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Black Mesa & Lake Powell
System map
Reporting marks BLKM
Locale Navajo Nation,Northern Arizona
Dates of operation 1973–
Track gauge 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters Page, Arizona
Eastbound train on the Black Mesa and Lake Powell railroad, May 19, 2007
Eastbound train on the Black Mesa and Lake Powell railroad, May 19, 2007

The Black Mesa and Lake Powell (AAR reporting marks BLKM) is a private railroad owned by Salt River Project operating in Northern Arizona, USA within the Navajo Nation. A reporting mark is an identification assigned by the Association of American Railroads (AAR to rail carriers and other companies operating in North America. The Navajo Nation ( Diné in the Navajo language) is a semi- autonomous Native American homeland covering about 26000 square miles (67339 square Northern Arizona is dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the southern border of which in Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim. Rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the two parallel rails that make up a railway track. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. The Millimetre ( American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to The standard gauge (also named the Stephenson gauge after George Stephenson, or Normal gauge) is a widely-used Rail gauge. Page is a town in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. A reporting mark is an identification assigned by the Association of American Railroads (AAR to rail carriers and other companies operating in North America. A private railroad is a railroad run by a private corporation as opposed to a railroad run by a Public sector. Northern Arizona is dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the southern border of which in Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Navajo Nation ( Diné in the Navajo language) is a semi- autonomous Native American homeland covering about 26000 square miles (67339 square It transports coal 78 miles (126 km) from the Peabody Energy's Black Mesa Mine near Kayenta, Arizona to the Navajo Generating Station power plant at Page, Arizona. Kayenta ( Tó Dinéeshzhee) is a Census-designated place (CDP which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United Navajo Generating Station is a coal-fired powerplant with a power of 2280 Megawatts at Page, Arizona, USA. A power station (also referred to as generating station, power plant or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for the generation of Page is a town in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell.

The railroad is electrified via 50,000 volt overhead catenary supplied by the BLKM's power plant at Page. The volt (symbol V) is the SI derived unit of electric Potential difference or Electromotive force. In Physics and Geometry, the catenary is the theoretical Shape of a hanging flexible Chain or Cable when supported at its ends and The BLKM does not interchange with any other railroads and is completely isolated from the national rail network.

The BLKM was constructed in the early 1970s. It is also the first railroad to be electrified at 50,000 volts.

During normal operations the railroad operates 3 round trips per day on a 24 hour per day basis. The BLKM uses E60 locomotives that were either built for the railroad or purchased from Mexico. The GE E60 is a C-C Electric locomotive made by GE Transportation Systems. 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 to replaced some of the aging fleet of thirty year old FMC and Ortner hoppers.

Contrary to some reports, the railroad and the Navajo Generating Station in Page have not closed down. The BM&LP railroad is still operating and transporting coal from Black Mesa Mine loadout to the Salt River Project owned power plant in Page. The adjacent Kayenta Mine near Black Mesa Mine (also owned by Peabody Energy) closed on December 1, 2005, in addition to the water-coal slurry pipeline that carried coal 275 miles west to Southern California Edison's Mojave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada. Events 800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican The Mojave Generating Station closed due to the high cost of retrofitting the plant to meet environmental standards as well as water-use issues with the Navajo and Hopi tribes, thus leading to the closure of the slurry pipeline and the Kayenta Mine.

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See also

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