Western Railroad Discussion > Sunset Route dead trains on the mainline

Over the last week, there have been at least 3 and probably more trains parked for days on one of the two main tracks east of Tucson. There was an eastbound parked on track 2, at Willcox last weekend for at least 1 day. This morning, a westbound is parked on Dragoon Pass and has been there since Friday afternoon.

Any idea what's going on? I've never seen this before. Is there a problem with lack of crews?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/21 11:11 by zr1rob.

There has been track work being done in the Vail area, which is causing a lot of delays since there is a long stretch between Crossovers (Vail - Mescal) is roughly 23 rail miles. Listening to the Vail and Benson Feeds, the DS has to hold the trains and then the crews are running out of time.

I am not sure if this is the main issue, however, it can be part of it.

We were at Willcox this past Saturday, and we had 3 trains go past us in a 30 minute span.

Christi

Posted from Android

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

Thanks Christi. That westbound stopped on the east side of Dragoon Pass is still here right now, been parked there since last Friday. It's probably a low priority as it has the Bowie and Lordsburg sulphuric acid tank car block, but it's still blocking one of the two mains. It looks like UP is following the instinct of SP and fleeting several trains in one direction, then letting a bunch go in the other to save the day since its just like a one track railroad right now.

In 3 days they could not move it?  Gee.  Good ole UP.

          Trains also move by 'priority' not just because they are there. What type trains are setting? Quite often a train with low priority can wait a while.
 

You furlough many employees, then there is a 23% rise in carloads.  You are not prepared and trains sit.  And the crew called knows that on weekends, the phone calls go unanswered.  

The westbound on Dragoon Pass blocking one of the two main tracks since last Friday has finally moved on as of 11:30 PDT.

23 miles between crossovers, PSR at its best.

Posted from Android

Proud Foamer
OAKLEY, CA

Badorder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 23 miles between crossovers, PSR at its best.
>
> Posted from Android


Nothing to do with PSR. It has always been that way. The two main lines split at Mescal and rejoin at Vail.

Christi

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

The eastbound that sat east of Willcox had PTC and computer problems plus a cranky DPU locomotive.

Allen

Posted from Android

so there was one east of Willcox too? There was a parked eastbound stack train week ago at the Willcox depot that sat at least overnight on Main Track 2.

Here's a shot of it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/21 18:03 by zr1rob.

---

It is difficult for a Southern Californian to interpret Arizona Sunset Route activity with any certainty, but it can be reported that things here on the Mojave Sub (Colton-Cajon Pass-Tehachapi-Bakersfield) are often a mess.  Some trains have used up three crews just to travel A to B.  It is not clear if things are unravelling, or everything is by design and an unusual way to make money.
 
The railroad put out a press release in early May that I thought made no sense, involving a new “Inland Empire Intermodal Terminal.”  It has been my experience that when things are evasive and unclear, someone is trying to do something that will anger some group, and if that group is angry enough it could seriously damage the objective of the railroad.  But the government is now or will be carefully looking at PSR, and the railroad’s secretive effort may have interference anyway.
 
May I suggest the railroads wants out of the loose car business, with much becoming Intermodal as the end objective, and some well-known classification yards will be gradually and quietly converted to Intermodal terminals.  IT MUST BE REMEMBERED, customers of boxcar traffic and the like are captive to the railroad, WHICH IN REALITY means the railroad is limited to its right-of-way for customers!  But Intermodal trailers and containers reach out for miles and miles and miles!
 
There may indeed be an ingenious method to the railroads’ present madness!
 
Very recently some UP railroad branch line photos in the Los Angeles area were seen at this website.  One photo happened to have switch frogs visible.  They were NOT the of the spring-frog UP standard, but old carryovers from SP days, whereas UP mainline frogs were converted decades ago.  An aerial even showed that above mentioned area’s nearby trackage had been taken up!  So, when all this is considered, the railroad is obviously making effort to get out of or greatly reduce boxcar and the like-type business.
 
So, Arizona is having similar, if not the same problems, as California.  What baffles this observer, though, the railroad is still making big money.  How can that be with trains parked all over the west?  Is UP just super savvy?  Or are things a precursor to a name change, perhaps to Penn Central West?

CustomersAlwaysRight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
<snip>
> But the government is
> now or will be carefully looking at PSR, and the
> railroad’s secretive effort may have
> interference anyway.
>  </snip>


lol. . . okay
 

zr1rob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> so there was one east of Willcox too? There was a
> parked eastbound stack train week ago at the
> Willcox depot that sat at least overnight on Main
> Track 2.
>
> Here's a shot of it.

Same train. The problems were why it sat at Willcox to begin with. Nightmare train...

Allen

Posted from Android

CustomersAlwaysRight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
<snip>
> So, Arizona is having similar, if not the same
> problems, as California.  What baffles this
> observer, though, the railroad is still making big
> money.  How can that be with trains parked all
> over the west?
<snip>

Don't forget all the MoW work along the Lordsburg Sub.  Between Rail, Ties and Signal Changes that is causing some delays between Willcox and Vail.  Signal Changes are still happening to remove the old SP stuff.

Christi

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

You want to talk about loose car railroading in CA you have to realize CA isn't even close to being the manufacturing state it was 30+ years ago.
Texas is UP's #1 revenue state. CA is a has been. The Bay Area is a case study. Look at all the rail supported businesses that have disappeared over the last 50 years there. Its mind boggling.

Allen




CustomersAlwaysRight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is difficult for a Southern Californian to
> interpret Arizona Sunset Route activity with any
> certainty, but it can be reported that things here
> on the Mojave Sub (Colton-Cajon
> Pass-Tehachapi-Bakersfield) are often a mess. 
> Some trains have used up three crews just to
> travel A to B.  It is not clear if things are
> unravelling, or everything is by design and an
> unusual way to make money.
>  
> The railroad put out a press release in early May
> that I thought made no sense, involving a new
> “Inland Empire Intermodal Terminal.”  It has
> been my experience that when things are evasive
> and unclear, someone is trying to do something
> that will anger some group, and if that group is
> angry enough it could seriously damage the
> objective of the railroad.  But the government is
> now or will be carefully looking at PSR, and the
> railroad’s secretive effort may have
> interference anyway.
>  
> May I suggest the railroads wants out of the loose
> car business, with much becoming Intermodal as the
> end objective, and some well-known classification
> yards will be gradually and quietly converted to
> Intermodal terminals.  IT MUST BE REMEMBERED,
> customers of boxcar traffic and the like are
> captive to the railroad, WHICH IN REALITY means
> the railroad is limited to its right-of-way for
> customers!  But Intermodal trailers and
> containers reach out for miles and miles and
> miles!
>  
> There may indeed be an ingenious method to the
> railroads’ present madness!
>  
> Very recently some UP railroad branch line photos
> in the Los Angeles area were seen at this
> website.  One photo happened to have switch frogs
> visible.  They were NOT the of the spring-frog UP
> standard, but old carryovers from SP days, whereas
> UP mainline frogs were converted decades ago.  An
> aerial even showed that above mentioned area’s
> nearby trackage had been taken up!  So, when all
> this is considered, the railroad is obviously
> making effort to get out of or greatly reduce
> boxcar and the like-type business.
>  
> So, Arizona is having similar, if not the same
> problems, as California.  What baffles this
> observer, though, the railroad is still making big
> money.  How can that be with trains parked all
> over the west?  Is UP just super savvy?  Or are
> things a precursor to a name change, perhaps to
> Penn Central West?

Posted from Android

RailFanAZ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Badorder Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 23 miles between crossovers, PSR at its best.
> >
> > Posted from Android
>
>
> Nothing to do with PSR. It has always been that
> way. The two main lines split at Mescal and
> rejoin at Vail.
>
> Christi

However, isn't PSR suppose to keep all of this from happening?!?!  Isn't the UP so Precision-ally operated that all meets are planned well in advance and all train operate to a precise plan???

Sorry, but with all the BS that is spouted out of Omaha-ha-ha now days, it's hard not to get really sarcastic.

bradleymckay:
 
Yes, said very well.
 
Railroad-wise, maybe California falling off into the Pacific Ocean would enhance railroading.
 
Getting back to the theme of this thread, so many trains parked everywhere doesn’t bode well for UP, nor does the government now investigating PSR bode well for it either.

As I was taught in Geology years ago, In order for California west of the San Andreas Fault to "break off and sink into the ocean---The ocean would have to break and sink as well because we are on the same Tectonic Plate.

CustomersAlwaysRight Wrote:

> Getting back to the theme of this thread, so many
> trains parked everywhere doesn’t bode well for
> UP, nor does the government now investigating PSR
> bode well for it either.

So far this thread has identified one train parked at Wilcox.     The priority trains for the most part are operating close to schd lately,   Looking around on the various webcams this morning seems most Z's are close to on time.    Not seeing how the Inland thing says much about anything other than UP trying to grab some of that truck traffic in the immediate region. Look on Google maps and yuo'll see all the new giant warehouses going in near West Colton.   So far the Minneapolis experiment seems to be working since they've added service to NorCal now, even if it's 8 day service.  Somebody is using it.