Espee's Rosenberg Line

I must have misunderstood. The line is already in place from Victoria to El Campo? Has that been active before now? Thanks.

 

We came through driving north a couple of weeks ago. As I related to Russ, there were two impressions that stuck out for me.

First, it was like life imitating art (or model railroading, in this case). Several stretches where the brand new track looked just so perfect, straight track, not a piece of ballast out of place, perfectly formed shoulders, no weeds, almost as if they had constructed the new line from Kato Uni-Track.

The second was when I thought I detected a couple of different (significantly) colored ballasts. At first I thought it was the light, or shadows, or my poor eyesight. But then I saw at least two places where there was a distinct dividing line between gray (trap rock) ballast and light tan/pink limestone ballast. No feathering, you could see where they finished dumping one trainload of ballast and switched to another different source. How many modelers here anguish over what is exactly the correct ballast color for some stretch?

Congrats to KCS on a good move.

Regards

Ed
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Cool pics--my dad's family is outh that way (Giddings, TX) and next time I am there I want to swing by this area. Never done any railfanning in the great state of TX. Jamie

 

Went down to Kendleton today from Rosenburg. The UP is done with the connecting track upgrades in Rosenburg. From the few miles I drove down the line, most of the grade crossings are up, they just don't have the arms installed yet, and the lights are covered in orange plastic. I took a short video just south of the intermodal yard (complete with 24 trailers!) in Kendleton:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcKw5Q6Kvsg"]YouTube - KCS Train on the new Macaroni Line[/ame]

 

Came through there on Monday on our way back down to Mexico. Looks to me like they are still working on fine tuning the line. Saw a lot of ballasting activity, including getting a photo of a long ballast train stopped at (I think) Kendleton. Crossing gates still lack arms.

Have they actually started using the line for revenue traffic?

Regards

Ed
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It seems hard to believe that it's been 3 years since this thread started. it has been really interesting to follow. Thanks to all of you for all the updates during this time. Look forward to seeing the completion posted soon and seeing more shots of action on the line.

 

Personally I hope all the talk about high speed rail actually results in something being built. That would be interesting to see!

 

KCS thoughts on the new line

This information is off of the KCS website:

Your opportunity to name new service key to KCS’ intermodal strategy
This summer, KCS will celebrate the opening of the rehabilitated, crossborder rail line from Victoria to Rosenberg, Texas, as well as the intermodal shipper facility in the Houston regional area, restoring needed rail capacity to this part of Texas, shortening the KCS crossborder route by approximately 70 miles and eliminating the need to operate over 160 miles of Union-Pacific owned track. Together, the rehabiliated line and the new intermodal shipper facility will allow KCS to offer an entirely new rail service from Houston to various destinations in Mexico, including Monterrey, San Luis Potosi, Mexico City and Lazaro Cardenas. This is an attractive corridor currently dominated by truckload carriers where no single-line, truck-competitive intermodal service exists today. This project is key to the development of KCS’ International Intermodal Corridor and the railroads’ intermodal strategy.

With these developments, KCS is becoming more focused on marketing its intermodal offerings than ever before. As KCSR and KCSM sales and marketing representatives bring the premium intermodal train from Houston to the Mexico market, they will espouse benefits, such as speed, priority and competitiveness with other services. KCS plans to give the Houston to Mexico intermodal train a brand identity with a name that instantly conveys these benefits and becomes synonymous with outstanding intermodal service.

"The re-opening of the Victoria to Rosenberg line represents the beginning of a new era for KCS' cross border intermodal business," said Dave Starling, KCS president and chief operating officer. "The branding of the new Houston to Mexico train service can be an important signal to our customers, employees and shareholders that we are serious about changing our philosophy toward becoming a first class intermodal transportation provider."

I hope to see full length intermodal trains headed to and from Mexico in the near future!

 

There's quite a bit of container traffic on the rails down here right now. Certainly not what you guys see up north, but enough to be noticeable. KCSM's access to the Pacific at Lazaro Cardenas is a good one, and the port continues to expand it's container capacity.
http://www.aapaseaports.com/article.cgi?id=16013

Ferromex (FXE) also carries a bunch of containers.

Traffic has been down recently with the world wide downturn in trade, but I would expect to see container traffic through (and to) Mexico increase once things start to improve. While they will never replace the U.S. west coast ports as the main ports of entry, Mexican ports offer a good alternate that should continue to attract business. If KCSM can improve service on dedicated through container trains to the north, it can only help their marketing position.

Regards

Ed