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Re: SP&S #700 Southbound out of Cheney, WA Arpril 22, 2001
Author: Jim700
Date: 03-02-2012 - 00:52
Drew Jacksich Wrote:
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> ... SP&S #700 has just passed thru Cheney, WA.
And with the 700 ON THE POINT which no one expected. Steam fans owe a great round of applause to the BNSF for allowing the 700 to be on the point westbound out of Spokane. As you'll recall the 700 suffered a ring failure at Cunningham on the eastward trip the previous day and was helped into SPK by the BNSF 6308 added to the point, to which the BNSF engineer moved from the 700.
Since I had not yet built the diesel MU control for the 700 and because it had limited power for the 2-day return trip to PDX I fully expected to be trailing the diesel westbound because the BNSF engineer called for the job was also the helper diesel's engineer and had a right to be on the controlling unit. This was the BNSF's plan of operation.
There was a great desire among the railfan community to see the 700 placed on the point and several people went to bat for the PRPA to accomplish just that. As the result of discussions with various BNSF officials the BNSF graciously allowed us to sidestep their requirement (in place for obvious reasons) that their engineer be in the lead cab. I had previously run Amtrak's Empire Builder over the route for many years through August 1995. Though this was nearly six years later, because I had elected to continue maintaining my PSC-SPK route qualification (even though Amtrak PDX engineers no longer worked east of Pasco) I was allowed to run the 700 on the point without the BNSF engineer present in the cab. Hats off to the BNSF for making a lot of railfans happy that day.
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> ... SP&S #700 has just passed thru Cheney, WA.
And with the 700 ON THE POINT which no one expected. Steam fans owe a great round of applause to the BNSF for allowing the 700 to be on the point westbound out of Spokane. As you'll recall the 700 suffered a ring failure at Cunningham on the eastward trip the previous day and was helped into SPK by the BNSF 6308 added to the point, to which the BNSF engineer moved from the 700.
Since I had not yet built the diesel MU control for the 700 and because it had limited power for the 2-day return trip to PDX I fully expected to be trailing the diesel westbound because the BNSF engineer called for the job was also the helper diesel's engineer and had a right to be on the controlling unit. This was the BNSF's plan of operation.
There was a great desire among the railfan community to see the 700 placed on the point and several people went to bat for the PRPA to accomplish just that. As the result of discussions with various BNSF officials the BNSF graciously allowed us to sidestep their requirement (in place for obvious reasons) that their engineer be in the lead cab. I had previously run Amtrak's Empire Builder over the route for many years through August 1995. Though this was nearly six years later, because I had elected to continue maintaining my PSC-SPK route qualification (even though Amtrak PDX engineers no longer worked east of Pasco) I was allowed to run the 700 on the point without the BNSF engineer present in the cab. Hats off to the BNSF for making a lot of railfans happy that day.
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 SP&S #700 Southbound out of Cheney, WA Arpril 22, 2001
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Drew Jacksich | 02-27-2012 - 22:14 |
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Re: SP&S #700 Southbound out of Cheney, WA Arpril 22, 2001
|
Margaret (SP fan) | 02-27-2012 - 22:19 |
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Re: SP&S #700 Southbound out of Cheney, WA Arpril 22, 2001 |
Jim700 | 03-02-2012 - 00:52 |