Western Railroad Discussion > MPXTU and MWCLI (Arizona)

I visited Arizona recently to chase trains along the ex-SP Sunset Route.

I started my Sunday near Tucson, driving west (and north) toward Picacho to see what trains I'll run into. There was an eastbound manifest waiting to enter PFE Yard, and I saw an eastbound stacker run past it, but I didn't chase it.

I overheard Dispatcher 42 on the Phoenix Sub channel talking to a "UP 7956 East" as I passed Rillito. I couldn't hear the train side of the conversation, so I figured I had time to drive along the Phoenix Sub to intercept it. Once I was far enough from Tucson, I tuned my scanner to EOTD (End of Train Device) frequency and started hunting.

"Chirp, chirp!"

As I neared Coolidge, I stopped to get a visual of the train, which I did soon after. I had to deal with traffic lights on Hwy 87 within Coolidge, so I turned around, played it safe, and intercepted the train at the southernmost searchlights at MP 972.9. That's the first clip, and the entire train is shown. Note the CN unit, third in consist.

I'm not 100% sure of the train symbol (MPXTU, Phoenix to Tucson manifest), but it ran on 11/9/2020, and my guess is based on past information posted by florida581 and RailfanAZ. In hindsight, the train must have been in the Phoenix/Tempe area, about 90 miles away when I heard DS 42's conversation.

The train made a brief stop at Picacho before joining the Gila Sub, which allowed me to easily beat it to the Red Rock Water Tank, second clip.

As I wandered back toward Picacho, an eastbound grain train-ish unit train showed up, so I went back to the Red Rock Water Tank and found a higher angle to catch the KCS unit, second in consist. This train had a potential hot axle not announced by the hotbox detector (at MP 941.5), so the dispatcher instructed the train to run slower until the next detector (MP 954.0), and that's noticeable in the third clip.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/20 09:13 by cchan006.

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The traffic was somewhat slower than I expected, but even then, there were few more trains that ran east and west. I chose to let them go, since chasing trains in this territory requires many miles of driving, and I wanted to save that for something worthwhile.

I perked up when I heard DS 42 talked to a "UP 3035." I caught that very Tier 4 SD70AH assigned to the YWC86 (Old Colton Job) last month:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5126463,5126467#5126467

DS 42 reminded UP 3035 that there was no work in Tucson. I could hear the crew, so the train wasn't that far away. I was on I-10 near Marana, quickly exited the freeway, and found a spot above ballast level, and waited for the train to show up, which it did right away, first clip. I got "highball the foamer." Entire 2x1x1 train is shown here. Note the choppy exhaust note from the SD70AH-T4 as it approached.

While the crew change was taking place at Tucson PFE Yard, dispatcher mentioned the train's symbol, MWCLI, West Colton to Livonia, Louisiana manifest. I drove around to scout the yard area while that was happening, and found an angle at 36th St. (Lordsburg Sub, MP 987.8) but a westbound manifest was entering the yard, about to block my shot, so I abandoned it. I tried to get ahead of the accelerating MWCLI, and stumbled onto a crossing as the gates were coming down. I got the second clip from my rental SUV at Irvington Rd., and got a full blast of the SD70AH-T4's horn there.

That's all folks.

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Nice shots, I think that MWCLI runs normally via Lake Charles or Dequincy La. I wonder if it ran 2x1x1 the whole way to Liviona or got reduced along the way. Correct me if im wrong.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/20 10:11 by jayman.

That is an interesting paint job on GATX 944. It looks like they wanted to change the tank color from black to white but did not want to restencil it. I did something similar with some of my model train cars when I was a kid. I never thought I would see a prototype for that.

I was surprised to see those CMC Steel gondolas on the MWCLI. I guess the Mesa, AZ (no rail service) and Rancho Cucamonga, CA mills cannot supply the west coast demand.

jayman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice shots, I think that MWCLI runs normally via
> Lake Charles or Dequincy La. I wonder if it ran
> 2x1x1 the whole way to Liviona or got reduced
> along the way. Correct me if im wrong.

Who can know for sure but wouldn't that block of empty BKTY fifty footers be bound for Eagle Pass, TX for another load of beer at Nava, Coahuila?

The hydrogen fluoride tank car is almost certainly headed for Ciudad Juarez.