Posted By Lane Patterson On Tuesday, January 4, 2011 At 7:50:12 PM (PT)
This crewing arrangement (C & S and BN) probably came from a time when the Lafayette branch crossed the C & S in Longmont and continued to Lyons. The Lafayette branch and the Lyons branch were both C. B. & Q. properties
Posted By Webmaster On Friday, May 9, 2008 At 10:30:05 AM (PT)
Hontz-
Thanks for the comments. This was indeed the Longmont Switch. Sounds like tie maintenance around Loveland during the day has forced the rolls of the Switch and the Buck to reverse as the Switch can't get up to Fort Collins during the day due to maintenance windows.
I should change all references in the comments from the Buck Local to the Longmont Switch, but I was focused on the fact that I saw something run on the Lafayette Lead during the day!
Posted By Hontz On Friday, May 9, 2008 At 3:24:17 AM (PT)
What you've witnessed here is probably the Longmont Switch coming down to the Lafayette Industrial Spur. The Longmont Switch job is on duty at 0700 at Longmont, while the Buck is on duty at 1900. If this photo was taken before 1900 hours, you've managed to catch the Longmont Switch doing something that the Buck usually does every other day or so.
Typically, Buck will either go up the Lyons Branch to the cement plant or run down to Lafayette. Rarely, they will do both in one shift, but there's usually not enough time to do both, as the 7 or 8 miles up to the cement plant is all on 10MPH trackage, and the journey out to Lafayette takes nearly as long. Couple that with dodging mainline traffic in TWC, and the Buck tends to go DOL when they try to go both ways in one shift. I've even heard that the Buck boys are sometimes required to work the Valmont coal train, but I'm not sure if that's just a rumor or not.
As a side note, the Buck is actually a BN job, working out there in C&S territory. The Longmont Turn works a few months as a BN job (as it is now), and then a few as a C&S job as part of an inter-divisional agreement that I can't even begin to understand. The Longmont Switch is a C&S job.
