Second String Units, Still Working
I love local trains. All those freight cars one sees on mainline trains are coming from somewhere, and going somewhere. In nearly all cases those destinations are out away from the main yards– out in the weeds, as it were– and the customers out there are serviced by local trains. These are usually powered by locos that are either too small or specialized to be used on mainline trains (such as dedicated switch engines), or by former mainline units that have been supplanted by newer power. In the modern world this is nearly always the case; switchers are not even manufactured anymore, whereas there is a large market for rebuilt four-axle units that were built before that configuration went out of favor.
Short lines such as the San Luis & Rio Grande, Colorado & Pacific and similar lines similarly provide feeder traffic (or deliver to final destinations). They too often rely on second-hand or second-string power.
To be sure there are a few six-axle locomotives that find their way into local service, but generally you’ll find GP38’s and GP40-class units working locals. Not only are they plentiful, but having a shorter wheelbase is often a benefit when working tight industrial trackage.
Over time I’ve photographed quite a few local trains and their fascinating locomotives. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve collected over the years.
Click the photos to see nice large versions!
ABOVE: the Colorado Springs Switcher. Over time a variety of units have filled this post. It’s really more of a local train job than a yard switcher, though it fills that function at need. Now Union Pacific usually keeps a GP60 assigned here, which is quite a step down from the hotshot intermodal trains they were designed for. But, work is work.
ABOVE: A selection of the power used on the “Monty Local”, i.e. the Grand Junction local train that serves the North Fork Branch as far as Montrose, if necessary. Below Delta the line is restricted to 4-axle power only.
By now you may have detected a pattern: lots of former Rio Grande units in use on locals. This is for two reasons– first, because I always shot them when I could; second, because they were favorites of the operating department for this use. Not only as home-road sentimental choices, they were also historically better-maintained than many other locomotives, particularly SP units of a similar age.
ABOVE: Rio Grande power on the West Local. This job switched the Rocky Aggregates plant on the spur at Rocky, west of Denver. It also switched a small petroleum customer a couple miles east, and years past also served the Rocky Flats weapons plant. Here, it’s a Union Pacific job in 2002 but these three Rio Grande units had the duty anyway. See my blog report on that day’s action.
ABOVE: Cedar City, Utah is served by a branch off of the LA&SL line to the west. The branch leaves the main and travels southeast to Cedar City, where it makes a small loop around the downtown area. I happened to come across the local in June 2004, and took this shot. I’m partial to SD40-2’s, no matter whose paint they wear…
ABOVE: Going back to Rio Grande days, a local train has operated between Grand Junction and Minturn, serving customers between those points. After the Tennessee Pass line was shut down in August 1997 the Minturn Local’s range was cut back to Gypsum, but has continued to run. Here, the train is eastbound at Cameo on October 10, 2000, with a familiar pair of GP40-2’s for power. Nos. 3118 and 3109 had the honors that day. At other times this train has used a variety of 6-axle power as well, including some of the Rio Grande tunnel motors until they were superannuated. These days it’s more often a pair of UP SD70’s.
The second image shows the BNSF local that serves the soda ash industry near Rifle. In this case the westbound train had stopped in Tunnel siding (a few miles east of the Cameo photo) to let Amtrak No. 6 past. Now the local is throttling up to complete the return trip to Grand Junction. No aged cast-off power here; the leader is a near-new C44C4. The other unit is more like 20+ years old.
ABOVE: The Potash Local runs from Grand Junction down the Cane Creek branch past Moab to the potash / salt plant (Intrepid Mining), for which the spur was constructed in 1962. UP continues the service today on a once-per-week basis. I’ve made several trips to chase the local. Here are several shots of the power, starting in 2014 with a pair of GP40’s and up through more recent movements with pairs of SD70M’s.
ABOVE: A more representative local consist (to my mind). BNSF acquired some trackage rights in western Colorado stemming from the UP-SP merger. As a result they developed some customers east of Grand Junction, and stationed some switcher equipment in town to service them. Here, a BN caboose is coupled onto an ex-AT&SF GP30u and an ex-BN GP38. It’s November 11th 2001. I saw the caboose still there in January 2006, but it’s been gone for a long time now.
ABOVE: The San Luis Valley line has had my interest for many years. It’s a branch line that also has two local trains, so it’s a combination of shortline and local ops. Here’s a selection over time; there is much, much more elsewhere on my website.
ABOVE: Something from a little further south. BNSF runs a local out of Gallup which serves customers along the line to the east. Here’s the delightful power consist on April 27, 2016. To my mind the Dash 8-40B and GP60M aren’t that old, but in reality they’re both more than 25 years old at the time of this photo.
And with that I’ll call a halt to the local palooza. Explore around on my site and through the blogs to get more local flavor if you wish (e.g. my Helper report). If you get a chance, go shoot your own local action and tell me how it goes.
Action Road 