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.
HORSE RACING- Mint juleps and gorgeous southern women with big.......hats. What's not to love?
Yep- it was Kentucky Derby time this past weekend and all the assorted owners, big hats, horses, jockeys, trainers and celebs descended on Louisville's Churchill Downs [NASDAQ- CHDN] for all manner of revelry that just happened to be bookended by a horse race.
Owned by Boston-based Centennial farms, Wicked Strong was named in honor of the post-marathon bombings 'Boston Strong' rallying cry.
According to Centennial Farms, the name 'Boston Strong' was taken, so they decided on the "wicked" prefix, which is a new England colloquialism for 'Very' or 'Extremely'. Heading into Saturday's race, Wicked Strong was tied with Danza Closest at 8:1 odds for the colt, who had won New York's Wood Memorial Stakes at the Aqueduct in Queens a few weeks prior.
However, it would be California Chrome who would win the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby going away, finishing several lengths ahead of the pack. Wicked Strong ended up finishing fourth, 5¾ lengths behind California Chrome.
Wicked Strong will reportedly skip the Preakness to focus on training for the Belmont stakes. Meanwhile, California Chrome will run in the Preakness in an attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner in horse racing since Affirmed in 1978.
RED SOX- After dropping the final game of last weeken's 3-game series against Oakland, the Red Sox were set to host the Cincinnati Reds in a 1975 World Series rematch for a quick 2-game series before heading on the road.
With the game tied at 1-1, it looked as though the Red Sox were set to chase Reds starter Homer Bailey from the mound in the bottom of the 3rd when Mike Napoli drew a bases-loaded walk and Grady Sizemore hit an RBI single. However, Bailey was able to limit the damage done and get through without coughing up any more runs- despite the Red Sox getting baserunners with a 3-1 lead.
Boston starter Felix Doubront, however, was only able to get through the first 5⅓ innings before the Red Sox had to get to the bullpen. This would come back to haunt Boston as Tazawa would allow a pair of runs to come home in the top of the 8th- a Todd Frasier RBI single that plated Joey Votto and a Ryan Ludwick sac fly that brought Brandon Phillips home to tie the contest up at 3-3.
Uehara, Andrew Miller and Craig Breslow would come out of the bullpen, and while getting some of those outs looked like they might be an adventure, the game remained tied at 3-3 heading into extras. Meanwhile, the Cincinnati relievers seemed to be pretty efficient in getting Red Sox batters out- at least until the bottom of the 12th when Logan Ondrusek came out of the bullpen and promptly gave up a leadoff single to Big Papi followed by a Mike Napoli single. The game ended when Grady Sizemore hit a wall-ball to deep left center [that was scored a single for some reason- NANESB!] that brought Big Papi home and gave the Red Sox the 4-3 win. Sizemore had the most productive night out of all the Red Sox, going 3 for 6 with two RBI- including the game-winner
The quick two game series wraps up later on Wednesday night at Fenway when Jake Peavy [1-1; 2.87 ERA] takes on Mike Leake [2-3; 3.53 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
NHL- Turns out falling behind by two goals doesn't always guarantee a 3rd quarter come-from-behind win.
On Tuesday night's game 3 of the series between Montreal and Boston, the Habs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead midway through the first with goals by Tomas Plekanec and PK Subban. In the 3rd, Dale Weise make it a 3-0 Montreal lead before Patrice Bergeron got Boston on the board with just over two minutes to go in the 2nd.
It remained a 3-1 game until late in the 3rd when Jarome Iginla scored to make it 3-2 Montreal with just over 2 minutes to go in regulation. Tukka Rask was pulled for the extra attacker, but that only translated to an empty-net goal from Lars Eller with less than 10 seconds left in the game.
Montreal goes on to win by a 4-2 final and takes a 2-1 series lead over the Bruins.
Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday night from Montreal and will be televised on NBC sports and CBC, with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 ET.
RED SOX- It took all night, but the Red Sox were able to snap their three-game losing streak.
Heading into Comiskey after dropping three out of four to the Yankees in the Bronx, the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox squandered a good start by Jake Peavy against his former team when the White Sox broke a 1-1 deadlock on a 2-out throwing error by Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the 9th that plated Alexei Ramirez to give the southsiders a 2-1 walkoff win.
Wednesday night's game seemed full of missed opportunities for both teams as the Red Sox took an early 1-0 lead on a Bogaerts RBI single in the first inning. Chicago tied the game in the bottom of the first when Adam Eaton came home from third on a Ryan Robert throwing error to make it 1-1. The Pale Hose would then take a 3-1 lead when Alexei Ramirez belted a 2-run homer off of Clay Buchholz in the bottom of the 6th, but the Red Sox would chip away at that lead.
Boston would get a run back in the bottom of the 8th when Big Papi was walked to lead off the inning and went to second on a walk to Jonny Gomes, then 3rd when Grady Sizemore hit into a fielder's choice. Former White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski then hit a sac fly deep enough to bring the lumbering Big Papi home to make it 3-2 Chicago. In the 9th, Dustin Pedroia drew a leadoff walk, followed by Bogarts drawing another walk and Big Papi flying out to left. Jonny Gomes then hit an infield single to load the bases before Pedroia came home on a Sizemore sac fly to tie the game before Pierzynsky grounded out to end the inning.
So into extras they went on the South Side, and once again walks would cost the White Sox as Boston took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 11th when Dustin Pedroia came home on a Jonny Gomes sac fly. However, in the bottom half of the 11th and with the White Sox down to their last strike and Jordan Danks on 2nd, Tyler Flowers got a base hit to tie the game at 4-4. Adam Eaton would then fly out to end the ChiSox threat in the bottom of the 11th, so the game continued into the early hours of Thursday morning.
With a depleted White Sox bullpen, Chicago sent out 2B Leury Garcia onto the pitchers mound. Garcia managed to get two out before Daniel Nava and Jonathan Herrera were on board for Jackie Bradley Jr hit a 2-out double to give Boston the lead once again, plating Nava and Herrera and making it a 6-4 Boston lead. After Capuano went 2⅔ innings, Burke Badenhop came out of the bullpen to face the final Chicago batter, striking out Marcus Semien to end the ballgame.
Boston goes on to win this one in 14, despite the fact that Chicago pitching allowed a total of 15 walks and Boston left 28 runners stranded on base- averaging two per inning in Wednesday night's game.
The rubber game is Thursday night with Jon Lester [1-2; 2.57 ERA] going up against Chicago's Chris Sale [3-0; 2.66 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
NHL- The Boston Bruins ended the regular season by winning their final two games against Buffalo and New Jersey. The wins mean that Boston has secured the President's Cup Trophy- the NHL's award for the club with the best regular-season record [for point of reference, the Canucks won the President's Cup in the 2010-11 season and the Blackhawks won the honors during the lockout shortened 2013 season -NANESB!].
Under this year's newly-revised NHL playoff structure, the Bruins will face the Red Wings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the winner of this series going on to face the winner of the Montreal-Tampa bay Series. The Habs already lead that series 1 game to nothing while the Bruins and Red Wings won't get started until Friday at 7:30 ET from Boston. The Original Six matchup is set to be aired on NESN locally, NBC Sports network nationwide and TSN in Canada.
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NCAA HOOPS- Once again, it's been a pretty good week for University of Connecticut basketball. The Men's team faced off against the Kentucky Wildcats in the Men's final last week and led wire-to-wire [although Kentucky would close the gap considerably in the second half- NANESB![ going on to win the national title game by a 54-60 final.
Just days later, in an extremely rare meeting of undefeateds, the UConn women's team faced off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA Women's basketball national title game and would go on to win convincingly by a 79-58 final. The University even held a joint parade to celebrate the two national titles. The two championships come 10 years after the last NCAA program to win both men's and women's titles in basketball- which also happened to be Connecticut.
Charlestown, Massachusett's own Shabazz Napier was named the most outstanding player of the 2014 Men's tournament by the NCAA and awarded to Bob Cousey award as the top point guard in the NCAA. Napier- a senior- will enter the NBA draft this season.
NCAA HOCKEY- Sadly, there will be no NCAA Men's hockey title inside the Hub this year. Union, the small upstate New York college just northwest of Albany, made the most of their second Frozen Four appearance since the 2011-2012 season, skating past the Boston College Eagles by a 5-4 final to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the National Title Game.
Although Minnesota got out to an early lead, Union took command late in the first period with an explosive two minutes getting goals from Mike Vecchione, Eli Lichtenwald and Daniel Ciampini to give the Dutchmen a 4-2 lead by the first intermission. Minnesota clawed back, getting the only goal of the 3rd from Taylor Cammarata to make it a 1-goal contest, but Union pulled away for good in the 3rd and would go on to win their first ever hockey title.
The Men's hockey title is the first national championship to come to Union since a 1926 Men's Lacrosse title.
OTHER NCAA MEN'S HOCKEY NEWS- Boston College senior Johnny Guardeau was awarded the Hobey Baker trophy this year. The Calgary Flames 4th round pick led the nation in scoring with 80 points in 40 games for Boston College and led in goals (6) and assists (44).
RED SOX- Now that the weekend series is overI can honestly say the highlight of this weekend's series at Fenway was Friday's pregame ring ceremony.
The ceremony featured members of the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox being awarded their rings, which also included a 'Boston Strong' insignia on the side and a Bearded Band of Brothers on the interior of the ring. On hand for the ceremony were Pedro Martinez representing the 2004 World Series Champs, Mike Lowell representing the 2007 World Series team, Ty Law, Teddy Bruschi and Troy Brown representing the Patriots Superbowl Champion teams, Mark Recchi of the Bruins most recent Stanley Cup Championship team and Leon Powe of the 2008 Celtics NBA Championship team. A moment of silence was held before the ceremony to mark the deaths of Boston firefighters- Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy- who were killed in a Back Bay brownstone fire last week.
The Red Sox came into the weekend winning two straight against AL East foe Baltimore and Friday's game where it was tied 2-2 headed into the 9th inning, but offseason acquisition Edward Mujica came on in the top of the inning with a disastrous outing, surrendering four runs to propel the Brewers to a 6-2 lead before Francisco Rodriguez came out in the bottom of the 9th to retire the Sox in order to go on to win by a 6-2 final.
On Saturday, the Red Sox fared no better when they lost in 11 innings to the Brewers by a 7-6 final. Sunday was their last chance to avoid the sweep and stop the bleeding with Lester on the mound. However, Yovani Gallardo and the Brewers pen would shut out the Red Sox [Boston would strand 13 runners on base- NANESB!] and Milwaukee would ruin opening weekend for the Red Sox by sweeping the series, going on to win by a 4-0 final on Sunday.
The Red Sox will hope to rebound on Monday night when they host the Texas Rangers- the first AL opponent they will see in Fenway this season. John Lackey [1-0; 3.00 ERA] will get the start against Tanner Scheppers [0-0; 15.75 ERA] and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN as well as locally on NESN. First pitch from Fenway is scheduled for 7:10 ET.
BOSTON BRUINS- After the Detroit Red Wings handed the Bruins their first regulation loss in nearly a month on Wednesday night, the Bruins would lose to the Maple Leafs in OT on Thursday night before heading home for their next-to-last home game of the regular season on Saturday.
The Bruins headed into Saturday's game hoping to clinch the top overall spot in the Eastern Conference and deliver a blow to the Flyer's playoff hopes. David Krejci got the Bruins on the board with just over 4 minutes remaining in the first, but that was a prelude to wild second half in which the Flyers would get on the board with just under five and a half minutes to go in the second thanks to a Wayne Simmonds power play goal. However, the B's would come right back with a goal from Milan Lucic 20 seconds later to take a 2-1 lead. But in the closing seconds of the 2nd stanza, the Flyers would once again pull even with Jay Rosehill beating Rask with 21 seconds remaining.
However, the Bruins would take the lead for good in the third when they scored three unanswered goals (from Boychuck, Lucic and Kelly) to make it a 5-2 game. Tukka Rask made 24 saves on 26 shots faced while Ray Emery stopped 37 of 41 shots faced [Kelly's tally was an empty-netter which didn't count against Emery- NANESB!].
The Bruins will hit the road once again, this time to take on the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and Thursday before heading back to the Garden on Saturday for the final home game of the regular season where they'll face the Buffalo Sabres. Tuesday night's game is scheduled to get underway at 8:00 ET and will be televised on NESN.
NCAA HOOPS- As you can probably figure out by what's absent from my blog this time of year, I haven't been into bracketology for awhile. But with March Madness whittled down to the final two- 2012 Champion Kentucky and UConn. The Huskies bested the Florida Gators to advance to the Men's final while the Wildcats squeaked by the Wisconsin Badgers in a one point game during the Final Four. Tipoff from Dallas is scheduled for 9:10 ET and the game will be televised on CBS.
More than 60 cases of a bourbon the Wall Street Journal described as "So Popular Even Billionaires Can't Find It" have gone missing from a Frankfort, KY warehouse, prompting a flood of media inquiries and tips [but mostly media inquiries- NANESB!] to the local sheriff's office.
By the time supervisors at Buffalo Trace realized what had happened, dozens of cases were gone — to the tune of about $25,350 retail — along with nine cases of 13-year-old Van Winkle Family Reserve rye, valued at a total of about $675.
“It appears that (the whiskey) was taken off the back of the pallets in the back of the area where they were being stored,” Melton said. The missing Pappy was being stored in an especially secure area of the Buffalo Trace Frankfort facility, one with limited access, so police are examining who would have had regular access to the whiskey, he said.
The 20-year-old bourbon retails for about $130 but the price can skyrocket on the secondary market — generally $300-$400 a bottle, or more. One California liquor store with two bottles of 20-year-old Pappy in stock Thursday was asking about $1,200 each in its online store.
Melton said he did not know how the thief would unload the pilfered Pappy, but was sure they would find a way. “I think you can be creative as you want to be,” he said.
Fortune once described it as “the ultimate cult brand,” and Buffalo Trace’s website describes Pappy as “the No. 1 rated Bourbon Whiskey in the world, with a 99 out of 100 rating by the World Spirits Championship.”
There have been thefts reported from Buffalo Trace in the past, but nothing close to this scale, Melton said. The way the bourbon was stolen — small amounts taken slowly over time — made it difficult to notice it had gone missing until is was far too late, Melton said.
A July 2013 piece in the Wall Street Journalhighlighted the cult following of the Pappy Van Winkle brand, including a 500 person waiting list for bottles that have been aged anywhere from 10 to 23 years and fetching as high as $5000 per bottle [although it clarifies that prices ranging from $100 to $500 are more typical- NANESB!].
Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Bluegrass state and provides us a glimpse of the late RJ Corman's impeccably-run Central Kentucky Lines.
Sand vacuumed up from the bed of the Ohio River is loaded into a fleet of RJ Corman's impeccably maintained fleet of red gondola cars by Louisville, KY based Nugent sand for the relatively short 80 mile trip to Nugent Sand's Lexington, KY facility.
The short trip, which was profiled in a 2011 Lexington Herald-Leader article about RJ Corman's railroad enterprises, takes an estimated 17,400 trucks of the road between Louisville and Lexington each year. Since 2005- just two years after RJ Corman's Central Kentucky Lines took over operations of the former Louisville & Nashville line between Lexington and Louisville- anywhere from 400,000 to 600,000 tons of sand have been moved over the line with each car carrying roughly 125 tons.
Here, railpictures.net contributor JL Scott caught RJ Corman Lines SD40T-2 #5409 and SD40-2 #3944 roaring eastbound through Shelbyville, KY with a Lexington-bound sand train on May 22nd, 2011. The #5409 started out life as Denver, Rio Grande & Western #5409 while the #3944 began as a Missouri Pacific unit.
RJ "Rick" Corman, the savvy Kentucky entrepreneur who parlayed a small outfit with a single backhoe and rented dump truck into a $300 million business, passed away from multiple myeloma on August 23rd.
Corman claimed that he got his start fairly early, helping out with his grandfather's business hauling junk, cattle and dirt in Jessamine County, Kentucky at age 11. Barely graduating high school in 1973, Corman soon went into business for himself by renting a backhoe and dump truck to find whatever odd jobs he could and easing into railroad work by rebuilding crossings.
"Railroads don't care -- well, they really can't care -- what the weather's like when something needs fixing," he says. Workers who couldn't take the punishment left. Corman kept making himself the model for doing things right. A "go-getter" by the description of many, including even himself, he steadily picked up construction jobs and gained a reputation for fast, expert service. It also helped that most people simply liked him, sensing his innate intelligence, quickly learning that he was totally honest, enjoying his openness and humor and boisterous, cackling laugh.
In business, Corman was opportunistic. A Columbus company to which the rail industry outsourced some of its derailment business quit the city, and Corman was asked by railroad friends to step into the void. He did, accepting the need to acquire heavy, expensive equipment -- machines that will lift a derailed car, for example, so that the rails beneath it can be repaired or replaced. But Corman also has a hand in more prosaic businesses, such as selling rails and ties to railroads. In effect, he takes on inventory costs they'd just as soon not bear.
By 1984, when Corman was paying 24% interest to finance new trucks, he sought help from Luther Deaton, a lending officer at Lexington's Central Bank & Trust. Deaton, now president of the bank, recalls that "a very self-confident and happy-go-lucky" Corman, then just short of 30, arrived for their first meeting wearing boots, khaki pants, and a big belt buckle flashing his initials, and with no financial statements in hand. "I just couldn't get comfortable with him," Deaton remembers.
Deaton stayed skeptical until Corman got him to visit a couple of work sites -- "to see what we do." On his first visit, to a sprawling Baltimore & Ohio wreck, Deaton saw shiny red trucks and bulldozers and watched Rick work atop a railroad car, rigging cables to start pulling derailed cars out of a tunnel. Next, on a deathly hot August day, Deaton drove to see a stretch of railroad being rebuilt. Deaton found Rick pulling up spikes so that track could be re-laid, while sweat poured out of the top of his work boots. Explaining to Deaton that he couldn't right then talk to him, Corman said that if he got the job finished by midnight, he would get a bonus and in turn be able to pay bonuses to his workers -- those remaining, because several had quit during the day owing to the harsh conditions.
Deaton went home, comfortable, and says he told the president of the bank, "Look, we've got to help this guy. He knows how to get it done. He's free to go be a great success," and the boss said, "Do it." The next day, a Saturday, Deaton found Corman sitting in the engine he used for an office, with blisters on his feet visibly oozing. Deaton cut his interest costs on the trucks to 14% and offered him a $500,000 credit line. "We've never looked back since then," says Deaton. "He's a banker's dream." Translation, according to Deaton: Corman is a brilliant businessman who borrows frequently, but is conservative and always good for his debt.
BNSF CEO Matt Rose compared Corman to legendary oilfield firefighter Red Adair, both in terms of the scale and unforgiving schedule of the job. In 1987, Corman ventured into the railway operating business when his contacts with the Seaboard System [now CSX- NANESB!] sold him a 20 mile former Louisville & Nashville branch line to Bardstown, KY for $300,000. Within a year of the sale, Corman began operating My Old Kentucky Dinner Train on the Bardstown line, which is still running to this day.
In 1995, Corman embarked on an ambitious expansion with the acquisition of nearly 300 miles of Conrail's former Pennsylvania Railroad Clearfield cluster serving the central Pennsylvania coalfields. RJ Corman lines also acquired branchlines around Allentown, PA and Lima, OH in the 1990s while much closer to home, Corman's group purchased the 115 mile former Louisville & Nashville Old Road line between Louisville and Winchester, KY (via Lexington and the state capitol of Frankfort) in 2003 which they called the Central Kentucky Lines to differentiate it from the Bardstown operation.
With an already robust traffic base on the Central Kentucky Lines, Corman aggressively went after new business on the former Old Road through his backyard. As a result of his company's efforts, the Central Kentucky Lines now see near-daily unit trains of sand and aluminum ingots in addition to the paper, alcohol, limestone, peanut, brick and corn syrup that was there prior to the RJ Corman Line's acquisition.
That same year, RJ Corman Lines acquired a 16 mile former CSX branch between Thurmond and Pax, WV. Within a few years, the line would rebuild an abandoned connection with the Norfolk Southern on the west end and garner 2007 Shortline of the Year honors from Railway Age magazine.
Corman was also a rail enthusiast at heart, and this was made apparent in 2008 when he purchased a fully operational standard gauge 2-10-2 'QJ' steam locomotive from China for operation on his Central Kentucky Lines. Like his much larger counterparts at CSX and Norfolk Southern, RJ Corman also regularly operated special VIP trains to the Kentucky Derby each year.
By 2009, Corman had acquired the assets of bankrupt Canadian Genset manufacturer Rail Power, Inc and began demonstrating some of the units on his own Central Kentucky lines. After the Rail Power acquisition, the company was renamed RJ Corman Rail Power and filled orders for CSX, California shortline Modesto & Empire Traction and the ports of Montreal and Corpus Christi, TX.
The company also boasts its own police department and fleet of aircraft used to either fly employees in to perform contract work at various sites or visually inspect the lines from above. Like the Corman fleet of locomotives, the two private jets and helicopter are painted red with silver trim.
Corman was aware of his deteriorating health since 2001 and made estate planning a priority while undergoing treatment. He is survived by his partner Tammie Taylor and five children. In lieu of flowers, Corman's family has requested that donations be made to the Dana-Farber cancer institute instead. Hall of Fame Kentucky men's basketball coach John Calipari expressed his condolences and announced that he would be wearing red in honor of Corman this upcoming season [usually a no-no, since Corman's company colors are the same of Kentucky's in-state archrival Louisville- NANESB!]. US Senator Mitch McConnell and Kentucky governor Steve Beshear also expressed their condolences.
Shortly before a liberal Kentucky political action committee launched a social media campaign against incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (as well as his Taiwanese wife), the group's head had visited the White House and met with President Obama's chief fundraiser.
According to both White House visitor logs and the twitter account of one of the men accused of illegally recording a staff meeting at McConnell's newly opened campaign headquarters, Progress Kentucky head Shawn Reilly met with White House officials and a leftist think tank in Washington DC.
Reilly and Curtis Morrison are currently under investigation by the FBI for illicitly taping a campaign conversation between McConnell and a handful of his advisors. During the conversation McConnell and his aides discussed the potential candidacy of actress Ashley Judd — including using her mental health problems against her.
For days, Democrats in the state and nationally have sought to cast the duo as a pair of bungling amateurs who simply got in over their heads and made a series of bad decisions. But the White House visit suggests the distance from Reilly to his party's leaders may not have been quite that far.
The White House visitors log, showing Reilly met with administration officials Dec. 5th, appears to have been signed in by Victoria McCullough, a staff assistant to Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett.
According to Reilly's Twitter feed, his trip to Washington included stops at the White House to discuss the fiscal cliff and a meeting at the Center for American Progress.
Although its fairly unlikely the White House was coordinating the wiretapping of McConnell's office with Progress Kentucky from inside the beltway, Reilly's visit to the White House in and of itself undercuts any claims from the Democrats that Progress Kentucky was a pair of bungling amateurs who were in over their head.
According to the White House visitor logs, visitors that day also included Obama fundraiser Matthew Barzun and retired Louisville Courier-Journal editor Keith Runyon. Reilly was also a delegate for Kentucky to the 2012 Democrat National Convention in Charlotte, NC and has rubbed elbows with every major Democrat officeholder in the Bluegrass State.
Left-wing publication Mother Jones released audio of Kentucky Senator and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussing strategy and opposition research for the upcoming 2014 Senate campaign earlier this week. The clandestine recording dates back to February 2nd at McConnell's newly-opened Louisville campaign headquarters and catches McConnell and senior campaign workers discussing the background of liberal actress Ashley Judd, whose name was bandied about as a potential Democrat opponent against the incumbent.
The initial reaction from inside the Beltway was mostly to chastise McConnell for singling out Judd's mental problems that were publicized in her 2011 autobiography. The media and pundit class seemed ready to anoint whoever recorded McConnell's meeting as the next Woodward and Bernstein, but the fact that the conversation may have been recorded without anybody's consent (which could constitute a felony in many jurisdictions) drew comparisons to the Nixon Administration.
Jacob Conway, who is with the Jefferson County Democratic Party, told Fox News that two leaders with the group Progress Kentucky told him at the time that they recorded the session. He said it wasn't a "Nixonian bugging," but could have been recorded with an iPhone.
Conway told Fox News they recorded the meeting from the hallway, and later told him about it.
"I don't know why they were at the grand opening of his campaign office. ... They overheard the conversation going on," he said. "To me it was an extremely tacky conversation ... but it was a private conversation nonetheless."
Conway did not specifically say the operatives gave the tape to Mother Jones, but said: "They told me they were there. They told me they were in the hallway. They have a recording. So you know, you can draw your own conclusions."
Conway, who said he used to be friends with the two individuals -- Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison -- said he came forward because he didn't want the situation tarnishing the Democratic Party.
The FBI has been interviewing both Reilly and Morrison as persons of interest in the case, sources tell Fox News, though it is too early to tell whether any law was broken.
At the national level, Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse said the party does not condone secret tapings.
"We would never condone anything like this -- a secret taping. We would never condone it," he said. Woodhouse said he knows nothing about the group in question.
"Our reaction is that we would like the investigation to take its course."
Progress Kentucky has not returned a request for comment, but Reilly denied any wrongdoing through an attorney, who told The Hill that he is "at most a witness, not a suspect." The lawyer said Reilly also is working with authorities to locate Morrison.
The FBI is investigating the alleged recording at McConnell's request. A law enforcement official told Fox News the investigation is "moving along," and there are some "people of interest."
The FBI is conducting interviews and visited McConnell's campaign headquarters on Wednesday. Fox News confirms the FBI also pulled video surveillance footage.
McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton told Fox News that there is a video camera in the lobby where anybody would have to pass through to get to the second floor, where the meeting in question took place.
"They certainly were not authorized to be there, if they were indeed there," Benton said of the Progress Kentucky operatives.
Progress Kentucky is the same organization that sent out a series of tweets claiming that McConnell was disproportionately influenced by China because his wife- former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao- was born in Taiwan. Some of the tweets were quickly deleted after they were sent out in late February, but not before bloggers and websites like Twitchy were able to capture them for posterity.
Aided by colleagues in the US Senate, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul ended a nearly 13 hour filibuster in an attempt to hold up the nomination of John Brennan to the CIA Director's post in the early morning hours of Thursday. At issue was limits to the President's authority to use drone strikes to kill Americans. Earlier in the day, Attorney General Eric Holder did not rule out using aerial drone strikes to kill American citizens on US soil during questioning before the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday.
Business in the Senate ground to a halt Wednesday as Paul -- aided by colleagues from both parties -- launched into the filibuster as he tried to hold up the nomination over concerns about the president’s authority to kill Americans with drones.
Paul's filibuster was at least two hours longer than most in U.S. history, as most flame out around 10 hours. Paul finished speaking around 12:40 a.m. local time, and his filibuster lasted 12 hours and 52 minutes.
"My legs hurt. My feet hurt. Everything hurts right now," Paul told Fox News shortly after stepping off the Senate floor, saying he believes "we did the best that we could."
"I would be surprised if we didn’t hear back from the White House," Paul said.
In a show of support, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came to the Senate floor and congratulated Paul for his "tenacity and for his conviction." McConnell also called Obama's choice of Brennan a "controversial nominee."
Paul is one of several lawmakers -- on both sides of the aisle -- who has raised concerns about the legal justification for launching drone strikes against Americans overseas. But Paul took to the floor after receiving a statement from Attorney General Eric Holder that creaked open the door to the possibility of using a drone to kill an American inside the United States.
“To allow one man to accuse you in secret -- you never get notified you've been accused,” Paul said on the floor. “Your notification is the buzz of propellers on the drone as it flies overhead in the seconds before you're killed. Is that what we really want from our government?”
Paul said he’d be raising the same complaints under a Republican president.
“No one politician should be allowed to judge the guilt, to charge an individual, to judge the guilt of an individual and to execute an individual. It goes against everything that we fundamentally believe in our country,” he said.
Neither Holder or Brennan would explicitly rule out drone strikes against American nationals on US soil in earlier questioning on the matter. Paul was eventually aided by other Senate colleagues including Ted Cruz, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR). At one point, Cruz was reading aloud tweets in support of the Kentucky Senator. Paul offered to end the filibuster in exchange for a nonbinding resolution regarding drone strikes on US citizens on American soil, but Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) objected to allowing a vote, so Paul continued. He eventually finished speaking at 12:40 ET on Thursday morning, with the filibuster lasting 12 hours and 52 minutes.
Rand Paul's filibuster was the first significant challenge to Obama by Senate Republicans since the president was being sworn in back in January 2009
As part of an settlement reached with the EPA and environmental groups, America's largest user of coal has annouced that agreed to stop burning coal at three of their power plants. American Electric Power [NYSE- AEP] also announced as part of the settlement that it would be developing more wind and solar projects in Indiana and Michigan.
While the Columbus, Ohio-based company had previously announced aspects of the deal, the full scope of the control measures and closings is a sign of the pressure on power producers to cut or clean up coal use for electricity generation, environmental advocates said.
“Across the country, the coal industry faces unprecedented setbacks as its share of electricity generation plummets, and the cost of coal continues to skyrocket,” Jodi Perras, Indiana representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, said in a statement. “This agreement is only the latest sign of progress.”
AEP said earlier this month that it expects to spend $4 billion to $5 billion on pollution controls at its coal-fueled plants through 2020, less than the $6 billion to $8 billion it had estimated in 2011. It also said its coal plants should generate about half of its power by decade’s end, down from 65 percent.
In return for that change, AEP will develop more wind and solar power in Indiana and Michigan. And it will close or shift to natural-gas three units at existing coal plants: Tanners Creek Generating Station unit four in Indiana, the Muskingum River Power Plant unit five in Ohio and the Big Sandy Power Plant unit two in Kentucky.
The company had previously planned to retrofit the Tanners Creek plant and continue burning coal there, Melissa McHenry, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. It had already announced that it planned to shutter or remodel into natural-gas units the other two, she said.
The coal industry has been reeling from a one-two punch of increased competition from natural gas and an increased regulatory burden from the EPA under the Obama administration. Since Obama's re-election in November, coal mines from Pennsylvania to Virginia to Utah have announced closures and layoffs involving hundreds of employees.
Customers of Papa John's can expect to see an increase in the cost of the chain's pizza pie, and according to chairman John H Schnatter, President Obama's landmark healthcare law is to blame for the anticipated rise in prices.
In a conference call with analysts, Schnatter said that although he did not support 0bamacare, his company's business model would reportedly allow it to absorb some of the costs associated with the law better than some other companies.
According to Papa John’s Founder, Chairman and CEO John H. Schnatter, health-care reform will cost the company an additional 11 cents to 14 cents per pizza.
“We're not supportive of Obamacare like most businesses in our industry,” Schnatter said in a call to analysts. “But our business model and unit economics are about as ideal as you can get for a food company to absorb Obamacare.”
Schnatter added that on a corporate basis, the reform would increase Papa John’s price per pizza by 15 to 20 cents.
“Let's say fuel goes up-- which it does from time to time-- and we have to raise delivery charges,” said Schnatter.”We don't like raising delivery charges, but the price of fuel is out of our control as is Obamacare. So if Obamacare is in fact not repealed, we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs. And of course strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholder's best interest.”
Headquartered in Louisville, KY, Papa Johns [NASDAQ: PZZA] is the third largest pizza chain in the USA and boasts more than 3800 locations in 32 countries.
While an increase of 15¢ to 20¢ may not seem like much at first glance, keep in mind that Papa John's is a large and well organized corporation with considerable purchasing power. For many of the smaller local or regional chains or stand-alone family run pizzerias, those costs will quickly add up and those locations will also have little choice but to pass along costs to their customers.
Frank Pepe's of New Haven, CT- specializing in tomato pies and clam pizzas for over 80 years. Photo- Kevin Finch/Travelling Feast
With a number of such restaurants already in danger of shutting down due to the sluggish economy over the last three years, I suspect the last thing they would need is additional regulations, red tape and paperwork in regards to their employee healthcare under threat of punitive fines from the IRS. If nothing else, think of 0bamacare as the Dodd-Frank of pizzerias.
What's Dodd-Frank? you might be asking yourself? No- Dodd-Frank isn't the Castle County, Maine Sherriff's Deputy who was revealed to be a serial killer in the Stephen King novel The Dead Zone- that was actually Frank Dodd.
The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was signed into law by President Obama two years ago. Proponents of the bill claimed it was meant to keep larger banks and financial institutions such as JP Morgan and Bank of America in check in the wake of the 2008 subprime lending meltdown and "too big to fail" bailouts. However, two years later the larger banks that had been bailed out seem to be thriving at the expense of smaller, community banks in the new regulatory environment.
While larger institutions such as Citibank or JP Morgan-Chase had engaged in much of the subprime lending practices that led up to the current economic crisis and malaise, they were larger, better funded and more equipped to handle the compliance costs of the new regulations with Dodd-Frank while much smaller institutions such as Lee Savings Bank or First National Bank of Durango had fewer resources and funds available to put towards compliance. Basically, despite claims of reigning in unaccountable and reckless Wall Street fat cats, the same regulations entailed in Dodd-Frank are adversely affecting the smaller community banks and lenders differently moreso that the giant, bailed-out "too big to fail" institutions like Citi. Althought they weren't pivotal in the subprime lending crisis, the economies of scale can apply that same situation to a Papa John's or Pizza Hut versus a family-run restaurant like the Pizza Den in Chatham, NY or Huckelberry's in Rock Island, IL and I'll leave you to figure out which one is at an advantage in the new regulatory environment.
Many of the small businesses are still trying to figure out how best to make payroll in this economy to try and figure out what provisions of 0bamacare are going into effect when.
Yes, thanks in part to President Obama's economic and healthcare policies, a family going out for a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza once a week may very well become a frivolous and unattainable luxury for many Americans.
In addition to the estimated cost increase with 0bamacare compliance, the midwest is currently in the middle of one of the worst droughts in more than 50 years. The USDA has slashed the estimated corn yield by 12%, driving up the price of corn which in turn will likely force livestock to liquidate herds because of the increased cost of feeding them, making meat and dairy even more expensive.
With just a few days to go before the 138th Kentucky Derby, today's train of thought takes us to the Bluegrass state. Even though the city hasn't seen regular passenger service since 2003, the rails around Louisville, KY will host office car specials from Norfolk Southern, CSX, RJ Corman Kentucky Lines and an Amtrak charter as guests and VIPs are ushered into the area by train for the annual Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs [NASDAQ- CHDN].
The former L&N Old Road line between Lexington and Louisville, KY was acquired by contractor RJ Corman from CSX in September 2003. Under CSX, that portion of the old L&N saw traffic in the form of corn syrup, bricks, peanuts, plastics and fertilizer- since then, Corman has not only kept most of the shippers from CSX days but also added carloads of sand dredged from the Ohio River to be made into cement and an almost-daily unit train of aluminum ingots between AlCan's Berea, KY recycling plant to Logan Aluminum in South Union, KY [according to the RJ Corman homepage, one aluminum ingot is made up of more than a million cans, a little something to think about the next time you're knocking a cold one back- NANESB!]. The line also recieves more than 100,000 annual carloads from SJ Smucker's [NYSE- SJM] Jif Peanut Butter plant in Lexington- the largest such facility in the world.
Here, with less than a month to go before the 2012 Kentucky Derby, railpictures.net contributor Bo Gray catches RJ Corman Lines SD40T-2 #8799 charging past the dogwoods in bloom at the gates of the cemetary outside of Midway, KY with a westbound ingot train on a sunny Easter afternoon. Technically this wouldn't be then end result of the old saying April showers bring May flowers, since the photo was taken in April, but I thought Bo Gray tied this scene togather very nicely.
Believe it or not, there's a ballpark in there somewhere.
MLB- The defending World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals spoiled the opening game in the Miami Marlins new ballpark on Wednesday night.
Before a sellout crowd of 36,601, Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse had an early lead to work with a 2-RBI single from 3B David Freese in the 1st and another RBI single from SS Rafael Furcal in the 2nd inning to put the Cards up 3-0.
Lohse carried a no-hitter through 6 innings before Miami SS Jose Reyes led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a single to right field. The Marlins got on the board thanks to a John Buck RBI double, but that would be all Miami would get as the Cardinals would go on to win 4-1 in Miami's new park, their first regular season win without slugger Albert Pujols since losing him to free agency in the offseason.
RED SOX- The opening game stateside for the American League got underway on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park in a pitcher's duel between Boston's Jon Lester and Detroit's Justin Verlander.
Although Lester allowed four leadoff singles, he threw 6 shutout innings against the Tigers before Tigers catcher Alex Avila drove in Jhonny Peralta with an RBI double in the bottom of the 7th. Detroit would then take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th on a Prince Fielder sac fly.
Tigers closer Jose Valverde came on to close out the game but immediately gave up a leadoff single to Dustin Pedroia and moving to third on an Adrian Gonzalez single. Gonzalez was pulled for pinch-runner Darnell McDonald. The Red Sox then got on the board when David Ortiz drove home Pedroia on a sac fly to center field. After Youkilis struck out for the second out in the 9th, McDonald stole second base before Ryan Sweeney belted a triple deep to the right-field corner, driving in the tying run before Cody Ross grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.
With offseason acquisiton Andrew Bailey going on the DL for thumb surgery right at the end of Spring Training, the Red Sox bullpen was left in a state of flux. Mark Melancon came on in the bottom of the 9th for the Sox, and after getting the first out, gave up singles to Peralta and Avila before being pulled for Alfredo Aceves. Aceves hit the first batter he faced, sending Ramon Santiago to first an loading the bases. Austin Jackson then drove an Aceves offering past a diving Nick Punto for a walkoff single and 3-2 Tigers win at the season opener in Comerica Park.
In the wake of the turbulent offseason, Red Sox Nation took the news of the opening day loss in stride.
With the Rays, Yankees and Orioles not getting started until Friday and the Blue Jays winning on Thursday, the loss leaves the Red Sox in the AL East basement to start off the regular season. Jon Lester went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run while last year's Cy Young winner Justin Verlander went 8 shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out 7. Depsite the blown save, Valverde is credited with the win and Melancon gets the loss.
The two teams have Friday off, but will go back at it on Saturday, with Josh Beckett getting the start against Doug Fister. The game will get underway at 4:05 ET and will air on FOX.
ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- It took 16 innings, but thanks to a blown save in the top of the 9th by Chris Perez and a 3-run homer by Jays catcher JP Arencibia in the top of the 16th, the Blue Jays won the longest opening day game in MLB history by a 7-4 final. The win, coupled with the Red Sox loss and Baltimore, Tampa Bay and the Yankees being idle puts the Jays into first place in the AL East.
NCAA HOOPS- Kentucky's 67-59 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA title game for their 8th NCAA title was almost an afterthough as University of Kentucky Students rioted. At least one person was shot and there were a number of arson fires [including couches for some reason- NANESB!] in the Lexington, KY area immediately after the Monday night title game.
With the Jayhawks focused on Anthony Davis, Sophmore Doron Lamb had 22 points for the Wildcats in the Championship game. The win is the first NCAA title for former UMASS coach John Calipari.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA HOOPS- In the NIT tournament, the UMASS Minutemen lost out to eventual champions Stanford in the semifinals by a 64-74 margin. The Stanford Cardinals would then go on to topple the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a 75-51 final in the NIT title game.
NHL- After a New York road trip that saw wins against the Rangers and Islanders followed by a home loss against the Penguins, the Bruins embarked on their final road game of the regular season up in Ottawa. Goalie Anton Khudobin was called up from Providence to make his Boston debut [but not his NHL debut- he had a couple of apprearences with Minnesota in 2009 and 2010- NANESB!]- a thumb injury last month prevented him from arriving in Boston, leaving the B's to pull Marty Turco- presently 2-2- from Austria after Tukka Rask was injured.
Khudobin got some offensive support early thanks to a Benoit Pouliot goal in the first and a rare Greg Zanon goal for Boston (his 3rd of the season) to build up a 2-0 advantage. Jason Spezza cut the Senators defecit in half late in the second. Boston would make it a 2 goal game once again with a Milan Lucic tally to make it a 3-1 Boston lead late in the 3rd, and that would be the final.
Khudobin stopped 44 of 45 shots faced while Ottawa's Ben Bishop would allow 3 goals on 27 shots faced. Both teams were 0-3 on the power play on Thursday Night.
For the regular season finale, the Bruins will host the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Saturday at 4:00 PM. After a late-season resurgence, the Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs with their Thursday night loss to Philadelphia. The game will be televised on NESN.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The Washington Capitals secured the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Both Winnipeg and Buffalo were eliminated with the Washington win and Buffalo loss to Philly and a Winnipeg loss to the Islanders.
Out west, the playoff situation is a little tighter as the Los Angels Kings and San Jose Sharks jockey for position in the Pacific Division with a home and away series between the two teams to wrap up the regular season. The two teams are tied at 94 points on the season after the Sharks beat the kings 6-5 in a shootout in LA on Thursday night. The tie-breaker will take place in San Jose on Saturday night at 10:30 ET. With the Avalanche, Stars and Flames eliminated, the Phoenix Coyotes have wrapped up the 8th and final Western conference playoff spot.
NBA- Despite losing two games in a row, the Boston Celtics remain atop the Atlantic divison. On Wednesday, the Spurs managed to hold off the Celtics for an 87-86 win on Wednesday while the C's lost to the Bulls in the Windy City by an 86-93 final.
The Celtics will head on to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers Saturday night before returning to the Garden to take on the 76ers on Sunday.
NCAA HOCKEY- The Boston College Eagles punched their ticket to the NCAA Men's Hockey finals in a convincing fashion with a 6-1 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday night. After taking a 1-0 lead for the first, the Eagles exploded for 3 more goals from Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Paul Carey in the 3rd to build up a 4-0 lead. Minnesota's lone goal came early in the 3rd, but Boston College responded with two more unanswered tallies for the 6-1 final.
The Eagles will face the Ferris State Bulldogs in the Finals on Saturday at 7:00 PM ET. The small Western Minnesota school got past Schenechtady, NY's Union College by a 3-1 final on Thursday. This is the first trip to the Frozen Four for both Ferris State and Union.
Petrino's reported mistress Jessica Dorrell in her Razorback volleyball days
NCAA FOOTBALL- University of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino has been placed on administative leave by the University after an accident report from the Arkansas State Police contradicted his earlier public statements after he crashed his motorcycle over the weekend.
In public statements, the married 50 year old Petrino stated that he was alone when the crash took place in Madison county. However, the Arkansas State Police accident reports names 25 year old Jessica Dorrell as a passenger on Petrino's motorcycle. After the police report was made public, Petrino admitted to having a 'previous inappropriate relationship' with Dorrell.
A 2008 Arkansas graduate, Dorrell was a four time letter winner in the Razorbacks volleyball program and handled fundraising duties for the Razorback Foundation. Just last week, she was named student development coordinator for the football program, co-ordinating on campus recruitment and eligibility issues for incoming players. Dorell also has a fiancee who's the director of swimming operations for the Razorbacks [altho the Arkansas Razorbacks swimming & diving team page currently lists Megan Haskins as the director- NANESB].
Petrino arrived in Arkansas from the NFL after quitting in the final month of the Atlanta Falcons 2007 NFL season. The Razorback football program has had winning seasons for three of the last four years and have been invited to the Liberty, Sugar and Cotton Bowls under Petrino.
Friday's outbreak of tornadoes was the deadliest in nearly 40 years and came less than 48 hours after the 'official' start of tornado season in the Midwest.
Robert Szappanos, a meteorologist with the weather service in Louisville, said the “super outbreak” resembled the historic 1974 tornadoes, when 63 people died in an area stretching from Southern Indiana to Southern Kentucky.
The weather service will send out teams today to determine exactly how many tornadoes struck the region and their intensity, he said.
But the destruction they left in their wake will take much longer to gauge.
In the town of Chelsea in Jefferson County, Ind., first responders found a 4-year-old boy and his great-grandparents lying on the ground 50 feet from where the elderly couple’s home was blown off its foundation and thrown more than 100 feet.
The child’s young father could be seen crying as he bent over next to a firefighter. All three died of multiple blunt-force injuries, according to David Bell, the county’s Emergency Management director.
A man who lived nearby on Jackson Road also was killed when the storm slammed into his home, Jefferson County Sheriff John Wallace said.
To the east of Louisville, KY, the Fire Department for the small town of Milton, KY took a direct hit from a category EF2 tornado, demolishing the building and wrecking the fire engine inside.
In New Pekin, IN a 15 month old girl was found alive in a field along with the bodies of her parents and two siblings. However, Angel Babcock passed away from complications stemming from her injuries on Monday after being rushed to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, KY.
Today's rather nocturnal train of thought brings us to the county seat of Oldham County in north Central Kentucky during the predawn hours.
Most towns would consider a busy railway line running right down the middle of their main street a nuisance or hazard. LaGrange, KY however, seems to embrace the presence of CSX on the former Louisville & Nashville Short Line between Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH that runs down the town's main street. Heck- the downtown business association's website proudly features an image of a CSX train trundling through downtown LaGrange.
Located along I-71 and the CSX LCL subdivision (short for Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington, the L&N predecessor that built the line in the 1850s), the town of LaGrange is about 20 miles northeast of Louisville and 75 miles southwest of Cincinnati. Although the line has seen significant improvement in terms of trackwork, clearance and capacity over the last decade, LaGrange itself is something of a bottleneck due to the 10MPH speed restriction through downtown. Even with those restrictions, the line sees anywhere from a dozen to 20 trains daily hauling anything from auto racks to grain to general freight.
Here, Vermont's own Gary Knapp (who has drawn comparisons to O Winston Link) meticulously set up some lighting and played an hours long waiting game to snap a northbound general freight with Old Glory prominently in the foreground and CSX SD40-2 #8118 leading a pair of widecab GEs towards the end of October 2007. The trains arrival and departure will be relatively quiet, as the downtown area is a 'quiet zone'- passing trains do not blow their horns for crossings on their way in and out of town.
Knapp identified the red brick house with the white pillars as the mayor's residence, which along with the mayor's then new VW Beetle, shows up in the foreground of some pictures taken earlier in the night.
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.
Today's train of thought comes to us from the capital of the Bluegrass State [which is NOT Louisville as some people might think- NANESB!] and features a stretch of track that's seemingly seen it all over the past decade.
Since acquiring the former Louisville & Nashville Old Road subdivision from CSX in 2003, RJ Corman's 115 mile Central Kentucky lines have played host to an operational Chinese class QJ steam locomotive, Genset locomotives from RJ Corman's Railpower subsidiary and special VIP passenger trains to and from the Kentucky Derby.
Aside from the meanderings of a new genset, Chinese made steam engine or a VIP-packed Derby special, the line plays hosts to freight trains laden with limestone, corn syrup, alcohol, plastic, limestone, peanuts and fertilizer. This is on top of dedicated unit trains of aluminum ingots (made from recycled beer cans, according to the RJ Corman homepage) and sand. The sand is dredged from the Ohio River near Louisville and separated by grade before making the 80+ mile trek to Lexington, KY on the Old Road subdivision. From there, it's used locally in the construction of cement and asphalt.
Here, railpictures.net contributor Mike Mautner caught a pair of SD40T-2s RJ Corman's sharp red and silver paint scheme in charge of a loaded sand train. Here, RJCC SD40T-2 #5361 is on the point as it trundles down the middle of West Broadway St in Frankfort, KY with a loaded eastbound sand train on May 5, 2009.
