As I got to the office this AM (ca. 0800), there was a LONG coal unit train clawing its way up Rolla Hill from Newburg. I didn't get to see the head end, but there were three big pumpkins shoving on the rear. I don't remember seeing any unit coal drags before. Really heavy: those units were down on their knees at Run 8.
It reached Windsor Springs at Noon, so I left my ham & Swiss on the table to watch. I counted 138 coal cars with UCEX (Ameren) reporting marks. Two locomotives, BNSF 6208& 8449 were on the point. I think the 3-unit DPU was made up of 6305 1018 and 5881. Time stamps on my photos were CDT, but it looks like it took seven minutes to pass. Pictures can be seen beginning with: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index....-coal-bnsf-6208-8449-6305-1018-5881-6-s.6143/
Another eastbound coal train just passed through Kirkwood at 4:00 PM CST. Power configuration was similar to the earlier train, 2 on the point and 3 pushers. It had a mix of reporting marks, but most were AECX. The first cars among the 135 in the train had BNSF reporting marks. This one only took about three and a half minutes to go by.
That's something I see 4-6 times a day on the former Ash Grove (now Ft. Scott) Sub. Odd that they're routing it up towards St. Louis today though. Normally they go to Springfield and continue SE towards Memphis
UCEX (Union Electric)/Ameren would not be going to Memphis. More likely these are detours off the northern Burlington route, going to Machens or Rush Island.
There was menton on the St. Louis Railfans... Facebook page about a derailment in Iowa causing diversion through Kansas City and Springfield. The loaded UCEX trains would indeed go to Rush Island or Portage des Sioux. Either would be a possibility if the Iowa incident blocked access to the ex-CB&Q "K-Line."
