Western Railroad Discussion > Cedar City Local Motive Power

It's nice that people post shots of UP local power, little Geeps, occasional SD70 but even the Mead Lake can't compare to the
Cedar City - dinosaurs!! Soon the be barred from mainline lead we find two of the beasts slumbering on the stem of the Cedar 
wye, next days Westbound made up and ready to go, So it was 29 and windy, these beasts aren't going to last forever!

Out 

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Barred from mainline leading? Is UP putting a restriction on those?
 

We have seen these on the old T&P line.

Glad you made it over there to one of my favorite branches.Bill Webb

So why exactly can't they lead? They're PTC equipped.

I think the primary issue is the extremely noisy cabs, heard it from a UP employee so it probably has
some truth but also heard it on the BNSF side as well.

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Nick named THUNDER CABS

On the UP there are no official restrictions on SD70ACe or SD70AH leading trains. A lot of crews, myself included, would prefer not to see them on the point, but hey they don't ask us. Honestly they do work well in power and dynamic, but yeah the cabs and other annoyances leave some things to be desired.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/21 21:06 by ble692.

What does UP haul on that line these days?  I don't know the area well but passing through it in the past, it was not obvious to me what would generate a significant volume of traffic so i am always surprised the line hasn't been abandoned.   Interested to hear what are the commodities and how often does UP operate over the line.  Thanks!

 

Inbound plastic pelletts and outbound iron ore

Mike Root
Madras, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/21 07:11 by shortlineboss.

Well let's see. The new Goex plant is well under way, it'll be the 7th inbound plastic pellets customer. In addition Amerigas has a propane and weld gas
receiving terminal at Iron Springs, 10 cars last Thursday. The gasoline bulk plant at Iron Springs takes inbound ethanol for gasoline blend. There is a 
large farm products supplier who takes inbound fertilizer and there were a couple bulkheads of inbound lumber the other day. And of course the outbound
iron ore traina, 

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Thanks.
I tried to look at the satellite view on google maps and it looks like the rails have been pulled up so they no longer get near the old center of town.  
I recall going through their back in the mid-90s and it seemed like tracks were still in the ground up to the center of town.  Can't remember if there was still a depot or not.

 

There was a lumber yard that took cars plus the feed mill. After those business relocated the tracks were pulled to just West of I-15.
It was short sighted as the with the current length trains there's not enough track left to wye a whole train. Industry sidings get used
and the cars are picked up on the way out of town. There also was a fully loaded centerbeam with ties for the new Goex siding. Local
scuttlebutt is that a couple more rail oriented shippers are looking at the area. The depot is still there though less rails. 

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ble692 Wrote:
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> On the UP there are no official restrictions on
> SD70ACe or SD70AH leading trains. A lot of crews,
> myself included, would prefer not to see them on
> the point, but hey they don't ask us. Honestly
> they do work well in power and dynamic, but yeah
> the cabs and other annoyances leave some things to
> be desired.

So how loud are they? Have there been any noise measurements?
If the noise level is high enough OSHA might require UP to provide you with hearing protection.
And if they don't provide it you can buy it yourself and deduct it from your taxes as an business expense.

There's also the American Azide plant just north of Iron Springs, I assume they get rail service ?

PHall Wrote:
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> So how loud are they? Have there been any noise
> measurements?
> If the noise level is high enough OSHA might
> require UP to provide you with hearing
> protection.
> And if they don't provide it you can buy it
> yourself and deduct it from your taxes as an
> business expense.

Noise is only one of their annoyances. I couldn't tell you what the in cab and out of cab decibel levels are, but it would be hard to argue that their horns are not annoyingly loud. Some of these annoyances have been addressed on the new Tier 4 SD70AH locomotives. Some haven't...

The railroads already provide us hearing protection. It just sucks having to wear it in the cab if you open the windows. God help you if you are next to another train or building or under a bridge.

As for taxes, you have to work pretty hard anymore to get enough write offs to beat the standard deduction and be able to itemize, but that's another discussion for another forum on another day.

Chris, as far as I know, no they do not get rail service. The only visual manmade North of Iron Springs is the solar farm. 

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Rich,thanks for all the info and update on the Cedar City Branch.Bill Webb

Bill, thank you for the kind comment, it's just nice to see a UP branch florish and the prospect that this could be a killer short
line operation is always there. 

Out 

Looks almost like the same train I caught at Iron Springs on Thursday. Wasn't aware the mine was using a pair of Warbonnets for power, but there they were!

Kyle Rasmussen
Centerville, UT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/21 18:06 by kyrasmus.

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