railfan.com/railnews Vintage GE’s on LS&I
Lake Superior & Ishpeming in Michi- gan’s Upper Peninsula continues to op- erate vintage General Electric models. On May 30, C30-7s 3073 and 3074 were noted handling a 7-Tilden assignment with 120 ore cars at Eagle Mills Junc- tion. Stored on the property are U30Cs 3003, 3004, 3006, 3011, and 3053 while sisters 3000 and 3009 are in service together as a set. Four pairs of leased CEFX AC4400CW GEs continue to han- dle most assignments.
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES WEST GARLAND MCKEE
From Iowa Pacifi c to Watco
Watco is purchasing two railroads from Iowa Pacific Holdings. Watco’s subsidi- ary, Watco Transportation Services, will acquire Austin & Northwestern Rail- road Company, Inc. (d/b/a Texas New Mexico Railroad or TNMR) and West Texas & Lubbock Railroad Company, Inc. (WTLC). The new railroads owned by WTS will be the Texas & New Mex- ico Railway, which will take over oper- ations of the rail line currently operated by Texas New Mexico, and the Lubbock & Western Railway, which will take over the rail line currently operated by West Texas & Lubbock.
Texas & New Mexico Railway extends
from a Union Pacific connection at Mo- nahans, Texas, to Lovington, N.M. The railroad serves the oil fields of west Tex- as and southeast New Mexico. The pri- mary commodities shipped on the line are oilfield chemicals and minerals, con-
struction aggregates, industrial waste, and scrap. Lubbock & Western Railway is divided into two segments in Texas; the most northern segment runs from just north of Dimmitt to Plainview, and the second segment runs west from Lub- bock to Whiteface and southwest from Lubbock to Seagraves. The Lubbock & Western Railway ships commodities such as fertilizer, construction aggre- gates, grain, cotton, chemicals, peanuts, and plastics.
New Railroad in Utah
The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis has completed its review process for the new 43.2-mile line between Juba and Salina in central Utah and will be making its final decision shortly. The decision will include numerous environmental miti- gation measures.
The Six County Association of Gov-
ernments (SCAOG) filed with the Sur- face Transportation Board to construct and operate the new rail line that would connect with Union Pacific’s mainline about 16 miles south of Nephi, near Juab, to a proposed coal transfer termi- nal facility about 0.5 mile southwest of Salina, Utah. The purpose of this project is to provide rail access to local indus- tries, primarily the Southern Utah Fuel Company (SUFCO) coal mine owned by Bowie Resources located about 30 miles northeast of Salina.
The SUFCO mine produces six to sev-
en million tons of low sulfur coal annu- ally. About four million tons are shipped to power plants in Carbon and Emery Counties east of the mine, about one million tons are shipped to the Salt Lake
City area, and one to two million tons are shipped to the Sharp loading facility near Levan. Other than Juab’s access to the nearby Union Pacific line, there is no freight rail service in this part of Utah; local industries in Sanpete and Sevier Counties rely exclusively on trucking for freight transportation, including the transportation of coal from the SUFCO mine.
The proposed rail line would remove
up to 750 truck trips per day (each way) from local roads. These trucks currently haul coal produced by the SUFCO mine out of the area. The trucks pass through the cities of Salina, Centerfield, Gunni- son, and Levan on their way to a load- ing facility near Salina, where the coal is removed from the trucks and loaded onto trains. As an example, trucks travel through downtown Salina at a frequen- cy of about one truck every minute. The trucks use local and state highways as well as city streets that are not designed for heavy truck loads. Each truck carries about 43 tons of coal.
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES EAST STEPHEN KOENIG
Signals Darkened on Buffalo & Pittsburgh
In mid-May all upright signals of the former Pennsylvania Railroad line op- erated as Buffalo & Pittsburgh’s Buf- falo Line were taken down permanent- ly since the line is now a “dark” track warrant-controlled territory. The long revered position lights in western New York are now history. On a positive note, B&P management knew the history of the signals and made arrangements to
Honors for FURX Employee
This staged photo was created to honor retired First Union Rail employee Francois Bernard, and was set up with the help of FURX, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, and Metro East Industries. FBRX SD40-2 No. 8045 wears a newly created reporting mark and Francois Bernard’s signature on the battery box doors. The unit was staged by a TRRA crew so photos could be made with the famous Gateway Arch at East St Louis, Ill., on June 9, 2015.
PHOTO BY MARK MAUTNER
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