York Canyon Coal

OC Engineer JD Jan 6, 2009

  1. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Does anyone have a picture of one of these real cars? Or of the train?
    [​IMG]
     
  2. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    Getting color pictures of the train and particularly the cars is really tricky. I've spent a lot of time on it.

    McMillans "Route of the Warbonnets" has several nice shots, all black and white though. The winner shot is a picture of the train with all 10 RSD's on the front going through Flagstaff.

    The cars are shown, again in black and white, in "Santa Fe Diesels and Cars", with a builders photo of the car.

    "Santa Fe's Diesel Fleet" has some shots along with the RCE's and the Alco RSD's.

    I had custom decals made by Manelick to do my 25 cars, because from MY research, the reporting marks were yellow, not white. There was a magazine article a while back that finally confirmed that with a photo - I think it was Classic Trains.

    I think they had 100 cars; basically one unit train set of those. The Roundhouse car is close enough, but it isn't painted quite right. There's one too many panels painted yellow, the herald is small, and I think the lettering is white? I got all undecs and painted up 30 of them for my YK.

    They weathered a lot, so the yellow got beat, faded, etc. I'm not sure how long they lasted. I spotted the train on my Summer '72 trip just outside Needles and took notes. Typically ran six units, 60 cars, 4 mid-train units on RCE, 30 cars, caboose.

    Here's an odd shot I found, but again, details are way back:
    http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=206522&nseq=1

    Here's my end result:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 7, 2009
  3. SSW9389

    SSW9389 TrainBoard Member

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    My photos of the YK are over on the Fallen Flags part of Trainboard. See Santa Fe thread for November 1, 2007 Coal Train Power. The train usually ran a maximum of 84 cars. Link below:

    Coal train power - TrainBoard.com
     
  4. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Nice photos SSW! :)
     
  5. SSW9389

    SSW9389 TrainBoard Member

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    As Rand mentioned there are several photos of the YK in the Route of the Warbonnets book by Joe McMillan. There are photos of it loading at the mine in York Canyon, out on the mainline in New Mexico and at East Darling with 10 RSD-15s taking the empties back to York Canyon.
     
  6. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    You answered my main question in text without photos Randy! :) I have a Roundhouse car, and the new Athearns. The Roundhouse with the white reporting marks, the Athearns with the yellow. So, the Athearns are correct.
     
  7. SSW9389

    SSW9389 TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, I lived in and around Flagstaff for 10 years. The coal train was very elusive to try and get on film. There was also a coal train we railfans called the Brown Train, because of the color of the hopper cars it used.

     
  8. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I love your model of the train! I have 25 Athearn cars, but was not happy with the way they rolled. Chuck at FRT had some Fox Valley wheels, so I got a 100 pack coming and am going to change them out. I figured while I am doing that I would detail them if the lettering was wrong, but thankfully, it's not. :)
    I'm going to go with SD24/26's on mine for now.
     
  9. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    (You can see in my photo the yellow lettering, and the SANTA FE emblom is bigger then the Roundhouse version too.)
     
  10. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I might throw a 'brown' car in there every now and then, but I really like the look of the black/yellow cars. :)
     
  11. randgust

    randgust TrainBoard Member

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    From what I've learned, the power went through some pretty distinct evolutions.

    The earliest photos I've seen of it had SD24's. Then RSD15's. When I saw it in '72, it was behind the oddball SD39's that I recorded numbers, thought were SD40's. I don't know when that cutover happened, but I like RSD15's so I'm sticking to it.

    The SD26 program was supposed to be for YK, but for some reason it didn't end up there. I think I saw one publicity shot but that's about it.

    If you hadn't produced those shots behind GP40's I'd have said you were making that up! Great shots.
     
  12. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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  13. wig-wag-trains.com

    wig-wag-trains.com Advertiser

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    The YK would have had to be on a major re-route to get to Denver.
    It operated from York Canyon (south of Raton) to California. It originated and terminated on the ATSF.

    Unfortunately never likely to be replicated since Ted Turner now owns the land that comprised the York Canyon mine.
     
  14. dave n

    dave n TrainBoard Supporter

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    Did it terminate in LA, or Richmond?
     
  15. atsf_arizona

    atsf_arizona TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hi, Dave,

    Unfortunately for you (as I know you model Tehachapi Loop), the
    Santa Fe's York Canyon coal train serviced the Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana,
    California (southern California). Therefore, these York Canyon coal trains could be seen on Cajon, would never have been on Tehachapi.

    Kaiser Steel Corp.'s (former) plant was sited on about 2,000 acres in Fontana, San Bernardino County, California. The plant operated from 1942 through late 1983. The plant consisted of three main units: a primary production unit, a rolling mill, and two slag disposal areas covering approximately one square mile.

    The first run of the Santa Fe's York Canyon coal trains was in 1966:

    http://www.psrm.org/history/reports/report33/report33pg2.pdf

    All this comes from Google-ing "Santa Fe York Canyon coal trains".

    Hope this helps!
     
  16. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    Picturs to download...No Way.

    Here are some pictorial answers to questions. I have pictures to download but there's no way the system is going to let me in. Frustrated!

    I've spent the better part of two hours trying to download some pictures on RailImages, My Albums... to no avail.

    Let's see what happens when I try to download them direct here. Nope! Not going to happen.

    I give up. I can't believe the trouble I have downloading pictures here.

    Anyway, FYI. The York Canyon, coal train was dedicated Sept. 26, 1966. It traveled over the Santa Fe from York Canyon, New Mexico on the Raton Route, to the Kaiser Steel Mill, in Fontana, Ca. The power on the front end started with SD 24's, updated to SD 38's, and later you could find SD45's and FP45's to anything goes....on the point.

    Jerry,

    I did try to e-mail you privately and that didn't work. Either Verizion is having problems handling our e-mails and because of a $9.99 special promtion. I'm thinking they are on overload and have to many customers on line. I will attempt to get the pictures off to you later this evening.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2009
  17. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks Rick....I'll keep looking in my mailbox for them. :)
     
  18. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    ATSF York Canyon Coal Trains

    Jerry you might need to update your personal e-mail address with me. Contact me at hpwrick@yahoo.com

    I may have discovered the secret to downloading the pictures. Let's see how this works out.

    The following are types of equipment and logos used for equipment operating on the York Canyon ATSF Coal Trains.

    These are not my pictures but rather those of Evan Werkema. Prints of these may be purchased directly from him.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 24, 2010
  19. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    Finally, after two days of persistent attempts I was able to post my complete file of pictures scanned or borrowed to one of my albums. Please feel free to visit my RailImages, York Canyon ATSF Coal Trains Album.

    Today, things went much easier...not sure why...but glad to see everything working better.
     
  20. OC Engineer JD

    OC Engineer JD Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Those are excellent Rick, and just what I was needing. Good timing too.....my Fox Valley wheels arrived in the mail today for the coal train.
     

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