THIS MONTH’S TOP NEWS STORIES AND PHOTOS
CSX Crude Oil Train Derails in West Virginia
On February 16 a loaded 109-car CSX eastbound crude oil train derailed 28 tank cars near Mount Carbon,
W.Va., 35 miles southeast of Charleston, in a fi ery series of explosions that prompted evacuations of more than 1000 residents. The train was traveling to Yorktown, Va., from the Bakken oil fi elds of North Dakota The derailment occurred on CSX’s New River Subdivision, an important export coal artery for the railroad’s Huntington East Division. The derailment leveled a nearby home and was accompanied by a series of huge explosions that lasted for more than ten hours after the accident. No injuries were reported. Fires continued to burn throughout much of the week, and the rail line remained closed through February 20 as crews from across more than eight states worked to clean up debris and restore service. Numerous local, state, and federal agencies remained on scene through the week to assist with cleanup and ongoing investigative efforts. All freights and Amtrak’s Cardinal passenger service were detoured or cancelled through the end of the week. At press time, the cause of the incident was still under investigation. STORY BY CHASE GUNNOE, PHOTO BY COREY COEN
BNSF RAILWAY SAYRE KOS
Locomotive News
BNSF Railway now rosters a new locomotive model, the General Electric CW4400C4M. As of press time, only one locomotive, BNSF 616, has this new nomenclature, which signifies a Dash 9-44CW that has been rebuilt to close- ly emulate ES44C4s with A-1-A trucks and Tier 0 emissions compliance (in contrast with Evolution Series C4s, which are Tier 3 com- pliant). As of press time, the 616 was still held at Southwest Research Institute in San An- tonio, Texas, where it was undergoing emis- sions testing. Also at that time, seven former Santa Fe Dash 9-44CWs (601, 603, 609, 613, 615, 618, and 619) were dead-in-tow on Train H-KCKALT1-27 (High Priority Manifest, Ar- gentine Yard-Alliance, Texas) and en route to Saginaw Yard in Fort Worth, Texas, for storage and evaluation by BNSF and GE loco- motive staff for future CW4400C4M upgrade material.
BNSF continued testing two of its Lique- fied Natural Gas (LNG) locomotives, ES44AC 5815 and SD70ACe 9131, in January. The
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pair were wearing a path between Northtown Yard in Minneapolis, Minn., and Superior, Wis., taking advantage of the harsh winter conditions between these two terminals while engaged in cold weather testing. The two lo- comotives traditionally have been seen with fuel tender 933500, as well as research and test cars 82 Kootenai River and 83 Canyon Diablo. The third LNG locomotive currently on the roster, SD70ACe 9130, has been laid up at Topeka, where it has been undergoing unspecified modifications. BNSF has relettered certain locomotives in its end-cab switch engine fleet from BNSF to GN (Great Northern). As of February 1, 12 EMD SW1500s had received new letters, in- cluding 3400, 3403, 3405, 3413, 3418, 3421, 3422, 3438, 3443, 3447, 3453, and 3458. Three SW1200s, 3509, 3534, and 3546, had also been given GN reporting marks. Final- ly, six SW1000s, including 3606, 3613, 3614, 3619, 3622, and 3624, were wearing GN let- tering as of February 1. This is not a new heritage program, insetad BNSF is changing the reporting marks of these locomotives (and more to come) to free up some space on the roster for locomotives to be numbered in the 3200-3999 series.
Transcon Capacity Expansion
Although BNSF has doubled down on its ef- forts to reduce the number of single-track seg- ments on its Transcon, some of these single main chokepoints remain. In January, work was progressing on eliminating three existing stretches, including two on the Panhandle Subdivision in Oklahoma and a third on the Clovis Subdivision in New Mexico. Near Alva, Okla., two significant stretch-
es of single-track remain, including one be- tween Loder, milepost 314.8, and just east of Alva, milepost 325.6, and the other between East Avard, milepost 335.4, and just west of Alva. In between these two segments is about 2.5 miles of a single main track over a large bridge; a new bridge carrying a second main track will be completed after the two seg- ments of second main are completed. Back in 2006 BNSF laid roadbed and had
it ready for laying of track east of Alva. Also that same year and closer to Loder, BNSF be- gan to build — but did not complete — a sec- ond main. This unfinished second main needs to be ballasted, surfaced, signaled, and cut in, all work that should be completed in summer
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