Western Railroad Discussion > Bad, bad day on the Joint Line

August 8th, 2012 was a very, VERY bad day for BNSF on Colorado's Joint Line. I played witness to the mayhem that occurred that day, and although I didn't get many pictures, the story is worth telling. It all started when a southbound coal load (coal load #1) near Larkspur stalled out due to one of the rear DPU's (yes, it was a GE) breaking down. Another coal load (#2) back up at Tomah was right behind, so the two units on the point were cut off and sent up to push on the rear of #1 all the way to the summit at Palmer Lake. Shot 1 shows the two units from train #2 shoving on the rear of #1. After waiting for at least an hour at my spot near Larkspur, the two units finally returned lite to their original train. Upon returning, they found one of THEIR DPU's, an older ex-BN SD70MAC, wasn't working. So, an hour and a half later, and after tacking on the emergency unit at Castle Rock, they passed by my spot (Shot 2). 30 seconds before the train passed, the clouds decided to move. Right. Into. My shot. Oh well. Knowing that there were at least two more trains behind #2, I decided to wait a little longer. In the mean time, an northbounder passed by on main 2 (shot 3). After waiting for an hour with nothing happening, I decided to pack it up and head home. Little did I know, the train I was waiting for broke a coupler near Castle Rock. A bad day through and through for BNSF on the Joint Line.

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Very good shots. I've been there for both stall outs and blown knuckles. Not many are happy those days haha.

jointlinerailfan Wrote:
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> Very good shots. I've been there for both stall
> outs and blown knuckles. Not many are happy those
> days haha.


Knuckles and stalls on the Joint Line always were a good thing for the crews on the JL. Overtime and wait-time racks up for the southbound crews and they don't even have to take the train all the way to LAJ. Trust me, I've been there, and there's nothing like kicking up your feet and getting overtime rather than taking a load over 50+ Form A restrictions of 10 or 25 mph on the SB run. What a horrible place to work for the railroad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/13 22:15 by SoftSet.

I guess I can't complain about our 70mph Z trains then in Nor Cal!

PT Smith

Good example why a passenger train wouldn't be a good fit on the joint line.

But your paycheck is always on time and will never bounce. If you work for either UP or BNSF you have one of the best jobs this country has to offer.
JB

wesleygreer Wrote:
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> August 8th, 2012 was a very, VERY bad day for BNSF
> on Colorado's Joint Line. I played witness to the
> mayhem that occurred that day, A
> bad day through and through for BNSF on the Joint
> Line.

Ah, well, how come you are just now reporting it? Just another day on the Jerk Line, that's all.

Build the coal line in eastern Colorado from Brush south to Las Animas. Then passenger service on the JL will do just fine! It is VERY needed.

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> But your paycheck is always on time and will never
> bounce. If you work for either UP or BNSF you have
> one of the best jobs this country has to offer.
> JB


You are right JB. I am just a guy that has been spoiled by the transcon. This transcon job is a railroad fantasy job compared to almost everything else. I thank God every day that I got my engine transfer down to the "tall rail" and never have to think about BNSF's secondary routes ever again (I hope). However, If I had to Joint Line for the rest of my career, there is no doubt that I would try to get into management and stay there forever. Just look at the #255 Joint Line Engineer seniority roster, almost half the roster is on "SYSTEM" boards, either in management or bad ordered. I know you have worked turn and burn jobs before (LA-BAR pool and such), but I think this Denver South gig is in a league of its own. Multiple 14 hour shifts in a row with non existent lineups are not a good combination. The most unhealthy I felt in my life was on that job for two years. Ingested more caffeine and sleeping pills to last a lifetime and went to work either 8 hours earlier or 8 hours later than the lineup showed almost every trip. Not kidding, trains never ran on the lineup there. It truly was a guessing game. If one called the MCO, they were laughed at. And there was never enough trains there to have a consistent calling of trains. They often put out broadcast messages saying they would hold trains from X time to Y time and not call them for a work window...but guess what, they still called them all night long. The next night they would do the opposite and obey the curfew. One never knew what was going to happen. You know as well as I do, the only thing that makes a trip a bad one is when we are tired. All it takes is a single person doing their job and updating the lineups and committing trains to a certain call time.

I am thankful for my job, no doubt, but BNSF and UP have a lot of work to do in a lot of areas on their non-intermodal corridors. Working the SW Div I have always felt the company cared for me and my well-being. Working the CO or PR Divs, it was the total opposite... As long as the paychecks come, I guess that is all that matters.

GREAT pics!!!!!