Locomotive Utilization the Santa FE the BNSF Part 2 The East and South End in Tales of the Jointed Track

I was breaking in, learning Locomotive Distribution. It was tougher than I thought, but it was not insurmountable. The biggest problem, you are under the microscope. No, you can't predict failures, and you take care of those as needed. Getting power, as it comes in and turns back, trains authorized, at odd locations, work trains, etc. My big sources of supply Chicago, Kansas City, Temple, Tx, Houston / Galveston. Other locations on the territory I covered were in for out. I made cuts, on certain consists, en route. This also was dependent on location, tonnage, priority, and the overall logistics.

The revolving ever changing chess board.

Out of Chicago, my short date inspections, meaning one or two days out, the MCKC, now the M-CHIKCK. These could be trouble makers, dead units, inspection dates. A mixture of GE and EMD locomotives. It was heavy manifest, that the hump at KC, would mete out, along with the problem children, and working power. Just because it was close to inspection, didn't mean it could be "online" and producing horsepower. We also dealt with the IHB, Indiana Harbor Belt Railway, We had trains that terminated at McCook, Illinois. These terminated offline. The power was returned, with the counterpart off the IHB, sometimes extras were generated, or the Chief, terminated the trains, so power didn't go into the IHB. So they would drag the train to MP19.2, and we came light power out of Corwith yard. Santa Fe paid for that, but its how it operated. I was told by the Chief, you need power for this at 19.2 There were also various switch jobs, and a Joliet local. Also there were 3 jobs at Willow Springs the inter modal facility.

Ft Madison, IA This was the crew change, for the Chicago crews and the home terminal for them. There was a switch job here, that worked the day and afternoon shifts.

KC, well this was a "big" shop, sometimes we had to add to the inter modals, due to failures en route. KC originated freights, terminated freights, did major inspections. It was a major yard for Santa Fe. The interchanged with the Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, the BN, and the a shortline, the Gateway Western. About 10 to 13 miles west, Holiday,KS, The track split to the Topeka Sub, which rejoined the transcon mainline at Emporia, KS.

Topeka Sub:

This is where the big rebuilding back shop was located. Major locomotive overhauls were performed here. Wreck repairs were made here as well. If you were working the "night rotation", the familiar phone call would come about 2030 ( 830 PM ). "This is John Collins in Topeka, I have 10 releases for ya". I would get the locomotive numbers, write them down, and repeat them back . I would fish them out of the shop window. predict them out on the local, that would take them back to KC. Or, sometimes if I needed power at Newton, KS I would glean power from the shop releases, unless they needed to go back to the shops at KC, for the wheel truing machine. I was told about those, that HAD to go back. Get the wire out for the crew and Dispatcher to grab the units. Make sure the Lawrence/ Tecumseh, coal empty was predicted out, for call, when dumped at the utility.

Emporia / Wellington, KS These used to be two separate crew changes. Emporia is a run-through now, but there is a local that switched the industries there. The drag freights, and locals, would pick up and set out cars there. There was a 1500 series, SD-39 stationed there, unless it was due for inspection. Wellington, sometimes I had to switch out local power or the switch engine i could send those to Newton. They would originate grain trains here, so I had to either make cuts, or send power from Newton or Kansas City.

Newton,Ks.. That was a small safety valve for the transcon. There also was heavy seasonal grain traffic. These would originate in Wichita and Hutchinson, KS. There were several locals and switch engines. The roundhouse forces were great, and maintained the power for inspections except an M-12 or a 3 year air.

Arkansas City, KS.. This was a crew change point for the KC and Newton south pool crews. There was and Ark City local and a switcher. Also when the Red Rock coal trains came in they headed over to the Red Rock utility and unloaded.

Oklahoma City: This had a couple of locals and a yard..There was also GM auto plant there and that was switched or they originated Vehicle trains there. So power was either brought down from KC or south from Temple, or Alliance TX.

Alliance / Ft Worth Texas: Alliance, was the Santa Fe part part of the equation, until we merger with the BN in 1996. There was a yard and an inter modal facility. There were some terminator and originators trains out of here. They also went east to Zacha Jct.( pronounced ZACK-Ah), and interchanged with the KCS around the Dallas, TX area, roughly 50 miles ...A down and back,and 8 to 10 hour turn around. The switch and local power was primarily out of Temple.

Cleburne/Venus, TX This at one time was a yard and a rebuild center. It was closed down by the Santa Fe in the mid '80s. There were still Locals in the area three of them. Power came out of Temple and was rotated in and out of there on the south local, or a M-TEKC (ATSF symbol) or the M-TPLKCK (BNSF symbol). It now is known as Ward Spur. This is what it left. they go up to Venus, Midlothian, and Duncanville. Ward Spur is about 50 miles, and what is left of the old Cleburne subdivision.

Temple, TX This was a major yard and roundhouse facility. They supplied power for the yards and locals, performed inspections. Freight trains originated out of here, North to Newton or KC, south to Houston/Galveston..West to Clovis,NM and Barstow, CA. They also generated traffic for Conroe, Silsbee, Beaumont, and Longview, TX and to DeRidder,LA. Also the Lampassas Sub westward, was covered to Sweetwater, TX. Ft. Hood was taken care of, for military moves. At Brownwood, TX there was a roadswitcher. We would supply the west end as needed to replace the Sweetwater roadswitcher power. The West Power desk took over here at Sweetwater, as well as at Amarillo and Albuquerque.

Silsbee, Beaumont, Longview, and DeRidder: The time that I did power from 1995 thru July 1997 with the Santa Fe... this was locals and light branch line exclusively. After the merger with the BN, and influx of traffic, in and out of the Houston and Dayton, TX area was a BIG HEAD ACHE..

The time I did the "East Power" desk. There was a local that rotated power, from Silsbee to San Augustine, TX...switched en route, and tied up at San Augustine. Another crew, took that consist, and switched to Longview, TX. They tied up for rest at Longview. The other local, ran back straight to Silsbee. That power, came in, but there was a crew change at San Augustine .. So they were basically, trading locomotive consists.. There was a daily local to Beaumont...and the DeRidder local offered 3 days per week service. There was a small roundhouse, shop facility, like a 7-11, Fuel, water, supplies. Bad orders and inspections, came back to Temple, TX. All units were four axle power, no six axles..period, due to rail, and axle loading..

Houston / Galveston: This was a hub, for exporting Oil and Gas, Sulphur..also interchange traffic. There were refineries here and Chemical plants. It was heavy traffic and congested. We also got trackage rights into Lafayette, and New Orleans. LA This was over the former Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific ). The Port Terminal Railway of Houston, or the "PORT", was a switching terminal serving many railroads into there. They also were a BIG Can't Do railway. They delayed and screwed up more trains and power moves to their detriment. I could have had the whole roster of Santa Fe locomotives available, and they still couldn't move. Monitoring the power into the Lafayette area was always a challenge, and the SP really couldn't care. Sometimes if they were short on power, they'd take the BNSF units and operate their trains, and complain that they couldn't move "our" tonnage. We also had a few locals in the Alvin, TX area this was heavy refinery and Petro-Chemical based. Galveston Island was where a lot of ships were loaded and off loaded. There was a transfer job, that brought tonnage down, and that road power was used to the origination out. There were switchers as well to service the facilities .

Newton, KS west.
This was the mainline west, that served the northern Kansas, and into Colorado, and serving Northern New Mexico. The crews went from Newton to Dodge City, KS..then Dodge City to La Junta Colorado.

Dodge City / Garden City, KS: There was 1 switch engine based there at each location. Two shifts apiece. Locals came and went. Most of these were based out of La Junta and Newton. Amtrak crew changed at Dodge City.

La Junta, CO I guess this could be called the "Hub City" of the eastern plains. La Junta has a yard, what is left of the Roundhouse ( a crude fuel facility ) a depot for Amtrak. It went four ways out of town. This was "pure" Santa Fe only. There were still a couple of yard jobs in the 1990's thru 1999. Two locals, one to Garden City and one to Boise City ( pronounced BOY-ssss). The First subdivision to Dodge City, KS. The Second subdivision to Raton, NM, The Las Animas subdivision to Boise City. The Pueblo subdivision to Pueblo, CO. The yard has stub tracks now...a loop track to turn power. It is mostly a run-through terminal now. It is also becoming a ghost town as well. I'll relate later on.

Trinidad / Raton: Trinidad was on the north side of Raton Pass. There were a few tracks to switch out on an as needed basis. We also interchanged as needed with the BN here, as well. Raton was on the south side of the Pass. This was a crew change point. A small yard. Crews on the 3rd subdivision took over here, and went to Las Vegas,NM or took and loaded coal trains at York Canyon mine. Some power laid over for Coal train use. They would load up and then take the train to destination. The 2nd subdivision crews split trains,at Trinidad, and took the first half over. A RTNRTN or Raton turn would be called, and that crew ran over the mountain and grabbed the section portion and brought it to Raton. If there was a train heading east to La Junta, that same crew, would the first half of the eastbound and set it out at Trinidad,CO. Then a pool crew would grab the second portion, and double over to the first and proceed to La Junta.

Las Vegas, NM: The 4th subdivision changed crews here, and took trains down to Albuquerque via Glorieta Pass, all 4% ruling grade of it. The 3rd sub crews laid over or, depending on hours of service, would run right back on another train. There was a wood lumber mill and a small industry that one of these crews, would switch out. If Amtrak was in the picture, the train would be held, and the switching moves would be made after Amtrack's departure.

Albuquerque: This had a yard and a small fuel facility, all other repairs were sent to Belen,NM. The West Power desk took care of this station.

La Junta / Pueblo: This was a small subdivision, and crews turned most of the time on arrival. The engineers were based out of La Junta and the train crews out of Pueblo. They ran locals on an as needed basis, and that power came out of Pueblo.

Pueblo / Denver: Pueblo had a yard, 3 switch jobs, and at that time the Santa Fe crews were back to unloading the Comanche Plant, the XCEL Energy electric generating station. This also was a crew change point between the Santa Fe Denver Crews, and the Santa Fe east crews and the BN/C&S crews to Trinidad.

Colorado Springs: there was a local, that switched here, they came out of Big Lift,CO.

Denver: BN held this yard, some Santa Fe trains terminated and originated back. Santa Fe crews operated BN/C&S trains, as well as the Santa Fe train between Denver and Pueblo. I was responsible for the Santa Fe power only. That changed when we became BNSF.

A small overview of the East part of the Santa Fe Territory, There is still the West end of the system. I did that too.