The Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad was an electrified private railroad operating in Northern Arizona,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

within the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...

which transported

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

from the Peabody Energy

Kayenta Mine The Kayenta mine was a surface coal mine operated by Peabody Western Coal Company (a subsidiary of Peabody Energy) on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona from 1973 to 2019. About 400 acres were mined and reclaimed each year, providing about 8 ...

near Kayenta, Arizona to the

Navajo Generating Station Navajo Generating Station was a 2.25-gigawatt (2,250 MW), coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo Nation, near Page, Arizona, United States. This plant provided electrical power to customers in Arizona, Nevada, and California. It also provi ...

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

Page, Arizona Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 7,247. History Unlike other cities in the area, Page was founded in 1957 as a housing com ...

. It was completely isolated from the national rail network and did not connect to any other railroad. As a result, like metros, light rails, and trams, it was not controlled by the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

. The line was constructed in the early 1970s and was the first railroad to be electrified at 50,000 volts. It was owned by the

Salt River Project The Salt River Project (SRP) is the umbrella name for two separate entities: the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, an agency of the state of Arizona that serves as an electrical utility for the Phoenix metropolitan a ...

and the co-owners of the

Operation

The line was electrified by means of

50,000 50,000 (fifty thousand) is the natural number that comes after 49,999 and before 50,001 . Selected numbers in the range 50001–59999 50001 to 50999 * 50069 = 11 + 22 + 33 + 44 + 55 + 66 * 50400 = highly composite number * 50625 = 154, smallest ...

V, 60 Hz,

overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...

with electricity supplied by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. During normal operations, the railroad operated three round trips per day. Between 1973 and 1976, six E60CFs locomotives were purchased new. In 1975, the company took delivery of two

Morrison–Knudsen Morrison–Knudsen (MK) was an American civil engineering and construction company, with headquarters in Boise, Idaho. MK designed and constructed major infrastructure throughout the world and was one of the consortium of firms that built Hoover ...

TE70-4S units. The only diesels on the railway would be scrapped by the mid-1990s. In 1999, some 1982/83 built E60C-2s were purchased from

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (better known as N de M and especially in its final years as FNM) was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 (dating from the regime of Porfirio Díaz), a major railroad con ...

and overhauled including conversion from 25 kV. Forty new

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

coal hoppers were purchased from

FreightCar America FreightCar America is a manufacturer of freight cars for the railway industry, headquartered in the United States but manufacturing in Mexico. History The company began operations in 1901, and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged ...

to replace some of the aging fleet of 30 year-old FMC and Ortner hoppers. The coal hoppers traveled an average of on a single day compared to the average American freight car which traveled on average a day. The railroad's final delivery to the Navajo Generating Station was August 26, 2019. The power plant was shut down in December 2019 due to competition from cheaper energy sources. The electrical components of the railway were dismantled between winter 2019 and fall 2020, but the tracks have remained in place to be evaluated for future use.

References

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Mesa Lake Powell Railroad Arizona railroads Electric railways in Arizona Railway lines opened in 1973 Railway lines closed in 2019 1973 establishments in Arizona 2019 disestablishments in Arizona Mining railways in the United States

Operation

See also

References

External links