Western Railroad Discussion > New Rail Line for Colorado Coal?

Link
http://durangoherald.com/article/20140203/NEWS01/140209857/0/s/Moving-coal-by-train

Building that rail line would be Great! However, as noted in your thread posted just before this one is an article noting the drop in demand for coal!

The SP was once going to build a route on almost the exact same coarse..... The reason for the Farmington branch being built Standard Guage.... Yea I dont think this line will ever be built! A PIPE dream!!!!!

Lets put the narrow gauge back in from Durango to Chama and run coal trains behind k-36's.... I can dream too.....



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/14 10:29 by jc76.

It seems cost prohibitive to build a railroad through a mountainous area, let alone one solely for hauling a bulk commodity.
There are so many examples of tracks that exist already that don't have enough traffic to keep them profitable.
Sounds like a business looking for a government assistance/subsidy..

While we are wishing.. we haven't mentioned Tennessee Pass in a while



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/14 12:13 by steve_misky.

steve_misky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It seems cost prohibitive to build a railroad
> through a mountainous area, let alone one solely
> for hauling a bulk commodity.
> There are so many examples of tracks that exist
> already that don't have enough traffic to keep
> them profitable.
> Sounds like a business looking for a government
> assistance/subsidy..
>
> While we are wishing.. we haven't mentioned
> Tennessee Pass in a while

It's not that mountainous. It's south of the San Juan mountains in Colorado. Major topography challenges are the cliffs around Thoreau, the many dry washes and riverbeds, and the cliffs south of Farmington. The route would generally follow NM highway 371. A quick Google map search will show the general route.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/14 16:53 by Cumbresfan.

Interesting.....

The attraction is not the King mine. The attraction is the Navajo mine, which has always been a mine-mouth powerplant operation. And is also regarded as a major contributor to the haze over the Grand Canyon.

If the Navajo nation is feeling the regulatory pinch of running those coal plants, it might be time to ship the coal elsewhere instead of using it to generate electricity for export.

Stay tuned on this one. This has some subtle undercurrents to it that might show up as events unfold.

SRK

jc76 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Link
> http://durangoherald.com/article/20140203/NEWS01/1
> 40209857/0/s/Moving-coal-by-train

Steve Krause
Chillicothe, IL

SR_Krause Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting.....
>
> The attraction is not the King mine. The
> attraction is the Navajo mine, which has always
> been a mine-mouth powerplant operation. And is
> also regarded as a major contributor to the haze
> over the Grand Canyon.
>
> If the Navajo nation is feeling the regulatory
> pinch of running those coal plants, it might be
> time to ship the coal elsewhere instead of using
> it to generate electricity for export.
>
> Stay tuned on this one. This has some subtle
> undercurrents to it that might show up as events
> unfold.
>
> SRK
>
> jc76 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Link
> >
> http://durangoherald.com/article/20140203/NEWS01/1
>
> > 40209857/0/s/Moving-coal-by-train

The power plant contributing to Grand Canyon haze is in Arizona - APS Navajo Generating Station south of Page (Glen Canyon dam and Lake Powell). The proposed railroad would not take coal from the Black Mesa mine (on Navajo/Hopi land north of Winslow, AZ) serving that station. BTW, coal from this mine travels by electric-powered train from the mine to the generating station. The RR is many miles isolated from the national rail network.

The power plants in the Farmington area do contribute to the haze in the Four Corners area. The Navajo's, much to the environmentalists dismay, want to keep the jobs associated with coal-fired power plant operation. The one on their land is the APS-operated Four Corners Generating Station. However, PNM (Public Service Company of New Mexico) has committed to shutting down two of its four coal-fired units at its San Juan Generating Station. The two plants are located within several miles of each other, one on each side of the San Juan River, IIRC. Links to both are shown below:

http://www.pnm.com/systems/4c.htm
http://www.pnm.com/systems/sj.htm

The proposed railroad would haul coal from mines supplying one or both of these two plants.

Edit: The APS-Four Corners Generating station is also served by a short isolated standard gauge RR.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/14 16:37 by Cumbresfan.