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through Thursday and deadheads to Des Moines for its power, performs its work, and then deadheads back to Newton. The DMSW job may also work east to Newton as needed. At Newton, the 4:00 a.m. (NTSW) job was abolished and re- placed with a 10:00 a.m. job that works Monday through Friday. This job rec- rews westbound Train SACB if needed and works all industries in Newton and west to Altoona as needed.
Off the Roster
Two more SD38–2s left the IAIS lo- comotive roster in late March. IAIS 156 and 157 were shipped to Metro East In- dustries in East St. Louis, Ill. Eastbound SASI 27 (South Amana, Iowa–Silvis, Ill.) departed South Amana on March 27 at 7:15 p.m., with IAIS ES44AC 501, SD38–2 150, ES44AC 503, and SD38- 2s 156 and 157 dead-in-tow. The two SD38–2s were interchanged to BNSF at Rock Island on March 30.
Locomotive News
An interesting set of NS power was assigned to eastbound SIPE 06 (Sil- vis–Peoria, Ill.) that departed Silvis on March 6 at 7:30 p.m. SIPE went through Bureau at 9:29 that evening, with 95 cars trailing NS (and ex-Conrail) SD- 80MAC 7200, NS C40–9W 9366, and NS C40–8W 8403. An unusual run-through power set
made a quick turn from Peoria to Silvis and back starting on March 29. North/ westbound PESI 29 had NS SD70M 2797 (formerly NYSW 4050) leading NS SD75M 2806 (formerly BNSF 230), and
CN and IC Power Invade Bessemer Country
On a frosty April 24, 2015, Bessemer & Lake Erie SD40T-2 No. 905 leads Illinois Central SD70s 1032 and 1018 and Canadian National SD60 5422 north with empty ore hoppers through Meadville Junction, Pa., bound for the dock at Conneaut, Ohio. CN purchased the B&LE in 2004 and sent some B&LE locomotives to the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range at that time, but did not add any new locomotives to the B&LE for a decade. CN power began arriving on the property in 2013, but it wasn’t until 2015 that the B&LE SD40T-2s left the property en masse. No. 905 is expected to ultimately head west, leaving only three SD38s in the attractive orange scheme on the Bessemer.
PHOTO BY C.N. SOUTHWELL 13
NS ES40DC 7512. The power was tak- en off at Silvis and reassigned to a train going right back. The same power went back east to Peoria early on March 30 on SIPE 30. The train departed Silvis at 3:05 a.m. with NS 7512 leading NS 2806 and NS 2797.
IRON ORE ROADS DAVE SCHAUER
Bessemer Motive Power Changes
Following years of speculation, Cana- dian National replaced six units with a like number of former Illinois Central SD70s on its isolated Bessemer & Lake Erie route in early April. Expected to leave the property were B&LE SD40T- 2s 901, 905, 907, 908, 910, and SD38AC 866 with black IC 1017–1019, 1032, 1034, and 1038 taking their place. Also departing Bessemer property was CN SD40-2W 5347. Remaining locomotives, in addition to
the six IC SD70s, include CN SD60 5422 and CN SD40-2W 5336 along with B&LE SD38s 862, 867, and 868 for use at Con- neaut Dock. Of the 11 original Bessemer SD40T-3s, five (900, 903, 904, 906, and 909) were transferred to the former Du- luth, Missabe & Iron Range after CN’s purchase of Great Lakes Transportation while 902 was sent to Quality Rail Ser- vices in Madison, Ill., earlier this year. Bessemer 866 and 900 (sent earlier from Minnesota) are also headed to Quality Rail Service, which has done work for CN in the past, suggesting there might be additional life left for the former Bes- semer units.
Ore Slowdown
In mid-March, U.S. Steel announced it would suspend operations at its Keewa- tin Taconite mine and processing plant on Minnesota’s Mesabi Range effective May 13. This suspension will impact more than 400 employees and is a result of the company idling its mills at Gran- ite City, Ill., and Birmingham, Ala. Both mills use iron ore from Keewatin deliv- ered via BNSF Railway. This reduction in ore shipments has resulted in BNSF storing a number of trains used for this business, including some on North Shore Scenic Railroad near Duluth and some on the Lakes and Drayon Subdivisions. On April 4, loaded ore train U-KEEMAD0-27T from Kee- watin to Granite City was near Minne- apolis when U.S. Steel requested it be sent instead to BNSF’s Allouez (Supe- rior, Wis.) taconite storage facility. This request resulted in the unusual sight of a loaded ore train moving north instead of south on BNSF’s Hinckley Subdivi- sion.
U.S. Steel followed the Keewatin Tac-
onite announcement with news in early April that it would cut back production at its flagship Minntac mine located at Mountain Iron, Minn., effective June 1. Three of the plant’s five production lines will be shut down in an effort to reduce a backlog of 3.2 million tons of taco- nite. Approximately 700 of the mine’s 1500 employees will be laid off as a re- sult of the stoppage. Minntac produced and shipped more than 13 million long tons of iron ore in 2013, the most of any taconite pellet plant in North America. U.S. Steel says the move is needed due to low demand for American-made steel as a result of low-cost foreign imports
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