From reading the news articles, it appears this centers around a [relatively minor] commercial dispute about billing/payment cycle time.

However, a post on the Yahoo "Northwest_Railfan" group says UP is now bringing TCRY unit trains of grain (which is something new, at least from UP, requiring upgrading of the UP connection). [TCNY be connects to both BNSF and UP.]

I would expect that [missing out on} multiple (ongoing?) unit trains of animal feed would get BNSF a lot more worked up than the relatively minimal traffic that existed at the time that BNSF decided they didn't want to serve these customers directly and outsourced this to TCRY some years ago (2000?).

It could be that this dispute has larger ramifications (read $$$$) than what the news articles suggest.


If you are a member of this Yahoo group, here is the link:
[finance.groups.yahoo.com]

If you can't see that, here is the text (quoting member "wiandm66") :

I knew the TCRR has been bringing in more and more grain loads as part of a
transloading operation in Richland WA. Apparently, the shipper breaks down unit
trains of animal feed into individual truckloads for delivery to customers in
the Yakima Valley and lower Columbia Basin. I had no idea the scale of this
operation until Saturday night.

I live two blocks away from the TCRR tracks, and even with the air conditioning
on, it's difficult not to hear the train when it blows for a couple nearby grade
crossings. However, hearing a train at 8:30 pm on a Saturday is extremely
unusual, so I set out to investigate. Driving north along Highway 240, I
quickly caught up with the tail end of a train. The string of gray grain
hoppers seemed to go on forever. I didn't count, but I'm certain this was a
110-car unit train that was over a mile long. I figured keeping something this
size rolling would be a real challenge for the TCRR, even if they used all three
of their locomotives (two MP-15ACs and one elderly SD-9), and boy was I right.

When I finally caught up with the head end, I found three UP AC4400CWs in the
lead (unit no. 2 still in SP paint with original numbers - no UP patch). Sweet!
Of course, moving this train into the TCRR yard at North Richland was no trouble
for these bruisers. I headed home after watching them roll into the yard, and
about an hour later, I heard the (presumably) light engines heading south again.
I managed to snap a couple photos of the train, but there was barely enough
light, so they are all slightly blurred due to slow shutter speed. I will try
to post one or two of the better ones when I get home tonight.

Two weeks ago, there was a minor track maintenance blitz on the UP line from
Villard Jct. through Kennewick to Richland Jct., and I see now why that was
necessary. I'm hoping I can get a heads up for the next time they bring in a
unit train with runthrough UP power - I'm betting they put on a good show on
their entire run, and I'd like to see the whole thing.

Tom