Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
Pertaining to all railroad subjects, past and present, in the American West, including California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and The Dakotas. For specific railroad topics, please see the Fallen Flags and Active Railroads categories.
An article about track additions to the Orin Line in Wyoming was published in a recent edition of our local newspaper. The article mentioned that 15 miles of 4MT and 75 miles of 3MT would be in place after the project was completed. When I began working on the line in the mid-1980s it was 2MT Donkey Creek Jct.-MP 8.2, West Reno-MP47.3 and West Bill-East Bill. The remainder was single track with passing sidings. By the time I left the area in 2000 the Orin Line was 2MT Donkey Creek Jct.-MP 58.1, 3MT MP 58.1-MP 102.3, 2MT MP 102.3-East Fisher and single track East Fisher-Bridger Jct. Will be interesting to see the new track additions. At 127.3 miles, I referred to the Orin Line as the world's longest roller coaster for its nearly continuous up and down grades.
I'm sorry to bump up such an old thread, but I have no other way of contacting you... I registered specifically to ask you this.
I'm trying to determine exactly when certain portions of the Orin Subdivision doubletracking were complete. I've seen the PDF copies of the 1-1-93 and 10-30-94 ETTs, and the dates I'm looking for are within that window.
Specifically, the 1993 ETT shows single track from MP 52.4 to 63.0 (East Reno to West Logan) and again from MP 72.5 to 82.7 (East Logan to West Bill). The 1994 ETT shows each of those as 2MT, which matches up to what I've read about the push to doubletrack the bottom end of the line in 1993 and 1994. I've also found a BNSF created PDF that shows the East Reno-West Logan portion 2MT but the East Logan-West Bill segment single track in 1994, but no specific date.
Do you recall when these stretches were filled in? I'm trying to research just how late I can model the Orin and still get away with single track for a segment to add operational interest - I'm hoping that I can justify a date late enough to be able to model at least the first of the BN SD70MACs and C&NW C44-9s.
I finally managed to watch the Pentrex DVD I picked up that was filmed on the Orin in 1992 where it looked like Shawnee Jct. north (TT west) was still singletrack. That would actually be my #1 choice of segments - Shawnee Jct. to East Logan or so to catch the loads coming down Logan hill, the C&NW "staging yard" at Bill and the BN/CNW split at Shawnee Jct. If I go fall of 1992 I'd lose the C&NW Dash 9s an BN SD70MACs but would gain the last of the Zito yellow Dash 8s and a bunch more BN Dash 7s.
I was able to find more information courtesy of the CNWHS - they reproduced pages from a CNW profile book marked as updated through 3-1-94 in a big article on Wyoming coal ops. It shows single track East Logan (MP 72.5) through West CNW Jct (MP 80.8) and again from East Walker (MP 107.3) through the split at Shawnee Jct (MP 117.7). If the 3-1-94 date is accurate I could do my area of interest into the CNW Dash 9 and BN SD70MAC era.
