Western Railroad Discussion > Run around at Merrick

Back on the 10th I posted my ‘monster’ thread highlighting a parked train which was over 2 miles long. It was one of 4 trains parked in the area because manpower was running very short over the Christmas Holiday. Here is another one of those parked trains getting the ol’ run-around treatment from a hotter Z train. Using terminology covered in a recent thread or two, we see multiple big jacks hustling east with hot intermodal business at the Road F crossing west of the Merrick Crossover plant. Maybe this is what they mean by swoosh…

1. 2. & 3. BNSF 7386 sits tied down with a string of autoracks while BNSF 5337 encroaches with hi-priority intermodal “stuff”. Children at home may be looking excitedly at the growing pile of presents under the tree, but this business will NOT be delayed!

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Yet another vanquished victim! An intermodal of lesser importance gets clipped by a trainload of much hotter business:

4. BNSF 5337 leads “4 more Big Jacks”, running around the 7386 + co. Note the walkway built up for crews being relieved en route.
(4 photos taken December 24, 2018 near the Merrick X-overs west of Emporia, KS)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Awesome sequence of photos Lance.
Is the Merrick tower still there?
Thank you for your Kansas photos.

zaltwsp7 Wrote: > ...  Is the Merrick tower still there?

No sir, I believe it was damaged as the result of a crossing accident in the 2000s -with a semi?-. It was razed, but I'm not sure of the exact date. I'll bet Evan can provide that info. Merrick Tower was one of the very first Emporia landmarks I ever shot back in 1976. My first shot of it was with an Instamatic 126 X-15. Thank goodness I had the sun over my shoulder...

Lance/199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/19 13:00 by santafe199.

Lance - I wish you would quit giving us the "run-around" and just get to the point. :^)
Nice catch though and it should go, without saying, that most of us DO enjoy your stories that go along with the pics.

BB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/19 14:33 by bmarti7.

Nice shots, Lance!  Do you think both of these came off the La Junta Sub?

Thanks.

Randy Lundgren

texchief1 Wrote: > ... Do you think both of these came off the La Junta Sub?

Normally that would be a coin flip. In normal traffic flow times the autorack would almost certainly have come off the La Junta Sub after the classic side fling through Wichita & Newton. And the Z train -assuming it actually IS a Z-  would have a fair to middlin' chance of having come up the Emporia Sub. But on this day with lower than normal traffic I'd say there's pretty good odds the Z did come up the Empo Sub. In reality it's a never ending kaleidoscope of different situations...

Lance/199

Thank You Lance for the update about the tower at Merrick. That must have been a sick collision to take that tower out.

zaltwsp7 Wrote: > ...  must have been a sick collision ...

From what I understand it wiped out the westbound overhead signal bridge, and got enough of the tower to warrant razing the whole thing. Lots of history gone in a grinding, screeching instant...

Lance/199

If I remember a semi bottomed out and had heavy machinery.  I don't hink the crew was hurt very bad, fortunately.  I remember reading online the Emporia Gazzette and they had a pretty good picture.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX