CCP&S

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conrailman75
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CCP&S

Unread post by conrailman75 »

This is the fictional history of the Chicago Cheyenne Portland & Seattle(CCP&S), a line I created to run thru its namesake cities back when I was in high school in the early 1990's. While it runs a route similar to today's Union Pacific, it is totally fictional and does not use any current or existing railroad, thus avoiding any conflicts with the paper railroad guys.

OFFICIAL COMPANY HISTORY:
In 1835, a group of rural communities wanted a connection to Chicago, so in October of that year they formed the Chicago and Rockford Railway, going from Chicago to Rockford and eventually Clinton, IA. Construction finally got underway in 1839 and the two major terminals were of course Chicago and Rockford. The line reached Rockford in 1842. Passenger service began in 1843, after a passenger station was built in Rockford. The main Chicago terminal was Dearborn. Interchange was made with the Illinois Central and the fledgling Chicago Northwestern. In 1850, sufficient funds were available to begin building the route to Clinton, IA. It was finally finished in 1855. By 1860, the C&R interchanged with all the railroads that had reached Chicago by then. The years 1861-1865 saw heavy use of C&R rails due to the Civil War. The heavy use took a toll on the line and in 1866 the line entered bankruptcy. In 1869 the line went up for sale and in 1870 a group of wealthy businessmen bought the line with the intent of expanding it to the Pacific Ocean. In 1877 the reborn C&R constructed a line to Lincoln, NE that ran thru Cedar Rapids, Des Moines(all IA) and Omaha, NE. 1882 was when the line was renamed the Chicago and Cheyenne Railway, or C&C. In 1886 the line constructed an extension to Cheyenne, WY, running thru the Nebraska cities of Grand Island and North Platte. 1894 was when an extension to Ogden, Utah began, which was finished in 1898. 1902 was when an extension to Twin Falls, ID was started, which was finished in 1910. In 1916, the C&C merged the local shortline Twin Falls & Western(TF&W) into itself and the following year, 1917, was when the Columbia & Eugene was merged into the the C&C. In 1923 the new line was reformed as the Chicago, Cheyenne & Pacific(CC&P). 1923 was also the year that the line began construction of a line to Portland, OR. 1929 was when the CC&P merged the Portland, Olympia & Seattle into itself. By then the line went through Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle. In 1932 the line reorganized as the Chicago Cheyenne Portland & Seattle(CCP&S). In 1937 an extension to Spokane, WA and another to the California Coast were started. The CCP&S also inaugurated a brand new diesel streamliner called "The City of Seattle". In 1939, a new streamlined steam engine was coupled up to the "Northwesterner", a streamlined version of the 1929 train with that name. In 1940 the line to Spokane was finished. With the entrance of the United States into WW II, construction was suspended on the California line, which by then had reached Sacremento, CA, passing through Reno and Carson City, NV. From 1942-1945 the CCP&S rails seen heavy use due to war time traffic. In 1946 construction work was restarted on all lines, built or unbuilt. In 1950 the California line was finished, which passed thru the towns of San Fransico, Oakland, San Jose, Fresno, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and finally San Fransico. That same year the "Northwesterner" streamlined train was dieselized. In 1954 a major branchline project was undertaken in four states. They were: Seattle to Spokane, WA, Twin Falls to Boise, ID, Cheyenne to Casper, WY, and Eugene to Medford, OR. In 1956, the CCP&S began to dieselize all of its mainlines. In 1958 an order for 2,000 units went to EMD, FM, BLH, and Alco was placed to help finish off steam for good. In 1962 the CCP&S was one of two railroads left in the country to still have active steam engines in service but a year later in 1963, the CCP&S was finally and completely dieselized. Also in the 1960's the CCP&S began another round of mergers. In 1961 the line merged the Chicago St. Louis(C&StL), a line running between its namesake cities. In 1964, the line merged the San Diego & Arizona(SD&AE) into itself, a line that would later be sold to new owners in 1981. In 1967 the line tried to merge the well known Chicago Great Western(CGW), but the deal was rejected by the ICC a couple years later in 1969. Rebuffed in that effort, the CCP&S tried to merge with the Milwaukee Road(MILW) in 1969, but the ICC rejected them again in 1970. The line decided to put a lid on merger madness for a few years to see how things played out with the Penn Central bankruptcy and the talks to create Conrail. The line welcomed the rumored talks of deregulation and decided to try another round of mergers again. First they tried to acquire the CNW in 1977, but the ICC denied that deal a year later in 1978. Then in 1979 the line tried to merge with the SOO, ATSF, BN, NW, SOU, and SCL to create a super railroad called CCP&ST(or Chicago Cheyenne Portland & Seattle Transportation Company). In didn't pass the ICC office either due to the fact that it would have created super monopoly. Then in 1980 the line bought its final new power before the recession and suddenly decided to become anti-merger for the next 6 years. They opposed the NS merger in 1982, the SPSF merger in 1984, and the CSX merger in 1986. In 1987 the line began buying new locomotives again, and in 1988-89 the line began to lease motive power again to cope with additional traffic. In October of 1989 the line ordered its first GE locomotives in over a decade. They were delivered in December 1989-90. In 1991 the line has went back to leasing power and buying new freight cars and locomotives. Then when traffic took a nose dive in 1992, the line stopped buying new power and simply continued to lease locomotives to cover for shortages where necessary. In 1997 when CSX and NS began a bidding war over Conrail, the line went on record opposing the deal and were hoping to gain some trackage rights out of it, but none materialized. After the Conrail split in 1999, the CCP&S signed a deal with the Penn Central to better interchange traffic at St. Louis and give the CCP&S the option for trackage rights to Indianapolis, which they ended up using for a few years in the early 2000's, before they decided to renegotiate a simple haulage rights deal with PC to allow their traffic to reach Indianapolis and points east while avoiding the cost of qualifying crews and paying unnecessary HPH. Today the CCP&S is a strong western US Class One whose headquarters are located in Seattle, WA and continues to give its western competitors UP and BNSF a run for their money as they continue to build on a history that began way back in 1835.

A few tidbits that I included in my initial history(written in 1991) that didn't make sense in my chronological history write up:
Passenger cars haven't been bought since 1966 as all service went to Amtrak in 1971. One additional locomotive note for 1991. The line has said it will rebuild most of its existing pre 1972 era equipment to 1991 standards. More on mergers, in 1970 the line adopted an anti-BN and anti-UP stance. The BN stance lasted until 1979, the UP stance lasted til 1981. In 1980 the line went ahead with plans to merge the Rock Island, but in 1981 the plan failed due to unionized labor wanting full crews. Also the line is historic for continuing to use cabooses and up to six steamers for excursion work. The CCP&S is a historic, classic line where railfans are welcomed as long as a CCP&S employee knows about it. You'll have to come visit the line sometime, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

conrailman75
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Posts: 1135
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Re: CCP&S

Unread post by conrailman75 »

Here is a trip along the CCP&S as I describe the line and its main features.

We start our trip over the CCP&S in Chicago. In Chicago is the shops and other buildings for major repairs on the eastern half of the system(the CCP&S is divided into 3 operating zones - Eastern, Central, Western). There are 3 different yards in Chicago that the line uses, Overload, C&R, and Bill Moore Memorial. Overload is used for excess cars not able to be stored at the other two yards in the city. C&R yard is the oldest yard on the system as it has its origins with the original Chicago & Rockford Railway back in the 1800's. While this yard is rarely used for mainline trains anymore, its primary purpose now is to process and store cars for the various interchanges with all the railroads in the Chicago area. Also located here is the old connection to Dearborn Station, which is abandoned about a mile from the yard and used mainly to store unused freight cars. Bill Moore Memorial yard, which was named after the beloved former CCP&S CEO who was instrumental in getting it built, is the largest of the three yards and is the primary yard for the CCP&S in Chicago as all of its shops, both locomotive and freight car, are located here as well. The yard has an arrival and departure yard as well as two humps(one for eastbounds and one for westbounds). All three yards come together at AJ Tower, which is still manned as the CCP&S has not yet CTC'd the junction yet.

After AJ Tower, the double track mainline leaves Chicago and heads to its first destination, Rockford, IL. At Rockford is the old C&R station, now restored, and the old C&R yard. Also on display at a city park in town is C&R 2-6-0 No. 51, which was donated in 1952. From Rockford the line heads to Clinton, IA, passing several rail served industries such as grain elevators and steel mills, along the way. At Clinton, the line has a small yard to serve the local industries in town and the old C&R depot is still standing, albeit boarded up and run down looking now. From here we head to Cedar Rapids, IA and the line's interchange with the Crandic and IANR. In Cedar Rapids is the old passenger coach yard which now stores the passenger cars used in the lines excursion service. There is a small four track yard in town to serve as a set off/pick up for interchange traffic from the two shortlines in town.

As we continue our way west, we reach a sign just outside of Des Moines, IA that says, "end Eastern operating zone, begin Central operating zone", which means we are now officially arriving in the Central Operating Zone, the second of the three operating zones on the railroad. In Des Moines the line has a small shop to take care of and maintain its small fleet of excursion diesels. It also has a small freight yard to handle local work and interchange with the Iowa Interstate. From there we head west on the double track to Omaha, NE. There, as in almost all the towns along the line is the old train depot, which is currently restored as an office for the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. There is also a small shop that maintains the line's GP15-1's and the usual small freight yard to handle local industries and the interchange with UP. Continuing west we reach Lincoln, NE where in addition to the usual freight yard are the largest freight car shops west of Chicago and east of Seattle. The next two towns where the line crosses have no yards or rail served industries, Grand Island and North Platte. The railroad decided to not compete with UP since they have such a large yard in North Platte and let them handle the local traffic as well.

Next we approach the the Central Operating Zone headquarters city, Cheyenne, WY. In Cheyenne are several large shops and 4 large yards. One shop is for servicing the steam excursion locomotives, another is for servicing power as it arrives in town, another for freight cars, and the last one for servicing power that comes in from Seattle and all points west. As for the yards, 4C handles all the branchline and overflow traffic from the other three yards in town. Steamer yard services the excursion locomotive shop, Freight Shops yard serves the freight car shop, and Cheyenne yard handles all the mainline traffic.

Now lets detour up the Cheyenne Branch for a moment. Service is provided by RS3's, usually 2 until recently when 9 ex BN(nee NP) were purchased(as of the time I wrote this back in 1991) and two more were assigned to the Cheyenne Branch. From there we head up to Casper, passing several rail served industries. At Casper are more industries, a small yard, and 2 different shop buildings. The first and only operating one services the RS3's, the other is an inactive shop where the line's lone remaining and retired RS1 is stored inside. Its really an old steam locomotive engine house built back in the brief time that steamers ruled this branchline).

Back on the mainline, our next stop is Ogden, UT, where the line's few operating depots is located. Its main reason for being open is because its a crew change point and home to division offices. The small yard handles the few industries the line serves in town. From here the line becomes CTC single track with passing sidings as it works its way thru the Rocky Mountains and heads up to Twin Falls, ID. In Twin Falls the line splits into 3 separate lines, with one going to into Oregon, another one heads down toward California, and the other is the branch to Boise, ID. The freight yard here services all 3 lines as its the junction point where all three split apart. We'll detour off the mainline again to head up the scenic branchline to Boise. Service on the branch is provided by RS3's again, and up in Boise is a small yard, an old depot, and a shop. Also up in town on display is an RDC car. Passenger service used to be provided by an old RDC car leased from the B&O and when the unit was retired, the railroad put it on display in a city park. The shop serves the RS3's and does minor freight car repairs. Back on the mainline, its time to head for Seattle as we'll cover the line to California later on. The first town we reach in Oregon is Columbia, where the line simply passes thru, same as the next stop on the line, Eugene. From there the line diverges, with the mainline heading north to Portland while the branchline heads south to Medford. Service on the Medford Branch is provided by RS3's, just like most of the branches on the railroad. In Medford are a few industries that help keep the line open and prevent it from being abandoned. Going north on the mainline we reach Salem, where there are a couple freight yards and the old run down depot. After that we reach Portland, which was another division point. Portland is another shops town and an important junction point. From Portland, the line splits in two, with one line going to Seattle and the other to Spokane. Normal operations is that all trains with work in Spokane head up that way before cutting across to Seattle, but if the train has no work in Spokane then it takes the direct route to Seattle, passing thru Olympia and Tacoma(this is part of the old Portland, Olympia & Seattle RR). Neither of those towns have yards as all traffic is processed by the Seattle yards. Between Spokane and Seattle is the Washington Cut-off, which is serviced by RS3's and everything else that can handle local traffic.

Now with that out of the way, lets see what Seattle offers. Seattle is where the railroad's coporate headquarters are located in a 5 story high building. Also located in this building is the Western operating zone headquarters and division offices. Also located in Seattle are the carbuilding facilities, as are the complete rebuild shops for locomotive repairs. One very large yard is located here, as are the container terminals(all 3 of 'm in fact). Several units are kept here for local service to all the industries located all around the city. The CCP&S is very proud of Seattle, so proud in fact that they host Railroad Days three times a year here.

Now back to the California line. Starting in Twin Falls, the line extends all the way to San Diego, CA. The first stop past Twin Falls is Reno, NV where the old depot still exists. From there its onto the state capital of Carson City, NV before heading through the Sierra Mountains to reach Sacramento, CA. From there the line heads to Oakland and San Fransico before turning south to Los Angeles. In LA, the line built a large yard to handle all the traffic from the various lines down there. South of LA, the line passes thru Fresno before reaching San Diego, CA. In San Diego is a run around track for trains to head back north along with a yard to process traffic interchanged from Mexico.

One final branch line needs to be covered, the St. Louis line(the old C&StL RR). This line leaves Chicago and passes thru Peoria, Springfield, and ends up in St. Louis. The Alton & Southern does yard switching for the line in St. Louis and that ends our tour of the CCP&S.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

conrailman75
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 1135
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: CCP&S

Unread post by conrailman75 »

The CCP&S has anounced plans for a $100 billion dollar expansion project that will expand its reach and allow it access to reach a couple of traffic rich areas. The first expansion is a line from Cheyenne, WY down to the Powder River Basin, giving the CCP&S access to this traffic rich area and allow them to compete with UP and BNSF for eastern coal power plant traffic. $25 billion has been set aside for this project, which is estimated to be completed by 2016. The second project is the expansion of the Cheyenne Branch from Casper, WY up thru South Dakota to Bismarck, North Daktota, converting it into another mainline and giving the company access to the oil fields up in North Dakota. $75 billion has been set aside for this massive undertaking, which is estimated to be completed by late 2016 or sometime in 2017.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

conrailman75
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 1135
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: CCP&S

Unread post by conrailman75 »

This morning the CCP&S sent out an excursion train from Cheyenne, WY with the 6700(streamlined 4-8-4) and the two PA-1's(4003-4004) and 15 passenger cars. Train is scheduled to arrive in Chicago around mid day and should be interchanged to the Penn Central by Thursday evening. Also coming is the 1700(streamlined 4-6-4) and 6107(2-8-4) and the FT ABA set along with 15 more passenger cars which will be used by PC for their own sponsored excursions during the Grand Rapids Steamfest week. That train departed behind the second one today and should get to Chicago by tomorrow evening and be interchanged to PC by Friday morning. First train is running as ESTMCYCH-1 and the second as ESTMCYCH-2.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

conrailman75
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 1135
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: CCP&S

Unread post by conrailman75 »

The ESTMCYCH-1 has reached Chicago this afternoon and is awaiting interchange to Penn Central. The second train is at Omaha, NE currently and should reach Chicago sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. The CCP&S executive train departed Seattle, WA around 10am with the E7 ABA set and 10 business cars. The train is carrying the lines executives to the Steamfest in Grand Rapids and should reach Chicago by Saturday night, where it will be interchanged to Penn Central for the remainder of its journey. The train is symbol BUSEACHC-1.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

conrailman75
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 1135
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: CCP&S

Unread post by conrailman75 »

The second excursion train, ESTMCYCH-2, arrived in Chicago at 1am and was interchanged to PC at 8am this morning. Last word was that PC had sent the train on its way east to continue its journey to Grand Rapids. The business train was last reported by Des Moines, IA at 11am and should reach Chicago by this afternoon, after making a stop in Clinton, IA so that the officials can inspect the work being done to the bridge over the Mississippi there.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

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