Today's train of thought takes us to the Bluegrass State in the leadup to the Kentucky Derby- despite the very visible presence of a steam locomotive, this shot was taken in the not too distant past.
Besides the mint juleps and Southern belles in big hats, the Kentucky Derby also brings out special excursions for the railroads that serve Louisville. CSX, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific, RJ Corman Lines and Amtrak have all operated special trains for the sole purpose of shuttling VIPS to Churchill Downs [CP sold their former Milwaukee Road line to Louisville, KY to the Indiana Railroad a few years ago, and Amtrak stopped service to Kentucky's largest city in 2003, but Amtrak power still hauls a charter train from Chicago to Louisville for the Derby- NANESB!].
Here, railpictures.net contributor Chase Gunnoe caught RJ Corman's 2010 Kentucky Derby special steaming through West Frankfort, KY under rainy skies with a rather distinct lashup on May 1, 2010. Leading the charge is Chinese-made QJ 2-10-2 steam locomotive #2008, followed by one of RJ Corman's Railpower GenSet demonstrators and a pair of F units from My Old Kentucky Dinner Train on Corman's Bardstown line. The big Chinese QJ, which the late RJ Corman had imported from China and fired up for service on the old Louisville & Nashville 'Old Road' Line in 2008 goes by the moniker "Big Smokey"- somewhat ironic considering that the QJ is actually newer than the F-units behind it.
Corman's QJ has another 15 or so miles to go before uncoupling from the rest of the train in a siding at Christiansburg, KY. Ever since the 1990s, CSX has prohibited the operation of steam locomotives on their rails, and RJ Corman's line in Kentucky exercises trackage rights on CSX around Louisville, meaning the F units will take the passenger consist the rest of the way.
Despite the rainy and overcast weather, the Kentucky Derby went off that day and Thoroughbred Super Saver was the Derby winner.
ARGENTINA: At least 11 people were killed and dozens more injured after a bus collided with two trains in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires last month.
CCTV cameras on the nearby station platform filmed as the disaster unfolded. Upon impact with the bus, the first train was knocked into the path of an oncoming train that was also pulling into the station.
Argentine Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said that most of the fatalities were on board the bus. The crossing that the bus used was reportedly protected by gates that lowered on a train's approach.
Arizona Eastern B39-8 #8560 leads a train north into Duncan, AZ on the former Southern Pacific Clifton Branch in April 2009. Photo- Micheal Derrick
ARIZONA: Greenwich, CT based shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming [NYSE: GWR] announced last month that it has completed the purchase of the 200+ mile Arizona Eastern from Iowa Pacific Holdings.
Arizona Eastern operates two branchlines in Arizona and New Mexico. The 130 mile line between the Southern Pacific Sunset Route in Bowie, AZ and the copper mines around Miami, Globe and Claypool, AZ was purchased from Southern Pacific in 1988. In 2008, the AZER purchased the 70 mile Clifton branch between Lordsburg, NM and the Freeport McMoRan [NYSE: FCX] mine at Morenci, AZ from Union Pacific.
The deal is worth an estimated $90.1 million and includes about 50 miles of trackage rights over Union Pacific's former SP Sunset route between Bowie, AZ and Lordsburg, NM to connect the two lines.
Nickel Plate 765 doing a photo runby on the Cuyhoga Valley Scenic Railroad at Boston Mills, OH on September 25th. Photo, Richard Thompson
OHIO: The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's restored Nickel Plate Berkshire #765 travelled to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in September to haul a series of excursions as part of the CVSR's 'Steam in the Valley' event. The steam powered excusrions were in additon to the regular slate of diesel powered excusrion trains on the CVSR. This is the second year in a row that the #765 made an appearence on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
The Berkshire travelled northwest to Owosso, MI from the Akron area to haul a series of fall foliage excursions for the Michigan Steam Institute between Owosso and Alma, MI over track belonging to the Great Lakes Central. The October excursions in Michigan are reportedly to help raise funds to bring the Michigan Steam Institute's own Berkshire steam locomotive- Pere Marquette #1225- back into working order after its 15 year boiler inspection.
F Units and passenger cars from Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern make their way across the Hudson River at Stillwater, NY enroute to the former B&M yard at Mechanicsville, NY. Photo, John Bazan
The office car special used FP9s and cars from both railways before being split up at Mohawk Yard in Schenedtady, NY with the Pan Am equipment heading back east and the Norfolk Southern equipment making its way back to home rails via Canadian Pacific and Binghamton, NY.
Freshly repainted into Boston & Maine 'heritage' colors, Pan-Am GP9 #77 is seen at the former B&M yard in E. Deerfield, MA drilling cars with Guilford-painted GP9 #72 on September 25, 2011. Photo, Justin Winiarz
OTHER PAN AM NEWS: Workers at Pan Am's Waterville, ME shops painted former Boston & Maine GP9 #77 into vintage maroon and gold colors complete with the B&M 'Minuteman' herald that adorned the railway's early diesels.
The locomotive debuted in it's 'new' colors in August and saw service on Waterville, ME-based local SAPPI-3 before being transferred to the Boston & Maine's freight yard at E. Deerfield, MA where it was put into service as the yard switcher. Reportedly, more 'Heritage' style locomotives are in the works for Pan Am, including some vintage EMD's that could be painted in Maine Central's green and orange paint scheme.
Photo, Dave Duccolo
CALIFORNIA: Stockton, CA based Central California Traction Company purchased their first genset locomotive, which was completed by the Brookville Locomotive Works division of Brookfield Equipment in August. The locomotive, designated a BL21CG is former Brookville Locomotive Works Demonstrator #259 which was rebuilt from a Maine Central GP38.
In addition to the former Brookfield demonstrator, Central California Traction currently rosters a number of SW1500s as well as a couple of 1st generation GP18s and GP7s.
Brookfield has previously built gensets for both ConnDot and MetroNorth to be used in passenger and work train service.
NBSR GP38-2 #2317 seen heading west on the former Montreal Maine & Atlantic/ Bangor & Aroostook Millinocket subdivision with Maine Northern/New Brunswick Southern Train #901 bound for Brownsville, Jct, ME on July 30, 2011. Photo, Ron Tilley
MAINE: St. John, NB-based New Brunswick Southern Railway has begun operations over nearly 230 miles of track owned by the state of Maine beginning in July. The track was the former Montreal Maine & Atlantic Millinocket subdivision between Millinocket, ME and Madawaska, ME as well as branch lines to Houlton, Limestone and Ft. Fairfield, ME. Previously the line had belonged to the Bangor and Aroostook.
In early 2010, the MM&A filed a notice of intent to abandon most of its northern trackage. The state then reached an agreement with MM&A to purchase the lines for $20 million and then subcontract operation of the lines out to a third part while MM&A would retain trackage rights over the line to serve between St. Leonard, NB to the north and Brownville Jct, ME to the south.
In April 2011, the New Brunswick Southern- part of Canadian congolmerate J.D. Irving's holdings in transportation, lumber, food processing agriculture, retail and shipbuilding- was awarded the contract to operate the former MM&A lines, with the actual transfer set to take place on July 1, 2011.
Prior to the agreement, the New Brunswick Southern already operated over 100 miles of former Canadian Pacific track in the state of Maine as the Eastern Maine Railway between the Maine Central/Guilford/Pan-Am junction at Mattawamkeag, ME and the international border at Vanceboro, ME as well as the MM&A connection in Brownsville Jct.
Parent company J.D. Irving said that they expect to hire 30 additional employees and purchase more rolling stock as a result of the agreement with the state of Maine. To accomodate the expansion, the NBSR also purchased a pair of former Union Pacific GP38-2s that arrived in July
OREGON: The former Southern Pacific branchline between Eugene and Coos Bay, OR has been reopened and is seeing limited freight service as the Coos Bay Rail Link ran the first through train over the line in nearly four years.
Rail America's Central Oregon & Pacific last operated over the line in September 2007, electing to shut down most of the branch west of Eugene due to at least nine aging tunnels that would cost an estimated $7 million to repair. A month later, the Port of Coos Bay filed a $15 million suit against Rail America saying that they failed to provide the required 180 day notice prior to shutdown. In late 2008, the surface transportation board ordered Rail America to sell the line to the Port of Coos Bay for $16 million. Since then, contractors have gone to work replacing washouts, strengthening tunnels and inspecting trestles and crossings. In April 2011, it was announced that Arizona-based ARG Trains would handle the railway operations of the 133 mile line.
The first revenue Coos Bay Rail Link train departed Eugene on October 11th with a single SW1200 and dozen centerbeam flatcars, arriving in Coos Bay the following day.
MPI GP15D Genset #1509 and GP20D #2009 are seen waiting to enter yard limits in Rutland, VT with a local freight on August 10, 2011. Photo, Kevin Burkholder
VERMONT: The Vermont Railway began testing a pair of MPI Gensets in early August. The two locomotives- a 1500 HP GP15D and 2000 HP GP20D- were scheduled for three months of testing and began service as a pair on the Rutland to Florence, VT local their first week.
At around the same time, the VRS has started the long-term lease of two former Rail America GP38-3s- numbered 3801 and 3803.
Iowa Interstate 2-10-2 QJ steam locomotive #6988 seen running around the wye at Bureau, IL on September 9, 2011. Photo, Erik Rasmussen
IOWA INTERSTATE: Just because Trainfest 2011 is over and done with doesn't mean that the Iowa Interstate was finished with steam for the year. On the weekend of September 9-11, the town of Geneseo, IL- just east of Rock Island, IL on Iowa Interstate's former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific line- was home to the 5th annual 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'.
Besides vintage aircraft and automobiles, the Iowa Interstate provided the trains by having Chinese built 2-10-2 QJ class steam locomotive #6988 on display along with a switcher from Patriot Renewable Fuels. The #6988 also powered short excursions out of Geneseo with Iowa Interstate coaches.
Iowa Interstate ES44AC #513 is seen leading detoured freight BICB (BI = Indiana Harbor Belt Rail Yard at Blue Island, IL; CB = Council Bluffs, IA) off IAIS rails in Peoria Heights, IL on October 9, 2011. Photo- Craig McGregor
OTHER IOWA INTERSTATE NEWS: A derailment in Tuskwila, IL on October 7th forced the detour of Iowa Interstate's daily Chicago-Council Bluffs, IA (and its eastbound counterpart) BICB/CBBI by way of Peoria, IL and then west to Colona, IL on the BNSF via Galesburg, IL.
About a half dozen cars loaded with ethanol ignited and the village of Tuskwila had to be evacuated after the derailment in the early morning hours. Nodoby was injured in the wreck and the fire was contained by mid-morning.
The NTSB is dispatching a 6-person team to investigate the cause of the derailment.
New Genset from Tacoma Rail basking in the sun enxt to Mount Rainer Scenic's Restores Polson Logging 1922-buil Balwin on Aug 27th. Andrew Temoshek photo
WASHINGTON: Tacoma Rail has taken delivery of its first genset, an 3GS21B from National Railway Equipment. The locomotive arrived on the property in time for an open house where the 3-day old diesel was on display with Mount Ranier Scenic Railway's restored 1922-built Baldwin 2-8-2 #70, contrasting the old and the new.
The Natural Resources Defense Council sent letters to Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, saying it will file a lawsuit within 90 days under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which regulates hazardous solid waste disposal. The letter cited rail yards across California from Oakland to San Bernardino.
In what could be a precedent-setting lawsuit, the council argues that minute particles in diesel air pollution, which include lead, cadmium, nickel and other toxic elements, are solid waste. If successful, such a suit could open the door for legal action against similar air pollution sources such as ports, airports or anywhere with a lot of diesel equipment, [emphasis mine- NANESB!] said David Pettit, a senior attorney with the council.
"I think the reason why other people haven't tried it is on first glance you would think that the emissions are a gas and RCRA doesn't apply to gases," Pettit said. "The fallacy with that is the exhaust has two components: one is a gas and the other component is a solid and those solids will kill you if you inhale enough of them."
The railroads carry cargo throughout the country after it's imported from Asia. Millions of cargo containers on trucks and trains travel by freeway and railway through Southern California.
Southern California air quality regulators recently announced a major study focusing on a San Bernardino rail yard that has been found to pose the greatest health risk of any rail yard in the state. The two-year study will cost an estimated $846,000, and researchers are hoping it will determine if there is a higher asthma and fatal cancer rate in the surrounding community.
The letter recommends a series of remedies for the pollution including the use of cleaner locomotives, electrifying rail lines in urban areas and reduced idling
That last sentence sort of gives away the fact that this threatened lawsuit won't be about the harmful particulates in diesel exhaust, since their suggestion to electrify railroads in urban area would require that a power plant be constructed to provide the lines with electricity. So if they had their way per this threatened lawsuit, they would electrify urban rail lines to prevent diesel exhaust, but what about the air quality around the power source?
And as you can imagine, electrification isn't cheap. Couple that with the upcoming $13 billion PTC mandate that is supposed to be implemented by 2015, and the railroads will inevitably have to to pass the cost along to the consumer.
According to a 2008 American Association of Railroads study, rail freight fuel efficiency had improved 3.1% since 2006 and nearly 85% since 1980, with a ton of freight moving as far as 436 miles per gallon of fuel (as impressive as that is, barges are reportedly even more fuel efficient). Both the Union Pacific [NYSE: UNP] and BNSF have been using genset locomotives in yards and in local service in compliance with local clean air regulations in places like Texas and California.
Also, the railroad industry is one of the few sectors of the economy that seemsto behiringright now. Yet despite all the apparent pluses the rail industry has going for it in this down economy, the NRDC decided to undertake a series of frivolous lawsuits as a trial balloon to go after airports, trucking and shipping- by their own admission.
At face value, if the NRDC chooses to bring this suit to trial it should be laughed out of the courtroom by the presiding judge. However, I would not put it past this cabal of latter-day luddites to effectively shop around for a sympathetic judge to bring the suit before.
It's probably worth noting that one of the founders of the NRDC, John Bryson, is the current Obama Administration nominee to head the Commerce Department. Bryson left the group in the mid 1970s and after time with Edison International [NYSE: EIX], he became CEO of Brightsource Energy and described by the Wall Street Journal as 'somebody with a talent for scoring government subsidies'.
Ex-MARC GP40WH-2 #59 Arriving in Ayer, MA with train #417- David Hutchinson photo- NE Rails.org
MBTA: Boston's commuter railway agency has acquired some new motive power to augment their aging fleet. In addition to purchasing two MP36PHC's from the Utah Transit agency earlier this year, the T is also leasing three former MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) GP40WH-2s with an option to lease additional units until the first new locomotives from a 20-unit order are expected to arrive in 2013. The commuter agency placed a $115 million order for 20 HSP46 locomotives with Wabtec [NYSE: WAB] subsidiary Motive Power International of Boise, ID.
The T is also hoping to persuade the Utah Transit agency to lease them two additional MPI MP36PHCs, although the Salt Lake City based agency has expressed a reluctance to part with them. Aside from two genset switchers purchased from National Railway Equipment in 2009, the MPI order is the first time the MBTA has ordered new locomotives since the 1970s.
Accoring to MBTA estimates, one in every four trains were delayed systemwide in the first two months of 2011. Of those delays, half were attributed to mechanical problems with the T's aging fleet of eighteen F40PH-2, which the agency is hoping to retire.
NEW ENGLAND CENTRAL: A May 31 derailment on the NECR mainline between Palmer, MA and St. Albans, VT sent eight cars off the rails, damaged some fiber-optic cable from Sprint and blocked the Station Rd crossing in Amherst, MA. The cars weren't carrying any hazardous materiel and did not tip over, but the derailment did damage to several yards of track.
The following day, crews from Sprint [NYSE: S] were repairing the damaged cable and RJ Corman was working to clear the derailment. The deralied cars were carrying steel billets, and it was one 65ft gondola car that was blocking the crossing in Amherstt.
Besides mixed freight between St Albans, VT and New London, CT on the former Central Vermont line, that portion of the New England Central also regularly features unit ethanol trains between North Dakota and Providence, RI as well as Amtrak's Vermonter service.
KENTUCKY: Each year, a number of VIPs arrive at Churchill Downs [NASDAQ: CHDN] by train for the Kentucky Derby, and last month's wasn't any different [to be honest, I have no idea whether or not ESPN's Erin Andrews arrived by train, yet I somehow thought it was worth posting the picture regardless- NANESB!].
Outbound NS Office Car Special at Lawrenceburg, KY- JL Scott photo
Every year for the last couple of years, both CSX and RJ Corman have run their own passenger trains over the former Louisville & Nashville Old Road division between Louisville and Frankfort, KY. While RJ Corman uses equipment from their My Old Kentucky Dinner train, CSX uses motive power and passenger cars from their executive train and is referred to as the Governor's Special.
In years past, RJ Corman has expressed an interest in running their Chinese-made 2-10-2 QJ steam locomotive on the excusrion, but since the final leg of the trip to Louisville is made over CSX rails, the CSX has veto power over whether or not steam can be used.
Norfolk Southern typically operates their Derby train between Pennsylvania and Louisville using their duo of F9A units painted in a Southern-inspired paint scheme.
Canadian Pacific would frequently operate their own Derby special on the former Milwaukee Road line between Chicago and Louisville, but the CP sold that line to the Indiana Railroad in 2005.
However, over the past few years private varnish from Northern Sky Charters and Amtrak locomotives were used in special charter trains operating between Indianapolis and Louisville on Anacostia Pacific's Louisville & Indiana Railroad, including this year.
KENTUCKY: Kentucky governor Steve Beshear announced last month that the Commonwealth will award a total of $3.1 million in grants towards Kentucky shortlines to replace ties and repair bridges, crossings and right-of-way. Among the recipients include RJ Corman's Central Kentucky Lines, the Paducah and Louisville, TransKentucky Transportation, TennKen, Louisville & Indiana and the Kentucky Railroad Museum. Aside from one project on the Paducah & Louisville, the money is the Commonwealth's portion of a matching grant, with the railroads paying the other half.
RJ CORMAN: While not used for the Kentucky Derby this year, RJ Corman announced that their Chinese QJ 2-10-2 steam locomotive would be making a shakedown run between Frankfort and Lexington on the first weekend in June and would be available for up-close public viewing in Frankfort on June 4.
There remains the possibility that QJ #2008 could be used in limited excursion service later on in the summer.
CANADIAN PACIFIC: The Canadian Pacific announced a series of excusrions throughout western Canada featuring 1930-built Montreal Locomotive Works 4-6-4 Hudson #2816, starting with a special between Moose Jaw, SK and Medecine Hat, AB via Swift Current, SK. Proceeds from ticket sales on the excursions go towards the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada. Besides this weekend's train ride between Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat, a number of other excusrions are on tap throughout Alberta and British Columbia between June and August- Schedule and ticket information is available here.
GWRS M420 #2000 Smokes it up hauling ballast and empty tank cars out of storage at Willows, SK in September 2010- John Leopard
GREAT WESTERN: Canadian Railway Observations is reporting that the all-MLW Saskatchewan's Great Western Railway has recently acquired a pair of BNSF B40-8Ws. The units were dropped off by Canadian Pacific at the interchange in Assiniboia at the end of April and reportedly made their first revenue run for the GWRS on May 23rd.
The Great Western is reportedly looking to sell off two of the five M420s, which they've had since beginning operations in the l990s when they purchased a cluster of light density branchlines from the Canadian Pacific in southwestern Saskatchewan.
Also of note on the Great Western system, the province's first tourist train is set to start running excursions this summer between Ogema and Pangman, SK. Equipment will include a former Conway Scenic GE 44-tonner, an ex-Canadian Pacific baggage car and a former Delaware Lackawna & Western coach car and operations will be based out of the restored former CP depot in Ogema (which is really the former Simpson, SK depot, that a nearby farmer used for grain storage for a few years).
TEXAS: General Electric [NYSE: GE] announced plans to construct a state-of-the-art facility in Ft. Worth, TX that could start building locomotives as early as next year. The 500,000 sq foot facility on the north end of Ft Worth could be increased by nearly double according to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.
The project initially will create more than 500 high-tech manufacturing jobs and the possibility of 275 more in coming years, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce said today.
The company is expected to invest $96 million expanding the building at 12850 Three Wide Drive, located west of the Texas Motor Speedway, into a 900,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art locomotive manufacturing facility. It is being supported by $4.2 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund.
Lorenzo Simonelli, president and CEO of GE Transportation, said the Fort Worth facility will allow the company to better serve its customers.
"We see robust growth in the U.S. and around the globe," Simonelli said. "A new site will help us to effectively respond to the cyclical demand in the transportation industry and to strengthen our overall position."
GE Transportation will use the Fort Worth facility to assemble and remanufacture the company's rail and transportation-related products, the chamber said. That includes GE's signature Evolution Series locomotive, an energy-efficient product that it says reduces fuel consumption 5 percent while reducing emissions by 40 percent over the lifetime of the locomotive.
GE Transportation will start hiring salaried employees and production workers such as welders, assemblers, painters and related skilled trades by the end of the year. Production should begin by the second half of 2012.
In addition to the Ft Worth facility, GE also plans to expand capacity at it's Erie, PA facility.
EMD: Perhaps the biggest news of the month (if not the whole year) is the acquisition of locomotive manufacturer Electro-Motive Diesel by Caterpillar's Progress Rail Services from private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity LLC in a deal believed to be worth 820 million. Started in the 1930s as the Electro Motive Company and acquired by General Motors by the end of the decade, EMC started out making small, low horsepower switchers before graduating to the FT series. The introduction of the distinctive FT series in 1939 was seen as start of the demise of the steam locomotive while ushering in the streamliner-era.
Immediately after WWII, EMD's locomotive manufacturing faced competition from steam locomotive manufacturers ALCo, Baldwin and Lima-Hamilton and their early entries into the diesel locomotive market- the most resilient of which (ALCo) lasted until 1969. By that time, the EMD brand was introducing successful locomotives along the lines of the SD40 but was also facing competition from GE's burgeoning diesel manufacturing. Even with orders for the popular SD70MAC and SD70ACE from Class I haulers CSX, BNSF and Canadian National coming in, General Motors sold off their EMD subsidiary to Berkshire and Greenbriar in 2005.
Several overseas companies manufacture EMDs locally as well. India's Diesel Locomotive Works manufactures EMD engines and parts under licence, with EMD having a 50 year presence in India. Sweden would produce locomotives with EMD components up until the 1970s through Nydquist & Holm while Australia's Clyde would manufacture EMD products for the state-run railways throughout Australia as well as the privately-run ore-haulers in Western Australia.
As a side-note, a half-dozen Clyde Built SD50S that had worked for Western Australia ore-hauler Hammersley Iron were exported to the USA when they were replaced by American-made C44-9Ws a decade ago. The Clyde-built locos [which after nearly 2 decades of hauling ore in the Australian outback could hardly be described as 'gently used'- NANESB!] roamed the country briefly as loaners before being purchased by the Utah Railroad. Here, Aussie import Clyde #6064 is seen in it's distinctive Genesee & Wyoming orange paint while between assignments at Utah Rail's Midvale, UT yard in April 2009.
NORFOLK SOUTHERN: Before purchasing EMD outright, Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail Services was busy re-engineing and refurbishing EMD locomotives approaching the end of their service life. In addition to the Progress Rail PR30Cs being tested extensively by Florida East Coast for much of the last year, Norfolk Southern was testing a pair of higher-horsepower Progress Rail rebuilds on their Illinois lines. The units were rebuilt from SD60s Norfolk Southern was withdraing from service, designated PR43Cs (PR for Progress Rail, 43 for 4300 HP and C for 6 axles) and worked mainly around the Peoria, IL area- headquarters of Progress Rail's parent company Caterpillar in case any servicing was required.
One can only learn so much about a locomotive's performance on the flat-as-a-tabletop terrain of Illinois, so in February, the Norfolk Southern decided to bring them to Virginia to test their capabilities in hillier terrain. Secondhand reports indicate that both PR43Cs handled the 1.58% Starkey Grade on the line out of Roanoke, VA with about 50 loaded hopper cars and the test car quite well. Norfolk Southern would also bring in Kansas City Southern'sEMD GP22ECO mother/slug set and Brookville Equipment Corporation's 'co-generation' hybrid locomotive for road testing and evaluation in the Roanoke area over the spring.
Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Buffalo & Pittsburgh is also reportedly interested in looking at the KCS GP22ECO rebuilds.
ARIZONA: Passenger service returned to the restored 1916 depot in the Arizona mining town of Globe for the first time in 77 years with the Copper Spike excursion. The excursions have been operating since late 2008 and the newest addition is Arizona Eastern E8A painted in a scheme reminiscent of Southern Pacific's 'Black Widow' livery. The Copper Spike's consist also includes a dome car and a rebuilt Illinois Central coach that's now a club car. The Arizona Eastern normally hauls freight between Miami, AZ to the Union Pacific interchange at Bowie, AZ- a distance of 130 miles. In 2008, AZER also gained trackage rights over UP's former Southern Pacific Sunset Route between Bowie, AZ to Lordsburg, NM and acquired the former Espee branch between Lordsburg and Clifton, AZ. The Arizona Eastern is a wholly owned subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC.
MICHIGAN: The Escanaba & Lake Superior filed a request with the Surface Transportaton Board to abandon 43 miles of trackage between Ontonagon and Frost in Michigan's upper peninsula. Smurfit-Stone Container, the largest shipper on that line, and the Ontonagon Economic Partnership have agreed to draft a joint letter to the STB requesting a stay. Both the board and Smurfit-Stone are in talks with outside parties to sell the currently idle paper plant. In anticipation of the pending abandonment request, the E&LS began moving equipment off the line and elsewhere as early as November 2009- when railpictures.net contributor Dean Sauvola caught E&LS SD9 #1224 and SD40-2 #501 hauling a string of empty boxcars stored at the mill across the Ontonagon River. Hit particularly hard by the recession, Ontanogon County MI has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.
INDIA: At least 145 people were killed and another 250 injured when suspected Maoist terrorists in West Bengal sabotaged a stretch of track that the the Gyaneshwari Express was travelling on, derailing the train and knocking some of the passenger cars into the path of an oncoming freight train. Indian Railways minister MamatmaBanerjee said that rebels removed a 50cm section of rail and timed it so that the Gyanshwari Express would collide with another train. Local investigators found Naxalite literature at the scene, although they wouldn't identify which specific group. According to the Ministy or Railways, the engineer had just left the station in the PaschimMedinipur district when the train hit the sabotaged portion of track, derailing 13 cars from the Gyanshwari Express.
RHODE ISLAND: Due to flooding around Kingston, RI, Amtrak is re-routing trains off the Northeast Corridor. There's been limited service between New York and Boston using CSX's former Boston & Albany mainline as far west as Springfield, MA before heading south to New Haven, CT via Hartford on Amtrak's ex-New Haven line. MBTA Commuter service is reportedly affected between Providence, RI and Attleboro, MA. CSX's Beacon Hill, MA to Selkirk, NY line already MBTA commuter service between Worcester and Boston's South Station and hosts the Boston section of Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited from Rennsalleer, NY on east and the Vermonter between Springfield and Palmer, MA.
(San Diego Union-Tribune)
CALIFORNIA: Rail America's [NYSE: RA] San Diego & Imperial Valley unveiled their new National Railway Equipment gensets last week. The two NRE 3GS21B Gensets (SDIY #701 and 702) will likely replace a pair of leased former Canadian National GP40-2LWs and SDIY's aging former Santa Fe GP7u. The railroad hauls propane, corn syrup, wood pulp and overhead traffic between BNSF and the Carrizo Gorge Railway on San Diego's MTS red trolley service between downtown San Diego and the US/Mexican border at San Ysidro, plus the branch between San Diego and El Cajon, CA- often in the middle of the night to avoid conflicting with the trolley schedule. SDIY will likely retain a pair of GP38-2s and a GP40 from sister road Central Oregon & Pacific.
About 60% of the $3 million price tag for the duo of Gensets will be covered by the San Diego Air Pollution Control District. NRE is reportedly working on a 5-unit order of 3GS21B-DEs for sister railroad California Northern.
This would not be the first Rail America shortline to order genset locomotives new, as Texas-based Dallas, Garland & Northeastern ordered a pair of 2GS14Bs from NRE in 2007.
The publishers of the Blue Book guide to used-car prices determined that the earlier Cash for Clunkers program actually cost the American taxpayer approximately $24,000 per new car sold during that time frame. According to the Edmunds.com study, out of the estimated 690,000 cars that were sold while Cash for Clunkers was in effect all but 125,000 of them went to people who were had decided to purchase a new car anyway.
[Edmunds] crunched the numbers. A valid way to evaluate the program economically, it says, is to look at how many people purchased cars that otherwise wouldn’t have been bought. The firm says that number is about 125,000 cars. By that measure, the government spent $24,000 to generate each sale of a new car.
For comparison, the average price for a new vehicle in August 2009 was $26,915, minus an average cash rebate of $1,667.
In all, the government spent $3 billion on a program that provided cash toward 690,000 car purchases – about $4,348 per car. That makes 565,000 people who got as much as $4,500 to buy a car they would have bought anyway, according to the Edmunds analysis. While the White House took exception to the Edmunds.com claim, the Obama Administration's 'New Media' Chief Macon Phillips decided to quietly take the high road.
“In other words,” writes Macon Phillips, the White House’s “new media” chief, “all the other cars were being sold on Mars while the rest of the country was caught up in the excitement of the Cash for Clunkers program. The CEA’s analysis is transparent and comprehensive … Edmunds.com, on the other hand, is promoting a bombastic press release without any public access to their underlying analysis. So put on your space suit and compare the two approaches yourself.”
You'll also be pleased to know that the rail industry has what could be considered a long-running predecesor to Cash for Clunkers for the past few years. Straight from National Railway Equipment's website is this PDF file explaining that the purchase of some of the Genset locomotives manufactured by companies like NRE or Railpower International are eligible for state, local and federal subsidies of up to 80%. When these gensets were first introduced, I assumed that Class I Railways like BNSF or Union Pacific were interested in them because they were effective. Instead, it's because of an artificial demand created by a patchwork of emissons laws across various states, matching funds and various subsidies that have the railroad paying only 20% of the purchase price. If I'm not mistaken, I believe for every Genset a railroad purchases, an older locomotive has to be stricken from the roster to qualify. However, unlike this years' Cash for Clunkers, there is no provision for scrapping the retired locomotive and in a few cases, the recently retired locomotives are sold off to a leasing company and promptly leased back by the same railroad.
