Black Mesa and Lake Powell
Encyclopedia
Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the southern border of which in Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim. In the West lies the Grand Canyon, which was cut by the flow of the Colorado River while the...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
within the Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
which transports coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
78 miles (126 km) from the Peabody Energy's
Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy Corporation , previously Peabody Coal Company, is the largest private-sector coal company in the world. The company is headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri....
Kayenta Mine near Kayenta, Arizona
Kayenta, Arizona
Kayenta is a census-designated place which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. The population was 5,189 at the 2010 census. Kayenta is located south of Monument Valley and contains a number of hotels and motels which service visitors to Monument...
to the Navajo Generating Station
Navajo Generating Station
Navajo Generating Station is a 2250 megawatt coal-fired powerplant located on the Navajo Indian Reservation, near Page, Arizona, USA. This plant provides electrical power to customers in Arizona, Nevada, and California...
power plant at Page, Arizona
Page, Arizona
Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 6,794.-Geography:Page is located at ....
. It is completely isolated from the national rail network and does not interchange with any other railroads.
The line was constructed in the early 1970s and was the first railroad to be electrified at 50,000 volts. It owned by Salt River Project and the co-owners of the Navajo Generating Station
Navajo Generating Station
Navajo Generating Station is a 2250 megawatt coal-fired powerplant located on the Navajo Indian Reservation, near Page, Arizona, USA. This plant provides electrical power to customers in Arizona, Nevada, and California...
.
Operation
The line is electrified by means of 50,000 voltVolt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
overhead catenary
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
with electricity supplied by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.
During normal operations the railroad operates 3 round trips per day on a 24 hour per day basis. The BLKM uses E60
GE E60
The GE E60 is a C-C electric locomotive made by GE Transportation Systems. The E60's were based on existing locomotives designed for freight service...
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
FreightCar America
FreightCar America is a manufacturer of freight cars for the railway industry.The company began operations in 1901, and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is engaged in the business of building, repairing, and leasing freight cars, largely for the transportation of bulk materials like coal,...
to replace some of the aging fleet of thirty year old FMC and Ortner hoppers.
Contrary to some reports, the railroad and generating station are still in operation. The adjacent Black Mesa Mine, which is also owned by Peabody Energy, closed on December 31, 2005. A water-coal slurry pipeline that carried coal 275 miles (442.6 km) west to Southern California Edison's Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada was also closed when that power station stopped operation. This was due to the high cost of retrofitting the plant to meet environmental standards and water-use issues with the Navajo and Hopi tribes).