This past weekend, it seems a few odd moves took place on the Keystone Secondary in PA. Friday night, IIRC, a train left the Keystone Generating Station in Shelocta, as usual. Then one came in early Saturday morning, IIRC, also as usual. Then in the late morning, 3 locomotives went out, beginning the odd stuff. Even more odd…a couple hours later, they came back with a coal train. I thought that a coal train had just come in early that morning. This current coal train had only 60 or 61 cars (usually around 130). Okay…interesting…so then a little while later, the 3 locos are leaving again. Predictibly, a couple hours later, they came back with another coal train (I had planned to be at the crossings to catch it, but was minutes too late thanks to lunch), and I counted 66 cars on it. Then I had to leave for church, so I didn’t get to stick around to see what other moves might be made, but I couldn’t find any evidence there was any more train action, because when that last train had come back in, the crossing lights failed to shut off (that crossing of Route 156 has been acting screwey for a while). Coming back that night, they were still flashing, so I assume nothing came back through. Given the time those locos were gone to the time they came back, I’ll estimate that at Saltsburgh, there must have been a waiting train there to come in the plant, though why it seems they brought it in 1/2s, I don’t know, as they had the usual loco power for the full-sized trains. Anybody familiar with the area aware of what happened? Any experienced railroaders care to give a guess at what was going on? I’ll take any info I can get on this. Thanks.
My guess would be that the locos on the orginal train (with the 130 cars) stalled or could not make it over a grade, so the train was broken in half and the 3 locomotives you saw departing and bringing the two shorter trains ( the two 60 car trains) were just relief power bringing the train in two parts and then putting it back together in the yard. Sounds logical to me.?
You sure that all that coal went to the one power plant at Shelocta? Seems to me that there were a couple of other plants on the old tortuous route that used to get to Shelocta before the Salzburg-Shelocta Bypass opened last year (That route had some ugly restictions and was derailment prone as was trackage inside the plant)…
Yep. I live at the last crossing before the plant.