BNSF Operations Changes
On September 3rd, BNSF began another run through agreement with train and engine crews. Crews from Newton and La Junta now run through Dodge
City. This is now BNSF's Longest Crew district. It is 355.5 miles and eclipses the Wellington to Amarillo run through that is 317 miles. This also eclipses the much talked about Clovis run-through between Amarillo and Belen that is 343 miles. In order to make the new crew district work out, BNSF had to shift some traffic back to the Northern Line. So far, trains V-PHXKCK and V-PHXOKC are running on the Northern Line for eastbound traffic. The ICE trains have also been running the Northern Route again since the run through started. This is two trains per week in each direction. Also, some days the Z-WSPLAC4 runs west on the Northern lines. It was noted that the Z train and the Q train normally take form 9 ½ to 11 hours to run the 355 miles. It won't take much of a problem to cause the crews to go dead on the law. 

There seems to be quite a bit of deadheading crews between Newton and LaJunta right now also. This has been a problem with the La Junta to Amarillo Run-through and causes an imbalance in crews. As of September 15th, La Junta was scheduled to have 3 crews and Newton was scheduled to have two crews in the run-through pool. The problem is that since the trains are not balanced on this line, often another "extra" turn gets added to the pool. On September 7th, La Junta had crews deadheading both ways over the road at the same time with one crew working east. Newton had one crew working east and one deadheading east. Part of the early deadheading is for familiarization of crews to the new part of the their railroad. Part is due to not having enough traffic to balance the pools. Balancing the pools is difficult enough on a line with lots of traffic, but near impossible on a line with little traffic. 

BNSF Kansas City Dispatching Center
On September 2nd, BNSF began dispatching trains from Chicago to Kansas City from the new Kansas City dispatching center. On September 3rd, they began dispatching from Kansas City to Augusta and Kansas City to La Junta from the new center. This marks the third departure from Ft. Worth since BNSF moved all the dispatchers there in 1996. The first was the move with the UP to Spring, TX, then the move also with the UP to San Bernardino and now again with the UP to Kansas City. 

Coal Movements
BNSF began delivering coal to a new customer in Labadie, MO. On August 31st, BNSF delivered the first coal train to Ameren's Labadie generating station at West Labadie, MO. This plant is located on the Union Pacific and is a 2 to 1 point on BNSF. It was formerly served by both the UP and SP before the UP merger. The STB granted BNSF the right to haul traffic to the plant with the UP getting two trains for each one of BNSFs. BNSF runs the train from the North Antelope Mine in Wyoming via Alliance and Lincoln, NE, West Quincy and St. Louis, MO where it gets on UP tracks for the run to Labadie. The Train symbol for this train is the C-NAMWLL loaded and E-WLLNAM empty. 

Amarillo Crossover
Back in April of 2000, BNSF took out the crossing of the former CRIP tracks in Amarillo at East Tower. BNSF deemed that they no longer needed the crossing as all traffic on the former CRIP line was now routed via the "Million Dollar Crossover" from the former BN Red River Valley sub to the former ATSF Hereford sub. What they forgot was that the Union Pacific trackage rights trains and the UP dodger often use the crossing. 

The UP (SP) was granted trackage rights on the line when the BNSF merged in 1995. As of September 14th, the crossing is back in place. The former CRIP track crosses both main tracks of the Hereford sub and the Coal Chute track between the former BN and ATSF Boise City lines. 


Special Trains 
BNSF moved the Artrain to Woodward, OK on August 29th & 30th. It was actually on display from September 6th through the 10th at Woodward. The current Artrain is carrying the NASA Art Collection. It moved on the rear of train M-KCKPHX1-27 to Wellington where it was cut off and sent to Waynoka on the local L-AMA0011-28. From there, it moved from Waynoka to Woodward on train L-AMA0061-29. The odd movements of this train was on the move from Woodward to Oklahoma City. It had originally been scheduled to move on train H-BARTUL1-08 from Woodward to Tulsa and then back to Oklahoma City on an M-TULTPL train. The problem is the train was not ready to move from Woodward until 22:00 on Sunday night and it was to be ready for display in Oklahoma City at 10:00 on Tuesday morning. The H-BARTUL train wasn't going to get to Tulsa until sometime Monday morning missing the connection to the M-TULTPL. After several plans were
developed including moving it to Emporia on a Stack train then back to
OKC via the Triple Crown roadrailers, it finally was picked up at
Woodward on the rear of train V-LACCHC1-08 and taken to Wellington. 
There the 5 car Artrain and the rear 7 autoracks were cut off and moved
as train U-WELARK4-11 to Ark City with LMX 8574 & BNSF 3005 for power. 

After arriving in Ark City at 22:00 on the 11th, it sat there until 06:00 the next morning where it was picked up by the M-NEWFTW1-11 train and delivered to Oklahoma City at 09:35 on the 12th. I guess BNSF didn't want the expense of moving the train as a special with another crew from Ark City to Oklahoma City. 

The Artrain currently has five cars operating on BNSF. They are an Ex NYC Sleeper serving as a gallery car lettered ARTX 101, Ex PRR twin diner/kitchen and table cars as ARTX 102 & 103 serving also as gallery cars, (supposedly) Ex ATSF Ice Capades car as ARTX 0004 serving as a studio car, and ex DT&I caboose as ARTX 0005 as the office apartment car
for the train. Since the caboose was not on the end of the train as it moved east, it was considered as an "Art Car" by the railroad and not a caboose. On the BNSF a Caboose must be on the rear of the train or it is restricted to 10 MPH. 

Circus Train
On August 21st, BNSF ran a special train that consisted of Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey's Red Unit train from Colorado Springs to Wichita, KS. The train was interchanged to the BNSF from the UP at Colorado Springs after the Circus had performed at Colorado Springs. 

BNSF handled train U-CSPWIC1-21 with BNSF engines 6366 & 6918 (Both in Heritage paint I think). The train set out the coaches for the performers at Newton near the Santa Fe depot and took the remaining cars of animals and circus wagons to Valley Center to be spotted. The Circus was held north of Wichita at the Kansas Coliseum on August 24th through the 27th. After the Circus finished at Wichita on Sunday, BNSF handled the train as U-WICMLN1-27 from Valley Center to Moline, IL. for power, this move had engines BNSF 2502 & 4215. After the Circus ended at Moline, the train was handled back to Kansas City, MO by BNSF as Train U-MLNKCM1-04 departing on the 4th of September. Power for this move was BN 3115 & EMD 9068. The train was handed off to the UP at Kansas City for spotting near Kemper Arena. 

BNSF Director Special
BNSF ran a directors special on September 13th & 14th from Kansas City to
Alliance, TX. The consist for the train was BNSF Dash 9-44CW 4975 & Dash 8-40CW 822 both in Premium Heritage paint, followed by business cars 1, 3, 10, 29, 30, 50, 60, 68. The train departed Kansas City Union Depot at 18:30 with a symbol of O-KCKWTA1-13. It ran from Kansas City via Newton to Wichita where it tied up for the night with a late night arrival of
just after Midnight. It was called the next morning for 04:00 and ran to Alliance as train O-WTAALT1-14. There is no information available to me as to what the special was doing, but I can speculate it may have something to do with Amtrak. There has been lots of speculation that the "Ann Rutledge" train will be extended to Oklahoma City to meet with the "Heartland Flyer." This would make sense to run this special and check out the route. Departing Wichita at 04:00 or near there would put it into Oklahoma City in time to meet the westbound "Heartland Flyer."

These same 8 business cars then went to California on train Z-ALTLAC1-15
for a move to San Diego. They were cut off at Pico Rivera then sent as a deadhead move to San Diego. Departing San Diego at 18:00 on the 19th was train O-SDGLAC1-19 heading for Los Angeles. It had BNSF Dash 9-44CWs 4316 & 5437 for power. I do not know the reason for the move, only that it was considered an Officers Special.


Topeka RR Days trains
BNSF operated a special train for Topeka Railroad Days as a Fund Raiser
on Saturday August 26th. The trains operated from Topeka to Emporia and return. One train operated before noon and one after noon. The consist of the train was BNSF Power Car - Stampede Pass, Diner - Fred Harvey, Sleeper - Donner Pass, Bi-Level Coach - Skagit River, dome- Bay View, Bi-Level Coaches - Rio Grande River & Powder River, Inspection Car - William B. Strong. 

SouthWest Chief Crew Changes
As of September 6th, Amtrak crews that operate the Southwest Chief will begin changing crews at Fort Madison, IA instead of Galesburg. This will
allow the eastbound crew on #4 a little more rest time at Fort Madison and hopefully give the crew more time to return to Kansas City on #3 without going dead on the law. These crews have had some problems in the past of going dead if #4 was late out of Kansas City. They did not get rested at Galesburg then went dead before reaching Kansas City. 



Service Interruptions
On September 14th, the BNSF had a service interruption at Rose Hill, KS. 
Train H-MODSEL9-12 had a Celanese tank car burn off a journal as it went through town. The Journal cap nearly hit a police car stopped at the main street crossing at Rose Hill. As the red hot piece of metal came off the 6 axle tank car some 78 cars back in the train, it just missed the front of the police car. The officer immediately called into police headquarters who in turn called the BNSF. The train was stopped between Rose Hill and Salter blocking all traffic on the single main track. The car did not derail, but it also could not be moved until repaired. The Mechanical forces arrived on the scene and fixed the car, but the main line was blocked for some 7 hours. The incident occurred at 01:30 with the train again moving about 08:30.

 In order to move trains; BNSF routed some trains via Newton through Wichita and Mulvane to Wellington. At least two Z trains went via the Douglas Sub from Augusta to Winfield, where the power was ran around the train and then the train went back to Mulvane, turned on the wye and came to Wellington. This caused a problem with the Z-KCKLAC9-13 as it had to be switched at Wellington since the heavy double stack cars were now on the rear of the train. This is against BNSF train make up rules. The Z-NYCLAC9-13 had to go to Ark City to have the power turned so it could run the opposite way as all four engines were pointed west. 

Getz Az
On September 16th, BNSF suffered a service interruption at Getz, AZ. At 21:45 on the 16th, for some unknown reason, train Z-SBDWSP4-16 slammed into a light engine consist of train M-KGMWIN3-16. The Z train was
travelling east on main 2 when it hit the light engine consist of 5 engines. When the movement stopped, the rear unit of the light engines,  LMX 8505 was on the nose of the lead unit on the Z train, BNSF 1079. The LMX unit was sitting on the nose of the BNSF unit just in front of the windshield and leaning at a precarious angle. The derailment did not block Main 1, but it was taken out of service until the LMX unit could be taken off of the Dash 9-44CW. Three of the four crew members involved were taken to the emergency room in Kingman, AZ for non life threatening injuries.

 BNSF 3190 (Ex ATSF GP50) was also damaged in the incident.  Both main tracks were opened by 10:35 the morning of the 17th. The cause remains under investigation. 

BNSF has had two service interruptions on September 19th that were related to grass fires. At 15:45, Local L-MEM6311-19 was stopped near Jasper Alabama at MP 693 at the request of the Jasper fire Department. 
The train was stopped too close to the fire however and the flames scorched the rear boxcar. As the train departed the siding at Jasper, a fire truck stuck on the main track with a flat tire again delayed them.  The total train delay was 4 hours and 40 minutes for this grass fire. 

Later in the day, at Edmond, OK on the Red Rock sub of the former ATSF, traffic was halted as a grass fire was burning out of control near the right of way. Train X-SVLSJO1-18 (Empty grain train from Sommerville to St. Joseph) reported that the right of way was on fire at MP 364 between Seward and Guthrie. There were several fires in the area and apparently at least one of them was intentionally set. With the dry weather in the area, it didn't take long for the fire to be out of control. AT least three trains were held for the fire for times up to 2 hours. 

Power Notes
BNSF set the railfan world abuzz when Dash 8-40BW was recently repainted. The locomotive was painted at Mid America Car in Kansas City, but instead of being in Premium Heritage Colors as the 580 was a few
months ago, it was in Red & Silver Warbonnet! According to sources at GE, the engine is actually owned by a leasing company and not BNSF.  BNSF/ATSF 560 - 582 are leased and not owned by the railroad while the
500 - 559 are railroad owned. The owner of the locomotive is actually under contract to have the engine painted the same colors as it was delivered in with slight modifications. The owner only took bids to have it re-painted into the red & silver colors and did not even take bids on Heritage colors. Many railfans thought that BNSF was going to go back to the red & silver and abandon the Heritage 2 colors as was reported on several railfan lists. This is simply not true. The 573 came back to BNSF with BNSF on the sides of the engine and on the cigar band on the nose on September 1st, 2000. A few days later, Mid America released wreck damaged Dash 8-40CW 822 from the shops in it's new paint job. This time it was Premium Heritage as specified by the BNSF. This is the first Dash 8-40CW to be repainted and the 2nd Warbonnet to be repainted into Premium Heritage colors. 

BNSF has been putting several of the 20 cylinder Dinosaurs back into service lately to handle the grain rush. Last month I reported that several of the SD45-2s and all of the SD45-2Bs were again running on BNSF rails. During late August, BNSF put SD45 6407 back into service from the Barstow dead lines and it was used around Barstow. It did make one trip to Richmond and one to San Diego. It was recently spotted in Wellington on train H-BARKCK1-14 (September 16th at Wellington) heading for Northtown for 6 month inspection. The 6407 is former ATSF 5380 still painted in ATSF blue & yellow. Also spotted in Kansas on an eastbound from California was BNSF 6302. This is former ATSF SD40 5002 that was recently put back into service from the Barstow dead lines also. It to is still in ATSF blue & yellow.



Santa Fe Buildings
On September 12th, a wrecking ball started the demolition of the former
ATSF Coaling Tower at Shawnee, OK. The old concrete tower had stood at
South Shawnee for many years although it had not been used since the 1930s. The reason for the destruction was a teen falling to their death earlier this year. The city deemed the tower unsafe and a hazard to the community. I guess I don't understand why when someone acts irresponsibly by trespassing on private property and getting hurt, that the structure is unsafe. Reports are that teens have climbed the tower for many years as a game, but this was the first death. It makes about as much sense as tearing down an old house because someone fell from the front porch while trying to paint graffiti on it. There are still some surviving coal towers on the former ATSF. Those that come to mind are Great Bend, KS, Cushinig, OK, and Marceline, MO. 

Another Santa Fe landmark was destroyed early morning on August 26th.  The Freight House at Dodge City was destroyed by fire. The freight
house was owned by Lee and Vickie Mackey who had turned it into a restaurant. They purchased the former Freight house in 1992 with the
dream of turning it into a restaurant. The two parts of Santa Fe's freight house were built in 1913 -- a brick building and the wooden docks. The wooden structure part was the docks and Lee said there used to be open-aired docks that stretched for blocks to the east, past where Western Beverage now stands. The two-story brick building housed office space and an apprentice school. Lee said they were able to pull some wooden chairs out of that brick structure and he didn't know if they would even clean up or not. His whole family had worked on the restaurant. What will happen next is undetermined. The building is probably a total loss and won't be rebuilt. Most of the roof is caved in. 

The state fire marshal is investigating the 4 AM fire that destroyed one of Dodge City's newest restaurants, the Freight House, as a possible arson. A passerby called 911 shortly before 4 a.m. after seeing a glow from behind the building. When he went back to investigate, he saw the fire and then made the call. According to Dodge City Police Detective Craig Mellecker, the passerby reported three people running from the building shortly before the fire. However, the police are trying to get surveillance tapes from area businesses to confirm that. The fire started on the wooden east end of the building, then quickly spread to the brick building on the west. The owner, Lee Mackey said the firemarshal determined the fire started in a storage room with no electrical service or gas lines and spread from there.

On September 5th, a third former Santa Fe building suffered damage. A former Santa Fe freight house in Dallas had the basement flooded when a
contractor broke a water main nearby. The Reata Company was laying Fiber
Optic cable under Young street when the hit the water main flooding the former Santa Fe building and several others. The city claims that the Reata Company did not check with the city before digging on Young Street.
The Reata Company claims that the water main was not marked on their maps. No matter who is at fault, the Santa Fe building got the basement
flooded. It is now a Federal Building with offices of the IRS, Navy and Agriculture Department. The 19 story building is located at 1114 Commerce Street. 

To add problems to the situation, the Santa Fe had a series of underground tunnels to connect freight warehouses to the freight house. This allowed the water to flow freely between the buildings. The freight warehouse was also damaged by floodwaters that flowed through thetunnels. Several other buildings also received damage because of the tunnels, but the Santa Fe building got the worst of the damage. Whilethe fingers pointed, crews with vacuum trucks labored to remove the last of the estimated 20 million gallons released by the spill. Until the water is completely drained, it's impossible to assess damage to the 32-inch water line, which is roughly 30 feet beneath the street's surface.

Short Lines
This Item From Terry LaFrance
Fri. morning [Aug. 29th] I stopped by the UP ex-Katy, ex R.I. yard and happened to catch the new shortline service on the Shawnee branch. The
A-OK (Arkansas and Oklahoma) is using two ex Miss. Central Geeps. They are in a black and yellow simplified Nickel Plate scheme. The Miss. Cent.
lettering has been removed but no decals have been applied. The A-OK uses a red R.I. shield with the letters 'A-OK' inside. They expect to
have the decals on soon. They are set to start storing about 200 cars so they will be making regular trips to OKC for the next couple of weeks as the cars come in. The conductor said they should be coming in groups of 10-20 cars. He also said they are still trying to get the BNSF to sell them the ex ATSF line in Shawnee.


The Dodge City Ford & Bucklin received a new engine in September, sort of. The engine is ex West Texas & Lubbock Railway #91. This is originally a Katy GP7 that was sold to the White Face & Lubbock railroad in 1991. It along with 4 other were painted in an attractive white with red & blue trim for the ex ATSF branches operating around Lubbock at that time. This engine now is going to the Right Co-op at Wright, KS. The Right Co-op owns the DCF&B. The Right Co-op is located east of Dodge City on ATSF Northern Route main line. They have been using an EX N&W GP4.5. The Geep is a former GP9 with only one truck powered. Apparently they wanted more power tom move grain cars as they typically load out 108 car grain trains for BNSF to move. The DCF&B also has an Also S11 & a GE 44 ton that they operate out of Dodge City for excursions and to haul grain from the Wilroads Co-op back to Dodge City. The engine moved via BNSF from Lubbock to Amarillo, Waynoka, Wellington, Newton and Wright. 

Terry La France also reports that another of the ex Lubbock cluster units is at Kingfisher, OK at an elevator painted in the Rail America Red, white & blue scheme. It is lettered MOC 105 for Mid Oklahoma Co-operative. It too is an ex Katy GP7. 

The Midland Railway at Baldwin, KS had their annual Railfan Weekend on September 16th & 17th. The Midland has a pair of ex Rock Island E units
that they can use to run excursions on the former ATSF branch line. E6A 630 and E8A 652 were ran back to back all weekend and several photo run-bys were allowed. Also featured will be Midland's ex-Kansas City Southern Railway Post Office Car No. 30, which will offer a one-time-only commemorative cancellation featuring the RI-630 on a "Baldwin City to
Nowhere, KS R.P.O." imprint.  Midland's restored Katy RS-3M # 142 and ex-New York Central ALCO RS-3 No. 8255 will join the  Rock Island E's to provide power for the variety of trains to be in operation during the weekend. Cab rides aboard Midland's ex-CB&Q NW-2 #524 will also be available. The 142 has been restored and repainted in Katy's red & white scheme as applied to the Katy diesels when the EMD engined Alco was built.

CKR
The Central Kansas has been hauling grain in a more normal fashion from
the Wichita and east end of the Englewood subs this year. Last year, the CKR almost refused to haul grain from west of Kingman, KS. This year, several carloads have come from Pratt, Cunningham and Cairo all west of
Kingman and some have come off of the Englewood east of Coats as well. 
The CKR has even been putting in new ties at Pratt. That seems strange
for a track that they recently classed as possibly up for abandonment.  There is still strong talk that the CKR will abandon trackage from West Wichita to Garden Plain on the former ATSF branch. In order for CKR trains from out west to reach Wichita, the former MP line will be put back in service between Conway Springs and Kingman. About 2 miles of new track will be built between the former ATSF and MP lines in the vicinity of Carvel (Cleveland). The reason for this is that the city of Wichita wants the railroad out of West Wichita due to some new residential neighborhoods being constructed and the bridge over Cowskin Creek. The city claims the bridge causes the neighborhoods north of it to flood when there is heavy rain. Maybe cleaning out the drift around the bridge would be a cheaper solution. The Santa Fe had the bridge rebuilt in the Mid 1970s and it is a modern pre-stressed concrete bridge. 

The Kyle and the Union Pacific have filed to abandon trackage in Kansas. 
The UP is still owner of the track while the Kyle is the operator of the Frankfort branch. As of August 25th, the two railroads have filed to abandon and cease operations on the 60 mile branch line in Marshall, Washington and Cloud counties. The line runs from Frankfort to Ames through Blue Rapids, Waterville, Barnes, Greenleaf, Linn, Palmer, Clifton and Clyde. A decision by the STB should be issued by December 13, 2000. The former MP line comes off of the UP main line at Frankfort and then crosses the Blue River just south of Blue Rapids. Ames will still be served by the Kyle out of Concordia on the west end of the line.