Iron Horse Update for February 2014

Southbound MM&A train with Vermont Railway and Montreal, Maine & Atlantic power seen rolling through a meadow in North Troy, VT on its trek between Farnham, Quebec and Newport, VT on June 15, 2013- a few weeks before the deadly explosion after a runaway MM&A oil train derailed in Lac Megantic, Quebec. Richard Deuso photo

MONTREAL, MAINE & ATLANTIC- After months of speculation and uncertainty, the beleaguered Montreal, Maine & Atlantic has a new owner.

New York-based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group [NYSE- FIG] was announced as the winning bidder in a Jan 23rd bankruptcy auction. Other bidders reportedly included Pan Am Railways and JD Irving, parent company of the New Brunswick Southern railroad and the refinery that the oil being hauled by the ill-fated MM&A train was destined for. Within days of the winning bid being announced, courts in both Canada and the USA approved the sale to Fortress.

Largely shut down in the wake of the July 2013 Lac Megantic derailment that killed 46 people, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for bankruptcy shortly after the disaster, the MM&A ran a test train through the La Megantic in December in anticipation of fully reopening the line. Reports surfaced in September 2013 that the oil being shipped was much more volatile than the manifest indicated. In 2010, the MM&A and the state of Maine agreed to terms on the sale of more than 230 miles of lines in northern Maine. By early 2011, the state of Maine had contracted with JD Irving to operate freight service over the recently sold lines between Madawaska and Millinocket.

Fortress Investment Group has also been the parent company of the Florida East Coast Railway since 2007 and was majority owners of shortline holding company Rail America until their 2013 sale to Genesee & Wyoming. The FEC has won a number of industry awards for safety, a background that could prove useful in persuading otherwise reluctant Canadian officials into allowing oil to once again move over Fortress-owned MM&A trackage. Shortly after the MM&A sale was made official, Great Northern paper of Millinocket, ME announced they would be suspending operations for sixteen weeks, depriving the railroad of a major shipper.

Other assets owned completely or partially by Fortress include private aircraft leasing firm Aircastle [NYSE- AYR], Luxembourg-based reality company GAGFAH, Brookdale Senior Housing [NYSE- BKD] and Canadian ski resort company Intrawest.

Union Pacific SD70M #4884 is seen leading 'Big Boy' locomotive #4014 through Ontario, CA en route to the former Southern Pacific yard in Colton, CA on Jan 25th, 2014. The locomotive was removed from the Los Angeles County Fairground Complex at Pomona, CA using temporary track and its final destination will be Cheyenne, WY. Matthew Griffin photo

UNION PACIFIC- Union Pacific's 4-8-8-4 'Big Boy' is on the move after crews painstakingly moved the giant steam locomotive out of the LA County Fairplex at Pomona on temporary track and onto the mainline to the former Southern Pacific facilities at Colton, CA.

The behemoth locomotive has another 1200 miles to go before reaching its final destination of Cheyenne, WY but will reportedly be on display in Colton for the first two weekends of February. In exchange for the Big Boy, the Rail Giants museum at the Pomona Fairplex will receive Union Pacific SD40-2 #3105 as well as a caboose and boxcar. Although the 4014 was the biggest steam locomotive on display, it was by no means the only one- Santa Fe 4-6-4 #3450, Union Pacific 4-12-2 #9000 and Southern Pacific 4-10-2 #5021 remain on display on the grounds along with restored freight cars.

The largest steam locomotive ever built, the Alco built Big Boys hauled freight and passengers for the Union Pacific over the Wasatch Range between Cheyenne, WY and Salt Lake City, UT in the 1940s up until dieselization in the 1950s. There are several surviving examples of the Union Pacific's Big Boys on static display- most notably in Cheyenne, WY and Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA- but after an exhaustive search, the Union Pacific determined that the #4014 in Pomona was the best candidate for a full restoration.

Motive Power Inc. HSP-46 demonstrator #2100 seen undergoing outdoor testing at the MBTA's South Station engine terminal in Boston, MA. David Hutchinson photo

MBTA- The first units from MBTA's order with Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies [NYSE- WAB] subsidiary Motive Power Inc have arrived and are undergoing testing on MBTA and elsewhere.

In 2010, the MBTA Board of Directors approved an initial 20-unit, $115 million order with Boise, ID-based MPI. However, since then the order has been upped to 40. The new locomotives are designated HSP-46 and are powered by General Electric GEVO engines and clock in at 4600 HP each. So far only one unit is on T property and has been undergoing compatibility testing with the electronic systems in the T's various coaches manufactured by Bombardier and Kawasaki. Two other HSP-46s are currently undergoing testing- one at GE's East Erie, PA test facility and the other at the FRA's Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, CO.

Oddly, this isn't the first appearance of MPI power on the T- the agency purchased two MP36PH-3Cs from Motive Power, Inc. The locomotives were originally intended for Utah's Front Runner commuter rail before the order was partially cancelled. For commuter rail, the T has been using 1970s built F40PHs along with rebuilt GP40MCs for passenger service along with some GP9s, GP40s and an NRE genset used for maintenance of way service.


MISSISSIPPI- At least 18 cars on a Canadian National train- some of them carrying hazardous cargo- outside of the southern Mississippi town of New Augusta derailed over the weekend. First responders were able set up barriers around some of the cars that had derailed and both lanes of nearby US highway 98 were shut down.

The train was carrying crude oil, liquid fertilizer and methanol- a state department of Environmental Quality official described the site as dangerous, but more dangerous to the first responders than the public.

Iron Horse Update- At Least 26 Killed in South Africa Rail Crossing Collision; Norfolk Southern Derailment Causes Firey Blast in Ohio; Patriot Rail Purchased by Steel River; Rivals Set to Bid on Rail America?

SOUTH AFRICA- A truck shuttling farm workers to and from orchards was struck by a coal train at a grade crossing near the village of Hectorspruit in eastern South Africa on Friday, killing at least 26 and leaving another 25 seriously injured.

Although the crossing was clearly marked and witnesses said the train blew its horn, the driver went ahead and attempted to cut ahead of the train. The truck driver was treated for his injuries before being taken into custody by police.

The truck was reportedly dragged a half mile before the train was able to come to a stop. Some of the bodies were horribly mangled in the collision, complicating police attempts to notify the victim's next-of-kin. It is believed that a number of the dead and injured are from Mozambique.

South Africa's state-run transportation and logistics company TransNet said the coal train was bound for the Mozambique border at Komatipoort when the collision occured. The deadly accident took place 30km east of the border at Mozambique and about 120 km south of South Africa's famed Krueger National Park.

A trio of newly rebuilt Tennessee Southern GP9s emerge from the morning mist in Columbia, TN in Patriot Rail colors in September 2007. Casey Thomason photo

PATRIOT RAIL- Boca Raton, FL-based shortline operator Patriot Rail has agreed to terms with San Francisco-based Steel River Infrastructure Partners to acquire 100% of Patriot Rail's assets in early May.

Patriot Rail operates nearly a dozen railways and contract switching operations in 13 states. They expanded considerably in 2010 when they purchased railroads previously operated by Weyerhauser Co [NYSE- WY]- including the Columbia and Cowlitz in Washington state, the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern in Arkansas and Oklahoma and the Golden Triangle Railroad in Mississippi. In 2011, the North Carolina Department of Transportation awarded Patriot Rail a contract to operate freight service over a dormant 15-mile former Seaboard Coast Line branch that's being set aside for possible future use as part of a dedicated high speed rail corridor between Virginia and the Research Triangle area in North Carolina.

Prior to the Patriot Rail acquisition, Steel River Infrastructure Partners holdings included transmission lines in the San Francisco Bay area, natural gas facilities along the Marcellus Shale and diversified port holdings in New Orleans, Mobile, AL and Jacksonville, FL.


OHIO- A massive blaze in Ohio's capital city has burned itself out after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying tank cars loaded with ethanol derailed on Wednesday, triggering a massive fire and series of explosions near the Ohio State campus.

The derailment and fires prompted a temporary evacuation order of the area, but most residents were able to return later Wednesday. There were no reports of any fatalities, although two onlookers suffered minor injuries when they were walking along the side of the tracks to get a closer look.

According to the NTSB, a total of sixteen cars from the Chicago, IL to Linwood, NC freight train derailed. The three ethanol tankers that burned and then exploded were carrying 30,000 gallons each.

Also among the NTSB's early findings was that the track was fairly well maintained- usually undergoing inspection twice a week- and that the train was going below the speed limit at the time of the derailment. The crew, who were unhurt, also didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Firefighters had [rather wisely, I might add- NANESB!] decided to let the ethanol burn itslf out rather than douse the derailed ethanol tankers with a foam and flame retardant.

Sporting colors and lettering for parent company Rail America, Otter Tail Valley GP18 #192 is seen charging towards Moorhead, MN in September 2009. John Ryan photo

RAIL AMERICA- Reuters is reporting that Fortress Investment Group [NYSE- FIG] has hired Deutsche Bank to weigh a divestment of their holdings in shortline and regional railroad operator Rail America.

A number of interested parties have reportedly submitted their initial bids for Rail America, Inc [NYSE- RA] last month and the bidding has advanced to the second round.

Among the potential Rail America suitors are an unnamed Canadian pension fund and two competing shortline and regional operators; privately-held WATCO based out of Pittsburgh, KS and Genesee & Wyoming [NYSE- GWR].

Prior to their 2011 acquisitons of the independently-run Marquette Rail in Michigan and the Wellboro & Corning in northern Pennsylvania, Rail America operated 43 different shortline and regional railroads throughout the USA and Canada, including two in New England. Should Fortress sell off their majority stake in Rail America, this could be the largest rail transaction in the nation since Warren Buffet's Bershire Hathaway [NYSE- BRK-A; BRK-B] acquired the Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 2009.

Shares in Rail America- which had been steadily rising in value since August 2011- took off dramatically in February and closed at an all-time high of $26.22 per share on Friday.

Fortress still remains a majority stakeholder in the 350 mile Florida East Coast railroad, which is not included in any transaction involving Rail America.

Today's Train of Thought: Is this Heaven? No, It's Iowa- July 21, 2011

While no ghosts of baseball legends were able to appear for Today's Train of Thought, there's still plenty of rail traffic originating in Iowa thanks to the various ventures in ethanol in addition to the more traditional application of corn.

In the northwestern corner of the state, the Dakota & Iowa has earned its keep hauling gravel, ballast and aggregates from the LG Everist quarry in Dell Rapids, SD to interchange with the BNSF in Sioux Falls, SD and Canadian National and the Union Pacific in Sioux City, IA while operating on ex-Milwaukee Road tracks owned by the state of South Dakota and tracakge rights on BNSF south of Sioux Falls. The D&I has gotten by with chopnose GP9s and GP7s until fairly recently, when the ethanol boom and longer trains from the Dell Rapids quarry called for bigger power. Unlike many other railroads, the D&I retained many of their 1st generation Geeps, using them for switching the yards in Dell Rapids or Sioux Falls. With that in mind, though, the newer power seems to be the norm out on the road.

Here, railpictures.net contributor John Leopard caught D&I SD39 #4028 leading GP50 #2512 northbound through Westfield, IA with a load of tank cars bound the the ethanol plat at Hawarden, IA at the end of June 2009.

Today's Train of Though- A Boy Named Soo; Feb 6, 2011

Although at first blush it appears to be something from the upper Midwest, Today's Train of thought brings us back to the western shores of Lake Champlain under more harsh and unforgiving circumstances.

Railpictures.net contributor Kevin Burkholder has managed to capture a good amalgamation of Canadian Pacific's latter day acquisitions on a wintry day in Upstate New York, with Soo Line and Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern motive power handling a Canadian Pacific ethanol train on Delaware & Hudson rails.

Here, Soo Line SD60 #6034 is seen leading a trio of DM&E SD40-2s southbound along the frozen shore of Lake Champlain at Port Henry, NY with unit ethanol train 666-801 on January 16, 2011. The train is bound for Whitehall, NY where it will be interchanged with the Vermont Rail System's Clarendon & Pittsford. From there, it will be routed over the Green Mountain Railroad (another VRS subsidiary) between Rutland and Bellows Falls, VT. From there, it will be interchanged with Rail America's New England Southern and the Providence & Worcester en route to its final destination of Providence, RI.

Soo Line power appearing on the D&H isn't that unusual- six axle Soo motors have been appearing on coal and grain trains traversing the original 'Bridge Line' since the early 1990s shortly after the Canadian Pacific takeover. However, the appearance of DM&E's blue and yellow SD40-2s (some of them purchased secondhand from Canadian Pacific) is relatively new while still looking right at home in such frigid conditions.

Al Gore Does About Face on Ethanol

Addressing a green energy conference in Athens last month, former Vice President Al Gore told an audience that he only supported tax breaks and subsidies for corn-based ethanol to try and gain votes from farmers in Iowa and his native Tennessee.

"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Reuters quoted Gore saying of the U.S. policy that is about to come up for congressional review. "First-generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small

"One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president," the wire service reported Gore saying.

Ethanol production this year is estimated to take up slightly over 40% of the total US corn crop. Opponents of ethanol say that producing the combustible materiel from corn raises food prices by creating an artificial shortage of corn.

Of course, this begs the question of whether Gore felt this way about ethanol all along, but voted for an EPA mandate requiring ethanol in 1994 (as Vice President, he was the tie-breaking vote) as a means of currying favor with farmers and agribusiness ahead of the '96 campaign, or if he simply changed his mind out of the blue. I'll refrain from using the word 'sincere', since it doesn't quite seem to belong in the same sentence as a snake-oil salesman selling doomsday unless we (but not Gore himself) forfeit our freedom of choice, our industry, our agriculture and our resources to accommodate his carbon trading ponzi scheme.

Credits and tax breaks for the ethanol subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress chooses to renew the $7.7 billion program.

Iron Horse Roundup- October/November 2010 Edition

BBC Photo

INDONESIA: At least 36 people were killed in an October 2nd collision between two trains at the Petarukan station on the island of Java.

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.

UKRAINE: At least 43 people were killed when a train collided with a bus packed with commuters in the eastern part of the country on October 12.

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.

All of the fatalities were on the bus.

Doyle Massey

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.

Cody Zamostny

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.

A Very Special New England Iron Horse Roundup

Dan Nelson/NE Rail.org

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.

Dan Nelson

AMTRAK: Amtrak's Downeaster 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.

Matt Rooks

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.

[Hat tip: Vermont Rail System & Rutland Yahoo Group]

Today's Train of Thought: Going With the Grain- August 27, 2010

When one thinks of ethanol hauled by rail, one could understandably think of Midwestern shortlines and regionals along the lines of the Iowa Interstate or Iowa Northern, but sometimes that's just the starting point. That subsidized, grainy byproduct which loves to be shipped by rail winds up further afield in unlikely places such as Utah or Rhode Island.

The grain alcohol that winds up at the Motiva Enterprises Distribution Center in Providence, RI takes a rather circuitous route, according to Canadian Railway Observations. Typically, the ethanol originates on the Soo Line around Enderlin, ND and travels as far as Chicago as-perhaps somewhat ominously- Train #666 (the outbound empties are designated Train #667) before heading off between Chicago and Detroit on Norfolk Southern trackage rights. Once across the Michigan/Ontario border, the train is back on 'home' rails (Soo line is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Pacific) where it continues on to Montreal before heading south on another Canadian Pacific [NYSE: CP] subsidiary- the Delaware & Hudson. From Montreal, it only travels as far south as Whitehall, NY where it is interchanged with the Green Mountain/Vermont Railway system. Once on Green Mountain rails, the ethanol travels as far as Bellows Falls, VT where it is interchanged with Rail America's [NYSE: RA] New England Central. From there, the New England Central takes the ethanol as far south as Groton, CT before handing it off to the Providence & Worcester [NASDAQ: PWX]. Although a relatively straight shot from Groton to Providence on Amtrak's Northeast corridor, the volatile nature of the ethanol means that it has to move back north and reach its final destination via Worcester, MA.

A little under a decade ago, the P&W began selling off their fleet of 2300 HP former CSX GE B23-7s and purchasing 3900 HP GE B39-8s from LMX leasing as well as cabless 3000 HP B30-7AB 'boosters' from BNSF. At the time it seemed like a little much for the Worcester, MA-based regional, although the Wallingford, CT-Queens, NY stone trains justified that kind of horsepower. Then the P&W began handling imported coal from the port of Providence for power plants in Bow, NH and Holyoke, MA followed by the addition of the ethanol trains. In 2005, the P&W purchased four 4000 HP GE B40-8s secondhand from fellow northeastern regional New York, Susquehanna & Western.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Ron Chouinard catches former Susie-Q B40-8 #4002 sprinting southbound through the small P&W yard at Cumberland, RI on its way to Providence on a sunny October 27, 2008 afternoon with a loaded ethanol train. The #4002 is in charge of five units (two of them with cabs!) as the autumn leaves are approaching their peak.

Iron Horse Roundup for June-July 2010

SWITZERLAND: A Japanese tourist was killed and 40 others were injured when the last three cars of the 6-car Glacier Express derailed on July 23rd in Fiesch Switzerland. Sometimes known as 'The Slowest Express Train in the World', the Glacier express travels between Zermatt and St. Moritz, Switzerland at an average speed of 30km per hour with coaches featuring specially designed panoramic windows.

Authorities have yet to determine a cause of the derailment, although there is speculation that a heat kink (where a small portion of the track is warped by a dramatic change in temperature) could've played a role. The line remained shut down while authorities continue to investigate the scene. This is the most serious rail accident in Switzerland since 2006, when three people were killed in a collision with a runaway train.

Photo: Xinhua

CONGO: At least 76 people were killed and more than 700 injured when a passenger train travelling Pointe Noir and Brazzaville in Congo (the marginally more stable and less strife torn Congo as opposed to the much larger and more dysfunctional People's Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately to the South and formerly known as Zaire) derailed and four cars plunged down a ravine. According to a state radio broadcast, the cause of the derailment was excess speed while the train was entering a curve.

There are only a limited number of highways linking Congo's main port of Pointe Noire and the capital city of Brazzaville. The 502km Chemin de Fer Congo-Ocean (Congo-Ocean Railway) was completed in the 1920s using conscripted labor. To this day, the line sees significant freight and passenger traffic through the mountains and equatorial rainforest while a Chinese-backed $500 million highway project is in the planning stages. This is the African nation's worst rail accident since 1991 when a collision between a freight train and passenger train just east of Pointe Noire killed at least 100 people.

SPAIN: 13 partygoers were killed on June 23rd in Castelldefels, Catalona, Spain while en route to a St. John's Eve beachfront party. The deceased, identified as immigrants from different parts of South America, were struck by a high-speed train passing through the station when they tried crossing the tracks between platforms to avoid using a crowded pedestrian underpass. At the time of the collision the high-speed RENFE train was travelling at 85 MPH, which was actually below the speed limit.

Photo: The Hindu

INDIA: A collision between two passenger trains in West Bengal on July 19 left 66 dead and 165 injured. The Uttar Banga Express slammed into the rear of the slower moving Vanachal Express in Sainthia station. Eyewitnesses estimated the Uttar Benga express was travelling anywhere from 80-90 km per hour upon impact when the station's track speed was only 30 km per hour. The impact sent the three rear cars of the Vanachal express crashing into an adjacent pedestrian bridge over the tracks.

At this time, investigators are still attempting to determine a cause. One theory was that the crew in the locomotive was drugged or unconscious, although a post mortem didn't indicate any traces of drugs. Eyewitnesses at the Uttar Benga Express' previous stop- just 10km away- saw nothing out of the ordinary with the crew there. However, the head end crew did not apply the brakes or attempt to jump when a collision was imminent.

An India Railways investigation found that the brakes were in working order. Some media outlets have speculated that the Vanachal Express was running behind because the crew was offloading some off-the-books freight at Sainthia. However, this would not account for the Uttar Benga Express travelling nearly triple the speed limit and making no attempt to stop immediately before the collision. The Sainthia station master unsuccessfully attempted to contact the head end crew of the Uttar Benga Express via radio, but that was only 30 seconds prior to impact.

More recently, investigators are looking at whether or not the signals immediately before the Sainthia station were working properly.

Photo: Lucas MR

BRAZIL: ALL Logistica [BOVESPA: ALLL11] and Cosan ltd. [NYSE: CZZ] have announced a joint venture in Rumo Logistica, a multimodal logistic system for the storage and export of bulk quantities of sugar (and byproducts such as ethanol) produced by Cosan to export at the port of Santos in São Paulo state. To accommodate the anticipated increase in carloadings, Cosan and ALL have purchased some brand new GE C44-9Ws painted in this striking sliver and blue scheme.

The Brazilian government has also entered into talks with ALL Logistica, MRS Logistica and VALE S.A. [NYSE: VALE] over proposed rules designed to increase capacity and competition and cut freight costs. Transportation minister Paulo Passos says President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva plans on issuing a decree calling for an increase sharing of assets and put idle or abandoned right-of-ways back in operation in order to sharply reduce the price of hauling freight. Under this agreement, the Brazilian government would be responsible for building any new right of way. The transportation said that President Lula's plan would further reduce the nation's dependence on freight hauled by truck [No word on if any of VALE, ALL or MRS's representatives sent a Portuguese-language edition of Atlas Shrugged off to Lula's office in response- NANESB!]

SOUTH AFRICA: A Father's Day steam-powered excursion train derailed on a branch line between Pretoria and Cullinan, South Africa. None of the 627 passengers on board were seriously injured and were subsequently bussed to their destinations from the derailment site. Investigators and railway officials almost immediately noticed some 50 ties missing from the tracks near the Cullinan station and believe that to be the cause as the train was operating at low speeds on the branch.

South African Preservation Group Friends of The Rail is putting forward an appeal for funds towards repairing some of the coaches involved as well as 4-8-2 #3117, built in 1947 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, Scotland.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first accident of the year involving restored rolling stock and equipment in South Africa. Three workers were killed when coaches from the Rovos Rail luxury train rolled away from the locomotives that were being swapped at a station stop in Pretoria back in April.

More recently, an ore train on the Saldhana line in Western Cape province derailed on July 24, closing down the iron-ore hauling route until repairs could be made. There were no reports of injuries, although it was anticipated the mishap would affect iron ore output over the next several days.

Photo: Jim Spears

CANADA: In a surprise move, the Canadian National purchased 35 GE C40-8s secondhand from Union Pacific. Canadian Railway Observations reports that the CN paid near-scrap prices for the 20 year old six-axle 4000 HP units and they will be repainted and overhauled in the former Illinois Central shops in Homewood, IL and Centralia, IL for DPU service systemwide. This was followed up by the purchase of 30 former Santa Fe/BNSF C40-8Ws that had been idle for nearly a year with the downturn in traffic. The purchases of the secondhand GEs coincides with the retirement of most of the ex-IC SD40-2s that CN 'inherited' with their 1998 acquisition of the Illinois Central.

Photo: Kevin Madore

USA: 'Endless Mountain Rails', the 2010 NRHS convention in Scranton PA, has wrapped up [which doesn't make it so endless, I guess- NANESB!]. A series of excursions were run out of the Steamtown National Historic site in downtown Scranton, although complications arose on June 24th when a truck collided with the Delaware-Lackawana bridge south of Moscow, PA, bending the rails prior to a Delaware Water Gap excursion. The excursions were initially powered by former Canadian National 2-8-2 Mikado #3259- Steamtown's workhorse- but the decision was made to use diesels like the Delaware-Lackawana RS3s and a duo of restored former Reading Railroad FP7s (neither of which were too far removed from the steam era themselves) which would've made it easier to pass the affected trackage than with the #3259.

Here, Reading FP7 #902 is seen charging past the former Delaware, Lackawana & Western depot in Moscow, PA with one of the Delaware Water Gap excursions on June 26th.

Two Photos: Mitch Goldman

Not one to be outdone, the Reading and Northern also ran concurrent excursions out of their Jim Thorpe, PA depot to wrap up the end of the NRHS convention and in preparation for the busy 4th of July weekend. Here, the R&N's stunning #425 is getting ready to head out over the former CNJ line out of Jim Thorpe and through Lehigh Gorge State Park on the 4th of July.

Today's Train of Thought: Planes Trains & Automobiles- No, REALLY! May 25th, 2010

Today's rather multi-modal train of thought comes to us from the land of Obama Lincoln and gives us a pretty good cross section of the American railroads that Canadian Pacific acquired to bolster its presence in the US Mid-West. [Despite the title and Chicagoland nature of this photo, John Candy and Steve Martin are nowhere to be seen- NANESB!]

Railpictures.net contributor Frank Stachowiak caught this meet between two Canadian Pacific trains at Bensenville, IL on May 16, 2010. The train on the right is a unit ethanol train that originated on CP's newest acquisition- Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern. While the bloom is off that particular rose, ethanol has been something of a blessing for the railroad industry since it's almost impossible to transport ethanol via pipeline. This necessitates lengthy trains of inbound grain and outbound finished product.

Don't let red and white SD40-2 #6089 fool you- that actually is (or was) one approximately two dozen SD40-2s the DM&E purchased secondhand from CP Rail. Yet, before it could even be repainted in Cedar America Holding's distincitve blue and yellow scheme (you can see a hint of it on the unit trailing the 6089 or here) Canadian Pacific acquired the DM&E and sister railroad Iowa, Chicago & Eastern, making repainting a pointless exercise.

While waiting to proceed through Bensenville, another freight train is given clearance to proceed past the 6089 and idling ethanol train. This one consist led by Soo Line SD60 #6024, still in it's 'vintage' white and red scheme (like what's seen here). Many of the former Soo Line SD60s had been put into storage or sold to reigonals like the Indiana Railraod, but with an expected increase in traffic CP has begun pulling units out of storage.

As one of the crewmen on the #6089 inspects the passing train, an American Airlines 737 flies overhead on it's approach to O'Hare airport. The passing traffic on the adjacent highway pays this scene little mind, as this is pretty common on the lines into and out of Chicago.