WCfan
Halcyon Dayz of UP's LTA
LTA42 rounds the classic curve at Dakota past the remains of a March snow storm. During the sand boom of the 2010s, LTA was quite healthy, running two trains a week and generally using three big motors. Car counts were still high with Bentonite traffic off the CP/RCPE. This interchange traffic originated from an agreement formed after CNW dumped the Alco Line and PRC onto the DME.
Little did we know at the time, change was just over the horizon. In 2017, UP and RCPE worked out a new agreement to interchange the Bentonite in Mankato, cutting into LTA's car counts. But even after the loss of the Bentonite, frac sand still kept enough traffic moving to warrant two trains. But this too would bottom out around 2018. The final nail in the coffin was UP's PSR plan and their extreme cost cutting initiatives. Thus, sometime in late 2019/early 2020, UP scaled back LTA to a once-a-week run, using a single SD and the Winona Job's geep.
Halcyon Dayz of UP's LTA
LTA42 rounds the classic curve at Dakota past the remains of a March snow storm. During the sand boom of the 2010s, LTA was quite healthy, running two trains a week and generally using three big motors. Car counts were still high with Bentonite traffic off the CP/RCPE. This interchange traffic originated from an agreement formed after CNW dumped the Alco Line and PRC onto the DME.
Little did we know at the time, change was just over the horizon. In 2017, UP and RCPE worked out a new agreement to interchange the Bentonite in Mankato, cutting into LTA's car counts. But even after the loss of the Bentonite, frac sand still kept enough traffic moving to warrant two trains. But this too would bottom out around 2018. The final nail in the coffin was UP's PSR plan and their extreme cost cutting initiatives. Thus, sometime in late 2019/early 2020, UP scaled back LTA to a once-a-week run, using a single SD and the Winona Job's geep.