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Railroad Newsline for Saturday, February 17, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

SHOTS FIRED AT RAILROAD CARS IN POCATELLO

POCATELLO, ID -- Police are trying to determine if shots were fired at some railroad cars in Pocatello Friday morning.

At about 11:00, two workers from Union Pacific say they heard gunshots and heard bullets bounce off nearby railroad cars. It happened near 2nd South and Fredregill Road.

Police blocked the area and found one person in the area. They didn't find a gun and no-one saw him with a gun, but police are calling him a person of interest.

Police continue to look for a weapon and bullets that may have been fired. They don't think they were purposely shooting at people. - KIFI-TV8, Idaho Falls/Pocatello/Blackfoot, ID/Jackson, WY

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RAILROAD UNION, FORBES JOIN TO OPPOSE DM&E LOAN

SIOUX FALLS, SD -- In a late-game effort to influence the Federal Railroad Administration in its decision whether to approve a $2.3 billion loan for the DM&E Railroad, proponents and opponents of the project are gathering unusual allies.

The DM&E plans to rebuild its line across Minnesota and South Dakota and extend it to Wyoming's coal fields.

The Rochester Coalition, which hopes to see the loan denied, points to the fact that the United Transportation Union, representing 66,000 conductors, brakemen and engineers, and conservative financial magazine publisher Steve Forbes, who is rarely aligned with labor, have both called for the loan to be turned down. In an editorial, Forbes called the proposed loan a giveaway to the DM&E and a waste of taxpayer money. The UTU says if the FRA helps finance the DM&E's efforts to become the third coal hauler from Wyoming, the DM&E simply will take business from the existing two coal railroads there.

On the other side, the DM&E points out the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union - hardly ever united politically - and the National Corn Growers Association sent a joint letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters urging that the loan be approved and quickly. The DM&E is vital to agricultural shippers in the region and would spur significant economic development, they say.

The FRA formally accepted the DM&E loan proposal Jan. 31 and has until May 1 to rule on the loan application. - Peter Harriman, The Sioux Falls Argus Leader

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RAILROAD STRIKE IDLES FORD PLANT IN CANADA

Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, shut down production today at an Ontario plant because a strike at Canadian National Railway Co. delayed parts shipments, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

The St. Thomas, Ontario, factory has lost production since Feb. 13 and wasn't able to operate one full shift yesterday, Joe Hinrichs, Ford's vice president of North American manufacturing, said in an interview. The plant will attempt to resume building vehicles early next week, he said.

Other Ford operations in Canada were operating today, spokeswoman Lauren More said.

The St. Thomas plant produces Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis sedans and relies more on rail shipments for parts than other Ford factories in Canada. About 2,800 conductors and yard workers at Montreal-based Canadian National represented by the United Transportation Union walked out Feb. 10.

"We have parts in the system," Hinrichs said of the delays caused by the strike. "The problem is they're all tied up."

Ford also is starting to move parts to the St. Thomas factory by truck, he said. - The Detroit News

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KUDOS GIVEN TO ALERT BNSF PEOPLE WHO HELP MAINTAIN HIGH SECURITY

BNSF employees aren't giving trespassers and suspicious characters a break in an effort to keep security tight around BNSF property and facilities.

So far this year, eight employees have called the Resource Protection Solutions Team to report a suspicious person, activity or security violation.

Engineer Cordell Booke in Mandan, ND, reported BNSF two-way radios for sale on eBay. Then Engineer "Doc" Simmons and Conductor David Oberdan, both in Gillette, WY, reported a possible explosive device secured to a concrete bridge. A few days later, Signal Maintainer Mike Althaus in Haslet, Texas, reported a suspect crawling in an open gondola car. Also in Texas, Engineer Wade Goldston and Conductors Tyler Robertson and Korey Prather reported a subject crawling through standing military equipment. Then Connie Wilson, Finance manager, Special Projects, Fort Worth, refused to let a person "piggyback" behind her to gain access to a building, explaining that it's against company policy.

"I feel it's important that we all do this for all of our safety," says Wilson.

Every employee can take an active part in helping BNSF maintain tight security by observing and reporting security violations and trespassers, and checking security of trains, loads and facilities. Also, never share your computer logon ID and password, lock your computer when you are away, regularly delete e-mails and documents per BNSF's document retention policy and do not copy e-mails to a disk unless necessary.

If you do witness a security violation or trespasser, call 1-800-832-5452. You will be asked to provide as much detail as possible, including the trespasser or security violation suspect's:

· Gender

· Race Approximate age

· Approximate height/weight

· Hair color, length and/or facial hair

· Clothing description, including shoes (sometimes a criminal will change clothes, but not shoes)

Remember, the suspects may not still be in the area where the crime occurred. The sooner a crime is reported to the police, the higher the chances of apprehending the suspect. Often after a "fresh crime," if other officers are in the area when the call is received, the police will detain the person or people matching the suspects' descriptions.

No crime is too small to report and any/all questions are worth asking. Remember, keeping your eyes and ears open at all times will make you a better witness. You never know when you are going to be a witness and have to report a crime. However, employees should never take action on their own if they spot a possible problem; they should always call their local Resource Protection Solutions Special Agents.

For more information on BNSF's ON GUARD program, go to the Resource Protection Solutions Intranet site (under "BNSF Departments") and click Protection Solutions. Or go directly to [www.bnsf.com] - BNSF Today

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RAILROAD WORKERS GET RIGHT TO APPEAL SECURITY CHECKS

WASHINGTON, DC -- Railroad workers who lose their jobs after failing background checks suggested by the government will now be able to appeal, a railroad industry spokesman said Friday.

At least three dozen railroad workers, mostly in the Chicago area, said they were fired unjustly because they failed criminal background checks recommended by the Homeland Security Department.
Some had been hired by railroad contractors as part of work-release programs. Some had convictions for crimes that they said had nothing to do with terrorist activity, such as drunken driving.

The Homeland Security Department is expanding its efforts to secure critical infrastructure, including railroads and ports. As a result, an increasing number of workers are finding that they must pass background checks to get security badges if they want to keep their jobs.

Ed Hamberger, president of the Association of American Railroads, told a Congressional panel Friday that the industry would give workers the right to appeal, something only their employer could do in the past. He also said the industry would make the appeals process clear to workers.

The Transportation Security Administration, a part of the Homeland Security Department, also issued guidelines outlining which crimes could disqualify workers from getting security badges, something that had been unclear. The TSA says ex-felons should be given a chance to keep their jobs if they could prove they have turned their lives around.

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who took up the cause of the fired workers, said he was pleased with the guidelines and the appeals process.

"These guys can't afford lawyers," said Jackson. "They're just thrown back to the wolves."

According to Jackson, 12 workers were rehired after publication of an Associated Press story about the firings. - Leslie Miller, The Associated Press, The San Diego Union-Tribune

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RAILROAD CARS 'JUST TOSSED AROUND'

Photo here: [www.gazetteextra.com]

Caption reads: Jackie Stockwell and her son Sam survey the chaos of a train derailment that occurred just behind their home on Rock River Road on the outskirts of Edgerton. The derailment, which happened about 04:30 Friday morning, involved 14 rail cars. The cleanup is expected to stretch into the weekend. (Bill Olmsted/Gazette Staff)

EDGERTON, WI -- Fourteen rail cars went off the tracks between Edgerton and the Rock River, Wisconsin early Friday morning in one of the biggest Rock County derailments in recent memory.

No one was injured, but several hundred gallons of diesel fuel are believed to have spilled.

One of the early responders was Lt. Adam Walton of the Edgerton Fire Department.

"It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen," Walton said. "It looks like they're little toy cars. They're just tossed around."

The Rock County Sheriff's Department warned people to stay away from the area, which it said is a swampy, wooded area north of the Rock River railroad bridge near East Applewood Drive.

The tracks can't be seen from the road, and the only access to the site is through private property, said Lt. Michael Mugnani of the sheriff's department.

Roads leading to the area are closed to all but local traffic, and violators might be ticketed for entering the area, according to a news release.

The Edgerton Fire Department contained the spill, the sheriff's department reported.

A Wisconsin & Southern Railroad spokesman said an environmental contractor will clean up the spill.

The Department of Natural Resources was on the scene this morning, and the federal Railroad Administration would investigate the accident, said Ken Lucht, community development manager for Wisconsin & Southern.

The train was not carrying hazardous materials, and no evacuation was necessary, Lucht said.

Lucht said he did not yet have a cause for the accident.

The train was headed west near East Applewood Road when the engines separated from the line of cars, according to a sheriff's department news release, which was based on preliminary investigation and statements of the engineer, Matthew J. Diestler, 36, of Fort Atkinson.

As the cars came to a stop, cars at the front of the train derailed, the news release said. The derailment was said to be about 500 yards west of West Edgewood Shores Road.

A Janesville Gazette photographer on the scene this morning described four tipped boxcars on their sides or off the tracks. Other cars were derailed and zigzagged across the tracks. One tanker car marked Badger Ethanol was reported to be empty.

Lumber had spilled from one car. Another car was piled on the one next to it and its end was pointed into the air

Five of the cars were carrying coal, five lumber and three were refrigeration cars carrying butter and other food. Other cars carried grain, Lucht said.

Wheel assemblies were completely ripped from the undercarriages of several cars.

Some of the cars were driven into the 8-foot embankment that protects nearby houses.

Walton said the refrigeration cars each had 500-gallon diesel fuel tanks, but it was unclear whether the tanks were full or how much spilled. Lucht called it a "fairly insignificant amount" of fuel.

Walton said nothing from the wreck got into the river.

Lucht said the railroad is investigating but doesn't know whether the cause was human error, mechanical failure or a problem with the tracks.

"It could even be vandalism, so at this point, we don't know yet," Lucht said.

Lucht said he hoped the tracks could be cleared sometime Saturday and that the track might be repaired sometime Sunday. In the meantime, several trains scheduled to travel between Madison and Janesville will have to wait.

Lucht could not recall a train wreck as big as this one.

"It's common to have a derailment, but on a scale from one to 10, it's right up there," he said. "That's why we're taking it so seriously." - Frank Schultz, The Janesville Gazette

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GROWING UP AROUND THE RAILROADS

OAKLEY, CA -- In the mid-19th century, while the nation embraced the Industrial Revolution and the railroads continued to lay down track at an astounding speed, the tiny hamlet of Oakley, California saw an opportunity.

Approached by the Santa Fe Railroad to purchase some local land, the town's savvy leaders, O'Hara, Walker and Porter, agreed to sell a portion of the land for tracks, but in return they wanted something of their own: a train depot.

"Oakley grew up around the railroads and the depot that went in right across from Fourth Street allowed Oakley to be a transcontinental stop," said Barbara Mason, Oakley's redevelopment director. "Oakley still remains a very active line; there's even talk of expanding it."

And while the depot disappeared in the early l960s, the Santa Fe Railroad still runs through Oakley today, albeit as a freight-only line.

Local residents and businesses along Main Street are accustomed to hearing the train whistle blow as many as half a dozen times a day, as the orange and black trains make their way through the Delta's towns.

Photo here: [www.brentwoodpress.com]

Caption reads: In the 1950s, Oakley was a regular stop on the Santa Fe line. The depot, shown here, was at Fourth and Main streets. (Photo courtesy of the City of Oakley)

Now known as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), the railroad giant has approximately 15 lines that run through Oakley.

"We have a single main line going through Oakley, and then an 8,000-foot siding where trains can pull off of the main line to allow other trains to pass," said Lena Kent, spokesperson for BNSF. "Oakley's pull-off line is very important because there is not another siding of this kind until you get to Richmond."

Carrying everything from TVs to SUVs and destined for local dealerships, the BNSF line takes a daily average of 280 trucks off the nation's highways. According to Kent, the trains are two to four times more fuel efficient than trucks on a ton-mile basis.

"Many people don't realize how effective the train is," said Kent. "It is still the most cost- and energy-efficient way to transport freight."

Photo here: [www.brentwoodpress.com]

Caption reads: This photo of a Santa Fe train car was taken in Oakley in the late 1800s. (Photo courtesy of the City of Oakley)

Freight delivery times and dates are dictated by clients, not the railroad, so you can't exactly set your pocket watch by most of the trains roaring through Oakley.

"There's no telling exactly when the trains will come through," said Kent, "as they do not operate on a schedule, so it's difficult to pinpoint when they come through. Amtrak, however, does run on a schedule, and it is my understanding they operate quite a number of trains through the area a day."

Ten, to be exact.

Created in l970 by Congress after private freight and rail companies consistently showed a loss, Amtrak - a blend of the words "America" and "track" - today transports more than 25 million passengers per year.

In 2006, the Antioch/Pittsburg line carried 22,747 passengers, making California the highest Amtrak-usage state in the country.

There's little question that the view from the rails is vastly different than it was 100 years ago, but the genteel charm and sophistication associated with rail travel remains. Douglas Putnam-Pite rode the train for the first time while on his honeymoon. Picking up Amtrak in nearby Martinez and making his way eventually through to Canada, Putnam-Pite agrees it's still a classy way to ride.

"I'm not sure what I expected in terms of comfort and luxury, maybe something like the Orient Express," said Putnam-Pite. "It wasn't quite like that, but it was very relaxing and luxurious, and we actually saw a lot of the country from a vantage point we wouldn't have any other way. It's a great way to travel if you have lots of time."

More than 70 percent of Amtrak travel is done on tracks owned by other railroads. East County residents can pick up the line at the Antioch station and ride just a few miles, or venture on to Yosemite, Disneyland or clear across the country.

"There are over 70 intercity and 100 commuter trains per day in California," said Marc Maglioni, media representative for Amtrak. "Locally, the San Joaquin Route (Oakland/Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield) has six daily round trips. California is a happening place; we can't build lines fast enough."

Leave it to the Golden State to be the fastest growing and most widely traveled line in the country. With hundreds of destinations available, customers are riding Amtrak in record numbers, for a variety of reasons.

Just who then is the typical East County Amtrak rider?

"Well, that's the thing," said Maglioni. "There is no one type of passenger. There are those who commute, and those who ride for health reasons, like needing to get to a perhaps further away location for medical care. Then there is the business traveler, the student and the pleasure rider.

"If you stop any one train along any destination in East County - or anywhere in the country, really - you'll pretty much find the same kind of person in each car."

So is train ridership up?

"Absolutely," said Maglioni - and for a number of reasons.

One factor is the high price of gas. A round-trip ticket from Pittsburg to Stockton is around $5, which is cheaper than the cost of gas to make the drive.

Marketing has also played a role in Amtrak's success.

"We have worked hard to change how we market the train," said Maglioni. "It used to be that the approach was more generic, a one-size-fits-all type of experience. But now Amtrak is marketing fares and destinations to appeal to a broader audience, with destination packages to a variety of places."

And Amtrak has become more reliable, allowing passengers to arrive at their destination on-time and relaxed.

"Ridership continues to climb year after year; it's still a very viable way to go," said Maglioni. "There's still something special about riding a train." - Ruth Roberts, The Brentwood Press

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TRAIN BILL STALLED ON TRACKS

DENVER, CO -- Commuters frustrated by long train delays on the east side of Fort Collins, Colorado will have to wait until next year, at the earliest, before they could see any reprieve.
The Senate Transportation Committee voted 5-2 on Thursday to kill a bill that would limit the amount of time a train can block an intersection to 10 minutes before the railroad company is fined.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, was a legislative response to a growing problem in many Northern Colorado communities, including Fort Collins, where trains using switching yards block major roadways for 10 to 45 minutes at a time.

"There has been an increasing amount of concern among residents," Johnson said during testimony. "The problem isn't about long trains which take 6 or 7 minutes as they cross a road, the problem in (Fort Collins) is over the sorting and switching of trains that is blocking major roads in Fort Collins including emergency services (vehicles.)"

The longest delays have been seen at the intersections of Lemay and Riverside, which is about a half-mile north of Poudre Valley Hospital, and Mulberry Street and Riverside Avenue where switching yards are located.

"If you think about being in a car accident and the fire truck can't get there because of a stopped train, that is a problem," Johnson said. "We're not talking about nuisances or minor inconveniences, we're talking about serious threats to public safety and the well-being of Fort Collins residents."

Fort Collins City Manager Darin Atteberry also testified in front of lawmakers explaining the challenging nature of trying to balance the needs of the railroad companies and cars in Fort Collins.

"This is an important issue," Atteberry said. "It's not a community of residents or a set of businesses who are whining about delays. This is a serious problem in our community."

The city has been in contact with the three railroad companies that travel through Fort Collins bringing them to the table with the hope of finding a solution to the delays but with limited success. Although Atteberry made a point of recognizing the efforts of most of the railroad companies to work with the city, the delays have continued to be a problem for motorists and emergency personnel.

"Businesses are fed up," he said.

The main opposition against the bill, mounted by both Republicans and Democrats on the committee, was based around the broad nature of the bill and over concerns the state Legislature doesn't have the authority to regulate railroad procedures.

"I feel your pain but I'm not sure I want to pass this pain onto the entire state of Colorado," said Sen. Ron, May, R-Colorado Springs. "I have concerns about this bill being effective across the whole state when it seems this should be a problem that is fixed in the (Fort Collins) area."

An attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad testified she believes any law the state Legislature passes would be trumped by federal transportation mandates, which have traditionally regulated railroad companies.

"Similar legislation has been passed in other states but has been limited, knocked down or is (under) review," said Kathy Snead, for Union Pacific.

Johnson reminded fellow lawmakers that Indiana has a similar standing law in effect and said that if any time an attorney came before a committee saying a law isn't valid that law didn't pass, nothing would get approved by the Legislature.

"It's clear that we have a problem here and it's just not in my community," Johnson said. "The railroad businesses are saying 'we were here first' but that doesn't mean that they can do whatever they want. There is a problem here that is getting bigger (by the year)." - Jason Kosena, The Fort Collins Coloradoan

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'BUG' HELPS LEAD POLICE TO STOLEN TRAIN SETS

PROVO, UT - An electronic "bug" helped lead police to several stolen train sets.

Authorities say an antique-train dealer planted the "bug" after getting tired of being robbed. He had apparently been burglarized several times in the past year.

This week an intruder again broke into a warehouse in Provo, police said. Officers say the thief then pried open the locked doors and stole several train sets, including a box containing the tracking device.

Police then traced the boxes to a trailer in a campground. During the search, officers say they found several boxes of stolen train sets valued at more than $1,000.

A 33-year-old man was arrested and booked into jail for investigation of burglary of a non-dwelling and possession of stolen property. - The Associated Press, The Salt Lake Tribune

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DETAILS DELAY OPEN HOUSE FOR NEWLY RENOVATED HOLBROOK DEPOT

HOLBROOK, AZ -- The grand opening of the historic railroad depot in downtown Holbrook, Arizona is being delayed until a written agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) is completed, and until a meeting of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) State Transportation Board is held in Holbrook.

City Manager David Newlin explained that the city has offered to serve as the location for an upcoming board meeting, and hopes to hold a grand opening ceremony on that day so that board members, who authorized funding for the project, can be present.

Newlin also explained that a formal agreement with BNSF for use of the depot needs to be completed. The agreement was scheduled to go before the city council Tuesday evening.

A few finishing touches also need to be completed before a grand opening ceremony is held at the depot. The planters need to be filled, lighting installed and railroad memorabilia still needs to be placed in the viewing area. The city is working with the Navajo County Historical Society to obtain and place the items. Attractive security fencing between the depot and the train tracks also remains to be installed.

The restoration work on the depot included the installation of new windows, a new roof and a chimney, repairs to crumbling bricks and concrete platforms, and a thorough cleaning and painting of the exterior. A new walkway, parking lot and sandstone sign were also installed to entice visitors to stop and enjoy the depot. The interior also received a thorough cleaning and repairs, and the BNSF office in the older portion of the building was completely remodeled.

Due to the historic nature of the building, every attempt was made to return the building to its original state. Old photographs were used to try to match the roof, windows and chimney, and skilled masons worked to match new sandstone bricks to the old ones. Workers used as many original parts of the building as they could, and even the glass in the original windows was set into the new frames.

The restoration project was funded partially by a grant from ADOT, with the city contributing approximately $150,000. BNSF also contributed to the project.

In the future, the city hopes to have a short section of railroad track installed just east of the depot, where a boxcar or caboose can be placed and converted into restroom facilities for visitors.

Newlin noted that he hopes to be able to set a date for the grand opening ceremony soon. - Tammy Gray-Searles, The Holbrook Tribune-News

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SAKONNET RIVER RAILROAD SWINGBRIDGE GOES OUT WITH A BANG

Photo here: [www.eastbayri.com]

Caption reads: The blast rocks the old Sakonnet River Railroad bridge center support Thursday just after 13:30. Note the pipes, into which the explosive charges had been set, shooting skyward.

SAKONNET AREA, RI -- The bridge blasters had accounted for wind strength and direction, tidal velocity and concrete density. They had calculated detonation timing to the millisecond and arranged police protection, publicity and a marine safety zone. But they hadn't figured on the seal.

The best laid plans of the state Department of Transportation and a New Hampshire explosives company were delayed and then delayed again and again Thursday afternoon by a seal that was in no hurry whatsoever.

The DOT plan was to blast the two remaining Sakonnet River railroad swing bridge concrete support piers at 12:30. TV cameras had assembled, State Police were set to block cars from the nearby Sakonnet River (Route 24) Bridge, Newschopper 12 hovered overhead and the countdown had begun when the seal appeared.

"In all the weeks they had been setting this up they didn't see a single seal," said Will Hernandez, DOT's district manager. "But then, just when we were ready to go, this furry head popped up."

At its closest, the seal swam about 100 feet north of the railroad bridge's concrete center support which was laced with 1,000 pounds of dynamite.

"It would dive and we would wait ... they stay down about 15 minutes - and then it popped up again," he said.

Tempting as it might have been to hurry the seal on its way in the bitter cold wind, "you can't do that," Mr. Hernandez said. There are laws against harassing seals.

The boat crews asked what they should do.

"Stay back and wait," was the reply. "It's the only thing you can do."

Then, over an hour into waiting, the seal didn't reappear - and the countdown resumed. "We would have stopped if it had come back but it didn't."

With warning blasts of the horn and shout of "fire in the hole," an electrical flash lit the center piling. With a thud, the entire structure rose a couple feet then collapsed back into a cloud of white smoke. Pieces of white PVC pipe shot skyward like arrows. A fraction of a second later the same thing happened to the Portsmouth-side support. As the smoke changed from white to orange, a few chunks splashed back into the river - several seconds later indicating that they had flown hundreds of feet into the air.

But when the smoke had cleared - the center structure, or part of it, still stood.

"That's not a bad thing," Mr. Hernandez said later, rather a sign that the demolition crew did just what it wanted.

"They didn't want to blow the things up, just fracture them so they can be easily taken apart." Exploding them would have sent concrete far and wide.

Contractor Testa Co. will now bring a barge back into the channel and use a scoop to retrieve the remaining concrete.

One ton of dynamite

It may have been less dramatic than some of the dozens of spectators who braved the cold on the Tiverton side hoped, but that was just what explosive company Advanced Blasting intended, Mr. Hernandez said.

In the weeks leading up to the explosions, crews drilled some 36 holes deep into each of the 40-foot tall piers. The holes were lined with PVC tubes and finally filled with dynamite and alternating layers of sand and gravel. Each piling got about 1,000 pounds of dynamite.

The charges were placed and timed to send force downward and sideways, Mr. Hernandez said, so that the debris would be easy to gather later.

They also consulted the tide chart seeking a moment of peak current in the belief that any flounder or other fish that gather there in slack tide would be pushed away for the moment.
Whether or not that was the reason, "we didn't find any dead fish (or seals)," after the blasts, he said.

While it caused a brief stop of traffic on Route 24, Mr. Hernandez said the demolition was much less disruptive than the alternative -- pounding the pilings to bits with an impact hammer. Not only would that have been loud and prolonged but it would have caused more long-term disturbance to underwater creatures.

Although they hadn't seen seals there in the days leading up to the blast, they had had a similar experience with the Jamestown Bridge demolition. On one of the days set for explosions, a couple of seals showed up.

"They were playing with the mooring balls we had set out. It was really quite a sight," Mr. Hernandez said.

The Sakonnet bridge's steel superstructure has already been cut up and sold for scrap. And the 24-inch wide phosphor-bronze center bearing on which the bridge once rotated has been delivered to the Portsmouth Historical Society for exhibit in the future.

Even after all these years it was in near-perfect condition.

Sakonnet railroad bridge facts

* Built in 1899 by Pennsylvania Steel Co. to carry passengers and freight trains on Old Colony & Newport Railway.

* Busiest time -- summers of 1912 and 1913 when 24 trains a day -- passenger and freight -- departed Newport and the Boston to Newport run was very popular. Trains included private charters for the owners of Newport mansions.

* In 1980, bridge damaged when overweight train (carrying military tank) passed over; use discontinued thereafter. Also, barge struck the bridge in 1988.

* Demolition cost "$1.6 million," Mr. Hernandez said.

The removal should be complete by early April. - Bruce Burdett, East Bay Newspapers, The Warren Times

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TRANSIT NEWS

ST. PAUL DREAMS BIG FOR LIGHT-RAIL

Photo here: [www.twincities.com]

Caption reads: St. Paul is dreaming about a new cityscape around the proposed billion-dollar light-rail line between the two downtowns. (Artist rendering of the Cedar Transit Hub)

ST. PAUL, MN -- It's a seven-mile extreme makeover that many hope will spark a citywide renaissance.

After months of brainstorming, two task forces issued a block-by-block blueprint Thursday for development along a proposed $1 billion light-rail train line between St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The master plan envisions a downtown high-rise transit hub, a Capitol-area "urban village" and more stores in the Midway.

"At the end of the day, this is our street; this is our corridor, and this is our city. And we have to take advantage of it," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said.

But whether the massive redevelopment proposals ever come to fruition, or die on the drawing board like other St. Paul dreams, depends on the 11-mile track getting built. The Metropolitan Council has said the project's cost must come down. Plus, disagreements are emerging over the route.

Tony Bennett, chairman of the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, which is playing a pivotal role in rail planning, is proposing a loop around downtown St. Paul. A loop would bring people closer to major city landmarks and boost plans for a transit hub at Union Depot, he said.

Coleman's office has resisted the loop proposal, which would thwart visions of a transit hub at Fifth and Cedar streets. The new report shows a track cutting diagonally across the block between Fifth and Fourth streets as part of a massive redevelopment, which could include a high-rise tower while preserving the historic St. Paul Athletic Club.

"We do want to do it," Nancy Homans, Coleman's chief policy director, said of cutting across from Cedar to Fourth on a route that would end at Union Depot.

"The alignment will be decided, ultimately, during preliminary engineering. But it addresses a bunch of problems. Nobody's given us a reason why it doesn't make sense yet."

Bennett said he now understands why City Hall opposes his proposed loop.

"It's because they're going to unveil a plan to change the route themselves, and run it through a block where they're going to have to purchase property and incur costs," Bennett said of the diagonal alignment -- rather than a sharp turn onto Fourth Street from Cedar Street. "I think that the two streets they're going to use in downtown are going to be practically useless to cars."

Other big changes could be in the works. The plan looks at replacing the Sears store at 425 Rice St., located on a large swath of land near the state Capitol. In its place is a densely populated village that anchors revitalization in the area of Rice Street and University Avenue.

The site could accommodate 1,000 to 1,300 housing units and 500,000 square feet of commercial space, while spawning as many as 2,500 new jobs, the report notes.

The report is the result of two mayor-appointed task forces, one focusing on University Avenue and the other on the downtown area. The city paid about $300,000 to Toronto-based Urban Strategies to help with the project.

As part of the effort, a market analyst estimated the Central Corridor project would bring 14,000 housing units, 9 million square feet of office space, 750,000 square feet of retail space and 1,000 hotel rooms to the city.

University Avenue runs through neighborhoods where many minority residents remember the destruction of the Rondo neighborhood and where small businesses wonder how three years of rail construction will affect their bottom lines. Concerns about survival and gentrification run high, making the project politically sensitive.

But Anne White, vice president of the District Councils Collaborative and a voice for neighborhoods on the University Avenue task force, said she was impressed. She cited a mandate the new developments "fit" with existing neighborhoods.

"It's important to find a way to do things like slowing down the taxes so that people that live there can continue to live there," White said.

The report also envisions high-density development in the Midway, crowding new stores between existing ones and paving new streets cutting through the area.

"There're an awful lot of people that started out in this process being skeptics of how this corridor should look. (Urban Strategies) has done a lot to bring people along. I'm very optimistic," said Brian McMahon of the planning group University United, which for years has advocated high-density development based on public transportation.

The report issued a host of other recommendations, from general guidelines such as environmentally friendly development to specific ideas such as a University Avenue gateway where the train enters the city to more murals on downtown buildings to liven up the street scene. - Jason Hoppin, The St. Paul Pioneer Press

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CALTRANS, SACRAMENTO IN TRAFFIC BATTLE

Photo here:

[media.sacbee.com]

Caption reads: If built as planned in 2009, the downtown office tower is expected to add hundreds of new commuters during morning and afternoon rush hours, most of them using already congested Interstate 5. Caltrans' challenge to Sacramento is part of a state push to get local governments and developers to pay more attention to the effects of growth on freeways. (Sacramento Bee/Michael A. Jones)

SACRAMENTO, CA -- A proposed 24-story office tower on Capitol Mall with a gleaming glass spire has become the lightning rod for controversy over mounting traffic woes in downtown Sacramento.

City officials say the high-rise, the 500 Capitol Mall building, will add vibrancy, an economic boost and a touch of modern elegance to the mall.

Map here:

[media.sacbee.com]

But the tower and other upcoming projects also will bring more traffic downtown. That's led to a cry of foul from state highway officials.

While it does not object to the building, the state Department of Transportation is formally challenging a recent city conclusion that there is nothing feasible the city can or should do about added congestion the Capitol Mall building will cause on local freeways.

The highway agency's challenge to Sacramento is part of a new statewide push to get cities, counties and developers to pay more attention to the effects of growth on freeways.

If built as planned in 2009, the office tower is expected to add 700 to 900 new commuters during morning and afternoon rush hours, most of them arriving in cars on already congested Interstate 5.

The Sacramento Planning Commission nevertheless disagreed last month with Caltrans' assertion that the city and developers should help pay to add lanes on the freeway or widen the freeway bridge over the American River leading into downtown.

Caltrans has appealed that decision. The City Council is expected to hear Caltrans' appeal later this month.

"We don't believe they have fulfilled (legal) responsibilities to mitigate highway impacts,"
said Caltrans official Wayne Lewis. "It is important that growth help pay for its impacts."

Caltrans in recent years has sued three cities over development-related traffic, including Elk Grove. Two cases were settled out of court when both sides agreed to cooperate on potential impact fees. The Elk Grove case, involving a proposed subdivision near Bond and Waterman roads, is pending.

Caltrans officials say they are in near-crisis mode: Freeways statewide are at their carrying capacity, and Caltrans wants financial help from localities that approve growth.

"It's not about 500 Capitol Mall itself," Lewis said. "It's about reducing impacts of all development. There is this huge wave of projects coming through (in Sacramento) that we are concerned about."

Gregory Thatch, attorney for the building developer, Tsakopoulos Investments, accused Caltrans of unfairly holding his group's project hostage to force the city to impose a fee on all new projects.

"Caltrans is attempting to shift the freeway funding obligations to local governments," Thatch said. "It's nothing more than a disguised tax."

In downtown Sacramento, nine major office, housing and retail projects were in various stages of review at last count, city officials said.

A city traffic study last year determined those projects could create 2,400 new morning commuter trips into downtown, and 3,100 afternoon commutes. In total, throughout the day, those projects would route a projected 28,000 more people through downtown, many in cars.

Projects include the Metropolitan, a combination of residences and retail at 10th and J streets; Epic Tower, a mix of offices, condominiums and stores at 12th and I streets; and the Library Lofts office and residential project at Eighth and I streets.

City officials say they are aware of the traffic issues facing Caltrans because they must address similar issues on city streets and parking lots.

Assistant City Manager Marty Hanneman, however, said some of those projects improve traffic overall in the region because they allow more people to live and work downtown, where they can get around on foot, bike or on short bus trips.

Sacramento city officials say they want to encourage more transit use -- such as light rail -- among people commuting into downtown as an alternative to freeway expansions.

"It is not just a matter of highway capacity," said city planning manager David Kwong.

Moreover, Kwong said, the solutions Caltrans seeks for 500 Capitol Mall involve freeway and bridge widening projects that do not yet have full state and local approval. "We don't even know the feasibility of those projects."

Lewis countered that Caltrans does, however, have the go-ahead to build more carpool and auxiliary lanes on freeways.

There still are far more jobs than housing units downtown, he said, and projections show the imbalance will continue despite efforts to build more downtown housing.

Lewis said Caltrans supports more light-rail service, trolley cars and buses, but he also said the city should recognize that most people will continue to arrive in cars via freeways.

Despite the current disagreement involving 500 Capitol Mall, Caltrans and city officials said they have begun collegial discussions about how to work cooperatively to avoid similar showdowns in the future.

The group is making progress, said Jerry Way, head of Sacramento's Department of Transportation.
But, he added, "we are two years realistically from having something in place." - Tony Bizjak, The Sacramento Bee

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TRANSIT DISTRICT AUTHORIZES $5 MILLION MORE FOR SPRINTER CHANGES

OCEANSIDE, CA -- North County Transit District directors reloaded their executive director's checkbook Thursday, adding an additional $5 million of "change-order authority" that can be used to pay for cost overruns on the Sprinter light-rail line.

Tom Lichterman, director of rail services for the district, said at a board meeting Thursday that a current $3 million change-order authority account, approved in September, was about to run dry due to continuing cost increases on the 22-mile project that will run between Oceanside and Escondido, California.

Lichterman said it is important for Karen King, the district's chief executive, to be able to authorize expenditures quickly.

"We need a mechanism to be able to approve change orders so that we can avoid long delays while we come back to the board for approval," Lichterman said.

The board unanimously approved the request with no discussion. It is the fifth time the board has increased King's change-order spending authority. Approvals in December 2004, November 2005, and last July and September total $9 million in addition to the $5 million approved Thursday.

Lichterman cited a list of items that are anticipated to cause additional changes to Sprinter building plans by the time the line is scheduled to be finished in December.

The district estimates it will cost an extra $950,000 to install more robust supports under a bridge that spans Buena Creek in an unincorporated part of San Diego County. Additionally, the district must pay a private contractor an estimated $350,000 to haul away "unsuitable" dirt excavated from under the old freight line. The dirt is currently stockpiled at several transit district properties that will soon become Sprinter stations.

The largest change still to come is the re-engineering of the railroad crossing at Escondido Avenue in Vista. The city and the transit district have gone back and forth for more than a year over changes that must be made to the crossing. Lichterman said changes to the project's design are complete and that workers will soon begin replacing the crossing. He added that the changes will not come cheaply.

"We don't have the exact cost yet," Lichterman said.

On a separate front, board members also heard a presentation on the San Diego Association of Governments' plans for a bus rapid transit system that would carry passengers from inland North County and northern San Diego to employment centers in Sorrento Valley and downtown.

Barrow Emerson, a senior transit planner for the regional planning agency, told the board that plans for the bus rapid transit service continue to prefer to access Sorrento Valley and the UCSD-University City area by using Mira Mesa Boulevard rather than Highway 56 to Interstate 5.

David Druker, a district board member from Del Mar, said he hopes rapid transit buses will not make numerous stops before arriving at their destinations.

"I think the ridership will increase as people say 'I get on my bus and I get to my destination right away without having to stop,' " Druker said.

"That would be our ultimate goal," Emerson replied, "to have that kind of patronage." - Paul Sisson, The North County Times

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LAGNIAPPE (Something extra, not always railroad related, for Saturdays only)

VICTIMS IN A 1910 RAILROAD TRAGEDY LIVE, AND DIE, AGAIN

Photo here: [graphics8.nytimes.com]

Caption reads: Gary Krist, photo by Bob Krist.

On Feb. 21, 1910, snow began falling heavily in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
Snowfall in winter was nothing unusual for the Cascades, but this storm was different. Rather than the usual one or two-day blast, it raged on and on, dumping snow at the rate of three feet a day on mountainsides already buried under a full winter’s load. Meanwhile two trains, one carrying the mail, the other carrying Seattle-bound passengers, sat idle on a narrow ledge midway down a steep mountainside, waiting for snowplow trains to clear the tracks ahead.

These are the essential dramatic ingredients of “The White Cascade,” Gary Krist’s measured, hour-by-hour reconstruction of a horrifying accident that claimed nearly a hundred lives in a matter of minutes. With a sickening rumble, as lightning flashed and thunder roared, a wall of snow detached itself from the mountainside and flung the two trains hundreds of feet into a ravine.
Most of the cars, one witness later recalled, looked “as if an elephant had stepped on a cigar box.” The last of 96 bodies, buried deep under the snow and scattered across the landscape, would not be discovered until the end of July.

The Wellington disaster, named after the little railroad town where the ill-fated trains spent their final hours, held the front page for weeks, and then, like most news stories, it disappeared into the past. Precisely why Mr. Krist decided to resurrect it is the big question hovering over this book.

Unlike the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire or the San Francisco earthquake, the avalanche at Wellington had no historical importance. Although some of the victims filed lawsuits, it had no legal consequences and led to no changes in the way railroads operated or were regulated by the government. Unlike the sinking of the Titanic, the accident did not serve as a lasting emblem of hubris. It was, as the court ruled, an act of God and nothing more. So why return to it?

There is no real answer to this question. Mr. Krist, the author of the novels “Bad Chemistry,” “Chaos Theory” and “Extravagance,” lets the story and its telling make the argument for the book, and they do, despite some formidable hurdles. After all, this is a tale in which snow falls, a mountain looms, and most of the protagonists simply sit. The outcome is predetermined.

Mr. Krist does wonders with this unpromising material, however. Adopting a restrained, documentary tone, he slowly builds a picture of massing natural forces and helpless humanity, brought closer and closer to catastrophe with each tick of the clock. The pacing is expertly judged, and the potentially confusing narrative threads, involving multiple actors in scattered locations, are tied together neatly.

This is a story with a hero. He is James O’Neill, a hardworking superintendent of the Cascade Division of the Great Northern Railway. Mr. O’Neill, a poor boy from the Dakotas, had gone to work for the Great Northern at the age of 13 and had worked his way up the ladder, rung by rung.
The moment he heard news that a fresh storm was rolling in, threatening railroad operations, Mr. O’Neill left his home in Everett and for the next three weeks whipped himself and his workers forward, trying to clear the tracks and keep the trains moving. It was his decision to leave the two trains at Wellington where they were, a fatal if understandable mistake.

O’Neill is one of only two memorable characters. Although Mr. Krist introduces several passengers and railroad workers, and traces their fates, they remain ciphers, quickly identified and described in thumbnail sketches, but blurry in outline. Strangely, the most vividly rendered portrait is that of James J. Hill, the skinflint, iron-fisted owner of the Great Northern, who hovers offstage, an unseen but potent presence.

Weather rules events, not its puny human victims. The howling winds and drifting snow become characters in their own right, relentless and all-powerful, frustrating every effort of Mr. O’Neill and his crews. Drifting snow, whipped by the wind, forms banks 100 feet tall. Constant snow slides erase the work of diggers and rotary plows. As temperatures moderate, and snow turns to rain and sleet, the mushy, heavy snow known as Cascade cement settles on ice-hard underlayers, poised to swoosh downward in a vast, annihilating slab.

Trains and the culture of the railroad supply Mr. Krist with his other grand theme. The unthinking courage of Mr. O’Neill and many of his fellow railroad men reflected the enormous prestige of the railroad in American life and the esprit de corps of railroad workers, who saw themselves as members of an elite labor force, the messengers of modernity.

Joseph L. Pettit, the conductor on the passenger train, walked to safety with several of the stranded passengers when hopes of rescue faded. Then he turned right around and returned to his train. He died in the avalanche, leaving a widow and five children.

Dispassionately, Mr. Krist describes the frantic rescue efforts, the mounting fears of the passengers and the malevolent, unending storm. In a thrilling climactic chapter, he conjures forth the avalanche and its aftermath, when railroad cars filled with victims lay buried under a thick layer of sound-deadening snow. In the last car of the mail train, a voice was heard saying, “My God, this is an awful death to die.”

There is no moral to the story. A wall of snow killed a lot of people, and in time, they were forgotten. In the 1920s a tunnel was drilled through the treacherous Stevens Pass, “perhaps the last untamed section of the American railway system,” Mr. Krist writes, rendering Wellington obsolete.

Time took care of the rest, burying the Wellington disaster with the finality of an avalanche, until, by sheer chance, a curious novelist decided to turn back the clock. - William Grimes, The New York Times ("THE WHITE CASCADE: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche" By Gary Krist - Illustrated. 315 pages. Henry Holt & Company. $26.)

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DONNER MEMORIAL STATE PARK EXPLORES A COLD, TRAGIC REALITY

TRUCKEE, CA -- In California history class, I perked right up when we got to the Donner Party.

"It's the cannibalism," said Donner Memorial State Park ranger Don Schmidt. "If it wasn't for that, I'm not sure too many people would remember these folks."

A foot of snow lay on the ground at the foot of Donner Pass, and a big winter storm was on the way, so it seemed a perfect time to reacquaint myself with one of the most morbidly fascinating stories in our state's history.

Covering 3,000 acres between Donner Lake and the town of Truckee, Donner Memorial State Park preserves the site where most of the covered-wagon immigrants dug in during the awful winter of 1846-47, clinging to life by eating boiled bones, rawhide and, eventually, the flesh of the fallen.

Ironically, the Donners themselves were camped six miles away at Alder Creek, and were only peripheral players in the main thread of the drama.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the Donners, and I held two of the most common. I'd always assumed the immigrants were aiming for what is today called Donner Summit, the route Interstate 80 follows past the north side of Donner Lake and the Boreal ski resort. They weren't. The wagon route crossed the crest at a little notch a few hundred yards south of Donner Pass Road, also called Old Highway 40, near Donner Ski Ranch and Sugar Bowl.

Photo here: [www.pe.com]

Caption reads: A monument at the park pays tribute to the pioneers. (AP photo)

Like many people, I also believed the snow that winter was early and deep. This is still being debated, but according to Schmidt, recent tree-ring studies and historical accounts suggest that, for the time, it was probably a normal winter.

"The other big misconception is that they arrived here, hopped out of their wagons and started eating each other," Schmidt said. "People don't seem to understand that it was a last, desperate resort."

The wagon train left Illinois in April 1846, lost precious time attempting an ill-advised shortcut through the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and arrived at the foot of what's now Donner Pass in October, just as the first snow of the season fell. Snowbound, and with virtually no food, the last of the survivors wasn't rescued until April.

The rangers lead several snowshoe hikes a week, some focusing on the Donners, others on natural history, the transcontinental railroad or winter survival skills.

The gruesome nature of the events leads to a lot of nervous black humor among visitors. "Finger food, rib roasts, frozen entrees -- we've heard all the jokes," ranger Scott Elliott said. "We don't want to be disrespectful, but people seem to need to deal with their discomfort with jokes. We understand." - John Flinn, The San Francisco Chronicle

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PIONEER FAMILIES WANDERED WEST TO SETTLE

FALLBROOK, CA – The Cooks, Shipleys, Chilsons and Russells were early settler families who would leave their mark on Fallbrook. Their coming here was truly a family affair. They arrived together on the same train in 1885.

The families' history mirrors the westward expansion of the nation in many ways. It begins with Oliver Hartwell Cook, who was born in 1818 in Otsego County, New York. About 12 years later, Oliver's family moved to Illinois, where he began farming when he was a teenager.

Cook would work as a farmer throughout his life, said Susan M. Hillier Roe, his third great-granddaughter, who has extensively researched her family's history.

Photo here: [www.signonsandiego.com]

Caption reads: An undated photo of Oliver Hartwell Cook and Clarissa Quincy. The Cooks came by train to Fallbrook in 1885 with married children and grandchildren, establishing four pioneer settler families.

While in Illinois, Cook met and married Clarissa Quincy in 1843. They had two daughters, Mary Elizabeth in 1845 and Clarissa Maria in 1848.

In 1859, Cook moved his family from Illinois to New Lancaster, Kansas, where he purchased a 160-acre farm. By 1878, according to Roe's research, Cook had doubled his acreage and became successful. He saw both his daughters marry, Mary Elizabeth to Joseph Chilson in 1860, and Clarissa Maria to Elmore Shipley in 1865.

In 1885, Oliver Cook, by then in his late 60s, pulled up stakes again, traveling by train to Fallbrook, where he would remain for the rest of his life. With him came his wife and most of his extended family. Clarissa and Elmore Shipley came with their two sons. Mary Elizabeth and Joseph Chilson with three children, one of whom, Mary Alice, had married Allen Russell. The Russells brought two sons.

A 1918 state-published textbook, “A History of Kansas,” describes a land boom there that began to go bust in 1884, followed by a severe drought. Roe has not uncovered the specific reason for her ancestors' mass migration, but she speculates conditions in Kansas were a factor.

There also was a railroad price war going on. “The cheap train fares may have been an added incentive to go all the way to California,” she said.

If the Kansas economy was on a downswing, the situation in Fallbrook then was quite the opposite.

“In the last part of the 1880s, southern California was enjoying a land boom,” according to a manuscript in the archives of the Fallbrook Historical Society. “The transcontinental railroads had been completed and there was a railroad station for Fallbrook on the Santa Margarita River.”

The railroads, eager to increase their business, not only cut fares but also “advertised the marvelous land opportunities to be gained,” according to the manuscript, by Maxine Howell.

Oliver Cook continued his farming success in Fallbrook. The 1900 United States Census listed his occupation as “Capitalist.” He died in 1907 at 89.

Cook's son-in-law, Joseph Chilson, worked as a farmer, carpenter and Baptist minister. In 1888, according to Roe, he helped to build the original Fallbrook Baptist Church and served as one of its early ministers. He highly praised his adopted community in a March 1894 column in the Fallbrook Observer.

“I do not think any improvement could be made in this climate,” he told a reporter. “I have traveled much in California. Its healthfulness is unexcelled. Its facilities for making a place of residence I have never seen excelled in this or any other state.”

The Russell branch of the family wasn't quite through with wandering, however. In 1892, Allen and Mary Alice Russell joined other family members in migrating to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. They returned to Fallbrook in 1895, where they would eventually farm 4,000 acres on the O'Neill Ranch, now part of Camp Pendleton, according to an article in the September 2000 Fallbrook Village News.

A Russell cousin, Allen James, was one of the founders of the Fallbrook Mercantile and a director of the Fallbrook Hardware Company. The Russells were subcontractors in salvaging a railroad locomotive stranded on a canyon floor by the great 1916 flood.

Joseph L. Russell, grandson of Allen and Mary Alice and great-grandson of the Chilsons, worked for 18 years for Fallbrook High School, retiring as director of operations in 1981.

Elmore Shipley ran a successful farm in Fallbrook. His son, Thomas Jefferson Shipley, was a founding director of Fallbrook's Citizen's Commercial Bank in 1910.

Thomas married Katie Gird, member of another pioneer family. Their son, Verne, operated a turkey ranch for many years on a portion of the Gird family property in Live Oak Canyon. Verne's brother, Mark Shipley, along with his wife, Louise, founded Fallbrook's first maternity hospital in 1925 and ran it for 16 years.

Descendants of those 1885 train passengers can still be found in Fallbrook and throughout Southern California. - Vincent Nicholas Rossi, The San Diego Union-Tribune

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THE END