jeffhergert Jeff
Jeff
Thanks for the responses and don't hesitate to expound more details. While I am in the process of recovering from having two Santa Fe books of KS history just published, down the line long term I may look at doing one of the Rio Grande across KS if there is enough interest, but not anytime soon.
PennsyBoomer With the decline in coal shipments the fortunes of the KP suffer accordingly. Were there ever a need for a through route for other traffic KC-SLC/Ogden the KP might have a future, however, that would presume a very significant increase in business on the Overland and I am not certain that is UP's goal.
With the decline in coal shipments the fortunes of the KP suffer accordingly. Were there ever a need for a through route for other traffic KC-SLC/Ogden the KP might have a future, however, that would presume a very significant increase in business on the Overland and I am not certain that is UP's goal.
Although a bit east and north, when I hired out in 1998 they always talked of needing a third track across Iowa and Illinois. I remember a manager back then saying those higher up were divided on laying a third main or buying the IAIS and upgrading it. Needless to say, the talk of those days are long gone. With the demise of coal, the old CNW isn't as busy as it once was.
When you think you have all the answers, you then find out that the questions are not the ones you have the answers for.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
There is an old saying in the Logistics community. Just when you think you have things under control Old Man Murphy is going to gum up the plumbing so bad that even C4 isn't going to fix the plug in the works. Right now every one thinks things are going smoothly for peak season. My drivers are hearing of delays from shippers on goods needed due to lack of flexiblity in our HOS. Even though we have had almost a year on Elogs this is the first Peak season on them and most shippers and recivers are still playing catch up. Amazon is in for a huge wakeup call from what my adult kids are telling me. Why their largest carriers on the truckload delivery side are about to hammer them with new contract demands that require 2 hour unloading times or face from what I and my drivers have heard something like 2 grand a hour in detention time rates.
Fed Ex is short trucks due to Forward air being bought out by Covenent Transport and not knowing how to handle the Fed Ex contract. UPS is needing close to 2000 trucks short term for the season. We are all scrambling to cover loads and all it will take will be a massive winter storm someplace to gum the works up nationwide.
The Union Pacific KP route was withering for a long time. Subsequent to the SP merger, its attractiveness as an alternative to the Hoisington Sub was apparent although its capacity and roadbed were not capable of handling the additional volume. When traffic was removed from Tennessee Pass and the former MP Hoisington Sub as a through route to Kansas City, the Moffat Route via Denver became the main thoroughfare for coal traffic off the former Rio Grande. This traffic came into Denver and most of it had to travel north to Cheyenne and thence via North Platte. The old Julesburg Sub that offered a short-cut from LaSalle, CO to Julesburg and North Platte without significant grade had already been cut.
The Overland Route was swamped with traffic at the time, exacerbated by the re-routing of manifest traffic off the SP (Rio Grande) to the Overland Route via Wyoming and this additional coal traffic. The delays associated with closing the Pueblo route without sufficient alternative were phenominal. A lot of coal traffic from the Grand Junction area was routed west to Ogden and then east via Wyoming to avoid the congestion in Denver and capacity through Moffat Tunnel. Thus the impetus to rehab the KP, that was entirely a relief valve for the coal business and more direct route to KC.
They are in places 5 main tracks wide with the new clearance requirements (plus additional sidetracks). There are places out there where they are hemmed-in between US-30 and the South Platte, other places have monster grain elevators on both sides of the R/W. While most of the way is largely 400' wide 1862-FGROW, not all of it was. (There were a few hardy souls out there when Dodge, Casement et al got after it. You also have to drain all of that track without drowning your neighbors and control the earthwork you were sitting on.) The KP was re-habbed to take the excess and dilute the traffic headaches - they are overdue for a crisis up there on the transcon.
Balt is right, but the Yellow Peril (but not the Wall Street Trash) is smart enough and has the practical reality skills to not put all of their eggs in one basket. (Brown smelly stuff happens where you least want it to. Beancounter logic, on its own, will eventually fail. Even PSR, which is why STB and FRA are asking questions and requiring reporting.)
Taking the big eraser to what grew up around the R/W is not as easy or cheap as some think.
greyhounds mudchicken They know that they cannot expand on the transcon anymore That's interesting. I don't doubt what you say, you know more than I do about this. But I am puzzled. Why can't they add more capacity on their main line through Nebraska?
mudchicken They know that they cannot expand on the transcon anymore
They know that they cannot expand on the transcon anymore
That's interesting. I don't doubt what you say, you know more than I do about this. But I am puzzled. Why can't they add more capacity on their main line through Nebraska?
Virtually ANYTHING can be done - it is just a matter of the price one is willing to pay for it.
Brakie: It's down to about 6 trains a day. You probably saw most of them. (was at about 20/day in 2008 before the recession and the coal slowdown. Used as a relief valve on the transcon.) It is a nice place, BossHen would go back if the timing was right. Last weekend we saw at least some grain train power being dropped off and a rediculous backing move out by Ogallah as we beat feet for home after Thanksgiving.
UP built a dozen 10000 foot sidings between Topeka and Denver in the late 1990's and upgraded the line with CTC islands. Sad that they now consider it expendable. They know that they cannot expand on the transcon anymore - The KP almost abandoned twice, only to be found as a relief valve to route lesser priority trains on and off the transcon. (At one point, UP was paying Kyle to detour some of the KP load over onto the old Rock Island, Salina-Limon!)
(At least it did not sprout legs like the Brookside Hotel and take its chicken dinner show to Abilene...)
A hidden tourist gem here in KS is the Midland RR hotel @ Wilson, KS on the pre-merger UP "Kansas Pacific" route. Wife and I went up yesterday to spend night in the historic hotel and came bk today. Many UP historical artifacts are displayed in the building. Sitting right next to the mainline, trains blast through town as if there is nothing on this site of the western KS high plains. A total of four trains were seen or heard from our trackside room during the 18 hr stay. Most interesting was this morn around 1000 when an eb w/a pair of big jacks came by right before we checked out. This must have been a local as only 15-20 cars were being hauled.
I hold very little knowledge about the current profile of this line. Does anyone know what the daily avg train count is? What M and L jobs work out there? It is my understanding Salina has a pair of daily yd jobs. Most traffic would be going across N Platte, w/the KP used as a secondary route is my guess.
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