Final effort to save Black Mesa & Lake Powell fails

[anavelgato2004]

trn.trains.com
Final effort to save Black Mesa & Lake Powell fails
By Alexander D. Mitchell IV | March 26, 2019
2-3 minutes

PAGE, Ariz. — Efforts to save the Black Mesa & Lake Powell Railroad, the electrified captive railroad that runs 78 miles between mine and power plant in northeastern Arizona, have ended unsuccessfully.

Earlier this month, the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. said it would drop plans to buy the Peabody Energy’s Kayenta coal mine and the 2,250-megawatt Navajo Generating Station near Page. The decision came after a Navajo Tribal Council vote not to support the purchase proposal.

With the loss of the mine and power plant, there is no reason the Black Mesa & Lake Powell to operate. All three operations are expected to cease operation completely by the end of 2019, the victims of aging facilities, low natural gas prices, and ever-toughening emissions regulations for coal-burning power plants.

Although there have been half-hearted proposals by the Navajo Nation to maintain the railroad as a potential tourist operation, the line's extraordinary remoteness and lack of outside rail connection likely doom it.

The railroad, long noted for its 1970s-built GE E60C locomotives (single-cab variants of the Amtrak E60CP electrics) and its later acquisition of Mexican E60s (purchased but never used by Nacionales de Mexico), was opened in 1974 at a cost of 55 million dollars, and was dubbed "America's finest railroad" and most productive per mile in an October 1974 Trains article by David P. Morgan. The line was originally to feature fully automated operation, but later switched to manned operation. The railroad originally was projected to have an economic life of 35 years, which it has exceeded by ten years.

This closure will leave the 35-mile Deseret Power Railroad, formerly the Deseret Western Railroad, in Utah and Colorado, as the last standard-gauge electrified mine transport railroad in the U.S. An earlier railroad, the 20-mile Muskingum Electric Railroad in Ohio, opened in 1968 and closed in 2002.

One of the line's original GE E60s, 6001, was moved to Williams, Ariz., in August 2010, where it is stored pending display at the future Arizona State Railroad Museum.

[BoostedFridge]

Current plans are for the railroad to cease operations by August 26th.

If anyone was on the fence about going to see the line in person, its now or never.

[PNWR1854]

It is a shame. It would be neat to get one of the NdeM E60s into a museum, but somehow, I kind of doubt it. If they donated one of their engines though, there's a chance they might donate another/more.
As for the rails themselves, I kind of wonder if they intend to remove all traces of the line or just remove the facilities and leave the track as is. Time will tell.

[Fireexplorer249]

It's sad to see such a unique road become a thing of the past. It's unfortunate that it couldn't be saved. My guess is that one or more of their E60s will be donated to the new Arizona Railway Museum being built in Williams.

[EngineerJohn]

Strasburg has had an e60 in their collection for quite some time so all is not lost.

[gtrtroger]

Spotted this and thought I’d share....

https://youtu.be/pz3pl4RZUyM

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Spotted this and thought I’d share....

https://youtu.be/pz3pl4RZUyM

Thanks. Why so many units on what seems to be not so heavy trains?

Are the electrics equipped with Type F 'tight lock' couplers due to their proposed passenger heritage?

One would suppose the units are worn out, nobody trying to pick them up for cheap, or even scrap value?

[BoostedFridge]

Thanks. Why so many units on what seems to be not so heavy trains?

The train weighs ~7,700 tons loaded. The operation is based around the crew making multiple trips to load at the mine and dump at the power plant on one shift. To do that over a 78 mile railroad requires keeping a high average track speed, hence the allotted power.

One would suppose the units are worn out, nobody trying to pick them up for cheap, or even scrap value?

Cheap or otherwise, there is no market for these units in North America. The only comparable line is the Deseret Power Railroad, which already has a spare locomotive, and two locos for parts. The BM&LP units will certainly be scrapped, with the exception of one being donated to a museum.