Western Railroad Discussion > Westbound RCP&E Manifest

Westbound RCP&E train MHURC (Manifest, Huron, SD - Rapid City, SD) stops to wait for its conductor to arrive from the rear end, led by SD40-2 #3422.

Photo 1: SD40-2 #3422
Photo 2: Front section of SD40-2 #3422
Photo 3: Close up of cab section of SD40-2 #3422

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Photo 4: RCP&E Logo
Photo 5: Operation lifesaver sticker
Photo 6: Paint differences between a patched RCP&E and a regular RCP&E

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Photo 7: Conductor arrives, and shortly the train will be on its way.
Photo 8: Second unit RCP&E SD40-2 #6449
Photo 9: Third unit RCP&E SD40-2 #6412

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Last picture - The train heads away to the next crew change point of Philip, SD, population 800. Imagine being stuck there for 31 hours at the away from home terminal with nothing to do. That happened to me last trip. In four miles, the train will be travelling at a lightspeed of 10mph for 73 miles. Can you say torture?

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Bitchin! Best loco ever made IMHO!
JB

RCPE_Hogger Wrote:
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> In four miles, the train
> will be travelling at a lightspeed of 10mph for 73
> miles. Can you say torture?

Do they have any plans to address the track conditions in 2015?



Allen

Where exactly is the lodgings for the Philip crew change? I don't recall there being much of anything there. Do they taxi to Wall?

In 1978 when this train was shot in the same place in Huron the next 70 miles once you past the
stretch of heavier iron was 10 mph. That's 36 years ago, hopefully 2015 under a new owner things
will improve.

Out

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In 2020 it will still be 10 mph.

bradleymckay Wrote:

> Do they have any plans to address the track
> conditions in 2015?

No, it will continue to be 10mph.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> Where exactly is the lodgings for the Philip crew
> change? I don't recall there being much of
> anything there. Do they taxi to Wall?

It is at Motel West on highway 14 East of town.

Welcome to G&W!

Nice shots, thanks for sharing. Are there many grain extras moving on this line this time of year?

Soo715 Wrote:
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> Nice shots, thanks for sharing. Are there many
> grain extras moving on this line this time of
> year?


Thank you, and you are welcome. Oh yes, lots of grain moving, constantly spotting empty hoppers to grain elevators and pulling loads. Regularly run extra trains to meet demand, both road trains and wayfreights.

What's with the cab roof on the 3422?

Regarding the 10 mph speed limit, I thought I read something years ago that attributed this partly to the type of clay in the soil that somehow affected the stability of the roadbed. Is this a factor at all?

This is the old CNW I remember in 1970 to 1972 train 417 westbound with 3 or 4 ALCOS rocking along at a 10 mph and in some spots 5 MPH till we went as far as out 14 hours would carry us and the. Tie up and a crew out of Rapid would relive us and we would deadhead to Rapid City after we went DOL this was before the ride in counted as Hours of service get our rest and go east on train 418 sometimes the Rapid City crews would take the train east out to Ellsworth and we would get on there some times the east bound trip would take two days we would tie up on line after 13'59" get our 8 hours rest and go again

We just unloaded a BNSF unit grain train that originated at Highmore SD on the RCP&E at Pacific ethanol here on the CCT at Port Stockton do the crews still stay The Best Western in Pierre. Like the pheasant on the engines

cctgm Wrote:
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> This is the old CNW I remember in 1970 to 1972
> train 417 westbound with 3 or 4 ALCOS rocking
> along at a 10 mph and in some spots 5 MPH till we
> went as far as out 14 hours would carry us and
> the. Tie up and a crew out of Rapid would relive
> us and we would deadhead to Rapid City after we
> went DOL this was before the ride in counted as
> Hours of service get our rest and go east on train
> 418 sometimes the Rapid City crews would take the
> train east out to Ellsworth and we would get on
> there some times the east bound trip would take
> two days we would tie up on line after 13'59" get
> our 8 hours rest and go again
>
> We just unloaded a BNSF unit grain train that
> originated at Highmore SD on the RCP&E at Pacific
> ethanol here on the CCT at Port Stockton do the
> crews still stay The Best Western in Pierre. Like
> the pheasant on the engines

We would go West out of Pierre to Philip, and a Rapid City crew would take over and run it the rest of the way to Rapid. We stay at the Days Inn in Pierre, and Motel West in Philip. I've always wondered where our unit trains go, that is interesting. Is Port Stockton in California?

catalantalgo Wrote:
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> Regarding the 10 mph speed limit, I thought I read
> something years ago that attributed this partly to
> the type of clay in the soil that somehow affected
> the stability of the roadbed. Is this a factor at
> all?


Yes, that is correct.

Yes built on a clay outcropping which goes for miles and miles in South Dakota. In the winter just before the freeze CNW would tamp track and then we could run 25 MPH after the spring thaw it would 5 and 10 MPH CNW spent millions putting in drain pipes, ballast used 10 foot ties cement injections to no avail

The clay is very deep not able to dig it out to make a stable roadbed, that was one of the big reasons CNW spun the lines off from Tracy west there was always a lot of grain traffic but not a whole lot of manifest.

If you are ever in Huron look at the old CNW depot that now a Goodyear tire dealer

My wife is from Huron and her day with the CNW Asst. Supt until he retired

Have you worked north yet to Aberdeen and Oakes ND

Have a safe and a great holidays