Re: Alamosa Branch sale

When I las t saw the Alamosa Local headed east (in Aug, 02), they were creaking along east of Ft. Garland at 10 mph. Appearently there is a 10 mph slow order from Garland all the way to the top of the hill at Fir. From what I hear from my Alamosa Uncles is that there are defective rails (caught by the Sperry car) and the UP won't replace them - probably the results of 130 ton cars and 90 lb rail. Hence the 10 mph slow order. It used to take 2 1/2 hours to make it over the hill to La Veta, now it takes 6 hrs. I'd think once it gets to the point where the crews hog out before they hit Pueblo, the UP will want out.
Whoever gets the RR will need to have LOTS of power - good dependable power. A typical train over La Veta is 25-30 cars and 5 GP40's. La Veta is limited to 3500 tons because of curvature - which also keeps 6 axle power away. Your basic shortline operation of 2 or 3 old ratted out GP7's isn't going to cut it.