Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF transcon Grants-Gallup,NM

With 80-100 trains a day is there much bi-directional use of the 2MT CTC in this area?

Colin Johnson

When I was out there in October, they were single tracking around a tie train at Laguna, NM, so the bi-directional CTC came in handy. Also saw Amtrak 3 run "wrong main" a couple of times to overtake freights.

Yes, the bi-directional CTC is used very extensively and with the train count as you stated, upto 100 per train, the occasional CTC controlled siding that BNSF has installed come in very handy. If you noticed that BNSF installed a lot of crossover pairs with the crossovers spaced about 2 miles apart, if there isn't a siding already in use there, expect them to be built there over the next 10 years or so as traffic increases and extra capacity decreased.

Yes there is. Traffic patterns vary day by day. Is there a particular area or shot you are after?

does the transcon run along I10 anywhere. my brother was headed for Arizona last week and had a train running faster than he was in his truck. he was going about 72 mph.he ask me about it and said it sounded like the transcon.also how long a stretch is the transcon.
trainnut51 asking and wishing everyone safe and happy railfanning

trainnut51 Wrote:

> does the transcon run along I10 anywhere. my
> brother was headed for Arizona last week and had a
> train running faster than he was in his truck. he
> was going about 72 mph.he ask me about it and said
> it sounded like the transcon.

I-10 roughly follows UP's ex-SP Sunset Route in Arizona. I-40 in Arizona roughly follows the BNSF ex-ATSF main line, aka the "transcon."

> also how long a stretch is the transcon.

The nickname "transcon" for the ex-Santa Fe main line from L.A. to Chicago is something of a misnomer, since it's not exactly all the way across the continent (halfcon?) Nevertheless, it was the only classic-era Class 1 that connected those cities with its own track all the way (unlike UP or SP, who needed eastern connections like Rock Island or CNW to reach Chicago), hence the "Ship and Travel Santa Fe...All the Way" slogan.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I-10 roughly follows UP's ex-SP Sunset Route in
> Arizona. I-40 in Arizona roughly follows the BNSF
> ex-ATSF main line, aka the "transcon."

If he was passed up by the Sunset Limited it's because the train was racing to it's next siding to park for some more freight trains.

tr#1(31) 5H:35M late YUM_LAX eng. 1, 142

RailNet802, over?

Z9s and Amtrak may get around other trains, but everything else is single file. Which just happens to be left-handed operation in this area. There are no controlled sidings, and there are only two crossovers that are not universal, i.e. both crossovers at one location.

Why is the Sunset Limited mentioned on the Transcon?

The reason I asked about this area was that the 2MT's are separated by up to a mile in places and there wasn't that many x-overs in place when I was last here in 1995. It would seem to be a tough place for fast Z trains to overtake slower traffic.

Colin Johnson