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New GE ES44ACs to Iowa Interstate
Not all new locomotives get painted at the factory. Three General Electric ES44ACs for Iowa Interstate (Nos. 514-516) were shipped via CSX for fi nal fi nishing and painting at Mid America Car & Locomotive in Kansas City, Mo. IAIS No. 515 was photographed outside the gate on December 31, 2014. No. 516 will be the second to wear the Rock Island tribute heritage paint scheme, sim- ilar to No. 513.
PHOTO BY DARRELL WENDT
Iowa. These trains had previously gone up UP’s Spine Line to the Twin Cities, then in- terchanged to CP there. The first test of this route via Clinton, Iowa, occurred on Novem- ber 1, 2014. At least two other trains have been reported since, the latest being on De- cember 13, 2014. In anticipation of the new traffic, two new sidings are being built along the Marquette Sub, one of which is at Harpers Ferry, Iowa. Also on the topic of coal, Mid American
trains to Riverdale (Quad Cities), Iowa, will end sometime after the first of the year, as the plant switches to gas from coal. Along the former Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern, a new grain symbol has been ob- served: Train 335, which runs from Fall Riv- er, Wisc., to Houston, Texas. These loaded trains go to BNSF at Kansas City, Mo., for forwarding to Beaumont, Texas.
DPUs on Coal
Starting in late November 2014, all coal loads interchanged from BNSF at Ottumwa, Iowa, are now set up in a 2×2×2 distributed power (DP) configuration. Customer Mid American requested this from BNSF after delays of tripling Rutledge Hill, outside of Ottumwa, became more than the customer was will- ing to bear. The first train to use this new power arrangement operated November 23, with BNSF ES44AC 5833, SD70ACe 8433, ES44AC 5863, ES44AC 6217, SD70MAC 9576, SD70ACe 9191 with 135 loads. Once the train is empty at either Fruit-
land or Muscatine, all six locomotives are put back together at the leading end of the empty train, which is then handed back to BNSF at Ottumwa.
IOWA INTERSTATE ALLAN HUNT
Operations
Effective December 8, 2014, the night Bureau “Rocket” crew was re-established. The job be-
gins work at 9:00 p.m., Monday through Fri- day. The same day, a second job was also es- tablished at Rock Island. Now RISW jobs start at 5:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at Rock Island. Canadian Pacific’s B73 local set out a new
Cedar Rapids & Iowa City slug set to Rock Is- land yard on December 12. CIC 204/304 were received that morning, and would wait until that night before departing on SISA 12 (Sil- vis-South Amana). On December 21, eastbound CBBI 20 (Council Bluffs, Iowa-Blue Island, Ill.) depart- ed Silvis at 4:50 p.m. with a big train of 104 loads, 26 empties, and 15,155 tons, and IAIS SD38-2 150 and NS SD60M 6754 for power. The train was refused by Metra because of tonnage restrictions and was parked at Rock- dale at 2:15 a.m. on December 22. Compli- cating matters on the New Rock Subdivision was CSX eastbound Q556 dead at Minooka, Ill., and SIBI 21 was parked on the siding at Bureau. An IAIS Blue Island crew called for 10:00 a.m. brought ES44AC 513 light out of Blue Island and pulled CBBI into Blue Island later in the morning.
IRON ORE ROADS DAVE SCHAUER
Shipments Accelerate Iron Ore
U.S.-flagged Great Lakes freighters have moved full speed ahead since spring 2014 and have now surpassed 2013’s shipments through November. The 53.3 million tons moved in 2014 are up nearly 87,000 tons from 2013. The season started with shipments down 43 percent through March and lagged due to heavy ice through much of April. On Lake Superior, only Two Harbors is
still down year-to-date versus 2013 tonnage, due in part to some Minntac production being routed through Escanaba on Lake Michigan versus through Two Harbors. Canadian Na- tional started running trains between Minn- tac and Escanaba early in 2014, when severe ice conditions hampered shipping on Lake Su- perior, and these trains have continued to op-
erate through summer and fall in an effort to reduce stockpiles at the mine. CN and BNSF improved movement of ore during autumn, and Hibbing Taconite is no longer moving some taconite pellet production to BNSF’s Al- louez (Superior, Wis.) facility by truck.
Northshore Mining
Northshore Mining has secured a two-year lease on a pair of CEFX SD9043MACs that are coming off lease to BNSF. As of mid-De- cember 2014, the units were in Minneapolis being prepped for movement to NSM. Many of the CEFX units have been repainted in an at- tractive blue and white combination that will match the color scheme used by NSM.
Lake Superior & Ishpeming
During late November 2014, two sets of vet- eran GE locomotives were in service to sup- plement eight leased CEFX AC4400CW mod- els. The U30C set consisted of units 3000 and 3009 while 3073 and 3074 made up the C30-7 combination. These former Burlington North- ern engines are used primarily on trains from Eagle Mills to the Empire and Tilden mines, while the leased power is used mainly on trains from Eagle Mills to Marquette and for switching the ore dock. During 2014, LS&I had been loading trains of ore at the Tilden mine for movement to Escanaba via CN but those moves have ceased. All-rail moves from the Tilden mine to Algoma Steel at Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., continue with 50 cars being load- ed per day and delivered to CN at Partridge for movement to Canada.
Mineral Range
Michigan shortline Mineral Range has leased ILSX GP10 1345 (ex-BN 1418) to assist in handling trains of copper concentrate over a former LS&I line it operates west of Ishpem- ing in the Upper Peninsula. It also uses GP9
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