Western Railroad Discussion > Utah Ry settling in with new neighbors

Back in March I got engaged with a very busy Strong City Sub. The BNSF was using this vital link between central Kansas & south-central Nebraska for rerouting westbound trains affected by high water elsewhere. In busy times a shooter could easily catch a train, chase it for a few miles then drop back to catch the next one. This maneuver could be repeated in order for a fan to catch a half-dozen or more trains, depending on how close together they run. Pretty heady stuff for dark (non-signaled) territory with mere TWC to dispatch trains under. But it wouldn’t happen without the ability for a train to “roll up” its track warrant. That’s where a train crew will verify to the Train Dispatcher that their train is physically past a given milepost. This in turn allows the DS to authorize a following train to proceed up to that point. It’s an easy to use process that will allow movement of multiple trains over a track without the need for CTC signaling & control. The only caveat is the trains all have to be going in the same direction.

After lunch I caught a westbound manifest (NNW as the crow flies) at Abilene and shot it in a couple more locations. Then I preceded it into Concordia. While snooping around for a suitable location I found one of the KYLE’s recently acquired UTAH Ry units, sitting next door on the old Mop track. In glorious perfect sunlight, to boot! I decided this would be the spot when my BNSF companion caught up. And later on, when I received word that a solid UP consist was on its way up the Sub I knew I had to duplicate this first shot. So here are a couple shots of a former UTAH Ry unit getting to know the new neighbors on its new home turf…

1. UTAH 5001 greets BNSF 4512 at Valley St during its entry into town.

2. The 4512 has passed through town and is now side by side with the Abilene Twins: BNSF 1446 in Cascade Green & BNSF 685 in Red & Silver. These 2 units have been working together so long on the Strong City Sub you could say they’re joined at the hip! Or at least joined at the drawbar…

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3. UTAH 5001 greets UP 7681 at Valley St during its entry into town.

4. The Abilene Twins get another visitor when the 7681 follows the trail of BNSF 4512 out of town.
(4 photos taken in Concordia, KS on March 31, 2019)

Howdy, neighbor!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Nice pics!!

Cool photos. I thought all the MK50-3 locomotives were gone!

SantaFeRuss

I happend to find Utah 5001 on 9 June basking in the late afternoon sun outside the shop in Phillipsburg, KS.

d.

SantaFeRuss Wrote:
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> Cool photos. I thought all the MK50-3 locomotives
> were gone!
>
> SantaFeRuss

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251F Wrote: > ... 5001 on 9 June basking in the late afternoon sun ...

A couple of weeks ago I shot the 5004 at Courtland, but it was heavily backlit...

Thanks Lance for another of many great discussions and meaningful photos.

Don Allender