15 May 1999

     	Newland and Northern Railway has finally completed the overhead electrification of the
Spruce Pine yard and terminal.  This completes the upgrading of the Spear Pass segment of the
N&N, from Spruce Pine to Minneapolis Junction.  The Spear Pass subdivision has 3.8 percent
grades southbound and 2.9 percent northbound grades, which, until now, has been a severe
bottleneck to traffic from Newland and the Linville Gap Iron Mines to Ashville and beyond.
     Until the electrification was complete, the average freight speed over the Spear Pass sub
was thirteen (13) miles per hour overall, with many ore drags averaging only 8 mph.  Wear on
brake shoes has always been very expensive, as they were  replaced on the ore jennies on average
every 2.4 round trips.  In addition, overtime costs for crews sitting on sidings awaiting clearance
has previously been excessive.  Freight crews would typically and  regularly experience 3 « to 4
hours delay at the Crabtree Creek siding during daylight hours, and often would run out under the
twelve hour law.
     Since electrification of the whole sub, the average freight speed has risen to 27 miles per
hour and the ore drags are now moving about 18 to 20 mph.  In addition, the breakshoe wear has
decreased dramatically - replacement time has risen from 2.4 round trips to more than eleven or
twelve round trips, due to the regenerative braking capabilities of the electric locomotives.
Additional time is saved because the regenerative and dynamic braking capacity now exceeds the
train-braking horsepower required for downhill speed control, thereby doing away with stops at
Spear Pass summit to set up retainers and/or perform brake tests.  In addition, all downhill stops
for cooling brake shoes have been eliminated.
     The electification has proven both a financial and operational success. It appears that the
installation costs will repay themselves in only seven years, primarily because of the low cost
electricity available from hydro sources in upper Avery county.  In addition, the new local water
power generation has forced TVA to lower their rates to us, so all off-peak power is purchased
off line at a rate .009 cents per Kilowatt/hour below our own generation cost.
     Typical operation pattern now is for all trains freight trains with less than 2400 gross tons
to be assigned a helper electric.  Trains exceeding 2400 g.t. will lose their diesels at either Spruce
Pine or Minneapolis Junction, be electric-hauled over the Spear Pass sub, and be reassigned
diesels at the other end of the sub if continuing on.
     One totally unexpected result of the new operation pattern is a high volume of complaints
from daytime freight crews and their spouses.  It seems that most of these crews bid on the
daytime freights expecting much overtime pay and lots of idle time at Crabtree Creek siding.  The
regular great trout fishing has all but vanished, as few trains experience uphill delays anymore. 
The wives of the concerned crew members are also complaining that they miss the fine fresh fish
coming home on a regular basis.   There has even been talk of seeking "supplemental fishing pay"
at the upcoming contract negotiations.