High Steaks- Missouri Lawmaker Calls for Pork Steak Rebellion After EPA Mulls Regulations For BBQ Grills

Kicking off this seasons #PorkSteakRebellion pic.twitter.com/pSFKYohPBf

— Brian Stahlheber (@bstahlheber) March 22, 2015

Not content with restricting what kind of woodstoves New Englanders can have in their homes, the EPA is setting their sights on what kind of outdoor grills that people can use during cookouts.

The agency awarded a $15,000 grant to the University of California-Riverside to look into technology for grills that is intended to "reduce air pollution as well as health hazards in Southern California, with potential for global application". This has led to some concerns that the EPA will introduce further restrictions on newly manufactured propane grills.

One Missouri state lawmaker has taken exception to the EPA's maneuvering and has called for a campaign of defiance and civil disobedience dubbed the 'Pork Steak Rebellion' to preemptively thwart any moves by the agency.

It's a sentiment shared by State Senator Eric Schmitt.

Although this is not a new law the agency pushing to get on the books, Senator Schmitt isn't taking any chances.

He introduced a resolution discouraging any regulations on the tradition of backyard barbecuing. The lawmaker has a lot of support from people who couldn't agree more.

Schmitt has also taken his campaign to twitter--#porksteakrebellion--encouraging people to barbeque in their backyards.

Meanwhile, in Texas, Austin's city council is mulling an ordinance that would require BBQ joints or mobile food vendors within 150 feet of a residence to install restaurant grade scrubbers. Some businesses have stated they would have to move of shut down altogether due to the high cost of compliance.

Several council members believe the smoke being emitted from these businesses are having an adverse affect on the health and quality of life of the people who live nearby. Renteria says he’s fielded calls from concerned constituents.

“Saying that if this keeps on, they were just going to have to sell their house and move out,” said Renteria. “The whole resolution is not to try and run anyone out of business it’s just we all want to be good neighbors.”

This requirement does not apply to locations that burn supplemental wood chips and chunks in stove-top box smokers using gas-powered stoves or grills.

“We would have to leave town most likely, or just close up because it’s just not an option to put scrubbers in for eight smoke stacks,” explained Aaron Franklin, founder of the popular Franklin BBQ on East 11th Street.

Franklin says a solution is out there but they just have to find one so Austinites can enjoy BBQ without living in smoke.

“This BBQ thing creates a ton of revenue here in town,” said Franklin, who understands that something needs to be done to help neighbors cope with the smoke, but he feels that scrubbers are not the answer.

As recently as last year, the Texas state environmental agency- the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality- had received complaints about smoke had visited multiple BBQ joints in Austin, but in those instances the TCEQ found no violations.

Riots Erupt in Ferguson, MO After Grand Jury Declines to Indict Police Officer for Shooting Black Teenager

For the third straight night, authorities in the St Louis area struggled to contain arson and looting after a St Louis County Grand Jury decided there wasn't enough evidence to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the August 9th shooting death of 18 year old Michael Brown. Brown was black while officer Wilson is white, and the shooting underscored racial tensions throughout the region.

Brown and a friend were videotaped stealing cigars and threatening the clerk of a convenience store in Ferguson, MO. Minutes later, officer Darren Wilson spotted the two walking down the middle of a nearby street, apparently unaware of the strong-arm robbery that took place. After exchanging words, Brown reportedly reached into Wilson's cruiser, punching the officer and attempting to take his sidearm. Two shots were fired, one of them grazing Brown before he fled a short distance. According to Darren Wilson, Brown was about 40 feet away when he turned around, reached into his waistband and charged at him. Wilson emptied the remaining magazine of his department issue SIG-Sauer P229 .40S&W, striking Brown four more times. Witnesses, including Brown's accomplice in the convenience store robbery, claimed that Wilson had shot Brown in the back as he was fleeing or when his hands were raised when he was trying to surrender- although this testimony was contrary to both forensic evidence and other eyewitness accounts.

Despite pleas from officials and Brown's family, shortly after St Louis County DA Robert McCoullough announced that no criminal charges would be filed against Wilson on Monday night, shops along Ferguson's main thoroughfare had their windows broken by looters as they swarmed in and picked shelves clean. As many as 25 buildings were burned since Monday night, including a number of locally owned and operated shops, stores and restaurants. At least 100 arrests were made after shots were fired and some St Louis county police cruisers were also torched, but not before having weapons stolen from them- including at least one AR-15 rifle. A body was found in a burned-out car in Ferguson on Tuesday morning, a death that police are ruling 'suspicious'.

One of the businesses damaged in the rioting was Natalie's Cakes and More, owned by Natalie DuBose who had been in business for just over a year. Prior to that she had been selling cupcakes at flea markets and the single mother said that the store was her only source of income. After an online appeal, DuBose reportedly received more than $110,000 through online fundraiser site GoFundMe to help rebuild her business and she said she plans to stay in Ferguson.

UPDATED: View a map of businesses that were set fire last night after the #FergusonDecision: http://t.co/dpTTAwCWZN http://t.co/z79ld5v1n0

— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) November 25, 2014

Other store owners were more proactive in protecting their businesses, arming themselves and guarding each others' businesses in shifts as the rioting and looting spread while the police or National Guard were nowhere to be seen. One white-run business in Ferguson was protected by armed black volunteers from the neighborhood who were regular customers.

National Guard Deployed to St Louis Suburb After Week of Protests and Looting

After criticizing the presence of 'militarized' police in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO last week, Missouri governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard into the city to restore order on Sunday night.

The unrest started last weekend when a Ferguson police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager named Mike Brown. Although some witnesses gave conflicting accounts that claimed Brown was fleeing or surrendering when he was shot, the police claim that there was an altercation before the shooting where Brown tried to take the officer's service weapon.

After the shooting, a number of vigils and protests in Ferguson where demonstrators called for the officer to be charged with homicide took place [there are some unconfirmed reports out of St Louis that seem to corroborate the officer's version of events- NANESB!].

As tensions between citizens and area law enforcement escalated- with looting and clashes with police in riot gear following the shooting- state and local officials decided to hand over authority to the Missouri Highway Patrol and Captain Ron Johnston. Johnson espoused a hands-off approach to de-escalate tensions, in some instances outsourcing public safety to domestic terror groups like the Black Panthers. However, the clashes and looting continued over the next several nights [further agitated by outside groups such as the Revolutionary Communist Party and New Black Panther Party- NANESB!].

Heading into the weekend, Gov Nixon ordered a midnight curfew for the city of Ferguson as the looting and clashes continued. However, looters ignored the curfew and raided a Dominoes Pizza, Family Dollar store, a self-storage unit and an auto parts store. Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson also released surveillance video purportedly showing Brown committing a strong-arm robbery of a nearby convenience store shortly before the shooting took place, despite pleas from the DOJ not to do so.

An autopsy was also conducted that determined Brown was shot six times- none of them in the back, contrary to early eyewitness accounts. US Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a federal autopsy of Brown and ordered FBI agents to canvas the neighborhood to search for possible additional witnesses to the shooting.

Fears of a Clown- Rodeo Clown Recieves Lifetime Ban From Missouri State Fair For Mocking Obama

Several days after the fact, I have a hard time believing this is even a story.

The antics of a rodeo clown who donned an Obama mask at the Missouri State Fair this past weekend has left state officials scrambling to issue apologies and the progressive blogosphere fuming and comparing the scene to a latter-day minstrel show.

A clown wearing a President Barack Obama mask appeared at a Missouri State Fair rodeo this weekend and the announcer asked the enthusiastic spectators if they wanted to see "Obama run down by a bull."

The antics led the state's second highest-ranking official, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, to denounce the performance in a tweet Sunday. He said it was "disrespectful" to the president.

"We are better than this," the Republican tweeted.

State Fair officials said the show in Sedalia was "inappropriate" and "does not reflect the opinions or standards" of the fair. "We strive to be a family friendly event and regret that Saturday's rodeo badly missed that mark," they said in a statement Sunday.

The furor started when fairgoer Perry Beam posted video of the clown in the Obama mask on Facebook and claimed that the crowd was little different from a Ku Klux Klan rally [which naturally begs the question of how many KKK rallies Beam has attended for his informed comparison- NANESB!].

Fairgoer Perry Beam of Higginsville, Missouri attended and snapped photos of the incident, which have spread rapidly via political blogs statewide.

Beam claims the announcer "whipped the audience into a lather" by repeatedly asking attendees if they wanted to see "Obama run down by a bull." Beam says another clown ran up and "started bobbling the lips on the mask and the people went crazy."

In an interview with NewsChannel 5, Beam called it a "racist" display.

Naturally, the 'political blogs' alluded to include far left forums such as Show Me Progress and the Daily Kos. The story gained further attention when AP writer and Salon.com contributor Maria Sudekum picked up on it and both Beam's account and the reactions of officials like Missouri governor Jay Nixon and Sen Claire McCaskill (both Democrats) were front page news for The Kansas City Star. Comments and op-eds in the Star's online edition drew thousands of remarks from across the region and country before the publication decided to suspend comments for the articles- this included a few pithy observations from yours truly that were reiterated in the Twitter format.

At least the #Obama rodeo clown at #MoStateFair isn't forcing me to buy health insurance or shutting down coal-fired power plants
— Fenway Nation (@Fenway_Nation) August 12, 2013

No long after, an op-ed where columnist Yael T Abouhalkah implied that the rodeo clown's antics warranted a Secret Service investigation [coz remember when John Hinkley tried trampling President Reagan with a rodeo bull to impress Jodie Foster? NANESB!].

It’s also borderline illegal; the U.S. Secret Service takes threats against the president seriously. While the president himself was in no danger here, it’s the kind of stupid activity that could give nuts ideas about harming the president.

Using Abouhalkah's logic, I suppose opposing Obamacare, gun control, amnesty, various 'green energy' boondoggles or Card Check could 'give nuts ideas about harming the President', so perhaps its best we stay quiet- otherwise President Obama might find himself on the wrong end of an irate bull someday. The Missouri chapter of the NAACP doubled down on the hand-wringing and have reportedly called for a federal investigation into rodeo clowns inciting violence against the President. Also continuing to use the 'logic' of Abouhalkah, the NAACP and those who comment on Show Me Progress or Daily Kos, the Occupy movement must be overtly racist for their practice of wearing Obama masks at various rallies as well.

In reaction to all of the hyperventilating, Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association Mark Ficken stepped down. The clown- identified as Tuffy Gessling- has been hit with a lifetime ban from the Missouri State Fair on Monday. In the future, rodeo clowns who perform at the fair will be [I shit you not- NANESB!] required to undergo sensitivity training as well.

Meanwhile, in what's considered a mostly symbolic gesture, congressman Steve Stockman [R- TX 36] invited the clown to perform in Texas, adding that he'd be welcome any time.

Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of the articles describing events at the state fair rodeo rely heavily on quotes exclusively from Beam's perspective- although the Washington Post thoughtfully was able to track down other State Fair attendees who could vouch for the alleged racism of the mostly white crowd present at the time.

I must admit that I shrugged this off as a non-story when I heard it at first. However, the rebukes directed at the rural, blue-collar crowd from the media, coastal elitists and state party officials comes off as nothing less than tone-deaf, patronizing, thin-skinned hypersensitivity in their defense of a man who has been President for five years- yet anything bad that's happened on his watch is magically somebody else's fault. Seriously- look at the issues President Obama has made a priority and his accomplishments- how well do you think gun control, the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the Obamacare individual mandate would go over in swing states like Virginia or Colorado- let alone the crowd in a darker red state like Missouri?

The same people who are wagging their fingers at the uneducated rubes and hillbillies in flyover land for guffawing at the antics of a rodeo clown in a President Obama mask raised were eerily quiet when novels and mockumentaries detailing a fictitious assassination of then-President George W Bush were published. They feel that Americans have an unspoken obligation to mock those in power- until they're the ones in power. Then talking about insensitive rodeo clowns becomes much more important than discussing the continuing turmoil in the middle east, the stagnant economy or those in charge using supposedly nonpartisan government agencies to harass political opponents.

I'm sure this could lead to renewed calls for a national 'dialogue' about race in this country, but to a liberal "dialogue" means you're supposed to quietly sit there and nod politely as they are informing you of how ignorant and racist you are. The 'dialogue' is also based on the somewhat laughable premise that folks in flyover country would be OK with higher taxes, gun control, gay marriage, abortion and shutting down the coal industry if it was a white liberal speaking in favor of all these things.

UPDATE- 6/16: Parson the pun, but when it comes to protecting Barack Obama from criticism, this isn't the Missouri Democrats' first rodeo. St Louis radio hostess Dana Loesch details Missouri's recent history of using the mechanisms of state to stifle dissent- starting with 'truth squads' comprised of sheriff's and prosecutors who were acting on behalf of then-candidate Obama in 2008.

42 Year Old Missouri Woman Ejected From Water Park When Employees Deem Her Bikini Too Skimpy

Reed Hoffmann- NY Daily News

So much for Missouri being the 'Show-Me State'.

An Missouri woman was asked to leave a Kansas City-area water park earlier this month because employees had reportedly asked her to cover up, apparently objecting to the bikini she was wearing.

42 year old Madelyn Shaeffer of Odessa, MO said that two female park employees approached her and her teenage daughter and asked her to cover up or leave. Madelyn objected, saying her swimsuit wasn't any more revealing or scandalous than what the younger girls in the water park were wearing. The police were called and ultimately the buxom Missouri mother was escorted from the Adventure Oasis Water Park in Independence, MO.

Sheaffer told 41 Action News “I felt like it was both age and body discrimination and I felt like I could look around me and I could see a handful of other girls half my age, wearing the same size swimming suit and not being singled out and told to put on clothes or leave.”

Sheaffer told the manager she wanted to talk to police to file a complaint but that backfired.

When cops arrived, they escorted Sheaffer from the park.

Madelyn claims the officers were on her side but told her they “had to do their job.”

If the staff had received complaints about her cleavage spilling out of her bikini top, that would be (almost) understandable. However, Sheaffer claims that the park employees asked her to put on shorts. The voluptuous Midwestern mom was later filmed in the same bikini by a Kansas City TV station to show the exact swimsuit that got her booted from Adventure Oasis [honestly, the most objectionable thing I see on Shaeffer are the tattoos- NANESB!].

Frankly, if I went from thinking my death would play out like the latter portion of What's Eating Gilbert Grape to buxom MILF in a string bikini, I'd probably be inclined to flaunt it.

Madelyn says she has dealt with weight issues for most of her life, starting with eating to cope with the stress of her father's terminal cancer diagnosis at age nine. After suffering from a compressed disc in her back and a fall in the bathtub that left her stuck there for days, Madelyn decided something needed to be done. She eventually began a strict workout regimen and put motivational clippings on a posterboard, going from 250 lbs to her current weight of 170 lbs.

Happy Independence Day From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Just a quick note to wish all you visitors a Happy 4th of July. This is probably as good a time as any to reiterate why I LOVE this holiday so much.

Although not exclusive to the 4th of July, bikinis and summer seem to go hand in hand.

Mmm....nope. Still haven't wrecked myself.

So it was only natural that Kirkland, WA- based online swimwear retailer Bikini Beach became a semi-regular fixture in the town's 4th of July parade [many thanks to Turners and Models for keeping a detailed photographic record of those occasions- NANESB!].

Wait- did the Patriots just score a touchdown?

Then there's the parades- growing up in New England, the rich history of the area meant that parades would often feature re-enactors dressed up as minutemen from the colonial era occasionally firing off a volley from their muskets [the AR-15s of their day!- NANESB!]. In parts of the south and Mid Atlantic, re-enacting battles from the Civil War has been popular.

Restored fire truck in Cobleskill, NY's 4th of July Parade. Photo by inkfeather via Flickr.

Of course, throughout the country it seems as though no Independence Day Parade is complete without the appearance of a fire truck. It can be a newer truck with one of the local departments, but often it's a painstakingly restored vintage pumper or ladder truck undertaken as a labor of love and shown off for exactly this occasion.

Having long finished up it's day's work, LLPX former Belt Railway of Chicago GP38-2 #2228 basks in the glow of a fireworks display in Poplar Bluff, MO on July 4th, 2007. Zach Pumphrey photo

And let's not forget the fireworks- no fourth of July seems to be complete without them. People will stake out a spot a few hours in advance and have a picnic or a cookout while waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to begin. People will come from as far as hundreds of miles away to stepping out on their own apartment balconies to take it all in. And when it does, it is usually a sight to behold (usually) and ends with not just a bang, but a series of teeth jarring concussive, car-alarm triggering blasts depending on how close you are.

As a matter of fact, I'm on my way to such a display right now. But I'll leave you with this:



Above all, have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Iron Horse Roundup For May 2013

CONNECTICUT- Rail service along the Northeast Corridor between New York City and New Haven after a May 17th derailment and collision that injured 72 people at the height of the evening rush hour.

National Transportation Safety Board officials are looking into a broken part of the rail that underwent repairs last month, but have not determined whether it was a pre-existing fracture or if it occurred as a result of the accident, according to NTSB spokesperson Earl Weener, who provided an update at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

NTSB officials arrived on the scene on Saturday morning to begin investigating the cause of the train crash, injuries sustained by the commuters and operator performance.

The NTSB's investigation could take seven to 10 days but that does not mean that service shutdown will take that long, board spokesman Earl Weener said..

The eastbound Metro-North train derailed just after 6:00 p.m. and was hit between the Bridgeport and Fairfield stations, officials said.

"We came to a sudden halt. We were jerked. There was smoke," Alex Cohen, a Canadian passenger on the westbound train en route to New York, told NBC Connecticut.

"People were screaming; people were really nervous. We were pretty shaken up. They had to smash a window to get us out," he said.

St. Vincent Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn. said on Saturday that it saw a total of 46 patients, six of whom were admitted for treatment. All patients remained in the hospital and were reportedly in stable condition.

Bridgeport Hospital saw 26 patients and admitted three. Two of those patients were in critical condition a day after the accident, and one was in stable condition, according to The Associated Press.

The FBI has ruled out foul play early into the investigation while the NTSB is focusing their probe on a possible fractured rail that could have derailed the first train. The Northeast Corridor opened on a limited basis by Tuesday as the NTSB investigation continued.

Between commuter service and intercity passenger service, the Boston-New York-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington DC Northeast corridor is the busiest stretch of passenger track in the United States. The Connecticut derailment posed a massive bottleneck for the New York-Boston portion of the Northeast Corridor, with many trains cancelled and some being replaced by bus service for the duration of the closure.

MARYLAND- Suburban Baltimore was rocked by a massive explosion on Tuesday after a CSX freight train collided with a truck and derailed. The train was reportedly carrying sodium chlorate- a bleaching agent used in the papermaking process. A CSX spokesman confirmed that the train was carrying the sodium chlorate, but denied that it was in any of the derailed cars.

Reports indicate that the trucker- who also owned the waste hauling company- was hospitalized and in serious condition but there were no reports of injuries among the train crew or the public. The force of the blast damaged nearby warehouses, but Baltimore county fire officials reportedly had the blaze under control.

The NTSB and Maryland State Police are focusing on the safety record of the trash hauling truck involved in the collision.

As cleanup crews and investigators worked at the crash site in the eastern Baltimore suburbs, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt gave what he said was the agency's last local news conference on the Tuesday derailment. He said the agency has looked at federal transportation department safety records for Alban Waste and found an above-average number of violations resulting in trucks being ordered off the road.

Records of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show the company that has three trucks was involved in two crashes with injuries in 2012 and 2013. The agency's website also shows the company's vehicles were inspected 43 times in the last two years, with trucks being ordered out of service in about 40 per cent of those cases. The national average is about half that.

The 45-car CSX train crashed into the trash truck driven by company owner John J. Alban Jr. Sumwalt had said investigators planned to interview Alban Jr., who remained in serious condition Thursday at a hospital. His was the only injury in the derailment, explosion and fire that sent a plume of black and grey smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.

A new video of the crash, captured by a nearby business's surveillance camera, shows Alban Jr.'s truck approaching the crossing before the train is in sight, driving away from his business. Without stopping, the truck heads across the tracks as the train approaches. The truck appears to get mostly across before the lead CSX locomotive slams into it. The impact wraps the truck's white cab and a portion of its trailer around the side of the train, and the train drags the wreckage forward. The video appeared first on the Baltimore News Journal website.

Sumwalt said the video was helpful to investigators.

He said the train was going 49 mph, just below the speed limit of 50 mph on that track section.

Other Motor Carrier Safety Administration records obtained by The Associated Press show Alban Waste failed a safety audit in November 2011 due to file-keeping problems regarding drivers' qualifications, a random drug and alcohol testing program and maintenance reports. The company notified the agency in March 2012 of its actions to correct those problems. Other federal records show violations over the last two years including brake and light problems to tire and seat belt violations.

Capt. Norman Dofflemyer, commander of the Maryland State Police Commercial Motor Vehicles Division, said the federal trucking regulatory agency has asked his office to help review the company's compliance with federal regulations. He said that even before the crash, "they were approaching a threshold that would have triggered a notice that we should start looking at the company through the compliance program."

The company is located a short distance from the crossing where the collision occurred. The road to the business crosses the railroad tracks, separating Alban Waste from the rest of an industrial neighbourhood off Interstate 95.

Alban Jr. was ticketed May 25 in Baltimore County for failing to properly secure a roll-on container to his truck and convicted earlier on the same charge. He is awaiting trial July 19 on a speeding ticket. His license was suspended for about a month on March 25 after he failed to either pay the fine or ask for a court date. When he requested a court date April 23, the suspension was lifted. Alban Jr. was convicted of using a hand-held cellphone while driving in June 2011 in the city of Baltimore.

Sumwalt said the NTSB will review cellphone records as a routine part of the investigation.

The collision is said to have caused an estimated $625,000 in damages and the road leading into Alban's company was blocked off by the train derailment.

MISSOURI- An highway overpass in southeastern Missouri was brought down this week after a collision between Union Pacific and BNSF freight trains.

Seven people were injured Saturday morning in a massive train collision in Scott County that took down an overpass.
Officials say that around 2:30 a.m. there was a train crash near County Road 210 and Highway M in the Rockview community. The Highway M overpass collapsed on impact.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter says a Union Pacific train T-boned a BNSF Railway train that had just made it through the intersection.

The collision caused one of the trains to derail and hit a pillar under the overpass causing it to collapse. A dozen Union Pacific train cars derailed.

Trooper Clark Parrott with the Missouri Highway Patrol says two vehicles were not on the bridge when it collapsed. The cars came up on the bridge as it went down.

Three people in one vehicle, and two people in another vehicle, were taken to a nearby hospital.

One of the drivers, Christopher M. Cantrell, 22, of Benton, Missouri, received minor injuries.

Two 19-year-old passengers, Victoria L. Cantrell and Sarah R. Ishmael, both of Chaffee, Missouri, received moderate injuries in the crash.

The Union Pacific engineer and conductor were pulled from the wreckage and treated at a nearby hospital. According to the Union Pacific, the train was hauling automobiles between Illinois and Arlington, TX.

According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, the highway overpass sees an average of more than 3000 vehicles daily while the span itself weighs more than 370 tons. Removal of the collapsed bridge is expected to cost nearly $3 million.

Today's Train of Thought- It's In The Cards, April 29, 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the Gateway City and the home of perennial NL pennant favorites, St Louis.

Taking up much of the real estate of the old Busch Stadium, the St Louis Cardinals christened their new home [the new Busch Stadium- NANESB!] with a World Series win against the Detroit Tigers in 2006. The conveniently located downtown ballpark is blocks away from the city's Amtrak depot [more of an Am-shack, really, as the original Union Station is now home to a series of upscale shops- NANESB!] and St Louis' Metro Link light-rail links the stadium to both the Amtrak depot and St Louis' Lambert International Airport about 12 miles west of downtown.

Railroad tracks crisscross the area just south of downtown, most of them elevated well above street level on trestles and girders. In addition to the CSX, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, Kansas City Southern and Amtrak plying their trade in the St Louis area, there are also local shortlines and terminal railroads like the Alton & Southern, Central Midland, Terminal Railroad Association of St Louis and Foster-Townsend Logistics, which took over rail duties from Anheuser-Busch subsidiary Manufacturers Railway in 2011.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Jake Branson caught BNSF SD75M #8223 leading a freight eastbound past the new Busch Stadium on October 15, 2011. The #8223 is still in its as-delivered red and silver 'warbonnet' paint scheme- the last scheme for the Santa Fe before its 1996 merger with the Burlington Northern to form the BNSF.

As for the Cardinals, they had just beaten the Milwaukee Brewers the night before by a 7-1 final in front of a packed Busch Stadium in Game 5 of the NLCS and would go on to close out the series the following night and clinch a World Series berth on the road the following night.

Today's Train of Thought- The Snow Me State, February 20, 2013

Today's train of thought takes us to Louisiana, Missouri- which may sound like two states rolled into one, but is actually a town of about 3300 in northeastern Missouri on the western banks of the Mississippi River. While Louisiana, MO doesn't have much in the way of Mardi Gras parades or cajun cuisine, the town does feature both a road and rail crossing from Illinois to Missouri in addition to the Kansas City Southern's Springfield, IL to Kansas City mainline crossing BNSF's Hannibal Subdivision.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Mike Mautner caught leased NREX B39-8 #8599 getting ready to resume its journey east with intermodal freight IKCVN [Intermodal- Kansas City to VeNice, IL] after stopping to take care of some EOT problems after apparently crashing their way through a number of snowbanks on December 1st, 2006. Interestingly, like the Oakways mentioned in the previous Train of Thought, these grey white and red 3900 HP behemoths would've been right at home on the BNSF not too long ago.

Built in 1988 for Locomotive Management Services and immediately subleased to the Burlington Northern, these grey and white GE's- sometimes called 'sharks' roamed the Burlington Northern system primarily hauling intermodal freight. Arriving on the BN property at around the same time as the Oakway SD60s appeared, the 100-unit fleet was returned to lessor and the fleet was dispersed, with individual units ending up in far flung locales from Maine to British Columbia and even Peru.

In their post-BNSF careers, it seems as though a disproportionate number of ended up on New England shortlines and regionals such as the Providence & Worcester, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic and Rail America's Connecticut Southern.

More Tornadoes, Deadly Storms Continue to Hammer Midwest

NOAA Map Showing Tracks of Tornadoes Across Oklahoma earlier this week

Just days after a massive F5 tornado ripped through downtown Joplin, MO at least a half dozen tornadoes carved a swath of destruction throughout northern and central Oklahoma.

While not as severe or deadly as Sunday's Joplin F5 twister or the outbreak of storms that hit the South last month, at least 10 people were killed making it the deadliest in the state since an F5 struck suburban Oklahoma City in May 1999, killing 50.

Side by side satellite images of Joplin, MO before and after F5 tornado- AP

There were concerns that a storm system moving through the area could spawn additional tornadoes as rescuers were still searching wreckage throughout Newton County, but as of Thursday night, there were no additional tornadoes reported in the area.

However, rescue workers are still searching for at least 232 people still unaccounted for since Sunday's disaster and the death toll had been revised up to 125. Nearly half of the missing are said to be seniors.

For those interested in making any kind of donation towards disaster relief in Southwestern Missouri, more information can be found at the Heart of Missouri United Way, Ozark Food Harvest or Convoy of Hope. The Springfield, MO News-Leader also has a directory of regional and national relief organizations listed on their website.

116 Killed as Massive Tornado Strikes Southwestern Missouri

UPDATE 5/24: A badly injured 8 year old boy was pulled alive from wreckage by rescue workers nearly two days after the massive tornado ripped through the area.

However, as many as 1500 people in and around Joplin are still unaccounted for.


At least 116 people were killed and an unknown number injured Sunday evening when a massive tornado tore through the southwestern Missouri city of Joplin. Missouri governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard in the aftermath of the tornado.

The tornado touched down at about 5:30 PM CT on Sunday and made its way east through the city, narrowly missing downtown Joplin but heavily damaging St. John's Regional Medical Center and destroying many houses and businesses on the south side of Joplin as well (St. John's had to be evacuated an hour and a half later).

It was the deadliest single twister in the U.S. in nearly 60 years and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month.

Authorities feared the toll could rise as the full scope of the destruction comes into view: house after house reduced to slabs, cars crushed like soda cans, shaken residents roaming streets in search of missing family members. And the danger was by no means over. Fires from gas leaks burned across town, and more violent weather loomed, including the threat of hail, high winds and even more tornadoes.

At daybreak, the city's south side emerged from darkness as a barren, smoky wasteland.

"I've never seen such devastation -- just block upon block upon block of homes just completely gone," said former state legislator Gary Burton who showed up to help at a volunteer center at Missouri Southern State University.

Some of the most startling damage was at St. John's Regional Medical Center, where staff had only moments to hustle their patients into the hallway. Six people died there, five of them patients, plus one visitor.

The storm blew out hundreds of windows and caused damage so extensive that doctors had to abandon the hospital soon after the twister passed. A crumpled helicopter lay on its side in the parking lot near a single twisted mass of metal that used to be cars.

Dr. Jim Riscoe said some members of his emergency room staff showed up after the tornado with injuries of their own, but they worked through the night anyway.

"I spent most of my life at that hospital," Riscoe said at a triage center at Joplin's Memorial Hall entertainment venue. "It's awful. I had two pregnant nurses who dove under gurneys ... It's a testimony to the human spirit."

While many residents had up to 17 minutes of warning, rain and hail may have drowned out the sirens.

As rescuers toiled in the debris, a strong thunderstorm lashed the crippled city. Rescue crews had to move gingerly around downed power lines and jagged chunks of debris as they hunted for victims and hoped for survivors. Fires, gas fumes and unstable buildings posed constant threats.

Teams of searchers fanned out in waves across several square miles (kilometers). The groups went door to door, making quick checks of property that in many places had been stripped to their foundations or had walls collapse.

National Weather Service Director Jack Hayes said the storm was given a preliminary label as an EF4 -- the second-highest rating assigned to twisters based on the damage they cause.

Unlike last months deadly outbreak of tornadoes in the South, the devastation in Joplin was wrought by a single, massive tornado thought the be at least a three quarters of a mile wide according to some witnesses.


Unfortunately, many officials are expecting the death toll to rise as rescuers in the area will have to deal with more storms throughout the week as forecasters are warning of more severe weather in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Once a key zinc mining center, Joplin currently is a transportation crossroads with the Kansas City Southern, BNSF and Rail America's Missouri & North Arkansas each serving the city of 50,000 via railroad. For much of the 20th Century, the famed Route 66 passed through Joplin on its way between Chicago and California. Presently, I-44 passes through the city between St. Louis and Tulsa (and onto Oklahoma City and Texas) while US 71, which runs north-south through Joplin on its way between the Ozarks and Kansas City is close to being brought up to interstate standards.

National Train Day Iron Horse Roundup- May 7, 2011

Happy National Train Day everybody!

Railpictures.net/Mike Mautner

MISSOURI: Anheuser-Busch [NYSE: BUD] filed notice with the Surface Transportation Board that it will cease operations altogether on it's 13.5 mile Manufacturers Railway serving the A-B brewery in St. Louis.

The brewer told regulators that running the railroad "has become highly unprofitable," losing $700,000 last year and with a projected loss of $1.4 million this year. A-B has increasingly turned to trucks for shipping. Also, outside businesses, such as a brick salvager and a box maker, have stopped using A-B's rail service, the company said.

A-B said it would contract with other railroads to bring in supplies for making beer, as it does at its 11 other U.S. breweries. In St. Louis, trains bring in an average of six carloads of grain, celite and magnesite each day.

But the days of trains carrying out beer are gone, the brewer said. The last beer shipment by rail occurred on March 13.

"It's an end of an era," said Gregg Ames, curator of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The Manufacturers Railway was part of the Busch brewery since 1877 when founder Adolphus constructed a railway to supply the St. Louis brewery. InBev will reportedly use contract switcher Foster-Townsend Logistics (FTRL) to handle inbound shipments to the St. Louis brewery.

Railpictures.net/Michael F Allen

OREGON: Former McCloud River Railroad ALCo 2-6-2 #25 (shown above on the wye at McCloud, CA during an October 2008 charter) has found a new home to the north. The Garibaldi, OR based Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad acquired the restored ALCo steamer earlier this year and it was reportedly being transported to the western Oregon line back in March.

The 1925-built Prairie type locomotive was purchased new by the northern California logging railroad and after 30 years of service was replaced by a GE 70-tonner. The #25 remained on the property after its 1955 retirement, but was restored to working order as far back as 1962 and frequently in excursion service. McCloud River #25 is best known for it's appearance in the 1986 film Stand By Me. After appearing in the film, the #25 remained dormant for about 10 years while McCloud River #18 (a 1914-built 2-8-2) and a fleet of relatively modern EMD SD38s handled much of the excursion duties.

However, the #25 was restored in the late 1990s and would alternate excursion duties with #18 before the McCloud River filed to abandon all but 3.3 miles of trackage. The #18 went to nearby shortline Yreka Western for a few years before being sold to Nevada's Virginia & Truckee while the #25 remained on the property, powering intermittent excursions or charter trains until late 2008 when she went into storage and much of the McCloud river track was pulled up.

However, the #25 could not reach the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad by rail, since its parent company- the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad suffered considerable flood damage damage to it's 95-mile line between Tillamook to Banks, OR during a December 2007 storm and has yet to reopen.

The Oregon Coast Scenic also rosters a former Great Northern F7A diesel and a 1910-built Heisler steam engine.

Kevin Andrusia

MAINE: Shortly after ownership of more than 230 miles of the Montreal Maine & Atlantic line between Millinocket and Madawaska, ME transferred to the Maine DOT, the state of Maine had managed to line up a new operator last month.

PORTLAND — A Canadian company with a rail line in Maine has been chosen as the new operator for 233 miles of state-owned lines in northern Maine formerly owned by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, the Maine Department of Transportation announced today.

A five-member selection committee unanimously chose Eastern Maine Railway from among five applicants to run what is now known as the Aroostook Lines. The track, which stretches from Millinocket to Madawaska, had been in danger of being abandoned before the state agreed to purchase it and find a company to operate it.

Eastern Maine Railway is the U.S. affiliate of NB Southern Railway, which is part of J.D. Irving Ltd. based in Saint John, New Brunswick. The company has tracks in Maine that run about 100 miles from Brownville Junction to Vanceboro, along the Canadian border.

The selection committee was impressed by EMR's operating and business plans, said Denis Berube of the Northern Maine Development Commission in Caribou and a member of the committee.

"They really came across as being very dynamic in terms of chasing after the business, essentially wanting to satisfy the needs of the customers," he said. "They were in tune with what's going on in (Aroostook) County."

The track in northern Penobscot and Aroostook counties was at risk after the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway filed notice with the federal Surface Transportation Board that it intended to abandon the track. The company said it was losing millions of dollars a year on the line.

But the line was saved when the state agreed to buy the track and track rights for $20.1 million. The federal government agreed to contribute $10.5 million for track upgrades.

When the state acquired the tracks, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway agreed to continue operating them until mid-June, if needed. MM&A still owns and operates another 541 miles of track running from Maine to Montreal, with a short side track into Vermont.

The track, which includes branch lines to Caribou, Presque Isle, Easton, Houlton and Limestone, is a vital economic asset in northern Maine, said Nate Moulton, the transportation department's rail program director. For more than a century, rail cars have used the tracks to carry potatoes, paper, lumber and other products out of the region bound for markets across the U.S. and beyond.

The New Brunswick Southern presently operates about 225 miles of former Canadian Pacific trackage in Maine and New Bruswick and is a subsidiary of St. John, NB based J.D. Irving, Ltd

Postcard showing the Alishan Forestry Railway

TAIWAN: Five passengers were killed and 84 were injured when cars from an excursion train in Taiwan's Alishan National Forest derailed and plunged down an embankment.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) said the accident occurred at 12:17pm when a large tree next to the tracks fell and hit the last car of the train. Four of the train’s cars were derailed, with two tumbling down the embankment.

Most of the passengers aboard the train were tourists from China. Alishan is one of the most popular destinations among Chinese tourists to Taiwan, rescuers said.

After being privatized in 2008, many portions of the line suffered extensive damage after a 2009 typhoon and the Council of Agriculture's Forestry Commission has been seeking to transfer operations to the Taiwan Railway Administration before the end of the year. Although mostly dieselized, the railway will bring out the American-made geared Shay steam locomotives on occasion.

WISCONSIN: The CEO of the Wisconsin Southern has been charged with illegally funneling campaign contributions towards candidates for office including current Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Company chief executive William Gardner was charged last month with one count of excessive political contributions and one count of unlawful political contribution. The charges are both felonies that carry a combined maximum sentence of seven years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

Gardner pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to both counts in exchange for a recommendation from prosecutors that he serve two years on probation. He also won't be permitted to vote until he completes his sentence.

Investigators learned that between November 2009 and April 2010, Gardner reimbursed himself out of the railroad's expense account for $10,000 in donations he made to Republican Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and another $4,000 he gave to the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and former Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan of Janesville. He also asked a handful of railroad employees to donate to Walker's campaign and reimbursed them with company funds.

Wisconsin law limits individual gubernatorial contributions to $10,000 per election and prohibits furnishing money to others for political contributions in their names.

Gardner came forward about a week after the probe began and told election officials he had used company money to reimburse his employees for political contributions and cooperated with investigators. Walker, who was in the midst of a primary at the time, promptly returned about $40,000 in contributions from Gardner and Wisconsin & Southern employees. Gardner has said he donated that money to charity.

The Milwaukee-based railroad operates about 700 miles of former Milwaukee Road and Chicago & Northwestern throughout southern Wisconsin as well as trackage rights to Chicago over Chicago's Metra commuter rail.

railpictures.net/Fabrice Lanoue

About 20 people were injured in southern Argentina when a narrow gauge excursion train derailed in high winds on April 23rd.

La Trochita, also known as the Old Patagonian Express is a 2 ½ foot gauge railway running between Ingeniero Jacobacci in Rio Negro Province to Esquel in Chubut province. Construction on the line began 1935 and worked its way some 400km south through the windswept Patagonian landscape to reach the provincial town of Esquel in 1945. With a fleet of small Baldwin and Henschel steam locomotives, La Trochita made the transition from state run revenue railroad to a heritage railroad in the early 1990s.

Railpictures.net/Jorge Moreno

MEXICO: FerroMex has placed an order for 44 new SD70ACE locomotives from EMD, the first of which is expected to arrive in May. January's order will augment 15 SD70ACE locomotives already on the FerroMex roster.

Missouri to 0bamacare: "Drop Dead!"

73.1% of Missourians Racist!!

Tuesday was Primary day in Kansas, Michigan and Missouri. For the Show-Me state, besides voters heading to the polls to pick each party's candidate for the November elections, there was a ballot measure that some observers are calling an early referendum on Obama and the Democrat's recently-passed healthcare laws.

Missouri's Proposition C Missouri sought to exempt state residents from the federally mandated purchase of health insurance in HR 3590 that was passed back in late March. The ballot measure, sponsored by state senator Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) among others, passed by a margin of just under 75% on Tuesday night.

The measure enjoyed a wide range of support from Tea Party groups and statewide Republicans. Prop C saw little in the way of organized resistance- save for the Missouri Hospital Association spending $300,000 on mailers- and while some Dems running for officer were against the measure, they spent very little time and money fighting it.

Still, some critics of Prop C hold out hope that the measure could be easily be gutted or overturned in the courts (see California's Proposition 8 or Arizona's SB 1070). Even if Proposition C turns out to be merely symbolic, that has not stopped other states from putting similar measures on the ballot. Voters in Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma will vote on similar measures in November, with Tuesday's vote being seen as an early bellweather.

Notice how the early spin on this seems to be 'This won't stand up in court'- not '0bamacare HR3590 is so wonderful- why would you possibly want to oppose it!?"...just 'sit down and eat this turd sandwich already!'.

But as this Administration has shown us before, it won't think twice [or at all- NANESB!] about taking one of the states to court. Particularly a Red state.

Just in Time for 'Recovery Summer'- Extended Jobless Benefits!

Last month, President Obama and VP Joe Biden announced the launch of what the White House dubbed 'Recovery Summer' in which they claim the Stimulus and other Administration policies- without any hint of irony- were creating jobs.

Fresh off his rambling dud of an address from the Oval Office last month that even partisan hacks like Keith Olberman and Chris Matthews couldn't defend, Obama and White House officials have decided to hit the road to promote 'Recovery Summer'. That is when they're not taking a much needed vacation or killing off what's left of the Gulf Coast economy.

The President himself has been visiting places like a new Compact Power battery plant under construction in Holland, Michigan earlier this month. Compact is a subsidiary of LG Corp [NYSE: LPL], and the South Korean based company had received more than US$150 million in Stimulus funds to open up the Michigan plant. Many of the batteries will reportedly be used for GM's Chevy Volt electric vehicle. Obama's Michigan visit came a week after touring an electric truck factory in Kansas City, Mo.

However, the President's exhortations to the Senate to pass an unemployment benefits extension this week undercut the happy talk that had been taking place since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, i.e. 'the Stimulus') passed last spring.

While Obama and other Administration officials have been speechifying across the country to promote the Stimulus, the Senate voted by a 59-39 margin to extend unemployment benefits into November.

This raises a few questions, however. First of all, if this nation is in a 'recovery' and the Stimulus worked, then why the urgency to extend unemployment benefits? Having the bill lapse in November is also suspect, since it's highly unlikely there will be any significant improvement in the economic outlook between now and then. It seems as though the Democrat majority in both houses are trying to artificially create an issue right before the November mid-term elections instead of attempting to improve the economy.

Republicans in both houses have proposed that funds for the unemployment extensions be offset with budget cuts from elsewhere or paid with unspent Stimulus money instead of being added to the Federal Budget deficit.

The jobless benefits extension is expected to move quickly through the House of Representatives (whose lamprey-like Speaker apparently thinks that unemployment checks and Stimulus are one and the same) before being signed by President Obama, who will no doubt be speechifying some more to try and convince Americans that his stimulus plan really is working.

He would be only partially correct, though. Shortly after the passage of the Dodd-Frank bill, the Securities & Exchanges Commission announced that they would need to hire at least 800 additional workers to enforce the bill's new mandates.

So far under the Obama Administration, government has been the only growth industry.

Today's Train of Thought- The Ozarks Become the Smokies; April 30 2010

Despite being out of business for 40 years, there remains a certain brand-loyalty to locomotives manufactured by ALCO. Not surprisingly, a good number of the railroads that still use ALCO locomotives are in New York state, not far from the site of ALCO's Schenectady, NY headquarters. However, there are ALCO holdouts as far away as Arizona or even Argentina.

One such holdout is the Arkansas & Missouri railroad, operating 140 miles of former St. Louis-San Francisco ('Frisco') trackage from Ft. Smith, AR through the Ozarks and to a BNSF interchange in the Southwestern corner of Missouri. The line was completed by the Frisco in 1882 and stayed in company hands through the Burlington Northern's 1980 acquisition of the SLSF. In 1986, Burlington Northern decided to lease the line to Tony Hannold's Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. Almost immediately, the A&M cobbled together a roster of ALCO C420s from railroads like the Delaware & Hudson, Indiana Hi Rail and British Columbia Rail, along with smaller ALCO end-cab and road-switchers brought in from Hannold's other shortline operations on the Delmarva Peninsula. The A&M interchanges with the Kansas City Southern and Pioneer Railcorp's Ft. Smith Railroad in Ft Smith, AR; the Union Pacific in Van Bueren, AR and the BNSF in Monnet, MO.

The A&M purchased the line outright from BNSF in 2001 and upgraded the line over the next few years with continuous welded rail. Besides freight and switching, the A&M also offers seasonal excursions on their line between Springdale and Ft. Smith, AR with passenger cars provided by Boston Mountain chapter of the NRHS. Films like Biloxi Blues and Forces of Nature have been filmed along the A&M as well.

Of course, the A&M's bread and butter is freight- primarily grain and feed as well as scrap metal, plastics, food products and lumber. Above, we see A&M C420 #60 (former D&H 413, nee Lehigh Valley 413) on the northern end of the railroad at Butterfield, MO on April 15, 2010. Railpictures.net contributor Dane Carlisle caught the quartet of C420s doing what an ALCO does best as they throttle up getting ready to deliver a cut of cars to the nearby grain elevator. A quarter century of the hard-pulling, sure-footed ALCOs still working away in the Ozarks. What's not to love?

Iron Horse Roundup- Ides of March Edition

RUSSIA: Two female suicide bombers struck Moscow's subway during rush-hour Monday morning, killing at least 38 and wounding 60. The first bomber struck at the Lubyanka station at around 8 A.M. local time- the station is underneath the headquarters of the FSB, successors to the KGB. Approximately 45 minutes later, the second bomber struck at the Park Kultury station near the entrance to Gorky Park. Russian authorities believe that the attacks were orchestrated by terrorists with ties to Islamic leaders in the breakaway regions of the Caucasus. Chechen rebels have said earlier in videotaped statements that 'war is coming to the cities'. Moscow's subway system is the second busiest in the world, carrying an estimated 7 million passengers on any given workday.

Chuck Rippel- railpictures.net

USA- NORFOLK, VA: RailAmerica shortline Chesapeake & Albermarle is expected to resume service tomorrow after an accident put one of the locomotives and one of the line's drawbridges out of commission on March 29th. According to railpictures.net contributor Chuck Rippel, here's what happened:

At approximately 4AM, the Chesapeake and Albermarle rock job was northbound with approximately 40 empties. When it approached the open Bascule Draw span over the Intercoastal Waterway, the train was not able to stop. Instead, the lead engine collided with the counterweight and other parts of the bridge. The train was able to stop just as the front trucks went over the edge of the bridge approach and it came to rest with 1/3 of the lead engine hanging over the canal, resting on its fuel tank.

The engine was removed 3/27/10. I don't know the status of the crew only that the news did not report any injuries. Approximately 1,800 gallons of diesel spilled into the waterway and the USCG can be seen on the lower left overseeing the fuel recovery. At this point, the Intercoastal Waterway has a mile of swamp on either side of this bridge. I walked down tracks from the north side and passed 2 sets of signals. The first, at 1 mile away is always "approach" and the second is stop. I'm going to surmise the same arrangement exists on the south side of the bridge. This bridge is unmanned and its my understanding the conductor follows the train in a van to open and close it. So far, I haven't heard any explanation as to the events behind this accident.

The Chesapeake & Albermarle operates about 70 miles of track in southern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, hauling stone and chemicals to the Norfolk Southern and CSX interchange in Norfolk, VA.

Casey Thomason

ST. LOUIS, MO: The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) has sold off the last of their fleet of SW1500 end-cab switchers to Progress Rail Services, replacing the venerable switchers with 10 GP38-3s. Here, Casey Thomason has caught CSX SD50 #8572 leading the ex-TRRA units in a dedicated move at Junction City, GA on March 22, 2010. The steel coil cars are placed between each TRRA unit because each of the SW1500s do not feature alignment control drawbars, making long-distance transit moves quite tricky. Five TRRA units derailed in transit last month at LaGrange, GA when CSX didn't bother using spacer cars between the transiting TRRA locomotives.

Mike Mautner

The departure of the venerable SW1500s leaves the TRRA with a fleet of 4 and 6-axle medium horsepower EMD roadswitchers (SD38-2s and rebuilt SD45T-2s in addition to the newer GP38-3s). The GP38-3s are former Helm leasing, nee Union Pacific.

Santa Fe 3751 at the Grand Canyon, 2002- John West

SAN DIEGO, CA: The San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society announced that their restored 1927-built Baldwin 4-8-4 Santa Fe #3751 would be making a round-trip between Los Angeles Union Station and San Diego on the former Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Surf Line on the weekend of May 1st and 2nd, 2010. The 'Surf Line', running north out of San Diego, CA to Fullerton and Los Angeles, is presently used by Amtrak, BNSF, the San Diego Coaster, L.A.'s Metrolink and WATCO's Pacific Sun Railroad.

Although the SBRHS ran two LA-San Diego roundtrips with the #3751 in 2008, there were no such excursions last year due to financial concerns.