Western Railroad Discussion > new BNSF Texas - PNW intermodal trains

Announced about two weeks ago in Railway Age. A search here says they are symboled QALTPTL6 and QPTLALT6. Curious about the route; do they go via Joint Line S of Denver and which way thru Wyoming? Has anyone seen them and dared to count cars or wells or intermodal units? If so, are they domestic or international boxes or both? I know it is a long distance but the six/seven day schedule mentioned seems rather slow. If routed via Joint Line, these would be the first intermodal trains on that line in a decade or more; right? I live in East so can't check but do visit Denver 1-2 times per year but never have the freedom to look at the railroads.

JLinDE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Announced about two weeks ago in Railway Age. A
> search here says they are symboled QALTPTL6 and
> QPTLALT6. Curious about the route; do they go via
> Joint Line S of Denver and which way thru Wyoming?
> Has anyone seen them and dared to count cars or
> wells or intermodal units? If so, are they
> domestic or international boxes or both? I know it
> is a long distance but the six/seven day schedule
> mentioned seems rather slow. If routed via Joint
> Line, these would be the first intermodal trains
> on that line in a decade or more; right? I live in
> East so can't check but do visit Denver 1-2 times
> per year but never have the freedom to look at the
> railroads.

Front Range Sub to Wyoming, its a pretty short train, domestic containers, its like 4days, not the first intermodal trains on the joint line in a decade there are some re routes and baretables trains.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4120852  has a schedule

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4120598   Pics
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/16 17:57 by mammothlacrosse.

First regular intermodal trains between Trinidad and Amarillo since the 1990s. Rest of route already had some intermodal, but not a lot north of Amarillo. Believe they normally use the directional running scheme Pueblo - Amarillo and normally are routed through the PRB rather than Wind River Canyon.

Best regards,

Rob L.
 

South of Denver the new Q train follows the directional running plan  South to Pueblo, east on the the ATSF route to Las Animas Junction, then south on the old ATSF route to Amarillo, all south by timetable.  Northbound Amarillo to Pueblo via Trinidad on the old C&S, Pueblo to Denver on the Joint Line.  The train is growning in size.  The first week or so it averaged 7 to 8 wells. Todays northbound had 2 locomotives and 34 wells.  Not massive when compared with Transcon trains but growing.   
 

Saw the EB/SB last week at Carkeek Park north of Seattle - 15 wells, about 70% double stacked.  All domestic containers - most of them JB Hunts and Swift.  Went into emergency just north of the park, but got a roll by from a southbound manifest and all was evidently ok as the train continued about 10 minutes later. 

Railfool03 Wrote:
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> Saw the EB/SB last week at Carkeek Park north of
> Seattle - 15 wells, about 70% double stacked. 
> All domestic containers - most of them JB Hunts
> and Swift.  Went into emergency just north of the
> park, but got a roll by from a southbound manifest
> and all was evidently ok as the train continued
> about 10 minutes later. 

Did you move up there or are you still in DFW?

The six day service seems to confuse people. It means trains departs 6 days a week not that it takes 6 days.

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for the updates. I should have said first 'scheduled' train in a long time. I know that re-routes and baretables are sometimes routed via the Joint Line; I saw a baretable on it a few years ago. I've since deleted the Railway Age news item, but I thought it said the service was sixth morning one way and seventh the other. It also said perishable shipments could be serviced in Denver.