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I was reading something today that mentioned, in passing, the east west railroad line through Gallup NM and the spur serving the Ft Wingate ammo facility near by. I auusme the spur has been closed about as long as the ammo facility, but is the east west line still used? If so, what points does it connect? Any other info?I had occasion to TAD to Wingate in the early '70's. MATS to Albaquerque and chopper out to the site. Damned rugged country. Might make great scenery for an MSTS route.Brad "Thanks in advance" Meyer
Brad,The line through Gallup is BNSF's Gallup Sub which is part of the Chicago to Los Angeles transcon (the Intermodel Freeway as I call it). It currently sees around 75 trains a day, mostly priority intermodel along with Amtrak's Southwest Chief, and manifasts. C44-9Ws are the mainstay power on the route, along with various other units, for the high-speed run between Belen and Winslow. BNSF just finished wiring bi-directional CTC along the route, although it is mainly still left-hand running along the route.Austin S.
>Brad, > >The line through Gallup is BNSF's Gallup Sub which is part >of the Chicago to Los Angeles transcon (the Intermodel >Freeway as I call it). It currently sees around 75 trains a >day, mostly priority intermodel along with Amtrak's >Southwest Chief, and manifasts. C44-9Ws are the mainstay >power on the route, along with various other units, for the >high-speed run between Belen and Winslow. Thanks.>BNSF just finished >wiring bi-directional CTC along the route, although it is >mainly still left-hand running along the route. I confess large ignorance. Could I impose on you for an explaination of these terms and their significance?Brad "Thanks again" Meyer
Brad,Normally when railroad have double track they run on the right hand track, just like cars on a road. Santa Fe, I believe because of grade issues, decided to run on the left side of the two tracks. This cost them a fortune when it came to signaling. There was an excellent article in Trains Magizine on the construction of the signals along this route several months ago.CTC allows the dispatcher to control where the trains are running. He does this by remotely controlling switches and signals. There are many times with double track where it is a tremendous advantage to be able to run both directions on either track. With this capability, the dispatcher can actually have trains running the same direction passing one another without stopping. It allows him/her to give one track to the maintenance crew and still get trains over the remaining line quickly.If he does not have bi-directional CTC available to him/her then they must go to a different system such as Track Warrent. This is not nearly as efficient and restricts the number of trains that can be handled.Hope this helps.Newton Kid
It helps very much. Thanks for the time and effort. Something along that line would have been my guess, but the "left handed" part threw me. I never considered garde issue. I am assuming that, given more or less parallel lines with different grades, the easier grade is used for uphill and the steeper grade for downhill. If this is mistaken I have little doubt someone here will correct me.I must say, one of the advantages to this site for me is how much I have learned about prototype railroads and their operation. I've never been a "railfan" as such, and my interest in scale work was primarily spiking rail and scratch built turnouts, crossovers, etc., rather then the acutal running of equipment. Thanks to all, whether you were deliberately trying to help me or not.Brad Meyer
Brad,There are a number of railroads where the double track is actually some distance apart. Santa Fe was one another I know of is CP and Kicking Horse Pass. This normally came about because the railroad did a better job of taking grade into account when they laid the second track.Good luck in the hobby and keep asking the questions. That is how we all learn!Newton Kid
