World-Wide railroad contractors Balfour-Beatty is making steady progress and almost half-way in their 62 mile restoration of the lower end of the Russian River Division They are working next to H1ghway 37 just north of the Black Point Swing span. A work train ran from Lombard brought down more ties in center beams on Friday. In the next two weeks the contractor will relay the rail on newly rebuilt the Novato Creek bridge and at that point, the entire line to Windsor will be intact. Also, ballasting will start on the first segment to get new ties from just west of the yard at Lombard to Schelville in the next weeks. A large portion of the 60,000 new ties in the 62 mile segment will be used from Lombard to the Ignacio wye. The ballast regulator and tamper will take care of most of the weeds. And, yes, for those naysayers out there, there will be immediate traffic once the line opens with feed and agricultural to Dairymans Milling at Noato and Petaluma, inbound lumber to Black Point, Petaluma, Santa Rosa (Mead-clark) and Standard Structures in Windsor. They will also ship their completed truss spans out on the NWP. With the recession, business can only go UP on the NWP!