Today's Train of Thought takes us to Little Rhody and features one of the few freight carriers for America's smallest state- although in this instance, it isn't hauling freight.
In addition to coal, aggregates, ethanol or construction debris [not to mention ingredients for that yummy Polar Birch Beer- NANESB!], the Providence & Worcester also frequently hauls excursions on its mainline between its two namesake cities. These include the Christmas-themed 'Polar Express' excursions as well as trips to the Roger Williams Park and Zoo in Providence and fall foliage runs.
Here, rrpicturearchives.net contributor Alan Jenks caught P&W B39-8 #3908 heading southbound with a fall Shopper's Special returning from Putnam, CT on October 20, 2012. The train is on the last leg of its return journey to Cumberland, RI as the leaves on the trees trackside showcase an almost prototypical New England fall afternoon.
Today's Train(s) of Thought takes us to a once dormant corner of western Massachusetts. Although the Hampden County town of Palmer, MA has rightfully earned itself a reputation as a train-watcher's haven, Millers Falls in Franklin county deserves an honorable mention for hosting not one, but two resurgent railroads.
Best known for the Millers Falls Tool company, this Western Massachusetts village of about 1100 is situated at the confluence of the Millers and Connecticut River as well as Massachusetts Route 63 and the Mohawk Trail (Route 2- sometimes known locally as the French King highway). The village is also located at the crossing of what was once the Central Vermont Railroad and Boston & Maine's Fitchburg Division. The railroads that served Millers Falls, MA went into a precipitous decline starting in the late 1960s. The B&M started off the 1970s by entering bankruptcy in March 1970 and the CV's line between the Vermont-Quebec border and New London, CT had always been something of a backwater in the Canadian National system.
Along with the Maine Central and Delaware & Hudson, the somewhat resurgent Boston & Maine was brought into the Guilford fold in the early 1980s, ushering in a period marked by declining traffic, reduced salaries, deferred maintenance, layoffs, shop closures and labor strife. By 1988, Guilford abandoned any plans of operating a unified system stretching from Washington DC to northeastern Maine by declaring the Delaware & Hudson bankrupt. While the D&H would continue running with the New York, Susquehanna & Western as their designated operator for a few years, Canadian Pacific purchased the line outright in 1991. For better or worse, this left the Boston & Maine and Maine Central in the Guilford fold.
Around the same time the D&H was purchased by CP Rail, rumblings began on a possible privatization of the Canadian National Railway and its subsidiaries. Although the Central Vermont had operated as a subsidiary of the Canadian National since 1923, a newly privatized CN began looking to sell off marginal lines [even before privatization, they sold off their former Grand Trunk Eastern line between Sherbroke, Quebec to Portland, ME to Pennsylvania-based Emons Industries in 1989- NANESB!]. So one of the lines that ran through this western New England burgh was basically a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canadian government. To hardly anyone's surprise, the candidates for divestment included the Central Vermont, and they soon found a buyer in San Antonio-based RailTex in 1995. The line's name was changed to the New England Central and new(er) blue and yellow GP38-2s became the mainstay of the NECR fleet.
Meanwhile, Guilford's fortunes were seemingly tied to Maine's paper industry. At the time, Conrail provided the fastest route in and out of New England on their former Boston & Albany mainline between Beacon Hill yard in Boston and the massive former Penn Central yard in Selkirk, NY. If they used Guilford at all, shippers typically preferred the absolute minimum- this typically involved handing off trains to Guilford at Worcester, MA so they could continue to Ayer, MA and points northeast. This meant the underutilized Fitchburg division languished further- although coal trains from western Pennsylvania and general freight was handed off to Guilford by CP Rail at Mechanicsville, NY. While not in direct competition with each other, it seemed as though the Guilford's fortunes faded as New England Central's rose.
In 1998- Guilford's management made a curious move that wouldn't generate much attention until nearly a decade later. They purchased the rights to the name of the defunct Pan Am Airlines. By 2006, Guilford Transportation was re-branded as Pan Am Railways.
Interestingly, this wasn't simply a matter of slapping a new logo on the locomotives and rolling stock and hope that nobody noticed how badly the railroad had sucked for the last 20 years. Earnest efforts were made to retain current shippers and attract new ones or ones that had stopped using them.
By 2008, Pan Am had entered into an agreement with Norfolk Southern to upgrade trackage on the Fitchburg Division between Mechanicsville, NY and Ayer, MA- giving NS access to Boston area shippers. While unit coal trains from Western Pennsylvania continued running to the power plants in Mt Tom, MA and Bow, NH, Pan Am sought to expand upon that.
For instance, First Light Power began experimenting with blending coal from Colombia at the former Northeastern Utilities power plant in Mt Tom. The coal would be shipped from Colombia's Atlantic coast to Rhode Island, where it was then loaded into a dedicated unit train for the Providence & Worcester. From there it would travel between its two namesake cities. Once at Worcester, it would continue to the northwest to the Guilford/Pan Am interchange at Gardner, MA and on to Mt Tom (via Millers Falls and the East Deerfield yard) from there.
In the above image, NERail Photos contributor Bill Wehmeyer caught a Pan Am train at Miller's Falls, MA having something of an identity crisis. Here, Providence & Worcester B23-7 #2201 is seen leading a P&W GP38-2 with unit coal train PWMT [Providence & Worcester interchange at Gardner, MA to the Mount Tom power plant]- heading eastbound on June 15, 2012. The train utilizes P&W power for the duration of its run to the power plant.
Norfolk Southern's investment seems to be paying off for both parties- in addition to traffic destined for the Canadian Pacific at Mechanicsville and the unit coal trains originating on the Norfolk Southern or Providence & Worcester, the Fitchburg division of the Pan Am is also hosting unit grain trains, unit clay slurry trains from the Vermont Railway and dedicated unit trains of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale that is handed off to them by the CSX in Rotterdam Jct, NY on a weekly basis. Shippers that once preferred to avoid Guilford or the rails altogether are rediscovering Pan Am, with paper and forestry products moving out of Maine via the old B&M Fitchburg division instead of the former Boston & Albany (now CSX) line. In fact, traffic has increased so sharply on the Pan Am that the line finds itself short on locomotives at the moment- in addition to trying to wring every possible mile out of their secondhand GP35s and GP40s or run-through power from CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF and Norfolk Southern, Pan Am has also been borrowing SD40-2s from Helm Leasing and Norfolk Southern to try and fill in the gap.
New England Central- which had operated under the Rail America umbrella since 2000- has been no slouch, either. Hauling seemingly everything from construction debris to America's Cup yachts, New England Central began handling unit ethanol trains in conjunction with the Canadian Pacific, Vermont Railway and Providence & Worcester starting in 2010. The former Central Vermont line also accommodates Amtrak's Washington DC-St Albans, VT Vermonter. Despite sustaining heavy damage during the 2011 Tropical Storm Irene, the NECR was nearing completion on a massive upgrade of their line between Northfield, MA and St Albans, VT that is expected to benefit the NECR, Amtrak and to a lesser extent, Pan Am [which still uses the line to haul salt, plate steel and LPG as far north as White River Jct, VT- NANESB].
Perhaps the most significant development for the NECR has been the sale of parent company Rail America to Genesee & Wyoming holdings at the end of 2012. Within weeks, NECR locomotives were among those in the former Rail America network being repainted in G&W's trademark orange and black.
Above, raiplictures.net contributor Gary Senecal caught northbound NECR SD40-2 #6281 leading train #611 as it made its way north across the Millers River trestle just outside of the center of town while a passing storm makes its way east off in the distance on May 8th, 2010. Its not uncommon for NECR trains to perform interchange work with Pan Am at Millers Falls instead of at White River Jct, VT on the Connecticut River line
Despite being a New England Central train, the motive power gives no indication that this is a train belonging to any Rail America railroad- #6281's Conrail markings are very much intact while Florida East Coast SD40-2 #722 still retains its Union Pacific Armour Yellow and grey. By 2011, the former FEC SD40-2s and a couple of blue FEC GP40-2s were re-lettered for NECR, although as of March 2013, #6281 still retained the Conrail logo.
Today's Tain of Thought takes us to Dayville, CT where one of the Providence & Worcester's remaining EMDs is embarked on a fairly mundane task surrounded by a winter wonderland.
Like many eastern railroads, the Providence & Worcester started out paralleling already extant canals- in this case, the Blackstone Canal- between Worcester and Rhode Island's capitol- and was completed in 1844. By the early 1890s the New York, New Haven & Hartford agreed to lease the P&W for 99 years. However, on January 1st, 1969 the NYNH&H merged into the Penn Central Railroad- but by April of 1970, the P&W announced their intention to separate themselves from the merger. The announcement led to a court battle in which the P&W was ultimately victorious and after an 80-year hiatus began operating as a separate entity once again beginning in 1973. In addition to the original line paralleling the Blackstone Canal, the P&W took over additional lines radiating out of Worcester, including the ex-New Haven line between Worcester and New London, CT and the former Boston & Maine line between Worcester and Gardner, MA. By the 1990s, the P&W had secured trackage rights over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor all the way into New York City and acquired the former Connecticut Central line between New Haven and Middletown, CT and the former Conrail line to Danbury, CT.
Here, P&W GP38-2 #2009 is seen bracketing a pair of snow-draped crossing signals in Dayville, CT as it stops to do some switching while in charge symbol freight NR-2. NERail Photos contributor Ray Blanchette caught the geep on a wintry January 14, 2008
A pair of former Quebec, North Shore & Labrador SD40-2s are seen on the Wellsboro & Corning at Tioga Jct, PA hauling a cut of empty sand hoppers north to the Norfolk Southern interchange in Corning, NY in June 2010 Dave Seitzer photo
The deal is worth an estimated $18 million and gives Jacksonville, FL-based Rail America a 70% stake in the northern Pennsylvania railroad. Previous owner Tom Myles and his family retain a 30% share of the railroad, which has benefited considerably from increased drilling and exploration for natural gas along the Marcellus shale- a formation that stretches from southern Tennessee to the Adirondack foothills in Upstate New York.
Formed in 1992 from an abandoned Conrail (nee New York Central) line, the Wellsboro & Corning operated with a single SW8 for the lines sparse traffic. The end-cab switcher was eventually sold to another Pennsylvania railroad and the WCOR would end up leasing power from the Norfolk Southern. While the first natural gas wells were being drilled in Northern Pennsylvania, Myles had just purchased the line and reportedly pinned the Wellsboro & Corning's future on shipping outbound wood chips and lumber from Tigoa County, PA. However, increased natural gas drilling in the area led to 60+ unit sand trains meant the Wellsboro, PA based shortline would need additional horsepower. In early 2010, that horsepower arrived in the form of four 3000HP SD40-2s that last saw service with Quebec ore hauler Quebec, North Shore & Labrador.
Pan Am GP9 #52 was released from the Waterville, ME shops as the second unit in Pan Am's 'Heritage' program towards the end of 2011. Painted in vintage Maine Central colors, the #52 is seen leading local SAPPI-3 freight back into the Waterville, ME yard in December 2011. Justin Franz photo
PAN AM RAILWAYS- Following up GP9 #77 being repainted in the Boston & Maine's maroon and gold 'Minuteman' paint scheme over the summer, Pan Am released a second 'heritage' unit from their former Maine Central Waterville, ME shops in December.
Pan-Am GP9 #52 was painted in a green and yellow paint scheme and lettered for Pan-Am/Guilford predecessor Maine Central. The unit was immediately put into service on Waterville-based local SAPPI-3.
There are unconfirmed reports that Pan Am may release an additional 'heritage' painted unit in Boston & Maine's McGinness-era paint scheme known as 'bluebirds'.
Marquette Rail SD40-2 #3001 is seen with two lease units idling at White Cloud, MI with a northbound freight from Grand Rapids to Baldwin awaiting a re-crew in August 2011. Michael Biehn photo
The employee-owned Marquette Rail operates between Grand Rapids and Manistee, MI with a branch to Ludington, MI. Traffic include chemicals, paper and pulp. The company purchased the lines from CSX in late 2005.
Marquette Rail will become the 5th shortline or regional railroad in the Wolverine State to fall under the Rail America umbrella, joining Mid Michigan Railroad, Grand Rapids & Eastern, Michigan Shore and Huron & Eastern.
Norfolk Southern's Southern Railway-painted 'Heritage' GE ES44AC is seen leading Chattanooga, TN to Harrisburg, PA mixed freight 38Q north/east through Telford, TN on March 23rd. Tony King photo.
NORFOLK SOUTHERN- Not to be outdone by Pan Am or Union Pacific in the 'retro' department, Norfolk Southern recently announced an amibitous 'Heritage' program of their own.
The first three locomotives from the Norfolk Southern heritage program- painted for Conrail, Southern and the Nickel Plate- were unveiled earlier this month and put into revenue service.
The Class 1 carrier plans a total of 18 units being painted into 'Heritage' colors, including Erie, Norfolk & Western, Central New Jersey, Wabash, Lehigh Valley, Illinois Terminal, New York Central, Virginian, Savannah & Atlanta, Delaware, Lackawana & Western, the original Norfolk Southern, Interstate Railroad, Central of Georgia, Reading Railroad and`the Pennsylvania Railroad. The first three NS Heritage units were GE ES44AC GEVOs, but Norolk Southern anticipates applying the Heritage colors to nine brand new GE locomotives and nine new EMD SD70ACE locomotives.
Interestingly, both Norfolk Southern and CSX still have a number of locomotives in service that are still in Conrail blue that were never repainted from their 1999 takeover of Conrail. Consolidated Rail Corp- better known as Conrail- was formed in 1976 by cobbling together struggling northeast and rust belt carriers Penn Central, Erie Lackawana, Lehigh Valley, Reading, Central New Jersey and the Lehigh and Hudson River.
New England Central GP38 #3857, Providence & Worcester GP38-2 #2008 and E9B #668 lead a joint NECR/P&W/CN office car special south across the White River in W. Hartford, VT on February 7th 2012. The train is approaching White River Jct and will continue south to Worcester, MA. Shaun McGinniss photo
NEW ENGLAND CENTRAL/PROVIDENCE & WORCESTER- The Providence & Worcester and Rail America's New England Central and operated an Office Car special between St Albans, VT and Worcester, MA in February. The special was to highlight the potential for officials from the Canadian National to utilize the two New England regional railroads to access shippers in the Boston area and operated on the NECR line south of Palmer, MA to P&W's Willamantic Branch before returning north to Worcester on P&W Rails. Officials from the three railroads are hoping the route can help them compete with CSX's former Boston & Albany mainline between Selkirk, NY and Beacon Hill yard in Boston, MA and Norfolk Southern and Pan Am Railway's joint Patriot Corridor between Mechanicville, NY and Ayer, MA.
Ironically, the St Albans, VT to New London, CT NECR mainline used to be operated by Central Vermont- a subsidiary of Canadian National- before the line was spun off to RailTex (later Rail America) in the mid 1990s. However, the Central Vermont didn't enjoy the close degree of cooperation with the Providence & Worcester that the NECR does today.
This would be the second Office Car Special with officials from a Canadian class 1 carrier to operate over the NECR and P&W in the last few months. An OCS between Whitehall, NY and Worcester, MA via Rutland VT and the Vermont Railway was supposed to take place over the 2011 Labor Day weekend, but serious damage to the Vermont Railway and NECR lines in the wake of Hurricane Irene meant that the OCS was postponed until October. That OCS also had officials from the Vermont Railway and Canadian Pacific to highlight the VTRR's Green Mountain Gateway between Whitehall, NY and Bellows Falls, VT. Canadian Pacific already sends unit ethanol trains from North Dakota to Providence, RI via the Green Mountain Gateway to the NECR and Providence & Worcester. Additional traffic could be sent through the Green Mountain Gateway as Pan Am is starting a project to improve clearence for double-stack containers at the 4.75 mile Hoosac Tunnel.
OTHER NEW ENGLAND CENTRAL NEWS- By late December 2011, all Florida East Coast GP40-2s and SD40-2s on NECR property had their FEC markings removed. The FEC 'Hurricane' nose logo was replaced by a New England Central herald and lettering on the sides of the units.
Soo Line 2-8-2 #1003 seen passing through Fairwater, WI with vintage freight cars in October 2010, about a month before being pulled from service for her FRA-mandated 15 year boiler inspection. Tom Binger photo
WISCONSIN- After being taken out of service for her 15 year boiler inspection in late 2010, the owners of Soo Line 2-8-2 #1003 have announced that the 1913-built Mikado will return to steam.
The announcement was made on the 1003's website and credits Wisconsin & Southern president William Gardner with a significant donation towards the #1003's eventual return to service- the #1003 would often haul excursions over rails operated by the WSOR while she was in service. The total cost of the neccesary boiler work is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $400,000.
Things are looking quite promising for steam in the upper Midwest. In addition to the Soo Line #1003's scheduled return to service, the nearby Mid Continent Railway Museum has announced plans to restore Chicago & Northwestern 4-6-0 #1385 to service and has already recieved a $250,000 challenge grant towards the full restoration of the 1907-built ten wheeler. Over in the Twin Cities, the Milwaukee Road #261 could return to service as soon as this fall and the Minnesota Transportation Museum is currently restoring Northern Pacific 4-6-2 #2156.
CEFX SD9043MAC is seen leading sister #130 and two dead-in-transit Vermont Railway EMDs past the entrance of Okemo ski resort outside of Ludlow, VT with Rutland-Bellows Falls train #263. Kevin Burkholder photo.
VERMONT RAILWAY- The Vermont Railway System is currently testing a pair of SD9043MACs on their Green Mountain route to evaluate their ability in hauling heavy freight trains over the Rutland-Bellows Falls Green Mountain line.
The Vermont Railway, New England Central and Providence & Worcester have been promoting the Green Mountain Gateway in recent years with some success, resulting in heavier unit coal and ethanol trains moving through the Green Mountains to and from the Canadian Pacific/Vermont Railway interchange in Whitehall, NY. However, the advent of unit ethanol trains from Canadian Pacific destined for Providence, RI in March 2010 highlighted the VTRR's need for bigger locomotives and additional power when the initial 80-car train required most of the Vermont Railway roster to clear the Green Mountains. Currently, the 80-car trains are split in two at Rutland and moved to the NECR interchange at Bellows Falls, VT in 40-car sets while the empties return to Canadian Pacific with 80 cars.
The SD9043MACs are rated at 4300 HP each and features AC Traction motors and radial steering trucks. CEFX #125 was previously in service with Four Rivers Transportation's Appalachian & Ohio and wears an A&O hearald on its long hood.
Interestingly, this is not the first time VTRR has tested CEFX SD9043MACs on the Green Mountain route. In 2000 CEFX #138 and #139 also underwent evaluation on the Green Mountain line, although it was 10 years before heavy unit trains would regularly appear on the VTRR.
Should the Vermont Railway purchase the new EMDs, they would join the Indiana Railroad and Montana Rail Link as shortlines or regionals who have purchased late model EMDs new from the manufacturer in recent years.
If you stop and think about it, so many of the goods and services that we use in out day-to-day lives have been shipped by rail at some point- if not the finished product, then certainly the raw ingredients. Materiel like coal, wheat, oil, acid, iron ore, ethanol, garbage, salt, auto parts, gas, wind turbine components, steel and even sugar beets or orange juice pulp have been known to move in decdicated unit trains- and that's not even taking the advent of double-stacked container freight into account. Companies like Coors Brewing, Foster Farms, Cargill Salt or Anderson Windows- to name a few- utilize their own switcher locomotives at their plants to help ensure efficient offloading of inbound raw materiel or faster interchange of the finished product thats shipped by rail.
With that in mind, I'm a pretty big fan of Polar beverages- particularly their birch beer. The Worcester, MA based company has been selling flavored soft drinks, water and seltzer throughout the northeast and dates back to 1882.
Today's Train of Thought takes us to central Massachusetts, home of both Polar Beverages and the Providence & Worcester Railroad. And although the P&W has expanded considerably in recent years and runs unit coal, ethanol and aggregate trains, it still has customers to serve in Worcester same as it did nearly 40 years ago when it started up service on former New Haven and Penn Central lines in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Here, railpictures.net contributor D.M. Wenc caught P&W B39-8 #3903 with local freight WX-1 at Worcester, MA on February 11, 2009. One of the customers this freight serves is the Polar beverage company, and the conductor can be seen riding the side of the train a few cars back as the big 4-axle GE gets ready to drop off a cut of tank cars- presumably loaded with corn syrup- for Polar as the sun peeks out from the clouds.
Providence & Worcester B40-8W #4005 traverses the P&W Willamantic branch in Lisbon, CT pulling a joint office car special with officials from Canadian Pacific, Vermont Railway, New England Central and the P&W on October 19, 2011. Photo, Tom Nanos.
NEW ENGLAND: Some of you might recall back in late August that officials from Guilford/Pan-Am and Norfolk Southern [NYSE: NSC] observed progress on the Patriot Corridor project and using a joint office car special, inspected intermodal facilities in Ayer, MA and one under construction in Mechanicsville, NY before Hurricane Irene struck.
Powered by a General Electric locomotive from Providence & Worcester and with two passenger cars from the Vermont Railway in tow, the OCS got underway departing east out of Whitehall, NY and continuing on towards Bellows Falls, VT on October 19th over the recently-reopened Green Mountain Railway line which was pummeled in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. From there, it continued south over the New England Central to Willamantic, CT via Palmer, MA. At Willamantic, the train continued east over Providence & Worcester's Willamantic Branch to Plainfield, CT.
Reopened in 2007, the Willamantic branch was plagued by a series of derailments in 2010 and the FRA ruled that the line would be downgraded to 'excepted', limiting speeds on the line to 10 MPH and preventing more than 5 cars of hazardous materiel from travelling the line. At Plainfield, CT, the Willamantic Branch intersects with the P&Ws Worcester, MA to Groton, CT line and from these, the OCS headed back north into Massachusetts. Since the derailments, many of the unit ethanol trains that traverse the Green Mountain Corridor simply travel all the way south to the NECR/P&W interchange at New London, CT before continuing on to Providence via Worcester, MA.
Besides unit ethanol trains, the railroads that make up the Green Mountain Gateway hope to compete against Norfolk Southern/Pan-Am's 'Patriot Corridor' and CSX's Boston line for autorack and intermodal traffic. In 2006, the Green Mountain Gateway saw unit trains of imported coal from South Africa being offloaded in Providence, RI with a final destination of Johnson City, NY- just west of Binghamton, NY- via Canadian Pacific's former Delaware & Hudson Bridge Line for a few weeks as the power plant there was test burning various grades of coal. While there is no more unit trains of imported coal for Johnson City, the P&W does still handle unit trains of imported coal to First Light's Mt. Tom, MA power plant and Northeast Utilities [NYSE: NU] Bow, NH plant.
LIRR commuter trains meet at Huntington Station- Photo, Jospeh Meade
Janice Fedarcyk, the head of New York’s FBI office, called it a “game where every retiree was a winner.” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the disability pension program was not designed to be “a feeding trough for the truly dishonest,” but authorities say that’s what happened.
Hundreds of LIRR employees falsely declared themselves disabled to collect more pension money from the ages of 50 to 65, when they would otherwise qualify for full benefits, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The complaint said a retired engineering manager who complained of severe hand, knee, shoulder and back pain often played tennis and golf while collecting about $105,000 yearly in combined pension and disability payments.
Another former employee said she suffered neck, shoulder and hand pain from computer work and couldn’t stand more than five minutes without leg pain. She was “surveilled shoveling heavy snow for approximately one and a half hours,” the complaint said. She gets about $108,000 a year in combined pension and disability payments.
The complaint said many workers who retired with disability benefits worked unusually high amounts of overtime in the five years before retirement because pensions are calculated based on earnings during that period. The heavy workloads often continued “right up until the very day when they and their physicians claimed they were utterly unable to continue doing their railroad jobs,” the complaint said.
The complaint also seemed to place some of the blame for the scandal on the pension system itself, saying the “exceptionally high rate of occupational disability applications for the LIRR can be attributed to the fact that the LIRR, and the LIRR alone, offers a pension to employees as young as 50 years old.” The complaint said unscrupulous employees lie about their physical condition so they can retire at an earlier age with a salary almost equal to what they got when they were working.
Three doctors, one of whom has since died, were responsible for 86 percent of the railroad’s disability applications before 2008. One doctor recommended at least 839 LIRR employees for disability from 1998 to 2008, the complaint said.
Authorities said the doctors collected $800 to $1,200 in fees from each patient as they built disability cases by prescribing unnecessary medical tests and physical therapy. They said the doctors then fabricated or grossly exaggerated medical assessments and built illness narratives to show the employees were unable to work.
The charges stem from a September 2008 investigative report in the New York Times which pointed out that nearly 90% disability attriton rate of the LIRR personnel. The claims were not just limited to engineers, conductors or track workers, either- the former deputy general counsel and claims manager were seeking disability according to the New York Times report.
The MTA claimed that it had no say-so in awarding the fraudulent disability payments and that the RRB was acting as a rubber stamp for any claim that came before it. The FBI and RRB's Inspector General have filed charges against the 11 participants in the scheme where they feel they have the strongest evidence. Since its creation in the 1930s, the RRB is the government agency that administers disability, unemployment, retirement and survivor benefits to railroad workers and their families.
The first phase of the project includes the construction of a 3300 ft bridge and 11,000 foot levy. The construction is expected to cause intermittent delays and congestion for the next two years (no work will be done in the dead of winter) but project managers are hoping some 75 truckloads of firewood donated to area residents will offset any inconvenience. The new extension will give the Alaska Railroad access to the US Army's Fort Wainwright as well as potential shippers in the agricultural, mining and petrochemical sectors.
New England Central Rock Train passing Winooski Gorge with Toldeo Peoria & Western GP40-2LW #4053 in the lead at Winooski, VT on November 1, 2011. Photo, Matt Powell
VERMONT: While the railroads throughout the Green Mountain state have reopened in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, the same can't be said for the state's road network. Hit particularly hard was Vermont Route 107 to the west of Bethel. Surging floodwaters from the nearby White River have obliterated sections of the road.
The rocks are loaded onto the side-dump gondola cars on the Vermont Railway outside of Burlington and then handed off to the New England Central, where they turn south at Essex Jct and continue about another 50 miles over the newly reopened former Central Vermont mainline to Bethel, where they're dumped down an embankment for trucks to haul the rest of the way to the construction site.
Knoxville Locomotive Works Photo
TENNESSEE: Gulf and Ohio has officially entered the low-emissions diesel market with the unveiling of their KLW20B prototype in October. The Knoxville Locomotive Works website claims a fuel savings of up to 30%, lower rate of oil consumption and compatibility with already-existing components from EMD (the locomotive was made from the frame and carbody of a Norfolk Southern GP38).
Reportedly, the locomotive underwent testing on Gulf and Ohio's Knoxville and Holston River, which is also home to the G&O's 1890 built 2-8-0, Southern #154 that had been fully restored in 2010.
TVRM's Southern 2-8-0 Consolidated #630 leading an excursion on Norfolk Southern's Atlanta North District at Chattanooga, TN over the Labor Day weekend. Doyle Massey photo
ELSEWHERE IN TENNESSEE: Norfolk Southern's 21st Century steam program began in earnest over the Labor Day weekend with Tennessee Valley Railroad Musuem's Southern 2-8-0 #630 powering mainline excursions over the Norfolk Southern's North Atlanta District
The Labor Day excursions over the Norfolk Southern also coincided with the TVRM's 50th anniversary, which featured a number of static displays and some diesel excursions [as well as the largest Moon Pie; no foolin'- NANESB!]. Although Tropical Storm Lee put a damper on some of the celebrations, the TVRM's Labor Day railfest was well attended and the #630 is expected to power another mainline excursion over the Norfolk Southern- this time to Knoxville, TN on November 14th.
New England Central detour freight MFMO (Millers Falls, MA- MOhawk Yard, Schenectady NY) preparing to head west at Pan Am's former Boston & Maine yard in East Deerfield, MA on September 8, 2011. Only a stone's throw away from the NECR interchange at Millers Falls, the train will then continue north to Whitehall, NY where it will traverse over the Vermont Railway system via Rutland and north to 'home' rails at Burlington, VT- Photo, Matt Baj
As cleanup from Irene continued throughout the Green Mountain state and elsewhere, Class 1 and regional rail carriers were scrambling to accommodate an array of detour traffic over the regions intact lines throughout the month of September.
Canadian Pacific ES44AC GEVO #8780 and a pair of former BNSF SD40-2s blast out of the East Portal of the Hoosac Tunnel in Florida, MA with loaded unit ethanol train MOPW (MOhawk Yard to Providence & Worcester interchange at Gardner, MA)on September 10, 2011. The first car is actually a spacer, while the ethanol tak cars are obscured by the shadows. Photo, Matt Rooks
The flurry of activity breathed new life into obscure and long-forgotten junctions and spawned an alphabet soup of new and improvised train symbols on one railway.
Rail America's New England Central got the ball rolling on September 9th with a southbound detour train from Essex Jct, VT that consisted primarily of empty welded rail cars from the track improvement project on NECR's Roxbury and Palmer subdivisions and backlogged freight cars. The detour train (NECR gave it the symbol 323X) would traverse the western end of the Green Mountain state between Burlington and Rutland before heading west to the Canadian Pacific interchange at Whitehall, NY on the Vermont Railway's former Delaware & Hudson's Rutland branch.
Once on CP rails, the detour freight would be handed off to the Pan Am railway at Mohawk Yard just outside of Schenectady, NY. From there, the NECR detour would continue east over the former Boston & Maine Fitchburg Main to the NECR interchange at Millers Falls, MA.
At least one unit ethanol train was rerouted off VRS's Green Mountain Gateway in the wake of Irene. On September 10, Canadian Pacific handed off a 50 car loaded ethanol train to Pan Am at Mohawk Yard. From there, the train would travel as far east as Gardner, MA on the former Boston & Maine line where it was handed off to the Providence & Worcester.
Vermont Railway GP38-2 #303 leads a solid set of red EMDs north out of Crescent, NY after having just swapped cars with Pan Am freight EDSR (East Deerfield, MA to Canadian Pacific's yard at SaRatoga, NY) on September 11, 2011. The Pan Am freight picked up carloads of limestone slurry and handed over ballast cars and empties. Normally, the interchange would take place in Hoosac Falls, NY. Photo, Gary R. Schermerhorn
The B&R line between Rutland and North Bennington, VT was also damaged in the aftermath of Irene. In addition to local lumber and grain traffic, this portion of the Vermont Railway System also hosts a weekly unit limestone slurry train that is handed off to Pan Am in Hoosac Jct, NY and on to Maine from there. Interestingly, the original routing for the slurry train when it first started was over the Green Mountain gateway where it was interchanged with the Pan Am at Bellows Falls before continuing to Maine. The south end of the B&R branch was reopened in recent years to accommodate the slurry train and give the VRS and Pan Am a second interchange point.
Like the NECR detours, the VRS slurry train reached the Pan Am via Canadian Pacific at the Whitehall, NY interchange and used Vermont Railway motive power- although instead of travelling to Mohawk Yard, they apparently met with a Pan Am freight just outside of Saratoga, NY on Canadian Pacific's former D&H Bridge Line.
New England Central GP38-2 #3857 leads a mixed bag of power from other Rail America roads and leasers across the Hudson River on the former Boston & Maine west end in Mechanicsville, NY at dusk on September 16th, 2011 with symbol freight MFMO. This would be the last NECR detour train using the Pan Am routing as the Green Mountain Railway line would reopen to through traffic less than 24 hours later. Photo, John Bazan
On September 16, the Vermont Railway's Green Mountain Line re-opened to through traffic between Rutland and Bellows Falls, VT. Not only did this mean that through trains could resume on the former Green Mountain Railway, but that the NECR could utilize a less circuitous detour than the Pan Am and Canadian Pacific lines through Western Massachusetts and Upstate New York while work was continuing on reopening their Roxbury Subdivision north of White River Jct, VT. Instead, NECR trains could travel from New London, CT or Palmer, MA as far north as Bellows Falls, VT before detouring over the Vermont Railway System.
Former Goderich & Exeter GP38 #3843 leads a NECR GP38-2 and Connectictut Southern B39-8 as they lean into the curve at Royalton, VT with New England Central train 323-21 on September 21, 2011. This is the first northbound through train on the former Central Vermont Roxbury Subdivision since Tropical Storm Irene struck. Photo, Kevin Burkholder
After weeks of clearing fallen trees and moving in train loads of ballast, rip rap and gravel, the NECR line north of White River Jct and south of Essex Jct, VT had been reopened to through traffic on September 21st.
Crews had been working around the clock to reopen both the VRS and NECR lines since late August. The final NECR work train reportedly ran north out of White River Jct. on September 25 with a Florida East Coast GP40-2 (ironically, with the 'Hurricane' logo on the hood) and a NECR GP38-2 followed by 9 cars of rip rap to shore up repairs made along the line.
While most of VRS's Washington County Railway line between Newport, VT and White River Jct survived Irene, the trestle across the White River itself was undercut when floodwaters twisted one of the stone piers supporting it, causing the deck to drop almost 6 feet our of alignment. Crews have erected a temporary support system and will replace the damaged piers with a concrete pillar. The bridge might be carrying trains as early as this week. Since the warped trestle isolated the WACR's Connecticut River Division from the rest of the Vermont Railway system, the WACR has been borrowing a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic B39-8 to service the line south of the MM&A interchange in Newport.
"For each individual that comes in, they spend 200–300 dollars a day in restaurants, hotels, and entertainment. That's spent after they leave the festival," Nelson said, "this is good clean economic industry. They bring in their money and then they leave."
Folks from at least 46 states and 14 foreign countries are checking out the locomotives
Among the featured locomotives at the 2011 event were Nickel Plate 2-8-4 Berkshire #765 and Iowa Interstate's two Chinese made 'QJ' class 2-10-2 steam locomotives.
The Nickel Plate #765 travelled from Logansport, IN to and from the Quad Cities over a Norfolk Southern/Toledo Peoria & Western/Iowa Interstate routing and powered eastbound excursions to Rock Island and Bureau IL and back and westbound excursions over the Government Bridge and west to Walcott, IA along with IAIS QJ 2-10-2 #6988.
Although Santa Fe 3751 wasn't able to make it out from California this year, the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL managed to step up and send their Nebraska Zephyr trainset that they purchased from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1968. Although operational, this is the first time the Nebraska Zephyr trainset has ventured out from the Illinois Railway Museum under it's own power in more than 43 years.
Curiously, with Nickel Plate #765 being made by Lima Locomotive Works in 1944 and the Iowa Interstate's Chinese QJ steam engines fabricated by the Datong Locomotive Factory in 1986, the 1936-made Nebraska Zephyr trainset featured the oldest motive power hauling excursions at Train Fest 2011. According to the Illinois Railway Museum, CB&Q E5(A) #9911A is also the last surviving locomotive of its kind. On Sunday July 24, the Zephy trainset powered an excursion from Rock Island to Bureau, IL and back over the Iowa Interstate's former Rock Island Chicago-Council Bluffs, IA line.
The Nebraska Zephyr travelled on Canadian Pacific's former Iowa, Chicgao & Eastern (ex I&M Rail Link exx Soo Line nee Milwaukee Road) Chicago line before crossing the Mississippi RIver and turning south towards the Quad Cities at Subula, IA and heading south on the ex-Milwaukee Road line (now CP Rail) to Davenport. Also along for the ride were the museum's CB&Q EMD SW7 #9255 and Chicago & North Western F7A #411.
Nor date or venue has been announced for Train Festival 2012 yet. With the combination of the state's centennial and ongoing restoration work towards Santa Fe 4-8-4 #2926, I wouldn't be shocked to learn if the event moved out west to the Land of Enchantment. But then again, it's also Arizona's centennial and the Grand Canyon Railway already has established a history of running steam-powered excursions. Then again, that's just idle speculation on my part.
PROVIDENCE & WORCESTER: Providence & Worcester [NASDAQ: PWX] is reportedly leasing a trio of former Oakway Leasing SD60s from GATX [NYSE: GMT]. GMTX SD60s #9014 and #9059 were spotted transiting via the New England Central in White River Jct, VT on July 25 (above) destined for the P&W. Reportedly the cab signal equipment that Amtrak requires to operate on the Northeast Corridor were scavenged from the P&W's two GE Super 7s. According to Kevin Burkholder, the cabs and rooflines have been modified for the six-axle leasers to operate under the catenary on the NEC in Rhode Island as well as between New Haven CT and Queens, NY.
The 6-axle EMD leasers represent a departure for the P&W, who have demonstrated an affinity for burly, 4-axle GE products purchased secondhand from the New York, Susquehanna & Western, BNSF or CSX. It is thought that the blue & white EMD's will be powering the stone trains from the Tilcon Stone quarry in North Branford, CT to the New York & Atlantic interchange in Queens, although some have expressed doubts that Metro-North (the commuter agency that operated the NEC between Penn Station and Connecticut) is reluctant to allow 6-axle units on their rails.
The SD60s were leased to the Burlington Northern in 1986 through Oakway, Inc- a subsidiary of Corrnell Rice & Sugar- in a first of it's kind "Power by the hour" arrangement in which BN purchased nothing more than the electrical output from the fleet of SD60s and leased on a kilowatt hour basis.
Xinhua photo
CHINA: At least 35 people were killed and nearly 200 injured when two high speed trains collided in the eastern province of Zhejiang on July 23rd.
The first train was traveling south from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou when it lost power in the lightning strike and was hit from behind by the second train in Wenzhou city at 8:27 p.m. (1230 GMT) Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The second train had left Beijing and both trains were destined for Fuzhou in eastern Fujian province.
The Ministry of Railways said in a statement that the first four carriages of the moving train and the last two carriages of the stalled train derailed.
CSX: Nearly a decade after paying out in asbestos-related lawsuit settlement, CSX [NYSE: CSX] is suing Pittsburgh-area trial law firm of Robert Pierce & Associates alleging fraud and racketeering in pursuit of claimants and settlements.
CSX's lawsuit against the Peirce firm is rooted in the last days of the mass asbestos lawsuits, when plaintiffs' firms routinely rounded up hundreds or thousands of people who had been exposed to the cancer-causing flame retardant, and brought gargantuan claims against manufacturers and employers.
CSX alleged that in 1999, an employee named Danny Jayne went to an asbestosis screening set up by the Peirce firm or its affiliates. A doctor found abnormalities on his x-ray, and in 2002, the company agreed to settle his claim for $7,000.
Meanwhile, the company alleged, another CSX employee named Ricky May was screened and tested negative for asbestosis.
But at a subsequent screening in 2000, a contractor working for the Peirce firm helped arrange for Mr. Jayne to pretend to be Mr. May, CSX claimed. That resulting x-ray was used by the firm to justify a claim on behalf of Mr. May, which CSX settled for $8,000.
CSX said the law firm took advantage of an expedited court system that didn't allow for scrutiny of individual cases and pursued the cases with fraud and negligence. The Peirce firm didn't deny that Mr. May and Mr. Jayne had pulled a fast one, but argued that they had acted without the lawyers' knowledge or encouragement.
In August 2009, a federal jury in West Virginia found that the Peirce firm and its contractor weren't liable for fraud. That, however, didn't end the matter.
CSX has since pursued a broader theory, outlined in detail for the first time in a July 14 court filing: that the Peirce firm pursued "a calculated and deliberate strategy" of "unlawful conduct, including bribery, fraud, conspiracy and racketeering."
CSX said the firm used "intentionally unreliable mass screenings" by a radiologist who had a criminal history and a doctor who has been accused of tailoring diagnoses to fit lawsuits.
The company pointed to 11 cases in which Peirce-paid professionals found no signs of asbestosis in an employee, then later screened the employee again and found the disease. It settled just one of the cases, for $25,000.
CSX is going after the Peirce firm using the civil provisions of the 40-year-old Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute. RICO is a law more often used by law enforcement to prosecute organized crime.
The firm "repeatedly used or caused their agents to use the mails and wires," CSX said in a July 14 court filing, characterizing the communications as "mail fraud" and "wire fraud."
Neither CSX nor the Peirce firm would discuss details of the case, now before Senior District Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr.
Legal experts are hard pressed to think of another case where a corporation on the recieving end of mass litigation retaliated by invoking RICO against trial lawyers. Even if CSX falls short in their attempt to being RCO charges against Pierce & Associates.
According to Attorney Mark Behrens of the Washington, D.C., defense firm Shook Hardy & Bacon CSX would be the third company in recent years to take such action against a law firm. The two other companies won their respective suits- interestingly, one of them was another railroad. In 2010, a judge and jury ruled that MacComb, MS based lawyer and former Democratic state senator William Guy pay the Illinois Central Railroad $420,000 in damages after representing plaintiffs thay they knew had been awarded a settlement from an earlier suit.
ARKANSAS & MISSOURI: As part of its ongoing 25th anniversary celebration, the all-ALCo Northwestern Arkansas shortline Arkansas & Missouri continues to operate a slew of excursions between Springdale and Fayetteville, AR.
This includes an August 14 run between Springdale and Winslow, AR that will be a fundraiser to help in the ongoing efforts in rebuilding Joplin, MO after May's deadly F5 tornado tore through the city center. Riders are also invited to bring paintbrushes, theater makeup and fabric to help the East Middle School's art and theater department after the tornado levelled the school.
The acquisitions by Rail America come a few months after the Gulf & Ohio acquired the previously independent Lancaster & Chester in North Carolina. That deal was finalized in November 2010.
PATRIOT RAIL: Boca Raton, FL-based Patriot Rail announced their aquisition of six railroads formerly operated by the Weyerhaeuser company [NYSE- WY] was finalized this year.
• the DeQueen and Eastern Railroad (DQE) operates over 50 miles in southwest Arkansas; • the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad (TOE) operates over 41 miles in southeast Oklahoma and connects directly with the DQE at the Oklahoma/Arkansas border; • the Columbia & Cowlitz Railway (CLC) operates over 14 route miles in southwest Washington; • the Patriot Woods Railroad (PAW) operates over 23 route miles in southwest Washington and connects directly to the CLC; • the Golden Triangle Railroad (GTRA) operates over 9.5 route miles in central Mississippi; and • the Mississippi & Skuna Valley Railroad (MSV) owns 22 route miles in Mississippi.
This brings the total number of railroads owned and operated by Patriot Rail to 13 (although under Weyerhauser, there was little if any distinction between the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern and DeQueen Easter and the Columbia & Cowlitz and Weyerhauser Company Forestry railroad). In the above photo, a quartet of Weyerhauser Woods SW1500s is seen crossing a trestle in Ostrander, WA just north of Longview, WA in March 2006.
Officials believe that a signalling error one one of the trains was what led the Jakarta-Surabaya train to collide with the rear cars of the stopped Semarang-bound train.
That same day, another accident in nearby Solo resulted in at least one fatality.
Officials from Ukraine's interior ministry said eyewitnesses reported that the bus ignored warning lights and bells from the level crossing in the town of Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region that indicated an approaching train.
UNION PACIFIC: Aside from it's regularly featured stint of hauling visitors between Denver, CO and Cheyenne, WY for Cheyene's annual Frontier Days, Union Pacific's 4-6-6-4 Challenger #3985 also got to stretch its legs hauling the Ringling Bros. Circus train from Cheyenne southbound to Denver at the end of September. The #3985 then continued on with the scheduled Missouri River Eagle excursion to Kansas City and St. Louis after briefly returning to Cheyenne.
Here, the 3985 is seen racing southbound through Platteville, CO with the circus train on its way to Denver on September 28, 2010.
FT. WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: The gem of the FWRHS's collection, 1944 Lima-built Berkshire Nickel Plate 2-8-4 #765, has been pretty busy since Labor Day. In September, she was deadheaded over the Norfolk Southern and Wheeling & Lake Erie to Akron, OH where she operated a series of excursions over the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
In October, the 765 powered a series of excursions out of Owosso, MI for the Steam Railroading Institute while their own Berkshire- Pere Marquette #1225- is being disassembled for it's 15 year FRA boiler inspection.
Upon completion of her whirlwind tour through the Buckeye and Great Lakes State, the 765 returned to the FWRHS facilities in New Haven, IN where she'll go into storage for the winter.
NORTH CAROLINA: The Aberdeen, Carolina & Western has acquired a pair of former Canadian National, nee Wisconsin Central SD40-3 locomotives for service on it's line between Gulf and Charlotte, NC.
CONNECTICUT: Six cars of an 80 car unit ethanol train derailed in the late night hours of November 9th at the Providence & Worcester yard in Willamantic, CT. The derailment took place within yard limits, which meant that the train was travelling at a slow speed. None of the derailed cars ruptured, and the contents of the tank cars were transloaded from the two that had actually hit the ground. The train had arrived from Rail America-affiliated New England Central and Brattleboro, VT.
There were no injuries and the FRA continues to investigate the cause of the derailment.
NORTH DAKOTA: Officials from the Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western are disputing the FRA's findings regarding a March 2010 derailment in Washburn, ND that killed DMV&W conductor Jeff Heitzmann and injured the train's engineer. The FRA's report stated that an obstructed drainage ditch contributed to that saturation and undermining of the roadbed which in turn sent the lead two locomotives down an embankment.
The DMV&W, however, said that the stretch of track where the derailment took place had been inspected regularly in the weeks prior to the derailment and hasn't been a problem in their nearly 20 years of operating the line between Bismarck and Max, ND. Railroad officials insist that it was an underground spring located some 6 or 7 feel below the roadbed that undermined the track, causing the derailment.
PAN-AM RAILWAYS: Pan Am and New Hampshire's Conway Scenic Railway agreed to a locomotive swap earlier this year, with Pan Am getting FP9's #6506 and #6516 (ex VIA Rail, nee Canadian National) in late may and Conway Scenic getting high hood former Norfolk & Western GP35 #216 and former Maine Central GP38 #252 painted in Maine Central's 'Harvest gold' scheme.
The FP9s were released from the Waterville, ME shops in late June and have been assigned to the Pan Am's business car specials, which had been previously handled by available freight locomotives.
The GP35 and Gp38 acquired by Conway Scenic were equipped with dynamic brakes, something the FP9's lacked, while Pan Am is simply following the example of other railroads like Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific or Kansas City Southern and having a pair of classic streamlined diesels available to haul office car specials.
ELSEWHERE ALONG THE PAN AM: In early July, Pan Am Railways ran a pair of light engines from Ayer to the junction of the dormant Revere Branch on the MBTA line while crews began clearing brush and overgrowth along the line. This has led to speculation that the Pan Am is looking to reopen the neglected B&M line in order to bring unit ethanol trains to the tank farms along Route 1A past Logan Airport.
PROVIDENCE & WORCESTER: The P&W has reportedly sold off GP40-2's #3001, 3002 and 3003 to the Luzerne & Susquehanna Railway in North-Eastern Pennsylvania. At the end of September, the EMDs were moved to the Pan Am interchange in Gardner, MA still in P&W paint, but with all Providence & Worcester markings removed and L&S markings stenciled in instead.
And while the BNSF was divesting themselves of some former Santa Fe C40-8Ws, Providence & Worcester decided to buy up a trio of their four-axle counterparts, with former BNSF B40-8Ws #561, 562 and #582 arriving on the property by mid-September as the GP40s were getting ready to leave the property.
DOWNEAST SCENIC: A portion of the 127 mile Calais Branch has experienced a revival with the startup of the Downeast Scenic Railraod between Washington Jct and Ellsworth, ME. So far, four miles of the line are being used with volunteers working to clear the line for future excursions to Green Lake, ME. Power for the line includes a former Belfast & Moosehead Lake GE 70-tonner and an ex-Portland Terminal Alco S4.
Two more former Belfast & Moosehead Lake 70-tonners are being maintained by the Brooks Preservation society on ex B&ML trackage in Brooks, ME.
The Calais Branch ran through Eastern Maine to the border town of Calais until Guilford decided to abandon the branch in 1985 and serve what remaining customers there were in the area by using trackage rights over then-Canadian Pacific (now New Brunswick Southern) line east of the interchange at Mattawamkeag, ME.
AMTRAK: Amtrak'sDowneaster service between Portland, ME and Boston's North Station will see an expansion of service. A 30-mile extension of service over the former Maine Central line between Portland and Brunswick, ME got underway in the beginning of August and is expected to be completed by the Fall of 2012. Once at Brunswick, the Downeaster will connect to passenger service between Brunswick and Rockland offered by the Maine Eastern Railroad. Improvements include new signals, passenger platforms and continuous welded rail.
Above, Pan Am GP40-2LW #516 is seen trundling past the train full of continuous welded rail it has just dropped off in Brunswick on Aug 1st. Brunswick is also where the Pan Am and Maine Eastern interchange freight.
CONWAY SCENIC: As mentioned earlier, the Conway Scenic and Pan Am exchanged motive power so that Pan Am would have dedicated old school streamliners assigned to business train duties while Conway Scenic would obtain locomotives with dynamic braking for their excursions to the Crawford Notch. As it turns out, GP38 #252 was of Maine Central background and believed to have hauled the last revenue train over Crawford Notch before through service on the line was discontinued by MEC in 1983.
The Conway Scenic also sold former Portland Terminal Alco S4 1055 to the Downeast Scenic in Maine back in late May.
