I was in Topeka over the weekend - the hotel overlooked the Amtrak Station. In addition to the normal BNSF & Amtrak traffic, I saw a couple of coal trains come off the UP…distributed power…single unit on the South end and two units on the North end - movement was headed South.
Anyone have any idea of the origin & destination of these trains, I suspect the origin might be the Powder River Basin, however since both UP & BNSF service the area I am curious why the UP would haul the trains to Topeka to go on the BNSF when the BNSF should be able to have the complete haul. Destination unknown.
Are you sure of the south movement? Topeka can be confusing. From the hotel a movement to your left would be toward Kansas City and to your right would be toward Emporia and then toward OK.
Possibly the UP line south from KC had problems and the BNSF Transcon line from KC to Emporia was busy so the BNSF dispatcher routed this train through Topeka and then to Emporia.
Facing the rising sun in the East…the movement was left to right…in my book that is North to South (timetable directions may vary). The BNSF Main appears to come in from the East and make a Southward curve into the Amtrak Station and continue South from there.
The coal train you are refering to is the C TOPRRS0 ?? on the BNSF, the UP brings the train from powder river basin?, and hands it off to the BNSF at Topeka, the BNSF takes the train form Topeka, to Red Rock, Oklahoma to the utility down there. Why the routing I am not sure, but its been rumored that the UP was going to run the train to Wichita, KS, and then the BNSF would get it there and take it from Wichita to Red Rock, but, I do not believe the UP or BNSF has any where to park the train in Wichita, so it is done in Topeka.
The BNSF take the train down the Topeka sub, from Topeka, to Emporia, then on the Emporia sub to Augusta, KS, then on the Douglas sub to WInfield, KS, then on the Ark City sub to Arkansas City, then the Red Rock sub to Red Rock, OK. The train has generally been DP’ed 1 X 2, but has run conventional in the past and also 2 X 1 DP. Does seem to have problems getting out of Topeka, a lot, so I have had many a dog catch call to take it from Emporia, to Arkansas City.
Thanks - I have no idea what the track speed is through Topeka in that area of town, but if the movements exceeded 5 MPH they were flying. Reminded me of Southern crews with an interchange cut going to the Big 4 Yard on the Ohio River West of Cincinnati…you had to view something stationary to ensure that the train was actually moving.
According to my timetable track speed through that area is 10-20 MPH. These trains were originally taken from the BN in Kansas City in the 1980’s. and sent down the Transcon. They usually had BN and Santa Fe power. I think it was arround 1989 when they started showing up on the Topeka Sub. I still remember the black and orange gondolas being pulled by 4 big GE’s (often a mix of blues and Kodachromes). UP engines started appearing in the early 90’s. Either as a Solid set or with a Santa Fe engine leading. It was after the BNSF merger that manned pushers started to be used in place of the extra unit up front. It may not seem like it but there’s some pretty good grades (incl 1% ones) along the Topeka - Emporia portion. One of the worst is the hill at MP. 100 which is 1.00% Westbound and 1.09% Eastbound (again this is from my timetables). The pushers would shove the train to Lang (MP. 104.8, ghost town between Reading and Emporia) where they cut off and returned light to Topeka. Sometimes they stayed on til’ Emporia. Somewhere arround 2005 is when they switched to DPU’s[V]. The 3 engines from UP were split: 1 on the front and 2 on the rear.
I could tell you several stories about incidents that have happened over the years. The 2 most memorable incidents were in 1995, when the dispatcher had a loaded and an empty try to meet at the 5,000’ siding here, which needless to say didn’t work. One train had to back all the way out of the siding and drop off a few cars on the house track so it would fit in the siding (got it all on film[:D]). the 2nd was one night in 1998 (i think). One of the lead engines crapped out and the train was stopped here. They were seriously considering doubling the train into Emporia. I decided to go check it out. They decided to try it without doubling. As the train was backing up to retreive the other half of the train in the siding one of ou
Between TOP & EMP, the only trains running are the coalies & Amtrk. Currently there is a work train adverstised TOP-EMP and that is trk that probably could use some TLC. Hard to believe but up until say 15 yrs or so ago, Amtrk was allowed to run 90 mph on the Top Sub until the ATS was removed.
The work train is the Pauline switcher which, in addition to switching the industries at Pauline also comes here to switch out covered hoppers of plastic pellets at the plastic tray mfg. plant (where i work) here, and the elevator at Scranton when there’s grain to move.
In addition. In 2005 BNSF enlarged the clearances on the 2 truss bridges on the line, and now the Topeka sub has become a safety valve for the Transcon whenever there’s a problem or work being done on it (this year it was trackwork, and replacing the searchlight signals and signal bridges with bi-directional colorlights[:(]) between Holliday and Emporia. It’s not uncommon to have as many as a dozen movements (mostly doublestacks) off the Emporia sub a day (usually between 7AM and 4PM). Several days a week.
The track is in very good shape except for rough spots here and there (mostly in town at grade crossings). AFAIK all jointed rail has been replaced with welded. And a tamper / regulator team just did some work on the line. The ATS inductors are still in place long the line. Other work done in the last few years included installing new crossing gates (all 9 of the crossings in my town now have them), lots of trackwork, and upgrading the pole line.
When I was at Heartland Park the 2nd week in October I noticed a fair amount of daytime traffic. Most of it appeared to be grain oriented business, both covered hoppers and open top hoppers that appeared to have covers.
The work train from last wk that was assigned west of TOP has since been abolished and is no longer working. I failed to mention the othr assigned job that works west of town which is the Topeka-Pauline which was covered briefly in a above post. This is the RKAN005 TOP rd swtchr which goes on duty 1600 M-F. It is a lower seniority assignment. The job is advertised between mp 27 & mp 86. Topeka yd is worked by YTOP101 on duty 0600 M-F. Going east, anothr assigned job is the Lawrence rd swtchr. RKAN004 on duty 0800 M-F and limits are mp 48 & Desoto. This run goes quite high in seniority. Both TOP jobs and the Lawrence job work off Kansas City working boards and are considered KC jobs. This morn @ 1100 CT, the only train showing working on the TOP Sub mainline was the RKAN04 @ Lawrence.
The work train from last wk west of TOP has since been abolished and is no longer working. I failed to mention anothr job that works west of TOP and this was briefly described by Mopacnut. The TOP rd swtchr RKAN005 goes on duty 1600 M-F and limits are mp 27.6 & mp 86.6. It is a lower seniority assignment. Topeka yd is worked by YTOP101 on duty 0600 M-F. East of TOP, is anothr assigned job @ Lawrence. Rd swtchr RKAN004 is on duty 0800 M-F. It is advertised between mp 48 & Desoto. This run goes way high in seniority. The Topeka jobs and Lawrence job are both worked from the Kansas City working boards and thus are considered KC jobs. This morn @ 1100 CT the only train showing out on the Top Sub mainline was the RKAN04 @ Lawrence.
Well it’s safe to say the ATS system is intact and still in use. My 1998 BNSF timetable shows this, and i just found they have some new ones sitting on the dock in town:
Mopac: I assume you meant a 2008 BNSF ETT and not 1998? Also do you know just how much Horizion Milling @ TOP ships by rail. Does the 101 job switch there on a daily routine? That mill has mostly done a domestic sacked family flour loading shipped out by truck. The very few times I have ben by there I have seen perhaps only a couple flour cars spotted for loading. Just curious.
When I witnessed this movement through Topeka, the single engine was the lead engine and the two engines were the trail units. ie. the ‘normal’ DPU is actually the lead engine and would have the lights on.
Well, That still seems a bit odd,as the units are reversed on a return trip to the mine( I Thot) perhaps they just ran the train out of the plant and back to the mine…Ive just never seen any coal train loaded or empty with the trailing unit in the lead…
I suspect that the UP brings the train from the Powder River Basin to Topeka to interchange it with the BNSF for the continuation of the trip with the 2 units in the lead, however, due to the configuration of the connection between the UP and BNSF at Topeka it is most expedient for the BNSF to operate the train from the single unit ‘DPU’ engine rather than having to run-around and turn the power on both ends of the train.
Although not related to the coal movements, an interesting operation on the TOP Sub is the local 03 from KC. This job began working as a KC-Newton run in September, 1992 as LEB 15/16, later changed to LEA 03/04 then to LKAN 03/04 and finally the current symbol of LKAN 03. Two turns worked w/ one job off Sa, the othr off Su. In January 2001 the job was readvertised to a KC-Topeka turnaround job and has been that way ever since.About maybe 2002 or 2003, there was talk of putting the run back to Newton but never happened and most likely never will. For about three wks in summer, 2001 I was forced assigned as condr on the job. Usually the only work was Lawrence & Topeka. The job usually has a large eng consist as units are setout/picked up @ the TOP shops. In adition,many times the business cars will begin or end their trips @ TOP on this job. Currently LKAN 03 goes on duty KCK @ 1201 w/ M-Sa. If the job were ever put back on to a Newton run I wouldn’t mind working it as a brkmn but again I don’t ever see the job running west of Topeka.
Man i miss those locals coming through here (i always heard them on the scanner as L-KAN 031 and 041) I’d head to the tracks almost every day to get photos of whatever showed up on them (which was VERY interesting at times). For an Eastbound one, i’d hear it get a Track Warrant in Emporia so i’d have as long as an hour to prepare for it. For Westbounds my only warning was the detector at MP 82.3. When i heard it on the scanner i’d jump on my bike and race to a certain spot in town where you could (a building now occupies the spot) get good side photos. And i almost always made it there (otherwise i’d wait at one of the 4 crossings between it and my house). The 2 locals frequently met at the siding here.
I’ll see if i can post a couple of my good photos. Got a few interesting stories of stuff with the locals also.