Shortline/Regional Railnews
Western Pacifi c Day at Niles Canyon Railway
The Western Pacifi c took over the Niles Canyon Railway on August 9, with regular excursion trains powered by restored WP GP7 No. 713 and F7 No. 918-D. Western Pacifi c coach No. 315 was also part of the consist, seen here at Sunol, Calif. The Niles Canyon Railway operates over the old Southern Pacifi c route through the canyon, while the nearby former WP main is now home to Union Pacifi c and Altamont Commuter Express trains.
PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HAUF
CANADIAN SHORTLINES GLENN COURTNEY
Increased Traffi c for Ontario Northland
Increased car and locomotive repair business has allowed Ontario Northland to recall a number of railcar mechanics. Since turning its attention to increas- ing its volume of outside work, Ontario Northland has been able to capitalize on its repair knowledge gained as a railway operator to attract a number of new cus- tomers.
Northern Lights Finances Start-Up
Northern Lights Railway has raised $1 million from local farmers and munici- palities and has borrowed $500,000 from the Saskatchewan provincial govern- ment to finance the purchase and start- up of operations on the 37-mile, former Canadian National line between Melfort and Birch Hills, Sask.; operations are expected to start soon. The railway has producer car loading facilities at Beatty and Kinistino and plans to add a third at Birch Hills later this year. Former Wabush Lake Railway RS18 906 is being leased from Mark David Canada Inc.
Viterra Inc., in Vancouver, B.C., is leasing J&L Consulting’s former South- ern Railway of British Columbia GMD1 1202 ... Louis Dreyfuss SW1200RS 2001 is no longer working at Rathwell, Man., and was traded to Motive Power Resources ... The Cargill Grain ter- minal at Morris, Man., is now being switched by SW1200 401, built in 1957 as Missouri Pacific 1129.
12 OCTOBER 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
IRON ORE ROADS DAVE SCHAUER
Mine Shutdown Affects Canadian National
Continuing softness in the steel industry has resulted in Cliffs Natural Resourc- es’ announcement that it will temporally shutter its United Taconite (Utac) mine and processing plant in Minnesota. The shutdown was expected to be completed by the end of August and last up to six months, depending on demand for iron ore. Utac employs 500 and produced nearly five million tons of iron ore pel- lets in 2014. CN handles finished pellets from Utac’s Fairlane processing plant to its dock in Duluth and also handles unprocessed ore from the Thunderbird mine to Fairlane. The combined tonnage of processed pellets and raw ore ship- ments totals roughly 20 million tons, making United Taconite CN’s largest iron ore customer.
While United Taconite is down, Cliffs plans to modify the processing plant to produce a flux pellet for use in mills operated by ArcelorMittal that are currently supplied with ore from the Empire mine in Michigan, which is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2017. Flux pellets include the addi- tion of limestone and CN will likely be called on to transport this material from docks in Duluth, thus adding traffic to the Missabe Subdivision. CN currently moves limestone to the Minntac and Mi- norca plants in Minnesota and the Em- pire mine in Michigan. On July 23 U.S. Steel announced it planned to bring its large Minntac mine back to full production in September. The mine has been on a partial shut- down since the beginning of June with
approximately 400 workers laid off and the remaining employees on a 32-hour per week schedule. The majority of Minntac’s production is shipped by CN through the port of Two Harbors.
Missabe CTC Update
Contract crews are installing new sig- nals along the Missabe Subdivision in Minnesota between North Coons and milepost 51 to complete CTC between those two points. Older searchlight-type DM&IR signals are being replaced in the process with LED-type hooded signals that are PTC-compliant. The code line along this section of track will likely be removed after CTC is functioning. Crews also placed a new higher-speed switch into service at Wolf to improve traffic flow through that junction.
BNSF Taconite Reroute
U.S. Steel’s smaller Minnesota plant, Keewatin Taconite, will remain idle for the foreseeable future. During this pro- duction hiatus, BNSF is handling tac- onite from U.S. Steel’s nearby Minntac mine for mills at Birmingham, Ala., and Granite City, Ill., that normally would receive ore from Keewatin. BNSF deliv- ers empty ore trains to CN at Keenan Yard for loading at Minntac. There is still some activity at Keewa- tin as workers have been loading trains with stockpiled iron ore pellet chips and fines that are moved via BNSF to Hallett Dock in Duluth for shipment by vessel to steel mills. The future of Keewatin Taconite re- mains uncertain since U.S. Steel an- nounced on July 29 plans to shut down its No. 8 blast furnace at the Fairfield
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