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Railroad Newsline for Friday, February 23, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

BNSF ISSUES WEEKLY PRB COAL UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2007

Winter Storm Affects PRB Mine Production

Average BNSF daily train loadings for the Powder River Basin (PRB), including Wyoming and Montana mines, totaled 46.9 trains per day the week ended February 18, 2007, compared with an average of 42.9 trains per day for the week ended February 19, 2006.

A major winter storm in the area late last week forced road closures and stopped production at several mines on the Joint Line in Wyoming. Planned and unplanned mine outages resulted in an average of 8.1 missed loading opportunities per day for the week ended February 18, 2007.

Year-to-date through February 18, 2007, BNSF has loaded a total daily average of 48.9 trains in the PRB, up 3 percent from the 47.5 trains loaded through the same period in 2006.

Construction Projects Update

Rail is being unloaded this week for 14 miles of new third main track between Caballo and Reno on the Joint Line. Construction of the track is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year. The track is expected to go into service in the third quarter, with additional signal and crossover work to follow.

Grading is beginning this week for 11 miles of new second main track between Stuart, Wyoming, and Enterprise, Nebraska. The additional track, which is scheduled to go into service in the third quarter of this year, will provide additional flexibility in moving loaded and empty coal trains south and east of the PRB.

Coal Stocks Continue to Increase

Electric power sector coal stocks in November 2006 grew from October by 5.7 million tons (4.3 percent), continuing the growth in coal stocks since August, according to the Electric Power Monthly report issued February 16 by the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).

“Total electric power sector coal stocks increased between November 2005 and November 2006 by 32.9 million tons (30.9 percent),” EIA reported. “Comparing the current month to the same month of the prior year, total electric power sector coal stocks have now increased for 11 months in a row.”

Stocks of subbituminous coal – the type mined in the PRB -- grew by 19.8 million tons between November 2005 and November 2006 (from 47.6 to 67.4 million tons, a 41.7 percent rise), according to the EIA report. - BNSF Service Advisory

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RAIL PRESSURE

EDMONTON AB -- The pile of letters on Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn's desk turned into a library yesterday (Wednesday).

Corporations came out swinging. And the unions finally came to the defense of Canadian National Railway's 2,800 striking conductors, telling Stephen Harper's struggling labor minister to hold the phone.

Industry organizations claimed the Canadian economy would never be the same if the strike didn't end. And the trains started moving.

CN's American president E. Hunter Harrison - whom the cheeky conductors have been calling E-Dot on their RunningTrades website before it mysteriously went missing yesterday afternoon -- reassured shippers all week long that all was fine on his State of the Railroad reports.

Blackburn, Harper's Quebecois healer in charge of handing out the happy checks in La Belle Province, may have thought his worries were little ones. Now the light at the end of Jean-Pierre's tunnel is an onrushing locomotive.
The Mining Association of Canada told him yesterday of the "significant and growing impact" of the strike. And specifically warned that if fuel cars don't get rolling soon up the line to Hay River, N.W.T, diamond mines in the North may have to shut in for the summer, because the ice road begins melting in April.
A Forest Products Association of Canada letter cut like a chainsaw. It claimed that 340,000 forestry workers and 320 communities are being "held hostage" by the strike.

The Canadian Fertilizer Institute joined the gang-up, warning the work stoppage is causing "serious damage to the farmers and the economy." It included quotes from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture ("very concerning") and the Grain Growers of Canada ("it's critical to get rail service back").

The Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition and the Canadian Chemical Producers Association weighed in with similar concerns last week.

But the United Steelworkers shot back yesterday that Blackburn has "no moral right" to legislate the conductors back to work, and accused CN of "hiding behind back-to-work legislation.

The Alberta Federation of Labor's "urgent" letter to Blackburn also demanded he "protect the rights of working people in Canada."

The subplot in the strike is a bitter internal squabble between the Canadian conductors and the United Transportation Union's international managers in aloof Cleveland, Ohio. The UTU ganged up with CN brass in an attempt to have the strike declared illegal before the Canada Industrial Relations Board. But when the feds sided with the Canuck-tors and told the Yanks to pound spikes, Cleveland fired the Canadian negotiators. Yesterday, a bewildered mediator was shuffling between three negotiating rooms because timid Blackburn didn't have the stomach to send the Yanks and their hand-picked negotiators back to Cleveland.

UTU International president Paul Thompson reversed his engines and issued a "unity letter" yesterday vowing "short of successfully negotiating an agreement, then the strike must continue."

Blackburn quietly slipped his back-to-work motion on the House of Commons order paper yesterday. But not before he warned that "several sectors of Canada's economy are being hit hard by this strike."

Except tomorrow's expected Commons vote isn't guaranteed with a minority government.

CN pounced on Blackburn's motion, claiming it's needed because of "internal UTU divisions."
But the AFL and other labor outfits urged the three opposition parties to derail Blackburn's bill.

Is this any way to run a railroad? - Neil Waugh, The Edmonton Sun

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MANCHAC CYPRESS FOREST LOST

PASS MANCHAC, LA -- As the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne Sieur d’Iberville paddled on Bayou Manchac during his exploration of the coast, he saw massive cypress trees on the land between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain.

Those ancient trees remained standing for another 200 to 250 years.

But between 1865 and the early 1950s, the coastal forest was cut down, including one tree estimated by timber interests to be 4,000 years old.

The cypress trees were first thinned to build a rail line that headed out of New Orleans for points north of Lake Pontchartrain. In 1852, the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad built a track across the “land bridge,” as the terrain between two lakes is called.

When the Civil War broke out, the rail line became a strategic target. The crossing at Pass Manchac was, for a time, the dividing line between the Confederate and Union armies. Much of the railroad was built on wooden bridges, which were torched by both sides.

Southeastern Louisiana University professors Al Dranguet, Jr. and Roman Heleniak authored a recent book on the Manchac region, “Back Door to the Gulf, An American Paradise Lost.”

They note that during the Civil War, the landscape between the lakes was so quintessentially cypress swamp that a Union officer commented on how inhospitable it was.

“Runaway slaves have surrendered to the bloodhounds rather than attempt to make their way through these poisonous bayous and swamps,” where “yellow fever and the cholera dwell in conjugal bliss,” he wrote, as quoted in the book by Dranguet and Heleniak.

The cypress began to fall quickly after the Civil War, when the trees were attractive and convenient for a growing nation looking for building materials. The rebuilt railroad made it easier to move cypress to markets in the Midwest and Northeast.

In the 1870s, timber barons began to harvest the gigantic trees. In the 1890s, steam equipment gave the industry more capability to harvest in such difficult terrain.

Today, as one flies over a generally treeless marsh, one can see the tracks left by “pullboats” used to drag fallen trees to a central location decades ago. Loggers also floated rafts of logs to bridges where cranes could lift them from the water and put them on railcars.

Lumber companies later built their own small rail lines, called “dummy lines,” into the swamp for cypress harvesting. The lines were usually constructed on top of less profitable trees such as sweet gums, which were laid in layers until the tracks were high enough to keep the railcars out of the water.

Photo here: [media.2theadvocate.com]

Caption reads: Workers stand by a small locomotive used to harvest cypress on special rail lines called "dummy lines." (Photo provided by Southeastern Louisiana University)

Photo here: [media.2theadvocate.com]

Caption reads: A railway "dummy line" was built through a cypress swamp on top of logs that were considered less desirable at that time, such as gum. Photographs in this series were taken in the late 19th century through the early years of the 20th century. (Photo provided by Southeastern Louisiana University)

Photo here: [media.2theadvocate.com]

Caption reads: A crane loads floated cypress logs onto rail cars. (Photo provided by Southeastern Louisiana University)

Film shot in the late 1940s and early 1950s of the last of the timber operations shows a bumpy ride through what was then left of the cypress forests.

From the late 1800s through the early 1900s, small logging and farming villages -- Ruddock, Frenier and Strader among them -- thrived on the land bridge.

Ruddock had a population of about 1,200 at one point. Those small towns never recovered from hurricanes in 1909 and 1915. The damage was compounded by a collapse in the cypress market and by business decisions to not rebuild mills destroyed by fires or storms.

Photo here: [media.2theadvocate.com]

Caption reads: Extensive logging in a Pass Manchac cypress swamp left few big trees standing. (Photo provided by Southeastern Louisiana University)

Today, Frenier has been reborn, with a boat launch, camps and restaurants on the lake not far up U.S. 51 from LaPlace.

Shortly after the 1915 hurricane, William Mattoon of the U.S. Forest Service said the nation had reserves of about 40 million board feet of cypress, with about 15.7 million of that in Louisiana.

With production at the time expected to be about 1 billion board feet each year, he predicted cypress would be depleted in 40 years.

That prediction was accurate for the cypress on the Manchac Land Bridge. The Louisiana Cypress Lumber Co. milled its last cypress log in 1956. - Mike Dunne, The Baton Rouge Advocate

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TWO MEN INJURED AFTER HITCHING RIDE ON TRAIN

NEBRASKA CITY, NE -- Two men who apparently hitched a ride on a coal train were hospitalized in Nebraska City Thursday morning.

The men, believed to be homeless, suffered cuts and bruises after jumping from the train prior to reaching the Omaha Public Power District plant in Nebraska City, said Otoe County Sheriff Jim Gress.

About 03:00, sheriff's deputies responded to a call regarding a man falling from a coal train. That man was taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Nebraska City.

At the hospital, the man began asking for his friend, Gress said.

Omaha Public Power District workers began searching for the second man in a coal pile. But about 08:00, the man was spotted near the train tracks, said Mike Jones, an OPPD spokesman.

The coal trains generally come to Nebraska City from Wyoming, Jones said. It is unknown if the two men hopped the train in Wyoming or if their destination was Nebraska.

The practice "is dangerous but not uncommon," Gress said. Coal produces heat, which makes for a fairly warm and comfortable ride, he said.

Both men face citations for trespassing, he said. - Jennifer Greff, The Omaha World Herald

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IMPATIENCE CAN BE DANGEROUS

VICTORIA, TX -- You're in a hurry to get to work, so flashing red lights and long black-and-white safety arms descending in your path aren't going to slow you down. You're just like all those other motorists out there willing to take their chances that the train won't get there before you've crossed the tracks.

Union Pacific on Wednesday gave law enforcement officers and public officials train rides to give them an engineer's view of motorists' behavior at railroad crossings.

During the demonstration, the train ran through several crossings along a stretch of tracks in Victoria. Lights were flashing and arms were down at each crossing. Police followed in their patrol cars, several times issuing citations to drivers who violated the laws regarding crossings."We're enforcing the railroad crossing arms as far as people having to yield to them whenever they are activated. We take that very seriously," said Sgt. Julian Huerta, traffic safety officer for the Victoria Police Department, who rode beside the train's engineer. "In the 17 years I have been doing this, I probably worked half a dozen train-car accidents where they didn't see the train. Or they didn't disregard it, but they misjudged how far that train was and how fast it was going and they ran into it."

As the train moved along the track, several cars could be seen speeding under the warning arms.

Huerta has heard his share of excuses from motorists." 'I didn't see a train,' or 'The train was far away,' or 'The train had already passed,'" Huerta said, repeating excuses people use for not stopping.

What they are supposed to do, Huerta said, is wait for the arms to raise before they move because even if the train operators see a car ahead of them, they will likely not to be able to stop the train in time.

It takes a train a mile or more to come to a complete stop, said Union Pacific public safety manager, Sam Stephenson.

"Trains operate on an air-brake system. When an engineer sees a need to throw it into emergency, applying the emergency brakes, what they are doing is releasing the air, which locks up the brakes on all the wheels on all the cars," Stephenson said. "It takes a minimum of 18 seconds for all the brakes to set up through the whole train. In the meantime, you're still traveling forward."

Huerta was grateful for the ride-along.

"Any time any agency can take the time to make drivers aware of any kind of dangerous situation, it's a plus," Huerta said. "Anytime we can educate the public and get the word out. We're all about trying to make things safe and trying to save lives if we can."

Union Pacific spokesman, Joe Arbona, said the ride-along is part of the three E's of rail safety.

"The first thing we do is education. We have volunteers, some of our engineers, police officers within the railroad who go to school and teach children and adults in community meetings about rail safety," Arbona said.

"The other 'E' is the enforcement. We're showing law enforcement officers some of the troubling things we sometimes see on the railroad tracks at the crossings -- people trying to beat trains, pedestrians trespassing on railroad tracks, which is very dangerous and illegal."

The last "E" is engineering.

"That's something that we have control over, working with local community's road authorities and that's where we sometimes have public officials like today come and join us," Arbona said.

He said officials can be shown where there is a need for consolidation of crossings. If a city has one crossing after another over a short distance, he said, it is another opportunity for someone to get hurt.

And, Arbona said, "Nowadays trains are not as loud as they used to be."

He said 2006 was a record for the railroad industry and with such a high demand for trains because they are three times as more fuel efficient as trucks -- there is more demand for their services and more trains going through communities.

"We just want people to be aware of that and understand it's always best to wait for a train to go by."

Stephenson said he was surprised to hear one of the city officials present remark that he wasn't aware a flashing red light at a railroad crossing was to be obeyed the same as a flashing red light at a highway intersection. Stephenson said this kind of thinking makes programs in schools, trucking schools and plants imperative.

"The whole idea is to try and modify the behavior of the public so they'll know what to do and what not to do when they come up on a railroad track," Stephenson said. "It's very basic and very simple. Look and listen, what you will do at any intersections. Look, listen and live."

Arbona said another problem they are trying to tackle is trespassing. He said a number of injuries have happened when people walk along the tracks near the trains in the middle of the tracks. He said they fail to take into account how fast the train is moving or how wide the train is or if there is anything hanging off the sides of the train that could strike them and cause injury.

Not only safety but economics rule the crossings. Stephenson said if a person gets hit by a train and is lucky enough to survive it they can be issued a citation for failure to yield to an oncoming train. He said that law has been in place since the '30s.

Stephenson said the railroad is constantly out there reminding people to do the safe thing, for the health of motorists and pedestrians, and that of engineers and conductors, who can be injured in collisions, especially when they hit an 18-wheeler or farm equipment.

"If we can all work together in getting the safety message out there and help to prevent, hopefully eliminate, these incidents, which is probably impossible but we're not going to give up, it's better for everybody." - B. J. Lewis, The Victoria Advocate

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DEQ OK'S CLEANUP PLAN: UP WILL TREAT CONTAMINATED SOIL NEAR EUNICE

EUNICE, LA -- Work to remove contaminated soil from the site of a May 2000 train derailment may soon begin, nearly seven years after rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals jumped the track and forced an evacuation of much of the town.

The state Department of Environmental Quality this month approved a cleanup plan proposed by Union Pacific Railroad that involves hauling away some of the contaminated dirt but treating much of it with a process that does not require removal of the soil.

The plan calls for injecting substances into the ground to encourage the growth of naturally occurring bacteria with the hope that the microorganisms will destroy the contaminants, according to documents filed with DEQ.

“A lot of the chemicals are susceptible to being broken down in the soil,” said DEQ Principal Adviser to the Assistant Secretary James Brent. “… That type of process has been used widely throughout the country.”

Tons of contaminated soil have already been removed from the derailment site just west of town.
What remains is soil directly beneath the railroad tracks, and the cleanup has been delayed in part because of the difficulty of halting rail traffic for an extended period.

“Train derailments are extremely difficult to deal with,” Brent said.

DEQ and Union Pacific have been hashing out the details of the treatment plan since 2005.

Brent said DEQ will monitor the cleanup to ensure the railroad company’s plan of treating the waste in the ground works.

“We have a contingency plan, and that would be digging it all up and hauling in away,” Brent said.

The town’s public lake, near the derailment site, has been closed since December 2004, when a someone discovered turtles with what appeared to be growths or sores.

Tests on the turtles found their appearance was linked to bacterial infection rather than chemicals in the lake, and tests of fish samples there have also found no contamination related to the derailment.

“From DEQ’s perspective, there is no environmental problem in the lake because of the derailment,” Brent said.

City officials said last year that they planned to keep the lake closed pending the cleanup of the rail bed.

Eunice Mayor Robert Morris did not return telephone calls Wednesday on whether those plans have changed.

Under a DEQ administrative order filed Feb. 7, Union Pacific has 60 days to submit a plan that lays out the specifics of the cleanup project.

Work could begin by the end of the year.

Several contaminants remain at the site, but DEQ officials have said the main concern is 1,2-dichloropropane, which is used to make other chemicals, such as lead-free gasoline, insecticides and paper coatings.

A small amount of the chemical has seeped out of the originally contaminated area but at levels not considered harmful to humans or the environment, according to documents filed by Union Pacific.

Union Pacific has developed a plan to address the problem and has increased monitoring in the area, according to the documents. – Richard Burgess, The Baton Rouge Advocate

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COUNTY TO CONSIDER RAILROAD HALL OF FAME DONATION

GALESBURG, IL -- Knox County Board Finance Committee Chairman Wayne Saline, R-District 5, wants the county to give the National Railroad Hall of Fame at least $100,000.

Saline said money for a donation could be taken from the Knox County Landfill fund, because a donation to the Hall of Fame would count as economic development. The money, if approved by the County Board, would be donated next year because it is not budgeted for 2007.

The effort to build a Railroad Hall of Fame began more than 11 years ago. Galesburg was designated as the site for the hall in resolutions passed in the U.S. Senate in April 2004 and the U.S. House of Representatives in October 2003.

Organizers hope to raise $1.5 million dollars locally as well as attract national donations by approaching the "Big Six" railroads for financial help.

The 84,500-square-foot, $60 million facility is targeted to open in 2009 on 10 acres in Kiwanis Park, near East Main Street and Interstate 74.

"The landfill, as we all know, is flush with cash," Saline said during Wednesday's committee meeting. "The return on our investment is going to be at least tenfold."

The landfill is the county's most lucrative department in an otherwise tight budget. It is projected to earn $1.2 million in the 2007 fiscal year.

The county already has used landfill money to fund economic projects. During 2007 budget committee meetings the County Board had threatened to pull half of its previous donation to the Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association, from $30,000 to $15,000. After other budget trouble arose then-State's Attorney Paul Mangieri said money for economic development could be taken from the landfill fund because growth in business in the county would benefit the county's only landfill. GREDA was given $30,000.

Saline told the committee Wednesday it is important for the county to show financial support for the Hall of Fame so the state will support the project, too.

"If we don't participate it's hard for them to go to the state," Saline said.

Saline said if the Hall of Fame is built the county's land near the Knox County Nursing Home is Knoxville will be more valuable.

The committee decided to recommend a vote on a donation at the full board meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The amount of the donation was left open-ended.

"We've even talked about donating more than that ($100,000)," Saline said.

In other business, the committee also decided to postpone hiring an Internet technology position. The board had considered hiring one person to do IT jobs for the entire county. The county now pays R Cubed Technologies about $26,000 a year for computer services.

The county had interviewed two people for the position, but Saline said ultimately they didn't feel the job could be done by one person. - Cigi Ross, The Galesburg Register-Mail

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RECENT ACCIDENTS ON RAILROAD TRACKS HIGHLIGHT NEED FOR SAFETY AT CROSSINGS

DODGE CITY, KS -- Over the weekend, two Kansas were killed in two separate car-train accidents.

Gwenavere McReynolds of Meade died when her car was struck by a Union Pacific train on Saturday in Reno County, said the Kansas Highway Patrol. On Sunday, Benjamin Halford of Stafford died when his sport utility vehicle was hit by a BNSF/Amtrak passenger train just east of Stafford.

As Kansas mourns the loss of McReynolds and Halford, their deaths call to mind the thousands of deaths and injuries that have occurred over the years as a result of train collisions.

In 2005, there were 322 accidents that occurred at railroad crossings and 52 train collisions, the lowest number of accidents since 1995, according to statistics from KDOT. Ten fatalities resulted from train accidents in 2005 alone.

Drivers (and pedestrians) should remember to cross railroad tracks only at designated roadway and pedestrian crossings, and to observe and obey warning signs and signals.

Drivers should also never stop their vehicles on the tracks, even if there is no train in sight, said Kansas Operation Lifesaver, Inc. Trains are three feet wider than the tracks on either side.

Kansas statistics from Kansas Operation Lifesaver, Inc. show:

- Most collisions occur with trains traveling under 30 mph.

- 64 percent of all collisions occur in daylight hours.

- Most collisions occur within 25 miles of the driver's home.

- At 55 mph, it may take a train up to one mile or more to stop.

- Nearly 50 percent of all collisions occur at crossings equipped with automatic warning devices.

- You are 20 times more likely to die in a collision with a train than in a collision involving another motor vehicle.

- Nationwide, a collision occurs between a train and vehicle or a train and a pedestrian approximately every two hours.

- Ashley Nietfeld, The Dodge City Globe

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HAZARDOUS RAILROAD CARS MOVED AWAY FROM SCHOOL

Rodeo, California resident Ron Green got a pleasant surprise when he came home from a trip Friday to find that a dozen railroad tank cars designated for highly explosive liquefied petroleum gas were no longer across the street from his home and the Head Start preschool next door.

It also was good news for nearby Conoco Phillips refinery, which, with no small amount of prodding from the county agency that operates the preschool, had asked the Union Pacific Railroad to move the cars.

The good news stopped at the doorstep of Cynthia Leimbach, however, who can look out of her apartment window and still see the hulking black cylinders sitting on the tracks.

They've not moved, at least not from my vantage point. I'm looking at them as I speak, said Leimbach on Wednesday afternoon. She noted that she has her own preschooler, her 3-year-old son, Oscar, at home.

The tank cars have been moved -- about a block southwest of the preschool. And there were fewer than half the number that originally prompted Green to complain to a MediaNews reporter about their proximity to the school.

After a visit to the school at the beginning of February, county officials asked Conoco Phillips, which produces the butane that is shipped out in the cars, and Union Pacific to find another place to keep them.

I was speaking to them on a daily basis and not feeling that anything was happening, said Lynn Yaney, spokeswoman for the county Employment and Human Services Department, which operates the Bayo Vista Head Start facility whose playground looked out upon the hazardous tankers.

Mark Hughes, spokesman for the Conoco Phillips refinery, said the cars were moved in the wake of the community's concerns.

Were very pleased with the way Union Pacific has responded, relocating those cars, Hughes said.

From the perspective of Contra County Supervisor Gayle Uilkema, whose district includes Rodeo, moving the cars a short distance is not enough. She said she's asked Union Pacific executives for a meeting to discuss keeping the cars from ever being stored in the town.

Its the practice of parking rail tanker cars within residential areas that is so disturbing to me, Uilkema said. That is a practice that Union Pacific needs to hear is unacceptable for a host of reasons.

Union Pacific spokesman Glen Hinkle said the railroad had responded to the concerns of the refinery and community, and the tank cars should have been moved away from the preschool.

We are working closely with Conoco Phillips to keep the cars out of that area, to find other ways to stage them (before they enter the refinery), he added, explaining that similar issues with other Union Pacific customers had been resolved by a variety of methods, including making more timely deliveries.

Hughes emphasized that any cars waiting on sidings to enter the refinery are empty, waiting to be filled with butane at the refinery and shipped out to Conoco Phillips customers.

But Yaney said the cars emptiness is irrelevant, especially considering that the community has no way of verifying such claims.

And Randy Sawyer, the county's Hazardous Materials Program director, said even an empty car of LPG can still be dangerous, because there's residual material.

Even though federal regulatory authority supersedes local or state control of railroads, Sawyer said he'd like to see the rail cars with hazardous materials moved to a more secure area, so that if something happened, there would be less impact, and less chance of tampering.

One way or another, the county would like to see the cars out of Rodeo, Yaney said.

Our position is, we just don't want the cars sitting there anymore, Yaney said. I don't want to be in the position of saying, if something happens, Oh, they told us they were empty.'" - Erik N. Nelson, The Oakland Tribune

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COPPER THIEVES TARGET HISTORIC NASHVILLE RAIL YARD

NASHVILLE, TN -- People come from all over the world to see the trains at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum.

A not-for-profit, the organization preserves, restores and operates historic railroad equipment so when someone began vandalizing and stealing from the Nashville museum, operators first called the police and then, the Messed Up hotline.

Terry Bebout is president of the Tennessee Central Railway Museum. "All these trains are restored and have historical value."

Bebout said his facility that is filled with artifacts, photographs and real life trains is renown around the globe.

Walking through the museum, one is walking through the hallowed grounds of railroad history. “We sure are… Some date back to the 1940's,” said Bebout.

At the museum, a 40-year-old locomotive is the muscle that pulls vintage rail cars from Nashville to Watertown dozens of times a year, said Bebout.

The museum does public service for school groups and girl scouts but because of a recent crime wave at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum, Bebout said it may have to shut down.

Copper thieves have been to the train yard and have used a hack saw to cut the copper power cables off the vintage train. "This is so messed up because we can't use the locomotive until we replace the cable,” said Bebout.

The copper cable cost Bebout $4,000 to replace. The cable can also be sold for about $2.50 a pound at scrap metal companies.

"You blame these scrap companies almost as much as the thieves? Yes, if they didn't pay them for it they wouldn't come out here and cut it off our locomotives."

PSC Metal Company is directly across the river from the rail yard. All day long trucks arrive with metal products and men push shopping carts full of metallic items.

Mike Bowling is the general manager at PSC Metal. While he couldn't talk on-camera, he took the time to walk News 2 through his company.

Bowling said PSC cares about metal thefts. He said they work closely with the Metro Police, take driver's licenses of those who sell metal at PSC and red flag suspicious loads,

Despite all its safeguards, Bowling said it can very difficult distinguishing stolen metal from legitimately obtained metal

Bebout only knows his museum is now in jeopardy. He said, "It hurts our operation; it makes us mad and sad. These happen to our train cars."

Bebout said they've been hit by copper thieves a couple of times. On one occasion, he said the bad guys tried to cut a live wire, and it blew up the thieves hack saw.

Bebout said a rail yard is practically impossible to fence off, and since they are not-for-profit, hiring a security guard is not an option.

Meanwhile, Police said there were 541 copper thefts reported in Metro in 2006. It’s such a problem there is a bill making its way in the legislature calling for scrap metal places to work even harder to verify the metal they get is not stolen. - WKRN-TV2, Nashville, TN

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CITY CLOSES IN ON DEPOT

ELLENSBURG, WA -- After more than eight years in the works, the city of Ellensburg took one of the last steps in closing a deal that would begin the revitalization of the historic Railroad Depot at a city council meeting Tuesday night.

At the meeting, the council unanimously approved a motion to execute all documents necessary to secure a lease from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Corp., which owns the land the depot sits on. The standing-room-only crowd in attendance applauded after it was approved.

The city purchased the depot for $165,000 in March 2006, pending being able to work out a lease agreement on the land with BNSF.

Once the lease is finalized the city will make some minor repairs to the building and then give it to Historic Ellensburg, which has plans to renovate the building. Some of those plans include placing a restaurant in one wing of the building and using a wing for a transportation hub for the public with taxi, bus and rail options. Historic Ellensburg officials previously estimated the renovations would cost more than $5 million.

“I think this is going to be a worthwhile project to help revitalize that end of town and I just wish we were at a ribbon cutting right now instead of getting the paperwork signed,” Joe Bach, a representative from Historic Ellensburg, said. - Travis Hay, The Ellensburg Daily Record

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DAY TRIPS

TYLER, TX -- Harrold's Model Train Museum is easy to miss as you zip down the four-lane divided highway into Tyler. The modest sign in front of the little house wouldn't be helped much with a new coat of paint. It's worth turning around to go see the private collection of toys.

Inside what was once a small, four-room house are Harrold Little's most prized possessions. With the exception of the front room that serves as an office and gift shop, every room is stacked from floor to ceiling with Little's collections of model trains, toy cars, foreign currency, license plates, retired railroad equipment, and an assortment of other odds and ends.

Photo here: [www.austinchronicle.com]

Caption reads: Little shop of wonders, (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

A die-hard blue stater in a solid red state, he even has a political section in his collection. Maybe it was the 15 years that Little spent working in Austin at the Internal Revenue Service office that made him a liberal. Before that, he spent 21 years in the Air Force. He and his wife retired to Tyler to be near family in 1981. Eight years into his retirement, his first wife, the late Marcie Little, decided Harrold needed a hobby. She had no idea where the train set she got at a department store promotion would lead.

The menagerie keeps growing by leaps and bounds. By 1999, Little had amassed a collection of model railroad cars, engines, and cabooses that numbered roughly 1,700. Newspaper clippings from 2003 estimated he had more than 2,100 pieces. By January 2007, he guessed he had more than 2,500 items in his museum.

Soon after receiving the train set from his wife, Little started scouring flea markets and antique shops for buildings and vegetation to make his model villages. Along the way, he picked up collectible toys that caught his fancy. Living on a fixed income, he rarely spent much for the items for his collection. Some pieces, like the rare toy roundhouse, are on loan from another model train and toy enthusiast.

Little has assembled three villages with trains that whistle their way across bridges, through tunnels, and between houses. The newest diorama was designed by his new wife, Bessie, to resemble the mountains of her childhood. Each setup is surrounded by Plexiglas on a table at eye level for 2-foot-tall children. "Kids go crazy in here," Little says with a big grin. "They run from one display to the next and then back again."

Children of all ages enjoy reliving the memories that the grand collection of toys stirs. The oldest piece in the collection is a 1920 American Flyer engine. There is a model of the train from the Harry Potter series of books. Recently he had a grandmother visit with her grandson in tow. "I'm not sure which one of the two had the most fun," Little says with a twinkle in his eye.

A large part of the fun of visiting the museum is to have Little show you around and point out unusual items in the rows and rows of railroad cars neatly placed on the walls seven shelves high. It seems like each one has a story behind it. A natural-born storyteller, Little gets great pleasure in pointing out a particular car or toy, like the silver Burlington Zephyr that was made of cast aluminum in 1930.

Like any other collection, there is a lot to model trains that can easily escape the untrained eye. Little patiently explains the basics of the hobby. There are five popular sizes or gauges of model trains. The G gauge is the largest, and the Z gauge is the smallest. HO means it is half as big as the O gauge. Little can't make up his mind which size he prefers. "I like them all," he says.

Harrold's Model Train Museum is at 8103 U.S. 271 N. in Tyler about five miles off of I-20. He's almost always around the shop between 10:00 and 16:00. Give him a call at 903/531-9404, and let him know you're coming by to see the greatest collection of model trains in the state. - Gerald E. McLeod, The Austin Chronicle

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TRANSIT NEWS

LIGHT-RAIL LINE OR STREETCARS FAVORED IN SCOTTSDALE POLLING

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- A solid majority of Scottsdale businesses responding to a Chamber of Commerce survey support bringing light rail or modern streetcars to town, a result that practically assures the chamber will take an active role in the coming months advocating for a fixed-rail system.

Among the 322 respondents to a survey released Tuesday, 62 percent support adding light rail or streetcar as soon as possible, 60 percent say more buses and bus routes are needed now and 81 percent support widening freeways.

When asked specifically about transit options that would be the greatest benefit to the business community along Scottsdale Road -- the city’s designated transit corridor -- 64 percent favored light rail or modern streetcar. Those fixed-rail options, along with bus rapid transit, are being considered by Scottsdale as part of its master transportation plan update, which is still under review and expected to be adopted by the City Council later this year.

One aspect of the plan is choosing a transit option -- at least initially going from the city’s southern border north to McDowell Road or possibly to downtown Scottsdale -- that would connect with the 20-mile light-rail line under construction through Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa. That $1.4 billion project is scheduled to open in December 2008.

The transit portion of the plan has spurred the most debate, including two heated council hearings in the past three months. On Feb. 6, the council -- after being presented a residents’ petition with more than 250 signatures calling for a vote -- agreed to hold an election before the adoption of either light rail or modern streetcar.

Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce president Rick Kidder, who has spoken in favor of a fixed-rail system, said the chamber board plans to use the survey results to develop a formal position. Kidder said the position could be announced in the next week or two, with plans to be politically involved leading up to an election. Kidder, who cautioned that this was not a scientific poll, said he was surprised by the strong support for fixed rail, calling the 62 percent support to construct a system as soon as possible “a big number.” He also pointed to 56 percent of businesses that said commuting challenges make it more difficult to attract and retain quality employees. “In the minds of people who responded, there is a real issue here with work force mobility,” Kidder said. “And, obviously, as a business organization, that work force mobility is of extreme importance.”

On the other side, the Scottsdale Citizens Transportation Study Committee made up of business owners, residents and anti-rail activists, has brought to the debate a pair of wellknown out-of-town transit experts for public forums -- both of whom oppose light rail.

Tom Silverman, owner of Chaparral Suites Resort, a former Scottsdale councilman and member of both the chamber and the citizen study group, said he was not surprised by the Chamber’s position or the response of its members. “It’s the Chamber’s goal to get as much growth and density into a city as possible, and it’s everyone else’s job to not let that happen in Scottsdale,” Silverman said.

As for the non-scientific survey, Silverman did not put much weight into the results. “The people answering it are developers and big employers -- that’s who it is all about,” Silverman said.

Kidder said the chamber surveyed via e-mail roughly 1,500 of its 2,000 members for whom the organization had active e-mail addresses. The survey was conducted between Feb. 2-12. Each business, no matter its size, received one vote, Kidder said. Thirty-one percent of respondents came from the Scottsdale Airpark area, 27 percent from midtown, 19 percent from downtown, 12 percent from south Scottsdale and 11 percent from north Scottsdale. In all, 58 percent lived within one mile of Scottsdale Road, and 67 percent had 25 employees or less.

The survey shows 76 percent of companies said fewer than 1 percent of their work forces carpool or use public transit. - Brian Powell, The East Valley Tribune, courtesy Marc Pearsall

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PHOENIX METRO LIGHT RAIL UNVEILS FIRST ASSEMBLED VEHICLE

Photo here: [www.eastvalleytribune.com]

Caption reads: Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman, a METRO board member, dusts off a new rail car during an unveiling ceremony at the METRO operations center in Phoenix. (Photo by Paul O'Neill, East Valley Tribune)

PHOENIX, AZ -- METRO light rail unveiled its first assembled vehicle Wednesday inside the agency’s new Operations and Maintenance Center, 605 S. 48th St., in Phoenix. The agency is purchasing a total of 50 such vehicles.

Twelve are in pieces awaiting assembly, and the rest will be delivered periodically throughout the year. Each will take about three weeks to assemble, with the bulk of the work beginning this summer.

In April, METRO will begin testing vehicles on a one-mile section of track on Washington Street near the Phoenix/Tempe border, between 48th and 56th streets. The 20-mile METRO light rail starter line will open for passenger service in December 2008. - J. Craig Anderson, The East Valley Tribune, courtesy Marc Pearsall

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METRO WANTS EXTRA $1.5 BILLION FOR LIGHT RAIL; PLAN WOULD ADD LINES, EXPEDITE CONSTRUCTION

PHOENIX, AZ -- Metro will ask the state to find $1.7 billion in state money to speed up light-rail plans and add extensions.

Metro Executive Director Rick Simonetta outlined the request at the agency's meeting Wednesday.
He wants to finish the voter-approved 57-mile system in 2020 rather than 2025 and add 23 miles of track by 2027. He said he did not have specific goals for where those extensions should go. The numbers are based on demand and the reasonable rate at which tracks can be laid, he said.

His announcement comes in response to Gov. Janet Napolitano's call for a statewide rail plan and after consultation with state and regional transportation agencies. "We know there are other cities that want light rail and that the regional plan was constrained by the dollars that were available," he said. His plan assumes the federal government will chip in about a third of the money and that rail can be built for $75 million a mile, more than the $70 million figure the starter line is costing. He called the approach practical.

Some light-rail critics, however, expressed opposition. "I have no intention of ponying up any money for light rail. It's a debacle," said state Sen. Ron Gould, the Lake Havasu Republican who chairs the Senate transportation committee.

The notion of accelerating and expanding light rail comes as cities on both ends of the Valley have expressed growing interest. West Valley cities want relief from Interstate 10 traffic. Chandler has asked about becoming a Metro member. Scottsdale is under way with a rail study.

On Wednesday, Metro awarded a $2.3 million contract to begin an accelerated study of a westward extension along I-10 and also into Glendale. Similar studies were launched late last year for planning rail additions in Mesa and Tempe.

Local opponents, such as Becky Fenger of Phoenix, said the cities are being hoodwinked for fear of losing federal money. Light rail will not provide the benefits being touted, she said. "They don't see the dirty diapers underneath the pretty party dress," she said, accusing Metro of pushing extensions to "pre-empt its pathetically poor performance records."

Metro's request must be approved by the Maricopa Association of Governments, which would forward it on to the Arizona Department of Transportation. ADOT Public Transportation Director Jim Dickey said no proposal is off the table, but the extent of the requests is substantial. After winnowing the wish lists, he expects to submit a plan to Napolitano on April 6.

Metro will have to compete with calls for a statewide commuter rail network that's widely expected to cost more than $1 billion. Sky Harbor Airport also said it would consider seeking money to complete a $1.1 billion people-mover connection to light rail. - Sean Holstege, The Arizona Republic, courtesy Marc Pearsall

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COMMUTERS SLIGHTLY HAPPIER WITH LIRR

NEW YORK, NY -- Commuters were slightly happier with the Long Island Rail Road in 2006 than in the previous year, giving the agency a 6.6 rating out of 10.

According to the railroad's annual customer satisfaction survey, released Wednesday, riders' top concern was on-time performance, followed by train frequency and better equipment.
The results, based on surveys completed by 11,500 morning rush commuters, showed increased satisfaction with public address systems and train cleanliness.

The courtesy of ticket sellers and crew members ranked high, at 7.7 and 7.6 out of 10, respectively. But rest room cleanliness earned a failing grade of 4.9.

The LIRR's overall customer satisfaction is on the rebound after a dip to 6.1 out of 10 in 2004. In 2005, commuters gave the railroad a ranking of 6.4. - Jennifer Maloney, Newsday

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THE END