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Railroad Newsline for Monday, February 05, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Calson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

(ED. NOTE – It was a rare occasion when the late Rob Carlson would run something in the Railroad Newsline that had to do with model railroading because he believed that railfans were not model railroaders and were not interested in that topic. While I agree that not all railfans are model railroaders, I do think that all model railroaders are railfans – they seem to go hand-in-hand to my mind. Given that, I have elected to run two obituary articles out of the local newspapers of two model railroading icons who passed away recently. Both of these items are not fresh news and have been announced either in the Railroad Newsline or in the general discussion here, but their local papers cover their lives with greater detail and I found both to be quite interesting. - lwg)

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WALTHERS KEPT FAMILY BUSINESS ON THE RAILS

Photo here: [graphics.jsonline.com]

Caption reads: Bruce Walthers presents Bill Cosby with a train car made out of a tennis ball can. Many celebrities received custom-made train cars. (Photo courtesy Walthers family)

MILWAUKEE, WI -- Bruce Walthers didn't invent the idea of the catalog, but he did reinvent the entire way his family's business did business.

At Wm. K. Walthers Inc., the model train company founded by his father, Bruce Walthers ended all sales through other wholesalers, because they did not market all of the company's items. He created a catalog for Walthers to market its products directly to hobby shops and customers.

He also did something far more radical.

"He started to buy other people's products that would help sell our products," said son Phil Walthers, now president of the Milwaukee-based company. "He began carrying everything all those companies sold. We started to produce a catalog with everybody else's products, too.

"As it grew, it really became the bible for the model train industry," he said. "Today, it's over a thousand pages. He helped create a market for a lot of small manufacturers and make their businesses successful."

Walthers not only kept making its own products, it became a sort of super wholesaler for the whole industry.

His given name was Bruce J. Walthers von Alten, but friends and colleagues knew him best by the Walthers name. Walthers died of cancer last Sunday in Solana Beach, California, where he last lived. He was 87.

Under Bruce Walthers' leadership, the company "became the world's largest distributor of model railroad products," according to Terry D. Thompson, editor and publisher of Model Railroader magazine. "The Walthers catalog became the hobby's number one reference, and 'your dealer can get it from Walthers' became one of its most familiar phrases."

Father started business

Walthers grew up in the business started by his father during the Depression. An entrepreneur and model train enthusiast, William K. Walthers began producing model components in 1932.

"He (Bruce) told the story of when he was a kid -- about 14 or 15 -- his dad told him that he had a job for him," Phil said. "He spent Easter vacation cutting decals apart with scissors, putting them in muffin tins and sorting them out."

Other jobs proved far more exciting.

When his father was hired to create a model railroad layout for a man in California, young Bruce got to go along. They rode the train.

He married the former Barbara Banach on Dec. 27, 1941, only weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Graduating with a business degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, he was soon serving with the U.S. Navy. Trained as a meteorologist, he served on Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. Walthers continued with the Navy Reserve until 1961.

Back in Milwaukee, he went to work for his father.

In yet another business change, Walthers pushed his father to make the shift from the larger Lionel-sized scale to the increasingly popular HO scale. When it came to model trains, bigger wasn't always better.

He took over as company president in 1958.

For the record, Walthers did help build a model layout at home in Whitefish Bay, but it was not a lifelong hobby.

"My grandfather was the ultimate hobbyist, and my father was the ultimate businessperson," Phil said.

What had long been basically a one-man business became big business.

"By the time he retired in 1984, we had quite a few professional managers and about 120 employees," Phil said. The Walthers firm now has about 160 employees.

Walthers served as president of both the Model Railroad Industry Association and the Hobby Industry Association of America. Conventions hired the likes of Mel Torme, George Burns and Billy Crystal to perform. Walthers always made sure his company produced a one-of-kind train car to present.

"Bill Cosby is a big tennis fan, so we made a tank car," Phil said. "The body of the car is a tennis ball can."

Walthers also served with the boards for Cardinal Stritch University and St. Anthony's Hospital.

His wife, Barbara, died in 1991. Other survivors include his second wife, Marcia; sons Bruce, Peter and Thomas; daughters Joanne Barsanti and Judith; sister Peggy Hooper; brother William; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.

A local visitation will be at 16:00 Thursday at Holy Family Parish, 4825 N. Wildwood Ave., Whitefish Bay. The funeral service will follow at 19:00. - Amy Rabideau Silvers, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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BOBBYE LOLA AUTREY HALL: FOR TRAIN MODELERS, HER OLD EAST DALLAS HOBBY SHOP WAS TOPS

Photo here: [www.dallasnews.com]

Caption reads: Bobbye Lola Autrey Hall

DALLAS, TX -- A casual comment to her husband landed Bobbye Lola Autrey Hall in the hobby-shop business shortly after Word War II.

The remark led her to become a pioneer in that retailing segment and as an international importer, both fields dominated by men at the time.

For more than 55 years, Hall's Hobby House was Dallas' biggest name in hobbies. Her Old East Dallas shop at Bryan Street and Fitzhugh Avenue was a destination for generations of devotees of scale model planes, trains and other leisure pastimes.

Mrs. Hall, 97, died Jan. 27 of congestive heart failure at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Her ashes will be buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park. No public services are planned.

"She started so long ago in the hobby that she knew all the guys who started the model railroad hobby," said Lynne Fleming, a dispatcher at the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority and president of the Texas Northern Model Railroad Club.

"When things were quiet in the store, she could start reminiscing," said Mr. Fleming, who knew Mrs. Hall for more than 20 years, first as a customer, then as an employee. "I learned so much about the hobby from her. I loved her, I really did."

One of her least affluent customers once purchased a 50-cent item for his son, who became a model railroad enthusiast, Mr. Fleming said. Knowing the father couldn't afford a complete model train, Mrs. Hall gave him a set to give to his son for Christmas, Mr. Fleming said.

Bob LaPrelle of Dallas was introduced to Mrs. Hall's shop in the early 1960s, when his parents bought him a Lionel train set for Christmas.

Mr. LaPrelle made monthly trips to the hobby shop, where he spent his allowance on accessories to build a set.

"She'd be right there behind the counter," he said. "Anybody who was interested in model trains in Dallas frequented that store. It was amazing who you would run into in that store on a crowded Saturday. ... You could hardly get in the door."

Everette DeGolyer Jr. was one of Mrs. Hall's biggest customers, Mr. LaPrelle said. Many of Mr. DeGolyer's trains can be seen at the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, Mr. LaPrelle said.

"She was just kind of an institution," Mr. LaPrelle said. "It was one of those great Old East Dallas businesses."

Mr. LaPrelle found a profession in addition to his pastime.

"I ended up making a lifelong career out of it," said Mr. LaPrelle, chief executive officer of the Museum of the American Railroad in Fair Park, formerly the Age of Steam Museum.

"Bobbye was as genuine as they come," said Tim Blackwell of Keller. "She had a great deal of integrity. She did a lot of business on a handshake. That's the way she liked doing things."

Mr. Blackwell is co-author of Mrs. Hall's autobiography, Tracks from Texas to Tokyo.

Born in Whitney, Texas, Mrs. Hall grew up in South Texas and Beaumont. She was married briefly and attended college for several semesters before leaving school to help care for aging relatives. Her only child died shortly after birth, during her first marriage.

She then married Louis "Buddy" Hall, a manager with the Red Ball Motor Freight trucking company and a scale railroad enthusiast. While stationed in Nebraska during World War II, the Halls built scale buildings for Capt. Hall's railroad layout.

Mrs. Hall jokingly remarked that they would need a store to pare down inventory of model structures when they returned to Dallas.

"I said, 'We're just going to have to open a place when we get home so I can get rid of all these buildings,' " she recalled shortly before she closed her business in 2001.

She said her husband came home one day in February 1946 and announced he had rented her a former ice cream parlor.

"I said, 'For what?' " she said. "He said, 'For a hobby shop,' and I said. 'Oh, no.' "

Mrs. Hall ran her business from the beginning. She sent a check for $7,500 of inventory to a Chicago hobby-supply company to stock her store.

The supplier sent her a partial order and change.

"When the war hit, a lot of hobbies went away," Mr. Blackwell said. Mrs. Hall supplemented her original inventory with antiques.

Mrs. Hall built her business, adding a second Hall's Hobby House in Casa View Village in November 1955.

The Halls divorced in the early 1970s, with Mr. Hall taking the couple's home and the Casa View hobby shop. Mrs. Hall kept the store at the original intersection and an importing business she had started.

In 1967, at the repeated requests of her Dallas customers, Mrs. Hall started Hallmark Models Inc. to import custom model railroad stock made to her specifications in Japan.

The trains Mrs. Hall produced were of extremely high quality and as good as anything on the market, Mr. Fleming said.

"They were exact replicas of the real thing," he said. "You could count the rivets on the model train and look at a picture of the real engine and the darn numbers were correct. Perfect scale models, gorgeous things."

Her efforts won her national attention. In 1953, Mrs. Hall was the first woman elected to the Hobby Industry Association's board of directors. She was the first woman to be president of the National Railway Historical Society. In 1996, she was inducted into the Model Railroad Industry Association's Hall of Fame and received the organization's Pioneers of Model Railroading award.

Mrs. Hall imported 500 copies of her first locomotive – a Santa Fe GP7 – in 1968. For more than 30 years after that, she commissioned Asian manufacturers to build more than 15 brass offerings annually.

By the late 1990s, Mrs. Hall's combined businesses had annual gross sales of more than $2 million.

Mrs. Hall kept her store open as long as she could, once returning to her passion weeks after breaking her hip.

"She had to have a cast and a cane, but she was back in that store," Mr. Fleming said. "I think the store is what kept her going. That was her life. That store kept her vibrant and moving, but there finally came a day when she had to close it."

The Dallas institution closed for good on Dec. 31, 2001.

Mrs. Hall is survived by her nephew, Wayne Pennington of Mesquite. - Joe Simnacher, The Dallas Morning News, courtesy Norma Grant

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STRUGGLE NEAR ON AMTRAK

WASHINGTON, DC -- President Bush has never been a fan of Amtrak.

During his six years in office, he has routinely asked Congress to slash funding for the beleaguered national passenger railroad, which is plagued by many unprofitable routes and a debt of $3.6 billion.

This week, Bush is poised to ask lawmakers again to wean the rail service off the government dole as part of his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2008 that starts Oct. 1.

But instead of going along with Bush's wishes, rail enthusiasts in the House and Senate want to spend billions more in taxpayer dollars in an effort to get Amtrak back on track.

November's elections gave a big boost to Amtrak by putting rail-riding Democrats in charge of the House and Senate and by ensuring that some of the rail service's biggest boosters got powerful posts on key congressional committees.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., one of the Senate's biggest rail champions, said that despite "several gloomy years, the future of America's passenger railroad is bright."

Lautenberg and Trent Lott, R-Miss., are pushing legislation that would allow Amtrak to get $3.2 billion in federal funding annually -- a far cry from the $900 million Bush is expected to request this week.

Lautenberg said Amtrak should not be "forced to fight for federal funding ... that has been insufficient at best."

"If we do not invest in Amtrak now, I fear for our country's economy and quality of life over the coming years," Lautenberg said. "We simply cannot afford to rely solely on air travel or automobiles if we are going to keep this country moving."

Lautenberg and Lott's bill would require Amtrak to set and meet "specific" performance goals, allow the government to fine freight railroads that delay passenger trains, and fund repairs of railroads in the Northeast Corridor stretching from Washington, DC, to Boston.

Similar legislation passed the Senate last year but it never came to a vote in the House. This year, the bill's chances are better than ever.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is set to hold a hearing on the Lautenberg-Lott measure later this month.

Democrats, who took over the House and Senate last month, have historically been more friendly to the rail service. Many lawmakers in the Northeast use Amtrak to travel between their home states and the nation's capital.

Congress is poised to pass a spending bill this month that would give Amtrak $1.3 billion for the current fiscal year. This is the same amount the carrier received the year before.

In contrast, the White House has repeatedly asked Congress to cut Amtrak funding and allow private companies to operate some of the most profitable routes. Two years ago, the Bush administration wanted the government to stop funding Amtrak altogether.

Amtrak has said it needs more than a billion dollars annually to keep the trains running; last year, the railroad asked for at least $1.6 billion from the federal government.

Longtime critics of Amtrak, such as Rep. John L. Mica, R-Fla., say it is inefficient and mismanaged. They have called on Amtrak to get rid of money-losing services, such as food and beverage operations on some trains and sleeper cars that are more popular on long-distance routes.

Rail supporters counter that trains are an essential part of a comprehensive transportation system that deserves government funding -- just as trains in Europe are subsidized. - Jennifer A. Dlouhy, The Albany Times Union

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BRIDGE ESCAPES MAJOR DAMAGE

VICKSBURG, MS -- The Mississippi River in Vicksburg remained closed to barge traffic Friday as crews worked to contain a small oil spill from a barge explosion.

About 21:00 Thursday a barge carrying crude oil erupted into flames after striking a pier of the Kansas City Southern railroad bridge over the river at Vicksburg.

The barge was one of four being pushed south by a vessel owned by Mandeville, LA-based Florida Marine Transportation, said U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Leon McClain.

McClain would not say how the barge ignited, saying it was still under investigation. Florida Marine Transportation spokesman Brian O'Daniels said the fire ignited when some of barge's cargo of crude oil sprayed onto the top of the vessel on impact and was ignited by a spark.

After the collision, the barge broke away from the tow but was corralled about 12 miles downstream, McClain said.

The barge that caught fire was carrying about 798,000 gallons of crude oil, McClain said. The blaze was extinguished about 09:45, Friday, he said.

There is a no-traffic-flow zone without Coast Guard permission at mile marker 422 on the river, Duty Officer Robert Hill said.

"If we let vessels pass, their weight destabilizes the containment boom," Hill said.

The barge was coming from Hartford, Illinois, and traveling to New Orleans, O'Daniels said.

The bridge was inspected three times Thursday night and Wednesday morning. Inspectors "didn't find any major structural damage at all, and just some superficial damage to the face of the pier," said Herman Smith, superintendent of the Vicksburg Bridge Commission of Warren County.

The bridge is struck by a barge about once a year, he said.

"(In) 2005, we had three in 10 days. In 2006, we had one in January. And, in 2007, we had one in February," Smith said. "I hope to goodness it stays just like that."

An eastbound train approached the bridge and crossed afterward "to my protest" but without trouble, Smith said.

The bridge was subsequently closed and was reopened early Friday morning.

Smith said he did not know what more could have been done by local officials to prevent the collision.

"(The bridge) was lit up properly according to Coast Guard rules and regulations," Smith said. "We even go a step further and paint a yellow stripe that has reflective material in it on those two piers on either side of the navigational channel."

Investigators will try to determine if there were navigational errors or unusual river conditions.

"It's hard to make a snap decision ... as to how we handle the individual who was behind the sticks at the time of the accident," O'Daniels said. "There are a lot of things you have to take into consideration because of how dynamic the waterway can be."

All of the barges carried a cargo of crude oil -- about 90,000 barrels divided among each of the barges.

The cargo inside did not burn significantly, and the barge was still afloat after the fire was out, O'Daniels said.

Florida Marine operates a fleet of about 135 barges and 50 towboats on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The Thursday night crash was the company's first significant crash into a bridge since 1994. - Andrew Nelson and Nicklaus Lovelady, The Jackson Clarion Herald

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RIVER REOPENS AFTER BARGE FIRE

VICKSBURG, MS -- The Mississippi River reopened to traffic a day after a burning barge shut it down, the U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday.

Traffic began moving through the area on Friday night, said Coast Guard public affairs officer Lt. Leon McClain.

The barge, which was carrying crude oil, hit the Mississippi River railroad bridge in Vicksburg on Thursday night and burst into flames. The fire was put out on Friday and the barge's remaining oil transferred to empty tank barges, McClain said.

Robbie Wilbur, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, said Saturday that a cleanup crew would be back on Monday to clean up oil that had made it to shore.

The barge was one of four being pushed south by a vessel owned by Mandeville, LA-based Florida Marine Transportation.

Company spokesman Brian O'Daniels said in a statement that crude oil sprayed onto the top of the vessel after it struck the bridge, and was ignited by a spark. - The Associated Press, The New Orleans Times-Picayune

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ENGINEER: HIGH WATER POSSIBLE CAUSE OF BARGE CRASH

Photo here: [www.vicksburgpost.com]

Caption reads: HNTB senior technical adviser Rudolph McLellan stands Friday on the East bank of the Mississippi River near the U.S. 80 bridge, struck Thursday night by a barge. At right is pier four, second from left, damaged only cosmetically by the impact. (Brian Loden/The Vicksburg Post)

VICKSBURG, MS -- High water may have been a factor in the fiery crash that was the result of a barge hitting a pier on the old Mississippi River bridge Thursday night.

Friday's Mississippi River stage, though falling, was recorded at 36.6 feet at Vicksburg, higher than usual for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service's Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center.

“The higher the river stage, the faster the water moves. And it's harder to control those barges,” said Rudolph McLellan, senior technical adviser for HNTB of Baton Rouge, the engineering firm for the river bridge.

The barge, the FMT 5004, was the only one of four towed by the MV John Roberts to catch fire. The tow trying to navigate south through the two river bridges here is owned by Mandeville-based Florida Marine Transporters. It broke apart after the impact. No injuries were reported.

Pier 4 of the U.S. 80 bridge has already earned the moniker “Scar,” for countless hits by barges throughout its 76-year history, said Herman Smith, superintendent of the county-owned bridge, which was privately built. And even though the crash and explosion by the barge left fresh “wounds,” McLellan said the bridge remains sound.

“It made a gash of about 6 inches on its concrete face,” he said. “But we determined it's not significant to the bridge based on structural calculations.”

A closer look at the pier, home to the American flag that flies high above, shows oil stains and burn marks, as well as white marks from where the concrete was torn away. But a pendulum weight inside the pier came to rest right where it is supposed to, McLellan said, indicating no movement.

“When the barge hits the pier, the pier would move or tilt. We measured it to see if it moved, and it was where it's supposed to be. It tells us the pier is OK,” he said.

As part of the inspection, McLellan also looked at the Kansas City Southern rail tracks to make sure they were straight.

“They were level, which tells us the rails are in good shape,” he said. “We've looked at a lot of stuff, and we feel it's safe for railroad traffic.”

Only trains use the old bridge, but they were stopped as were vehicles on the Interstate 20 bridge, which parallels the old bridge immediately south. Vehicle traffic resumed shortly after the impact and Smith said trains began rolling again about 01:30.

McLellan said he hasn't seen a barge catch on fire as a result of a crash into a bridge in more than a decade.

“When steel hits concrete and the cargo is flammable, that potential exists,” he said. “And this was a pretty good flaming.”

Downriver, firefighters were still putting out flames late Friday morning. Once the fire was extinguished, at about 10:00, Shannon Lowery, an environmental scientist with the emergency services branch of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, assessed the area where the FMT 5004 was tied to the Mississippi bank of the river, about a mile from LeTourneau. Crews from Florida Marine were keeping the deck cool and figuring how much crude oil was on board to determine how much leaked out or burned. Lowery said he saw “a little bit” of oil at the water's edge about a half a mile south of the barge, which had been surrounded by floating booms to contain spills. About 200 feet away, he spotted a pie plate-sized glob, not enough to cause concern.

“I see no problems for aquatic life with the little bit that is there,” he said.

Smoke from the blaze seemed to pose no problem for humans or wildlife, either.

“There were no feathered friends or fur-bearing animals around, and that area seems to be real rural. I didn't see any residents,” he said. “The wind was carrying the smoke right down the river. I don't see that there would be any problems.”

Lowery said Florida Marine was to bring another barge in Friday afternoon to transfer the remaining cargo from the burned barge. The three remaining barges were tied off along the Louisiana bank of the Mississippi River. - Lauchlin Fields, The Vicksburg Post

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ALASKA RAILROAD SLATED TO SPEND $100 MILLION IN 2007

The Alaska Railroad Corp. plans to spend nearly $100 million this year on construction projects.
About 84 percent of the total budget is federally funded, primarily through the Federal Transit Administration.

Track work accounts for about $50 million of the capital budget. Work will include replacing rail and ties, doing bridge repairs and straightening some curves.

The railroad laid nearly 50 miles of new track last year. The organization plans to replace 400 to 500 miles of track over the next five to seven years.

“The tracks were last updated just after World War II, and while they're still in pretty good shape, it's time for them to be completely updated,” said spokesman Tim Thompson.

Much of the realignment work is between Anchorage and Wasilla. The railroad is trying to reduce the run time between the two cities, with an eye toward the possibility of a long-talked-about commuter rail service.

About $17 million of the budget will go toward the railroad's Ship Creek projects. Thompson said it looks as if this will be the year the railroad really moves on the first building phases of the sizable Ship Creek project.

The organization had planned to start laying new track last spring, but redesigned some of its plans after area business owners raised concerns that the railroad may hinder access to their operations.

The $100 million-plus project includes completely revamping the Ship Creek area around the current depot. Work would include an intermodal transportation center, sky bridges, parking, parks and easy access to the rest of downtown, located up a steep hill from the depot.

The Alaska Railroad has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a whistle stop service that will provide the adventurous access to some of the more notable areas in the Chugach National Forest south of Anchorage.

During the summer season, the train will stop at six locations between Portage and Moose Pass, giving residents and tourists a ride to trails that lead to such popular areas as Spencer, Bartlett Glacier and Grandview. The facility at Spencer should be operational by July, Thompson said.

All the sites will include boarding platforms, shelters, toilets and signage. Other possible features include picnic and camping facilities, wildlife viewing areas and expanded trails.

The entire project will cost an estimated $14 million. The Forest Service has awarded a $4.7 million grant to buy a train, and the Chugach National Forest received grants totaling $1.6 million for design and construction work. Those involved will continue to seek additional funding to complete the project.

Next year, passengers on the whistle stop will ride on a double-decker self-propelled train that will hold more than 140 people. The train, referred to as a Diesel Multiple Unit, or DMU, is expected to arrive in 2008. It resembles a sleek subway train, in that the engine and seating are in one unit.

During the winter months, the railroad plans to use the DMU train to give Alaskans a taste of commuter rail service. The railroad will introduce passenger service in Anchorage from Downtown to the airport to the Dimond Center mall. The service may eventually run from Girdwood to Wasilla.

Much of the Alaska Railroad's work over the past few years has been with a look toward a future commuter rail service.

But the railroad contends that a regional transit authority must be formed to oversee such an endeavor. “We'll do the rail and cars, but we want someone to coordinate what happens after the train ride is over,” Thompson said.

Other areas of spending include $10.5 million budgeted for equipment, which includes new passenger cars, locomotives and signal equipment.

It will spend $5.5 million on facilities. A portion of that will build a section house, used as rest areas for crews. The railroad plans to build these facilities in five locations over the next few years. The first was built last year in Cantwell, with new section houses planned for Hurricane, Nenana, Portage, Talkeetna and Wasilla. Each cost between $750,000 and $1 million.

The railroad ran into some roadblocks for planned work in Fairbanks, so the organization has halted work to reevaluate its routes and take more public comment.

The corporation had already begun some track work on Fort Wainwright, and that will continue, but plans developed five years ago to straighten and reroute track in Fairbanks and the North Pole were criticized.

The railroad corporation is also working with Whittier officials to develop a master plan to determine future work there. - Melissa Campbell, The Alaska Journal of Commerce

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CITY, RAIL COMPANY SEEK TO AVOID 'NIGHTMARE'

AMARILLO, TX -- Here's a worst-nightmare scenario no city should want: An emergency vehicle carrying a critically injured patient is stopped by a slow-moving train -- and the patient dies before the vehicle can get to the hospital.

Amarillo faces such a potential tragedy at Third Avenue and Grand Street. City planners, however, are starting to move toward a solution to the problem.

Working with BNSF Railway Company officials, the city is examining how it can move tracks away from the intersection as a way to alleviate the frequent midday traffic stoppages that annoy the dickens out of motorists caught by the freight trains.

City Manager Alan Taylor disclosed this past week that rail officials say building new tracks would cost about $3 million per mile. Erecting a new vehicle bridge over the tracks, Taylor said, could cost $15 million to $20 million and might be difficult from an engineering standpoint.

At least the discussion is occurring and this nagging issue of traffic stoppages at Third and Grand is getting people's attention.

It certainly has gotten motorists riled up as they wait for trains to pass.

If the city and the rail company can find a solution to this problem, they need to move as quickly as possible to resolve it - or else await a potential nightmare come true. - Editorial Opinion, The Amarillo Globe-News

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NATION'S RAILROAD INDUSTRY FEVERISHLY TRYING TO RECRUIT NEW EMPLOYEES

Photo here: [seattletimes.nwsource.com]

Caption reads: New Union Pacific Railroad workers in Boone, Iowa, watch Wayne Westendorf give hand signals to a train's conductor during a lesson on how to join two boxcars together. The Association of American Railroads says more than 80,000 new workers will be needed during the next six years as people retire. (Kevin Sanders/The Associated Press)

Photo here: [seattletimes.nwsource.com]

Caption reads: New employee Michael Doxey works on a boxcar during a training session at the Union Pacific rail yard in Boone, Iowa. Safety around huge equipment and trains is a priority for recruits. (Kevin Sanders/The Associated Press)

BOONE, Iowa -- The hours are irregular and the work means long days away from home, but Brady Foster, 22, is following in his father's footsteps and signing on with the railroad.

The need for young workers like Foster is enormous, as thousands of baby boomers retire at a time when railroads are seeing a surge in business. The companies are stepping up recruitment, targeting Iraq war veterans and laid-off factory workers.

"I saw one of my dad's paychecks and I decided that was for me," said Foster, who chose a career with Union Pacific Railroad over teaching.

The pay is good -- up to $40,000 at Union Pacific in the first year.

But workers must endure never-ending traveling as well as night, weekend and on-call schedules.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific, the nation's largest freight carrier, will hire about 6,000 new employees this year, said Roy Schroer, assistant vice president for human resources.

"Our hiring needs have grown dramatically," Schroer said. "I think, generally, forecasts would say assuming a level economy or a strong economy, we're going to have the need to hire at least 5,000 people a year for the next several years."

The hiring is a marked change from the 1980s, when the industry was consolidating, prompting layoffs. Union Pacific, for example, is the product of seven mergers in the last 27 years.

As a result, hiring was scarce until the last few years as demand rose and workers neared retirement. Companies now find themselves with many employees in their 40s, 50s and 60s, said James Barnes, a Union Pacific spokesman.

BNSF Railway Company, the nation's second-largest freight railroad, faces a similar problem.

"The whole rail industry is an early precursor of the retirement wave baby boomers will cause in many segments of the U.S. economy," said Steven Forsberg, spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas, company.

By the end of 2006, BNSF will have hired more than 14,000 people over the past four years, he said. Overall employment has risen from about 36,500 in 2003 to just over 40,000, he said in a statement.

Most of the hires replaced retiring workers, but some were needed due to record volume on the rail line, Forsberg said.

Railroad business has boomed as high fuel prices spur many companies to shift transportation from trucks.

In addition, an expanding economy always boosts the need for moving more goods, Schroer said.

The Association of American Railroads said freight demand is expected to drive the need for more than 80,000 new workers over the next six years.

The jobs pay well. At Union Pacific, an employee can become a train engineer within three to five years at a salary of $75,000. The unionized industry also offers good benefits, and workers with 30 years in can retire at 60.

Many are hired with little or no education beyond a high-school diploma, so many start young and retire early.

Just a few months into his new job with Union Pacific, Foster was training at the company's rail yards in Boone, Iowa, where 500 of the company's 49,500 employees work.

Training has included several weeks of classroom work and memorizing a 500-page book containing federal regulations, company rules and safety standards.

To be a conductor, new employees must complete 14 weeks of classroom and on-the-job training.
The conductor is the train supervisor, overseeing its crew and ensuring air hoses, braking systems and car couplings are properly attached. The engineer drives the locomotive.

Instructor Pat McGovern, a conductor and former manager, said the work isn't for everyone.

"A few people are book smart but they get out here and they're afraid of the equipment. It's huge," he said. "After three weeks, you can tell whether they're going to make it or not."
He said he's seen people at different stages of life take jobs with the company.

In a class earlier this year, he had an 18-year-old high-school graduate and a 58-year-old retired bus driver.

Among the new recruits are some former workers from the closing Maytag factory in Newton, Iowa, and several former soldiers who served in Iraq.

Railroad companies are aggressively recruiting from many sources, including college campuses, industries facing layoffs and the military.

Union Pacific has expanded recruiting through a partnership with the U.S. Army.

Under the Partnership for Youth Success program, Army enlistees interested in gaining specific job skills and qualifications get the training while in the military.

As they end their service, the soldier is connected with companies such as Union Pacific for possible employment.

Union Pacific said military veterans make up about 20 percent of its work force.

Instructor Wayne Westendorf helps get new workers accustomed to being around the massive rail cars.

On a chilly fall day, he leads a dozen recruits carefully around the rail yards, showing them how to connect the hydraulic air hoses and couplers on box cars. He goes over the procedure in minute detail, explaining the dangers and the significance of each step.

Inexperienced around trains, the recruits wear brightly colored caps, vests and a band around a leg, a sign to other workers they are rookies.

They will wear the band until they've worked around trains for four years.

In an industry that can be hazardous, safety is a priority.

At a briefing inside a maintenance building, Westendorf warns the group they'll be in areas where trains are moving.

"We will be in the red zone," he says. "Pay attention to one another. Look to see if anyone's in the red zone."

Nationally, the Federal Railroad Administration reported 5,635 deaths or injuries to railroad workers on duty in 2005. That was down 6.3 percent from 2004.

By far, the leading cause was overexertion.

Foster said he'd attended community college for two years and was planning on a teaching career but changed his plans after talking one day with his dad, a railroad engineer for 34 years.

Foster acknowledged his dad was frequently away from home, but he said the family never wanted for anything.

"I was lucky that with my dad's job, I always had new things," he said. "I want to do that for my family." - David Pitt, The Associated Press, The Seattle Times, courtesy Dick Seelye

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RAILROAD PLANS $15.2 MILLION UPGRADE

WHITEFISH, MT -- BNSF Railway Co. will spend $15.2 million this year on track upgrades and improvements along its northern Montana route, including 10,000 concrete ties and snow-shed renovation in Glacier National Park.

The railroad’s investment in its northern route is part of a $54.4 million capital improvement program for Montana tracks. BNSF also will hire more than 100 additional employees statewide in 2007, about 10 of whom will be based in the Whitefish area, spokesman Gus Melonas said.

“We’re moving record amounts of freight,” he said.

Train traffic has increased over the last seven years from an average of 35 freight trains a day rolling through Whitefish to as many as 45 trains in a 24-hour period.

The company has earmarked $2.75 billion for track improvements and facility expansion nationwide this year in response to an unprecedented demand for freight rail service. Better railroad technology and a strong economy have boosted freight volume. At the same time the long-haul trucking industry has been challenged by high fuel prices and a shortage of drivers over the past couple of years.

“BEGINNING in mid-March, traveling rail gangs will be a regular sight in the Whitefish-Glacier corridor,” Melonas said.

Crews of 35 to 45 — a total of 300 construction workers statewide — will work through the early fall to complete the rail and tie replacement and track surfacing.

Projects include:

• 59,358 new ties between Glasgow and Malta — $6.3 million.

• New rail between Whitefish and Havre — $4.9 million.

• New rail between Whitefish and the Montana/Idaho border — $2.3 million.

• Concrete ties from East Glacier to Kootenai Falls — $1.7 million. Concrete ties are used where elevation and degree of curve are factors, Melonas said. They have a 50 percent greater life span than wooden ties.

• Renovation of a snow shed near Essex.

Other statewide projects include new rail and ties in the Glendive area and a bridge project at Great Falls. Sections of track on the southern line between Billings and Huntley and between Laurel and the Wyoming line also are scheduled for upgrades.

BNSF last week reported record quarterly earnings of $1.42 per diluted share, a 26 percent increase over fourth-quarter 2005 earnings of $1.13 per diluted share. It was the 19th consecutive quarter of volume increases, BNSF President and CEO Matthew Rose said in a prepared statement.

Fourth-quarter 2006 freight revenues increased $323 million, or 9 percent, to $3.77 billion compared with $3.45 billion in the prior year. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2006 included fuel surcharges of approximately $450 million compared with approximately $400 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. The increase in fuel surcharges was driven primarily by increased participation in BNSF’s fuel surcharge program. - Lynnette Hintze, The Kalispell Daily Inter Lake

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TRAIN WATCHERS FLOCK TO SAND PATCH

On almost any given weekend, the migration is visible.

They can be seen loaded up with camera equipment that would make professional photographers envious.

They are train watchers, or, as they call themselves, railfans.

This region, and in particular, southern Somerset County, is a destination for railfans from around the world.

The focus of their attention is Sand Patch.

The CSX mainline between the mid-Atlantic states and Pittsburgh is one of three historic crossings of the Alleghenies. It is a railroad line that was among the first internal improvements of the early 19th century.

Unlike nearby Altoona, Cresson and Galitzin, the area that attracts many of these railfans has few amenities.

One of the few lodging places available is the Second Best Place, a bed and breakfast owned by Fairhope resident Earl Cummins.

Situated near the grade crossing at Fairhope Road, Cummins has been hosting railfans for several years now.

“Only heaven's better than this,” Cummins said in explanation of his establishment's name. “I've had guests here from all over: California, New England, New York New Jersey and Virginia,” he said.

Although the busiest time for the railfans to come is from March to October, Cummins said he has had three guests in January.

Railfans can be a hardy lot.

On a cold, snowy morning, several railfans prepared to head out from the Station Inn in Cresson. One of only a few inns that cater specifically to train buffs, the Station Inn is well known in the railfan community.

Central New Jersey resident Andrew Blaszczyk was recently spending a weekend at the Station Inn in Cresson.

“It's quiet, and a completely different topography from my home in New Jersey,” he said.

Blaszczyk and his brother, Chris, have visited Sand Patch about four or five times.

Most railfans that come to Sand Patch return many times.

“The attraction is the remoteness and the mountain topography,” Mark Kielczynski of central New Jersey, another guest at the Station Inn, said.

“On the first good weekend, the phone starts ringing,” Station Inn owner Tom Davis said. “Then we're off and running until November.

“We are the first hostel that was designed with an emphasis on railfans east of the Mississippi,” Davis said over coffee at the large dining tables at the inn. The walls are covered with railroad photos. Copies of various enthusiast magazines line one wall for reference use by the guests.

One issue that eludes those targeting this community is tracking visits. Unlike organized tourism destinations, railfans tend to be loners.

“There is no way to track them,” Davis said. “Many just come in for the day and are lost in the general commercial traffic.”

Railfans have many means of communication. They meet along the tracks, talk over the Internet and read train magazines.

The Railroad Press, a Hanover-based publication, is one of the railfans' favorite magazines. Editor Jaime F.M. Serensits is not only the publication's editor, he is also an avid railfan.

“Every year, I receive hundreds of photos of trains for publication that were taken in the area between Cumberland and Connellsville, with a heavy concentration on the steep Sand Patch grade,” Serensits said.

Many of the visitors come to the area from a gateway of sorts in the Cumberland, Md., region. The area's rich railroad history, as well as its active repair shops, serve as a funnel to the railfan community and channel them to the Sand Patch area.

In addition to the attraction of the Sand Patch line, Cumberland also offers the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, a steam powered tourist railroad that operates over the former Western Maryland Railway line to Connellsville. This line was abandoned in 1976, and is now the Great Allegheny Passage trail.

“The scenic rural beauty of the area, frequent freight trains on CSX and a world-class steam train operation on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad continue to attract many railroad photographers to this area,” Serensits said.

Having a railfan attraction has side benefits.

“Railroad enthusiasts are not only a great source of revenue for local businesses, but they also help to keep the railroads safe by watching for problems as they spend their leisure time along the main lines and yards,” Serensits said.

Soon, as the weather breaks, the cabin fever will break in the railroad enthusiasts, and the migration will begin anew.

Southern Somerset County will continue to be an attraction, as long as trains roll over the mountains. - Bob Leverknight, The Somerset (PA) Daily American

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TRANSIT NEWS

BANDS OF IRON: PROPOSED RIAL LINK TO CHICAGO THROUGH RACINE AND KENOSHA HIS HISTORIC ROOTS AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Photo here: [graphics.jsonline.com]

Caption reads: In 1904, workers paused in Zion, IL, as the North Shore line pushed south from Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE, WI -- Chicago is getting closer. We're already linked to our southern neighbor by air, freeway and Amtrak service, and now Milwaukee is considering yet another connection: a new rail line feeding into Chicago's Metra system.

The proposed commuter line would run along existing freight tracks from downtown Kenosha through the heart of Racine and into Milwaukee's business district, with several stops along the way.

Proponents of the KRM Commuter Link, as it's formally known, argue that the project would create jobs, reduce pollution and encourage economic development all along the corridor -- a winning proposition for everyone.

Our ancestors once harbored similar hopes. In the 1850s, when trains began to replace lake ships as our region's dominant transportation mode, Milwaukee looked to railroads as the key to its future. The city gladly lent money to any enterprise with a locomotive and a business plan -- so much money, in fact, that by 1858, railroad bonds exceeded one-fourth of Milwaukee's assessed valuation.

Although the practice would eventually push his city to the edge of bankruptcy, Mayor James Cross saw nothing wrong with it. "The advantages resulting to the city from its liberal policy cannot well be foretold," Cross told the aldermen in 1855. "Already we begin to feel the magical, life-giving influence which it is exerting upon our trade and commerce."

The first leg of Milwaukee's pioneer railroad was completed to Waukesha in 1851, but Chicago was considerably farther along. The first trains from the East reached the foot of the lake in 1852, and the Windy City became a national rail hub almost overnight.

Local promoters were soon pushing for a Chicago-Milwaukee connection. It took shape as the Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago Railroad, a city-supported venture better known as the Lake Shore line. In 1855, the Lake Shore was completed to Kenosha, where it connected with another railroad to Chicago. The KRM Commuter Link would start at the same place and follow the same route north.

A delegation of Milwaukeeans rode down to Kenosha for the "last spike" ceremony on May 19, 1855, joining a group of 400 Chicagoans. Though a lawyer by trade, Cross himself wielded the sledgehammer, driving the spike, reported the Milwaukee Sentinel approvingly, "as if he were used to it."

Cross invoked the spirit of regional cooperation in his remarks. "We have come hither this morning to meet you in a common cause," the mayor told his neighbors, "for the purpose of formally uniting the cities of Chicago and Milwaukee and the sister cities along the line, by bands of iron -- and at the same time unite the hearts of their citizens -- by the indissoluble bonds of social and commercial intercourse and friendship."

The Milwaukee Sentinel was just as hopeful: "This road will place us within three hours' distance of Chicago and its connections East and South, and thus, until the direct route Eastward is in operation, take the full tide of trade and travel, to and from the East. It must pay, from the start."

Beneath the enthusiasm was an undercurrent of deep concern. During the heyday of lake shipping, Milwaukee lay 90 miles closer to the eastern seaboard than Chicago. With the advent of rail service, the city was 90 miles farther away. Our ancestors were vulnerable, and they knew it.

The wisdom of a rail link to Chicago was self-evident, but Milwaukee desperately wanted an eastern connection of its own -- the "direct route Eastward" mentioned in the Sentinel story.
Even as Cross was driving the last spike, a group of local promoters was trying to develop cross-lake ferry service between Milwaukee and the railhead at Grand Haven, Michigan.

That idea was a few decades ahead of its time, but Milwaukee was determined to preserve its independence. The city's homegrown railroad, famous in later years as the Milwaukee Road, became a stubborn rival of the Chicago & North Western, the Lake Shore line's successor.

The Milwaukee company laid its own tracks to Chicago and declined to share terminal facilities with its adversary. That's why two grand railroad depots were built in downtown Milwaukee: one on the lakefront for the North Western and a second on 3rd and Clybourn streets for the Milwaukee Road. Both, unfortunately, met their demise decades ago.

An independent railroad network made all the difference in the world -- or at least in southeastern Wisconsin. It was Milwaukee's excellent rail connections and superb harbor that kept the city from withering in the deep shade of Chicago. By 1862, Milwaukee was the largest shipper of wheat on the planet, and it was developing the critical mass that enabled it to keep growing even as its neighbor to the South became America's Second City.

The tracks between the two cities have remained busy ever since. More than 150 years after the first trains clattered down the line in 1855, it's fascinating, and more than a little ironic, to watch the same hopes and some of the same fears come to life on the same route connecting the same lakeshore cities.

I support the KRM Commuter Link. Chicago, after all, is a great place to live 90 miles away from, and getting there by train is infinitely more pleasant than traveling by car.

But we need to proceed with our eyes wide open. I take it for granted that a megalopolis will one day sprawl from southwestern Michigan all the way to Milwaukee and then on to Madison and Sheboygan, with Chicago at its epicenter. It won't happen in my lifetime, but it may in my children's.

When you fly over southeastern Wisconsin at night, there are still bands of relative darkness separating Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and that vast ocean of light that is Chicago. Year by year, those bands are growing brighter, and the KRM Commuter Link would hasten the day when they finally coalesce.

The threat to Milwaukee is not economic subjugation, as it was in the 1850s, but cultural annexation. Chicago has been spreading like an amoeba for decades, and its reach now extends across the state line.

I have friends who compete in the Chicagoland Women's Triathlon each year. The event is held in Pleasant Prairie - Wisconsin.

Milwaukee is hardly a quaint little village on the verge of being overrun by uncaring outlanders. Chicago's mushrooming influence isn't much different, in truth, from the impact Milwaukee's outward expansion has had on Waukesha or West Bend.

But Milwaukee has always been a place apart, relating to Chicago in much the same way that Canada relates to the United States. Losing some of that distinctiveness may be inevitable, and it may not be all bad.

But as we look down the tracks to Chicago, let's be careful what we wish for. - John Gurda, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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MONTEREY COUNTY RAIL SERVICE? CALTRAIN OFFICIALS MULL IT OVER

MONTEREY COUNTY, CA -- After a decade-long courtship filled with false starts and frequent stops, Monterey County transportation officials now believe the stars are aligned and the time is right to put the moves on Caltrain.

The Transportation Agency of Monterey County is confident they can finally lure Caltrain officials to extend the commuter rail service down the Bay, south from its current terminus in Gilroy, all the way to Salinas.

Only, Caltrain is not ready to consummate the relationship just yet.

"Down in Monterey County, people keep saying service is imminent," Caltrain spokesman Jonah Weinberg said. "But there's a lot that needs to be accomplished before we can seriously entertain the idea of contracting with them to provide service."

The biggest problem, Weinberg said, is the 37 miles of track between Gilroy and Salinas.

"Number one, they don't even have the right to those tracks," he said. "Those tracks are owned by Union Pacific, and they have to get an agreement with them hammered out before you can even talk about service."

While a Union Pacific spokesperson said the freight rail service would be willing to sit down and determine "even if additional commuter trains would be feasible," Weinberg cautioned the tracks are not yet in suitable condition for the commuter rail to travel at full speed. If trains cannot run at 79 mph, Caltrain could not maintain its current 95 percent on-time rate.

Even if the TAMC successfully negotiates "track access rights" from Union Pacific and manages to fund the necessary track repair, Caltrain will not run service to Monterey County unless the operation puts the commuter rail at zero financial risk.

But neither tracks nor money issues appear to discourage TAMC. The agency, whose bus service provides 5 million passenger trips a year in Monterey County, is actively working with Union Pacific, said Christina Watson, the agency's senior transportation planner. Plus, TAMC has already squirreled away one-third of the $90 million needed to make the project a reality.

According to current TAMC plans, a Caltrain extension would run two roundtrips a day, departing from Salinas and Castroville in Monterey County and Pajaro in Santa Cruz County, before chugging north through Santa Clara and San Mateo counties on its way to San Francisco -- a three-hour trip from end-to-end.

TAMC projects that 530,000 commuters will board the train every year, many of them commuters who intend to avoid congestion on Highways 101 and 156. Fares are estimated to cost $6.75 to San Jose and $4.50 with a monthly pass.

TAMC met with Caltrain a couple of times last year to review planning and preliminary environmental documents, said Weinberg. But Caltrain still has concerns regarding funding, track ownership and the possibility that TAMC would have to resort to eminent domain, in at least one instance, to extend service to Monterey County.

Even if TAMC acquires the rights to the tracks and the necessary funds, Weinberg said, the Monterey agency would still have to pay to operate the extended service "because Caltrain could not and will not absorb any expense for that."

In the end, Weinberg said, Caltrain is more focused on its 20-year plan to electrify current rail service than extending what would be a diesel service to Monterey County.

"That's where we're looking right now," he said. "We can't allow anything else to distract us from that."

Despite the difficulties -- the current lack of funding and permission to use the tracks, not to mention Caltrain's diffidence -- Watson is "very optimistic" that TAMC will bring commuter rail service to Monterey County by 2010. Caltrain service, she said, would be a boon for Monterey County, bringing tourist dollars south and linking Monterey County to the abundant employment, education and shopping opportunities up north.

"We feel like we're already practically part of the Bay Area," said Watson. "They're already a lot of residents driving up there for jobs, and this will make the commute easier for them and strengthen that connection." - Michael Manekin, The San Mateo County Times

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MADISON STREETCAR COALITION: LET'S NOT RUSH TO JUDGMENT ON REGION'S TRANSIT OPTIONS

MADISON, WI -- Debate about streetcars has been heating up lately, creating a golden opportunity for the capital region to dig into the very real and very large transportation challenges it faces.

Unfortunately, the discussion so far has been skewed by election year politics, as well as anti-transit and anti-planning ideologues like Randal O'Toole, whose drive-by misinformation and unsubstantiated claims have been challenged in this paper already.

All this has eclipsed one crucial question: What are the different strengths of each of the major options before us -- road, rail and buses -- and how can they all fit together to make the region an even better place to live?

The region will grow by 100,000 people between 2010 and 2030. One way or another we will spend hundreds of millions of dollars meeting the resulting transportation needs. We can spend those dollars in ways that increase sprawl and only leave us stuck in more traffic. Or, as part of a smarter growth strategy, we can make investments to increase transportation choices and improve the vibrancy and affordability of our communities.

We already spend tens of millions of dollars in property taxes on roads in the region every year. Nixing rail and facilitating auto-oriented sprawl would cost us hundreds of millions of dollars, plus tens of thousands of acres of farmland and natural areas in the "bargain." Visit Atlanta or Houston or Wisconsin's own Waukesha County to see what that future looks like.

Or we can invest the same amount on a more balanced mix of buses, regional rail, streetcars, bike paths, sidewalks and road maintenance. Coupled with sensible land use, these investments can improve the quality of the places where we already live and reduce sprawl.

Madisonians may tire of hearing about the teacher's pets of urban planning, Portland and Denver, but by targeting transportation resources as part of a smart growth approach, these regions are reaping big dividends.

Of course, cars will play a major role in our transportation future, but what about the role of buses and rail? Although the specifics from the ongoing regional rail study, streetcar study, and regional bus committee are not expected to be out until this summer, we already know some key facts.

• Regional rail can efficiently move people -- especially commuters and special events visitors -- distances of just a few miles to 10 miles or more. Stations attract development and can include bus and streetcar connections and park-and-rides.

• Streetcars can conveniently circulate people distances of a few blocks up to a few miles, great for giving residents, workers, students and tourists alike more choices for restaurants, shopping, entertainment and access to downtowns and redevelopment areas. In addition to providing a critical local link with commuter rail and Metro bus service, streetcars have a special role to play in creating exciting, attractive urban places and making a less automobile-dependent lifestyle practical and appealing for more residents.

• Because of their flexibility, buses can serve commuters and local routes, and make transit feasible in less densely populated neighborhoods. They must continue to be the mainstay of local transit. But buses have less influence on land values than rail and, in turn, on the development that can increase the property tax base and reduce pressures to sprawl.

Obviously, streetcars are the hot topic now. But let's not forget that there is no actual streetcar proposal on the table yet. The same is true for commuter rail and regional bus service, should they become next month's knee-jerk anti-transit target or political football.

Debate about these studies and how they fit together need not wait until they are complete. But we also should not jump to premature judgments, pit the options against each other, or take rash actions. Instead, we need to evaluate how to combine the proposals into an integrated, regional transportation system. Regional growth presents us with major transportation challenges. Each of the options being studied offers an important tool to address those challenges. Let's focus on putting together the right tool kit to enhance the capital region's ability to meet our future transportation needs in a way that provides a prosperous and sustainable economy, environmental quality and a high quality of life. - Ward Lyles, Fred Bartol and John DeLamater, The Madison Streetcar Coalition, The Madison Capital Times (The Madison Streetcar Coalition is a partnership of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Dane Alliance for Rail Transit, and Downtown Trolley)

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THE END