WSC's War Stories: Amarillo desk January 13, 2002

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WHISKEY SIERRA CHARLIE's
WAR STORIES

Amarillo desk: Sunday, January 13, 2002.
(Ever try to get 50 pounds of fertilizer in a 25-pound bag?)

Had quite the traffic jam in the works at the former BN yard in Amarillo tonight around 2145...

The North Yard yardmaster (God bless him for taking all these trains off my territory!) had five trains duking it out for space at our cramped three-track fueling facility at Eastern St. east of downtown:

* eastbound coal load CCAMSLP012, lead engine BNSF 9982

and FOUR westbounds:

* UGATBNV - Galveston - Bonneville, WY sulfur empties, lead engine BNSF 1109
* EHAFCDM002 - BNSF 8823
* EOKORWM004 - BN 9626 - held out, waiting for the first westbound to leave
* ESLPJRM003 - BNSF 9898 - held out behind the BN 9626, waiting for the 2nd westbound to leave

Also at Amarillo was an EAMHBTM011 (T-03) (BN 9493) coming off the Asarco Spur at Dumas Jct to head for Dalhart... plus an MAMADEN (Amarillo-Denver local) on duty behind the 8823.

In addition to all this, Hughes Pass (the siding on the west end of Amarillo in yard limits) was blocked with a CBTMAMH (T-02) coal load that wouldn't go to the plant until at least 2300, thus making it impossible to meet trains at Hughes!

Naturally, several trains were beginning to converge on Amarillo, including:

* from the West:

1) UP's MDHDH (Dalhart to Amarillo turn, lead engine UP 8623) holding at Gentry waiting for westbound traffic to clear out...
2) BNSF train MDENAMA (BNSF 4920) holding at Tascosa
3) CCRMHAF001 (BNSF 8855) by Dalhart
4) XDHTEDY913 (Dalhart-Eddyville, IA empty grain shuttle, BNSF 4504) doing an air test, getting ready to leave Dalhart...

...plus 2 more coal loads out of Trinidad, CO

* From the East:

1) BALTLAC113 (BNSF 4372) out of Childress
2) HFTWLAU113 (BNSF 109) at Quanah
3) HALTAMA113 called at Wichita Falls Falls

* From Clovis, via the Hereford Sub

1) ZCLOALT113 called, but not yet out of Clovis
2) MBARALT112 soon to come off the Hereford Sub
3) QRICALT111 called at Clovis

Sounds like it would have been a good night for the 3rd shift yardmaster to lay off! I'm not sure the dispatcher who relieved me was going to fare much better... it was going to be a while before anything else got into Amarillo, that was for sure... traffic is nomally pretty slow this time of year, but traffic between Texline / Amarillo / Fort Worth doesn't seem to have slowed down a BIT since the first of 2002...

Paul Harriss, if you're reading this: YOU DA MAN!!!

WSC

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