BNSF AND AMTRAK SHARRING STALLS?

[Anonymous]

Could, prototypically, BNSF (or any other company for that matter) lease or share a track in a loco service building/repair shop for another road if space is limited in a rurally area? My layout is all BNSF and I have some Amtrak, UP, SP, NS,etc... and i would like to have an Amtrak engine (old F40PH or F7) sitting in a stall or rip track at a BNSF 2-3 stall engine facility. I dont have alot of space for a seperate Amtrak building. It would be jointly opperated and serviced by both. Thanks-Ben

[dehusman]

Thank you for finfing the "caps lock" key.

Most class 1 railroads (the big ones) from the 1970's on had run through agreements with the other class 1 railroads. They would all allow the engines of the other roads to come through on solid interchange trains. They keep track of the horsepower of the units and how long they are off line, by counting "horsepower hours". So if a UP SD70 runs on the CSXT for 6 days the CSXT owes the UP 4000 hp x 24 hrs/day x 6 days or 576,000 hphrs.

When the UP engine is on the CSXT they will service it (fuel, oil water) and the railroads pay a differential on the fuel delivered and recieved. If the UP engine had 3000 gals of fuel when it went to the CSXT and had 2000 gal in it when it came back, the CSXT would owe the UP for 1000 gals of diesel. If the engine comes back with 4000 gals of fuel then the UP would owe the CSXT for 1000 gals of fuel.

Normally the repairs and regular maintenance are not done at foreign shops. If a BNSF engine breaks on the NS, they NS gives it back dead for the BNSF to fix. If a NS engine is due an annual inspection and its on the UP, the UP will shut it down and give it back dead to the NS to do the inspection. Amtrak is a littledifferent since it has a wide spread operation and may contract with the railroads to do some repairs and maintenance. Leased engines (which are different from hphr agreement engines) may or may not be repaired by the road leasing them, just depends on the length and terms of the lease.

It would not be out of the ordinary for a AMTK engine to be serviced (fuel water, oil sand) at a BNSF facility. It would be less common for it to be undergoing heavy repairs. With AMTK engines its is also possible that AMTK might keep a "spare" engine at a strategic location in case an engine on a regular train fails. They kept an extra engine at Slat lake City for that purpose and occaisionally have a spare at St Louis.

Dave H.

[GN-Rick]

I don't know what I just hit but I'll continue-Out here in Seattle, all Amtrak
locomotives are serviced at the BNSF servicing facility at the Interbay yard.
Probably this is a contracted service with BNSF. It also might allow BNSF
to maintain and/or inspect locomotives used on their tracks to their own
standards. This arrangement would certainly give you a prototypic reason
to have an Amtrak unit around.

[jimrice4449]

It's not just at Seattle. Amtrak's Empire Builder splits at Spokane into Seattle and Portland trains and for a number of years the engine for the Portland section was serviced and stored at BN's Yardley eng. terminal.