Ill. , on Sunday and Tuesday nights and back to Elmhurst loaded on Monday and Wednesday nights. A caboose is assigned to the consist because the train has to back up between Proviso and Elmhurst. Two ATSequipped GP7s or GP40s are assigned.

New Employee Timetable Issued

North Western Timetable No. 12, with a gray cover, superseded No. 11 at 1 2 : 01 a.m. on April 5. The new timetable is similar in format to the old. It restores the maximum authorized speed for intermodal trains on the east-west main line to 70 mph, from 60 mph in the old timetable. Maximum speeds were reduced on the Peoria Junction-Madison segment of the St. Louis Division (from 49 to 40 mph) and on the Marinette Subdivision between Green Bay and Escanaba (from 40 to 30 mph).

The additional trackage added during 1991 to the Powder River Subdivision appears in this timetable. The location of the new segment of double track between mileposts 50.3 and 54.5 has been named

Wolfe after C&NW's late chairman. The new location of Horse Creek, 1.2 miles west of Joyce, marks the end of double track from South Morrill. Another new location, Fairfax, Iowa, at milepost 84.2 of the East Iowa Subdivision, appears in the timetable.

The ex-M&StL trackage between Hartland and Curtis, Minn., used by DM&E, appears in Timetable No. 12 as the Hartland Sub. The Hampton Subdivision no longer appears in the timetable; the segment of this ex-M&StL line between Rockwell and Sheffield, Iowa, has been abandoned.

Capital Improvement Program

North Western plans capital expenditures of $91.6 million in 1992, up 7.9 percent from 1 991 levels. About $25 million will be spent on the east-west main for installation of 37.7 miles of welded rail and 1 07,000 ties, plus related work. The rest of the railroad will receive 32.5 miles of welded rail and 258,450 ties. Among the branch lines, the Rake and Oskaloosa subdivisions in Iowa will be upgraded, with the Rake getting 7.5 miles of secondhand welded rail.

C&NW's rail gang installed new rail on the westbound track east of Cedar Rapids during April and May. All trains operated on the eastbound track through the work limits from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Harriman Award

The 1 99 1 Harriman awards for employee safety were announced on May 28. C&NW won the Gold Medal for the lowest incidence of injuries on any railroad its size. The number of on-the-job injuries suffered by C&NW employees dropped 22 percent during 199 1 from 1 990 levels.

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Fort Robinson Flap

In May 1 99 1 a flash flood destroyed portions of C&NW's line from Crawford, Neb., to Crandall, Wyo. The line never reentered service and the affected states have agreed to let C&NW abandon it if no one steps forward with a plan to buy and restore it by May 1 993. Nebraska Gov. Ben Nelson, in fact, demanded that C&NW remove "flood-damaged" portions of this line, which extend about 1 2 miles, on grounds that the washed-out rails and ties represented a safety hazard.

A salvage crew from a C&NW contractor arrived at Crawford in mid-May. Instead of going into the White River Canyon to remove the track materials that had been washed out, the contractor began dismantling the physically-undamaged track just west of Crawford. In this area the line runs through Fort Robinson State Park, a National Historical Landmark. Nebraska considers the rail line " part of the scenery, the historical integrity " of this park, according to museum curator Tom Buecker, and felt North Western had broken faith by not dismantling the washed-out canyon trackage.

After a round of charges and countercharges had filled the Nebraska press, C&NW apologized for the track removal on May 22, offering to give the track within the park to the state, to pay for a $2,000 historical marker explaining the railroad's role in developing the fort, and to assist in a historical preservation study of the trackage.

Thanks to Bruno Berzins, Karl Rasmussen, Dave Kroeger, P.J. Gratz, Michael M. Bartels, Jim Seacrest, A. Robert Johnson, THE MIXED TRAIN and THE NORTH WESTERN DISPATCH.

V I D E O P R O D U CTI O N S Steam Returns to Prince George

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PACIFIC RAI LNews • I I

GIONALS I -

/ work is completed, as there are still many 10-mph slow orders west of Atlantic.

As a result of the changes, there are no longer pool crews working out of Rock Is

� - land. Instead, these crews now work out of Iowa City to Blue Island. Newton crews take the 012 to Iowa City, take a short rest, then take the 011 back into Newton.

In part two of our Iowa Interstate operations review we'll look at the CouncIl Bluffs road-switcher. It is on duty Sunday-Friday at 8 a.m., makes up tIain {)l2, handles interchange cars wIth Umon Pacific and does any work on the main line east of the Bluffs.

Washington Central Holds Yakima Valley Rail Monopoly

The locomotive repair arm of Montana Rail Link keeps putting a steady stream of Upgrade� units out on the rails. On April 25, 1 992, MRL 5045 358-one of e

.ight ex-B� S045s purchase

from Helm in October 1 989-emerges from the Livingston shops In fresh pOint. Kirk Petty

On May 18, Nick Temple's Washirlgton Central Railroad (WCRC) took over operation of 85 miles of the 98-mile Yakima Branch from UP. Union Pacific had been searching for a new owner for this branch line for nearly six years and had gone through a long list of prospective buyers.

In the end, it was Washirlgton Central, which operates over the parallel ex-NP mam lirle between Kennewick and Yakima and irlto Cle Elum, that was the wirmer. UP kept the 19 miles from the junction with the Spokane Subdivision mam lirle at Wallula Junction west across the Columbia River on the Kalan Bridge irlto Kennewick and on to Richland Junction. UP will also keep the eight-mile Richland Spur that runs south from Richland Junction to the irlterchange with the government railroad at the Hanford Nuclear site. WCRC is irlterchangirlg with UP at Kennewick and will provide service plus act as agent for UP for the existirlg shippers along the Yakima Branch. It is expected that some of this lirle will be abandoned irl favor of the parallel ex-NP lirle.

Chicago Central Acquires GP38s

The days of Paducah power are startirlg to fade away on Chicago Central. In early May, the road purchased the five remairlirlg GP38s from Helm Leasirlg that formerly belonged to Gateway Western, and before that, Chicago, Missouri & Western and Conrail. The renumbered 2006-2010 will come from the 2026, 2027, 2033, 2046 and 2047, respectively. The first unit reportedly worked on irl the Waterloo backshop was the 2047, which was spotted there May 13.

The GP40s on lease from Cornail contirlue to show on CC&P trams. May 14 found GP38 2000 leadirlg Cornail units 3202, 31 89, and GP38 2001 on an FW2 14 gram extra out of Ft. Dodge, Iowa, while tram No. 51 on May 22 at Jesup, Iowa, had the 2001 leadirlg Cornail units 3053, 3201, 3005, 3266, 3003, along with GPIOs 8235 and 8260.

TRACTION Prototypes and Mode ls

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1 2 . AUGUST 1 992

There is still no confirmation on whether or not Chicago Central has sold its East Dubuque-Portage, Ill., segment to Burlirlgton Northern. Officials from the two roads did meet irl late April though, and some details from this meetirlg have surfaced. BN would buy the westbound line, with CC&P keeping the eastbound, since many irldustries that CC serves are located along here. BN would brirlg up both mams to highspeed standards and install CTC, but . would be firlancially penalized for delaymg any CC traffic irl favor of BN traffic. And, finally, any idea of removirlg the tunnel at East Dubuque is out of the question.

A new seasonal move of coal began rolling on Chicago Central May 5. This train is delivered to the CC by BN at Council Bluffs, and is taken to East Dubuque, where it is transloaded into barges for a trip up the Mississippi River for Wisconsin Electric.

Iowa Interstate Changes Schedules

Iowa Interstate trains 011 and 012 on the Newton-Blue Island segment had their schedules changed in May. Below is a timetable of the new schedule:

Westbound Station Eastbound

LV 1415 Blue Island AR 0930 LV 2000 Bureau LV 0530 LV 0100 Rock Island LV 0145 LV 0400 Iowa City LV 2200 AR 0700 Newton LV 1700

A new schedule for the Newton-Council Bluffs segment will be released when track

Gateway Western News

With Gateway Western's bridge out at Louisana, Mo., detours over neighborirlg roads Burlirlgton Northern and Norfolk Southern contirlued irl May and June. Trams 268 and 332 detour on NS, while 233, 322 and stackers 100 and 101 detour on the BN.' Speakirlg of the bridge, it was hit by a barge, and knocked 21 irlches off center.

A Santa Fe A-B-A set showed up on a 1 00 stack train May 24, with GP60s 160, 334 and 132. This the first time a set of the warbonnets has been seen on GWWR trackage.

Finally, from the unconfirmed rumor department, several GWWR workers report the railroad may have lost its lawsuit over putting in the crossover on TRRA trackage at CSX's Cone Yard in East St. Loms.

Thanks to Chicago Central, Wayne Monger, Dale Hearn, NORTH WESTERN LIMITED, Allan Hunt, Sonny Sellers Jr. , and P.J. Gratz.

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CP North America to Expand

As reported in last month's column, CP Rail has taken definitive action to fully amalgamate its operations in North America. Effective May 1 1 , all Soo personnel were instructed to answer the phone " CP Rail Systems, " with a corresponding expansion of CP influence on written documents. In recent press releases from Montreal, it appears that a similar conversion is taking place on the former D&H portion of the system. (Editor's note : PRN pians to expand its coverage of CP and its subsidiaries later this fall. Contributors should watch for changes in editorial policy in the coming months.)

The trade press has given CP considerable column space as to the rumored expansion of its rail network in the U.S. Of particular interest was the report that Canadian real estate giant Olympia and York Development, Ltd. will sell its 32.5 million share interest in Santa Fe. As of early May, this transaction would have a market value of $410 million, a costly means of expanding market share in North America.

Canadian officials are very concerned about the potential loss of industrial markets from Southern Canada to both the U.S. and Mexico. A friendly connection with San-

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ta Fe would provide a truly transcontinental empire for CP, both east-to-west and northto-south. Purchase of a substantial stake in Santa Fe would also be the kiss of death to the former Milwaukee Road-Kansas City main line. Portions of the line in eastern Iowa would be retained because of volume shippers, but the balance of the route across northern Illinois and northern Missouri is redundant and would be sold to a short line operator or perhaps abandoned.

In other corporate news, it is reported that CP is strongly considering relocation of its marketing operations to Chicago. With the expansion of traffic solicitation in the United States, as well as a potential collaborative venture with Santa Fe, Chicago makes a logical base of operations. The future of both Milwaukee and Minneapolis as operational control points is unclear. Shoreham Shops will likely be retained since that facility is currently CP's most effective maintenance base.

Facility Changes Considered

In view of the corporate strategies discussed above, Soo is considering a number of facilities changes which will have significant impacts on the way it (and its connections) conduct business. PRN has reported on the gradual reductions of operations at Bensenville Yard in Chicago over the past year, including the closure of parts of the classification yard. Agreements are being negotiated with connecting carriers to expand the number of run through "transfers. " Box car (manifest) traffic will be pre-blocked at St. Paul and Milwaukee to take advantage of these opportunities as they occur. Traffic coming off the Kansas City line will still require classification at Bensenville, although probably on a flat switching basis. It is also likely that CPISoo will expand use of !HB 's Blue Island Yard, the current terminal for international trains 504 and 505. Soo is interested in expanding its intermodal terminal at Bensenville, with speculation that a Chicago-Winnipeg Sprint train may be inaugurated later this year. Trailer and container volume has picked up noticeably on trains 560 and 561 since May 1 .

Soo operations between Chicago and Milwaukee could be significantly effected by a proposal to raise Amtrak operating speeds in that corridor to 125 mph. The states of illinois and Wisconsin are preparing a feasibility study on moving Soo freight operations to either paralleling C&NW or WC trackage. The study will cost $1 million, with recommendations expected within 18 months. Early estimates of the cost to upgrade the 90-mile route are in the vicinity of $200 million. Soo may also be asked to operate freight trains during night hours only.

Soo has released its list of potential abandonments, in accordance with federal regulations. Lines anticipated for filing for

official abandonment filings within three years include: 1 .04 miles of terminal trackage in Chicago ( Chicago and Evanston line) ; 9 . 1 1 miles of the former MN&S Highline in the suburbs of Minneapolis; 50.01 miles from B emidji to Oklee, Minn. ; 63.07 miles from Brooten to Genola, Minn. ; (balance of the Brooten line) ; 0.23 miles of the Columbia Heights spur in northeast Minneapolis ; 7 .5 miles from Burlington to Kansasville, Wis . ; and 2.66 miles of the Chestnut Street line in Milwaukee. Other long-term abandonment candidates include 38.9 miles of line from Comus to Blooming Prairie, Minn. , and 60.2 miles from Bisbee to Kramer, N.D. On the other end of the spectrum, rumors have surfaced again that CP may have an interest in purchasing the Spine Line from C&NW.

Tunnel Enlargements Planned

After years of speculation, it appears that Soo will proceed with its plan to raise the roof on the former Milwaukee Road tunnel at Tunnel City, Wis. The proposed construction work would raise the ceiling of the bore by six feet, to accommodate doublestacks and other high/wide loads. Work should take place this summer, with a sixto-eight-hour work window provided during daylight hours. This project is scheduled to coincide with the $30 million improvement of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel by CP, allowing the movement of doublestacks from Montreal and Toronto to Chicago and thence northwestward to Winnipeg and Vancouver.

In a somewhat related activity, Soo forces have been dOing heavy track work on the double-track segment extending west from Raymore (just west of Tunnel City) to Sparta. This will be a dual-signalled CTC line to provide dispatchers the means of running around slow moving coal trains on the 12-mile ascent to the tunnel. Concurrent work continues on the River Division, with the placement of continuous welded rail on the curves and ballast at turnouts and " soft spots. "

Ford Shutdown; Trains Dropped

The reported closure of the St. Paul Ford truck plant will have a profound impact on Soo train operations this summer. Train 425 (Ford Fast) will undoubtedly be dropped, with fill traffic moved on other schedules. Trains 222 and 223 will be temporarily dropped between St. Paul and the Quad Cities, with Kansas City trains 430 and 431 handling pickup and set out work as needed. To support that plan, Soo will establish a six-day-per-week road switcher at Marquette, Iowa, as of July 1 . This job will work from River Jct. , Minn., to Dubuque, Iowa, as well as west from Marquette to Calmar.

Soo has been handling some new coal business between Ottumwa and Betten-

dort, Iowa, connecting with BN trains W296/297. The unit trains are broken up at Ottumwa, with blocks of cars handled on various 220-series trains as power and space permits. A new symbol has also been established between Portal, N.D., and St. Paul, this being way freight 128. One of the first sightings was in Minneapolis on May 13, handling in addition to the usual bulk commodities, 50 empty SSW grain hoppers.

With the slackening of grain and coal traffic in Canada by the first of May, most of Soo's SD60s were returned home. To replace the loss of leased BN SD40-2s, CP has sent at least four SD40s to work off credit hours on Soo. Locomotives 5528, 5535, 5556 and 5561 were spotted on various trains in Iowa and southern

-BC Rail

Following three months in the Squarnish shops, GF6C Electric 6005 was shipped back to the Tumbler Ridge line at the end of May after being repaired follOwing a collision with a rock slide in February . . . Work has commenced to give the North Vancouver yard a badly needed facelift. The yard will be reworked to provide for better mobile yard car repair crew access, improved lighting, a new coach yard and major improvements in track layout . . . The last segments of the Takla Lake line to be rehabilitated should be completed in 1992 . . . An order for four more GE C40-8M units, for delivery in 1993, was placed with GE in early June . . . As part of a five-year car-renewal program BC Rail has taken delivery of 200 new 73-foot center-beam flat cars from National Steel Car. Plans call for an additional 100 similar cars each year through 1996. For 1993, fifty 100-ton chip cars are planned, plus an additional 100 each in 1994, 1995 and 1996 . . . The Squamish cars shops have been converting older box cars to 80-ton and 100-ton Kraft pulp cars, and approximately 300 of each are planned through 1996. Also in the plans is the conversion of large numbers of small bulkhead flats to other types of cars : 450 to centerbeam flats; 125 to log flats; 100 to gondolas ; and 100 to 100-ton Kraft pulp cars. New chip cars are also planned, fifty 100-ton cars in 1993 and one hundred 100-ton cars each in 1994, 1995 and 1996.

Canadian National

It isn't often that a regularly scheduled mixed train operated on a Class 1 railroad derails, but such happened on June 6 when Saturday-only Gillam-Wabowden VIA 294 derailed at mile 189.1 Thicket Sub. GP38-2s 4766-4770 and eight freight cars ended up on their sides, with extensive track damage. Since the area is totally inaccessible by highway, Hi-Rail vehicles from Wabowden and Gillam were used to

Minnesota during the last week of May. Business out of Austin and Mason

City is picking up, with 400 covered hoppers loaded on the Jackson subdivision during that time period. A colorful consist led No. 382 at Mason City on May 30, including CP SD40s 5528 and 5561, as well as Soo SD40-2s 7691771 and SD40 752. Grain is also moving to the Twin Ports again, with SD60s 6051 and 6056 leading a 102-car No. 376 out of Minneapolis on May 15.

Motive Power Shorts

The lease on the last five SD40-2s from Helm was to expire on May 31 (four 6300s

and the 8507) . . . Although there is a rumored moratorium on locomotive repainting, SD540 741 and SD40-2 6615 were scheduled for transformation in May . . . UP 6200-series SD60Ms are now working the point of coal trains 880 and 881 between St. Paul and Portage, Wis., usually with C&NW C40-8s . . . Soo had 38 units stored unserviceable as of mid-May, including 15 GP40s, 10 GP9s, the two SD45s and 11 switchers. Only six units are stored serviceable (all SW1200s). Active GP40s at that time included 17 banditized former Milwaukee units and four units in white paint (4600101/03/48).

Thanks to Mike Blaszak, Mike Cleary, P.J. Gratz, Fred Hyde, Pete Johnson, Tom Kidd, Jesse Kattner and TRAFFIC WORLD.

CANADA WEST

Three of Canadian National's 60 "Draper Taper" SD50F cowl units haul an empty unit coal train up the Fraser River Canyon near Boston Bar, B.C. At this point, the double-track main line needs both a fill and a bridge to deal with the rigors of the canyon topography. Patrick Lawson

remove the crew and six passengers from the scene; no injuries were reported.

Army maneuvers at Wainwright included equipment from Kentucky which was accompanied by riders using three modern Paducah & Louisville cabooses resplendent in clean green paint. The trio, P&L 9601, 9604 and 9605 laid over on the caboose track in Calder from mid-May to early June.

-CP Rail

Two GP38-2s, 3079 and 3097, have been fitted with Pacesetter equipment and have been working since April 28 on a special work train on the E&N lines on Vancouver Island. The train is installing a fibre-optic cable for the B.C. Telephone Company between Victoria and Nanoose, along the CP right-of-way.

Former VIA Rail steam generator car

15442 has been purchased by CP and repainted in traditional passenger car colors of tuscan red with yellow lettering and renumbered 400901 for use on the steam weed-spraying train used in B.C. The railroad has found the steam weed sprayer works as well, if not better, than the old chemical weed sprayers.

CP briefly had 10 Sao Line units for Canadian service only. All were received between April 14 and April 17, and all went home by May 10. In addition, CP leased SD40-2 HLCX 6369, ex-Sao, ex-Milwaukee 208 on April 24.

CP Rail's new Pacific Region Operating Timetable 87 effective April 26 features a cover photo of SD40-2W 9021 and two SD40-2 locomotives on a potash train at Fraine, B.C., mile 68.3 Mountain Sub. The spectacular photo taken during the fall color season really makes a change from the traditional plain white cover.

PACIFIC RAI LNews • 1 5

SANTA ELSON RUSH

Scott City, Great Bend-Kinsley, Great Bend-Yaggy (with trackage rights to nearby Hutchinson), Larned-Jetmore, GalatiaLyons and Salina-Osborne. The "South Kansas" lines include the H&S Sub from Hutchinson to Blackwell, Okla. , the Wichita Sub from Wichita to Pratt, the Englewood Sub from Rago to Englewood, and the Medicine Lodge Sub from Attica to Belvidere. No Santa Fe locomotives were included in the sale, although Amerail has an option to buy some.

Amerail Chairman Bruce Borland said his company's " strategy is to operate the newly acquired property with service better designed to meet the needs of local customers and . . . to generate additional traffic to improve the viability of these lines. "

Other Amerail officials said the company hopes to provide more frequent service on these lines, and will instruct its crews to wait for shippers to load hot cars. Except for the Medicine Lodge Sub, Santa Fe has provided irregular, on-demand train service on these lines in recent years.

Amerail doesn't have its financing in place yet. The company hopes to close the acquisition between July and September.

Four Super Fleet B40-8Ws hurry the QLANY intermodal train eastbound on April 1 9, 1 992, near Winslow, Ariz. Besides the distant San Francisco Mountains, the major non-rail landmark in Transit Dies on Santa Fe

this desolate area is Interstate 40 which parallels the Santa Fe main line. Ron Butts

Amerail l nks Contract for Kansas Branches

As reported in last month's Expediter, Santa Fe announced on June 2 that it had Signed a contract to sell 830 miles of branch lines in Kansas to Amerail Acquisi-

1 6 . AUGUST 1 992

tion Corp. , an affiliate of Temco Corp. of Lake Bluff, Ill. Temco bought Santa Fe's Seagraves, Lehman and Floydada subdivisions in the Texas Panhandle in 1 990 and has operated them since.

Two packages of connecting branches were included in the transaction. The " North Kansas " lines extend from Marion-

When Santa Fe people talk about "transit , " they don't mean buses or streetcars, but rather a long-standing rate structure which allows grain customers to ship from country points to a large terminal elevator for storage, and then to market later, on a through rate-saving money over the combination of local rates. Transit is largely responsible for the construction of huge terminal elevators like Garvey's in Wichita, which regularly ships 1 20-car grain trains to Gulf of Mexico ports .

On June 1 , though, Santa Fe implemented a new grain tariff which eliminates the transit privilege. Instead, the smaller elevators at country points can take advantage of a new 1 5-car rate for movements direct to the Gulf, bypassing the terminals. Not surprisingly, the terminal operators complained the move would make it tougher for them to bid on country grain. From Santa Fe's perspective, though, transit was an outmoded, paperwork-heavy practice which had to be discarded because the railroad simply doesn't have the people to keep track of it anymore.

Good-Bye Harbor, Hello Belt (Again)

Belt Railway of Chicago was on the rocks in 1 989 when Santa Fe shifted the bulk of its Chicago interchange traffic over to Indiana Harbor Belt. Santa Fe obtained the right to operate over IHB from McCook, Ill. , to IHB's Blue Island Yard and Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal's adjacent Barr Yard, for a while running separate run-through trains to these facilities.

BRC gained new life when ex-ICG president Jim Martin began running the property, and the rejuvenated terminal line has steadily gained traffic at IRB's expense ever since. BRC lured Santa Fe back on May 12, when AT&SF established trains 133 and 331 between Clearing Yard and Argentine. Trains Q-CHHO and Q-HOCH from IRB's Blue Island to Houston were discontinued at this time. The 133 is scheduled to depart Clearing about midnight, while 331 is due to arrive 9 a.m.

To reach Clearing, most Santa Fe trains operate over the joint IHB-B&OCT line from McCook to Argo, a distance of less than one mile. Some trains, though, take a circuitous detour through Corwith Yard to make pickups and set-outs.

DART Sale Severs Dallas Subdivision

"Effective 12: 01 a.m. June 1, 1992, the Dallas Subdivision Between milepost 46 and Tower 19 becomes DART. " That's how the Southern Region memorialized the sale to Dallas Area Rapid Transit that chopped the historic Dallas Sub in two.

As a result of the sale, Santa Fe stopped interchanging traffic at Dallas with UP, Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern. All area interchange with these carriers now takes place at Fort Worth. Santa Fe continues to interchange with Kansas City Southern at Dallas for the time being.

Freight trains 535 and 555, serving Dallas, were abolished effective June 1. Three yard jobs were abolished at East Dallas, leaving five in operation. To handle local traffic south of Tower 19 (primarily the Hale Cement line and Redbird Industries), two locals were established at Venus and a second road-switcher was put on at Cleburne.

Willow Springs Terminal Taking Shape

For two years a steady flow of trucks has been transporting crushed limestone to

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the site of the new UPS intermodal terminal just north of Willow Springs, IlL, to raise the marshy site by about four feet and provide a good sub grade for track laying. By June the job was about done, with a massive expanse of white limestone extending two miles from Willow Springs Road to LaGrange Road. A rail train was unloading rail on the site on June 13.

Ultimately the Willow Springs facility will boast four strip tracks, a four-track yard and a siding. About one " lift" (trailer loading or unloading) per minute will take place, and a switcher will be on duty around the clock. The two main tracks will be shifted to the south side of the terminal. Construction of the massive UPS sorting facility on the site of GM's old Fisher Body plant is also well along.

Both the intermodal terminal and the UPS facility are planned for completion in 1 994. Only UPS and possibly a few other preferred customers will be allowed to use the site. As a result, Corwith will continue in its role as Santa Fe's primary Chicagoarea intermodal terminal.

375 1 Returns Indoors

On June 12 a Santa Fe diesel coupled onto steam locomotive 3751 at Kaiser, towed it to San Bernardino and delivered it to its newly leased space in the San Bernardino Shops. Santa Fe had earlier agreed to let the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society occupy one of the buildings in the long-vacant car shops on the east end of the complex. In preparation for the expected two-week trip to Topeka and Chicago in late August and September, SBRHS will work on a couple of minor mechanical problems.

All signals appear green for the great steam trek. Practically the entire Santa Fe business car fleet will be hitched to 3751 's drawbar for the run east. Along the way, employees and their families will be treated to one-way excursions. About 300 tick-

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ets per trip segment will be issued through employee committees.

BOO-Class Settles I n

The last of the 4 2 C40-8Ws scheduled for spring delivery was shipped from GE in late May. Since there are more than enough to handle the dedicated stack trains, the 800s are showing up in other kinds of service. C40-8Ws were spotted several times in Texas in early June, and a trio took an off-line trip to East St. Louis over Gateway Western about the same time.

As previously reported, GE expects to deliver the remaining 25 C40-8Ws on Santa Fe's 1992 order later this fall. To balance its production schedule, though, GE is building 15 of these units during June. The builder will store them, fully painted, pending the scheduled delivery date.

Leased Loco Epitaph

1 974 was a tough year for the nation's railroads, including Santa Fe. To cut capital outlays, the company leased the locomotives it added to the fleet, rather than buying them. The units, which included SD45-2s, U36Cs and Santa Fe's first 1 7 GP39-2s, 3600-3616, have remained on the roster since then. Because Santa Fe didn't own them, they weren't included in rebuilding programs. The leasers have spent most of the past few years in storage.

The 18-year lease ended this year, and Santa Fe had no interest in buying the locomotives. The SD45-2s and U36Cs are probably headed for scrap. The U36Cs, which are stored at San Bernardino, recently had their oil drained and may be cut up on the site.

The GP39-2s, though, may have a new lease on life. Wisconsin Central is seriously considering buying these units and rebuilding them for use on its Fox Valley & Western affiliate if the ICC, as expected, approves the transaction later this year.

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P.O. Box 9491 1 , Pasadena, CA 91 1 09

PACIFIC RAILNews • 1 7

BURLING N NORTHERN Union Negotiations Heat Up

After months of jawboning with United Transportation Union officials over various work rules issues, Burlington Northern heightened its war of words with threats of traffic diversions from certain northern lines. In particular, BN management is considering the diversion of Powder River Basin originated unit coal trains from the former NP corridor across North Dakota and Minnesota to Nebraska and Iowa.

The catalyst driving this plan is the potential need to hire 400 workers to staff trains on the Northern Corridor (four-man crews versus three on the southern lines). Trains in excess of 70 cars require threeman crews in accordance with the southern lines' contract negotiations following recommendations by the President's Emergency Board convened in 1991 . Prior to this announcement by BN, there appeared to be some move towards reconciliation over this system-divisive issue.

Schedule Changes I ncrease Train Tonnage

As discussed earlier in this column, BN has taken action to increase tonnage handled per train in some corridors, aimed at reducing the incremental power cost per gross ton-mile. One of the more noticeable changes found No. 1 10 dropped between Pasco and Northtown. On the three or four days with heavy tonnage, train 100 is operated in multiple sections over the Highline. Secondary manifest train 106 continues to operate on a daily basis in the Spokane-to-Minneapolis corridor.

In other scheduling changes, symbol 628 replaces trains 633/634 (Everett-Brownsville turn), while symbol 627 replaces trains 635/636 as the Everett-Ferndale turn. Occasional train consolidations have also been noted, such as a huge 140-car 1011241 combo into Northtown on May 6, led by a trio of SD40-2s and including a 30-car Green Bay & Western pick-up. BN has also set up symbols 25 and 26 to handle potential K-Line doublestack business. A test No. 26 was operated into Council Bluffs, Iowa, on April 17, its five SD40-2 power set interchanging the train to C&NW. This unusual move was apparently operated over MRL between Billings and Spokane.

New Freight Equipment

BN has ordered 240 more aluminum coal hoppers from Johnstown America Corp., these 121-ton capacity cars to be delivered during the last three months of this year. At present, BN owns 5,000 open-top hoppers suitable for coal train service and operates 12,000 similar cars for private utilities. The covered grain hopper car order outstanding with Trinity Industries in Dallas has been

18 • AUGUST 1 992

doubled (to 1 ,000 units). These cars boast a net loading capacity of 1 1 1 tons. Delivery of these cars will be spread over the third and fourth quarters of 1992 so as to support another heavy grain season. Management has also indicated a desire to shift away from the lease of privately owned cars on a longterm basis.

Power Needs Drop; Units Stored

As of mid-May, BN had 1 37 units stored serviceable across the system, including 26 SD40-2s and all 27 remaining U30Cs. Management has taken a close look at horsepower-per-ton allocations and found them to be too rich in comparison with competing roads, thus dictating the reduction of power on some trains and the consolidation of shorter trains. Other units stored reflect the temporary drop in local grain loadings and continued softness in unit coal train activity. Units listed as being stored unserviceable totaled 5 1 , including 20 GP9s, six SD9s, five E9s and a cross-section of other road power. A total of 15 GP9s have been shipped to Morrison Knudsen at Boise for upgrading to " GP28Ms, " with no word as yet as to the carbody characteristics or number series for these rebuilds.

In recent motive power transactions, BN returned the six former Santa Fe C30-7s leased from GE, with the trio of EMD SD60s (8300-8302) assigned to Glendive, Mont. , for maintenance, while all 1 0 EMD SD40-2s in the 6300-series are now based at Northtown for inspections. GP40Gs 3075-3084 leased from GATX have all been withdrawn from service and are stored at Lincoln pending disposition. LMX B39-8 8521 has returned from wreck repairs at VMV, with similar work pending on sisters 8509 and 8532. Work on the SD40-3 program at West Burlington, Iowa, is on hold for a while with 3 ,300-h.p. units 7 1 50, 7155, 7159 and 7160 assigned to Alliance for use on coal trains. The number of C33-7s in service has increased to nine units, with C30s 5099, 5106 and 5577 upgraded with rebuilt traction motors, modified fuel rack settings and Sentry wheel slip control thus far in 1 992. In a minor power swap, SD9s 6135, 6193, 6 1 98 and 6221 have been reassigned from Lincoln to Interbay Shop in Seattle.

BN plans to retain two of its 9900-series E9s for executive train service (9919 and 9920) , with three sisters to be donated to museums and the 20 remaining units presently up for sale at $100,000 per unit. During March, April and early May, Metra added F40PHM-2s 193-198 to the BN service pool, with a total of 15 Metra units serving as the current backbone of the fleet, augmented with 1 1 9900-series Es.

It is reported that SD60M 9222 has been modified to burn LPG along with SD40-2 7890, supported by the fact that this tandem was spliced by fuel car GT100 at Northtown on May 1 1 .

Operating News

GTW operated a ballast train over BN in late May, with SD50-2s 5932/5935 and SD40 5901 handling a string of B&LE hopper cars as an X03 through La Crosse, Wis. , on the 27th and as an X1242 on the 30th . . . Santa Fe power continues to wander the property, including a pure set of SD40-2 5173 and SDF45 5978 on No. 1 7 1 at Sherman, Texas, on May 20. SD40-2s 5 1 8 1 and 5081 trailed OWY SD60 9069 and C R SD50 6 8 0 1 on the 6 1 -TT002 coal train into Alliance on April 1 0 . On the same day, a quartet of the blue-and-yellow EMDs trailed BN SD40-2 7136 on the 1 08-00050 into Fort Worth . . . SD60Ms 9280 and 9292 looked out of place leading CSX train R514 between Louisville and Cincinnati on May 20, perhaps balancing horsepower-hour credits for the test of CSX C40-8Ws earlier this year.

BN Shuts Down Havre Shops

BN hopes to save up $9 million per year by consolidating locomotive and freight car repair operations across the property. The greatest casualty in this plan is Havre, with 190 diesel shop employees to be offered jobs in Minneapolis, Lincoln and Seattle. As of mid-May, 297 units were assigned to the north central Montana locale for maintenance, including 208 SD40-2s. Most of these units are used in the transcontinental pool for intermodal, manifest and grain train service and will easily be integrated into the three shop facilities listed above. The 100 Oakway SD60s currently based at North Kansas City, Mo. , will be moved to Alliance concurrently, with all relocations expected to take place this fall.

Corporate News Briefs

BN reported that its operating ratio for the first quarter of 1 992 was 87.5 percent, a significant improvement from the 95 .5 percent recorded during the same period in 1 9 9 1 . The company has a goal of reaching a level of 82 percent by 1995 . . . Planners for this year's grain harvest were elated when the ICC gave its formal bleSSing to BN's Certificate of Transportation (COT) program in early May. This program allows shippers guaranteed access to grain hoppers at specified times and locations, provided certain conditions are met. The National Feed and Grain Association had strongly objected to the program, thus necessitating the ICC review . . . The ongoing head-to-head competition with UP has yielded yet another contract for BN. Solvay Polymers will be shipping 5,000 cars of chemicals out of Houston this year, up from 404 in 1991 . This move will increase revenues from an annual level of $1 million to nearly $ 1 0 million. Solvay manufac-

turers a variety of plastics for such items as milk jugs and auto parts . . . Trucking giant Consolidated Freightways has announced plans to work with BN and four other major rail carriers to move freight via doublestack containers. The " ConQuest" plan relies on the rails to move 48-foot containers on the long haul, with CF providing the drayage services . . . BN's

WSOR to Acquire WleT

The two major short lines in southern Wisconsin were involved in some interesting negotiations which recently culminated in a rendezvous in Watertown.

Wisconsin & Southern operates a network of former Milwaukee Road lines in the east-central part of the state. The road's main line reaches from the Soo connection at North Milwaukee to Horicon (former route of Scenic Rail Dining's dinner trains) with branches radiating out to such exciting places as C ambria and Oshkosh. Until recently, the railroad operated a fleet of six rebuilt Geeps and a couple of switchers. The fleet has since grown to include three former Transcisco Tours F45s.

Wisconsin & Calumet operates more than 300 miles of state-owned former Milwaukee Road trackage with a myriad of lines radiating out of Janesville, Wis. WICT's main line runs from Madison to Chicago with the railroad reaching the Windy City via trackage rights over Metra/Soo from Fox Lake, Ill. Other lines operated by WICT serve Prairie du Chien, Mazomanie/Sauk City, Waukesha and Freeport, Ill. (the latter has not seen a freight in several years).

The State of Wisconsin has spent a considerable amount of money to upgrade several WICT lines ; Fox Lake to Madison looks as though it could host high speed/high tonnage traffic like it did under Milwaukee Road ownership. On the other hand, the line to Prairie du Chien is in rough shape and the line to the Wisconsin Central connection at Waukesha is in such miserable shape that it looks as if it couldn't handle a 44-tonner let alone 1 00-ton grain hoppers and F45s.

On June 12, Wisconsin & Southern's business train sat on the house track next to Soo Line's Watertown depot, many miles from both WSOR and WICT rails. At a press conference that day, WSOR and WICT officials announced that an agreement had been reached and that the papers had been filed with the ICC for the acquisition of the WICT by WSOR. If this transaction is approved, WSOR will control over 500 miles of trackage. Interestingly, the two railroads do not connect although the WC main line connects the roads between Rugby and Waukesha, a distance of about 40 miles.

WICT's claim to fame was its use of ex-

international grain marketing venture with Grupo Protexa SA de CV will result in some unusual operating practices. BN will station locomotives in Mexico to handle 54-car unit grain trains because of high bad-order ratios on FNM equipment. BN will accompany each train to make certain that the grain hoppers are promptly returned to port for shipment by barge

back to the U.S . . . BN's Precision Execution scheduling of operations was extended to unit coal trains on the Denver Division as of April 9 .

Thanks to Mike Cleary, Chris Fry, Bill Grady, P.J. Gratz, Fred Hyde, Pete Johnson, Jesse Kottner, NORTHWEST RAILFAN, Tom Robinson, THE MIXED TRAlN and TRAFFIC WORLD .

T LINES

A Toledo, Peoria & Western coal train has stopped on the Peoria & Pekin Union's Illinois River bridge to allow a P&PU switcher to clear. The locomotives carry the usual TP&W rainbow of color combinations, with SPSF merger-painted 2006 on the point. Steve Smedley

otic power in road service. Until recently the railroad had been leasing power from Glen Monhart, including several F-units and even a BL2. In the interim several exGrand Trunk passenger Geeps and a couple of leased ex-BN GP7s should satisfy the road's power needs.

In late June the WICT hosted ferry moves by former C&NW 4-6-0 1385 from the mid-Continent Railway Museum at North Freedom, Wis. On the eastbound trip the venerable 10-wheeler pulled five cars from Madison to Waukesha en route to Horicon and eventually Wausau. The journey from Milton Junction to Waukesha took over six hours. The engine even stalled on a hill near Palmyra, Wis. , because of bad track and abundant plant growth.

San Pedro & Southwestern Debuts

On June 1 0 , 1 992, a new short line was launched in Arizona on two ex-Southern Pacific branches. San Pedro & Southwestern, operated by Kyle Railways but owned by a group from Scottsdale, Ariz. , consists

of the 79-mile Benson-Douglas Douglas Branch and the five-mile Bisbee Branch. The first unit for the line, Kyle GP20 2039, arrived in Benson on June 13 and took SP&SW's first train down the line two days later. The five covered hoppers and eight tank cars were delivered to Apache Nitrogen Products, reportedly the only active customer on the branch. SP&SW will also perform intra-plant switching for Apache. Though operations will be freight-only this summer, the owners reportedly would like to start a steam-powered tourist train on the line this fall.

Thanks to Bob Ristow, THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, Wisconsin & Southern, Wisconsin & Calumet and Joe A. Smith.

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The Sixth Subdivision hosts a daily Amtrak train in each direction, the Chicago-Oakland California Zephyr. The eastbound version is shown departing Ottumwa, Iowa, for Mount Pleasant, Burlington and points beyond on Nov. 25, 1 990. Jim Gilley

SO what exactly is Burlington Northern's West End? Picture a hub centered in Galesburg that expands in five directions. The Sixth Subdivision of the Galesburg Division -running to Creston, Iowa-is the western spoke off this hub. When you think of Iowa and Illinois, steep, tortuous grades and legions of coal trains don't immediately come to mind-yet this is standard fare on the seldom-photographed West End. Traversing the farm country of western Illinois and southern Iowa, and crossing both the Mississippi and Des Moines river valleys , this route is just starting to mature as a heavily trafficked main line, though it has always been fascinating geographically. The doubletrack Sixth Sub is part of BN's Chicago-Denver route (host to Amtrak's two daily California Zephyrs) and also serves as a virtual coal conveyor belt between the coal-rich Powder River B asin in Wyoming and Montana and points east of the Missouri River.

22 • AUGUST 1 992

BURLINGTON NORTHERN ROADS (NOT ALL SHOWN) OTHER RAILROADS

C&NW TO DES MOINES

C&NW TO K.C.

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The way of the zephyrs The Sixth Subdivision boasts a rich history, having served as an integral part of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy's "Way of the Zephyrs " and as the very center of the Burlington Route. Yet, creating a single-owner line linking Chicago and the Missouri River took over two decades and four railroads to complete. The natural boundary of the Mississippi River originally divided the route into two separate railroads at Burlington, Iowa. East of Burlington, the line was comprised of the Chicago & Aurora (changed to CB&Q in February 1855) , the Central Military Tract, and the Peoria & Oquawka railroads, with the P&O trackage the predecessor of today's Sixth Sub, running between Galesburg and East Burlington, Ill. (now know as Illinois Junction). The work on the East Burlington-Mo