Nostalgia & History > Coal loads meeting coal loads?

Sometimes it just didn't make any sense! For a time, in the relatively short distance between Santa Fe's NR Jct on the east edge of Emporia, KS and the famous junction of freight & traditional passenger main lines at Ellinor, KS we would occasionally see loaded coal trains meeting each other from opposite directions. Ditto for their counterpart empties. Coal loads from Colorado mines accessed the Santa Fe at Pueblo and rolled eastward across the old passenger main from La Junta eastward (including the Ellinor - NR Jct span) to various eastern points. Another loaded coal train bound for Red Rock, OK was delivered by the BN to the Santa Fe at Kansas City, and traveled westward across that same NR Jct ~ Ellinor span. And seemingly against the odds, we would occasionally witness these unique meetings. You will have to take my timebook's data for granted, but here is one of those meets I experienced personally early one summer morning in July of 1981:

1. AT&SF 5025 leads loaded coal train 4484 J-1 is sitting in yard track #4 in Emporia, KS. This photo was taken from the cab of AT&SF 8149 leading westbound loaded coal train 4354 J-1 on the Westbound Main. My engineer, E. L. "Big Ed" Morgan & I have just replaced the inbound Eastern Division head end crew, and are pulling the waycar up to the Amtrak passeneger station for a rolling rear end crew change.
Photo date: July 11, 1981.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199 (on the road to Indy)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/22 03:29 by santafe199.

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Nice shot!
Besides the meet I like the signal, full wires on the pole line and the baggage car.
​Gary

Good memories Lance, my first fireman pay trip was with Special Ed. It looks like the train length measuring posts were still in place when you took this. Loads meeting loads might make more sense than empty baretable flats, meeting empty baretable flats. Seen that a few times.

That's interesting because over on my former territory on NS we have northbound loaded coal trains and southbound loads too.  The n/b are Powder River trains headed to Kingston, TN and the s/b trains are from several sources in KY and IL headed to GA and AL.  They meet between Harriman, TN and Chattanooga. 

On the SP one could see loaded sugar beets meeting beets going the opposite way.  It had to do with which farm co-op sold to which mill.
Loaded autos meeting loaded autos and empty racks meeting empty racks were (are?) common, but this is due to pool assignments.

As you can tell, while apparently rare on the Santa Fe for Lance, it seems to be a common occurance elsewhere. 
In the Powder River coal country, between South Antenlope mine and Belle Ayr Mine, it's a daily occurance.  

That said, I like the photo and the back story that goes with it.  Thanks for posting, Lance.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Speaking of Train Measuring Posts, we had a set out of Los Angeles' Hobart Yard at Los Nietos (Norwalk Blvd) back in the 1970s.
I don't remember any radio talk calling them out though.

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

Used to (maybe still do) see them between Alliance and Northport, Nebraska on the BN.  Trains coming out of the northern Powder River Basin in Wyoming headed for Texas would come in to Alliance via Crawford Hill, then head south over this segment.  Coal trains coming from the southern Powder River Basin headed to eastern points would come through Scotts Bluff to Northport, then head north to Alliance and east toward Lincoln.