Navajo Mine Railroad

The Navajo Mine Railroad (reporting mark TNMR) is an electrified private railroad operated by BHP in New Mexico, USA, within the Navajo Nation. It operates 13.8 miles (22.2 km) of track between the Four Corners Generating Station and Navajo Coal Mine[1] (formerly owned by BHP). The railroad does not have any connection to the national rail network.

Navajo Mine Railroad
Navajo Mine Railroad, mining status as of 2016
Overview
TypeFreight railroad for sub-bituminous coal
StatusOperating
LocaleSan Juan County, New Mexico
TerminiSouth Terminals:
coal load outs in the Navajo Mine
North Terminal:
Four Corners Generating Station
Servicespush-pull operation between mine and power plant, 12 trains per day
Operation
Opened1974
Operator(s)BHP
Charactersingle track main line two branches
Rolling stock4 x E60
3 x ALCO Century 420
2 x train with 21 coal hoppers
Technical
Line length13.3 miles (21.4 km)
Track length17.8 miles (28.6 km)
Number of tracks1
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification25 kV 60 Hz (AC) overhead catenary
Route map
Wye
0
 Four Corner Power Plant
7 mi
 Hosteen stockpile
 Barber stockpile
14 mi
 Lowe stockpile

History

A 7-mile (11 km)-long standard gauge line was built in 1974 from the power plant to the Hosteen stockpile. The line was expanded to the present 14 miles (23 km) in 1983. Since there is no connection to the rest of the railroad network, the 3 diesel locomotives and 22 Maxon bottom dump coal hopper cars had to be transported from Gallup on low-bed trucks. At the beginning only one train operated. There were problems with clogged oil bath filters on the diesel locomotives due to excessive coal dust, but the issues were solved with a new filter type.

Electric operation started 1984 since it is more economical. Diesel operation became too expensive with the increasing train loads and fuel prices. Furthermore another 20 hopper cars were purchased in order that two trains could be built, each having 18 cars.

Electric operations are being dismantled in favor of the new GE ET44AC diesel locomotives with more on the way.

Route

The line runs from the Navajo Mine north-northwest to the Four Corners Generating Station, which is located 25 miles (40 km) west of Farmington, New Mexico. It has no connection to any other railroad.

Operation

The trains are operated with an electric locomotive E60 on the North end and a diesel locomotive ALCO Century 425\0, where this one acts normally as a dummy. It serves normally only as a control cab to for the radio remote controlled E60, when the empty train is heading back to the mine. The prime mover is still present to provide emergency power in case of an electricity outage. There are two trains in operation, theoretically a third train could be operated. Each train consist of 21 coal hoppers. Both trains make typically 12 round trips a day in a 24 hour operation.[2][3] There is only one crew member at work, who takes an empty train to the coal load out, where he changes to the full train to drive it back to the power plant. While this train is underway, the other one gets loaded.[4]

The catenary has a voltage of 25 kV 60 Hz AC. The pantographs of the E60s are mounted on top of pedestals on the roof to adapt their working height to the unusually high catenary height. Extra filters for cleaning the machine room air are mounted on the roof of the locomotive.[3]

At the coal load outs the coal is loaded with front-end loaders in the hopper cars. Each car has a capacity between 100 and 125 short tons (91 and 113 t).[2]

The Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC) bought the mine and three mines in Montana and Wyoming. In 2020, Arizona Public Service (APS) announced plans to end Four Corners Generating Station, leaving no prospect for the mine and the railroad.[5]

Motive Power
  • General Electric E60 with the road numbers LOE20, LOE21 and LOE23. These locomotives were built for Amtrak with the road numbers #961, #963 and #968 and were sold directly to the Navajo Mine Railroad, except #961, which was first sold to New Jersey Transit. All these locomotives have been scrapped in 2003 and replaced by four E60s first delivered to Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México. These locomotives were not anymore used in Mexico since the operation of Mexico City—Irapuato was switched to diesel.
  • ALCO Century 420 with the road numbers LOD7, LOD8 and LOD9. All locomotives are former Norfolk & Western (N&W) engines, which had the road numbers #1000, #1002 and #1005. The locomotives were originally ordered by the Wabash Railroad, before the merger with the N&W. They were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen for the operation on the Navajo Mine Railroad.
  • Two General Electric ET44AC locomotives have been delivered with road numbers 2026 and 2027[6].
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See also

References
  1. Myrick, David F. (1990). New Mexico's Railroads: A Historical Survey. University of New Mexico Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-8263-1185-6.
  2. "Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine Energy Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Section 2 - Current Operations of Navajo Mine, FCPP, and Transmission Lines" (PDF). March 2014. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
  3. "Navajo Mine Railroad". Trainz. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
  4. "Navajo Mine Railroad". www.trainweb.org. Retrieved 2016-11-06.
  5. Karl Cates and Seth Feaster (31 January 2020). "IEEFA U.S.: Navajo-owned energy company is in trouble". Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020.
  6. "New locomotive delivered to Navajo Mine". Farmington Daily Times. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
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