The following item appeared in the latest issue of BRASS SWITCHKEY NEWS, a weekly e-newletter originating in Omaha. Greg Stout BNSF has had all sorts of delays due to track work on the Transcon which is better than derailments. Because the Abo Canyon project is supposed to be done in June, there are delays especially on Tuesdays when various projects are being done in the canyon such as cutting in a switch on the single main track. Some days trains are held westbound as far as Kansas City and eastbound as far as Winslow. Usually the eastbounds are sitting at Belen waiting to go when the track windows open with westbounds often tied down across the Clovis sub waiting on crews to take them on west. This is a single ended pool with the crews out of Clovis so it is a delicate balance to get the crews in the right place to move trains. If those crews are not in the right place; that plays havoc on the rest of the system to the crew base as well. Another place that has had some crew issues is the Enid, OK crews that work east to Tulsa. This is also a one ended pool with the crews based at Enid. In order to move some of the trains across the railroad they have been detoured via Kansas City. Several of the Q-CLOSTL, Q-CLOBIR, Q-CLOMEM, & Q-LACMEM trains eastbound and the Q-STLLAC, Q-MEMLAC, & S-MEMSCO trains at various times all during February have detoured. Eastbound the trains run out of Amarillo with a crew for Wellington, KS instead of Enid, OK. The train goes on to Kansas City and then turns south on the Fort Scott Sub. At fort Scott, KS, they go southeast to Springfield. The Westbounds use the opposite route to reach Amarillo. Of course not all of these trains have detoured but about one train per day was on the detours through the middle part of February. That same old Frisco track had other problems during February. This problem was white and deep. Snow across the southeast part of the BNSF disrupted traffic for several days starting on Feb 9th. Tulsa, Springfield and Memphis all got very deep snow on Feb 9th with each city getting 12 inches or more. Due to the snow, trains could net be switched or unloaded at the Memphis terminal in a timely manner so many eastbounds were parked across the system until they could be moved.
