Canadian Railroads > MLW Monday - In Arizona

In March of 2007 we made a family visit to the northern part of Arizona. On the agenda were slot canyons and general sightseeing (Route 66), and of course the Grand Canyon was included in that. The Grand Canyon Railway runs between Williams on the BNSF Transcon and the south rim of the Grand Canyon. This was originally a Santa Fe branch and existed primarily for the tourist trade. Of particular note (back in 2007 anyway) was that a significant portion of their diesel roster was MLW FPA/B4s. The particular trip we took left Williams fairly early in the morning, with most of the day at the south rim, and then return late in the afternoon. We had an ex-Amtrak F40 leading the train, but former CN 6871, the last FPB4 built, was along to assist.

The trip north was uneventful, riding in the front dome of the 13-car train. But shortly before the return trip was to leave, we found out that both the F40 and the HEP generator car had failed, and the B-unit was the only one in running order. The dome cars (2) and first class cars behind us would be OK because they had generators as backup to the HEP, but the passengers in the converted RDCs at the front were in for a long, hot ride back to Williams.

To also add to the drama, the grade leaving the south rim station is something like 3% (or so we were told), with quite a bit of curvature. It was going to be quite a show to see if the B-unit could handle the train. Luckily, I had the scanner with me and could follow the progress, with somebody in the B-unit keeping an eye on the ammeter and general health of the prime mover. We did stall once, but the engineer got us moving again and up onto the relatively flat desert (3rd photo) where I could get a shot of the front of the train from the second dome we were now riding in.

GTD

---

---

---

When the problems were discovered at the south rim, the call was sent out to Williams for some rescue power. An AB set of MLWs met us somewhere about half way along the route, and the speed picked up considerably after that. Unfortunately it was after dark by the time we got back to Williams, with no chance to get a picture of the new head end power. I don't even seem to have the numbers anywhere.

GTD

---

---

The HEP car looks like an ex-CN steam generator car.

CPR_4000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The HEP car looks like an ex-CN steam generator
> car.

It is. Came by way of VIA Rail. GCRy owns two of them. Both rebuilt to HEP only.

cn6218 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To also add to the drama, the grade leaving the
> south rim station is something like 3% (or so we
> were told), with quite a bit of curvature. It was
> going to be quite a show to see if the B-unit
> could handle the train. Luckily, I had the
> scanner with me and could follow the progress,
> with somebody in the B-unit keeping an eye on the
> ammeter and general health of the prime mover. We
> did stall once, but the engineer got us moving
> again and up onto the relatively flat desert (3rd
> photo) where I could get a shot of the front of
> the train from the second dome we were now riding
> in.
>
> GTD

The 3% Sections are downhill only leaving Grand Canyon. 3% down from GC to Coconino, then a rise to Imbleau where the 3% drops off to Anita.

El_Duderino Wrote:
>
> The 3% Sections are downhill only leaving Grand
> Canyon. 3% down from GC to Coconino, then a rise
> to Imbleau where the 3% drops off to Anita.

Thanks for clarifying that. Going down that steep a grade might have been a bit tricky with no dynamic brakes. What would the ruling grade be (ascending) leaving the south rim? Doing some rough calculations with 13 cars and 3% would indicate that something with the tractive effort of an SD40 would be required.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/17 17:36 by cn6218.

Wow! What a great trip you had ! Excellent pictures !!! Thank you for sharing!!! :):):)

cn6218 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks for clarifying that. Going down that steep
> a grade might have been a bit tricky with no
> dynamic brakes.

If the engineer is who I think it was judging by your first photo, he probably wasn’t using dynamics if he had them anyways... when I was there he preferred the Alcoa’s (no dynos ) and steam.. He did not like the F40 at all. All of GCR’S cars have retainers.