[RITSlist] CRI&P Coal Trains -- another question

[Jim Eager]

And Mark Amfahr dug out and forwarded his Nov 2005 post to the CRIP  
Yahoo Groups list:

> 1970'S COAL MOVEMENT ON THE ROCK ISLAND - West end
>
> > I WOULD BE VERY INTERESTED IN 1970'S COAL TRAFFIC ON THE ROCK
> ISLAND
>
> Here are some casual observations on RI's "west end" coal activities
> from Sept 1978, just to pick a month/year at random. There were many
> individual coal movements along the Des Moines - Colorado main at
> that time. Info shows that coal came onto the RI from both the DRGW
> and the UP at Denver as well as via the KC gateway. It appears that
> most coal from the UP at that time was delivered in 65-car unit
> trains along with 3 6-axle units with that coal going to NPPD at
> their Sheldon Station plant near Hallam, NE. Those trains would most
> often move east as units, typically symboled 58U. A typical one was
> 58U08 of Aug 8, with UP 2948-3059-3201 (U30C, SD40, SD40-2) with 65
> loads, no mtys, 8125 tons and I believe they used UP hoppers most
> often there. RI also got coal from the DRGW at Denver, with that
> coal moving to a variety of destinations, usually in cuts of 15-35
> cars for each. It appears that the DRGW train that delivered the
> coal was most often 742.

[Not a unit train, handled less than train block and odd-lot coal  
from Phippsburg on the Craig branch -JE]

> Unlike the UP-origin coal, coal from the
> DRGW would most often move east in non-unit trains, many times
> in "general freight" 58A. 58A would use power that arrived in Denver
> from the east, so it was your typical mix of RI road power, 4 & 6
> axle GE's and various GP's mostly - generally the sort of stuff you'd
> see systemwide.
>
> As far as destinations for the DRGW coal, during September it was
> moving to a number of locations such as Hallam, NE, Waterloo, IA (RI
> direct via West Liberty(?), Ames, IA (RI to Council Bluffs(?) then
> CNW), Iowa City (RI with CRANDIC delivery) plus a few here and there
> to Council Bluffs. It appears that coal from DRGW origins was
> typically in DRGW cars (often 100T, 4-bay types), but with some
> RI/ROCK cars mixed in. I also noticed that Hallam got quite a bit of
> coal up from Kansas City, moving via McFarland and Belleville,
> although I'm not sure where that would have originated. As far as
> traffic volume, as an example here's a 4-week period Sept 2-27, 1978
> out of Denver counting both UP and DRGW originated traffic: 323 cars
> for Hallam, 127 Ames, 121 Waterloo, 97 Iowa City for a total of 668
> cars; for a rate of around 7-800/month thru there then...
>
> The biggest problem that I noticed during that time was the supply of
> reliable power to move the tonnage. Grain was heavy at that time as
> well and there just didn't seem to be enough power to go around. UP-
> origin trains had an advantage as they'd typically be delivered with
> power, making it relatively easy to get them out of town. The DRGW
> trains however didn't come with power, requiring that RI position
> power out there to bring that traffic east, so as a result DRGW coal
> traffic would often sit at Denver for some time until power showed
> up. The other problem was that power would die on-line, req uiring
> that trains reduce tonnage to make it over the road. During that
> September, it was common to see cuts of coal here and there along the
> Limon-Belleville-Lincoln route, left there by trains that had an
> engine die or whatever. Cars could be found in yards at Goodland,
> Phillipsburg, etc, but also out on the road at places like Jennings,
> Kensington, Agra, Athol, Smith Center, Lebanon, etc. Traffic left on-
> line like that would be "cleaned up" as power availability permitted,
> sometimes same day, sometimes many days later. There were even times
> when a train would stop at a siding and set out a cut of coal and
> pick up the same amount of "older" coal, swapping it out in effect,
> as a way of moving certain a customer's coal preferentially when
> power shortages wouldn't allow it all to be moved. 'Trying to make
> the best of things despite the chronic power shortages that they had
> to deal with at that time...
>
> Selected unit coal train consist s:
> - "Hallam Turn" out of Fairbury Aug 26 (spotting coal that had been
> stranded on-line by dead power or dead crews; 4592-4590-4791-4458-270,
> - 58U22 (Sept 22) 272-UP3281-UP2873-UP3220 65-0-8125 all Hallam,
> - 58U25 (Sept 25) 4331-UP2938-UP2837-UP3078, all Hallam,
> - 58U01 (Oct 1) UP2875-UP2847-UP2841 65 Hallam coal.
>
> Part 2 will have some observations on Quad City area coal activity.
>
> Take care,
>
> Mark

Thanks, Mark.

Jim Eager <jeager at sympatico.ca>
Toronto, Ontario, Canada



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