Today's Train of Thought- Ten Is Enough, March 21st 2013

Today's Train of Though takes us to the eastern part of the Buckeye state and features a monster lashup on the Wheeling & Lake Erie making its way through the snowy countryside.

The latter-day version of the Wheeling & Lake Erie debuted in 1990- some 26 years after the original Wheeling & Lake Erie was brought into the Norfolk & Western fold with the 1964 merger between the Nickel Plate and N&W.

Getting its start with a motley assortment of secondhand high-hood SD45s and GP35s from the Norfolk Southern, the current W&LE stretches from Connelville, PA (southeast of Pittsburgh) to Bellvue, OH (south of Sandusky, OH) with trackage rights as far west as Toledo, OH and as far east as Hagerstown, MD. Since then, the line has done a fairly robust business hauling coal, grain, steel, limestone, fracking sand, coke, liquified natural gas, limestone, chemicals and aggregates. Since 2009, traffic on the W&LE has increased thanks to natural gas drilling along the Marcellus and Utica shales.

Also in recent years, the W&LE started painting their motive power in black and orange- colors reminiscent of the former Denver, Rio Grande & Western. This is not a coincidence- the current W&LE chairman, Larry Parsons, started out in railroading on the Rio Grande and opted to keep the Rio Grande's heritage alive with the current railroad. This includes purchasing GP40-2s and SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors still in Rio Grande paint from Union Pacific and running them in their original Rio Grande colors and numbers on the W&LE.

Of course, the black and orange has also been applied to a number of units that were not of Rio Grande heritage, including some of the high hood former Southern GP35s that this incarnation of the W&LE started out with as far back as 1990.

Here, GP35 #107 is seen kicking up some snow as its leading an impressive 10 unit lashup westbound at Bloomington, OH with train 213 (from Pittsburgh's Rook Yard to the W&LE headquarters at Brewster, OH) on Jan 3rd, 2012. The lead unit is actually lettered for the Akron, Canton & Youngstown- another Ohio-based railroad that was brought into the Norfolk & Western fold with their 1964 merger with Nickel Plate, but dissolved by the N&W in the 1980s. According to photographer Chris Lokey, train 213 left Rook Yard with just the three lead units that day but stopped to pick up seven additional locomotives in Mingo Jct, OH on its way west. By the time Lockey caught train 213 rounding this curve, it boasted 10 units and 88 cars.

Today's Train of Thought- As the World Minturns, October 14

Today's train of thought takes us to the Rocky Mountains and the tiny burgh of Minturn, situated along the Rio Grande's Tennessee Pass line.

Constructed as a narrow gauge line to tap Colorado's mineral rich interior from Pueblo, the Tennessee pass line was jointly constructed by the Colorado Midland and Denver, Rio Granfe & Western in 1890 to replace a DRG&W narrow-gauge line that had been completed in 1881. Although once the opening of the Moffat tunnel and Dotsero cutoff in the late 1920s and early 1930s relegated the Tennessee Pass line to a secondary route, the line regained importance with the Rio Grande's 1988 merger with the Southern Pacific. The line was used to bypass the increasingly congested Denver & Salt Lake route as well as the Moffat tunnel bottleneck, giving freight trains a fairly straight shot over the former Missouri Pacific line between Kansas City and Pueblo, Co, over Tennessee Pass before rejoining with the Denver & Salt Lake route and then the Southern Pacific line between Salt Lake City and Sacramento via Donner Pass.

However, this revival lasted less than a decade. With Union Pacific's 1996 takeover of the Combined SP/DRG&W system, the UPRR decided that the Tennessee Pass line was redundant and embargoed it within a year. To this day, the line remains intact, but aside from the frequent ballast train or hi-rail inspection, the line hasn't seen a through train since 1997. Although re-opening the line would alleviate some of the congestion along the Moffat Tunnel and Denver & Salt Lake line to the north, part of the problem is that portions of the former Missouri Pacific line between Pueblo and Kansas City have been abandoned- any UPRR trains using the line would have to traverse the busy Joint Line between Denver and Pueblo.

Here, in happier times, railpitures.net contributor Mark Possin caught an Eastbound train powered by a quintet of SP/Rio Grande GP40-2s passing through Minturn with Rio Grande #3132 on the head end in September 1994. This stretch of the Tennessee Pass line is seen hugging the banks of the Arkansas River as the hard-working EMDs are lugging loads of steel coil behind them- most likely from the now defunct Geneva Steel Works near Provo, UT.

Within three years of this photo, the line would be embargoed by Union Pacific.

Today's Train of Thought- South Dakota Switchback, March 8, 2012

Although it may not look like it, today's train of thought takes us to the eastern corner of the Mount Rushmore State. And like any complex page-turner or Hollywood noir film, there is more to this scene than meets the eye, complete with a couple of movie stars seemingly hiding in plain sight.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Sam Botts catches a pair of SD39s painted for Rio Grande leading a southboud rock train for the D&I Railroad rounding a curve at Garretson, SD with a cut of first-generation D&I power trailing on November 17, 2005.

The two orange and black locomotives were prominently featured in climactic scene of the 1997 film Switchback starring Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover and R Lee Ermey. After filming for Switchback wrapped up, the two SD39s went to Andesite Rock company of Longmont, CO- a sister company of Sioux Falls, SD-based LG Everist. The locomotives were re-lettered and renumbered for Andesite and joined a pair of former Rio Grande SD45s in the upper Midwest, but the Rio Grande orange and black remained for many more years.

But here's the kicker- the Rio Grande never owned any SD39s. The two Andesite units started out life on the Southern Pacific in 1970 and by 1986 was retired and sold off to Helm Leasing. Along with a hodgepodge of former Burlington Northern SD45s, the two former Espee SD39s logged time on the Utah Railway dragging coal trains over Soldier Summit before being withdrawn from servise and sent back to Helm. By 1993, the duo was sold to Andesite for pulling rock and aggregate trains throughout the upper Midwest. Three years later, the production company responsible for filming Switchback agreed to lease the two SD39s from Andesite. This all took place a few months after the Union Pacific took over the Southern Pacific (and by extension, the Rio Grande). While there were plenty of locomotives in Rio Grande paint still around, the Union Pacific refused permission to lease any of them for the film. Instead, the production company leased the Andersite units and the two SD39s to Midwest Rail Car of Kansas City, MO where they were painted into Rio Grande colors, emerging as 'Rio Grande' #5319 and #5325 respectively.

Interestingly, there really was a Rio Grande #5319 and #5325- both of them were much larger 3,600 HP SD45s that were rebuilt by Morrison Knudsen into SD40-2s (while still retaining the SD45 carbody) that saw service with Union Pacific through the mid-2000s before being sold off to CIT Financial leasing (CEFX).

When the filming wrapped up, the #5319 and #5325 were sent back to Andersite before being renumbered to #4027 and #4028- while still retaining their 'Rio Grande' paint scheme for a few more years. By the mid 2000's, with increased traffic from the Dell Springs quarry and some ethanol plants sprining up on the south end of the line, the D&I needed additional locomotives and horsepower. In addition to purchasing some four-axle GP39-2s and GP50s, the D&I arranged for the long-term lease of the #4027 and #4028. These days, the two SD39s can be seen wearing the D&I's yellow and black colors, although they still carry lettering for ANDX under the cab.

Another twist to this photo. I think I've mentioned before that the D&I interchanges with the Canadian National and Union Pacific in Sioux City, IA thanks to a patchwork of trackage rights with BNSF, former Milwaukee Road track owned by the state of South Dakota and D&I/Everist's branch between Sioux Falls, SD and Dell Rapids, SD. However, because of an ice floe undermining supports for one of the bridges south of Sioux Falls, Andersite SD39 #4027 is seen leading the detouring D&I rock train over BNSF's Marshall subdivision east of Sioux Falls.

[Hat tip to CineTrains for detailing the information about the locomotive's activities before and after the filming of Switchback- NANESB!]

Today's Train of Though- A Grande Finale; January 9, 2012

Today's train of though showcases the end of an era for the Main Line Through the Rockies in the cold, lonely high desert of Utah.

Nearly a decade after Denver, Rio Grande & Western merged with Southern Pacific, businessman Phil Anschultz sold the combined system to Union Pacific in 1996. And just like Union Pacific's acquisitions of the Missouri Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas and Western Pacific railroads in the 1980s, it was seemingly inevitable that these new acquisitions would disappear under a coat of armour yellow paint.

However, a number of 3,000 HP SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors from the Rio Grande would remain in service into the early 2000s, still in unmodified DRG&W black and orange. The majority of these locomotives were assigned to helper and local service in the aptly named railroad and mining town of Helper, UT.

With their numbers declining as the decade progressed, the units- along with other older locomotives from the Union Pacific fleet- were assigned to the 'Dirt Train', a dedicated unit train that hauls gondola cars full of contaminated soil to a disposal site in E. Carbon, UT.

By 2006, all that remained of the SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors that began service in Rio Grande's black and orange was DRG&W #5371. She would spend the next two years alternating service between locals around Salt Lake City and the dirt train.

Here, railpictures.net contributor James Belmont catches the #5371 and a trio of armour yellow SD40-2s trailing as they head east through Wellington, UT on Feb 29th, 2008 while making their way to the East Carbon disposal site with another trainload of contaminated dirt [likely from the decommissioned Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, CA- but that's just speculation on my part- NANESB!].

According to Mr Belmont, this was the last run of the #5371 in regular service. The Rio Grande unit was sent to Cheyenne, WY for storage shortly after this picture was taken. By September 2008, the #5371 was stricken from Union Pacific's roster.

By 2009, the Union Pacific Railroad donated the #5371 to the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, UT [Housed in Ogden's Union Station along with the John M Browning Firearms Museum, upping the 'must visit' factor for me by about another 1000 points- NANESB!].

Today, the 5731 keeps company with other displayed locomotives such as Union Pacific DD40AX #6916 (largest diesel locomotive built by EMD) and 4-8-4 #833 (a sister to Union Pacific's still-active #844.

Today's Train of Though- A Beehive (State) of Activity, May 17 2011

Today's train of thought brings us to a truncated remnant of the old Denver Rio Grande and Western in Utah.

Here, railpictures.net contributor James Belmont caught Union Pacific GP15-1 #Y555 (the 'Y' designates that it's normally assigned to Yard service on UP) leads another GP15-1 and a couple of boxcars as they tiptoe down the jointed rail of the former DRG&W Tintic Branch (now Union Pacific's Tintic Industrial Lead) in Springville, UT on a sunny August 2010 afternoon.

The line was built in stages between 1891 to 1896 from Springville to Eureka, UT (some 40 miles) to access the gold, silver, lead and zinc deposits of the Tintic Mining district. Although as recently as within the past decade the line had traffic from a grain elevator operated by the Church of Latter Day saints as well as limestone traffic, the line had pretty much been cut back to five miles.

Today's Train of Thought- October 2nd

Well, since it's past the witching hour here I thought I'd get a head start on the Train of Thought for Oct. 2nd. That must also mean it's my nephew's 5th birthday (If you're reading this, happy birthday, Otis!).


Today's Train of Thought comes from railpictures.net contributor Wade H. Massie and features a Wheeling & Lake Erie coke train crossing a soaring steel trestle in Sudan, PA. Power for the train is all EMD; an eclectic mix of rebuilt SD40-3s, GP40-2s and lone SD40T-2 still in Denver, Rio Grande & Western paint.