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Railroad Newsline for Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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Rail News

TRESTLE WORK OFF TO FAST PACE: PILE DRIVER TO SINK STEEL SUPPORTS IN PLACE OF TIMBERS DESTROYED IN FIRE

The only smoke spewing from the site of Sacramento's spectacular railroad trestle fire Monday should be the soot of pile drivers sinking supports for a replacement bridge.

By Sunday morning, Union Pacific Railroad contractors had extinguished and hauled away the last of the smoldering timbers from the inferno, which broke Thursday evening under circumstances still being investigated.

"They have started preparing the ground for driving the steel piling," said Mark Davis, spokesman at Union Pacific headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska.

Stoked by logs preserved with creosote oil, the fire swiftly engulfed the century-old trestle, issued towering columns of coal-black smoke, detoured interstate freight and disrupted commuter service between Sacramento, Roseville and Auburn.

Though the charred rubble is gone, the stink of creosote lingered Sunday.

A steady stream of onlookers in summer clothes and with toddlers and family dogs in tow scampered up the bank of a levee to view the staging grounds for reconstruction.

Robert Hughes, a state Fish and Game spokesman who has observed the activity since Friday afternoon, marveled at the pace of the railroad contractors.

"These people are fast; they're rolling," Hughes said against a backdrop of hard-hatted workers assembling a giant crane for the pile driver. The diesel-powered driver will pound into the ground bunches of 60-foot-long columns to anchor a more fire-resistant trestle of concrete and steel.

Union Pacific is able to bypass the numerous and time-consuming government environmental permits because the reconstruction simply replaces rather than expands the railroad crossing, Hughes said.

The new structure will have two tracks and occupy the same 1,400-foot-long path as the timber trestle did in the American River Parkway near Cal Expo.

While no environmental impact reviews are required, Fish and Game officials have stationed themselves at the site to keep a close watch on the around-the-clock operation.

"We're here to make sure it's cleaned up properly and to make sure it is restored as close as possible to what it was before the fire," Hughes said.

The parkway, a floodplain, is a prime bicycling route through the heart of metropolitan Sacramento and a wildlife corridor for various mammals, birds and insects that depend on riparian vegetation for at least a portion of their life cycle.

Hughes said the debris was taken to a Sacramento-area landfill authorized to accept hazardous waste. Hughes and railroad officials said Sunday they did not know the name or exact location of the dump.

Railroad officials also expected workers to finish building a rail connection Sunday in Marysville that will enable freight traffic from the Pacific Northwest to detour around the destroyed trestle, a mainline track.

The 90-mile detour will amount to delays of two to 24 hours, depending on whether rail cars need to be re-sorted at the Roseville train yard, Davis said. The detour will double the normal amount of train traffic on the Marysville-Sacramento and Marysville-Roseville tracks, he said.

"We are urging motorists to use extra caution at railroad crossings," Davis said.

The American River Parkway timber trestle was one of many built to traverse mountainous areas and floodplains as approaches to bridges over rivers.

Kyle Wyatt, curator of history and technology at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, said the Sacramento trestle dated to 1907, though major portions of it had been rebuilt.

Another trestle previously formed the approach to the American River. But it, too, was destroyed by fire -- in 1867, Wyatt said.

That blaze was the work of an arsonist, who was never caught, Wyatt said. - Chris Bowman, The Sacramento Bee

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TRESTLE FIRE REPAIR BEGINS

Photo here:

[media.sacbee.com]

Caption reads: Jeff Mancuso, director of bridge maintenance for Union Pacific railroad, surveys the fire scene Saturday as crews clear away trestle debris. (Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling)

SACRAMENTO, CA -- As Sacramento, California's massive trestle fire simmered down to a few piles of smoldering debris and air quality readings came back normal, Union Pacific officials Saturday began in earnest the task of replacing 1,400 feet of elevated railroad track in the heart of the American River Parkway.

Firefighters were at the scene of the blaze Saturday but they mostly just dampened hot spots. The thick dome of smoke that had fixed itself in the Sacramento sky largely disappeared Saturday, reduced to several thin wisps.

"We fully expect it to be done today," Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Jim Doucette said Saturday afternoon, referring to the remnants of the fire.

That's good news for those worried about breathing in harmful particles. Except for those very close to the fire, everything should be back to normal, said Larry Greene, director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.

"The fire is essentially out," Greene said Saturday afternoon. "As far as the smoke impact, it's essentially gone."

Photo here:

[media.sacbee.com]

Caption reads: Truckloads of 60-foot-long steel piles are brought in Saturday as crews set out to rebuild the train trestle destroyed by a massive fire Thursday. The rebuilding effort may cost up to $30 million, officials say. (Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling)

Authorities are still trying to determine how the fire started, Doucette said Saturday. He's not expecting to be able to release anything new until later this week.

With the hazards of fire and smoke out of the way, construction crews began their massive cleanup at the fire scene.

The rebuilding effort will cost between $20 million and $30 million, Union Pacific officials said. The new steel-and-concrete train trestle likely won't be fully operational until the start of May.

"It's a very dynamic environment right now," said Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes.

Four cranes were working in the middle of it all Saturday. One picked up debris and moved it a little way to another crane, then that crane moved the wood farther until it ended up in the back of a large truck -- almost like a group of workers would pass a log down a line.

The center of the damaged area -- the exact spot where the trestle stood -- is now largely barren, at least closest to the north side of the tracks. The workers spent the previous 12 or so hours moving the debris into piles around the center.

Halogen lights dot the area. Taking turns in shifts, workers will be on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The trestle is a critical one -- it handles four passenger trains and more than 20 freight trains every day -- and it needs to be rebuilt fast.

In the distance, working in a haze of smoke, firefighters stood ready to put out pockets of fire. These pockets revealed themselves now and again as the cranes pulled wood from where it fell. A large blue truck moved to the side, occasionally dousing the remains with water.

There was also the sound of steel scraping steel. Some of the piles that will be used to build the new trestle had been brought to the scene, and they were being unloaded. Within the next few weeks, Union Pacific will haul in hundreds of these steel piles, along with a massive amount of concrete, rock ballast and pre-constructed panels of rail and tiles.

Counting firefighters and emergency officials, about 100 people were working at the site Saturday. Some of them won't start their jobs until all the debris is removed. Most of these workers are contractors brought in for the job by Union Pacific.

The cleanup is expected to be finished by the end of today, Barnes says. Then, construction on the new trestle will start.

Despite the mess, everything was orderly and moving along. The trestle will be rebuilt, and it will be rebuilt soon. "We are," Barnes says, "making tremendous progress." - Phillip Reese, The Sacramento Bee

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BILL SEEKS TO REIN IN PLANS FOR RAIL YARD NEAR PICACHO

PHOENIX, AZ -- Union Pacific's plan to build a rail yard near Picacho Peak could lose some steam under a new bill being pushed by a Tucson lawmaker.

The proposed legislation Rep. Jonathan Paton, a Republican, expects to introduce Wednesday would create a process much like what is used to approve construction of other utilities. If passed, the bill would require Union Pacific to make its case to the Arizona Corporation Commission and possibly meet tougher environmental regulations. The legislative involvement is in response to several railroad fights around the state, most notably a proposed 1,500-acre switch yard near Picacho Peak, a popular landmark between Tucson and Phoenix.

The specific wording of Paton's bill is still being hammered out, but the idea is to give the Corporation Commission power over deciding whether a railroad can use state land and also whether the railroad can exercise its condemnation power to acquire property. Unlike other utilities, which are regulated by the state, railroad construction is mainly dealt with on the federal level. Paton and others say the state should have more authority over the process. "For every other kind of infrastructure, no matter what it is, you would have to have some kind of process," Paton said. "Whether it is right or wrong that they are putting it there, they should at least have some input from the neighbors more than they're having."

Union Pacific, which wants to buy 1,500 acres of state trust land near the peak to build the sixth-largest rail yard in the country, says it's already listening to the community, despite cries from area residents and business owners who worry about the negative health and economic impacts a rail yard might create.

In November, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted to change the county's comprehensive land-use plan to accommodate the rail yard. The county sees the project as a major boon to the area, which will need jobs to employ thousands of new residents that housing developments are attracting.

Environmentalists and state park officials had urged the board to turn down or delay Union Pacific's push to buy the state land. One issue is the yard's proximity to the Central Arizona Project canal. But county and railroad officials say the rail yard is needed to accommodate the influx of freight traffic caused by new growth.

Behind the bill is Marana Vice Mayor Herb Kai, who leases most of the land Union Pacific is looking to buy from the state. Kai runs a cotton and pecan farm on the property. "We don't want to stop the project, but we think there might be a better place," he said. "The railroad is such a big giant right now, they don't really need to answer to anyone."

Union Pacific points to the Surface Transportation Board, a federal entity charged with railroad oversight. "This would be pre-emptive," Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said of Paton's bill. "When you start down a path where each state wants its own process, you get a patchwork of varying regulations that would make it difficult for the industry to exist."

But lobbyist Nick Simonetta, who represents Kai and others in the area, says that since the state grants railroads condemnation power, it is legitimate and legal to exercise authority over how the land is used. "What the state giveth, the state can manage," Simonetta said. "We need to at least vet the local impacts. This is not 1920. We're not looking to the railroad to 'please, please put track down in Arizona.' "

And while the potential rail construction in Picacho has received much attention, other places in the state -- specifically Yuma and Willcox -- are also facing fights over new rail lines.

That's why the bill is garnering bipartisan support, such as from Yuma Rep. Lynne Pancrazi, a Democrat. "I really think something needs to be done," she said. "This is a much bigger issue than just Yuma." Paton is prepared for complaints that the bill intrudes on local control, but he says it's actually empowering local citizens who claim they have no voice. "There's an appeals process in this state, and (the Legislature is) at the end of that appeals process," he said. "Local control assumes there is a fair process where the neighbors at least get to comment. If those neighbors are being abused ... we have a responsibility at the Legislature to support the citizens of this state." - Daniel Scarpinato, The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), courtesy Marc Pearsall

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OFFICIALS STILL CLEARING SITE OF DERAILMENT

CHANDLER, TX -- Union Pacific officials are not sure how long it will take to remove train cars from the site of a March 4 derailment.

Twenty-eight cars left the tracks about three miles east of Chandler, near the Neches River. Joe Arbona, Union Pacific spokesman, said work crews cleared spilled cargo and oil that had leaked into the Neches River by Friday.

"We left a boom out there just as a precautionary step, just to be safe. It will be removed in the near future, but the water readings so far have come back normal," he said Wednesday.

However, heavy rain and inaccessible terrain have made removing the rail cars a chore.

"We'll have to take those rail cars that are still down there and most likely cut them to pieces and haul that away, and that unfortunately can take a while. I don't know specifically how long that will take," Arbona said.

Work crews completed repairs to damaged cross ties, and a new rail switch was brought in early last week. Arbona said the main rail line reopened Thursday.

Jim Moffeit, Chandler city manager, said the city has incurred some costs as a result of the derailment. He said sections of Old Tyler Road were heavily damaged after tractor-trailers hauled in gravel to make a vehicle path to the wreckage site.

"Those heavy trucks on that asphalt just caused the road to crack and deteriorate," Moffeit said. "With the heavy rain, the water got down in the cracks, and we are losing our sub-base. It's pretty visible. Right in front of the cemetery, it's really bad."

Arbona said Union Pacific plans to reimburse the city for those damages as soon as the wreckage is cleared and the accident investigation is complete.

"We have a department that actually works with the landowners and with the city to make sure that we find exactly what damage may have been caused," he said. "I know, for example, the police and the firefighters who were there the first day worked overtime to be able to get everything cleaned up. Of course we will reimburse the community for it, if we haven't already."

Union Pacific officials have not discovered the cause for the derailment, and Arbona said he doesn't know how soon an answer will be available.

"We just need to make sure we don't miss anything, and the last thing in the world we'd want is to provide speculation for something like that," he said. "We always get to the bottom of it, and when we do, we post it to the Federal Railroad Administration." - Cindy Mallette, The Tyler Morning Telegraph

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BNSF VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON EMPLOYEES NOMINATED FOR ON GUARD AWARDS FOR RESCUING CHILD

A group of employees were recently commended for rescuing a boy from a Portland and Western (P&W) train moving through BNSF Railway Company's Vancouver, Washington, rail yard.

Tom Pike, BNSF crew hauler, was transporting Doug Pettis, brakeman, and Greg Kamholz, engineer, to a Vancouver yard office when he spotted an 11-year-old boy on an empty flatcar some 50 yards in the distance. The boy, who the employees later learned is mildly autistic, saw the vehicle and began waving his arms in distress.

Pike, a former agent and chief clerk during his decades-long career with the railroad, knew exactly what to do. He immediately radioed the P&W crew about the emergency, asking them to stop. BNSF Special Agent John Ross, who, at the time, was on the opposite end of the yard, overheard the radio transmission and headed for the scene.

Pike said the child "was a wreck -- scared to death, crying and cold," but otherwise uninjured.
After the men helped him off the car and calmed him down, they learned the boy had climbed onto the train near the East St. Johns yard, a small Portland, Oregon, station about three miles away. He had ridden across three major bridges, including two over the Columbia River.

Ross arrived at the scene a few minutes later. He contacted local authorities and the boy's mother before driving him home. "She thought it was a joke or a prank phone call," said Ross about his conversation with the woman, who was grateful her son was safe. "She thought he was at school."

For their quick reaction and efforts, Pike, Pettis, Kamholz and Ross all received an On Guard award. - BNSF Today

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THEY'RE 'SPEEDERS' IN NAME ONLY

Photo here:

[www.santamariatimes.com]

SANTA MARIA, CA -- Drivers in the Santa Maria Valley on Saturday got a glimpse of the area's first excursion of “speeders” -- quirky small railcars that traveled the tracks through town and agricultural fields.

More than 40 clinking mini railcars rode in a caravan from McClelland Avenue to Guadalupe as riders tuned up for much larger runs in the summer.

Red speeders, yellow ones, blue ones, shiny ones, rusty ones and even topless railcars traveled through nearly a dozen busy intersections in Santa Maria before making their way along tracks bordered by fields.

Speeders, powered by small gasoline engines, are used to inspect tracks and transport work crews. The Santa Maria Valley Railroad is one of the last railroads using speeders; most now use pickups or sport utility vehicles outfitted with special wheels for the railroad tracks.

Enthusiasts of the nearly extinct railroad equipment and the rare hobby are required to do some heavy lifting, since the railcars must be carried from a trailer and onto the tracks for gatherings such as Saturday's.

“It's like owning your own locomotive,” said Jim Culbertson of Courtland, located southwest of Sacramento.

Culbertson and his wife, Judy, along with other hobbyists from the North American Railcar Operators Association, savor the 14 miles of track between Santa Maria and Guadalupe as a pleasure ride.

Santa Maria Valley Railroad Company, which was bought by an investor group last year, is new at hosting the excursion.

Because the SMVR is still one of the few railroads in the country to use the railcars solely for track maintenance, Rob Himoto, company president, said the setting was ideal for the excursion.

For Himoto, it was a chance to spotlight the valley's railroad and its function in the area. He hopes to turn the speeder excursion into an annual tradition.

Bill Schertle, event organizer and speeder operator, said he saw Himoto's purchase of the railroad as an opportunity to host the run on the Central Coast for the first time.

While previous years' events have drawn about 30 speeder participants, Saturday's run saw up to 44 speeders from California, Nevada and Oregon, as well as some from other states. The Santa Maria event is considered one of the biggest excursions organized by the association.

Between 09:00 and 17:00 Saturday, the speeders made several trips from Santa Maria to Guadalupe and back again.

Even a few runs back and forth is a short trek for the riders, who often do between 200 and 1,000 speeder trips along train tracks, typically in the Northwest, where the view is “unique,” Schertle said.

Railcar enthusiast Steve Paluso of San Jose says the speeders were eventually discontinued from production in the mid-1980s. Soon after, collectors began to purchase them for private use.

Paluso bought his first speeder -- he has purchased 11 -- for about $200 in the early 1990s. Now, because of their novelty, the railcars range from $4,000 to $5,000 on the Internet, he added.

Maintenance, fuel and excursion costs turn use of the speeders into a much more expensive hobby than originally conceived, he said.

Yet for all the maintenance time and cost that it requires, the hobby pays off with pleasure rides along scenic rail routes all over the country. - Luis Ernesto Gomez, The Santa Maria Times

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RAILROAD DAYS ON THE LOUISVILLE & NASHVILLE

(ED. NOTE: Thanks to my daughter Cassie, for forwarding the following from a New Orleans nostalgia forum which she follows daily. When you raise four kids in that fair city, one of them is bound to continue to have strong feelings for the place though she now resides in Wyoming...far from the bayous, marshlands and trees with Spanish moss of that area.

The Rigolets is that area between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne and is named for the Pass that connects the two lakes. See this map:

[www.mapquest.com]

It is amazing to me that CSX rebuilt and continues to operate on this route after Hurricane Katrina - lwg)

NEW ORLEANS, LA -- I received the following email in which Mr. Jerry Lachaussee, a former L&N railroad operator, provides us with some of his experiences at Rigolets Station:

Not long after hiring as an operator on the L&N, being the last in seniority on the extra list, I was "forced" to be the incumbent of Relief Position No. 3, which worked the Agency at Rigolets on Thursdays and Fridays, Third Trick at Gentilly Yard on Saturday and Sunday nights, and Third Trick at Bay St. Louis on Monday nights. I worked this job from October, 1959, until May, 1961, at which time I was rolled by a senior operator; a little later there was a job reassignment and this relief routine was abolished.

Rigolets Station is on Rabbit Island, a narrow strip of land between Great Rigolets and Little Rigolets Passes. The predecessor to L&N [1881] completed the line in 1870 on this difficult route to avoid a northern course which would have been hillier and more circuitous. Following the coming of the railroad, many communities were established on the right-of-way, in this case, Look Out [later Dunbar; English Lookout], Rigolets, Lake Catherine and Chef Menteur. All of these places had depots and Agents/Operators who served the public and handled matters of the operating department with the train dispatcher.

By the time I "came of age" in the 1950's, it was too late to savor the "golden age" of railroading which passed away with the steam era, but remnants of this archaic age remained and I enjoyed it while I could. The original depot at Rigolets which had been built in 1892 burned in 1934, a casualty of a fire which began in a nearby store. A few months later, the campcar cluster where I worked replaced it.

Travel into and out of Rigolets was on Nos. 9 and 12, the "Coast Train," which had operated between Ocean Springs and New Orleans for many decades. Service was shortened to Pass Christian in 1959, and it was finally discontinued in 1964.

Just south of the station was the section foreman's motorcar setoff and two section houses. Across the tracks was the home of Section Foreman Felician R. "Dutch" Chagnard and wife Verna, surrounded by a chain-link fence and having a wharf out back. They had grown children who lived "in town" and three grammar-school age living at home and using the "Coast Train" to commute to school in New Orleans. South of their home was the camp of retired operator J. L. Lascola and his wife.

Just north of the depot was the residence of Chef Menteur Drawtender Jos. Clulee and wife; the "Anglers Club," and the Bridge House [formerly section foreman's house]. Across the tracks from these was the camp of one Walter Eckert. Near the drawbridge was the old Bridge House, which had been devastated by the 1947 Storm but was still standing. In addition, across Great Rigolets pass on the northeast quadrant was the camp of Danny Farve, who had worked for the L&N during the 1920's in the construction of the present bridge.

There were a few other camps, etc., scattered around the island, but I don't recall them all, nor did I ever make any photographs.

Bridgetenders Jewel McInvale, Victor Schwartz, and Hugh Salter worked the first, second and third shifts; a man named Bolling was on the relief job, and Dominic Sonier, who worked five different bridges during his workweek, served at Rigolets on Thursdays. McInvale, Salter and Bolling were from Alabama; Schwartz and Sonier were from Waveland.

The Agency at Rigolets was closed in mid-1962. The open-air waiting room affair was shortened, adjacent buildings detached and bulldozed aside and were burned. Around this time, one of the bridge foremen officially retired the old bridge house near the bridge by torching it. Everything else stayed more or less intact until Hurricane Camille scoured the area in August, 1969, and left nothing standing. Hurricane Katrina did a lot more damage to the railroad than Camille, but essentially, there was nothing left at Rigolets after Camille.

In the heyday of railroading that existed before advent of automobiles and airplanes, Rigolets was one of many small stations which afforded an Agent to serve the public. The stations at English Lookout and Chef Menteur were closed during the Depression; Lake Catherine stayed open and was manned around the clock as a train order office until the 1947 Storm destroyed the building. The train order signal was then moved from Lake Catherine to Rigolets and the latter became a train order office, the only open station between Bay St. Louis and Gentilly, a distance of some 46 miles. The installation of Centralized Traffic Control, completed in mid-1961, spelled the end of the timetable/train order operation and the demise of many operators' jobs. - J. G. Lachaussee, From the "Mr. Lake's New Orleans Nostalgia Forum", courtesy Cassie Frank

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THE LEGEND OF 'THE DINKY' RAILBUS

ALTON, IL -- The Great River Road didn't exist in the 1930s and 1940s, so people who lived in Alton and worked in Grafton rode "the Dinky."

It was a city bus that had been converted into a "railbus" by the Illinois Terminal Railroad. Flanged wheels allowed it to be driven on train tracks built for steam engines.

Photo here: [www.belleville.com]

Caption reads: The Illinois Terminal Grafton Line Railbus "The Dinky" is set to depart the Alton depot on its last day of operation on March 7, 1953. (Photo submitted by Sandy Goodrick)

"I don't know why it was called the Dinky," said railroad historian Dale Jenkins, 59, of Decatur. "It was just a nickname the local people gave it."

Jenkins will give a multimedia presentation at the Alton Museum of History and Art at 19:00 Tuesday, focusing on "The Railroads of Alton." That includes early services to Grafton, Wood River, Edwardsville, East St. Louis and St. Louis. Admission is $5.

Today, many people don't realize Edwardsville and Alton residents once had access to high-speed, electric commuter trains that took them to jobs and other activities in St. Louis.

The St. Louis & Alton Railroad operated from 1910 to 1953. Tracks loosely followed what now is Illinois 3 and crossed the Mississippi River on the McKinley Bridge.

"People could get on a (train) car in Alton and be in downtown St. Louis in about 35 minutes," Jenkins said.

Edwardsville also had commuter trains from 1910 to 1955. That line was nicknamed "the Traction" or "the Terminal."

Metro-east passengers deboarded at a train station at 12th and Delmar, which later became the St. Louis Globe-Democrat building.

Illinois Terminal also operated steam engines from Alton to Grafton, Wood River, Edwardsville and East St. Louis to carry freight.

"The (railroad) was started by Illinois Glass Co. in 1895," Jenkins said. "They needed a way to get their product out of Alton."

Before the Dinky, Illinois Terminal ran a steam-powered commuter train between Alton and Grafton to accommodate Alton residents who worked at Principia College in Elsah, Grafton's boat factory and other businesses.

When the train arrived in Grafton, the crew manually turned around the steam engine on a turntable before heading back to Alton.

Apparently, commuter revenues barely covered expenses, including salaries of the engineer, fireman, conductor and brakeman. Illinois Terminal introduced the railbus in 1930 to save money.

"They took the rubber tires off (a bus) and put flanged wheels on it," Jenkins said. "And then they only had to pay for one man to drive the bus. It was easy to maintain, and fuel costs were minimal."

Jenkins is a special agent (police officer) for Norfolk Southern Railway, which includes the former Illinois Terminal. He has been interested in trains since childhood.

Jenkins and his family lived near a railroad yard in Springfield, where he stood on train tracks and tried to flag down engineers to catch rides. An Illinois Terminal special agent visited his mother and asked her to keep him home.

In 1966, Jenkins went to work as an operator-leverman for the Illinois Central Railroad. Two years later, he was hired to replace the special agent who had visited his mother.

"I investigate vandalism, theft of cargo shipments, fraud," Jenkins said. "I've even done a few murders where people have killed somebody and then put them on a railroad track to make it look like they were hit by trains."

In 1986, Jenkins helped create the Illinois Traction Society, an organization dedicated to preserving Illinois Terminal history.

The organization published a book in 2005 that Jenkins wrote. It's called "The Illinois Terminal Railroad: The Road to Personalized Services" (White River Productions, Bucklin, MO, hardcover).

"The book weighs four pounds," Jenkins said. "It has 328 pages. It has over 500 photos, both black-and-white and color, and something like 26 maps."

An autographed copy can be purchased for $65 ($69.95 with postage and handling) through Jenkins at the presentation or by sending a check or money order to 264 Victoria, Decatur, IL 62522. For more information, call (217) 423-4877.

On Tuesday night, Jenkins will end his presentation with a "trip over the line." He'll ask audience members to pretend they're riding a train from Alton to St. Louis and show photographs of sights along the way.

The Alton Museum of History and Art is at 2803 College Ave. (on the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine campus). For more information, call 462-2763. - Teri Maddox, The Belleville News-Democrat

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ANXIETY IN DM&E TOWNS

HURON, SD -- Where train tracks merge into sky, Huron looms on the eastern horizon.

City, rail and a vast sweep of farmland are all connected here.

This track borders Leland Kleinsasser's 70-acre wheat field because, as a member of the South Dakota Legislature in the early 1980s, he voted for a sales tax increase to allow the state to buy rail line set to be abandoned.

"It was one of the most important votes I cast," he said.

The line eventually became part of the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, and now the DM&E plans to take his field.

It's the price of progress, Kleinsasser figures. These and another 230 of the 7,500 acres he owns or rents will be part of a rail operations center that could bring 300 to 500 high-paying jobs to Huron.

"It's a tremendous economic impact for this community," he said, despite the hardship it might bring to his farming operation.

Kleinsasser thinks it will happen. In less than 30 years, Huron could go from the prospect of no rail to a key location on the nation's newest Class I railroad.

His optimism is shared by many in Huron, despite the Federal Railroad Administration's decision last month to deny a $2.3 billion loan to the DM&E that would have been a major part of financing the $6 billion project to upgrade lines and build more than 200 miles of new track to Wyoming's coal mines. It was a major setback for the railroad and for a town that has pinned a good share of its economic growth on the project.

But while Huron generally is united in its support, the railroad has had a tougher sell in towns such as Brookings, where the effect of the ambitious project is less obvious.

Desperately seeking development

Since 1998 when it applied for federal approval, DM&E officials have spun their Powder River Basin Project as a regional eldorado, the source of a bounty of economic development.

No town is more eager to hear this than Huron.

On a March afternoon before the country has greened, the distant buildings look drained of color, grayish-brown like Kleinsasser's dormant wheat and as uninspiring.

"If you think your quality economic future is based on a turkey plant and a Wal-Mart, you're way out in left field," Ron Volesky said of recent economic development ventures. The Huron lawyer is a former legislator and city council member.

Volesky is a countervailing voice in a chorus of widespread, determined optimism in Huron that the Powder River Basin project eventually will be built. People with an eye to Huron's future have faith in the DM&E the way Kleinsasser knows his wheat will grow in spring.

"I sense the community is still fairly optimistic. It's been such a big part of our community since it was announced. Nobody's giving up yet," said Jim Borszich, executive director of the Huron Development Corp.

"In economic development, you have to have a lot of patience."

Bringing the new Wal-Mart to town was a four-to-five year courtship, he says. The Dakota Provisions turkey processing plant took 21/4 years. The development corporation also was successful in enticing Premier Bank, which will relocate part of its credit card business in Huron, Borszich said.

"We spend a lot of time with the DM&E," Borszich said. "We've dedicated our staff and office to them in any form or fashion they might need us."

"We had hopes construction could begin this year. The only good thing about that announcement is it happened now rather than holding off until May 1," said Roger Chase, a Beadle County commissioner. At least now the DM&E has an opportunity to regroup, seek alternative financing and possibly save the 2007 construction season, he said.

The railroad's plans still are a major subject of coffee break conversation, he added.

"Many say it will never happen. We still have reason to believe it will," Chase said.

In the market for private money

DM&E Chief Executive Officer Kevin Schieffer said the railroad is aggressively pursuing private financing. By the end of last year, it had spent $80 million preparing for the reconstruction of its existing line across Minnesota and South Dakota and extending it to Wyoming, and Schieffer promises an aggressive construction effort this year.

Kleinsasser notes that in the near decade since it was proposed, the railroad's Powder River Basin project has been approved by the federal government and withstood court challenges.

"The thing that encourages me is that every decision handed down, except this loan being turned down, has favored the DM&E.

"I just hope they can hang in there until they get the funding arranged," he said.

The DM&E's presence in Huron is already strong. About 150 people who work for the railroad live here, Borszich said. The tracks of a switching yard cross the city and extend to its fringe. A brightly colored sign in front of this rail center enthusiastically declares, "We support the DM&E Project!"

"Enthusiasm was at an all-time high until a week ago" after the Federal Railroad Administration turned down the loan application Feb. 26, Borszich said.

Harvey Wollman, of Frankfort, north of Huron, was South Dakota's governor in 1978-79. He estimates chances are "better than 50-50" the Powder River Basin project will happen.

"There are some people who say 'well, they tried. But without the federal money, it's not going to go.' But the groups I'm most allied with, the greater Huron people, are positive about things. They really think there's a chance we can do this."

He said ongoing economic development, such as the turkey processing plant and Heartland Grain Fuels ethanol plant, and retail expansion stand on their own, but the DM&E project would be "this giant shot in the arm. There's no question about that."

He points to the financial commitments the railroad has gotten. "I hope this convinces the venture capital people this is a serious thing."

Volesky, however, is waiting for the DM&E to deliver on its promise.

"It's just another carrot in Huron. The unelected elite are just using it as another carrot, dangling it in front of people, convincing them the people in power are doing a great job.

"It's kind of become something of a joke now around town. People I talk to are wounded emotionally. This was the big engine that was going to run the Huron economy for the next generation or two. Now it may not happen.

"Like everybody in Huron, I hope it does happen," he said. But "I think everybody is a little soured on it now. It may be six months before they get their hopes up again."

Brookings' embrace of railroad less enthusiastic

Perhaps as closely tied to the DM&E as Huron is Brookings, where the DM&E was formerly headquartered.

However, in Brookings, the relationship is more uneasy. The prospect of reconstructed track and increased coal traffic through town has been divisive in Brookings since the Powder River Basin project was announced. Last November, voters rescinded an agreement between the city council and the railroad on enhanced safety features the DM&E would provide.

In response to that, Mayor Scott Munsterman, with council consent, appointed a nine-member advisory board to determine the city's short and long-term goals with regard to rail safety. About a dozen people volunteered to serve, and Munsterman solicited others, many of whom were reluctant to be on the board because the DM&E remains an emotionally charged issue in Brookings.

He knew the positions of about half the people on the board with regard to the railroad before he appointed them. "The other half I did not bother to ask."

His broad focus for the board is "to get the community on the same page and become more familiar with the issues," Munsterman said. He points to the reliance local industries such as Rainbow Play Systems, South Dakota Soybean Processors and area ethanol plants already have upon the DM&E.

"The fact is, we have increased traffic on the rail system now with ethanol and increased ag commodities coming across that rail. My position is, I see that continuing, coal or no coal."

Area industries that use the railroad employ about 500 people in Brookings. "The railroad is a business partner in our community and a very important one. We need to come to grips with understanding that as a community and learn how to work with that," Munsterman said.

He envisions that the advisory board will be in existence "maybe a decade or two. It certainly isn't a temporary thing in my mind."

Ag interests see benefits of project

Agriculture groups along the line have been among the DM&E's greatest supporters. Among them is the South Dakota Farm Bureau, with headquarters in Huron. Mike Held, executive director, said, "The mood in town is 'full steam ahead. How can we help?'

"A Class I railroad entering in Brookings County and leaving in Custer County cuts right through the heart of South Dakota. It would be huge for agriculture," he said, and offer legitimate competition to BNSF Railway, the state's lone Class I carrier. Held estimates 80 percent to 90 percent of Farm Bureau members statewide support the rail expansion, including farmers and ranchers whose land would be affected.

"If it isn't built, there will come a time when the western portion of the existing railroad will not be viable," Held says of the DM&E's aged, decrepit line West River. "You can't operate a 5- to 10-mile-per-hour railroad. Places like Wall, Philip and Midland will eventually have no rail service."

Residents hope to see railroad's revitalization

Ron Sande remembers Huron as a railroad town before the DM&E. Beginning on the bridge and building crew just out of high school, he worked his way into the engineering department for the Chicago & North Western Railway in 1960 and spent 35 years with the railroad whose tracks ultimately became the core of the DM&E. He returned to Huron about 10 years ago when he retired.

Now he's an interested bystander as the DM&E tries to carry out its planned expansion.
"The powers that be around town have been pushing this pretty hot and heavy. The average schmo, they don't get too excited, you might say.

"I've always liked Huron. I've been in and out of it a lot over my life. It seems in recent years, it's become more of a retirement town than anything else since I've been back."

He has friends from his C&NW days who still are working with that railroad's successor, the DM&E.
"They don't have a lot to offer about what the future holds. But they pray it happens," Sande said. - Peter Harriman, The Sioux Falls Argus Leader

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CAUSE OF RAIL ACCIDENT DETERMINED

PIERRE, SD -- The head of the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad says a broken rail was the cause of a derailment in central Pierre last week.

"It was a significant derailment but not a huge one," Kevin Schieffer said.

Five cars of a DM&E train hauling bentonite clay from the Belle Fourche area to Chicago derailed a couple of blocks south of the state Capitol.

The derailment was confined to railroad property, Schieffer said.

Local residents and others, who have voiced concern about the possible expansion and accident record of DM&E in the past, are weighing in on Wednesday's derailment with concern, but little surprise.

Pierre resident Lyn Nelson sold her house at Capitol and Prospect avenues because she didn't want to keep her land near the tracks if the DM&E expansion happened. Her former property is not near where Wednesday night's derailment occurred, but she said it doesn't look good for DM&E.

"It just looks to me that it's just one more example on their safety record," Nelson said. "I guess I was thankful nobody was hurt. That was my first thought. My second thought was that it's just an accident waiting to happen."

Nelson has said she is against DM&E running more trains through town because so many businesses and homes are within 50 feet of the tracks.

"I really don't want them to go through for any reason," she said. "I think the 50 feet is just too little. 50 feet is the length of my apartment practically. You know it's just not safe for people."

Chris Gade, a spokesperson for the Rochester Coalition, called the derailment unfortunate.

"But when the DM&E has received more taxpayer money it has not resulted in increased safety," Gade said. "The DM&E already is the largest recipient of public subsidies from the Federal Railroad Administration. They received $233 million in 2003 and received another $48 million recently as part of the Record of Decision and what's actually happened is their safety record has gotten worse, not better."

The Rochester Coalition is a group concerned with DM&E's expansion, and is primarily made up of citizens from the city of Rochester, Minnesota, Olmstead County, the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce and the Mayo Clinic.

Gade said safety should be of "the utmost importance," but that the coalition feels DM&E is in no position to provide that safety.

"It's unfortunate we're served by a railroad that has the worst safety record in its class," he said. "And that DM&E has repeatedly refused to take responsibility for the accidents that have occurred or their poor safety record."

According to information provided by the Federal Railroad Administration, DM&E has been involved in 19 accidents in Hughes and Stanley Counties since the year 2000. The year with the largest number of accidents was 2004, with 92 crashes nationwide.

DM&E had applied for a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan to finance construction of a new 280-mile rail line to Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal mines and to reconstruct approximately 600 miles of existing track in South Dakota and Minnesota. The loan was turned down earlier this month by Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman, who concluded the loan posed an unacceptably high risk to federal taxpayers. - Travis Gulbrandson, The Pierre Capital Journal

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1901 WRECK'S HORRIFIC STORY IS STILL POTENT

Photo here:

[toledoblade.com]

Caption reads: A youngster stands in front of the mangled debris. (Lenawee County Historical Museum)

TECUMSEH, MI -- The 1901 train crash continues to be remembered and retold in library presentations, books, songs, and on lazy Sunday afternoons, when grandmothers tell grandchildren about distant relatives now long departed.

Laurie Perkins, an educational historian at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing and author of the Wreck on the Wabash, yesterday described the night when westbound train No. 13 collided head on with an eastbound passenger train three miles outside of Sand Creek, Michigan.

About 100 people - mostly northern Italian immigrants on the westbound train headed to mining jobs - died when the No. 13 and No. 4 trains burst into flames on the Wabash line.

"It's a story I learned as a young child," said Mrs. Dickens, a Sand Creek native. "And I had always thought it was pretty much a local story, but the history of this story is in the archives of newspapers across the country and abroad, and it's been remembered through those that pass it down generation to generation."

The Blade reported that immediately after the Thanksgiving Eve crash, six of the cars on the westbound train caught fire.

"The unfortunates fought madly in their attempt to crawl out of the doors and windows, thus hindering each other so that the bulk of them were unable to escape," according to the newspaper.

Photo here:

[toledoblade.com]

Caption reads: Charred railcars, lie on their sides at the scene of the 1901 collision when the Wabash Railroad's westbound No. 13 collided with Wabash No. 4 passenger train 3 miles outside of Sand Creek. Nearly 100 northern Italian immigrants, who were on the westbound train headed for mining jobs, perished in the crash. (Lenawee County Historical Museum)

A survivor described the scene in The Blade's Thanksgiving Day story.

"It was a veritable hell of fire," said Victor C. Greenbaum of New York City, who escaped with slight injuries. "People who came hurrying to the scene from farm houses in that locality, stood about the wreckage helplessly, and held their hands to their ears to shut out the frightful screams, and turned their eyes away because it was more than they could bear."

Mrs. Perkins yesterday recounted the horrific story, one she was first told when she began working at the Lenawee Historical Museum when she was 14 years old.

Of the 23 people attending the event at the Tecumseh District Library, most said the general narrative was familiar, but they said the lecture refreshed the details.

"When she started talking, it brought stuff up. It all just suddenly came back," said Charley Harpst, 67, whose uncles worked on the Wabash line.

Mr. Harpst said his uncles were not working at the time of the crash, but they heard about it through older workers and retold the tale to him.

"We're a Wabash family," he said.

Ruth Ann Deming, 69, said she first heard of the crash through a song.

The 1902 song, "The Wreck on the Wabash," written by Charles Decker helped memorialize the devastation that day:

"We could hear the cry of children 'neath the scattered coaches there, mingled with the roaring flames that leaped on high; While men and women vainly strove to reach the open air and fell back with one last despairing cry."

Aaron Strong, the engineer of train No. 4 who jumped to safety moments before the crash, was eventually blamed for the accident, but he was not held criminally liable for the deaths, Mrs. Perkins said.

Mr. Strong was quoted the day after the accident.

"I saw the headlight of No. 13, four or five miles before the collision occurred, but I supposed the train was sidetracked at Sand Creek, waiting for us to pass," he said. "The glare of the powerful electronic headlight made it impossible to see the exact location of the other train."

Mrs. Perkins said the No. 13 train - just upgraded to electric headlights from gas-powered headlights most trains used at the time - was going 60 mph when it hit the slower No. 4 train that was about half its size.

The trains, which were primarily constructed of wood, insulated with saw dust, and carrying coal-burning stoves, ignited in an explosion that could be seen and heard for miles, she said.

The immigrants, packed like cattle on board, had little chance of survival.

"The next morning, nearby resident came by the thousands, and when they started walking through the debris, they started kicking up white dust, and they knew where the travelers had gone," she said. - Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Toledo Blade

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TRANSIT NEWS

BART RIDERSHIP RISES WITH GAS PRICES

OAKLAND, CA -- March 13: I was not surprised to learn that national ridership is up to levels not seen since 1957, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Americans took 10.1 billion bus, train and ferry trips in 2006, as APTA explains:

"Over the last decade, public transportation's growth rate outpaced the growth rate of the population and the growth rate of vehicle miles traveled on our nation's highways ...

"Public transit use is up 30 percent since 1995. That is more than double the growth rate of the population (12 percent) and higher than the growth rate for the vehicle miles traveled on our roads (24 percent) during that same period. In 2006, public transit ridership grew 2.9 percent over 2005. To put the 10.1 billion public transportation trips in perspective, transit trips outnumber domestic airline trips by 15 to 1."

Although APTA would like this to be a sign that Americans are embracing the idea that public transportation is a better way to get around, most reasonable assessments point the finger squarely at gas prices.

I paid $5 for less than a gallon and a half of gas in San Francisco yesterday, so it didn't challenge my primitive math skills to figure out that I would have been happier taking BART on most such trips.

If this nation is to look more like Europe (and many shudder at the thought) or the rest of the developed world, with convenient and quick transit reaching most urbanized areas, it's going to require more frequent and deeper painful realizations like my trip to the Fifth Street Shell Station.

Either I'm an idiot or there was a reason for driving over the Bay Bridge and fretting over parking yesterday. I was in a hurry, and public transit connections would have slowed me down, especially considering that it was 10 a.m. and the bridge was only mildly backed up.

I also had to follow a group of cars, which would have been difficult on a bus or on foot. Now I've done this before and hitched a ride with Caltrans on these Bay Bridge construction tours, but that's not always possible in other work situations. That is, cars give us more flexibility, and that's difficult to set aside.

On the way home last night, my empty tank light came on again, only this time I found an Arco station in Pinole with $3.05 regular, and I felt like I had found a bargain, even with the 45-cent debit card fee.

The bottom line in yesterday's equation was that I needed to be somewhere fast, and even though that somewhere was the Transbay Terminal, a car was my best bet. The fact that Caltrans provided free parking made the trip financially sensible as well (if you don't count my contribution to global warming destroying the Bay Area's economy).

Luckily for transit advocates, the world's oil consumption promises to keep driving gas prices upward, so that even places like Los Angeles are likely to see a renaissance of car-less commuting, which APTA insists is already in bloom.

March 16

Like the uptight Scandanavian half-breed that I am, I have withheld my affection from my transit agency, the Amtrak-operated Capitol Corridor rail service connecting the East Bay, South Bay and Central Valley.

I know the Corridor has a bit of a problem with keeping to a schedule. And maybe, because I try to ride it every day when it's within an hour of its departure time, I might be a bit quick to point out its failings and blame them for America's addiction to the single-occupant vehicle.

But two things happened this week that made the love flow over the levee, as it were. The first was Tuesday, when my train arrived in Oakland four minutes early, despite the chance of freight traffic rockslides, floods and bodies on the tracks. Then came the great trestle fire of 2007.

Hearing that 1,100 feet of creosote-soaked wooden Union Pacific train trestle had burned to a crisp the night before, I arrived at my station with little hope that a train would arrive at all, much less within 15 minutes of departure time.

But thanks to some overnight equipment repositioning via Marysville, there it did arrive, and the assembled commuters were so amazed.

If that weren't enough, it made up another eight minutes before it got to Oakland. I thought it was going particularly fast when my coffee shot up through the hole in the lid in mid-bounce.

So there, in one week, I could forget the tie replacement program, the equipment failures and other delays, forget about the fare increases and remember the free wine and cheese, pastries and onboard massages on Customer Appreciation Day, along with the consolation ticket discounts.

I know, you're thinking that a journalist needs to be dispassionate, but every now and then, the emotional containment seals just won't hold.

Now where's that free onboard Wi-Fi? - Erik N. Nelson, The Oakland Tribune

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RETHINKING FASTRACKS

DENVER, CO -- Give the Regional Transportation District credit for perseverance. The district insists on keeping the $4.7 billion FasTracks light-rail expansion on schedule, even though the surging costs of materials (for starters) could bust the project's budget.

Residents were promised a timely rollout when they approved the 0.4 percent sales tax hike to pay for FasTracks. It's what they deserve. Still, it's hard to see how RTD can stay on track without cutting even more corners.

That's why we're encouraged to see the district ask for a second opinion: Over the next few weeks it will bring in outside consultants with expertise in engineering and financing mass-transit projects. The goal is to seek ways to minimize building costs, bring more revenues to the system, or both.

The RTD board willing, private contractors will clearly play a larger role in the completion of FasTracks. And that's wise, because RTD has already had to pare back some of its plans.

The district has proposed more than $100 million in cost-cutting design changes for the West Corridor just to keep that line close to its $511.8 million budget cap. At some point, fewer amenities will make light rail less attractive to passengers, and increase headaches for motorists, too. That's a disservice to everyone.

Enter the private sector, which helped the T-REX road and rail project open ahead of schedule and on budget.

T-REX employed the method known as design-build. A single contractor handled engineering and building the project. Construction crews did not need to get engineers to approve a design change if an unforeseen setback occurred; the same company handled the entire operation, and could sign off on modifications more quickly.

RTD officials say they're open to a greater private sector role for FasTracks, possibly using the process known as design-build-operate-maintain.

Under that method, a single contractor or consortium would bid to not only take care of engineering and construction, as with T-REX, but also run and maintain the lines. The contractor would get its revenues mainly from transit taxes and fares.

When the contract ended, say in 15 or 20 years, RTD would get those segments of the rail system back.

The contractor would have to eat any cost overruns. RTD would retain oversight of the build-out and of fares once the lines started running. But the contractor and its investors would assume some of the risks.

In Europe and Asia, it's common for major public highways and transit systems to be leased or franchised to private companies using design- build-operate-maintain or similar arrangements.

The idea is gaining currency stateside, too. The 20.6-mile Hudson-Bergen light-rail project in New Jersey used design-build-operate-maintain. Monorail systems in Las Vegas and Seattle have also employed this process.

If FasTracks cost projections really get out of hand, RTD might want to consider leasing existing light-rail lines. Indiana recently leased the state toll road that links Gary to Chicago for 75 years and nearly $4 billion to a consortium based in Spain and Australia; the same group has a 99-year, $1.8 billion lease for the Chicago Skyway, an elevated toll road on the city's south side.

There's no telling if any private operator would bid for, say, the Southwest light-rail line if it were available. But RTD should not exclude that option, so long as proper safeguards for taxpayers and transit riders remain in place -- especially if the alternative is nickel-and-diming FasTracks. - Editorial Opinion, The Rocky Mountain News

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THE END