---

Railroad Newsline for Tuesday, February 20, 2007 (Happy Mardi Gras!!)

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 ¨C 2006

---

---

RAIL NEWS

BNSF ANNOUNCES MARDI GRAS HOURS AT NEW ORLEANS

On Tuesday, February 20, 2007, the BNSF Railway Company's New Orleans Intermodal facility will be closed due to the Mardi Gras festivities. The facility will close at 19:00 on Monday, February 19, 2007, and will reopen Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 07:00.

Emergency pickups or deliveries on February 20 may be arranged by calling the New Orleans facility in advance at 504-437-2680. Ramping and de-ramping activities will not be suspended. - BNSF Facility Update

---

KCSR NORCO EMPLOYEES ACHIEVE ONE YEAR INJURY FREE

On February 6, the Kansas City Southern Railway employees of Norco, Louisiana achieved one year injury free. Local safety committee chairman Thomas Schmitt and co-chairman David Hatter explained that this milestone was achieved through regular job briefings, a comprehensive understanding of the tasks to be performed, and a commitment to helping one another perform each task safely.

"Everyday, we ask ourselves whether we worked safely or if we were just lucky," said Schmitt. "Management has set the bar high, and with their leadership, the employees in this area have risen to the challenge. The next milestone we're working toward is 100 days without a human factor incident." - KCS News

---

CANADA SEEKS RAIL STRIKE END, DISRUPTIONS CONTINUE

VANCOUVER, BC -- Canadian National Railway Co. asked labor regulators on Monday to declare a strike by 2,800 workers illegal, while customers of Canadian National, the country's largest railway, complained of service disruptions.

Canadian Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn called the situation untenable, and said the minority Conservative government would look at "every option" to end the dispute. He did not say if the government was considering asking opposition parties to help legislate an end to the strike.

"We cannot see the situation going very far like this," Blackburn said.

A Canadian National spokesman said the railroad would prefer a negotiated settlement.

Canadian National says the strike, which began on Feb 10, is illegal because it was not authorized by the United Transportation Union's international headquarters in the United States, which is the workers' official bargaining agent with CN Rail.

But the UTU's Canadian negotiators, who have been at odds with the union's international leaders, say the strike was properly authorized under Canadian labor law. The union's contract with CN expired at the end of 2006.

Rex Beatty, the UTU's Canadian general chairman, has said the striking freight conductors and switching yard workers will return to their jobs if the Canada Industrial Relations Board declares the strike illegal. The board continued hearings in Montreal on Monday on the legality of the strike.

The workers, who are demanding higher wages and work rule changes, have not been receiving strike pay because of the intra-union dispute.

Canadian National says it is maintaining service as best it can using management crews, but a chorus of shippers is complaining about slow service and an inability to get needed freight cars.

Canadian National said on Monday it has resolved service issues that forced Ford Motor Co. of Canada to idle some production at its St. Thomas, Ontario, assembly plant, and is deploying resources to resolve service problems elsewhere.

Details on exact service levels remain sketchy, but various shipping groups have estimated CN is operating at 50 percent capacity.

Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's second largest railway, said the CN strike has not yet had a dramatic impact on its operations except at several terminals at the Port of Vancouver, where CP declared force majeure last week.

The UTU's international president has accused the union's Canadian negotiators of using the strike to split the union so that they can push Canadian locals to join the rival Teamsters union, which already represents CN's locomotive engineers.

Beatty and the Teamsters Canadian Rail Council both deny the allegations.

The strike does not involve Canadian National's workers in the United states, and UTU crews have continued to work on commuter trains in Toronto and Montreal. - Reuters

---

AMTRAK WANTS $1.53 BILLION IN FUNDING FROM CONGRESS

WASHINGTON, DC -- Amtrak is asking Congress for $1.53 billion in funding for fiscal 2008, a nearly 18 percent increase from the $1.3 billion Amtrak is getting this year and nearly twice the amount proposed by President Bush.

The national passenger railroad says the increase reflects the need for infrastructure investments, including continued improvements on the heavily traveled northeast corridor.

In the funding request it sent to Congress on Thursday, Amtrak said it had improved efficiency and increased revenues since reform efforts began at the government-owned corporation in 2005.
Long-term debt has fallen from nearly $4 billion in 2002 to less than $3.5 billion, it said.

Amtrak's request for operating funding is the same as what it received this year and in 2006 -- $485 million. The company characterized that as an improvement, saying it will be able to compensate for inflation by improving efficiency to the tune of $82 million. It said it expected to rely on federal funds to pay 18.5 percent of operating costs, down from more than 20 percent in 2005.

For capital investments, Amtrak is asking for $760 million, up from $675 budgeted this year.
That money would go toward an ongoing overhaul of its passenger cars and locomotives and toward improvements to the northeast corridor. Most of the tracks between Washington and Boston are owned by Amtrak, unlike the tracks that most other Amtrak trains run on, which are owned by freight railroads. Amtrak runs its high-speed Acela Express service on the corridor, and commuter railroads also use the tracks.

Bush's 2008 budget would allocate just $500 million for capital expenses and $300 million for operating costs. It includes no separate funds for debt service ¡ª a $285 million item in Amtrak's request.

On top of direct Amtrak funding, both plans call for another $100 million to be set aside as matching grants for states to use for intercity passenger rail projects. Such a matching program is also a key element in an Amtrak authorization bill pending in the Senate.

Amtrak President Alexander Kummant has said the railroad should work closely with states to develop service on "corridors" -- frequently traveled routes of about 500 miles or less.

Currently, 14 states pay Amtrak for service, but supporters of a matching program say many more would seek expanded rail service if federal support was available.

But counting on states for all of Amtrak's capital needs won't work, even with matching grants, Kummant warned in his funding request.

"While Amtrak believes an increasing share of federal rail funds should go directly to the states on a 'matching' grant basis for use in corridor development, there is a core level of investment in Amtrak that is needed to provide the foundation for growth," he wrote.

Kummant -- who was named to the post last year by Amtrak's board, which is made up of Bush appointees -- has said it is unrealistic to expect the railroad to ever be completely self-sufficient. - The Associated Press, FoxNews.com

---

MY TURN: THE BRIDGE THAT NO ONE WANTS

TRUCKEE, CA -- The Town of Truckee, California inherited a problem when the town incorporated in 1993. The problem is now 78 years old. I believe that it has been compromised with time and use. I¡¯m referring to a railroad bridge that belongs to the Union Pacific Railroad and a road that belongs to the state on California Highway 89. This bridge is best known as the ¡°Mousehole.¡±

Photo here: [www.townoftruckee.com]

I have asked my town council, Caltrans, Nevada County Transportation Commission, Governor Schwarzenegger, state senator, and state assemblyman in different forms (written and verbally) the following question: Is this community going to have to wait for a train to fall off that bridge or for a pedestrian or a cyclist to be killed before something is done?

The town became the lead agency in 2003 to secure $498,000 in grant funds to begin project development activities because our famous Caltrans did not have adequate staffing resources to pursue the project. The funds were stalled due to statewide budget problems. Consequently, nothing was done. A half a million dollars sat in limbo.

The federal government earmarked $2.8 million in federal funds with required 20 percent matching funds. The Town of Truckee gave these funds to Caltrans if they would become the lead agency again. The half million sitting in limbo offset the required matching funds. Caltrans has taken charge. It appears that Caltrans now has the staff resources available to pursue the ¡°Mousehole¡± project. This is a joke. Caltrans has spent $500,000 on off-the-shelf ¡°stuff¡± they had before receiving $3.3 million dollars. I believe they are wasting valuable public funds and time.

The Town of Truckee has no ownership, liability, or maintenance responsibilities for this railroad bridge/state road. It would be in the best interests of the entire Lake Tahoe region if the Union Pacific Railroad and Caltrans were to become partners. The replacement of the ¡°Mousehole¡± is and should be the responsibility of Union Pacific Railroad, the State of California, the federal government, and Nevada and Placer counties. The last people that should be paying for the replacement of the railroad bridge are the taxpayers of Truckee.

In the interest of public safety, I believe the railroad tunnel should be condemned immediately. This bridge is suffering from old age. It has large severe cracking and water is weeping through the cracks. A human life is worth more than doing nothing. It will take Caltrans 10 years of planning just to get a working design off the boards and another 10 years to get the funding. That bridge will be 100-years-old before it is replaced. It is time to demand that something be done. The replacement of this bridge should be fast-tracked.

We the people have the right to speak out on this issue. You will have an opportunity to speak out at the Town of Truckee council meeting, Town Hall, Thursday, February 18, at 18:00.

This will always be the bridge that nobody wants unless the citizens of this community speak out. Our town leaders need your help and support. The railroad and Caltrans need to hear that the citizens of this community care about human life. They need to hear that the citizens want something done now. Government only moves when the ¡°people¡± speak. - Letter to the Editor, Dennis A. Dickinson, The Truckee Sierra Sun

---

TRAIN DERAILS IN NORTH MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS, TN -- A train has derailed on the Illinois Central/Canadian National railroad line near Warford and Chelsea in North Memphis, Tennessee Monday morning.

Authorities on the scene report no hazardous materials are involved, nor are there any injuries. Although there was one HAZMAT car, it was empty and posed no threat.

Railroad officials state that the cause of the accident was due to a broken rail on the track. Crews are expected to take most of the day uprighting 10 of the train's cars and repairing the track. - WHBQ FOX13, Memphis, TN

---

RAILWAYS ARE TOPIC OF LECTURE SERIES

TUCSON, AZ -- The third annual Transportation Lecture Series begins at 19:00 Tuesday at the Depot Lobby, 400 N. Toole Ave., with a talk by Richard Dick on "The Arizona and South Eastern Railroad and Bisbee."

The series of five lectures is sponsored by the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum. The cost is $5 for each lecture, or $20 for all five lectures. Call 623-2223 or go to www.tucsonhistoric depot.org for more information.

The rest of the series:

¡ñ Gene Caywood speaks on "Hooves and Rails: the History of the Tucson Street Railway" at 19:00. Feb. 27.

¡ñ Bill Kalt's topic is "On the Ground in the Steam Age" at 19:00 March 6.

¡ñ Winton Hall speaks on "Southern Arizona Railroad Engineers and Construction" at 19:00 March 13.

¡ñ Richard Dick, Gene Caywood and Jim Ayres speak about "The Arizona Narrow Gauge Railroad" at 19:00 March 20.

- The Arizona Daily Star

---

CANADIAN PACIFIC RELEASES ONLINE HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE RAILWAY FOR YOUNG READERS

CALGARY, AB -- This Heritage Day, you are invited to hop aboard www.cpr.ca with the young readers in your life and learn about the railway's history from the steam era to modern times, in Canadian Pacific's first online book for young people "The Story of the Canadian Pacific Railway".

Canadian Pacific is tied closely with Canada's rich and varied fabric and this book reminds readers of the many momentous events throughout its long and illustrious history.

This is Canadian Pacific's way of making our 126 year history easily accessible to today's internet savvy youth, " says Paul Clark, Canadian Pacific's Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs. "We hope that parents and teachers across the country will use this book as an additional complimentary resource when educating the leaders of tomorrow about Canada's history."

In a colourful, informative and imaginative way "The Story of the Canadian Pacific Railway" captures important historical moments including: the birth of the company; the hardships endured by the workers who toiled to make the transcontinental railway a reality; the discovery of the Rogers Pass; the identity of the boy in the famous last spike photo and the crucial role Canadian Pacific played in World Wars I and II. The book also examines the present role of the railway as a mover of goods across the North American continent and an active leader in community programs such as the Holiday Train and the Empress Steam Train.

The on-line manuscript, which can also be downloaded as an Adobe pdf, is aimed at the Grade 6 level and the website also includes additional classroom materials such as worksheets, a word search puzzle and resource listings to complement any educational lesson plan.

Canadian Pacific, through the ingenuity of its employees located across Canada and in the United States, remains committed to being the safest, and most fluid railway in North America. Our people are the key to delivering innovative transportation solutions to our customers and to ensuring the safe operation of our trains through the more than 900 communities where we operate. Our combined ingenuity makes Canadian Pacific a better place to work, rail a better way to ship, and North America a better place to live. Come and visit us at www.cpr.ca to see how we can put our ingenuity to work for you. Canadian Pacific is proud to be the official rail freight services provider for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. - Breanne Feigel, CPR News Release

---

GEN. McCOOK: WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Drawing here: [www.mccookgazette.com]

McCOOK, NE -- In this 125th, Quasquicentennial year of the founding of McCook, Nebraska it is interesting to look back at some of the people and events in our past that have served to make McCook the city it is today. Where better to start than with the fellow for whom McCook is named, General Alexander McDowell McCook.

Many of the early towns in frontier Nebraska were named for the citizens who first settled the territory. But in McCook's case, one man made that choice for an all together different reason.

Alexander Campbell, the man who was responsible for McCook's very existence, was the Superintendent of the local division of the railroad (which included what is now McCook) at the time McCook was being planned. He changed that tiny settlement, Fairview on the banks of the Republican River, to an entirely new city. Campbell held a position of high authority in the railroad, and could well have named our fair city Campbell, as a boost to his ego. Instead, he chose to name the new city after a man he much admired -- his friend and colleague, General Alexander McDowell McCook, a hero of the Civil War.

Alexander McCook was born in Columbiana County, Ohio in 1831, one of eight boys and three girls. Their father, Daniel was a prominent Attorney who had come to Ohio from New York in 1826. The family was noteworthy because Daniel and all eight of his boys served with the Union Army during the Civil War.

Daniel McCook, through his professional and political connections, was able to secure an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point for his son, Alexander, where he graduated with the Class of 1852, just in time to be sent west to fight Indians.

The United States had enjoyed an uneasy peace with the Apache Indians during and just after the War with Mexico. The Apache had been longtime foes of the Mexicans and welcomed the United States and provided protection to American troops into and through their territory, as long as they were fighting the Mexicans. But that war ended, and when gold was discovered in the Santa Rita Mountains, and American prospectors began encroaching on Apache territory, fighting erupted anew, under the Apache Chiricahua Chief Cochise.

For four years McCook fought the Apaches and Utes in New Mexico. Finally, in 1858, he was ordered back to West Point to teach Infantry Tactics to Army Cadets. That tour of duty in that location lasted until the start of the Civil War.

The War provided McCook with a rapid rise through the ranks. As a Colonel in the 1st Ohio Infantry, McCook took part in the 1st Battle of Bull Run. He was singled out for his bravery and organizational skills, and by 1862 he had been promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers and commanded an Army Division in Kentucky and Mississippi. Later, in July of the same year, he was promoted to Major General of Volunteers and helped organize a Division of The Army of Ohio. He led this Division at the Battle of Nashville and again at the Battle of Shiloh. In both these engagements both McCook and his men were cited for their bravery under severe enemy fire.

After Shiloh McCook assumed command of the Army of Ohio Reserve Forces and participated in the Siege of Corinth in Mississippi. In October, 1862 he led his troops against Southern forces at Perryville, and during that winter his troops fought yet again at the Battle of Stone's River.
Later, under General Rosecrans, McCook's Division took part in the Battle of Chicamauga. Both Stone's River and Chicamauga were less than great victories for the Union forces, and General McCook, along with several other Union Generals, was singled out for blame in those battles.
Later, a Court of Inquiry found that McCook had not been to blame for any of the failures in those battles, but the damage to his career was done. He was removed from positions of battlefield command and spent the rest of the war in semi-obscurity as the Military Administrator of East Arkansas.

After the Civil War ended, in 1865 Alexander McCook chose to stay in the Army and was assigned to various posts in the West. He was a good administrator and fulfilled his Army duties with distinction, but out of the spotlight, mainly in Garrison Duty in Texas, until 1874. From 1875 until 1880 McCook served as the Aide-de-camp to the legendary Civil War Commander, Lt. General William Tecumseh Sherman.

McCook's last major command was that as Commander of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where he oversaw both the Infantry and Cavalry schools. In 1895 Alexander McCook retired from the Army as a Major General.

It was mainly in the years after the Civil War that McCook became a close friend of Alexander Campbell of the Burlington Railroad. After the war there was a good bit of interaction between the Army and Railroad men.

The Railroad men had visions of a rail line that would span the width of the American continent.
The Army looked favorably upon the railroad as a means of aiding in communication and transportation between widely separated posts in the American West. Railroaders were in frequent contact with Army officers, especially those with knowledge of conditions in the West. These officers frequently served on various Boards of Directors for the Railroads.

So it was natural that Railroad man, Campbell would seek out officers like Gen. McCook, with his practical knowledge of the geography of the Western United States and his administrative skills, to help the railroad in its plans for expansion to the West.

It is doubtful that General McCook ever did visit his namesake city, but we can be sure that Superintendent Campbell kept him apprised of the progress of the new community -- and we can be certain that Superintendent Campbell, in naming his new town after his friend, was paying a great honor to a man in whom he placed the highest esteem. All in all, McCook was not a bad choice for the name of our fair city.

General Campbell remained active in retirement. He was one of a small Committee of respected Army officers who were tabbed with the responsibility to investigate the actions of the Department of War, in Administrating the Spanish American War.


In 1897 General Alexander McCook (along with Mrs. McCook) was chosen to represent the President of the United States at the Coronation of the Czar of Russia in Moscow.
Alexander McDowell McCook died in 1903 at Dayton, Ohio. He is buried in the McCook (family) Memorial section of the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. - Walt Sehnert, The McCook Daily Gazette

---

WATCHES LOSE GROUND TO CELL PHONES

CHICAGO, IL -- Allison Elliott occasionally wears the delicate gold windup watch that belonged to her grandmother. But it's really just for show.

Elliott, who's 27, is much more likely to get the time from the clock in her car, the one on her cable TV box or cell phone or from the bottom right-hand of her computer at the University of Kentucky, where she works.

Paul Dryden is much the same. "To be honest, I can't remember the last time I wore a watch -- I'm guessing early in high school," says the 21-year-old senior at Connecticut College. The busy student's cell phone often doubles as an alarm clock because "it goes everywhere I go."

In other words, the way we track time is changing with the times.

Market researchers say more people are carrying electronic devices that also tell time, whether a phone, an iPod or a BlackBerry. They're also finding that young people, in particular, are more interested in spending their money on other kinds of accessories, such as shoes and hand bags.

In a survey last fall, investment bank Piper Jaffray & Co. found that nearly two-thirds of teens never wear a watch -- and only about one in 10 wears one every day.

Experian Simmons Research also discovered that, while Americans spent more than $5.9 billion on watches in 2006, that figure was down 17 percent when compared with five years earlier.

In response, some watchmakers have begun to add more functions to their time pieces, with models that have everything from heart rate monitors to GPS trackers.

Luxury watches, such as Rolex, remain popular. But even then, the watch is often more about fashion than function, says Max Kilger of Experian Simmons.

"It really is an anchor point - and that's the end of it," says Kilger, the research firm's chief behavioral scientist. "A cell phone is one step up from that; it begins to help you manage your time. And a BlackBerry is one level up from that."

Some have found the trend convenient, if a little stressful.

"I don't check my watch anymore. My watch checks me," says Sean MacPhedran, a 27-year-old from Ottawa, Ontario, who works in advertising. He's referring to the beeps and vibrations his BlackBerry makes to remind him of his obligations.

"On the one hand, I've become a slave to its beeps," he says. "But on the other hand, it automates a lot of things that I would have to do manually otherwise, like try to remember when I'm supposed to go learn how to cha-cha or call a client."

MacPhedran does wear a watch when he wants to look "put together." But it's become so much more an accessory than a necessity that he's developed a habit of taking it off unconsciously and leaving it places.

"When I was little, I took off my socks because they were constraining," he says. "I think I take my watch off for the same reason."

Before she joined the ranks of telecommuters and stopped wearing a watch, 35-year-old working mom Jeannine Fallon Anckaitis also thought of her watch as "a handcuff" that she'd immediately remove when returning home.

"Even if I went out to dinner straight from work, I'd dump the watch into my purse to free my wrist," says Anckaitis, who lives in Swarthmore, PA, and now works from home for an online auto site. "Taking off the watch symbolized being done with the pressure-filled commitments of the day, and settling into a pace where the time matters far less."

Indeed, the watch is a symbol of stress for many people. But it's not really time itself that's the problem, says historian James Hoopes.

"It's that we live in an increasingly synchronized world," says Hoopes, a professor in the division of history and society at Babson College in Massachusetts.

"You don't really relieve all the stress unless you get out of the world where time synchronization is so important."

He notes that, historically, the obsession with synchronization took hold in the railroad era, when watches were often kept in a pocket.

By World War I, watches began moving to the wrist, as a means of efficiency.

"The wrist watch was really a response to stress - the stress of battle," Hoopes says.

In today's age of globalization, he says, synchronization has only increased in scope.

Glen Stone gets a sense of that every working day at the World Trade Centre Toronto, as he walks by a wall of clocks that show times from around the world.

But as important as time is at the busy Toronto Board of Trade, even he has given up on wearing his own watch.

The 48-year-old Canadian says every time piece he's owned - including the first one he got at age 8 - has either broken or irritated his skin, whether they were cheap or expensive watches, digital, leather-strapped or metal.

He asks: "Know anyone who wants a drawer full of broken watches?" - Martha Irvine, The Associated Press, The Charlotte Observer

---

TRANSIT NEWS

TROLLEY SERVICE BRINGS BACK BYGONE DAYS

Photo here: [img.yakima-herald.com]

Caption reads: Mortorman Joe Rief talks to his passengers during a chartered ride on Yakima Valley Trolleys streetcar No. 1776 on Feb. 3. Rief became certified to operate a trolley when he was 15 years old, and jokes that he has iron in his blood. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

YAKIMA, WA -- To mark her 30th birthday, Rose Fryar boarded a Yakima trolley. She sat in her seat, braced herself against the cold and waited, eagerly, as the wheels churned into motion.

As the trolley rolled through downtown Yakima, she couldn't help but remember her dad, how she sat by his side on the trolley when she was 5 years old.

And now, here she was, a grown woman with a husband and son of her own.

"It was exhilarating. It made me feel all warm inside," said Fryar of Yakima. "You feel like you are in a different time."

Photo here: [img.yakima-herald.com]

Caption reads: Devon Fryar, 3, looks out of the window while he and his parents, Rose, left, and Nate wait for their trolley ride to begin Feb. 3 in Yakima. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

That nostalgia is something Yakima Valley Trolleys wants to rekindle as the Yakima trolley system celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. A host of commemorative events is in the works, along with plans for the trolley system's continued growth.

Yakima should take pride in its trolley service, said trolley president Paul Edmondson, who has been a board member since the late 1990s and president for the past five years. It's part of Yakima's culture, its history. And it's here to stay.

"It brings back feelings of a bygone era," said Edmondson about the historical trolleys. "You just don't get the same feeling riding a metal bus."

After several failed attempts by different business leaders, the Yakima Valley Transportation Co. succeeded in opening Yakima's first electric railroad on Christmas Eve, 1907.

According to historian Ken Johnsen's book "Apple Country Interurban: A History of the Yakima Valley Transportation Company," adults paid 5 cents for a one-way trip within city limits.
Children paid half that price to go to and from school. City officials, policemen and firemen rode for free.

The trolley system began as a city transit line with three miles of track, but soon expanded into an interurban freight line, delivering lumber, fruit and other perishable goods nationwide. It also went to fruit-packing houses in places as such Selah and Wiley City. At its commercial height, the track extended 44 miles.

But the popularity of passenger service declined with the emergence of the automobile. It ended by 1947, and freight service followed in 1985.

Photo here: [img.yakima-herald.com]

Caption reads: For her birthday, Rose Fryar says she told her husband: "Presents don't matter, I just want a trolley ride." So on Feb. 3, she took one with family, including her 3-year-old son, Devon. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Passengers returned to riding the rail line again in 1974 after Johnsen convinced the Yakima City Council that trolley rides would boost tourism. That accomplishment was no small feat, Johnsen said, but the greatest victory to date is the trolley's survival.

"All the railroads like it have long since died," said Johnsen, a Maple Valley, WA, resident and secretary of the YVT. "When passenger trolleys came back, that changed things."

Still, Johnsen and Edmondson said the trolley system had its fair share of obstacles to overcome.

One of the biggest involved George Inness of Portland, president of the Yakima Interurban Lines Association, a nonprofit group that operated the trolleys from the mid-1970s to about 2000.

Inness secured a $516,000 state loan to restore a 12-mile Naches Valley railroad spur once owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. The rehabilitation effort to reclaim freight service on the line was never completed because funds ran out.

A Yakima bank foreclosed on two loans totaling $184,000 that Inness obtained but never paid back. And federal officials reclaimed railroad equipment that Inness improperly obtained through a surplus-property program.

A state audit and collection of lawsuits revealed Inness' wrongdoings. Those actions forced Yakima Interurban to cease streetcar operations in 2000 and become a real estate holding company.

"(Inness) ended up in trouble with the bank, with the city, with the state," Johnsen said. "That was definitely the low point."

That's when an association of new board members, calling itself the Yakima Valley Trolleys, took the helm.

More recently, the association has battled against thieves. Prized by drug addicts for its high resale value to scrap-metal merchants, more than two miles of electric copper wiring has been stripped from the trolley lines since 2005.

This has necessitated the use of a motor-generator car to power the trolley line into Selah. Regular runs, though, to Selah have ceased for the time being.

The trolley line typically runs on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day and transports 1,000 people. Trolleys depart from the storage barn at South Third Avenue and Pine Street and travel across the Naches River, through Selah Gap to just inside Selah city limits.

The cost of replacing the overhead wire, which carries the electricity that powers the trolleys, has been estimated at more than $400,000. Trolley officials are getting estimates on the damage and will decide on a game plan once they have all of the information. Edmondson said pursuing grants will be a priority.

"We'll try to restore service to Selah. We hope to do so this year," he said.

YVT is now investigating ways to keep thieves at bay. This includes replacing the copper wire with aluminum wire, which has a cheaper resale value, and outfitting the wire with a trigger that will alarm police when cut.

But the association doesn't want to stop there. Future plans might include restoring service to Front Street and expanding trolley runs to the proposed WestTowne mall, at U.S. Highway 12 and North 16th Avenue. A link to the Yakima Valley Museum along Tieton Drive is also a possibility.

Beyond that, the association would like to obtain more money, establish residential service and add to its 30-member association. Six people now serve on the board, with the most recent member elected last year.

"People need to know they own the trolleys," Edmondson said. "It's their system. It's owned lock, stock and barrel by the city. We'd love to have people come downtown and ride the trolleys." - Erin Snelgrove, The Yakima Herald-Republic

---

BUILDING MEMORIES: SOUTHWESTERN GAS & ELECTRIC CO. CAR BARN

TEXARKANA, TX -- ¡°Southwestern Gas & Electric Company¡¯s Car Barn served as both a repair and a construction facility for Texarkana¡¯s wonderful streetcar system.¡±

The industrial looking gray building that covers the entire block from 801 to 821 E. Broad St. once served as the ¡°barn¡± for Texarkana¡¯s early streetcars. Within its walls streetcars were created, serviced, and repaired. However, the 800 block of E. Broad St. served as a residence area for a number of railroad employees from 1899-1910.

For example, Gardner E. Pile, a switchman for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway; Henry M. Harper, a brakeman for the same railroad; William Alton, a car repairer; and Charles E. Campbell, a brakeman, all had their homes in the area later occupied by the streetcar barn.

Texarkana¡¯s streetcar system was originally called Texarkana Street Railway and began way back in 1881, when the Gate City Railway Co. and the Texarkana Street Railway Co. were chartered. Gate City Railway Co. never brought their streetcar plans to fruition, but Texarkana Street Railway did.

Officers of the latter company were A. Deutschman, Ben M. Foreman, and Frank Whitley, and their first Texarkana streetcars were mule drawn. By 1886, these three pioneers were planning to make streetcar service available all the way out to Spring Lake Park. Regular routes stretched from Fourteenth Street and County Avenue down to Broad Street, around to Maple (Texas Boulevard), then northwest along Maple to 14th Street, where it crossed the Kansas City Southern Railroad tracks and headed into Whitley Park.

In 1890 Texarkana awarded a franchise to George Braumhoff to operate electric streetcar service in the city. Braumhoff had purchased the mule-tram system from Frank Whitley, sole survivor of the original partnership. Braumhoff operated his streetcar line until 1903, when he sold his franchise to Spencer & Crouch (E.J. Spencer and Thomas Crouch), who operated under the name Texarkana Traction Co. In 1903 Spencer & Crouch bought College Hill Light and Traction Co., a new company only recently organized. With this purchase, the Spencer & Crouch Co. became the sole provider of residential electric service and electric streetcar transportation in Texarkana.

Texarkana¡¯s streetcar systems of the early 1900s mirrored growth of the city. As new residential areas developed around the city, streetcar lines were added to serve new residents living there.

Wilbur Smith, Texarkana¡¯s beloved historian, told me in an interview in the 1990s, that there were six trolley lines serving Texarkana: ¡°Buchanan,¡± ¡°Rose Hill,¡± ¡°State,¡± ¡°Hazel,¡± ¡°County Avenue,¡± and ¡°College Hill.¡±

Texarkana¡¯s streetcars were brightly colored, either in maroon with gold trim, or dark green with gold trim. Streetcars that serviced Spring Lake Park during summers were open-sided, but the remainder of the system used closed cars.

Our earliest streetcars were single truck models, tending to have a ¡°galloping¡± ride as the car passed over uneven track. ¡°Truck¡± refers to the assembly directly underneath the center of the car consisting of wheels, springs, and a swivel housing. Later, double-truck cars, with trucks at each end of the car, provided a much smoother ride for Texarkana citizens.

Our earliest streetcars were single truck models, tending to have a ¡°galloping¡± ride as the car passed over uneven track. ¡°Truck¡± refers to the assembly directly underneath the center of the car consisting of wheels, springs, and a swivel housing. Later, double-truck cars, with trucks at each end of the car, provided a much smoother ride for Texarkana citizens.

A streetcar ride from the 2600 block of Hazel St. downtown to Broad Street took just 15 minutes and cost less than 15 cents. Sunday afternoons, families often rode the streetcar as a form of entertainment. Streetcar routes were straight-line in nature, with no turn arounds. The motorman (driver) could change direction by reversing the direction of the overhead trolley, and by reversing seat backs. He then took his position at the new ¡°front¡± of the car. Seated or standing, he used a lever mechanism to steer along the route. Passengers sat on laquered wooden seats with caned or wooden backs and read advertising cards for local businesses, slotted in the area above the windows.

Streetcars had a unique smell associated with the arcing of electricity within the motorman¡¯s pedestal, where he manipulated the amount of electric current going through the motor to control the speed of the streetcar. The smell was close to that of ozone in the air immediately before a rainstorm.

Spencer & Crouch sold the streetcar system to Charles Madill of Texarkana Gas & Electric Co. Apparently Madill¡¯s business was later foreclosed by the Union Trust Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1904 Shreveport Gas, Electric Light and Power Co. acquired Madill¡¯s business interests in Texarkana. After operating several years as Southwestern Gas and Electric Co., under the ownership of Rufus Dawes, the streetcar system was sold to Midwest Utilities Co., part of the Insull business empire, and continued to operate under the name Southwestern Gas and Electric Co. These property transfers came between 1923 and 1925, and it was during these years that the street car barn on East Broad Street was constructed.

Texarkana¡¯s streetcar system continued to grow and expand its routes until 1934, when Southwestern Gas & Electric Co. forfeited its streetcar franchise and abandoned the system because no buyers could be found. In January of 1935, Texarkana welcomed the Texarkana Motor Co., a bus company owned by Joe Eldridge and C.E. Mitchell. Texarkana¡¯s remaining streetcars were moved out of town to a farmer¡¯s property where they lived in silent decay until he got tired of having them on his property and bulldozed them together and burned them. The streetcar tracks remain on our city streets, under layers of asphalt.

SWEPCO continued to use the old streetcar barn as a substation and work area until between 1992 and 1994. Dual Construction Inc., a utility construction company owned by Thomas L. Bass and Mike Beth, were also listed as being housed there. - Dr. Beverly Rowe, The Texarkana Gazette

---

LIRR SERVICE RESTORED AFTER BROKEN RAIL

BELLPORT, NY -- The Long Island Rail Road has repaired a broken rail near Bellport that caused a suspension of service between Patchogue and Speonk on the Montauk line for about three hours Monday.

The railroad offered bus service between Patchogue and Speonk for affected passengers, LIRR spokeswoman Susan McGowan said.

The broken rail was first reported at 10:50 and was repaired at 13:46, McGowan said. Four trains carrying about 380 people were affected. - Jennifer Maloney, Newsday

---

THE END