Today's Train of Thought- A Tangled Webb, May 20, 2014

Today's Train of thought takes us to the Sooner State and one of WATCO's earlier ventures in the shortline business- the 275-mile Stillwater Central.

As a state, Oklahoma is cris-crossed with the rails of numerous fallen flags such as Missouri Pacific, Katy, Santa Fe, Rock Island and the Frisco. With each line's bankruptcy or absorption into a larger railway much of the trackage either abandoned outright or spun off to smaller regional or shortline railroads such as Farm Rail, Cimarron Valley, Kiamichi Railroad, Wichita, Tillman & Jackson or the Arkansas-Oklahoma railroad.

The Stillwater Central is fairly new- although it's fairly short distance from one of WATCO's earliest shortline rail ventures, the South Kansas & Oklahoma railroad. In 1998, the state of Oklahoma owned the ex-Frisco line between Sapulpa and Midwest City, OK to Kansas-based WATCO, who formed the Stillwater Central. A few years later, the WATCO outfit entered into a lease agreement with BNSF over 120 miles of track between Wheatland and Long, OK, with trackage rights into Oklahoma City proper.

Besides agricultural products, the Stillwater Central has also been kept busy with hauling oil from the Anadarko Basin and Bakken Shale handed off by the BNSF to Oklahoma terminals and refineries in recent years, pooling BNSF power in most instances. The Stillwater Central also garnered 2010 Shortline of the Year honors from BNSF.

Here, rrpicturearchives.net contributor SP Grabman caught Webb Asset Management (WAMX) SD50 #5112 leading a mixed bag of Helm Leasing and GATX SD40s as it heads eastbound with the Eagle turn at Lawton, OK in September 2008. By 2013, the #5112 left the property and was shipped to Larry's Truck and Electric in Ohio where it was stripped of usable parts. Currently the line is using mostly former Burlington Northern SD40-2s marked for Webb Asset management and some locomotives from other WATCO properties.

Today's Train of Though- Dirty Work, October 17, 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Great Plains, yet features a distinctly northeastern cargo.

After World War II, manufacturing plants owned by General Electric [NYSE- GE] in upstate New York discharged more than 100 metric tons of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) into the Hudson River. By 1983, the recently-formed Environmental Protection Agency declared a 200 mile stretch of the Hudson River from Hudson Falls, NY and New York City a superfund site and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation prohibited fishing in the Upper Hudson due to concerns over PCB studies.

Following more than a decade of studies for remediating the PCB contamination through the Hudson River, there were two possible solutions- leave the riverbed as-is and let additional layers of silt form of the PCB contaminated soil or start a lengthy project of dredging nearly the entire length of the Hudson River.

Phase one was completed in 2009- the contaminated soil was loaded onto barges that went up to Fort Edawrd, NY before being processed, put into liners and placed onto an 81 car train who's final destination is a landfill along the Texas-New Mexico Railroad in Andrews, TX.

In 2013, dredging began on a 12 mile stretch of the Hudson River between Fort Edward and Schulyerville, NY, with a new disposal site selected in Oklahoma.

Here, CSX SD50 #8513 is seen heading westbound through Ellinor, KS on BNSF's Emporia Subdivision with BNSF train U-CSXAVD [CSX interchange at Chicago, IL to Avard, OK] a unit train laden with the Hudson River's toxic bounty. According to photographer Austin Seely, once in Avard, the soil is offloaded from the railcars and onto trucks before being taken to some abandoned quarries in northwestern Oklahoma

Today's Train of Thought- That Loving Feeling, Aug 30th, 2013

Today's train of thought takes us to the Land of Enchantment [or AMC's Breaking Bad- NANESB!] and features a river that has wound its way through Western lore.

In the 19th century, 'West of the Pecos' became shorthand for the Wild West. The river ran some 900 miles from what is now San Miguel county, New Mexico to Seminole Canyon and the Rio Grande in Val Verde County, TX. Late 19th century saloon-keeper, boxing promoter and justice of the peace Roy Bean at one point deemed himself "the law west of the Pecos". Despite the moniker 'Hanging Judge Roy Bean', its believed that Bean had sentenced only two defendants to be hung- and one of them escaped before the sentence could be carried out.

The Pecos also wends its way through the Permian Basin in southwestern Texas and southeastern New Mexico, an oil-rich portion of the Mid Continent Oil Field that's seen renewed activity thanks to new drilling techniques. The area also contains substantial potash deposits, particularly in Eddy County, NM.

Two potash mines- one east of Carlsbad, NM and one east of the town of Loving, NM- are served by the 200-mile Carlsbad division of the Southwestern Railroad [just to make things even more confusing, the Southwest has a separate division out of Demming, NM in the southwestern corner of the state- NANESB!]. The Southwest began operation on the 182 mile line between Loving and Clovis, NM that leased from BNSF beginning in October 2004. This also included two twenty mile spurs serving the respective potash mines east of Loving and Carlsbad.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Fotaugrafee caught Southwestern SD50 #5103 crossing the dry riverbed of the Pecos with train R81 in March 2013 just outside of Loving, NM. The two burly six axle EMDs are still painted for WATCo's Austin & Western and started out life on the Chicago & Northwestern. Reportedly, more SD50s from WATCo, CSX and Union Pacific have also arrived on the Southwestern's Carlsbad Division since this photo was taken.

Today's Train of Thought- Of Paramount Concern, July 31st 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Land of Lincoln, although the focal point is somewhat lost among the urban landscape of one of Chicagoland's biggest suburbs. Aurora, IL is probably best known for being the home of the fictional public-access cable show Wayne's World- a Saturday Night Live skit that would evolve into two movies.

The Illinois Railway (formerly Illinois Rail Net) has been in operation since purchasing 113 miles of former BNSF track throughout northern Illinois in 1997, including the former CB&Q Ottawa branch. By 2005, the line was acquired by Denver-based shortline holding company Omnitrax.

Not too long after Omnitrax entered the picture, locomotives from other Omnitrax properties began showing up on IR property- most noticeably SD50s from the Manitoba-based Hudson Bay Railway painted in a striking green, white and gold scheme.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Chris Guss caught Hudson Bay Railway SD50 #5008 leading a former Burlington Northern/BNSF SD40-2 leaser with a northbound IR unit frac sand train from Ottawa, IL through the heart of Aurora on August 28, 2011. But the train is seemingly dwarfed by some of the buildings in the scene- one notices the marquee for the Paramount Theater or faded 'shoes' sign off on the left immediately. The train soaring across the overpass or cars waiting at the stoplight seem almost secondary.

The train is actually on BNSF trackage rights between Montgomery, IL and the BNSF's Eola yard not too far from downtown Aurora.

With the advent of hydrofracture drilling (or "fracking") in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale natural gas reserves or North Dakota's Bakken oil fields, the sand mined around Ottawa and other northeastern Illinois towns has been in big demand in recent years. This has led to near-daily unit trains of frac sand for lines like the Illinois Railway or Wisconsin Northern, so it's not surprising that to learn that these massive unit trains on these smaller railroads continue to this very day.

Today's Train of Thought- An Old Line in the Snow, January 21, 2013

 

Today's Train of Thought takes us to Maryland and CSX's Hanover Subdivision. The former Western Maryland line links the regional rail hub of Hagerstown with a number of on-line customers and the Maryland Midland railroad at Highfield, MD. Once upon a time, the former Western Maryland line continued all the west through the Alleghanies through to Pittsburgh, but was considered redundant upon the WM beign acquired by the Chessie System in the 1970s and much of the line was incrimentally abandoned or sold off.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Greg Dahbura caught CSX SD50 #8601 snaking around the curve at Smithsburg, MD with symbol freight B702. The train is climbing towards the Blue Ridge summit in the midst of a snowstorm on February 12, 2006.

Today's Train of Thought- This Ain't No Polar Express, Aug 14, 2010

With a name like Hudson Bay Railway, you'd think that today's rather convoluted train of thought might be the next best thing to The Polar Express. However, you would be off by more than 1500 miles.

In 1997, Colorado-based Omnitrax reached an agreement with the Canadian National to purchase and operate more than 800 miles of track in northern Manitoba between The Pas and the Hudson Bay port of Churchill. At the same time and about 1600 miles to the south, the newly-formed Burlington Northern-Santa Fe began divesting itself of some lesser-used branchlines in Illinois. North American RailNet would end up picking up four disconnected former BNSF lines in the Land of Lincoln. By 2005, the North American RailNet would sell their remaining American railroad properties to Omnitrax, including the Illinois Railway (formerly Illinois Railnet).

In recent years, Omnitrax has taken steps to improve capacity at the port of Churchill, including incrementally rebuilding the track between The Pas and Churchill and purchasing newer locomotives to operate over the line. Included as part of the new power is at least 10 former Union Pacific (nee Missouri Pacific) SD50s.

While the Hudson Bay SD50s were probably assigned to the Illinois Railway for test runs after being rebuilt and repainted in HBRY colors, the Omnitrax Illinois affiliate seems to have taken a liking to at least two of the 6-axle beasts as some of them have been on the property since at least late 2008.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Steve Smedley caught the matched pair of Hudson Bay SD50s #5009 and #5008 and a leased Helm GP38-2 as they crossed the Fox River in Montgomery, IL with more than 50 empty cars on their way back from BNSF's Eola yard in Aurora, IL on Mother's Day 2010.

The train is heading back to Ottawa, IL on home rails after traversing BNSF via trackage rights between Aurora and Montgomery and the cars are bound for US Silica's Ottawa plant. At Ottawa, the Illinois Railway interchanges with the CSX and Iowa Interstate while heading furhter south to Streator, IL where it interchanges with the Norfolk Southern and BNSF.

However out of place the two six axle beasts may be, they certainly do look sharp with their new green/white/gold paint scheme.

Today's Train of Thought- Harper's Ferry PTA, April 20, 2011

With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War taking place this month, today's train of thought takes us to one of the most pivotal towns throughout the whole conflict- Harper's Ferry, WV.

Located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, by the mid 19th century the town was home to a US Military Armory and was linked to the rest of the country by the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In 1859, the Armory was targeted by abolitionist John Brown and 21 men (mostly escaped or freed slaves) in a nighttime raid that killed 11. Brown and most of his surviving men were captured and the fiery abolitionist was sentenced to hang in December 1859. As much as the first shots fired at Ft Sumter marked the official start of the Civil War, Brown's uprising in what was then a Virginia town and execution was thought to be the catalyst for the conflict.

The town of Harper's Ferry itself changed hands no less than 8 times during the Civil War, with retreating Union forces destroying the Armory to prevent it from falling into Confederate hands. The Union then annexed the two counties that make up the eastern panhandle of West Virginia from Virginia (West Virgina was the only state to secede from the Confederacy) in 1863. With the railroads and canals, Harper's Ferry was a sought after prize for Robert E. Lee who could not resupply his Army on their way to Gettysburg.

After the war, the B&O line remained, with the line through Harper's Ferry hosting trains between Baltimore and Washington D.C. to the east and Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, St Louis and the coal fields of West Virginia to the west. In the 1970s, the line was merged into the Chessie System and in the late 1980s, the line became part of the CSX system. The Harper's Ferry Train station is still open and hosts both east and westbound versions of Amtrak's Washington D.C.-Chicago Capitol Limited but is also the westernmost station stop for the MARC commuter rail.

Here, railpictures.net contributor trainmasterrob caught CSX SD50 #8637 leading Cumberland, MD-bound general freight Q414 crossing the Potomac and heading into Harper's Ferry from Maryland Heights on the last day of 2007. The portal of the tunnel is on the Maryland side of the river and was part of a realignment dating back to 1931, which is fairly recent given the West Virginia town's eventful past.

IRON HORSE ROUNDUP: May-June 2010 Edition

EMD: Perhaps the biggest news of the month (if not the whole year) is the acquisition of locomotive manufacturer Electro-Motive Diesel by Caterpillar's Progress Rail Services from private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity LLC in a deal believed to be worth 820 million. Started in the 1930s as the Electro Motive Company and acquired by General Motors by the end of the decade, EMC started out making small, low horsepower switchers before graduating to the FT series. The introduction of the distinctive FT series in 1939 was seen as start of the demise of the steam locomotive while ushering in the streamliner-era.

Immediately after WWII, EMD's locomotive manufacturing faced competition from steam locomotive manufacturers ALCo, Baldwin and Lima-Hamilton and their early entries into the diesel locomotive market- the most resilient of which (ALCo) lasted until 1969. By that time, the EMD brand was introducing successful locomotives along the lines of the SD40 but was also facing competition from GE's burgeoning diesel manufacturing. Even with orders for the popular SD70MAC and SD70ACE from Class I haulers CSX, BNSF and Canadian National coming in, General Motors sold off their EMD subsidiary to Berkshire and Greenbriar in 2005.

Several overseas companies manufacture EMDs locally as well. India's Diesel Locomotive Works manufactures EMD engines and parts under licence, with EMD having a 50 year presence in India. Sweden would produce locomotives with EMD components up until the 1970s through Nydquist & Holm while Australia's Clyde would manufacture EMD products for the state-run railways throughout Australia as well as the privately-run ore-haulers in Western Australia.

As a side-note, a half-dozen Clyde Built SD50S that had worked for Western Australia ore-hauler Hammersley Iron were exported to the USA when they were replaced by American-made C44-9Ws a decade ago. The Clyde-built locos [which after nearly 2 decades of hauling ore in the Australian outback could hardly be described as 'gently used'- NANESB!] roamed the country briefly as loaners before being purchased by the Utah Railroad. Here, Aussie import Clyde #6064 is seen in it's distinctive Genesee & Wyoming orange paint while between assignments at Utah Rail's Midvale, UT yard in April 2009.

(railpictures.net: Jeff Terry)

NORFOLK SOUTHERN: Before purchasing EMD outright, Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail Services was busy re-engineing and refurbishing EMD locomotives approaching the end of their service life. In addition to the Progress Rail PR30Cs being tested extensively by Florida East Coast for much of the last year, Norfolk Southern was testing a pair of higher-horsepower Progress Rail rebuilds on their Illinois lines. The units were rebuilt from SD60s Norfolk Southern was withdraing from service, designated PR43Cs (PR for Progress Rail, 43 for 4300 HP and C for 6 axles) and worked mainly around the Peoria, IL area- headquarters of Progress Rail's parent company Caterpillar in case any servicing was required.

(Photo: Henry Dralle)

One can only learn so much about a locomotive's performance on the flat-as-a-tabletop terrain of Illinois, so in February, the Norfolk Southern decided to bring them to Virginia to test their capabilities in hillier terrain. Secondhand reports indicate that both PR43Cs handled the 1.58% Starkey Grade on the line out of Roanoke, VA with about 50 loaded hopper cars and the test car quite well. Norfolk Southern would also bring in Kansas City Southern's EMD GP22ECO mother/slug set and Brookville Equipment Corporation's 'co-generation' hybrid locomotive for road testing and evaluation in the Roanoke area over the spring.

Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Buffalo & Pittsburgh is also reportedly interested in looking at the KCS GP22ECO rebuilds.

ARIZONA: Passenger service returned to the restored 1916 depot in the Arizona mining town of Globe for the first time in 77 years with the Copper Spike excursion. The excursions have been operating since late 2008 and the newest addition is Arizona Eastern E8A painted in a scheme reminiscent of Southern Pacific's 'Black Widow' livery. The Copper Spike's consist also includes a dome car and a rebuilt Illinois Central coach that's now a club car. The Arizona Eastern normally hauls freight between Miami, AZ to the Union Pacific interchange at Bowie, AZ- a distance of 130 miles. In 2008, AZER also gained trackage rights over UP's former Southern Pacific Sunset Route between Bowie, AZ to Lordsburg, NM and acquired the former Espee branch between Lordsburg and Clifton, AZ. The Arizona Eastern is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC.

MICHIGAN: The Escanaba & Lake Superior filed a request with the Surface Transportaton Board to abandon 43 miles of trackage between Ontonagon and Frost in Michigan's upper peninsula. Smurfit-Stone Container, the largest shipper on that line, and the Ontonagon Economic Partnership have agreed to draft a joint letter to the STB requesting a stay. Both the board and Smurfit-Stone are in talks with outside parties to sell the currently idle paper plant. In anticipation of the pending abandonment request, the E&LS began moving equipment off the line and elsewhere as early as November 2009- when railpictures.net contributor Dean Sauvola caught E&LS SD9 #1224 and SD40-2 #501 hauling a string of empty boxcars stored at the mill across the Ontonagon River. Hit particularly hard by the recession, Ontanogon County MI has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

INDIA: At least 145 people were killed and another 250 injured when suspected Maoist terrorists in West Bengal sabotaged a stretch of track that the the Gyaneshwari Express was travelling on, derailing the train and knocking some of the passenger cars into the path of an oncoming freight train. Indian Railways minister Mamatma Banerjee said that rebels removed a 50cm section of rail and timed it so that the Gyanshwari Express would collide with another train. Local investigators found Naxalite literature at the scene, although they wouldn't identify which specific group. According to the Ministy or Railways, the engineer had just left the station in the Paschim Medinipur district when the train hit the sabotaged portion of track, derailing 13 cars from the Gyanshwari Express.

Today's Train of Thought- Tanks For Everything, May 15 2010

In observance of Armed Forces Day, Today's Train of Though features a solitary engine hauling a pair of tank-laden flatcars on the former Baltimore & Ohio Sand Patch line through Western Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania. Railpictures.net contributor Tom Mugnano snapped CSX Transportation SD50 #8632 making good time through Garrett, PA before dusk on October 19, 2007.

Ever since the Civil War, it's not unusual for military equipment to move by rail. Even in peacetime, the US Army will deploy domestically to places like Ft. Irwin (just outside of Barstow, CA) or Ft. Polk (in western Louisiana) for training, with tanks, armored fighting vehicles, trucks, hummers, trailers and generators being shipped by rail for the deployment [take it from somebody who's chained down many a Bradley or Abrams to a flatcar- NANESB!]. This smaller train, however, is a little unusual and I could only guess the equipment is en route to a smaller National Guard facility.