Jackpot at Stege

Here’s a few tidbits of local operation for future reference. Last night, while coming home from dinner, we passed three light BNSF units heading toward Stege at Albany California on the #1 UP main track. On occasion, the BNSF will run light power from Oakland up to the Wye at Stege in order to turn the consist. This accounts for Oakland-bound light power occasionally running long hood forward. i.e. the consist is actually running in reverse back down to it’s next northbound assignment out of Oakland.

It’s an interesting move given the diminutive nature of the local tracks. I’ve seen up to five big units make their way around the wye, then head back down the Waterside track to re-enter the UP tracks in order to get back to Oakland. The whole move from Oakland to Stege Wye and back probably takes about an hour assuming they don’t get held either time through the crossovers.

But last night’s consist wasn’t all road power. The consist included a couple of the local blue and yellow 4-axle units and a trailing HII Dash-9. I suspect that the road unit needed some light maintenance, or would be used on a train originating out of BNSF’s Richmond yard.  A local crew must have been dispatched from Richmond in the local units to go and pick it up from Oakland.

At the double crossovers, the light engines had a red-over-red-over-flashing-red aspect  - Restricting indication. Just enough authority to move from the 70mph main track to the 10mph Waterside Drill track which is un-signalled. The light engines would proceed up the Waterside track and take the switch a mile up the line and diverge onto the south leg of the Wye which leads to RPRC rails and then on to BNSF Richmond Terminal. We drove on. It was 8:30pm and dark, and I had three non-railfans on board.

What was interesting was that at the Wye, a BNSF Stack train was easing out onto the south leg on the bridge over I-580, effectively headed for the north-bound light engine move on the single track Waterside Drill. Here’s a satellite view of the area

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(If you drag the satellite view south along the tracks, you’ll see where the Wye track diverges from the Waterside track (lighter colored ballast) and further south, you’ll see the silver signal bridge and the double crossovers. If you want to see more detail, the Google view will zoom in one more level.)

To resolve the jackpot, the light engines simply would have taken the east leg of the Wye and waited till the stack train cleared. It would have then backed out and continued on it’s way on the south leg of the Wye. So why do it this way? Why not have the light power wait for the stack train at the crossovers, have the stack train cross over to the #2 main track, then have the light units move onto the Waterside track?

The main reason is that it is Union Pacific’s call. In general, the UP dispatcher would prefer to get the foreign moves off the UP and let them sort it out away from the UP main tracks that for the most part are pretty busy. It may be that the #2 track was already spoken for. It may also have been that the dispatcher needed the #1 track back. Were the light power to wait at the crossovers, both UP mains would be tied up till the stack train was fully clear, the interlocking had timed out and the light power had moved off the main onto the drill track.

So for me the take aways are several. Light power moves can add interest on the layout. Light power doesn’t always have to be road power sets from BNSF Oakland being turned. It’s highly desirable to have operating CTC signals on my layout. The UP likes to get the BNSF off it’s Cal-P rails. Two trains converging on the local tracks adds operational interest.

Brief glimpses of prototype action can be revealing.

- Coxy