Page 13 - November December 2001

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT - BNSF STYLE
More on Dalies NM from Bob Warren
Saturday, June 2nd began sunny and calm, a perfect day to do some train chasing, except in- stead of chasing trains, I opted to let them come to me. And the best place in this part of New Mexico is at Dalies, a location that is at the apex of grades east and west, sitting upon a bluff overlooking the former Santa Fe mainlines between Chicago and the west coast.
In this particular area trains are run ‘wrong iron’ as compared to normal North American practice with the engi- neer on the ‘outside’ of the track. This ‘wrong iron’ running appears to con- tinue as far a Gallop, NM, a distance of approximately 100 miles. East of Belen the trains are operated ‘normal’. All trackage in New Mexico is signalled for bi-directional operation as evidenced by some of the action noted below.
I arrived at Dalies after a 3 mile drive down a dirt (actually in New Mexico it’s sandy) road and barely stopped the van before the first of the day’s ‘train chasing’ began as follows:
10:55 A west bound intermodal with 3 units. 11:05 An east bound intermodal with 4 units. 11:15 Another east bound intermodal with 4 units.
11:30 Another east bound intermodal with 4 units. It was noted that many of the trailers were United Parcel Service - expedited service for UPS.
11:35 Noted an east bound Intermodal stopped on the west bound track coming upgrade.
11:50 Chicago bound Southwest Chief passes stopped intermodal and swings off the main to Albuquerque. Train consisted of 4 Genesis engines, elephant style, baggage car, 9 passenger cars and 13 road-railers on the rear. The lounge car appeared to be fairly full.
12:05 West bound autorack train with 2 units. Stopped at signal B in order for the east bound intermodal to complete the cross over from the west bound main to the east bound main. 12:07 Stopped eastbound intermodal underway to Belen. Didn’t get very far as was stopped on the down grade. Belen only has six through tracks for east and west bound trains for servicing (three in each direction). When the tracks are full with other trains, incoming trains are held at various locations. It is not unusual to see two or three trains held waiting to enter Belen. Train was underway again at 12:25. 12:15 Heard the switch motor controlling the turnout from eastbound main to the Albuquerque line move the points.
12:20 North bound empty auto rack train heads toward Albuquerque.
12:27 West bound empty unit open hopper train. Train consisted entirely of BN 3-bay hoppers.
12:35 East bound intermodal with 4 units. Right behind the motive power were three mechanical refrigerator cars for Western Refrigerator (?) (painted green with white lettering). BNSF operates an express refrigerator service and it’s possible these refrigerator cars were part of that service. Typically one does not see any other type of car on intermodal trains. 1:00 East bound general freight held at signal A. 2 units. Didn’t move till 2:20.
1:20 Roadmaster vehicle (pick-up truck with flanged guide wheels) stops on west bound main.
1:25 Roadmaster vehicle passes Dalies checking rail joint bars (rail joiners).
2:15 West bound intermodal with 4 units. At this time I decided rather than just calling them intermodal would identify if all containers IM- C), all highway trailers (IM-T) or mix of both (IM-M). This one was a mix of containers and highway trailers.
2:20 West Bound IM-C with 3 units.
2:30 East bound general freight with 3 units. This was the train that was stopped at 1:00.
3:05 Roadmaster’s vehicle comes west on the Albuquerque line. Exits track at grade crossing and then proceeds west visually checking the east bound main.
3:? East bound general freight stopped at signal A coming up grade.
3:? East bound Intermodal (IM-M), on west bound main, stops next to stopped general freight and crews swap trains. Then the intermodal proceeds passing Dalies at 3:20. 3:35 East bound, (again on west bound main - crosses over to east bound main) intermodal (IM-T) with 4 units.
4:00 Departed Dalies for home. East bound general freight still waiting to move.
While there were ‘long’ breaks between trains, the average was a train every 15 minutes - not bad for a day of train chas- ing.
Regarding the running ‘wrong iron’ at Belen. Due to the number of grade cross- ings at the north end of the Belen yard (where the west bound trains are stopped for fuelling, inspection and crew change), the railroad has all west bound trains on the west side of the yard, hence running ‘wrong iron’. Trains are stopped at Belen for their 1000 miles check-up as well as crew changes and fuelling, which can consume up to an hour depending on the amount of overall through traffic in the yard.
Footnote: Spent a couple of hours this morning watching BNSF haul a number of intermodals at Dalies. I counted the number of platforms (cars) on several of the trains - one had 98, another 67 and the third 70. This will give you an idea of the length of the trains - considering that many of the cars exceed 50 ft. in length it’s easy to see that the 98 platform train exceeded a mile in length
And a note from Rod Welch:
HOW TO FIND DALIES NM...
Dalies is the junction of the two Santa Fe (BNSF) main lines. It lies some 25 miles South-southwest of Albuquerque NM. From the north take I25 to junction 203 and head west some 12 miles west on state route 6. There is a smooth dirt road signposted Dalies off to the left. Some 4 miles long. From the west leave I40 at Junction 126 head for Correo and follow the BNSF to South Garcia. The line will leave you there, returning at Rio Puerco. There are numerous well-graded “sand” dirt roads in this area to get you track- side. Along this section Jackie and I pho- tographed the remains of two derailments (one quite recent).
At Dalies, for the best views, cross the tracks where there are some quite high piles of earth which will elevate you suf- ficiently to view trains coming out of the sag from the west, and coming down from Albuquerque, together with a more limited view of the trains coming up the hill west from Belen. While we were there, (March 2001), for only about 40 minutes, we saw several intermodal freights and one general merchandise train. The latter, an east bound, had to wait in the hole quite some time for an- other eastbound and a couple of west- bounds to pass.
(Locos mostly BNSF Dash 8’s and 9’s, one SD75. One lashup contained one UP SD60 and two CSX Dash 9s)
Also if you are ever in this area, make the effort to go another 50 miles south east between Scholle and Mountainair, just off route 60 to Abo Canyon, a MAGIC place to view trains. (But unless you are a very brave, careful driver you’ll really need a 4 x 4 to get to all the bridges)
To view one video: I recommend SPV’s “New Mexico Main”, and Pentrex “Santa Fe New Mexico main line - The Clovis Sub”.
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