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Railroad Newsline for Saturday, 01/13/07
Author: Larry W. Grant
Date: 01-13-2007 - 00:00
Railroad Newsline for Saturday, January 13, 2007
Compiled by Larry W. Grant
In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006
RAIL NEWS
TRAIN DERAILS NORTH OF CASPER, WYOMING AIRPORT
CASPER, WY -- A broken railroad track derailed a BNSF Railway Company freight train close to midnight Thursday, according to the Natrona County Sheriff's Office. The train derailed near the Haines Road railroad crossing, north of the Natrona County International Airport.
According to an incident report, the derailment turned five tankers that contained asphalt on their sides. One empty tanker that typically contained LP gas, but was empty, also toppled, as did two empty hoppers.
Howard McCall, the train's conductor, told deputies that the railroad track likely became brittle in the cold and snapped, according to the report. He said there were no safety hazards to report.
McCall told them a team of railroad workers would begin repairing the track Friday, according to the report. - The Casper Star-Tribune
UP TESTS EMERGENCY WARNING SIRENS
ROSEVILLE, CA -- If you heard a siren at 12:00, don't worry it was only a test
The Union Pacific Railroad performed its routine quarterly test of the emergency warning sirens located at the rail yard in Roseville yesterday at noon.
The system, which was installed in 2000, consists of three strategically located sirens within the Union Pacific rail yard in Antelope, West Roseville, and downtown Roseville.
Residents, business owners, and school children in the areas surrounding Booth Road and Downtown Roseville will hear a siren for approximately 10 seconds, a voice test message, a second siren, and a repeat of the voice test message, which ends the test.
The emergency warning/safety system will continue to be tested on a quarterly basis. Regular testing will help assure emergency responders the system will work should a real emergency occur, officials said. - KXTV-TV10, Sacramento, CA., courtesy Coleman Randall, Jr
RAILROAD WANTS TO NIX US INSPECTION; FILES FOR WAIVER TO HAVE SAFETY CHECK ON MEXICAN SIDE ONLY
Union Pacific is asking the Federal Railroad Administration to allow a train that regularly originates in Mexico to undergo safety inspections south of the border and enter without any checks in the US
The FRA has scheduled a waiver hearing on the matter Feb. 7 in Laredo, Texas,
The United Transportation Union, a broad-based labor union headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, opposes the move.
"Already at war with many of its customers over poor service and escalating prices, Union Pacific now is seeking authority to avoid safety inspections on US soil and run trains from Mexico as far as 1,500 miles through and into major US metropolitan areas," the union says.
Paul Thompson, the UTU international president, has gone on record objecting to the plan.
"It's as if 9/11 never occurred, and public safety and national safety must take a back seat to increased profits and bigger executive bonuses," he said. "If Union Pacific succeeds in avoiding safety inspections on US soil, many of those trains will be interchanged, without appropriate US safety inspections, to other railroads, such as CSX and Norfolk Southern, as part of their 1,500-mile trip through dozens of US cities."
James Barnes, a spokesman for Union Pacific, told WND the railroad is seeking a waiver to inspect the train in Mexico for only one of the many trains that Union Pacific runs across the border at Laredo.
"We are seeking approval to permit a single run-through train that originates in Sanchez or the classification yards in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, that interchanges with the Union Pacific at Laredo, Texas," he said.
"If approved, the waiver would recognize the inspections and brake test at the Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, rail facilities. The test is presently being performed by agents of Kansas City Southern de Mexico Railroad, which are US contractors, certified in FRA regulations."
The UTU's Paul Thompson disagrees.
"The Union Pacific wants the train safety inspections to be performed in Mexico, where US safety regulations have no force and need not be followed, and where the level of safety training and commitment is unknown," he said.
Thompson further argues a drug war has been raging in Nuevo Laredo.
"It is too dangerous for Americans to set foot in Nuevo Laredo," Thompson said. "Union Pacific says with a straight face that mechanical safety inspections of trains can be performed safely in Mexico, but even its own officials won't travel there. Nor will FRA officials even visit the facility where these inspections allegedly will be performed by who knows whom, under unknown conditions, and with no US federal safety oversight."
Union Pacific's Barnes explained to WND the waiver is being sought on an "inter-modal" train that carries containers with auto parts being delivered to a location in the Midwest. Barnes said this train was a "run-through" where the individual cars are all headed to the same destination.
When asked by WND, Barnes did not know if the containers originated in Mexico or were being brought in from China via the Mexican port of Lázaro Cárdenas.
Barnes told WND the waver was being requested to avoid "duplicate train or locomotive inspections at the US/Mexico border at Laredo.
Barnes claimed that main problem was congestion at the US border.
"Presently, these redundant inspections are performed on every train that enters at the US/Mexican border at Laredo, Texas," he said. "This not only generates enormous traffic congestion, involving the blocking of numerous road crossings for the city of Laredo and creating safety concerns for the general public, it also inhibits rail capacity and constrains any attempt to provide ongoing efficiencies for US suppliers."
Barnes was asked if the congestion problem cited by Union Pacific suggested the waiver might be intended to serve as a precedent for a general waiver on the US safety inspection requirements at Laredo.
"No," he said, repeating that the waiver was being sought only for the "run-through" inter-modal train.
The UTU's Thompson notes that in 2004, the FRA rejected a similar request by Union Pacific for a waver of inspection requirements on US soil in favor of inspections in Mexico. Thompson argues "public safety and national security demand the FRA again reject this waiver request."
Thompson sharply criticized Union Pacific economics.
"America should not be rolling the dice on public safety and national security to benefit an already highly profitable railroad able to pay its chairman $25 million annually and hand out $1 million year-end cash bonuses to top executive," he said. "Public safety and national security should not take a back seat to corporate profits. It is that simple and that urgent."
Barnes counters by explaining that all Union Pacific trains are available for inspection by Border Patrol and Homeland Security within the US and that the procedures, including the safety inspection in Mexico, are designed to be in full compliance with all applicable US laws and regulations.
"Our goal is to streamline the inspection process without hampering safety," Barnes told WND. "We have a very robust security system and a very robust inspection process in place. We are just trying to make sure that we are able to provide fluidity and efficiency for US shippers."
The UTU is an AFL-CIO affiliate representing about 125,000 active and retired railroad, bus, and mass transit workers in the US and Canada. - Jerome R. Corsi, WorldNetDaily.com, courtesy R.J.
UNION PACIFIC VICE PRESIDENT-ENGINEERING BILL WIMMER NAMED RAILWAY AGE RAILROADER OF THE YEAR
OMAHA, NE -- Bill Wimmer, vice president-Engineering of Union Pacific Railroad, has been named 2007 Railroader of the Year by railroad industry trade journal Railway Age.
"Union Pacific is the gold standard in railroad engineering, largely due to the efforts of Vice President Engineering Bill Wimmer," said Railway Age Editor William C. Vantuono. "He works tirelessly, planning and directing the maintenance and improvement of UP's superb physical plant, building up a railroad that is carrying an unprecedented amount of rail freight traffic.
Bill's engineering contributions to the industry during a career that has so far spanned 50 years are known and respected on railroads around the world. His accomplishments in just the past few years amount to what many railroad chief engineers would consider a lifetime of achievement."
"I am truly honored to be selected for this prestigious award and greatly appreciate the support of many Union Pacific colleagues over the years," said Wimmer.
Wimmer is the 44th recipient of Railway Age's Railroader of the Year Award, which was started by Modern Railroads magazine in 1964 as the "Man of the Year" award. Railway Age acquired Modern Railroads in 1991 and has presented the award annually since then. Wimmer follows his legendary mentor and 1978 award recipient, the late Union Pacific Chief Engineer Robert M. Brown, as only the second chief engineer selected to be named Railroader of the Year.
Wimmer will receive the award, one of the most prestigious in the railroad industry, on March 20, 2007, at Chicago's Union League Club. - James Barnes, UP News Release
AT THE THROTTLE: A JOURNEY WITH OUTFIT CAR 06
ELY, NV -- When my wife, Joan, and I first started as volunteers at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum in 1999 we discovered a wooden combine car squirreled away in the back of the enginehouse. Someone had started to restore the car and quit, leaving it in the most gawd awful orangish-yellow color. Not knowing any better, Joan and I volunteered to continue the restoration of the car. What attracted me to the car the most were the end doors, which were arched wooden doors that fit tightly into an arched door frame. And built into the door itself was an arched window that went up and down, the craftsmanship was extraordinary.
The car was referred to by the museum as the "Willy Car." Upon asking why this name, I was informed that the car, along with steam locomotive #40 appeared in a Willy Nelson movie called, Once Upon a Texas Train. While not one of Hollywood's best works, it is one of our claims to fame: The Nevada Northern is a movie railroad too.
Photo here:
[www.elynews.com]
Caption reads: This the the Willy Car. It was the end door that really intrigued me. You can see that the top of the door is an arch and it fits in an arched doorway. The upper window in the door does lower.
Joan and I adopted the car and discovered that there is a lot to the saying; "ignorance is bliss." Our brilliant idea was to clean up the car, sand the sides and then repaint it. How difficult could that be? Well, quite difficult when you don't know what you're doing.
You see the Willy car sat in the enginehouse on track one, right next to it is track two, where the steamers are fired up. The windows and the end doors in the Willy car had been left open for some time, so our first task was to clean out the inside of the car in order to see what we could do next. After applying plenty of hot soapy water, it became evident that car had been gutted. Remnants of the old kerosene lamps were still attached to the roof and a lot of interior wood trim was missing.
In poking around the enginehouse, we found the missing pieces of interior wood trim lying in the back of the boiler shop on the earthen floor, in the snow. (At this time most of the windows in the boiler shop were broken out, allowing the weather inside in abundance.) We also found the interior partition wall and door back there. All of these pieces we gathered up and placed inside the car.
It didn't take us too long to realize that it wasn't advisable to attempt any restoration of the car in the enginehouse, the car would need to be moved and arrangements were made to switch the car out of the enginehouse and into the coach shed. Sounds simple, however I was beginning to learn that any project which sounded simple at the Nevada Northern would surely be anything but.
First off, track one was blocked by the new flues awaiting installation in locomotive #93. These flues are heavy metal pipes about twenty feet long that weigh about thirty-five pounds each and there were hundreds of them - all piled up neatly on the track needed to move the car and had to be moved one at a time from track one to track two.
Next, after moving the flues, the door to track one needed to be opened. I had been warned that the electric door opener was temperamental. That wasn't quite correct, it was broken; when I hit the 'up' button, my very own lightning display erupted directly above my head. Well, after moving all of those blasted flues, there was no going back now; we needed to get that door open. The back up to the fancy electric opener was a chain pull, meaning that I had to haul up the door with the chain. Understand that the enginehouse doors are very tall, in order to allow the locomotives to go in and out. And hauling one of those doors up with the chain made one believe that the door was tall enough to let a 747 airline roll inside. Because of the weight of the doors, the chain pull mechanism is geared to a really, really high ratio, which means that a lot of pulling on the chain results in the door moving up only a few inches.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door was finally up all of the way. It was now time to bring in the locomotive to couple up and move the car out. I had roped in other volunteers to help. Kelvin was the engineer, Zana and Joan acted as switchman and brakeman for moving the car. We coupled up and moved the car out of the enginehouse and headed for the coach house. The track to the coach house is tight, curvy and runs downhill and visibility is poor. It would take Joan, Zana and myself to relay hand signals to Kelvin in the locomotive. I was the monkey in the middle and Joan was in the coach house and visible to me. I couldn't see Kelvin but I could see Zana and Kelvin could see her. So here we were, slowly rolling the Willy car down towards the coach house. I had looked at Zana, then I looked at Joan and then I looked back at Zana again, only to witness a sight that is seared into my memory forever: There was Kelvin the engineer running down the catwalk along the long hood of the locomotive. One look at the car told me instantly why Kelvin was running: The car had broken loose and was rolling down hill towards the coach house. Without thinking, I ran to the car, jumped on and tied down the hand brake, which successfully brought the car to a stop.
Inspection revealed the coupler pin had broken, which allowed the coupler be pulled right out of the car. Well, after catching our collective breath, we finally got the car put away. We now had a relatively clean place to work on the car with only a couple of problems remaining: there was no heat, electricity or water in the coach house. Work was going to be slow going.
A little later, it was mentioned to us that there was a sister to the 06 car in the wrecker shed. The wrecker shed is a long single track building in the very back of the yard and frankly the building looks like it's on the verge of collapse. Feeling a little like Indiana Jones, I, along with Joan, her daughter Tauna, and grandson Dustin opened the small door that sits within the big doors in the front of the shed, peering through it, lo and behold - there was another wooden combine car sitting in the gloom. Climbing into the car, we were surprised to discover that the interior was fairly intact, even the wooden coach seats were still in place. The leather was worn and horsehair stuffing was poking out and there was a heavy layer of dust on everything; it was evident that we were the first people to enter the car in many, many years. We probed deeper into the car, following the beams of our flashlights, and we found bats! Or rather, the bats found us and they were not all that happy that we were in their home. What we could easily see was that this car appeared to be an identical twin to 06.
This car was numbered 05 and for years had been on display at the White Pine Public Museum. All of those years sitting outside had not been kind to the car: It was evident that the car had suffered from heavy weather damage. Yet at the same time the interior was in good shape. So here we had two cars, which appeared to be twins. The quandary was the one car had a good exterior and the other car had a good interior. Could we rebuild both? Or would it make sense to combine the best parts of the two cars so that we would end up with great example of one car?
A bigger question to our preservationist minds was: What was the history of the cars? Surely there must be some great stories about each and both.
Stay tuned for part two, where the journey continues and maybe even a question or two is answered.
Down the Tracks at the Museum
Hours for the museum gift shop and ticket office are currently: Thursdays through Monday from 08:00 to 17:00.
The Polar Bear Train is scheduled for Saturday with the diesel locomotive at 13:00 and again on Sunday at 09:30.
Memberships in the museum are available at these rates: Basic $15; Active $30; Family $50; Tie $75, Centennial $100; Patron $500; and Lifetime $1000.
Contact the museum for more information.
The 2006 Centennial Coin featuring Mark Requa driving the copper spike is now available in copper, silver or gold plated silver.
The coins were struck on the historic (former U. S. Mint) coin press in Carson City and feature the rare 'CC' mint mark. The coins are available as a benefit of membership. - Mark S. Bassett, The Ely Times
NO ONE INJURED AS TRAIN HITS CAR
PHILO, IL -- A car that got stuck on railroad tracks east of Philo, Illinois was demolished by a train early Friday.
Champaign County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Coile said Lacey Perry, 24, of Philo, had just turned off County Road 1800 E and crossed the Norfolk Southern train tracks near 925 N, when she made a sharp left turn onto an access road besides the tracks, intending to turn around.
Instead, the wheels of her 1999 Pontiac Grand Am got hung up on the railroad tracks, Coile said, and she couldn't get off.
Coile said that happened about 01:55 and Perry called her boyfriend to come help her. It wasn't until 02:27 when they could see the lights of an oncoming train that they called 911.
A METCAD telecommunicator persuaded a reluctant Perry to get out of the car, Coile said, and about 30 seconds later the train struck the car, destroying it.
Coile said if Perry had called METCAD immediately, telecommunicators could have alerted the train engineer earlier and they might have been able to stop the train.
Perry was issued a ticket for failure to obey a railroad traffic control signal. Although there are no lights or arms at the crossing, Coile said the section under which she was ticketed says a driver may not do anything to interfere with a train's passing. - The Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette
RAILROAD CROSSING UP AND RUNNING; GATES AND LIGHTS DON'T GUARANTEE SAFETY
Photo here:
[www.leadercall.com]
Caption reads: A construction worker puts the finishing touches on the automated railroad crossing guard and light system now in operation at the South Eastabutchie Road location in northern Forrest County. Photo - Brian Livingston/Laurel Leader-Call.
FORREST COUNTY, MS -- A spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Transportation's rails division said Thursday the new automated crossing guards and lights at the South Eastabutchie Road location are now fully serviceable and working as they should.
"We've checked the lights, and I stood there as a train approached and passed by to make sure everything was in excellent working order," said MDOT railroad inspector Daniel Johnson. "The residents who live in and around the area and who use the crossing on a regular basis have the gates and lights they've been wanting."
Johnson added that the construction of the automated gates and lights would total approximately $175,000.
Johnson pointed out just because there are lights and a gate doesn't mean there won't be another train and vehicle collision such as the ones that took the life of a Eastabutchie man and a Purvis man during late last year.
"I cover 18 counties in southern Mississippi, and in 2006, we had 60 such accidents at railroad crossings," said Johnson. "Of those, 85 percent of the crossings where accidents occurred had crossing guards and lights."
According to Johnson, there is a train versus vehicle collision every 20 minutes in the United States. Mississippi is ranked in the top 10 in the nation for the number of accidents, and Harrison County is the third highest county in the country in terms of collisions at railroad crossings.
"People still have to make good decisions," Johnson said. - Brian Livingston, The Laurel Leader-Call
COAL PRODUCTION SURGES
GILLETTE, WY -- Although total U.S. coal consumption declined by 1.2 percent in 2006, Wyoming coal production spiked by more than 10 percent due to a rush to replenish stockpiles of Powder River Basin coal at electric utilities.
Wyoming coal mines shipped about 446.1 million tons of coal in 2006, according to a Casper Star-Tribune survey and data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. That's a 42.7 million-ton increase over production in 2005 and an unusual high-water mark for the industry.
Back-to-back derailments on the Powder River Basin's main triple-track rail line in 2005 choked deliveries that year and spurred BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad to launch a massive effort to expand export capacity out of the region.
"The biggest reason (for the 10 percent increase in 2006) is better railroad capacity. 2005 should have been a bigger year, if not for the derailment problems," said Marion Loomis, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association.
Now the big question for the industry in the year to come is whether its utility customers will demand the same volume of coal, or if softened demand will result in the first annual decline in more than 10 years. One certainty is that BNSF and UP have proven they can ship coal at 446.1 million tons and beyond. In fact, the railroads are working with four major producers in the southern portion of the basin to coordinate systemwide expansions to accommodate an annual statewide production level of up to 600 million tons by 2012, according to UP.
That doesn't provide much peace of mind for Buck McVeigh, administrator of Wyoming's economic analysis division. His job is to help forecast Wyoming's revenues, of which coal is a main contributor.
"The (railroad) flow is currently adequate, but it's also very subject to problems," McVeigh said. "All it takes is one derailment or slight disruption and that flow gets (interrupted) real quickly."
Still, a 10.5 percent increase in coal production translates into good economic news for a state that receives most of its government revenues from minerals. Severance taxes, federal mineral royalties and coal lease bonus bid payments from the coal industry exceed $600 million annually, according to the state's economic analysis division.
And that doesn't include sales and use taxes, secondary business or the more than $600 million in annual payroll.
Coal mines also added more than 650 new jobs in 2006, bringing the total number of people directly employed in Wyoming's mining industry to more than 5,300.
That increase represents a reverse in a trend that had stuck in the industry for several years: As mines added larger equipment, they needed fewer employees to operate. Now after more than 30 years of large-scale surface mining in the Powder River Basin, mines are still adding bigger equipment, but they are also adding more truck-and-shovel fleets and more people because they have to dig deeper and deeper each year to reach the coal.
Some strip ratios in the basin are 5 to 1, according to the Bureau of Land Management -- meaning that five units of soil must be removed for every unit of coal produced. And coal companies continue to nominate huge tracts of coal that dip deeper into the earth as shovels chase the 60-foot-thick coal seams westward.
Having just leased more than 2 billion tons of coal, federal land managers are considering a new round of nominations for an additional 4 billion tons in the Powder River Basin, which would open 35,000 acres to open-pit mining.
Notable increases were made at Peabody Energy's Rawhide mine and Arch Coal Inc.'s Coal Creek mine. Production resumed at Coal Creek this year after being idled in 2001. The mine is expected to continue to ramp up its output. - Dustin Bleizeffer, The Casper Star-Tribune
RAILROAD PLANKS COULD BECOME LANDMARK
TIBURON, CA -- Wood planks lodged in a Blackie's Pasture berm - one of Tiburon, California's remaining links to its railroad past - will be considered for historical landmark status in the next couple months.
The Tiburon Planning Commission reviewed a Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society request Wednesday to help preserve the former railroad trestle mound at the pasture's south end.
Scott Anderson, director of community development, said the commission provided its comments prior to actual decisions on the request scheduled for a Jan. 23 Heritage and Arts Commission hearing and a Feb. 21 Town Council meeting.
"At the very end of the berm there are some pieces of wood still remaining from the trestle," said Heritage Commission and Landmarks Society member Dave Gotz. "That's all that's left of a train trestle that used to be at least 150 feet long. It's really the only thing left of the railroad. That's what we want to preserve and clean the whole thing up so it looks better." - Jim Staats, The Marin Independent Journal
NEW RAILROAD CROSSING PROPOSED IN POCATELLO
POCATELLO, ID -- The new retail hub off Interstate 86 needs another access point. Without one, Yellowstone Avenue is poised for congestion and gridlock. One proposal is to connect Bullock with Hiline running west and east. Just one problem - railroad tracks. Political specialist Doug Andersen reports.
Gary Moore: "Can we assume at-grade crossings are a thing of the past?"
Ron Frasure: "How fast is speed out there right now?"
Lots of questions; answers to follow on a proposed rail crossing on the north end of Pocatello.
Charlie Clark: "It's a no-winner for us."
Charlie Clark, a special representative to the president of Union Pacific.
Charlie Clark: "Problematic at times because the railroad and the town grew up together. I mean, we are joined at the hip."
Notwithstanding U.P. employment up 60 workers, the city and U.P. are experiencing growing pains.
Charlie Clark: "For my company, it actually increases our risks."
The location discussed in a city council study session is east of Lowe's, south of Interstate 86, and north of Heinz - a prized piece of property for development.
Charlie Clark: "This area is going to grow. There's going to be more congestion from the community standpoint as well as the railroad, so somehow you've got to accommodate this change, this growth."
Brian Underwood: "We can build an overpass, we can build an underpass, or even build an at-grade crossing."
Likely the first because of costs.
Brian Underwood: "Between four and five million dollars."
Potential development is driving the discussion. A nice problem to have, says Councilman Brian Underwood.
Brian Underwood: "Let's lay the cards out here, who's benefitting here."
An important question as those who stand to benefit the most, Underwood says, should bear the pocketbook burden.
Brian Underwood: "If it's not going to cash flow for anybody, including the city, then we don't do it."
Tax money is an possibility, as are impact fees.
Charlie Clark: "The old fashioned way called bonds."
Or the increasingly popular TIF option.
Brian Underwood: "That's really a great tool that cities have, I actually believe that's probably your best option."
Charlie Clark: "The funding is going to have to come from the local governments."
They will have to partner with the railroad and also developers to make this project work.
If the project is approved and a funding source is determined, the crossing would take less than a year to construct. This crossing is not impacted by the ongoing discussion about Cheyenne crossing on Pocatello's south end. However, growth is driving the need for changes to both. - Doug Anderson, KPVI-TV6, Pocatello/Blackfoot/Idaho Falls, ID
KANKAKEE COUNTY BOARD BACKS GREATER USE OF RAIL FOR FREIGHT TRAFFIC
KANKAKEE, IL -- Unless freight traffic starts using railroads more and highways less, there could be problems down the road, says Mike Lammey.
At their meeting this week, Kankakee County Board members unanimously endorsed a referendum supporting greater use of railways to carry freight to shift the burden off highways. There was no discussion by the board on the matter.
Lammey, the county transportation planner, said the concern is that without changes freight traffic on roadways could increase more than 60 percent in the next 20 years.
"There's no way that we can afford to build the infrastructure on the roads to handle that kind of increase," Lammey said. "They think that for a lesser expense we can build infrastructure on the freight rail."
County officials were asked to support the resolution by the not-for-profit lobbying group Growth Options for the 21st Century, Lammey said.
Locally, Lammey said the county would benefit if freight traffic was greater on the Canadian National railroad and less on Interstate 57.
Growth Options for the 21st Century's statement of principles center around concerns about overcrowding on the nation's highway systems and the need to improve the freight-rail infrastructure.
Growth Options for the 21st Century says on its Web site that since it was formed in the summer of 2004 more than 500 mayors, city council members, state legislators, chambers of commerce, environmental groups, and other community leaders have endorsed its statement of principles.
In addition to the Kankakee County Board, other groups that have endorsed the group's effort locally include Kankakee Alderman Sam Ciaccio, Kankakee Police Chief Mike Kinkade, Will County Executive Larry Walsh, the Will County Board and the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority. - The Kankakee Daily Journal
TRUCKER HITS VIADUCT AND THE VIADUCT WINS
GLADSTONE, MI -- A timber harvester, loaded on a semi-truck driven by Erik Healy, 37, of Auburn, Washington for NorWest Express, struck a railroad overpass about 12:00 on Thursday in Gladstone, Michigan.
The harvester was snapped in two by the mishap.
Gladstone Public Safety officers said Highway M-35 from U.S. 2 & 41 to North 15th Street in Gladstone was closed or rerouted for four hours Thursday as a result of the accident. - The Escanaba Daily Press
TRANSIT NEWS
SOUND TRANSIT'S LIGHT-RAIL EXPANSION PLAN WILL BE PUT BEFORE VOTERS
Map here:
[seattletimes.nwsource.com]
SEATTLE, WA -- Sound Transit will ask voters this fall for a sales-tax increase of a half-cent per dollar, to extend light-rail east to Overlake, north to Lynnwood and south to the Port of Tacoma.
The transit package would be paired on the November ballot with a multibillion-dollar highway measure that comes with car-tab taxes and a small sales tax. Both must pass, or both fail.
The more than 40 miles of proposed new light-rail track — the main part of a $17 billion transit plan — would not be finished until 2027, though some segments would open earlier. A 16-mile line is now being built from Westlake Center to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, to open in 2009, followed by an extension north to Husky Stadium.
The system would serve about 300,000 trips a day by 2030, the agency predicts.
Sound Transit's governing board, of elected officials from Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, voted 12-3 Thursday to endorse the draft plan. A final agency vote is scheduled for April.
The proposed sales-tax increase, of 5 cents on a $10 purchase, would cost the typical household $125 per year, the agency says. That's in addition to the existing Sound Transit sales tax of 4 cents on a $10 purchase, and an annual car-tab tax of $30 per $10,000 of vehicle value.
Transit officials think the public is willing to pay, based on polling and citizen comments.
"The public wants us to extend light rail, as far and fast as we can," said transit board member Julie Anderson, of the Tacoma City Council.
Downtown Redmond might get left out, if money for the Eastside line runs out at Overlake. That could happen if officials choose to run a tunnel through downtown Bellevue instead of using a cheaper surface or elevated option.
Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives criticized the failure to guarantee a downtown station in her city, a growing employment center. "This is about dashed plans, dashed commitments and dashed hopes," she said.
Transit-board members said they could reach Redmond if federal funds become available, or if construction is under budget. Chairman John Ladenburg, the Pierce County executive, said officials shouldn't promise a Redmond destination until they are sure.
Similarly, the south route ends at the Port of Tacoma, but board members hope for money to reach the busy Tacoma Dome station.
Another problem is a suggested $381 million loan from Snohomish County, to support work in King County from Husky Stadium to Northgate. Snohomish County's three board members voted "no" Thursday: County Executive Aaron Reardon, Edmonds City Councilman Richard Marin and Everett City Councilman Mark Olson. They said they would back the plan once they're satisfied the line will reach Lynnwood and the money will be paid back.
Other projects in the "ST2" plan include a Seattle streetcar linking Capitol Hill, First Hill and the Chinatown International District; stations and parking garages for Sounder commuter trains; partial funding for a Burien bus-transit center; and land purchases for a future Lynnwood-to-Everett light-rail corridor.
Sound Transit has not released a financial plan yet, but says the sales-tax increase would bring $7 billion, for a total of $11 billion for ST2 once existing taxes are included, in 2006 dollars. In year-of-expenditure dollars, costs have been estimated at $19 billion, though a spokesman gave a revised figure of $17 billion Thursday. - Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times
SHOW SOME OPTIMISM FOR LIGHT-RAIL SYSTEM
Regarding "Light rail is nothing but streetcars" (Letters, Tuesday):
I, for one, am hoping that the light-rail system in Phoenix proves to be a big winner and that all the naysayers are served up a huge plate of crow.
Having lived in San Francisco for many years, I can attest that the streetcar system there is far from being a relic of the '40s and '50s, or merely a tourist attraction. Because of heavy traffic and very limited parking (sound familiar?), the system there is heavily used by the locals.
In particular, the more-recently built F-Line is one of the most popular. It runs from Fisherman's Wharf, along the Embarcadero and continues down the length of Market Street and out to the ocean.
Timing the traffic lights to accommodate the streetcars never slowed the traffic flow along one of that city's heaviest corridors. The loading platforms were placed in the middle of the blocks, so the cars didn't block intersections. And if anything, timing the traffic lights only made the traffic flow that much smoother.
It was always so much easier to take the trains than to fight the traffic to get to a parking area and then spend a considerable amount of time finding a parking place. The entire system there is heavily used by the local population, and if the light-rail system here proves to be half as popular, it will be a giant success. - Letter to the Editor, Robb Kask, Phoenix, AZ, The Arizona Republic
FEDS FOCUS ON DISPATCHER IN COMMUTER TRAIN CRASH
BOSTON, MA -- Federal investigators looking into a deadly commuter train crash are focusing on a dispatcher and her management of rail traffic while two maintenance crews were working in the area, an official said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ted Turpin said the probe was narrowing to the dispatcher's radio conversations with the work crews and the timing of her actions.
The Boston-bound Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter train was traveling 60 mph Tuesday when it struck a repair vehicle in suburban Woburn, killing two workers. Ten passengers and four other workers were injured.
Other trains had passed through while the maintenance workers were there, but those trains had been switched to parallel tracks, said Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad spokesman Scott Farmelant.
Investigators have ruled out mechanical problems, and the dispatcher responsible for setting the switch and monitoring the track has been placed on administrative leave.
Investigators are also checking whether there were adequate safety policies, and whether a device designed to warn oncoming trains about work crews was being used.
"Sometimes people don't do what's required. But sometimes they aren't required to do something," Turpin told The Boston Globe.
The dispatcher, whose name was not released, has so far declined to talk to investigators, he said.
"We're waiting for her to be in a better state of mind for questioning. ... But we could force the issue," Turpin said. - The Associated Press, The Contra Costa Times
NEW HAMPSHIRE WORKER KILLED IN COMMUTER RAIL CRASH LOVED RAILROAD
BRENTWOOD, NH -- A 30-year-old New Hampshire man killed in a commuter railroad accident loved working for the railroad, his friends said.
Christopher Macaulay of Brentwood and James Zipps, 54, of Lowell, Mass., were struck and killed Tuesday by the Lowell-to-Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter train.
The investigation is focusing on a dispatcher's error in managing train traffic that apparently was caused by confusion over two work crews in the area. Investigators are looking into whether a device known as a shunt was used. The device is attached to the tracks and designed to alert oncoming trains to a work crew's presence.
"Chris' dad and grandfather both worked for the railroad," said Christina St. Germain of Newburyport, Mass., a friend of Macaulay's since elementary school. "He was very close to his grandfather and really decided early on that he wanted to work for the railroad as well."
Macaulay graduated from Amesbury High School in 1994. He married his high school sweetheart, Sandra, a 1995 Amesbury High graduate, after she completed her nursing degree at Fitchburg (MA) State College.
They moved to Brentwood and Sandra began working as a nurse practitioner in Newburyport.
The couple has an 18-month-old daughter, Baylee.
"It's shocking for everybody that knows them," said St. Germain. "They're great people. You don't ever expect it's going to be somebody that you're friends with."
Laurie McCarter of Amesbury, another friend, said Macaulay was a big sports fan.
"He would follow the sports events in Europe with the soccer teams. He knew it all," said McCarter.
Friends would gather at the couple's home and grill steak tips, she said.
"He had such a passion for sports, you would always see him yelling at the TV," said McCarter.
She said he also was proud of his family.
"He adored them," said McCarter. - The Portsmouth Herald, The Boston Globe
LAGNIAPPE (Something extra – not always railroad related – for Saturdays only)
TRIBE LATCHES ONTO GRAND CANYON ENGINEERING MARVEL
Artist's rendering here:
[www.billingsgazette.net]
Caption reads: M.R.J. Architects illustration. Skywalk, located at Grand Canyon West, will allow visitors to peer 4,000 feet straight down through the floor to the canyon's bottom.
HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION, AZ -- One of the world's largest natural wonders will soon be home to an engineering marvel.
In late March, the Hualapai Nation plans to open the $30 million Skywalk, a glass-bottomed bridge that will jut 70 feet over the Grand Canyon's edge.
The massive U-shaped steel structure now sits 20 feet from the cliff's edge. It will take up to 18 hours to ease the million-pound, horseshoe-shaped walkway into place, said Mark Johnson, Skywalk's architect.
Skywalk, located at Grand Canyon West, will allow visitors to peer 4,000 feet straight down through the floor to the canyon's bottom. The attraction is part of the Hualapai tribe's effort to become a tourist destination. Going on the Skywalk will be a $25 add-on to all Grand Canyon West tour packages. The cost is included in some of the premium tour options.
"This will feed our tribe," said Robert Bravo, a member of the Hualapai tribe and part of Grand Canyon West. "This will support our children."
Visitors to the reservation, which is about a three-hour drive from Las Vegas, must take a 14-mile, winding, unpaved desert road. Grand Canyon West now relies on generator power, must truck in all water and has limited phone services.
While other Arizona tribes rely on gaming income, the Hualapai, a tribe of about 1,500, were not successful in this venture. Most of the 250,000 visitors to Grand Canyon West each year come from Las Vegas, where they are able to take care of all their gambling needs.
The few slot machines that once sat in the Hualapai Reservation's airport were no match for the nearby natural beauty of the Grand Canyon.
Las Vegas businessman David Jin, founder of Grand Canyon Skywalk Development, came up with the idea of the Skywalk nearly a decade ago. Jin and the Hualapai have worked jointly over the past several years to refine the design of the structure, Johnson said.
Bravo said tribal members consulted with their elders before proceeding with the Skywalk plan.
"We're creating a new way of looking at something," Johnson said, "where you feel like you're almost floating."
Original drawings called for a glass structure with a wisp of steel supporting the bridge, but engineering realities forced the base to become thicker.
The base of the bridge is made up of two, 5-foot-tall U-shaped steel walls, which were made by Mark Steel, a Salt Lake City firm. Support beams connects the inner and outer walls of the bridge, leaving many open areas for visitors to look down through.
"This is the most exciting thing we've ever done as far as I'm concerned," said Fred Elmen, director of projects for Mark Steel.
The company shipped the 40- to 60-foot-long steel segments to the site on the Hualapai reservation, which covers about 1 million acres. Another company welded the pieces into the massive horseshoe shape that will become Skywalk.
Mark Steel has worked mostly on more traditional structures, such as the E Center, but has also done boat-building work. Skywalk was seen as a challenge.
"We pride ourselves on doing things that are a little bit different," Elmen said.
Crews must eventually move the steel skeleton 75 feet, which will place half the structure over the side of the cliff.
Once in place, the bridge will have no visible means of support; it will appear to emerge from the cliff. But only half of the structure's total mass will be visible, Johnson said.
The bulk of the support system will be hidden under a gift shop/restaurant. A series of eight box beams, each anchored 40 feet vertically into the cliff, will hold most of the bridge's load.
Moving the bridge toward those critical connection points will pose a challenge.
Johnson said it will involve a process called "jack and roll." Hydraulic jacks will lift the bridge onto a steel track, and a series of rollers will help move the structure.
Once it's on the steel tracks, crews will add 500,000 pounds of weights on the back end of the structure to prevent it from tipping over into the canyon.
Four trucks, including two with winches, will use a pulley system to slowly move the bridge inches at a time toward the cliff.
Once Skywalk is in place, a team will weld the structure to the eight box beams. These connections will bear the brunt of the bridge's support needs.
Johnson said engineers have studied the wind patterns of the canyon and have altered the design as necessary. The bridge is also designed to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake within 50 miles.
"It's first-time technology," said Allison Raskansky, president of Destination Grand Canyon, which markets Grand Canyon West. "It's an incredibly complex process."
While Skywalk literature claims that the bridge could hold a fleet of jumbo jets - totaling 71 million pounds - the actual loads will be significantly lighter.
Only a handful of people will be allowed on the bridge at any given time. All Skywalkers will have to wear booties to protect the 4.5-inch-thick glass floor. A thin top layer of glass will be replaceable to maintain scuff-free views.
The glass is a special high-strength material from Germany made by Saint-Gobain. Five-foot-tall glass walls will line the sides of the bridge, allowing a full view of the Grand Canyon and its surroundings.
The wall windows will be in panels that can be removed as necessary should they break. A trolley system on the bottom of the bridge will be used for cleaning and repairs.
When Skywalk opens in the spring, the Hualapai hope more curiosity seekers will trek out to northern Arizona to see the Grand Canyon from a new perspective. While some visitors may not dare to tread on the engineering feat, thrill seekers will take in a view that once required wings to see. - McClatchy Newspapers, The Billings Gazette
THE SLEEPY SUBJECT OF CANADA'S GRAIN EXPORTS PERKS UP
OTTAWA, ON -- The business of grain marketing has not been its usual sleepy self lately in Western Canada.
Plans by the government to strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its monopoly control over most of the country’s wheat and barley exports have provoked a fight that is pitting farmer against farmer and the agency against the government.
The wheat board, founded 75 years ago as part of a wave of cooperative ventures for improving farmers’ lives, is now one of the world’s largest grain traders, with annual sales of $4 billion to $6 billion.
The board is, in many respects, among the last of the cooperative projects that remains true to its original goals. But those goals now have little in common with the open market philosophy of the minority Conservative government that came to power just under a year ago.
Shortly before Christmas, that clash resulted in an unusual cabinet order to fire the wheat board’s president, Adrian Measner.
Photo here: [graphics8.nytimes.com]
Caption reads: Mike Aporius/Winnipeg Free Press. Andy Baker, a Manitoba farmer, presented Adrian Measner, left, chief of the Canadian Wheat Board, in mid-December with a shovel to use on anyone trying to shut the wheat board. Mr. Measner was later fired.
The fate of the board will be eagerly awaited in the United States, where farm groups have unsuccessfully challenged the Canadian board’s monopoly. Among the companies likely to move into Canada’s export market, if it is opened, are commercial grain traders like Cargill of Minneapolis and Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Illinois.
“There is absolutely no doubt that part of the reason the Conservative government is pushing as hard as it is pushing is, I suspect, that they are feeling pressure from the Americans,” said Murray Fulton, an agriculture economist who directs a center for the study of cooperatives at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
The wheat board concept is simple. In exchange for its monopoly over wheat destined for export from Canada’s three prairie provinces, as well as a small part of British Columbia, it pays every farmer the same average sale price. Overall, Professor Fulton said, price averaging has provided most farmers with greater stability and higher prices than they would have obtained in an open market.
A study commissioned by the wheat board on barley prices released in December gives more specifics. The report, by Richard S. Gray of the University of Saskatchewan, Andrew Schmitz of the University of Florida and Troy G. Schmitz at Arizona State University, concluded that farmers’ barley revenue from the wheat board was 59 million Canadian dollars higher from 1995 to 2004 than it would have been in an open market system.
Wheat board supporters argue that the board also helps farmers by negotiating terms with railways and ports.
The system seems to have supporters on the buyers’ side as well. It provides a more uniform grading of grains than is available in the United States, for instance.
But averaging prices has a significant drawback for some farmers. By definition, an average price is often lower than what individual farmers who live near the United States border could obtain by directly trucking their harvest south. The province of Alberta, home to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has long opposed the board for that reason, among others.
Chuck Strahl, the minister of agriculture, has repeatedly said that all he wants is to give farmers the choice of pooling their risk through the wheat board or going out on their own.
“We are trying to get more marketing choice for farmers,” he told the House of Commons in December. “We want to put more money in their pockets. We want them to take advantage of their own expertise.”
Professor Fulton argued in a separate study published last month that the wheat board cannot survive in an open market. Indeed, its history before it was granted a monopoly supports that idea. The operation floundered as farmers chose the open market when prices were high, returning to the board only during hard times.
Mr. Strahl has not found it easy to end the board’s monopoly. A 1998 law gave farmers control of the board by letting them directly elect 10 of its 15 directors, with the balance, including the president, being appointed by the government.
(Because the government guarantees the board’s finances, however, it retained the power to issue cabinet orders.)
The Conservatives, in the minority, have been unable to get any of the other parties to support changes in the wheat board. An attempt earlier this year to amend the board’s legislation was resoundingly defeated by opposition parties.
And when five wheat board positions came up for election this fall, the government heavily promoted candidates who backed its plan. Farmers, however, responded by electing four candidates who favor the current monopoly.
Now Mr. Strahl plans a vote on creating an open barley market early in 2007. But he has also made it clear that the government will not be bound by its results.
The level of support for the government’s open market plan is unclear. Even Mr. Strahl said during recent committee testimony: “I think I’ve had 4,500 letters on wheat board issues since I’ve been in office. They are almost equally divided.”
Mr. Measner, a 34-year veteran of the wheat board, had become something of a minor celebrity by rebuffing orders from Mr. Strahl and his staff to stop promoting the monopoly system and start backing the government’s plan.
Before his dismissal on Dec. 22, Mr. Measner began a court challenge of a cabinet order requiring the board to support the government, arguing that it is unconstitutional and outside the government’s power over the board.
“The government has a direction they’re taking the wheat board, and it doesn’t matter what people say or what people want,” Mr. Measner said in an interview from his home after his firing. “My position is that it should be farmers making the decision.”
Ken Ritter, a farmer from Saskatchewan who is the board’s chairman, said the legal challenge of the government’s orders will continue as will the board’s campaign to keep the current system.
“This is very, very divisive,” Mr. Ritter said. “This has gone on for 40 years.”
Professor Fulton said that by firing Mr. Measner and attempting to gag the board, the government runs the danger of alienating even some of the farmers who back its open market position.
“The view seems to be shifting,” Professor Fulton said. “Even farmers who might support a change in the wheat board are saying, why do it this way?” - Ian Austen, The New York Times
SIERRA AIR MAIL PILOTS: HEROES OF THE SKY
TRUCKEE, CA -- The stories of people who struggled to conquer and cross the Sierra in winter are filled with many heroic exploits. The wagon trains, the Central Pacific Railroad, and other modes of transportation often put men in the face of death. Most survived, some perished.
The early pilots who flew the Sierra Nevada were another set of those heroes of history that few today can match.
One of the first attempts to fly over the Sierra was a much publicized flight by Robert Fowler in 1911. But the weather and the lightly powered planes of the times couldn't conquer the Sierra. Aviation received a huge boost during World War I with advancements in aircraft design and manufacturing.
The first publicized flights over the Sierra occurred in 1919 when three U.S. Army planes with 90 horsepower engines easily climbed over the mountains from Sacramento.
By then, the East Coast was already experimenting with regular daily air mail service, and a few small contract routes existed in California.
The mail was the leading form of business and personal communication in the United States. Faster transcontinental service was demanded by the public, so the U.S. Post Office established the Air Mail division.
First flights over the Sierra
On Sept. 8, 1920 Stanhope Boggs flew out of Reno with the first westbound air mail over the Sierra. The next day Ray Little flew the first eastbound mail pouches over the mountains. Little was so unprepared for the flight, he got lost for a time while crossing the mountains and had to search an hour for Reno.
On the 11th, Edison "Monte" Mouton flew over the Sierra with the first mail sacks sent from New York, completing the Red Line mail service across the country.
For the next seven years pilots working for the government flew 4,200-pound De Haviland model Four biplanes on regular flights over the Sierra.
The De Haviland planes
The reliability of the open cockpit, wooden framed, cloth-sheathed, wire-bound biplanes was good, but the Sierra pushed them to their limits. These planes were designed in England, being built during the latter part of World War I, and helped win the war in Europe. Some of the planes flying the Sierra had actually seen service over Germany.
At first the planes could not be flown at night, and they were grounded in the worst winter storms. Connections were scheduled in Reno so that the mail could be transported by train at night to keep it moving. When winter storms stopped the flights, the mail went on the trains, as it had before air mail.
Mechanics - known as "Motor Macs" - at the Reno Field shops had to bore out and rebuild the standard motors and increase the power to 300 horsepower, so that the planes could soar up to 12,000 feet to get over the Sierra safely. These machines needed constant attention, and mechanics made many improvements and additions to the planes.
An emergency landing field was built north of Truckee along the Lincoln Highway. Located next to current Prosser Dam Road, the dirt strip was known as Black Rock for the painted black boulder that stood out in winter snow pack. It was used many times as motors cut out or fuel ran out during the battle against the Sierra.
Wooden skis were added to planes in the winter so forced landings would be more successful. The planes were stocked with food rations, winter clothing, signal guns, and webbed snowshoes.
In 1926, the Douglas M-2 started replacing the De Haviland on Sierra flights, making flights a little easier, though these were still open cockpit biplanes. Radio technology soon improved so that pilots could maintain contact and receive weather reports as they traveled over the Sierra and Nevada.
Hand-picked pilots
Many of the post office air mail pilots were veterans of the U.S. Army, and some saw battle up close. The battles against Sierra natural forces, fought with new technology, were as deadly as any dogfight over France in The Great War. Men such as Monte Mouton, Ray Little, Claire Vance, Eugene Johnson, Burr Winslow, William Blanchfield, Rex Levisee, Jack Sharpnack, and Harry Huking flew the mails over the Sierra, leading a life of adventure and skirting danger most of the time. Air Mail pilots flew the Donner Pass route. They followed the Southern Pacific Railroad and Lincoln Highway so they could navigate in bad weather, and so they could be rescued quickly if their planes went down.
Air Mail pilots also navigated by compass, sight, and dead reckoning. It was truly flying by the seat of their pants. The men had to know how to fly, how to put it down and stay alive, and repair the plane miles from anywhere. They also had to know Sierra weather.
Pilots had to dress in fur-lined leather jackets and pants, Eskimo boots, a lined leather flying helmet, and goggles to survive flying in good weather or bad, dry or wet. All with no heater.
The pilots were not braggarts and mostly avoided publicity, but the press kept track of their exploits and to the public they were heroes. Anywhere from 300 to 500 pounds of mail were stashed in the front compartment, while the pilot sat in the back, behind the wing, adding to his visibility and horizontal stability.
The hazards of the route
Planes went down frequently in the early 20s, with some experiencing easy landings that allowed the pilots to fix the problem and take back off again. Others required hauling the plane by tractors, trucks or sled dog teams back to the nearest airstrip, where they were repaired and put back into service. The remains of those too damaged to fly again had their parts stripped and were burned.
Flying up the slopes of the Sierra, pilots encountered dense fog, heavy rain and turbulent winds. At the higher elevations fog, snow, ice and subzero temperatures often blinded the pilots.
Updrafts would push them up to 15,000 feet, while downdrafts would drop the planes back down thousands of feet on both sides of the mountains. Tailwinds could speed the plane over the "hump," while headwinds would stop all forward progress, and sometimes push the little planes backward.
During storms, pilots might fly north or south a hundred miles to try to find a break in the clouds, and sometimes set the plane down on an empty pasture to wait the storm out. The planes only did 90 miles an hour, so it was somewhat pointless to buck strong wind.
Eye-opening experiences
On a flight to Reno in March 1927, Burr Winslow had an oil line break on him as he was crossing Donner Summit. Blinded by leaking oil, he managed to cut his motor off, and glide into the Truckee emergency field. The rough, hard crusted snow on the strip caused the nose of the plane to dig into the snow, flipping over the biplane on its back. Winslow was unhurt, but the plane was badly damaged. The mail and pilot were hauled to Truckee by sleigh, and put on the train to continue the trip eastward.
Pilots Ray Little and Jack Parshall, among others, used the life saving Truckee field when mechanical problems or weather conditions forced them out of the sky. Wrecks of planes that crashed or landed and remained in the Sierra included those of pilots Vance, Little, Degarmo, Johnson, and Winslow.
Nationwide, 35 Air Mail pilots died. Those who were well known in the Reno operation who sacrificed their lives to keep the nation's primary communication link going included pilots Claire Vance, Jack Sharpnack, William Blanchfield, Norman Potter and Cap Lewis.
Claire Vance and Burr Winslow flew the most trips over the Sierra. Each logged more than 1,900 flights over the "hump" of the Sierra.
Others flew without major crashes and had long, happy careers flying commercial passengers. Harry "The Hawk" Huking flew for United Airlines until 1971; Winslow flew commercially for decades as well.
From mail to passengers
In July 1927, Boeing Air Transport took over the contract for flying mail over the Sierra. This was done to encourage the establishment of commercial air passenger traffic across the country. Most of the experienced Sierra pilots continued to challenge the Sierra.
Chicago newspaper reporter Jane Eads (later Bancroft) was the first paying commercial passenger to fly over the Sierra, as she completed her cross country adventure to scoop the nation. Her Sierra pilot, Eugene Johnson, thrilled her with stories of his adventures over the mountains.
Boeing upgraded its plane to more powerful, closed cabin planes, that could carry 1,600 pounds of mail, express freight or passengers. The comfort, safety and communication improvements ended the pioneer period of the early aviation history over the Sierra.
Future columns will detail of some the exploits of the Wonder Men of the Sierra. - Gordon Richards, The Truckee Sierra Sun
THE END
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 Railroad Newsline for Saturday, 01/13/07 |
Larry W. Grant | 01-13-2007 - 00:00 |