Hey Ben,I know someone that'd be very interested in this beaut little pic,hey Steve ;-) Excellent pic's as usual Ben,great to see you still getting out there. Luv those AC's too....
Being the freak that I am, I checked on Google maps and Street View until I nailed it down. I knew it was in Grand Junction, and there's only two industry spurs... That particular spur leads to Whitewater Building Materials, and runs along 4th Avenue between 7th and 10th Streets. Click here for a map ---> http://maps.google.com/maps?q=grand...hnear=Grand+Junction,+Mesa,+Colorado&t=h&z=18 And that guy with the goofy green beanie? That's my buddy Matt.
Here is a train that has been heading west out of Grand Junction on Monday mornings. Any idea where it is headed k3ndawg? Chasing a short east bound near Palisade. And one last shot of the east bound as it approaches Cameo. Ben
We caught the local switching again. This time they were moving cars into to old spur that feeds the old Grand Junction Steel yard just north of the Whitewater Building Materials spur. Ben
The Parachute local pulling cars north bound on the Parachute spur. And last but not least an east bound coal train takes the siding at Debeque, CO to let a west bound BNSF pass. The BNSF shots can be found here in posts 488 & 489. Ben
That's the Landmark local. Heads to Moab and a couple of other stops in Utah and then comes back to the yard. I'll find out tomorrow what industries it services and post back here. The second one is called the Minturn local, even though it never gets past Gypsum. It's always headed up with the twin SD60's. The grand majority of their work is the small "yard" at Rifle.
I've been back to work now for a little over a month and with the recent snow storm on Colorado's eastern slope, I've finally had some time to relax a little bit. So, here's a couple of interesting pictures I thought I'd post. The first is of a coal train pulling down while loading at Arco's West Elk mine, near Somerset, Colorado. This is a close up of the coal chute on the tipple. There's some interesting details for you modelers. And here is the Mag Chloride sprayer, that's about 20 feet "in front of" the coal chute. The mag chloride keeps the coal from freezing to the sides of the car during transport in the winter. I over heard that they had gone through 650,000 gallons of mag chloride in just 45 days.
How effective is Mag Chloride in subzero temps? I remember how cold it can get in CO and points east tyhis time of year. I never knew they sprayed a de-icing/antistick compound into the hoppers before loading in winter. How is MC transported to the mine? Truck? Tank cars? How long has this been a practice?
I'll find out more next time I go to the West Elk. Today, in fact in about an hour, I'm headed to the Bowie mine, where I never get to see anyone, it's loaded by contractors. The MC is shipped by a truck to all three mines, though the Somerset is down until March. The guys I talked to last week mentioned that they used to use glycol, but had to switch to MC a few years back. It would be cool if they used tank cars, but there isn't any kind of spur to park them. Hmmmm... there is a hotline for employees to call to suggest new business... hmmmm.... Thanks Hemi!
A short spur isn't that expensive, I don't think, but 650K gallons worth of the MC in a month and a half is about a 40 car train of tankcars (per mine, depending on the tonnage being shipped), depending on the size of the cars. The trucking costs would be enormous. Tacking a block of MC tankcars to an inbound coal empty is not that difficult, if the sidings on the route can handle the extra train length.
Interesting thought for not just prototype railroading but also for those modelers out there as well.
Welcome back to Western Colorado! Thanks for the information about the locals and the interesting pictures. Ben
Ok, after nearly a week, I finally got back up to the West Elk and talked to Mike (don't know his last name). He said they used to use Glycol until 4-5 years ago, when the EPA stopped its use, though it can be used as .5% of the solution with the Mag Chloride. Together it's good down to -18F. He also mentioned, he uses about a million gallons a season, and about 5000 gallons per 100-105 car train. Was up there all night, so no pics, but the next time I go in the daylight I'll get some of the tanks. Most of it could be easily modeled with some scale piping and a couple of small tanks. Might make for a neat modeling project for someone doing a winter themed layout.
A quick note to those who might be in the Grand Junction area... I spotted SP 266 at the "roundhouse" on may way into the yard this morning. Yes, that's right. Southern Pacific 266. No ugly UP yellow splotch over the old number. If has just come in for service, it's likely to only be in town for a day or two, before heading out on another coal train. I checked the lineups for today and tomorrow, and didn't see it assigned to anything. However, the lineups can change, literally, hour to hour.
Thanks for the heads up on SP 266. Unfortunately I have to go to work tomorrow so I will not be able to catch her. Ben
Yesterday my son and I headed out to do some railfanning. The first was Glenwood Springs. Our next stop was north of McCoy where we captured a signal shot. More photos to follow. It looks like I am heading to work to plow snow shortly. Ben