I read somewhere that about 60 trains daily run over the Gallub Sub between Belen and Winslow, but somehow that number sounds low to me. From my vantage point on MP 159 (the Days Inn on old US66), I seem to notice more trains than just 60. And it isn't uncommon to find freights running on the yellow blocks of freights ahead of them east & west of Gallup. Including the Lee Ranch and Defiance coalies, all the stacker/pigs, steel trains, junk freights, grainers, Brown Worms, bare table runs, etc., what IS the usual traffic count on this sub? And this includes Amtrakers as well.... TIA PS- I've shot off at least two CDs worth of pics just on the Gallup Sub alone, not counting the stuff on Abo Canyon, Amarillo, and Belen....
Lee Ranch mine is closed. Sulphur content was too high. Coal coming from the PRB now to fuel that power plant. Escalante Western is shut down. Too bad, pretty locos. However the plus side is we now see blocks of G&C SD70MACs and ES44ACes on that train. Sunday night that train was a hodge podge of almost every Rotary car BN & BNSF has bought since the word Bethgon was invented. We were out in Grants on Sunday & Monday. I would estimate we saw about 3 trains an hour (~ 72/day) but also saw some lulls of up to 60 minutes. Traffic varies by day of the week with the heaviest on Friday or Saturday. Mid Sunday thru early Tuesday tend to be the slowest. Since Belen (the 1000 mi inspection point) is almost the exact mid-point we get to see almost every train half-way thru its run.
Hmm.......I spotted a coal train with TEPX hoppers head north from Baca Jct. on this line, so I wonder where they're getting coal from. And the rails were still shiny at Lee Ranch Jct. as of last Friday evening, and shiny from the Route 509 crossing on east. The branch from Lee Ranch Jct. north & west is heavily rusted, indicating no traffic. With the E-W closed, wonder where the power plant east of Thoureau is getting its coal.
We have heard that the traffic count is closer to the 100+ train a day mark, hence th double tracking of Ft Summner and Abo canyon Gunns
I believe that count, and from the parked trains on either side of the single-track sedtion thru the worst of Abo Canyon, I'd believe it. I spotted & shot two trains between Mountainair and the single track waiting for eastbounds to come through, and at least 3 on the west side on the track from Belen. From Gallup to where I turn off on NM371 at Thoreau is 30 miles, and I can spot anywhere from 2 to 5 trains in that distance, both in the evening and morning hours. Sometimes I'll even see the SW Chief in the evening if he's gonna be ontime to Gallup (and out here, the speed limit for pass. trains on part of the Gallup Sub is 90 MPH- I've done 80 per on I-40 and still have the Chief leave me behind). And the TEPX (Tuscon Electric) unit coal trains still run up the branch from Baca Jct., so they're getting coal somewhere between Ambrosia Lake (a uranium mine,so unlikely) and the old Lee Ranch mine, which is possible since the tracks are shiny where they cross NM 509, 27 plus railmiles from Baca Jtc. and 1/2 mile from LeeRanch Jct).
