Western Railroad Discussion > Union Pacific: A Model of Efficiency

This past weekend I was able to get up to Tehachapi Saturday and Sunday, and it was one of the most eventful trips I've had. On Saturday about an hour after arriving a call came over the radio from the MRVWC, it having power problems at Bealville. Apparently a GE tier 4 was having fuel pressure problems. The nearest rapid responder happened to be a BNSF mechanic, who was sent to take a look (photo 1). As soon as I pulled up, a hotshot BNSF Z train with both a SD70MACe rebuild and AC44c4 rebuild (not pictured) rolled around it on the siding (photo 2). While mechanical tried to solve the problem on the UP engine, the detector at Bena went off, so I went to Caliente to see what was coming uphill. It turned out to be a BNSF military train, with some pretty ratty looking M1 Abrams tanks in tow. (photo 3).

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After it passed, I quickly raced back to Bealville to see it route around the stranded UP (photo 4 & 5). About an hour later mechanical Bad Ordered the engine, and dispatch told the crew BK was working on getting an engine. Meanwhile mechanical had pulled the blue flags off the engine and had just pulled away as yet another BNSF passed the poor crew of UP 2645 (photo 6).

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About 30 minutes later DS 250 called a BNSF intermodal at Sandcut and said he was letting a UP Z train run around them real quick. 10 minutes later the UP, now blocking the single track between Bena and Ilmon, calls the UP dispatcher to report the train went into emergency. They figured it had something to do with the PTC. 30 minutes later after being unable to fix the problem they call the UP help desk. After 20 minutes of trying to solve the problem to no avail, they get permission to run without PTC and an hour after they were supposed to “quickly run around” the BNSF stack they round Caliente. 20 minutes later the BNSF crew calls 250 and asks if they’re waiting for more traffic, at which point DS gives them a clear signal. An hour and a 40 minutes after they were supposed to have stopped quickly, BNSF 7979 rounds Caliente (photos 7 & 8). Shortly after, the detector at Edison went off. Thinking it might be the Rescue unit for the stranded RVWC I hurried to Sandcut, only to see it was A UP auto train already racing through Bena (Photo 9).

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Meanwhile the crew of the stranded UP had been sitting for about 7 hours, but someone made the decision to wait to send a rescue unit until the Passenger Special which has been quite famous here on TO for the last few days made it into BK, where it was laying over for the night. Finally as the sun was getting low, UP 9019 rolled into Bena, where it waited for two intermodals headed North before proceeding (Photo 10). Somehow I barely beat it to Caliente, where it cruised around the curve. Spooling in and out of notch 2 the whole time (photo 11 & 12)

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After stopping to link the DPUs with the new engine, 9019 finally reaches the head end of the stranded train around 9 hours after the crew first called in, and after getting permission to pass the red signal, backs onto the point of the consist and the crew begins to MU the units together. (photo 13 & 14). The old crew would have died before they got to Mojave, so they hopped in a Van and headed back down the hill, only 20 something miles from where they began their day. While the new crew was settling in, several BNSF trains ran around them. As they finally began to release the air and were ready to get under way the train jerked with violent slack action and the train went into emergency. The conductor got off and started to walk the train. While it sat I got a shot as the last of the light faded (photo 15). I decided to head back to the hotel, figuring it would be a while. On the way back to Tehachapi the auto train called in, also in Emergency in the tunnels just north of Cable. They had an air hose separate and needed a rapid responder to bring a new one. 9019 also called in with news, they pulled a lung and also needed a rapid responder. From the hotel I could hear the trains being backed up by the auto train who was blocking single track.

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Well morning came and I was up with the sun to catch the executive train. After a chase from BK to Arvin I jumped on the highway and tried to beat it to Caliente, only to hear on the radio “we’re 8,000 feet long and blocking the crossing”. Someone up the food chain told DS 250 that the “bigwigs aboard were not to stop for any reason”, so DS had every train on the pass in the hole waiting for them. That included two Stackers in the hole at Bealville. One of them was long and stretched out of the siding and into tunnel 3(?) (photo 16). There was quite a backup at the crossing, but locals knew a way around using the ROW roads. That meant the special had to wait for the stacker to clear anyway. After it cleared the special got underway (photo 17) and made good time the whole way up the hill. After barely beating it to Woodford (photo 18) I tried to beat it to Monolith, but it really opened up once it made it through cable. I gave up near Cameron, figuring that it would be impossible to beat it to Cajon since it would be going 70 mph.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/17 22:07 by suvart.

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After hanging around Tehachapi with nothing going on, I slowly worked my way to Cajon. The whole way there I heard a Northbound Roseville that was having problems keeping air flow. When I got there around 12 the Roseville had just found the problem car and began to set it out. When 250 began to tell the trains waiting the order of who would leave I was surprised to hear 9019 and 2735 (passenger special) were waiting. The passenger special was now 4 hours late, but more impressive was 9019 who had taken over 24 hours to go across half of a crew district. While the northbound was setting out the car BNSF sent a parade of trains, so I was plenty entertained (photo 19). After the Northbound got into the clear, UP 9019 got moving at Phelan. 40 minutes later I was reunited with the MRVWC with 9019 leading, now operated by its third crew since Bakersfield (photo 20). About half an hour later the very late passenger special passes Mormon Rocks (photo 21), I wonder what the corridor manager who ordered that the train not be stopped for any reason thought when they looked at the tracker.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/17 22:10 by suvart.

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After overtaking 9019 on Cajon, UP 2735 cruises into Colton at 2:30 (photo 22). Four and half hours after its scheduled ETA of 10:00. The ballast train on the right is getting water sprayed over each car to keep dust down. Thanks for looking (if you made it this far)!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/17 21:03 by suvart.

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EXCELLENT PIX and description of what was going on. Funny how one train has trouble and the district goes in the toilet for the next 24 hours.

Was at the summit on Cajon a few years ago about 6 pm to watch trains till it got dark. About 8pm someone had trouble and the whole hill came to a grinding halt. When we left after daylight the next morning things were starting to get back to normal.

Deadhead FRED

Thanks for the comprehensive report of your 2 eventful days and for taking the time to share your adventure.

Sounds like you had a lot of fun...

PS-Nice shots of the special!

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

That was a great description of the events that were unfolding. A perfect storm. All the rails reading your thread were nodding their head, yep, just another day on the railroad.

Never fails when the bigwig train comes through, something that rarely happens WILL happen. I used to foam over officer specials, now I hope I'm in the hotel when it zips by.

Almost 1 hour to fix a single PTC problem?  And now the nightmare begins...

It is amazing how fast the RR can go into a melt down mode.
Now let's think about how this would have been with only one person on each train?
It was a mess with two crew members on each train and a rapid responder. This is something that happens everyday on
every RR in the country. As much as I dislike Hunter Harrison, he has the right view point on this issue.

GREAT photo essay...!! Thanks for sharing.

Reminds me of the line from Heartbreak Ridge - "What's your assessment of the situation, Gunnery Sergeant?" "I would call this one big cluster****, sir" Headaches for everyone involved, but, yes, another day on the railroad. Thanks for documenting it. Kind of funny, I find the logistical aspects of railroading as fascinating as the trains themselves.

Tom
CBRL

Sounds like a typical day on the railroad to me...

suvart wrote:

>9019 also called in with the news, they pulled a lung ...

What does "they pulled a lung" refer to?


Later, he wrote:

>After a chase from BK to Arvin ...

Arvin? The town of Arvin is around eight miles away from the rail line.

johnsweetser Wrote:
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> suvart wrote:
>
> >9019 also called in with the news, they pulled a
> lung ...
>
> What does "they pulled a lung" refer to?
>

"Lung" is RR slang for a drawbar. "Pulling a lung" means the drawbar has been pulled out of the end of a car. Usually caused by rough train handling (i.e. a sharp run-out of slack that breaks the drawbar loose from a car's underframe). Never a good thing.

- Norm

I believe there was 7 patch crews out on the Mojave sub that day.

Posted from Android

Edison, sorry I always mix the two up. The model railroad I run at has Arvin near Edison due to space constraints, so they're one in the same in my mind.