I ventured out on a chilly December 27th day in hopes of catching one of the Norfolk Southern heritage locomotives that has managed to sneak on to the BNSF Railway system. After chasing the train from the top of Yampai Hill to Antares, we waited for sunset at Antares' Curve. While we were there, a railroad traffic jam began to form. The the train with the NS heritage unit, a Slaton, Texas to Barstow, Calif. manifest train, would come to a stop of the control point of Walapai for a crew change. With that happening, a westbound intermodal train for Los Angeles, Calif. pulled up right behind it.
The crew on the manifest train called the dispatcher to let him know that the new crew was ready to head west; except the dispatcher was not ready. There was a track welder working between Walapai and Berry (Kingman) on main one, resulting in the westbound trains holding for eastbound traffic to clear up. While that happening, a loaded ethanol train bound for Wilmington, Calif. pulls up behind the stack train as the last eastbound train passes by on the eastbound track.
