There is a lot going on besides this so most of the country will probably give only passing notice (accept for those snowed in). I've heard that some areas got 7 feet of snow and was wondering how this will affect UP and perhaps BNSF and any other lines in the area. Are there still any rotary snow plows in use or will operations stop until scappers can clear the lines. This may not be the place to post this. I was interested to see if there will be any interesting winter operations. John Bursi Ft. Worth, TX
The only rotary is up in Cheyenne. They are getting through but slow. The major problems are frozen switches and slides. Most of the sidings are also blocked. Yesterday they sent a spreader with 3 units west out of Denver ahead of Amtrak #5. It was an all Grande setup. One GP40-2 and two GP60's with a Grande spreader.
From reports, it appears that there has been a big rock slide east of Tunnel 14 on the Moffat. Amtrak No. 5 will be affected and is being held at Plain pending an assessment of the situation. The spreader that ran west over the Moffat yesterday afternoon apparently returned to North Yard during the early hours of the morning (I believe about 02:00). Again, from reports, it appears that the spreader has been called again to run west, but don't know how the slide will affect that decision. They are reporting many rocks on the track the size of pick up trucks, so it will be more than a spreader can handle. There may be some track damage with rocks that size and I wouldn't be surprised if Amtrak returns to town.
Update at 1315 MST: Amtrak is running around his train at Plainview to return to town, and will doubtlessly run on No. 6's schedule tonight eastward to Chgo. Eastbound BNSF train caught at Crescent west of the 100-ft. wide and 40-ft. deep slide will run all the way back to Salt Lake and move to Denver over UP in Wyoming. Ten BNSF loco units are now involved with the train, and getting low on fuel. Two other eastbound BNSF STODEN trains already out of Calif. will also be rerouted through Wyo. Spreader train has two D&RGW black units on it today, working east of the slide.
Well, I heard a lot of folks in the Front Range wanting some precip- they got it in spades! Hope they dig out OK
