Winter storm warnings and travel advisories are in effect for much of the Northeast from West Virginia to Maine and Canadian Maritime Provinces as a massive winter storm[named Juno- how long have they been naming winter storms? Seems like a recent phenomenon- NANESB!] bears down on the region.
While cities like New York and Boston could get as much as 2 feet from winter storm Juno, outlying and mountainous areas could be getting as much as three feet overnight. Airlines and commuter agencies are suspending service ahead of Juno's arrival while state, municipal and county officials are prepping sand and salt trucks to deal with the snowfall.
The governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut have issued travel bans for their respective highways that will go into effect on Monday night. In Boston, Logan airport, the MBTA and state offices will be closed on Tuesday. Newly sworn-in governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts also cautioned that some areas could expect power outages because of the wet heavy snow.
Airports from New England to Washington DC cancelled more than 5000 flights on Monday, with most of the cancellations around the New York-area airports like Newark-Liberty, La Guardia and JFK. Amtrak announced there were no cancellations as of Monday, but would be re-evaluating throughout the day and running a modified schedule starting Tuesday.
Monday night is a pretty light sports schedule with no games scheduled in the NHL the night after the All-Star game in Columbus, OH on Sunday. There are 7 games scheduled in the NBA tonight, but two of them in New York- Portland vs Brooklyn and Sacramento vs the Knicks- have been postponed.
A dental hygienist from Connecticut was shot and killed by Capitol police after leading officers from several departments on a wild chase across the District of Columbia on Thursday.
Miriam Carey, 34, was killed after attempting to ram the barrier along House of Representatives after some sort of incident near the barriers along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House earlier. After Carey reportedly tried running over police officers and federal agents, she was forced off the road and anywhere from 10 to 15 shots were fired at her by pursuing officers.
The shooting triggered a brief lockdown in the House of Representatives and led to a number of erroneous reports that some of the shots were fired from inside the House building. Carey was later pronounced dead at the scene. It was later determined that Carey had no gun on her person, but her one year old daughter was in the vehicle with her throughout the ordeal and escaped unharmed.
A camera crew from Iraq's al Hurra News was in the area and managed to catch some of the dramatic chase on video:
Carey's neighbors and co-workers in Stamford, CT described her as good-natured and dedicated, but behaving erratically after a recent head injury and had also treated for post-partum depression. One neighbor said the only time they saw Carey visibly upset was when she discovered the tires had been stolen off of her car one night in the apartment parking lot.
However, the New York Daily News reports that her boyfriend had called the police on her more than once, she was taking anti-psychotic medication and she claimed at one point that President Obama had her apartment under elaborate electronic surveillance and was broadcasting her life in a manner similar to the premise of the 1998 film The Truman Show.
Meanwhile, liberal pundits and supposedly objective journalists took to social networking sites to call for more gun control laws as the situation was still unfolding.
National Transportation Safety Board officials are looking into a broken part of the rail that underwent repairs last month, but have not determined whether it was a pre-existing fracture or if it occurred as a result of the accident, according to NTSB spokesperson Earl Weener, who provided an update at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.
NTSB officials arrived on the scene on Saturday morning to begin investigating the cause of the train crash, injuries sustained by the commuters and operator performance.
The NTSB's investigation could take seven to 10 days but that does not mean that service shutdown will take that long, board spokesman Earl Weener said..
The eastbound Metro-North train derailed just after 6:00 p.m. and was hit between the Bridgeport and Fairfield stations, officials said.
"We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke," Alex Cohen, a Canadian passenger on the westbound train en route to New York, told NBC Connecticut.
"People were screaming; people were really nervous. We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out," he said.
St. Vincent Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn. said on Saturday that it saw a total of 46 patients, six of whom were admitted for treatment. All patients remained in the hospital and were reportedly in stable condition.
Bridgeport Hospital saw 26 patients and admitted three. Two of those patients were in critical condition a day after the accident, and one was in stable condition, according to The Associated Press.
Between commuter service and intercity passenger service, the Boston-New York-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington DC Northeast corridor is the busiest stretch of passenger track in the United States. The Connecticut derailment posed a massive bottleneck for the New York-Boston portion of the Northeast Corridor, with many trains cancelled and some being replaced by bus service for the duration of the closure.
MARYLAND- Suburban Baltimore was rocked by a massive explosion on Tuesday after a CSX freight train collided with a truck and derailed. The train was reportedly carrying sodium chlorate- a bleaching agent used in the papermaking process. A CSX spokesman confirmed that the train was carrying the sodium chlorate, but denied that it was in any of the derailed cars.
Reports indicate that the trucker- who also owned the waste hauling company- was hospitalized and in serious condition but there were no reports of injuries among the train crew or the public. The force of the blast damaged nearby warehouses, but Baltimore county fire officials reportedly had the blaze under control.
As cleanup crews and investigators worked at the crash site in the eastern Baltimore suburbs, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt gave what he said was the agency's last local news conference on the Tuesday derailment. He said the agency has looked at federal transportation department safety records for Alban Waste and found an above-average number of violations resulting in trucks being ordered off the road.
Records of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show the company that has three trucks was involved in two crashes with injuries in 2012 and 2013. The agency's website also shows the company's vehicles were inspected 43 times in the last two years, with trucks being ordered out of service in about 40 per cent of those cases. The national average is about half that.
The 45-car CSX train crashed into the trash truck driven by company owner John J. Alban Jr. Sumwalt had said investigators planned to interview Alban Jr., who remained in serious condition Thursday at a hospital. His was the only injury in the derailment, explosion and fire that sent a plume of black and grey smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
A new video of the crash, captured by a nearby business's surveillance camera, shows Alban Jr.'s truck approaching the crossing before the train is in sight, driving away from his business. Without stopping, the truck heads across the tracks as the train approaches. The truck appears to get mostly across before the lead CSX locomotive slams into it. The impact wraps the truck's white cab and a portion of its trailer around the side of the train, and the train drags the wreckage forward. The video appeared first on the Baltimore News Journal website.
Sumwalt said the video was helpful to investigators.
He said the train was going 49 mph, just below the speed limit of 50 mph on that track section.
Other Motor Carrier Safety Administration records obtained by The Associated Press show Alban Waste failed a safety audit in November 2011 due to file-keeping problems regarding drivers' qualifications, a random drug and alcohol testing program and maintenance reports. The company notified the agency in March 2012 of its actions to correct those problems. Other federal records show violations over the last two years including brake and light problems to tire and seat belt violations.
Capt. Norman Dofflemyer, commander of the Maryland State Police Commercial Motor Vehicles Division, said the federal trucking regulatory agency has asked his office to help review the company's compliance with federal regulations. He said that even before the crash, "they were approaching a threshold that would have triggered a notice that we should start looking at the company through the compliance program."
The company is located a short distance from the crossing where the collision occurred. The road to the business crosses the railroad tracks, separating Alban Waste from the rest of an industrial neighbourhood off Interstate 95.
Alban Jr. was ticketed May 25 in Baltimore County for failing to properly secure a roll-on container to his truck and convicted earlier on the same charge. He is awaiting trial July 19 on a speeding ticket. His license was suspended for about a month on March 25 after he failed to either pay the fine or ask for a court date. When he requested a court date April 23, the suspension was lifted. Alban Jr. was convicted of using a hand-held cellphone while driving in June 2011 in the city of Baltimore.
Sumwalt said the NTSB will review cellphone records as a routine part of the investigation.
The collision is said to have caused an estimated $625,000 in damages and the road leading into Alban's company was blocked off by the train derailment.
MISSOURI- An highway overpass in southeastern Missouri was brought down this week after a collision between Union Pacific and BNSF freight trains.
Seven people were injured Saturday morning in a massive train collision in Scott County that took down an overpass.
Officials say that around 2:30 a.m. there was a train crash near County Road 210 and Highway M in the Rockview community. The Highway M overpass collapsed on impact.
Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter says a Union Pacific train T-boned a BNSF Railway train that had just made it through the intersection.
The collision caused one of the trains to derail and hit a pillar under the overpass causing it to collapse. A dozen Union Pacific train cars derailed.
Trooper Clark Parrott with the Missouri Highway Patrol says two vehicles were not on the bridge when it collapsed. The cars came up on the bridge as it went down.
Three people in one vehicle, and two people in another vehicle, were taken to a nearby hospital.
One of the drivers, Christopher M. Cantrell, 22, of Benton, Missouri, received minor injuries.
Two 19-year-old passengers, Victoria L. Cantrell and Sarah R. Ishmael, both of Chaffee, Missouri, received moderate injuries in the crash.
The Union Pacific engineer and conductor were pulled from the wreckage and treated at a nearby hospital. According to the Union Pacific, the train was hauling automobiles between Illinois and Arlington, TX.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, the highway overpass sees an average of more than 3000 vehicles daily while the span itself weighs more than 370 tons. Removal of the collapsed bridge is expected to cost nearly $3 million.
Today's Tain of Thought takes us to Dayville, CT where one of the Providence & Worcester's remaining EMDs is embarked on a fairly mundane task surrounded by a winter wonderland.
Like many eastern railroads, the Providence & Worcester started out paralleling already extant canals- in this case, the Blackstone Canal- between Worcester and Rhode Island's capitol- and was completed in 1844. By the early 1890s the New York, New Haven & Hartford agreed to lease the P&W for 99 years. However, on January 1st, 1969 the NYNH&H merged into the Penn Central Railroad- but by April of 1970, the P&W announced their intention to separate themselves from the merger. The announcement led to a court battle in which the P&W was ultimately victorious and after an 80-year hiatus began operating as a separate entity once again beginning in 1973. In addition to the original line paralleling the Blackstone Canal, the P&W took over additional lines radiating out of Worcester, including the ex-New Haven line between Worcester and New London, CT and the former Boston & Maine line between Worcester and Gardner, MA. By the 1990s, the P&W had secured trackage rights over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor all the way into New York City and acquired the former Connecticut Central line between New Haven and Middletown, CT and the former Conrail line to Danbury, CT.
Here, P&W GP38-2 #2009 is seen bracketing a pair of snow-draped crossing signals in Dayville, CT as it stops to do some switching while in charge symbol freight NR-2. NERail Photos contributor Ray Blanchette caught the geep on a wintry January 14, 2008
The editorial board of the Journal News defended the decision to run the article and post the accompanying map on the website, saying the information was made available to the public by state law and multiple Freedom of Information act requests. The Dec22nd piece ran shortly after the Sandy Hook schoolhouse massacre just across the state line in Newtown, CT [solidifying many predictions from gun owners on how the atrocity would be leveraged against law-abiding gun owners by pro-gun control politicians and media figures- NANESB!]. It's also worth pointing out that all the names on the list had purchased their respective firearms in full compliance with New York state law, yet by the author's own admission the entire premise of the article was to 'warn' people about the very same law-abiding gun owners- maybe these 'journalists' can 'warn' the public about which homes have large collections of jewelry or coins next.
In March 2007, a columnist for Virginia's Roanoke Timespublished a list of names and addresses for concealed handgun carry permits in the New River valley, comparing permit holders to sex offenders. The Roanoke Times website took down the list within a matter of hours after receiving complaints. In 2011, an Associated Press reporter sought to obtain names and hometowns of Firearm Owner's Identification Card (FOID) by filing suit against the Illinois State Police. The state police pointed out that they sometimes receive Freedom of Information Act requests from inmates about the FOID status of corrections officers, their victims or retired policemen. In December 2011, a Peoria County Circuit Court judge ruled that the FOID information would be exempt from any Freedom of Information Act requests.
Police and firefighter honor guards were present at funerals throughout the Connecticut town of Newtown as victims's from last week's horriffic Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre were laid to rest. Among some of the firefighters present were New York's Bravest for the funeral of 7 year old Daniel Barden. According to Daniel's parents, Barden idolized his father's cousins who were FDNY firefighters.
The first-grader, frozen in time with a gap-toothed smile in a photo distributed by his family, was to be remembered in a morning service at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown and then laid to rest. Firefighters gathered outside the red-brick church, standing silently alongside the black hearse as mourners filed in.
This is a part of our extended family,” said Lt. Eddie Boles, who works with Daniel's cousins as a firefighter in New York, about 65 miles south of Newtown. “After 9/11 the whole country extended its sympathy to New York so we're here to show our support for this community."
Daniel, who had a brother and sister, was described by loved ones as “the light of his family's life” and an active boy who played soccer and swam on the Newtown Torpedoes swim team.
Wow- "This is just awful" would be an understatement. Ordinarilly I scoff at such things, but after today I wonder if the Mayans had it right all along and everything is coming to an end shortly. I cannot fathom the mind of somebody twisted enough to even contemplate this, let alone actually carry it out. That said, I'm not giving the perpetrator a pass by claiming he was mentally derelict or anything along those lines.
Jessica Hill/AP Photo
A gunman identified as 20 year old Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother in their Newtown, CT home before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary school where she taught, murdering her entire class as well as members of the school staff.
The shooter, who sources identified as Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the face at their home in Newtown, Conn., then went to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School where she taught and gunned down her entire class, according to sources. Lanza was found dead inside the school, according to officials. Eighteen of the children and six more adults were dead at the school and two more children died later, according to Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance.
Vance would not confirm the shooter's name, and earlier in the day there were conflicting reports over the gunman's identity. Law enforcement sources told FoxNews.com the shooter was Adam Lanza. His brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, who was widely and erroneously reported to be the suspect, was questioned in Hoboken, N.J., but authorities said he was not involved. An FBI source tells Fox News that Ryan Lanza and the father, Peter Lanza, have both been cleared and are not longer being questioned.
"It is not a simplistic scene," Vance told reporters.
The guns used in the are said to have belonged to Nancy Lanza and reportedly include an AR-15 type semiautomatic rifle as well as two 9mm handguns- a Glock and a SigSauer. Although the media has said the horror in Newtown is sure to re-ignite the gun control debate, gun control groups say that Connecticut has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. The guns used in the massacre were said to have been legally obtained by Lanza's mother. Such laws did nothing to prevent an August 2010 mass killing when a recently fired worker at a Hartford beer distributor's warehouse returned and shot 8 of his former co-workers to death before shooting himself.
Early on, there were a number of conflicting reports regarding the shooting. Initially the shooter was identified as Ryan Lanza of Hoboken, NJ- Adam's older brother. Later, there were conflicing reports of possible accomplices and whether or not the AR-15 recovered at the scene had even been fired.
According to news reports, Lanza showed up at the main office wearing black garb and carrying three weapons and shot the principal with the entire school listening on in horror over the school intercom system. Some teachers attempted to shield their sudents from the homicidal gunman during his rampage. Telling her young pupils the gunshots they heard was hammering, one teacher ushered her students into the school's bathroom. Other teachers were able to lock the doors to their classrooms.
Authorities are witholding the names of the victims until all of the victim's families are notified.
Think of it as Pawn Stars, only with guns and taking place in the decidedly less glamorous venue of Hartford, CT.
During a recent gun buyback, police in Hartford were surprised when a local woman turned in an extremely rare WWII Nazi-issued automatic rifle.
“It’s like finding the Babe Ruth of baseball cards. The rarity, it was made for such a very short period,” Officer John Cavanna, one of the two officers who discovered the gun, told ABC News.
Officer Lewis Crabtree added, “The chance to see a piece of history — this … is absolutely unbelievable.”
Cavanna and Crabtree are resident gun experts for the Hartford Police Department.
The woman found the weapon in a closet after her father, a World War II veteran, passed away. Her father had brought home the historic weapon, usually issued to SS troops, from Europe as a keepsake from the war.
She was unaware it is now valued between $20,000 to $25,000.
The Sturmgewehr 44, meaning “storm rifle,” dates back to 1944. Crabtree revealed it was the first “modern assault rifle ever made, eventually replaced by the AK 47 in 1947 by Russia, who copied the German design of the Sturmgewehr 44.”
And although every modern assault rifle is modeled after the Sturmgewehr 44, Crabtree understood how its significance could be overlooked.
“If you were to look at the gun and didn’t know anything about guns, you would think it was garbage,” Crabtree said.
In its current state, this Sturmgewehr 44 is inoperable. But in its prime, it would have held a 30-round magazine and shot 500 rounds per minute.
In case you were wondering how a rare WWII nazi rifle made its way to Colt's backyard, Officer Cavanna explained that during wartime, GIs were sometimes allowed to send trophies- such as samurai swords or Luger pistols captured from axis troops- to relatives back home. And apparently that is what the unidentified woman's father did with the Stg 44, where it spent decades in a Connecticut attic not doing much besides appreciating in value. The weapon currently sits in a police armory- had they accepted it as part of the buyback, Hartford police would have been obligated to destroy the rare weapon and the woman who turned it in would've only received a $100 WalMart gift card.
Although it offered a superior rate of fire to the bolt-action rifle issued to German troops at the time, manufacturing the Stg 44 proved to labor-intensive, something the reeling 3rd reich could ill afford so late in the conflict. Thus fewer than a half million Stg 44s were produced- compared to more than 6 million M1 carbines or some 14 million Mauser bolt-action 98K Karabiner- and the forerunner of the modern military assault rifle was only issued to a select few SS troops. After WWII, the Soviet Union incorporated many design features from the Stg 44 into what became the iconic AK-47. In fact, earlier this year rebel factions in Syria captured what they thought was a stockpile of 5000 AK-47s from the Syrian military- but the weapons turned out to be Stg 44s.
Today's Train of Though takes us to the wintry foothills of Western Massachusetts where a wintertime snowstorm seems to do little to slow down Canaan, CT-based shortline Housatonic Railroad.
The former New York, New Haven & Hartford line between Pittsfield, MA and Danbury, CT- sometimes known as the Canaan Running Track- went through a number of owners since the New Haven's 1969 merger with Penn Central. Shortly before the 1976 formation of Conrail, the section of the former NYNH&H line between New Milford and Boardman Bridge was abandoned. While the line south of New Milford was included in Conrail, the Canaan to Pittsfield line became part of the Boston & Maine (later Guilford) in 1982. The following year, the Housatonic Railroad was formed and began rebuilding the abandoned trackage between New Milford and Canaan.
While being operated by Guilford, the Canaan Running track was isolated from the rest of the Guilford lines and both the line and freight service began to detriorate. Operations were more or less limited to one train a week out of Pittsfield for the Beckton Dickinson plant in Canaan and some paper mills in Lee, MA. The Berkshire Scenic would run seasonal excursions over the line in the late 1980s, but operations were suspended when the track continued to deteriorate.
In 1991, the Housatonic entered into an agreement with Guilford to purchase the Canaan Running Track and less than a year later, purchased the New Milford, CT to Danbury segment from Conrail.
Now, in addition to the already-existing customers on the line, the Canaan Running Track was acting as a bridge line and the Housatonic was being used to forward contaminated soil and construction or demolition debris to out-of-state landfills [embodying the old saw of 'It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it'- NANESB].
Above, railpictures.net contributor Ryan Parent catches Housatonic GP35M #3601 heading north through Great Barrington, MA with Canaan, CT to Pittsfield, MA freight NX-13X. The #3601 is only a few miles into its trip out of Canaan, having crossed the state line at Sheffield, MA before making its way through Great Barrington.
The crisp yellow and green EMDs in the Housatonic fleet keep busy with at least one roundtrip to the CSX interchange at Pittsfield, MA each weekday and sometimes on Sunday. Apparently the train symbols from the Housatonic are throwback to the New Haven-era ones used on that part of the NYNH&H.
Using the last steam locomotive it ordered- ALCo 4-8-4 #844- Union Pacific operated a special train through New Mexico and Arizona to commemorate those states respective centennials in November before taking a roundabout route home to Cheyenne, WY. Here #844 is paired with specially painted SD70ACe #1996 heading west along the Salton Sea at Bombay Beach, CA having left Yuma, AZ a few hours earlier on November 17th, 2011. Photo- Craig Walker
UNION PACIFIC: Although a few weeks ahead of the official anniversary dates of statehood for both Arizona and New Mexico, Union Pacific operated a steam special through both states over the former Southern Pacific 'Sunset Route' line.
At the end of October the #844 departed its Cheyenne home base. The 1944 built 4-8-4 headed south through Colorado and made stops in Dalhart and El Paso, TX; Tucumcari, Alamogordo and Lordsburg, NM as well as Tuscon and Yuma, AZ where it was on public display.
From Yuma, the 844 took a roundabout trip back to Cheyenne, continuing west to the former Southern Pacific yard in Colton, CA before heading over Cajon Pass for the first time since 1989 and returning via Las Vegas and Salt Lake City at the end of November.
CHINA: The investigation into a collision on China's high speed rail network over the summer has led to no official disclosures from China's rail ministry regarding the cause or any remedies taken to prevent a similar accident.
The secrecy surrounding the probe, which ended in September, is typical of the sensitivities shown toward wider troubles plaguing the showcase high-speed rail program.
The accident inflamed criticism that the powerful Railway Ministry may be sacrificing safety in its costly quest to quickly roll out the bullet train network.
Based on regulations on major transport accidents, a report on the accident was due by Nov. 20. Railway Ministry officials refused comment Tuesday.
The few slivers of information about the probe have been quickly recanted.
A railway expert and deputy director of the investigation team, Wang Mengshu, backtracked from comments in the state-run Beijing Times newspaper quoting him as saying the crash near the eastern city of Wenzhou largely resulted from mismanagement.
State media on Tuesday carried reports of Wang claiming he was misquoted, that his comments were only his personal opinion, and that he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The lack of transparency has left some in China skeptical that problems with the high speed rail network are being resolved, said Li Hongchang, an economics professor at Beijing Jiaotong University.
“People want not just the report but to understand how it was compiled. Openness and credibility are actually more important than the report itself,” Li said.
Shortly after the accident, authorities blamed problems with the high-tech signaling systems used to run and route the trains for the crash. The collision occurred after railway staff failed to notice anything amiss when a lightening strike stalled a train and the signaling system failed to turn red.
But they have since backed away from that analysis. The Beijing Times report quoted Wang as saying the lack of problems with the same signaling systems on other lines suggests human error was to blame.
32 people were killed in July when the two high speed train sets collided outside the city of Wenzhou.
Grenada Railway B30-7A #242 heading north with what's likely the last through train between Grenada and Canton, MS for the foreseeable future is seen passing through Vaiden, MS on July 27, 2011. Photo-Fred Goff
Canadian National sold off more than 180 miles of former Illinois Central track between Southaven and Canton, MS in May of 2009 to A&K Railroad Materials, a salvage and scrap company with the stipulation that they operate the line for at least two years.
While the northernmost portion of the Grenada line between Grenada and Southaven, MS is still in operation, a Grenada Railway official said that a 112-foot bridge south of Vaiden, MS needs an estimated $750,000 in repairs to get the line back in service. The same official also said that considerable upgrades would be needed since much of the line south of Grenada is restricted to speeds of 10 MPH. The Grenada to Canton portion of the old Illinois Central mainline has been under embargo since July.
If that portion of the line was abandoned, it would leave the 21 mile Kosciusko & Southwestern Railway at Aberdeen Jct. without a rail connection to the rest of the country.
This portion of the former Illinois Central is perhaps best known for the infamous wreck in Vaughan that claimed the life of folk hero engineer Casey Jones in April 1900. Until 1995, this portion of the Illinois Central also hosted the City of New Orleans passenger service.
Wisconsin Southern SD40-2 #4025 is seen leading a Madison to Janesville, WI freight through the snow in January 2009. The #4025 is wearing a special 25th anniversary paint scheme while the trailing MP15AC is still painted in Milwaukee Road colors. Photo- Thomas Williams
WISCONSIN: The Wisconsin Southern and Kansas-based Watco Transportation announced that they have reached an agreement in which Watco would acquire a controlling interest in the 600-mile Milwaukee-based regional railroad.
The WSOR operates a cluster of former Milwaukee Road and Chicago & North Western lines throughout southern Wisconsin and Northeastern Illinois, connecting with Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, BNSF, Union Pacific and Belt Railway of Chicago. Traffic is primarily grain, lumber, agricultural products, coal and aggregates. The WSOR also operates a locomotive painting facility and car repair shop in Janesville where it carries out contract work for other railroads.
Earlier this year, WSOR CEO William Gardner was sentenced to probation and 100 hours community service after he pleaded guilty to circumventing Wisconsin state campaign finance laws by awarding bonuses to WSOR employees, and then arranging for the employees to donate their bonuses to different politician's campaign funds, including now governor Scott Walker's campaign.
The sale is expected to go through on Jan 1st, 2012 pending STB approval. Watco has said they anticipate minimal changes in WSOR's day-to-day operations once they acquire controlling interest. I wholeheartedly encourage the progressives in Madison and elsewhere to spend every waking hour between now and January attempting to stop Watco from acquiring WSOR- petitioning the STB instead of supporting the 'Occupy' movement, gathering signatures for Walker's recall or working on Obama's 2012 campaign.
Newly Restored Valley Railroad 'Mikado' 2-8-2 #3025 awaits its second its second run in Essex, CT on November 26, 2011 Photo- Paolo Roffo
CONNECTICUT: The Valley Railroad has debuted its 'New Haven' 2-8-2 Mikado, which is actually a Chinese-made 'SY' class steam locomotive that was acquired during a 2008 liquidation auction of Pennsylvania's Knox and Kane Railway's assets.
The locomotive started out life as Knox & Kane 'SY' #58 and was made in 1989 by the Tangshan Locomotive Works and imported from the People's Republic of China. The K&K shut down operations in 2006, a few years after the Kinzua Viaduct was heavily damaged by a tornado. In 2008, a devastating arson attack on the railroad's shops dashed any hopes of the line reopening. While the exterior of #58 was heavily damaged in the blaze, the boiler, frame and running gear were salvageable. The Valley Railroad also successfully bid on a number of spare parts that survived the blaze.
Most of the major work in rebuilding K&K #58 to 'New Haven #3025' was undertaken at the Valley Railroad's shops in Essex, CT. The extensive external damage to #58 meant that the Valley Railroad could rebuild the Chinese SY steamer into a reasonable facsimile of a New York, New Haven & Hartford Mikado. Sadly, no steam locomotive rostered by the New Haven survived the scrapper's torch, but there were plenty of drawings, blueprints and detailed period photos for the Valley Railway to use in their restoration project.
On November 15, 2011, the Valley Railroad fired up New Haven #3025 for the first time. The restored steamer was put to use switching the yard and facilities over the next few days before she went to work hauling passengers on the Valley Railroad's 'North Pole Express' Holiday excursions on November 25th.
UNIONS: Major US freight haulers have reportedly reached a collective bargaining agreement with three unions after a board appointed by President Obama was ordered to review an impasse between companies and labor groups over contract talks for the last two years.
The agreement is seen as helpful in preventing a walkout that could cost the economy as much as $2 billion a day. The tentative deal announced in mid-November covers wages, benefits and other employment conditions, according to the American Association of Railroads.
Although a deal wasn't reached with one holdout union- the Teamster's Brotherhood of Maintainence of Way Employees- the BMWE agreed to extend negotiations to early Feburary.
Although Progress Rail Services projected that as many as 650 jobs could be added by 2012, the plant currently employs somewhere between 160 and 180 people full time. Both Progress Rail and local officials hope that the number will continue to go up as worldwide demand for new motive power increases.
Both Progress Rail Services and EMD are wholly owned subsidiaries of Caterpillar, Inc [NYSE: CAT]. Since the late 1980s, most of the production of EMD locomotives has taken place in London, Ontario, Canada. Caterpillar acquired EMD last year and is reportedly hoping to shift some of the locomotive production back the the USA from Ontario.
Grand Canyon 2-8-2 #4960 seen heading north out of Williams, AZ at sunrise with a mixed freight in May 2011. Photo- John West
ARIZONA: In addition to Union Pacific #844's visit to the Grand Canyon state, a number of steam excursions are planned to mark the centennial of Arizona's statehood in 2012.
The #4960 may have company later on in the year, as well. The Santa Clara, CA based Central Coast chapter of the NRHS announced a 9-day rail trip featuring vintage passenger cars and Santa Fe 4-8-4 steam locomotive #3751 that will depart Los Angeles on May 13th and travel to the Grand Canyon via Rail America's Arizona & California and BNSF's former Santa Fe 'Peavine Line' between Phoenix and Williams, AZ. There is even talk of a May 16th doubleheader over the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams to the South Rim featuring both the #4960 and #3751 before the restored Santa Fe Northern heads back to California (returning via the Peavine line and the Arizona & California).
Even after the #3751 returns to Los Angeles, the Grand Canyon announced plans to run three more trips to the South Rim using #4960, as well as a pair of shorter excursions out of Williams in May and June.
Nickel Plate Berkshire 2-8-4 #765 seen outside of Ithica, MI with a Steam Railroading Institute of Michigan excursion on October 15, 2011 on the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway. The excursions were to help raise funds for boiler work on sister Berkshire Pere Marquette #1225. Photo- Steven McKay
MICHIGAN: The Owosso, MI-based Steam Railroading institute announced that an anonymous donor has offered a $100,000 matching grant towards the restoration of the Institute's Pere Marquette 2-8-4 Berkshire #1225. That means as soon as the SRI tallies $100,000, their unknown benefactor will deposit an additional $100,000 in the organization's coffers.
Fundraising for the #1225's restoration has been ongoing prior to that announcement. In October, the Ft. Wayne Railroad Historical Society's Nickel Plate Berkshire #765 travelled from Indiana to Michigan (via a brief stint on Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway) to help raise funds for the #1225's restoration by powering a series of excursions out of Owosso before returning to the Hoosier state.
A duo of former Kansas City Southern, nee Canadian National SD40-3s lettered for MobilGrain seen on the Big Sky Railway's former CN tracks in Eston, SK. Photo- Mark David Zuikoskey/Canadian Railway Observations
Big Sky Rail is jointly operated by MobilGrain and West Central Road & Rail and recieved an interest-free provincial loan to the tune of C$5.6 million towards the acquisition of the line from Canadian National, with formal purchase agreements and title transfers to be finalized in 2012.
Power for both the Big Sky and affiliated Last Mountain Railways is a small fleet of rebuilt former Kansas City Southern and Wisconsin Central (nee Canadian National) SD40-3s.
In a rather interesting move, Canadian Railway Observations reports that Last Mountain and Big Sky's affiliate Mobil Grain purchased 7 General electric 70-ton switchers from California's Modesto & Empire Traction railway as dedicated switchers for the various grain elevators along the Big Sky and Last Mountain lines. The newest of these ex M&ET locomotives date back to 1955.
Big Sky is thought to be Sasketchewan's 12th shortline- and at least the 4th to begin operations in the last two years.
Williamstown, MA looking more like a Christmas card thanHalloween this weekend. AP Photo
Much of the northeast and mid-Atlantic region was socked by an unusually early snowstorm this weekend, knocking down tree branches, shutting down schools, airports or highways and leaving millions without electricity. Some officials say that it could be up to a week before electricity is fully restored in some areas.
From West Virginia to Maine, residents were digging themselves out from as many as 32 inches of snow in some places. Governors throughout the region declared a state of emergency as utility crews and personell worked to restore power, open up roadways and remove falled tree limbs.
In Connecticut, Governor Malloy ordered 900 cots and food brought to Hartford's stranded travellers at Bradley International Airport. Travellers on a Jet Blue flight that was diverted from Newark to Bradley International were stranded on the tarmac for nearly 7 hours with no food, water or functioning bathrooms. Firefighters and paramedics came on board to treat a parapalegic who had trouble with the circulation in his legs before the remaining passengers were eventually bussed to the terminal.
In New York City, Central Park was closed after a woman was injured from being hit by a falling tree limb. Crews have been working to chip the fallen trees and reopen the park in time for the New York City marathon, despite as little as one inch falling on Manhattan. However, the snow was wet and heavy and many of the trees were thought to have been weakened from Tropical Storm Irene passing through in late August.
Today's train of thought takes us to Connecticut for a yearly- yet seemingly timeless- ritual in the western corner of the Nutmeg state.
Since the Great Depression, the Orlando, FL based James E Strates carnival train has been travelling up and down the east coast. The train typically consists of 50 flatcars, 10 sleeping cars and a generator car.
One fairly recent stop that the current 61-car train added to its East Coast tour in the last decade is the Danbury City Fair. And for the Strates carnival train, the way in and out of Danbury is the Housatonic Railroad's line between Danbury, CT and Pittsfield, MA. Acquiring the line incrementally throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the Housatonic earns its keep by hauling paper products, limestone, plastics, liquefied natural gas, lumber and construction debris on a near daily basis- not bad for a line that both Guilford and Conrail seemed more than willing to leave for dead.
However, in addition to the near-daily freight on the Canaan running track Interchanging with the CSX in Pittsfield, MA and Providence & Worcester in Danbury, each summer brings the sight of the unique and colorful Strates Carnival Train through the rolling hills of Western Massachusetts and Northwestern Connecticut.
Here, railpictures.net contributor Dave Jacobs caught Housatonic GP35M #3603 leading a trio of EMDs south with the distinctive Strates trainset at River Rd in Cornwall, CT in June 2007 as the line parallels its namesake river.
Tourists and truck drivers evacuating North Carolina's Outer Banks by ferry. Photo: Chuck Beckley- New Bern Sun Journal
A mandatory evacuation order for the outer banks of North Carolina is expected to go into effect Friday as Hurricane Irene gained strength while approaching from the south.
Workers from the North Carolina DOT were inspecting the aging Bonner Bridge after Tuesday's magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia- the bridge links North Carolina Route 12 from Cape Hatteras to the mainland and is a key evacuation route. Further inland, residents jammed the aisles of local stores and markets in order to stock up on food, fuel, water, generators and other supplies.
At least 180 flights to and from major east coast airports have been cancelled with Irene's expected arrival. Amtrak trains south of Washington D.C., already hobbled by slow orders from host railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX after Tuesday's earthquake in Virginia, were cancelled while travellers were awaiting word on any possible service disruptions on the busy Northeast Corridor.
To the north, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency in advance of Irene's landfall. The US Navy sortied more than two dozen vessels from the huge Norfolk Naval station, including the aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower, while further north, four attack submarines were dispatched from their Groton, CT base to ride out the storm in deep water. Naval aircraft was being flown further inland to ride out the storm.
The city is making preparations to open 65 evacuation centers, seven special medical needs shelters and 75 general population shelters. These facilities can hold roughly 71,000 people; there are about 272,000 people living in the area most likely to be affected.
Officials recommended residents put together a supply kit, including drinking water, a flashlight, a battery-operated radio and a whistle
All these precautions and preparations are underway despite the uncertainty of where exactly Irene is supposed to make landfall. Numerous projections show her coming ashore anywhere from North Carolina's Outer Banks to Cape Cod while possibly increasing to Category 3 in the process.
Even if the eye of the storm misses the most densely populated areas, there could still be extensive damage to metropolitan areas thanks to heavy rains and winds in the storm's outer bands. If Irene does strike New England, she will likely be the first significant hurricane to strike since Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Like Gloria, it's also entirely possible that Irene could make landfall multiple times.
Two Boston sports institutions going up against arch rivals in the regular season, but with buzz- both before and after- more reminiscent of the postseason.
Did I already mention how fortunate I consider myself to be a New England sports fan at this point in history?
The undercard
NHL: If there was only one B's game to be nationally broadcast this whole season, Wednesday night's home game against arch rival Montreal would've been the one. Apparently last week's game against Dallas was just a warm-up. Nothing like some Original 6 brawling- and not just figuratively- to get the blood going, huh?
With Montreal starting to close the gap in the Northeast division, the folks over at VS network thought Wendesday night's game was important enough to be boradcast on their network coast-to-coast (even though they were just carrying the TSN feed).
A good chunk of the first period seemed to feature the Bruins spending a disproportionate amount of time in Montreal's end of the ice, but with Montreal getting the better shots on goal (however infrequent). My perceptions changed somewhat after the 13 minute mark in the 1st when Brad Marchand and Dennis Seidenberg each scored 22 seconds apart (Seidenberg's tally coming off of a high bounce that the Montreal defener tried to corrall by swatting at with a stick). So Boston heads into the 1st intermission with a 2-0 lead.
Now on most nights, you'd be in pretty good shape if you could manage to get two by Montreal's Carey Price- especially if your own backstop is shutting them out. Not so on Wednesday night. The following video clips say it much better than I could-
For those of you who want to jump straight into the fisticuffs, hockeyfights.com was thoughtful enough to archive the melee towards the very end of the 3rd.
Most teams have every reason to expect to come out on top in a contest where they get six past Tim Thomas, but not Wednesday night. Both teams combined for 14 goals and 182 penalty minutes- nearly twice what was assessed in last week's game vs Dallas. As you can see from the video evidence, it's no exaggeration when I say that Boston absolutely beat the Habs down by a final of 8-5. The brawl at the end was simply the exclamation point.
The save percentages of both Price and Thomas also took a beating, with the Montreal backstop stopping 26 of 34 shots faces and Thomas stopping 27 of 33 shots faced. Micheal Ryder had two goals (one of them on the power play) and Milan Lucic had two goals (one of them shorthanded) and an assist on the night while Marchand, Seidenberg, Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid also had tallies for the B's.
The win gives Boston a little bit more breathing room against the Canadiens (still the next closest team in the Northeast standings), and the Bruins lead over Montreal in the Division standings after Thursday night was 3 points after Montreal lost in a shootout to the NY Islanders but still got the 1 point.
The original 6 mania will continue this weekend when the Bruins have a home-and-away series against the Detroit Red Wings, with the first half taking place in the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday night at 7PM ET and be broadcast on NESN and the NHL Network.
The second half of the weekend series will take place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Sunday afternoon, 12:30 PM ET- this game will be nationally televised on Comcast's NBC network.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Marc Savard is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a concussion. Savard had been sidelined with another concussion after being hit by former teammate Matt Hunwick in the Jan 22nd game against Colorado. ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Eureka! I think the Nashville Predators have devised one of the most devious and effective methods of luring NHL talent to Music City- it's even more effective than the Underpants gnomes' business model!
Phase one would be to send out fetching starlets along the lines of Carrie Underwood to romance forwards like....oh...I dunno....Mike Fisher. Then, after the wedding, honeymoon, and a few atrocious seasons in the division's basement playing in the Canadian capital, you're hot, popular and musically talented spouse gets it in your head that perhaps you would be better off elsewhere- maybe somewhere closer to where she spends a good deal of the year. Like....oh...say Nashville, TN. And since your team is dead last in the conference, and Nashville happens to have a team that's doing pretty good this season (trailing the Red Wings by 5 points for #2 in the Central divison and 5th overall in the Western conference) it sounds like to good a deal to pass up.
Well played, Predators.....well played. [Now all that's left is to convince them that Nashville is in dire need of lazy, talentless bloggers and I'm sure a stampede of country music starlets will be stampeeding a path to my doorway- NANESB!]
The Predators acquired Mike Fisher in a trade that will send a 1st round draft pick and a conditional pick to Ottawa. Fischer was tied for the lead in scoring for the Sens with 14 goals and 10 assists in 55 games this season, and the Predators are hoping he'll be ready in time for Friday night's game against Colorado.
NBA: I have to confess, I was intentionally holding off on doing another sports update until after Thursday night's Lakers/Celtics game- a move that didn't pay off despite getting off to a promising start.
Most noteworthy was Ray Allen surpassing Reggie Miller to become the NBA's all time career leader in 3 pointers, with 2,561 on Thursday night (see above). After hat, it was kinda downhill for the C's.
Although Boston took a 53-45 lead into halftime, Kobe Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as LA rallied to come from behind after trailing by as many as 15 points in 1st. Pau Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers while the only player in green on Thursday to score more than 15 points was Ray Allen- with 20.
The lack of offense in the 2nd paved the way for a 92-86 Lakers win at the Garden. This is Boston's 2nd loss in a row after losing 94-89 at Charlotte on Monday night. The Celtics will next host the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon at the Garden, 1 PM ET on ABC. The C's and the Heat are tied for first place overall in the Eastern conference.
NCAA HOCKEY: The 2011 Beanpot got underway on Monday, with Northeastern making their presence felt in a 4-0 thumping of Harvard in the opening game.
This was immediately followed by the BC Eagles getting by the BU Terriers in OT thanks to Eagle's Junior Tommy Cross scoring the game winner 3:17 into the extra period.
The games Monday set up a BC/Northeastern final for the 2011 Beanpot on Valentine's Day.
AHL HOCKEY: Following the lead of the NHL and the Syracuse Crunch, the Connecticut Whale (formerly the Hartford Wolfpack- the NY Ranger's AHL affiliate) has set up an outdoor rink at UConn's Rentschler Field in E. Hartford, CT. The rink will be used for outdoor junior and high school games as well as a Whalers/Bruins alumni game leading up to the Feb 19th game where the Whale will host the Providence Bruins.
OTHER AHL NEWS: A Connecticut judge has ordered an East Hartford man to apologize and 10 days of community service after he tackled and punched Pucky, the Whale mascot.
MLB: Never mind that rodent in Pennsylvania! Truck Day was this week, which means that Spring was right around the corner. The 'official' Red Sox truck (which, unsurprisingly, has a corporate sponsor) carrying the team's equipment left Fenway for Ft, Meyers, FL on Tuesday.
NCAA FOOTBALL: This video of UConn reserve quarterback Johnny McEntee has been circulating around the web. Heavily edited showboating or an appeal to get more playing time- what's your call?
NHL- After finishing up their West Coast road trip with a 2-0 loss to Los Angeles, the Bruins had time for one more game at the Garden before the NHL all-star break on Wednesday night.
Before packing his bags and heading off to the NHL All Star Game in Raleigh, NC Tim Thomas had 34 saves in Boston's 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers. Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic each had goals for the Bruins as they managed to hold off a late flurry from Florida.
Thomas leads the league with a 1.81 Goals Against Average and a .945 save percentage, and the Bruins enter the All-Star break in third place in the Eastern Conference and 1st in the Northeastern conference. Besides Tim Thomas, burly Bruins defender Zdeno Chara is also heading off to the All Star Game.
The format for this year's NHL All Star game is different- instead of Team North America vs Team Europe or East vs West, two Captains (Erik Staal of the Hurricanes and Nick Lidstrom of the Red Wings) had a draft on Friday night. Zdeno Chara wound up on Team Staal while Thomas was selected for Team Lidstrom.
Chara and Thomas will stay in Raleigh and be rejoined by the rest of the team come Tuesday when they take on the Hurricanes at the RBC Center.
NBA- The Celtics wound up losing a physical Firday night game to the Phoenix Suns by an 88-71, the stage is set for a rematch of last season's NBA Finals on Sunday where the LA Lakers will host the Celtics.
In the beginning of the call, Thornton said, "I took it into my own hands and handled the problem. I wish I could have got more of the people."
In the call, Thornton sounds calm as he told police why he said he went on a shooting rampage inside the warehouse. "They treat me bad over here. They treat all black people bad over here," Thornton said.
Thornton [and his mother] were especially excited when Barack Obama was elected the first African American president, Hannah said. He listed Obama and the gun range among his interests on his Facebook page.
Meanwhile, the horribly racist and evil company that did bigoted things like hiring a black employee such as Thornton at the beginning of a substantial recession had exactly zero racial complaints filed against it in the past decade according to the US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and Connecticut Commission on Human Rights. One black employee who retired from Hartford Distributors in March said he never experienced any sort of racial discrimination in his two decades of working for the company. A company spokesman noted that about 20% of Hartford Distributors workforce are minorities. [Of course, in wonderful Ultra Blue state liberal-land, any absence of evidence of discrimination against Thornton is somehow proof positive of systematic discrimination- NANESB!].
I will say this right here and now. The racism accusations are a very malicious, fucked-up and transparent attempt by Thornton's loved ones to try and deflect attention from the fact that he was caught red-handed stealing from his employer and subsequently murdered eight of his co-workers. Omar's skin pigment is not a 'get out of responsibility free' card.
Friends and family of the murdered were among 500 mourners who had gathered at Manchester's Center Springs Park for a candlelight vigil on Sunday. Local religious leaders began the vigil with a prayer and a violinist played Amazing Grace as hundreds of candles were lit by attendees. Manchester town manager Scott Shanley described the vigil as a 'pretty good end to an awful, awful week'.
In other developments, police in East Windsor CT arrested a 33 year old Enfield, CT woman identified as the person videotaped accepting stolen beer from Thornton. Christy Quail was charged with larceny for theft on Friday, according to E. Windsor police chief Edward DeMarco. The videotaped theft of beer was what led to Thornton's resignation immediately prior to his killing spree.
A driver for a suburban Hartford, CT beer distributor shot and killed eight co-workers after a meeting where he was offered a choice of resigning or being fired.
34 year old Omar Thornton pulled out a handgun after a meeting where he was shown videotaped evidence of him stealing beer from the company.
"He was cool and calm. He didn't yell. He was cold as ice. He didn't protest when we were meeting with him to show him the video of him stealing. He didn't contest it. He didn't complain. He didn't argue. He didn't admit or deny anything. He just agreed to resign. And then he just unexplainably pulled out his gun and started blasting." Hartford Distributors Vice President Steve Hollander said.
Thronton reportedly concealed the guns in his lunch pail before shooting and killing the president of Teamsters Local 1035, 51 year old Bryan Cirigliano, and others while grazing Hollander in the arm and jaw. Thornton then made his way through the warehouse shooting other employees before turning the gun on himself as police closed in. Authorities aren't sure whether Thornton was tagetting specific individuals or simply firing at anybody he came across.
Before shooting himself, Thornton called his mother and JoAnne Hannah, the mother of his girlfriend. Thornton, who was black, had complained of racial harassment and said he found a picture of a noose and a racial epithet written on a bathroom wall, Hannah said. Her daughter told her that Thornton's supervisors told him they would talk to his co-workers. A union official said Thornton had not filed a complaint of racism with the union or any government agency.
"This is a disgruntled employee who shot a bunch of people," Teamsters official Christopher Roos said.
UPDATE 8/4: Disgusting piece of shit looking for her 15 minutes chimes in on Omar's behalf by libelling the people her boyfriend murdered. Awful conventient for this worthless skank that the alleged 'racists' aren't around to defend themselves from her accusaitons post mortem, isn't it? Or- if they really want to play this stupid little game- I guess since her fuck-up of a boyfriend shot and killed an unarmed Jewish man, that makes Omar an anti-semite.
Instead of indulging this attention whore or Thornton's whiney 'We're victims too' family, I think I have an obligation to mention the names of the deceased that he cut down:
