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NEW TRIP REPORT POSTED - BC RAIL
Posted Wednesday, September 24 2003 at 2310 h MDT
As many of you know, my other favorite railroad is BC Rail. Ever since I was about 12, I've been fascinated with it. Due to recent political forces in British Columbia, things are about to change forever. Everything started with the elimination of passenger services late last year. By early this year, the province was soliciting RFPs to purchase the railroad, minus the physical track structure. The latest rumors I've heard say that we'll know who won the bidding in just a few days, and by early next year, BC Rail as we know it will be no more. So, making one last trip up to see it became a priority about two months ago, and from 22-Aug to 1-Sep, I finally made the trip. You can read the resulting trip report (the largest I've ever put together) starting with either the abstract or jumping right into the main trip report itself. Enjoy! - NDHolmes
DRGW POWER ON THE MOAB LINE TODAY
Posted Tuesday, September 23 2003 at 1037 h MDT
From Paul Birkholz via the DRGW list: "Todd Busse reports from the road that they are running a Potash Extra today and as of 09:30 it was at Thompson, UT. They had two cars for Cisco which they dropped off on the way out and have 20 empties to deliver to Potash, UT. The real prize on this trip - DRGW 3105 and 3111 for power down to Potash!" - NDHolmes
FIRST PHOTOS OF INTERMOUNTAIN N-SCALE SD40T-2
Posted Tuesday, September 16 2003 at 2034 h MDT
Harry Wong took more than a few photos at the 2003 International Hobby Show, and one of the items that shows up is Intermountain's N-Scale Tunnel Motors, including a close-up of a preproduction Rio Grande. Thanks to a post on the DRGW list, I noticed these photos posted online. While the paint isn't representative of the final thing, the rest should be close. For those interested, you can see all the Intermountain T-2s here or a closeup of just the Rio Grande. - NDHolmes
GE TIER II TEST UNIT IN DENVER SUNDAY
Posted Sunday, September 14 2003 at 2150 h MDT
One of the five pseudo-production GE Evolution-series test units wandered into Denver on Sunday. These units, based on an updated AC4400CW platform, are designed to meet the more stringent, upcoming Tier II emissions standards that go into place in 2005. UP currently owns the only five - UP 5695-5699. I saw one in the Blue Mountains two weeks ago (5698), and then Sunday afternoon I saw 5696 sitting around North Yard. They're easily distinguised from a standard AC4400CW by their unique radiator wing - the front intake grille under the wing is smaller and doesn't slant as much. On a normal AC44, both intakes are at the same angle. Here's a photo of the unit sitting near the wye in North Yard. More information about these units is available from the GE Transportation Systems website. - NDHolmes
DERAILMENT AND GLENWOOD MUSEUM NEWS
Posted Friday, September 12 2003 at 1150 h MDT
There'a been a derailment somewhere on the Craig Branch. It's apparently minor, with a unit or two on their side and a few more cars leaning. No word as to where - thanks to cozephyr on Trainorders for reporting it in this thread.
In better news, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent has an article today on the WCNRHS museum in the Glenwood Depot. It's now open from 1200h-1600h every day, except for Fridays when it's open until 1900h. The newspaper article itself is available here.
- NDHolmes
INFORMAL JOINT LINE GET-TOGETHER
Posted Monday, September 8 2003 at 1537 h MDT
There was a discussion started some weeks ago (right before I headed for Canada and my line/router got toasted) about an informal get-together of Colorado railfans. Several of us decided that the afternoon of Sunday, 21-September-2003, in the park at Palmer Lake was probably our best choice. So, any and all railfans (and obviously any spouses, kids, etc. that you'd like to bore to death) are obviously welcome as well. This is completely informal and unplanned, so all you have to do is show up. I'm looking forward to meeting those who show up, as there are a great number of local fans that I've never met, except via email. Update (9/8 - 2024h): I apparently missed the email somewhere while I was gone, but apparently the new agreed-upon time is 1000h. Still, I suspect a good number of us will be around for most of the day, so drop by any time. As for me, look for a guy either driving a big grey Yukon or a black Del Sol (depending on weather), and don't be shy - introduce yourself! - NDHolmes
NEWS NUGGETS
Posted Monday, September 8 2003 at 1533 h MDT
This is just a random assortment of DRGW-related news that's come up in the last few days. First, DRGW 5377 disappeared from the trace in mid-to-late August in southern California. The current theory is that it was patched to UP 8632, though we don't have confirmation of that yet. Second, Matt Hannes hiked up to the site of Thursday's derailment and got a few photos of the cleanup. His photos are posted on his website. In modelling news, I understand that the new HOn3 Galloping Geese models are now available, and that they're exceptionally good. As soon as I get a photo of one, I'll post it for all of you modelers out there. Mizell's in Denver got their HO versions a week ago or so, and apparently Caboose Hobbies received their HOn3 batch on Wednesday, right as the Narrow Gauge Convention was starting up. - NDHolmes
DERAILMENT ON THE MOFFAT
Posted Thursday, September 4 2003 at 2245 h MDT
I don't know exactly where yet, but there's been some sort of incident on the Moffat. Bruce Collins reported to the D&RGW list a few minutes ago that he heard a call for a UP unit to be run west from Granby to pull some cars back, indicating the general area of the problem to be between Granby, CO, and Kremmling, CO. That said, Paul Birkholz apparently just overheard some discussion of pulling derailed cars back into Crescent, so it's really not clear what exactly is going on. However, based on the talk of tied down trains and shuttling crews around, it's clear it's going to be a long night on the Moffat line. More details as I get them... Update (9/5 - 1534h): The train in question was MNYGJX, a North Yard to Grand Junction extra. It derailed 8 cars between Crescent and Cliff - 1 tanker of asphalt and 7 empty flats. Apparently these were in the middle of the train, and as it started to pull after a stall, they popped off. Thanks to Jay B., RC Farewell, and Paul B. for filling in a few details on the DRGW list. - NDHolmes
CHAMA STEAM II CANCELLED
Posted Thursday, September 4 2003 at 2220 h MDT
I just saw this posted - apparently Bob Zorn (of Chama's Trackside Emporium fame) just emailed those registered that Chama Steam II has been cancelled because of the RGRPC. They want to have 487 rebuilt and ready to be one of the operating locomotives for next season, and because of that they feel the ten day delay will compromise their chances of making this happen. Though I couldn't make it anyway again this year due to my work schedule, it's disappointing to see it not happen. - NDHolmes
LOST LOCOMOTIVE - HELP FIND 5404
Posted Thursday, September 4 2003 at 2144 h MDT
I received an interesting email from Mr. Mark Bachman, the VP at RELCO Locomotives, Inc. last week. They purchased the 5404 from UP, but they don't have it yet. It was reportedly (mistakenly) at Larry's Truck Electric in Ohio along with 5391 and 5413, but once it was shipped out of there, it was lost in the system. So, if anybody's seen the motor, any help would be appreciated and I can put you in contact with Mr. Bachman directly. He mentioned there might be a reward it in if you can help them find it and get it back. - NDHolmes
AND WE'RE BACK...
Posted Wednesday, September 3 2003 at 1009 h MDT
Like any good piece of technology, my network knows when I'm not home. While I was 2000 miles away from home in British Columbia, Covad's IDSL card in the CO locked up, and my router died a horrible death. Apparently the backup wasn't quite good, either, so we've been off the net for nearly a week now. Unfortunately, that's caused mail and all sorts of issues, so if you've tried to contact me in the last week, be patient. Update (9/4 - 2207h): A few hours after I brought the machine back online, the disk that contains RailARC's photo database failed. I came home from work to the sound of a 60Gb disk beating its heads against the case. Then, upon replacing it, the processor fan started screaming. So, that's all fixed up (though the RA database needs to be reloaded from backup), but who knows what might strike next. Please excuse any outages in the next coming days that might be needed to repair this or other damage. - NDHolmes
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