I heard from a friend that the Rio Grande Ski Train will be heading up to S.ST.Marie via the UP to CN. Has anybody heard of this and if so, what would the routing be? Colorado to Chicago then up to the CN through Fond du Lac up to Green Bay then north or UP to the Spine Line in Minnesota to the Twin Cities then over to Ladysmith Sub onto SSM?
Heard the move will be thru Wisconsin sometime Sunday or Monday with a UP leading along with the 3 FPH40’s (?) and then the train.
If the lead engine is known, could somebody do a trace and keep a daily or even an hourly trace on this train since a lot of railfans around Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota would be interested in seeing this train.
According to e-mails on another group, the train has been interchanged to the CN at Council Bluffs. It was scheduled to depart CB around 5PM tonight and will travel across Iowa on the CN to the Chicago area.
One e-mail said they fired up the Ski Train’s engine to move the train off the UP and onto the CN.
Just checked my e-mails before going to work. The Ski Train was delayed at CB. A car was bad ordered because of a wheel problem. At first it wasn’t known if they were going to hold the entire train, but sounds like it may have departed after setting out the car. Supposedly will pick up a pilot CN engine at Ft Dodge, CN 6110 was mentioned. Good luck for those trying to chase it.
Colorado to Chicago then up to the CN through Fond du Lac up to Green Bay then north or UP to the Spine Line in Minnesota to the Twin Cities then over to Ladysmith Sub onto SSM.
At last report the train was being held on account of the one bad order car- no timetable has been given yet on when it will be departing for Chicago.
As a sidenote- it would not have been possible for this train to be interchanged at the TC and run via the Ladysmith Sub- since the old Soo between Dresser and Barron is now torn out (plus the active portion from Dresser west is run by the Osceola and St. Croix Valley tourist line), Barron to Ladysmith is the Wisconsin Northern, and Ladysmith to Prentice is out of service. You wouldn’t be able to run it via Somerset to Owen to Ladysmith either- unless you wanted to run-around the train to do it- there is no east to north connector at Owen, or a south to east connector at Ladysmith. Ditto on TC-Owen-Stevens Point-Appleton-Green Bay (no east to north switch at Neenah)- the sensible routing was always via the ex-IC Iowa Division to Chicago, then up the old WC via Fondy.
Ski-Train’s marks were SKTX, probably still travelling under this. The equipment is destined for service on the former Algoma Central running north from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (reporting marks AC, now owned by CN).
I heard that one of CN’s GEVOs in the 2200 series (possibly 2279) was leading this train northward. Several folks I know are out watching for it and I haven’t heard where it might be yet.
I’m going to guess so, since there is no such engine as CN 6110. Let’s keep the sublettering on these engines straight here, since that is the actual reporting marks on the engine. Don’t think it’s an issue? Think again. With CN, IC, GTW, WC, etc. there are a lot of number series that overlap and there are cases of multiple engines in full CN paint with identical numbers - but different reporting marks as indicated on the cabs.
A friend who works out of Shops (NFDL) saw it go through there around 12:40 AM on the 17th while waiting for his next job to be ready. I believe I heard it go through Oshkosh around 1:00/1:15 AM on the 17th.
I have yet to see two locos with the same number but differing reporting marks on one train. It would be neat to see but I’d bet that the “power desk” tries not to do that kind of thing intentionally.
Given the number of report’s I have seen on this forum of BC Rail engines in eastern Canada and the American mid-west, it’s a matter of when, not if, such a thing turns up in a photo on Railpictures.net or some similar sight. And I am not anticipating a long wait.[:)]
Couple of years ago going thru Neenah, the CN 6004-WC 6004 passed the IC 6004 switching at Neenah Yard. I was told that the engines with the same number won’t be painted due to the possibly of confusing if both units with the same number are leading different trains. That’s why the IC 6000’s weren’t painted along with the WC 6000’s
If they were on the same train there would be little danger. It is when the units would be on different trains on the same subdivision that the safety could be an issue.
Just imagine a track gang supervisor giving permission to the CN1234 North to enter his work limits. Now complicate the issue with WC1234 North right behind the CN1234. Due to crew fatigue, just coming on duty, upcoming Packer game, local union rep election, poor radio communication, etc., the crew on the WC1234 only hears (or consciously recognizes) the 1234 part of the transmission.