Florida Derailment No Injuries in
Florida East Coast Railway crews begin to assess the damage done to GP40-3 No. 433, which derailed along with four double stack cars as Train 226 came out of Pineda Siding in Rockledge, Fla., on December 19, 2015. The four double stack cars remained upright, but the 433 rolled on to its side. The railroad repaired 300 feet of track and the line was reopened by December 21. While the exact cause of the derailment has yet to be determined, officials suspect an issue with the second trailing locomotive No. 413 as the culprit.
PHOTO BY JOHN DOUGHTY
Twin Cities & Western New Power for
Twin Cities & Western GP38-2 No. 2010 is one of four units heading to the Minnesota shortline on long term lease from First Union Rail. Built as GP38AC No. 4104 for Norfolk & Western in 1971, it joined Norfolk Southern and was rebuilt as GP38-2 No. 5504. Later acquired by FURX, it has been refurbished for TCWR at Metro East Industries in East St. Louis, Ill, seen here on November 19, 2015. Formed in 1991, TCWR operates on the former Milwaukee Road track betwen Appleton and Hopkins, Minn., with trackage rights into Minneapolis and St. Paul.
PHOTO BY MARK MAUTNER
is typically handled through the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard at Bedford Park, Ill. Eastbound cars are moved on Train 34G (BRC/Clearing- Elkhart), while
westbound
traffic
delivers on Train 19A (Conway, Pa.- BRC/Clearing). The latter train handles traffic to be humped by the BRC and also separates Bensenville and St. Paul blocks for CP delivery.
Duke Coal Ash Trains Established
During February 2014, Duke Energy experienced a massive spill from a coal ash storage pond near Eden, N.C. The
breach resulted in significant
contamination to the Dan River, on which Duke’s Dan River station is located. Dan River was a coal-fired generating plant
10 FEBRUARY 2016 •
RAILFAN.COM
served by NS until Duke converted the facility to natural gas in 2011. To prevent further environmental damage and meet new state regulations, Duke has chosen to transfer close to 1.3 million tons of dry ash from Eden to an approved landfill in Maplewood, Va. This transfer will permit the utility to build an on-site landfill to handle the 1.7 million tons of ash in the plant’s two storage ponds. Duke has contracted with NS to
handle the dry ash in a new unit train operation. The trains move 24 miles from Eden to Stokesland, Va., via a former
Southern Railway branch.
From Stokesland, the trains roll north on the Piedmont Division mainline to Lynchburg, Va., where they turn east on the Virginia Division’s former Norfolk & Western mainline. They operate via the Blue Ridge District from Lynchburg to Burkeville, and then the final 11
miles over the Richmond District to Maplewood.
The first three trains departed Eden this past November. During the first two weeks of December, four more loaded trains were shipped by Duke. The loads operate as Train 76W, while the empties run as Train 77W. Once Duke Energy completes track expansion at Eden, it intends to double train lengths to around 60 cars. Frequency is expected to reach two or three moves each way per week. A fleet of leased gondolas is being used to carry the ash. In similar fashion to when NS handled coal ash from TVA’s Kingston, Tenn., steam plant in 2009, the ash is wrapped in heavy polymer sheeting during transportation in the gondolas. These liners will then be buried along with the ash at the Maplewood landfill. This new unit train operation should last well into the spring of 2017.
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