Black Mesa and Lake Powell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black Mesa & Lake Powell

Reporting marks	BLKM
Locale	Navajo Nation,Northern Arizona
Dates of operation	1973–
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Page, Arizona

Eastbound train on the Black Mesa and Lake Powell railroad, May 19, 2007

The Black Mesa and Lake Powell (AAR reporting marks BLKM) is a private railroad owned by Salt River Project operating in Northern Arizona, USA within the Navajo Nation. It transports coal 78 miles (126 km) from the Peabody Energy's Black Mesa Mine near Kayenta, Arizona to the Navajo Generating Station power plant at Page, Arizona.

The railroad is electrified via 50,000 volt overhead catenary supplied by the BLKM's power plant at Page. The BLKM does not interchange with any other railroads and is completely isolated from the national rail network.

The BLKM was constructed in the early 1970s. It is also the first railroad to be electrified at 50,000 volts.

During normal operations the railroad operates 3 round trips per day on a 24 hour per day basis. The BLKM uses E60 locomotives that were either built for the railroad or purchased from Mexico. Eventually, all six E60CFs built new for the railroad will be replaced by six of the 'newer' ex-NdeM E60C-2s acquired in the late 1990s. Two additional E60C-2s will be kept for spare parts. The refurbished E60C-2s are being repainted into the company's revised red-white-blue horizontal stripe paint livery.

Forty new aluminum coal hoppers have also been purchased from Freightcar America to replaced some of the aging fleet of thirty year old FMC and Ortner hoppers.

Contrary to some reports, the railroad and the Navajo Generating Station in Page have not closed down. The BM&LP railroad is still operating and transporting coal from Black Mesa Mine loadout to the Salt River Project owned power plant in Page. The adjacent Kayenta Mine near Black Mesa Mine (also owned by Peabody Energy) closed on December 1, 2005, in addition to the water-coal slurry pipeline that carried coal 275 miles west to Southern California Edison's Mojave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada. The Mojave Generating Station closed due to the high cost of retrofitting the plant to meet environmental standards as well as water-use issues with the Navajo and Hopi tribes, thus leading to the closure of the slurry pipeline and the Kayenta Mine.

[edit] References

Walker, Mike (1995). Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America: Arizona & New Mexico. Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom: Steam Powered Publishing, 6. ISBN 1-874745-04-8.