08-09-2016, 06:55 AM
Good morning all, we're back up into the 110's again after a few days of rain, or the threat of rain... This was our 28th day at 110 or over, just five days away from the record set back in 2011.
There's a spur off of the BNSF mainline just a few blocks to the south of us. It cuts across Grand Ave. (US60), heads west, then cuts across a major intersection not far from our house. From there it goes through an fairly new industrial area, then to an underground storage facility for natural gas. Several times a week, there's a consist that heads out, somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning, just about the time the going to work traffic is building up, and just around the time we are heading to the Sun City area for breakfast. I don't mind, but I have to wonder why at this time of the day. They start to move from a dead stop, and hit the crossing at just about five miles an hour, travel slow until just to the end of the consist and then stop to do some switching, before finally clearing the crossing. There is usually around 40 to 50 tank cars, yesterday I was blessed with having to wait, and I counted one boxcar, three gons and 44 tank cars. It took them seven minutes to clear the crossing and you can only imagine the traffic backup. Sometimes we get caught on the way home at that other intersection, the train still going slow. I'm not complaining, I'm probably one of the few that enjoy watching these trains, but I still have to wonder who scheduled this to happen during the busiest drive time of day for going to work traffic.
There's a spur off of the BNSF mainline just a few blocks to the south of us. It cuts across Grand Ave. (US60), heads west, then cuts across a major intersection not far from our house. From there it goes through an fairly new industrial area, then to an underground storage facility for natural gas. Several times a week, there's a consist that heads out, somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30 in the morning, just about the time the going to work traffic is building up, and just around the time we are heading to the Sun City area for breakfast. I don't mind, but I have to wonder why at this time of the day. They start to move from a dead stop, and hit the crossing at just about five miles an hour, travel slow until just to the end of the consist and then stop to do some switching, before finally clearing the crossing. There is usually around 40 to 50 tank cars, yesterday I was blessed with having to wait, and I counted one boxcar, three gons and 44 tank cars. It took them seven minutes to clear the crossing and you can only imagine the traffic backup. Sometimes we get caught on the way home at that other intersection, the train still going slow. I'm not complaining, I'm probably one of the few that enjoy watching these trains, but I still have to wonder who scheduled this to happen during the busiest drive time of day for going to work traffic.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD