Heads up to those living in Ft. Worth, along the ex-Santa Fe in Texas, and possibly the FW&D/C&S all the way up to Denver: A special movement of a special load being moved on a huge (and I mean HUGE) car is headed for the Denver area. A message below about it, gleaned from Railspot, a discussion group on Yahoo: 3/28/05. It will move North Yard PTRA to the South Yard on the BNSF and take the ex-Santa Fe line "Galveston Subdivision" to Temple & Ft. Worth, via Alvin, Roseburg, Bellville, Brenham etc. This train will have the New BNSF engine, with the New Logo etc. Cars are: KRL 89121 tool car KRL 70897 idler 1 KRL 076 caboose 1 CEBX 800 load KRL 70951 idler 2 KRL 074 caboose 2. Interesting to view this CEBX flat car with the load, One monster is the word; 36 axles on the A end of car and 36 axles on the B end of the car equals 144 wheels. Train restricted to 15 MPH. A long way to Denver. Also, not sure if they can run at night. The route north of Ft Worth isn't known. Can someone else provide some more info? So heads up Texas Fans this is one train not to miss. Could be the largest (weight of a car) single train move ever attempted by a railroad in the USA? BNSF will get lots of press on this one. Not sure what the road number of the diesel is, but it sports that abomination of a BNSF logo.
Another mountain for Colorado? At 15mph, it may take a week just to get to Fort Worth. Can't wait, I will be closely monitoring Railspot and hopefully I'll get a chance to use my new 20D out on the FW&D. Although, as busy as the FW&D has been lately they may send it another way, although since it's groomed to handle the heavy coal drags it might be the best way to go. [ March 28, 2005, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Doug A. ]
I think this is the load see this topic. At the rate its moving it will be in Denver just in time for the poor weather they are predicting. But I'm still ready. Steve http://www.trainboard.com/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/56/t/001072/p/1.html#000011
Remember now, this doesn't take into account time spent in sidings, waiting at busy interlockings (see Tower 55, Ft. Worth), track conditions, weather, derailments ahead or behind, etc. Once it gets on the FW&D, it could spend a lot of time moving in & out of sidings (or around trains that move into sidings to give it the main). US 287 parallels the line for most of the way to Amarillo, with US87 from Amarillo north to Des Moines, NM. From there, a secondary state highway kinda follows it to Folsom (at the base of Capulin Mountain), and on into Colorado. Don't know what road paces this line from there to Trinidad, but I25 picks it up along the Front Range. "Chasing" this movement will be like following a shortline train with bad track- slooooow.
I'll bet the dispatchers will have a headache, from trying to route all the other movements around this one. Hope someone can catch a few photos of this setup. Boxcab E50
I waited all day in Thompsons and it never made it that far. They tied up in Alvin for the night. Will try again tomorrow. web page
Thanks for the updates on this one guys. I'll keep an eye out and also try and get photos as well. Thompson's is about a 5 hour drive from Ft Worth, so I'd guess that they won't make it into Ft Worth before Thursday or Friday.
Anyone see/hear anything yet today? I'm looking for a reason to go to FtWorth (well, at least a different one than the normal excuse)and just thought some of you guys may have seen this one by now.
I finally saw the thing. Wow. No sun and lots of clowds but still got a bunch of photos. Will post as I get them uploaded to Railimages. This was from an over pass just north of what the railroad calls Duke.
Man, that thing is H-U-G-E! Looking at where is was today and how far it's travelled in the last couple days, I don't think it's going to make FtWorth before Monday or so. Can't wait to see more Pictures Russ!
Well, it crossed the UP at Rosenberg about 12:50. At this rate it may make it to Bellville or maybe even Brenham tonight. Here it is crossing Highway 90 between Richmond and Rosenberg. They slowed down to a creep to see that it cleared OK. The center of the car swung out over the plate girder on the side of the bridge and only cleared it by 4 inches.
Ron and Russ (And all other Texas railfans): I'm a member of Railspot, a discussion group on Yahoo! which covers railroad goings-on in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana & Arkansas. I can guarantee you this group is busy watching the movement of this special train. It's free to join, and keeps you updated on railroads, past & present. And if you're only interested in floowing the special, joining is the only way to read messages. I'm not one to plug other groups here, but I'm only a member of Railspot, not a moderator.
As long as you are on some yahoo group or another you can read Railspot without joining it. I just read where they will tie up at Bellville tonight.
that thing would be a hoot to model in n scale, but it would be hard to find a layout to run it on w/o catching it on a tunnel or something...... beast
