Western Railroad Discussion > Arizona & California- fact or fiction?

I made a detour today after chasing a train to Needles to see if I could catch the Arizona and California running west from Parker, AZ.  Apparently, there is a tie gang working in Arizona right now which has repeatedly slowed the arrival of the westbound into Parker.  Not wanting to drive the 4 hours from the middle of nowhere home in the dark, I decided to check out the line for photo ops for coming back a different day.

In the meantime, I came across a very friendly person who was willing to talk shop with me for a few minutes.  He told me a few things that I would like to know how true they are since it wasn't clear if it was water cooler talk.  I am not criticizing him but am curious for planning my next adventure to Parker.  I am not going to identify him since I don't want to get him into trouble.

1.)  He told me that BNSF runs at least 1 repo train west out of Phoenix every day and sometimes two.  I had no idea that there was this much BNSF traffic on the A&C.  He says that they almost always run in the dark and the latest they run would be 7AM out of Parker.
2.)  Apparently, work is underway to repaint the A&C locomotive fleet because G&W is antsy to get everything into the orange livery.  There is currently 1 unit painted orange, but it is yard power.  He told me that repainting will be happening soon and they are doing it by bringing in outside contractors.
3.)  I was surprised to see how much car storage is happening on the A&C.  It seems that every siding from Vidal west is occupied, especially with tank cars.  Many of the LPG cars that get delivered by the Cadiz turn actually are stored on the A&C.  I had thought that this was strictly a runthrough operation.
4.)  Finally, I believe that this is urban myth but he was insistent that it has been talked about since 1975.  The guy told me that BNSF is interested in building a cutoff from Needles south to connect with the UP for accessing San Diego in order to develop the ports there.  While I can see BNSF wanting an alternative entrance into SD besides the Coast Line, I don't see how in this day and age a new mainline could be put into place over such a long distance.  Has anyone ever heard of such a plan?  If there is any truth to this, would it involve the old line to Blythe or would it connect to the Eagle Mtn railway?

Before anyone flames me, I am not trying to start any rumors but would like some clarification about things, especially point 4, which I don't really believe.  It was sad to see the number of sidings that were on this line that are no longer used.  Apparently the salt mine west of Rice is still very active but not shipping by rail.

Cheers,

Paul

How would BNSF get to San Diego via the UP?  UP does not go to San Diego.

I would presume this would require the use of the SDA&E line.  He insisted that even recently there has been talk of a new diamond at Rice.  Like I said, I don't believe it either but he claimed that it has been discussed multiple times.

Paul

Actually that is not a bad idea. Restore the line to Ripley, SW through the mountains and sand dunes, cross UP, aim to Holtville, pit the tracks back to El Centro, then westward to the SD&E rr.

Easy.....all it takes is cubic money

Posted from iPhone

G&W does seem to paint equipment pretty quickly, so that part could make sense. Peel off the logo for this line, and slap on a new one. Good to go

#1 is correct on the nightly train out of Phoenix. Usually does the hand off between 4 to 7 am near Castle Hot Springs  then I have found it into Parker as last as 11 AM. You can camp out at Castle Hot Springs then chase them out of town once they are done swapping trains. It is real easy to follow from Phoeninx to Parker. BNSF parks the same two trains each night heading out of town on the same tracks.The first of  goes to Winslow and the 2nd one to Parker so it's easy to tell when they leave.

ATSF429 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How would BNSF get to San Diego via the UP?  UP
> does not go to San Diego.

UP is 130 Rail Miles from San Diego, as the crow flies, less than 90 miles!

Mike

There has always been alot of car storage on the ARZC as on many short lines this is a big source of income and it is mostly LPG tanks. On MY last visit to the office in Parker (2014) they were down to only four or five interchange trains a week from the normal six day a week operation, MAY have picked up. Personally I have only seen ONE BNSF train on the ARZC in the twenty plus years I have been photographing the line but have seen a few photos of them. As for a new line from Needles to San Diego, beam me up Scotty. The cost of this could never be recouped with the little San Diego traffic there is and by the time it could be built the traffic will mostly be gone due to the new Panama Canal IMHO.
​JB

Don't know if this was the repo train in question or not, I found an unexpected (to me, anyway) BNSF train in Parker about 4:30 PM one day back in December.

z-trains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> 1.)  He told me that BNSF runs at least 1 repo
> train west out of Phoenix every day and sometimes
> two.  I had no idea that there was this much BNSF
> traffic on the A&C.  He says that they almost
> always run in the dark and the latest they run
> would be 7AM out of Parker.

>
> Cheers,
>
> Paul

---

Nomad Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't know if this was the repo train in question
> or not, I found an unexpected (to me, anyway) BNSF
> train in Parker about 4:30 PM one day back in
> December.




Nice!

BobE

Very nice catch on that repo, probably more like once a week?
JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/17 06:28 by 3rdswitch.

It has been reported elsewhere that G&W in particular wants to repaint all the ex-IC&E and ex-DM&E units, which have been scattered around its properties, into corporate orange by the end of this year. So if AZCR is using any of those -- and I think I've seen pictures of them there as well as on Arizona Eastern -- expect them to get sent to St Albans, VT for contract painting sometime in 2017.

Good Lord!  They've learned to triangulate just like a trucker.  They've even accepted the need to do so.

What won't they think of next?

G&W only up 27%, year over year, on carloadings and hauled 138,500 cars last month alone.
The UP isn't the "Borg", G&W is!!

Out

Translation needed:  "Repo Train?"

Reposessed?
Repositioning?
 

It's an empty repositioning train reflecting the fact that more comes in than goes out.

Out

The repositioning train is moving empty boxes back to the ports in CA after they delivered mostly imported consumer goods to markets in and near Phoenix.
Hard to tell an empty box from a loaded one, unless you see the weight on a train list.

railstiesballast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The repositioning train is moving empty boxes back
> to the ports in CA after they delivered mostly
> imported consumer goods to markets in and near
> Phoenix.


Its all domestic containers and trailers, nothing goes to the port.  2-4 a week through Parker.  Not uncommon to see lots of power on the repo, setouts at BAR. 

As a former truck driver, I know all too well that the amount of frieght going TO the greater Pheonix area from Southern California is 10x that of the amount of frieght FROM the greater Pheonix area to Southern California.

For a company like JB Hunt, it works out very well for them to send loaded containters to the greater Pheonix area by rail and then move those empties from there to Southern California via rail via a repo train.

Nothing may go to the port but I doubt the LA area provides that many loads without them
being import reboxes.

Out