---

Railroad Newsline for Monday, March 26, 2007

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

---

---

RAIL NEWS

MASTER OF DISASTER: IF RAIL LINES BREAK, FIX-IT FIRM MOVES IN FAST

Photo here:

[media.sacbee.com]

Caption reads: Jim Dobbas looks over the progress of rebuilding the rail trestle near Cal Expo. His rail emergency crew was there within two hours of last week's flames. (Sacramento Bee/Bryan Patrick)

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Don Dobbas counts on his crews to be ready to roll at a moment's notice -- no matter what heavy equipment is needed from a vast fleet that includes bulldozers, excavators, 18-wheel haulers and tanker trucks.

"We're on call 24 hours (a day), seven days a week," said Dobbas, president of Jim Dobbas Inc. in Newcastle, one of the few private companies in the nation that specialize in railroad emergencies. "We never know when we pick up the phone what kind of problem they are going to throw at us."

Little more than a week ago, Union Pacific officials called Dobbas' cell phone about 30 minutes after a century-old wooden railroad trestle in Sacramento broke into flames, sending a column of black smoke into the evening sky and choking off a crucial freight route. Within two hours, a crew of 25 of Dobbas' employees and a parade of his dozers, excavators, loaders and dump trucks began arriving at the inferno near Cal Expo.

For more than three decades, the family owned business has tackled railroad emergencies in California, Nevada and southern Oregon. The company is part of a larger burgeoning U.S. railroad construction and maintenance industry fueled by record growth in freight traffic.

These contractors work with North America's seven major railroad companies and regional lines to maintain about 140,000 miles of track crisscrossing the United States. Last year, the big seven, including Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, spent $8.2 billion on capital improvement projects.

"The industry is under a railroad renaissance. Both freight and passenger rail have been growing much quicker than highway and air traffic," said Chuck Baker, executive director of the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association.

In 2006, U.S. freight railroads posted another record-breaking year with a 1.2 percent increase in carloads over the previous year. Trailer and container loads rose 5 percent, according to the Association of American Railroads.

"The increase in fuel prices has made rail more attractive. The industry has been setting volume records for the last few years," said Tom White, an AAR spokesman. "As your traffic increases, you have to increase your maintenance."

The major railroads, White said, will hire outside construction companies to supplement their own track crews. That saves railroads from investing heavily in large fleets of specialized heavy equipment and large construction departments.

Photo here:

[media.sacbee.com]

Caption reads: Jim Dobbas watches over guard rails that will be placed on the steel and concrete structure. (Sacramento Bee/Bryan Patrick)

Baker estimates there are about 80 U.S. railroad construction firms ranging from independent businesses with 10 employees to large construction and engineering companies with railroad divisions consisting of more than 1,000 employees. Some companies diversify into other construction-related fields such as bridge building, urban light rail systems and environmental consulting.

Several large companies, such as Kentucky-based R.J. Corman Railroad Group and Texas-based Hulcher Services Inc., have set up emergency response divisions across the country, promising prospective clients that they can start sending out crews within an hour after a call.

"When you get a derailment, it costs these (railroad) companies literally millions of dollars," Baker said. "It costs them a lot of money to reroute traffic. They can't charge a customer more. They just eat the costs. They want to fix it as soon as possible."

The Sacramento trestle fire, for example, has disrupted shipments heading east and goods traveling west. UP spokesman Mark Davis said delays are up to two days.

In addition to Dobbas, UP has hired Foundation Pile Driving; National Response Corp., an emergency environmental cleanup company; and Shannon and Wilson, a geotechnical and environmental consulting firm, for the rail bridge project.

Dobbas demolished and removed the charred structure and will assist the other contractors with grading work, hauling and transportation throughout bridge construction.

While UP is the company's primary client, Dobbas does work for the BNSF Railway Company in Northern California and southern Oregon. The company also operates a railroad salvage business in Antelope -- selling everything from old railroad ties to boxcars -- and does engineering work for the railroads.

Founded as a trucking company in 1964 by Dobbas' father, Jim Dobbas, the firm made its name in the railroad business following one of the most explosive events in local history. It was April 28, 1973, when boxcars loaded with military aircraft bombs and explosives ignited in Southern Pacific's Roseville railyard, sending fireballs 1,500 feet into the morning sky and forcing more than 3,000 people to evacuate their homes.

The railroad hired Dobbas to oversee the massive cleanup and recovery job. The company soon became a full-time railroad contractor, landing derailment contracts with Southern Pacific and Western Pacific.

Over the years, the company has grown to more than 45 employees and assembled a heavy equipment fleet of 100, including special rail-car booms and food service vans stationed in Newcastle, Antelope and Reno. It has been called to washouts in the Feather River Canyon and rock slides on Donner Summit.

"To work these mountains is very difficult," Dobbas said. "We know these mountains inside and out."

Employees, Dobbas said, are trained with a railroad mindset, learning they are on call around the clock and can put in seven-day workweeks.

"If it's snowing and they have a problem, we work. If it's raining, you work," Dobbas said.

He points to an emergency a few years ago above Donner Lake. A train derailed inside a snow shed and was buried under 10 feet of snow. A section of the shed had collapsed.

"It was snowing the whole time. It took us eight hours to plow our way to the job (site)," Dobbas recalled.

In 1991, Dobbas remembers getting a call at 23:00 hours after a Southern Pacific train derailed near Dunsmuir and a tanker containing a toxic herbicide spilled into the upper Sacramento River.
"There is a lot of pressure," Dobbas said. "It takes a lot of years to learn how to do it. There really isn't any real manual." - Gilbert Chan, The Sacramento Bee

---

GETTING THE JOB DONE

Am I the only one experiencing shock and awe? Or is the whole country about to give a standing ovation?

What an inspiration. What a difference between an American company and the American government.
Last weekend, we witnessed a company with a clear vision of the goal, an immediate marshaling of resources and a supreme commitment to strike while the iron is hot (literally).

This describes the Union Pacific railway's response to the trestle fire in Sacramento (CA) and its goal to open one track to trains by April 1. Of this year.

That's in contrast to the three-year delay just to get to the starting line to privatize maintenance at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (The Record, Monday).

There's a second chasm of contrast. There, in a field overlooking a still-raging fire, stood a solitary young man in a hard hat, speaking succinctly about the disaster before him and the steps being taken to solve it.

He had no notes, no podium and no army of medal-chested Army brass or bureaucratic vote-panderers.

He confidently shared what he and his growing corps of engineers and workers was preparing to do.
What an embarrassment this should be to our government and their legions of brains that control our systems at every level.

Whether it's Walter Reed, New Orleans, Iraq, Interstate 205 through Tracy or replacing the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, in every case four words describe the progress on projects run by the government: "(fill in the blank) years and counting."

I'm proud we have a Union Pacific in our midst to remind us American ingenuity and know-how are alive and well.

And I'm not even an employee, shareholder, relative or acquaintance of anyone at the railroad.
God bless American business. - Glenn Jay Paulus, Stockton, CA, Letter to the Editor, The Stockton Record

---

LOCAL FIREFIGHTERS KEEP AN EYE ON LODI'S WOODEN TRAIN TRESTLE

Photo here: [www.lodinews.com]

Caption reads: Old wooden railroad ties lay on a pile next to the tracks off North Guild Avenue in Lodi. Some local fire fighters say the railroad ties owned by Central California Traction Company could be a potential fire hazard. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

LODI, CA -- Local firefighters are keeping an eye on a wooden train bridge that crosses the Mokelumne River just east of Lodi and is similar to one that went up in flames last week in Sacramento.

East of Guild Road, the trestle, which is owned by the Central California Traction Company, is about 100 feet long with wooden and cement supports. The March 15 fire in Sacramento occurred on 300 feet of a Union Pacific-owned trestle over the American River.

Though the CCT does not use the bridge in Lodi, it is inspected every month, according to CCT General Manager Dave Buccolo. He said he is not worried about the 100-year-old bridge catching fire.

"That could happen to any wooden structure," he said. "We don't really worry about it too much."

The Mokelumne Rural Fire Protection District is aware of the CCT trestle and inspects it from time to time, according to Captain Rob Firman.

"We make periodic runs down there," Firman said, adding that the Sacramento fire was a realization that a similar fire could happen in Lodi.

Like the Union Pacific trestle, the CCT bridge is soaked in creosote, a wood preservative. Buccolo said creosote is used to keep the railroad ties and supports from rotting and is not a flammable substance.

"It takes a lot to get a trestle fire started," he said adding that he suspects an arsonist caused the Sacramento fire.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation and Union Pacific is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in connection with the fire, Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said in a statement. A project to replace the torched trestle with steel is three quarters of the way complete and is on schedule for reopening April 1, Barnes said.

"The trestle is a vital lifeline to the Sacramento and California economies, and immediate replacement is necessary to resume normal passenger and freight operations in the region," he said.

A pile of discarded railroad ties sits next to the CCT track in Lodi, a potential fire hazard according to Woodbridge Rural Fire Protection District Chief Mike Kirkle.

"There's a potential hazard when you have a large pile of wood," he said. - Matt Brown, The Lodi News-Sentinel

---

RECOGNITION SOUGHT FOR RAILROAD COP WHO WAS MURDERED IN THE LINE OF DUTY

CARBONDALE, IL -- In police lingo, the phrase "end of watch" means the end of a shift of work. Roy Dale Zearfoss ended his final watch at 14:00 hours on July 17, 1936.

Zearfoss, a special agent with the Illinois Central railroad, was on duty that sultry afternoon when he and fellow agent Earl Wilbanks confronted three "hoboes" in the railroad yard north of Carbondale.

Then, according to reports in the Carbondale Free Press, one of the men, described as a "desperado," pulled out a .45-caliber and started shooting, striking Wilbanks first and then 44-year-old Zearfoss, hitting him twice in the stomach.

"Tell my wife I died in the line of duty and that I love her," were said to be the last words spoken by the dying man as he was transported to the hospital where he would die several hours later.

The desperado was identified as Harry Steyer, an "ex-convict and Golconda bad guy," the newspaper reported, who was "a gunman with iron nerve and sure shot," as well as a former bodyguard for S. Glenn Young, "Ku Klux Klan raider and central figure in Herrin's hectic era."

"After Young was slain," the newspaper reported, "Steyer, having a taste of quick trigger work in the Williamson County sector, turned bank robber."

And Steyer apparently had bank robbery on his mind that July day when he encountered Zearfoss and Wilbanks in the yards located near U.S. 51.

"Roy and Earl walked into a hornet's nest," said Lt. Paul Echols of the Carbondale Police Department. "In those days, there were so many guys hopping freights and coming into the yards. The agents would flush out the hoboes and roust them from the yards. On that particular day though, they met up with one very bad guy."

Echols, who has conducted extensive research into Zearfoss' murder, said Steyer apparently planned to hop a southbound train and hit a Dongola bank and blow its vault.

"They found dynamite caps and nitroglycerin in his bag," Echols said.

"These guys walked into a situation where they met a very vicious man -- a criminal with no conscious. Who knows what would have happened without Zearfoss' and Wilbanks' intervention -- how many lives were saved by what they did. These guys were planning a significant robbery and were about to bring havoc down on the little town of Dongola."

After the shooting, the three men fled toward the nearby highway where they jacked a car from "Dr. and Mrs. Oscar House of De Soto," the newspaper reported.

Hours later, the hoboes were located in the woods about three miles east of West Frankfort by policeman Clifford Micks, a patrolman identified only as "McGill" and Franklin County Deputy Arlie Dorris, the newspaper reported.

The men were ordered to surrender but disobeyed the police command.

Steyer's "body was riddled with a machine gun and penetrated by 96 bullets," the Free Press reported, while the other two were injured.

Zearfoss, Echols said, is believed to be the second officer serving in Carbondale to have been killed in the line of duty.

The first was Lenard Alonzo Sizemore who was shot and killed by a man he was trying to arrest in Aug. 20, 1933.

Echols came across Zearfoss' name as he was preparing to secure a spot for Sizemore on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial located in Washington, DC.

As Echols was researching Sizemore's death, he discovered Zearfoss was among those who helped out during the Sizemore investigation. Once Echols found that Zearfoss' name was not on the national memorial, he and several others made it their mission to correct the omission.

"There are very few ways to honor someone who gave their life so many years ago," Echols said. "It's really a simple thing for us to do to see that he is honored."

Bill Mehrtens, sergeant-in-arms for the Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge and chairman of the FOP's Memorial Committee, helped work on the application to put Zearfoss' name on the memorial.

He said more than 17,000 names are on the national memorial, honoring those killed in the line of duty since 1791.

"Their sacrifice is no less important just because it happened years ago," he said. "For us, it's kind of a family thing. It doesn't matter what color of uniform of kind of department, they are all our brothers and sisters in blue and it's important that we remember them."

Zearfoss' name could join the engraved ranks on the national memorial at a ceremony in May 2008. - Becky Malkovich, The Southern Illinoisan

---

THE SPARKS RAIL YARD, PFE ICEHOUSE

SPARKS, NV -- A couple of weeks ago, I made a plea to save fading signs painted onto brick buildings, and cited the one on the PFE Icehouse across from the Nugget in Sparks. "What's that?" several wrote. So, away we go:

A haunting reminder of the heyday of Bill Harrah's reign remains visible high on the wall of a brick building south of the train yard: Harrah Automobile Collection the fading white block letters read. Many of us remember fondly the acres of painstakingly-restored cars in that building and the warehouses adjoining it. (When the collection was first moved there from its original location on Lake Street in 1961, the admission was a buck and a business card.)

To weave this tale about the building, we need to reiterate that in the 19th century, California was the produce supplier for the nation. The predominant rail carriers were the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads. And produce, to be taken anywhere once it's plucked, must be refrigerated. But this column is not about railroads or veggies.

Produce grows in the summer, while ice, much to the consternation of the Pacific Fruit Express, a conglomerate owned by the two railroads, forms in the winter. Others have written of the great heritage of our neighboring town of Truckee, its confluence of ungodly freezing temperatures and its proximity to the Truckee River and to sawmills.

The sawmills produced sawdust as a byproduct, which is dandy stuff for storing ice in once it's been harvested from lakes like Boca Reservoir. Properly stored, ice survived frozen well into the summer months. But this column is not about Truckee's rich heritage, either.

The growing volume of produce being moved eastward by the PFE and the lengthening of the growing season because of improving irrigation management began to deplete the harvested ice way too early in the season to allow safe shipment. Ice production became a mandate. The PFE elected to build thick-walled buildings to manufacture and store ice in along the way points of its rail route.

The granddaddy of PFE icehouses was in Roseville on the western threshold of the Sierra, and a smaller facility was planned adjoining the SP's railyard in Sparks. And here I better mention, just to keep Curt Risley happy, that the PFE, which operated autonomously from the Southern Pacific, bought ranch land from Curt's grandparents along Glendale Road at Stanford Way (named for railroad magnate Leland Stanford, natch.)

The main building in Sparks was erected by PFE in 1920; additions to the compressor and tank rooms were made in 1924, along with a bunkhouse, blacksmith shop, cookhouse, dining room and a well house. The plant could manufacture 330 tons of ice daily in the 20-degree building (when the facility was operating full-bore it was reputedly Sierra Pacific Power's largest electric customer.)

Old-timers can remember a roofed, wooden platform extending 1,800 feet in both directions from the icehouse, to shade up to 172 cars that could be iced at once. The ice was delivered to the long icing platform by conveyor and then along its length by a conveyor belt that delivered 37 300-pound blocks a minute.

When the trains were spotted, the PFE employees would slide the blocks off the delivery conveyor onto a plank dropped onto the edge of a hatch on either end of the boxcar being iced. The icing crew was usually 20 men, two men working on each car.

By the early 1950s, small diesel engines and refrigeration equipment had reached a level of cost and reliability that made it realistic to equip produce cars with individual refrigeration units. Boxcar icing began to go by the boards. By 1958, the yellow PFE rolling stock had been converted to mechanized "reefers" and the Sparks and Roseville PFE icehouses were closed.

And in downtown Reno, Bill Harrah, whose auto collection was growing by Maxwells and Reos, struck a deal with the Southern Pacific/PFE to lease the building, and built the best all-afternoon two-dollar show in town for families and auto collectors alike. It was a civic treasure that would endure for two decades.

And that, boys and girls, is the story of Sparks' icehouse. For another Sparks train-yard tale, go to [www.karlbreckenridge.com] .

Have a great week, enjoy what might be spring, and God bless America! - Karl Breckenridge, The Reno Gazette-Journal

---

LEGISLATORS MUST FIX OUTDATED RAIL RULES

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Like many other issues, rail safety falls below the radar screen until tragedy strikes.

In San Antonio, 2004 was the year in which horror jumped the tracks and into our consciousness, forcing the community to confront the dangers of freight train traffic in populated areas.

Of the six major train-related accidents to hit the area that year, the worst occurred when two trains collided in rural Bexar County, ripping open a tank car and spewing chlorine in an accident that killed four.

Then, last fall, 17 cars jumped the tracks in a train derailment near downtown; there were no fatalities, but the near-miss recalled the horrors of 2004, and Mayor Phil Hardberger renewed his efforts to enlist federal aid in his quest to improve rail safety.

A House subcommittee met here this month, the first in a series of hearings to develop legislation to help prevent rail accidents.

"A bill will definitely arise out of these hearings," Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, told the Express-News Editorial Board.

Although fatigue was cited in the fatal accident of 2004, the Federal Railroad Administrations lacks the authority to limit the number of hours that workers can stay on the job.

"FRA's lack of regulatory authority over duty hours, unique to FRA among all the safety regulatory agencies in the department, precludes FRA from making use of almost a century of scientific learning on the issue of sleep-wake cycles and fatigue-induced performance failures,"
Grady Cothen, Jr., an official with the U.S. Department of Transportation, said in a statement to the subcommittee.

Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, who requested the hearing here, said legislation must address the fatigue factors.

"Pilots and truck drivers have limits on their number of hours, but not railroad engineers," he told the Editorial Board.

Congress must address the lack of regulations concerning "duty hours" in the industry. But fatigue is just one area of concern. Others include safety training and railroad infrastructure.

Of the 2,835 accidents in the country last year, Texas had the most, with 342 -- or 12 percent.
Those statistics are intolerable. And they may get worse unless Congress acts. - Editorial Opinion, The San Antonio Express-News

---

DEMOCRAT: TAX RAILROAD FOR OVERCHARGING

HELENA, MT -- If the BNSF Railway Company keeps charging more in Montana than it does shippers in other states, a lawmaker says the company should be hit with a big tax bill.

Rep. Julie French, D-Scobey, said it is time to use the threat of taxes to force BNSF to lower its shipping rates. She introduced a tax measure Friday that she says would get the job done.

"They literally have ranchers and farmers by the neck," French said. "There is no competition."

The idea is not new. It stalled in the 2005 Legislature amid pressure from BNSF officials who promised to sue the state if the new tax were put in place. BNSF Railway Co. is a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

Supporters say the tax is specifically engineered to penalize the company in a way that would prevent them from increasing shipping rates to pay for the tax. If they raised rates, their taxes would also rise.

"All we are asking for is fairness in trade," French said. "This is the only avenue we have to hold BNSF to a fair price."

In 2005, the bill easily cleared the House only to languish in the Senate without a vote. BNSF officials said at the time it would lead them into a costly lawsuit with the state.

A BNSF spokesman was not immediately available for comment on Friday.

The proposed law would measure the rate charged Montana farmers against the rates BNSF charges in other states. The size of the tax increase would depend on the gap in shipping rates between states; the bigger the discrepancy, the higher the taxes, French said.

BNSF hauls more than 90 percent of Montana grain to markets on the West Coast. Farmers have long complained they are overcharged.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer is also seeking money from the Legislature to sue the federal Surface Transportation Board, saying the agency has failed to check BNSF's monopoly power.

French said farmers in Nebraska pay less than those in Montana to ship grain to the same market in Oregon.

"Our ultimate goal is to try to get them to lower the freight rates," she said. "It's a fairness issue." - Matt Gouras, The Associated Press, The Houston Chronicle

---

NEW RAILROAD AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YUMA, STATE, INQUIRY SAYS

YUMA, AZ -- It's one thing to say a proposed railroad through Yuma County to move goods into the U.S. from a new port in Mexico would generate millions of dollars in economic activity and create hundreds of jobs.

It's another to back that up with facts.

"I've been constantly asked to show how there would be some economic value," Gary Magrino, board chairman of the Greater Yuma Port Authority, said of Union Pacific's plans for a railroad to link with a planned port at Punta Colonet on the west coast of Mexico.

Magrino now has something substantive to point to with a study just completed by Arizona State University.

"If Yuma becomes the entry point for a port with the potential to reach the current size of Los Angeles/Long Beach, the possible result would be thousands of jobs and millions of square feet of warehouse space," concluded the study, titled "The Southwest Gateway: Logistics on the Arizona/Mexico Border."

The study was commissioned by the governor's CANAMEX Task Force and conducted by Arnold Maltz, associate professor of supply chain management in the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU. He spent 12 years in transportation and distribution prior to earning his doctorate in logistics marketing.

For sources, Maltz said he drew on reports about other U.S. ports, such as Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as projections for the expected volume of shipping activity of a port at Punta Colonet.

He said his study was done "totally independently" of an economic study conducted for Union Pacific.

The need for a new port is driven by an ever-increasing volume of goods imported from Asia, primarily China, that is straining the current ports, Maltz said. And with the work stoppage at the Long Beach port a few years ago at Christmas time, retailers are pushing for solutions to keep goods flowing to markets.

"It's been projected that to start, Punta Colonet would have 6 percent of what the L.A./Long Beach facilities are doing right now," said Maltz.

That would mean the new port would handle approximately 500,000, 40-foot containers the first year, he said. Of those, 50 percent would be inbound with imports from Asia for distribution in the U.S.; the other 50 percent would be empty containers outbound back to Asia.

That volume could quadruple within seven years, Maltz said.

Estimates are that three, 100-car double-stacked container trains a day would be required to transport those goods into the U.S., he said, and increase with the expected growth at Punta Colonet.

"If Punta Colonet gets built, Arizona stands to be where the trade passes through," said Marisa Paul Walker, executive director of CANAMEX Corridor and Cyberport Projects. "The key question is how to add value to that movement ... let's not just let it run through the state. We want that trade to benefit the region. We can't leave this to the railroad to envision. Their goal is just to move the goods.

"We knew the community is weighing a lot of issues and whether there would be any potential benefits associated with the project," Walker continued. "We asked Arnold (Maltz) to put together a basis for discussion."

After transportation into Arizona, the containers would be processed in one of three ways, Maltz said.

- About half the containers would be transferred to eastbound trains without additional handling after clearing Customs.

- About 30 percent would be unloaded for further processing, such as labeling and repackaging, then be sorted for various destinations and reloaded onto larger domestic containers.

- From 5 to 15 percent of the inbound containers might be put on trucks for delivery within a 500-mile range.

At a minimum, Maltz said, Yuma would need an intermodal yard to move containers around, transloading facilities to reload goods and Customs facilities.

He said he also expects some warehousing would be needed to hold goods until retailers commit to their delivery. Importers could be looking at warehouses of 500,000 square feet and bigger.

"In what is called the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California), there's over 300 million square feet of warehouse space" to store goods that come in through L.A./Long Beach, he said. "Five to seven years ago, that was the entire warehouse space in Chicago."

An additional 14 buildings reportedly are under construction there.

At a conservative estimate, Maltz said, 10-million to 20-million square feet of warehousing could be absorbed in the Yuma area. That means jobs and a need for supplies and services, he said.

Another potential opportunity for Yuma could be development of a distribution center for agriculture products that could then be transported by rail across the nation, he said.

"We've got to have rail to move cargo. Trucks won't do it anymore," said Magrino, speaking from personal experience as the owner of a trucking company. "I'm not minimizing concerns about possible routes. I just ask the community to explore the options." - Joyce Lobeck, The Yuma Sun

---

TRAIN CAR BREAKS APART, CLOSES STREET IN NORMAN, OKLAHOMA

NORMAN, OK -- A broken BNSF Railway Company freight train car that shut down traffic on Robinson Street in Norman, Oklahoma earlier Sunday has been removed and the Robinson Street railroad crossing was open to traffic again between 16:30 and 17:00 hours.

BNSF workers removed the car from the railroad tracks and pushed it on its side earlier today to clear the tracks for traffic, Bob Bledsoe said, assistant Norman fire chief.

The crossing was closed for more than 8 hours earlier today. Trains were running through Norman again Sunday afternoon, but at slower rate of speed until tracks could be completely repaired, Bledsoe said.

A few railroad ties and railroad crossing guard barriers also were damaged in the accident.

BNSF crews worked to repair a broken barrier this afternoon at Acres Avenue that was found laying on the railroad tracks by a Norman Police officer, Bledsoe said.

“There were some mechanical problems with the crossings,” Bledsoe said. “The police officer took the broken arm off the tracks just before one of their (BNSF’s) trains came and ran over it.”

The broken freight car caused no injuries and the corn spill was minimal, Bledsoe said.

The BNSF train bound for Fort Worth had stopped north of Robinson shortly before 08:00 and was restarting after another train passed. The back rails on a single car came off but the wheels stayed on the tracks as did the car.

“Fortunately it was low-speed, the conductor felt a lunge and saw the dust and knew something wasn’t right,” Bledsoe said.

Two fire engines and nine firefighters responded to the scene. - The Norman Transcript

---

MAKING TRACKS ALONG THE DELTA

The Western Railway Museum in rural Solano County, CA is at its best in April, when Scenic Limited trains chuff through the exuberant wildflower displays covering hills and fields at the edge of the Delta. The 5-mile excursions, offered Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays through the month, have docents on hand to distinguish poppies from goldfields from sheep's sorrel.

Train buffs can also take classes on the Scenic Limited's special equipment, including a 1914 observation parlor car. A coach-class ride on the Scenic Limited is free with museum admission ($10 adults, $7 children); first class costs $5. Call (707) 374-2978 or visit [www.wrm.org].

The California State Railroad Museum also fires up its steam engines next weekend to begin summer excursions from the Central Pacific Freight Depot in Old Sacramento on a former SP branch line along Sacramento River levees. For details, call (916) 445-6645 or go to [www.californiastaterailroadmuseum.org].

April 6 is opening day for the Skunk, the old logging train through Mendocino County's redwoods between Fort Bragg and Willits. Round trips to Northspur, midway along the line, leave Fort Bragg every morning; an afternoon barbecue dinner trip runs five days a week. Excursions all the way to Willits will be announced when the station's renovation nears completion. Special wine, beer, history and holiday trains are scheduled through the year. Call (866) 457-4864 or visit [www.skunktrain.com]. - Christine Delsol, The San Francisco Chronicle

---

THE SOUND OF A TRAIN ROLLING IN THE DISTANCE

Everyone loves the sound of a train in the distance. Everybody thinks it's true. -- Paul Simon

Our lives are punctuated by the sounds of freight trains -- at least those of us who live in Texas, in cities large and small. A Union Pacific line runs parallel to my office, close enough that the windows vibrate as cars are coupled and uncoupled. When talking on the phone, I place folks on hold when the whistle wails; two long, one short, then two long blasts means a crossing is imminent. That happens a few times a day.

Sometimes I'm talking to a newspaper buddy in another town, and a train is passing near his office at the same time one is passing near my place, both of us hearing the other's train whistles through the earpiece. Parallel universes, perhaps.

The trains that rattle my office windows and delay conversations once annoyed me, to the point I wrote a column about how those blasted contraptions were going to drive me mad. Either the madness has come to pass, or I've mellowed. Here's hoping to the latter. The trains no longer bother me, though they quite often force a detour to get from home to work. That could increase the commute to five minutes from two. Oh, the joys of small-town living.

At night, the train passes through, the sound muted since I live a bit further away from the rail line. It's comforting for some reason, hearing the wheels of commerce rolling, myriad goods clickety-clacking down the tracks in boxcars invariably covered with spray-painted graffiti. I don't really mind the graffiti on boxcars and tankers, which aren't exactly attractive to begin with, though I'm sure I'd feel differently if I were a railroad executive. The splashes of color and incomprehensible (to me) gang signatures certainly brighten the procession of cars passing by as I try to get to work.

In small Texas towns like Marlin, Corsicana and Giddings, the track still bisects the town. Traffic comes to a halt when a train passes through, often stopping harried motorists just passing through on their way from one big city to another. A particularly lengthy train bushwhacked me in Giddings a few weeks ago, where I was joined by several dozen other vehicles -- most bound for Houston, judging from the car-dealer decals and license plate frames. Way I figure, a train track that can stop traffic near downtown could serve as a chamber of commerce tool. It gives big-city folks a chance to soak in the possible charm of a small town that likely rarely crosses their minds.

One of the prettiest places in Texas is Wild Rose Pass, which is south of Balmorhea in West Texas. The pass supposedly was named by an army lieutenant who passed through in 1849, searching for the Demaree rose, which grows in the springs and seeps of the pass. At least that's what the Handbook of Texas Online says.

State Hwy. 17 winds 30-odd miles through this pass -- a modestly mountainous valley that looks misplaced in this state, as if someone stole it from Colorado while on a deer hunting junket.

A railroad track runs through Wild Rose Pass. One afternoon while driving from Fort Davis to Balmorhea, I saw the Amtrak California Zephyr cutting through that pass, the sunlight glinting off gun-metal colored passenger cars headed west. Antelope were feeding on wild grass in the foreground, wildflowers punctuating the grass like so many exclamation points. An impossibly blue sky completed the vista to perfection.

I rolled down the truck window and heard the train's engine and wheel noise on the wind, there in Wild Rose Pass. I wanted badly to be on that train.

Earlier last week, I walked Town Lake Trail in Austin and heard the familiar refrain of a train passing through on a track that crosses the river south of downtown. The train doesn't stop any traffic downtown. That simply wouldn't do in a big city like Austin, so the train passes overhead on an elevated track, slowly through the city to lessen the danger of derailments, I guess. It was headed north.

By the next morning I was walking along the Trinity River near downtown Fort Worth on a similar urban trail. Again a train slowly passed above, and I wondered if it was the same train and where it was headed. Probably not, probably just another parallel universe.

Everybody does love the sound of a train in the distance. Everybody thinks it's true. - Gary Borders, The Lufkin Daily News

---

JUST WATCHING THE TRAINS GO BY

BOWIE, MD -- The Bowie Railroad Station and Huntington Museum in Old Town Bowie offers one of the area's premier train-spotting perches. The site, which includes a visitors center, station, train operators tower and restored 1920s caboose, is just a few yards from the Northeast Corridor's main tracks -- there are three sets -- used by MARC and Amtrak trains dozens, sometimes hundreds, of times a day.

"A lot of kids, that's their favorite thing to do -- just watch the trains go by," says Ruth Murphy, a museum guide. However, she adds, children are not the only train enthusiasts who engage in train-spotting.

"The biggest train-spotting time is around the Thanksgiving holidays. Hundreds of people of all ages show up to look at all the different trains that pass through," Ms. Murphy says.

To accommodate the big holiday crowds, Amtrak uses trains -- sometimes older and unusual models -- that aren't normally used, Ms. Murphy says, "which is a real treat for train lovers."

Don't worry; there is no need to wait until November. During a recent morning, at least 10 trains passed within an hour.

"Oh, that was the 10:12 northbounder," Ms. Murphy says excitedly as an Amtrak rumbles past. "I've been waving at [the driver] for a year. Now he's finally waving back."

Aside from train-spotting, the site offers a look at local history, in which train history plays an important part.

"The city really grew around the railroad," Ms. Murphy says. "It was a big employer."

The town (formerly known as Huntington) got a railway station in the late 1800s. It was a large, ornate wooden Victorian that lasted just a few decades before burning down. The replacement station also burned down. The station currently on the site has lasted about 100 years. It shows how a waiting room would have looked, including the ticket counter, benches and a wood-fired stove for heat.

In an adjacent room, Ms. Murphy shows visitors what kind of tools train operators would have used 100 years ago. They include large tongs to switch tracks and a portable heater that would be used in winter, when the tracks -- particularly the switches -- were frozen tight. The heater would help thaw the ice so the operators could make the switch.

Ms. Murphy also shows the lanterns of different colors that would be used to signal different things to the driver, such as stop and go.

Visitors can take a 45-minute tour of the entire site with a guide, such as Ms. Murphy, or tour it by themselves.

The next building of interest is the interlocking tower (the railroad industry's equivalent of the airline industry's control tower). In the mid-20th century, various radios and walkie-talkies (on display) were used to communicate between towers -- there were five between Washington and Baltimore -- about scheduling and possible security issues of oncoming trains.

Ms. Murphy has set up a radio that transmits the frequencies train operators use today. Visitors can listen to Amtrak and MARC train operators out of Union Station, for example, in real time.

It used to be, several decades ago, that the train operators working the towers would look at a large panel (which looks a bit like a blackboard) that showed the tracks and switching tracks at and around the station. If a train had to switch tracks, the train operators no longer had to use the manual giant tongs but were able to use a hand crank in the interlocking tower that would switch the tracks for the oncoming train. That maneuver is even easier today.

"It's all computerized nowadays," Ms. Murphy says.

The last -- and for many the biggest and best -- attraction is the restored 1920s red caboose. It doesn't move, which disappoints some children, Ms. Murphy says, but it does allow visitors onboard. It no longer has the stove, toilet or bunks that it had when in operation, but visitors can see how it used to look by viewing the original floor plan on display.

The caboose was the end train car and served as a place for train employees to work, rest, eat and sleep. It also provided, through its cupola -- a raised part of the roof that has windows -- a way for the employees to get an overview of the entire train.

The restored caboose also features information on other area history, such as the founding of Bowie State University and Bowie Race Track.

"And this is, of course, a kids' favorite," Ms. Murphy says, pointing to the train table, complete with miniature wooden tracks and trains, also located in the caboose. There's also a puppet-show stage with puppets that visitors are welcome to use and play with.

Ms. Murphy says she hopes the site soon will acquire an outdoor play set, hopefully a train-related one.

Speaking of the outdoors, the site has a large lawn in front of the tracks and picnic tables.

"We invite people to bring their own picnic lunches -- if it ever warms up -- and just enjoy some good old train-spotting," Ms. Murphy says.

When you go:

What: Bowie Railroad Station and Huntington Museum

Where: 8614 Chestnut Ave., Bowie.

Directions: Take U.S. Route 50 east to Interstate 495. Take I-495 north to exit 20A (Lanham). Get off at 20A, which puts you on Maryland Route 450. Once on Route 450, take Maryland Route 564 east. Stay on Route 564 for about 5.5 miles and then turn right onto 11th Street. The museum and station will be on the right.

Admission: Free.

Hours: 10:00 to 16:00 Tuesdays through Sundays; closed Mondays.

Parking: Free parking lot.

Information: Click on [www.cityofbowie.org] or call 301/575-2488.

Miscellaneous:

• The museum and railroad station do not offer food service, but there are several restaurants in the vicinity, including a grill next door. Old Town Bowie also features a half-dozen antiques stores. Other offerings include five additional museums, including the Belair Mansion and the Radio and Television Museum.

• The museum and railroad station host frequent events such as the Kids' Caboose program, which takes place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on the last Thursday of every month and features tours and train-related stories plus arts and crafts.

- Gabriella Boston, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

---

TRANSIT NEWS

FINANCIAL PINCH TURNS FASTRACKS INTO SIDETRACKS, RTD CRITICS DECRY

DENVER, CO -- Wally Pulliam suggested to his fellow RTD board members last month that they take a hike.

Specifically, he wanted them to take a walk behind Union Station, to feel with their own two feet the difficulties that future FasTracks riders will experience because of changes RTD is making to long-held plans.

Photo here: [mas.scripps.com]

Caption reads: Jon Esty, president of the Colorado Rail Passenger Association, walks back to the freight tracks north of Union Station, where RTD plans to relocate the light-rail station that would force FasTracks users to walk 2 ½ blocks to connect to other lines. RTD chief Cal Marsella says plans are in the works for a bus concourse under a future extension of 17th Street to connect the tracks with the light-rail platform. (Photo by Evan Semon/Rocky Mountain News)

For years, planners envisioned the historic station as the hub of the regional transit system, featuring easy transfers of just several steps between light rail and commuter trains.

Travelers bound for Denver International Airport would tote their bags across a simple station platform to change trains. Buses would be a bit farther away, but still convenient.

But economic reality hit.

Last fall, RTD chose a private master developer for the station who plans to place the light-rail station 2-1/2 blocks out in the valley, right up against the freight train tracks. RTD says it can't afford the original plan.

The RTD board agreed with Pulliam to walk the walk, but the outing was canceled.

The reason? Bad weather.

The irony wasn't lost on Pulliam, who represents the Arvada area on the 15-member board.

"We're going to be asking our riders to take that walk in all kinds of weather," Pulliam said. "But they decided it was too cold, too miserable, whatever, it just wasn't a good day to take a walk."

Mike Rowe, of Citizens for Commuter Rail, said separating the train lines will have huge consequences for the potential success of Union Station.

"No traveler is going to want to walk that distance at grade in inclement weather, carrying backpacks and dragging luggage," Rowe said. "The negative impact of that physical arrangement on developing future ridership will be off the charts."

Other forces are blowing in on the 12-year FasTracks program to shape it into a different look than the $4.7 billion plan that was presented to voters in November 2004.

Some changes are driven by rising costs and the need to trim things to stay within budget; some are being dictated by third parties, such as railroads, beyond RTD's control.

For example, in the year after the vote, railroads decided they would no longer allow any light-rail transit to operate next to their big, heavy freight trains -- although RTD's Southwest Corridor light rail to Littleton has run for nearly seven years without incident alongside one of the busiest freight corridors in the state. Railroads also want to be shielded from lawsuits if they allow RTD to run heavier commuter rail next to their tracks.

Call it sidetracks, the changing face of FasTracks.

In ways both substantial -- the elimination of convenient cross-platform transfers at Union Station -- and minor -- building privacy fences for homeowners along tracks in place of noise walls -- plans that voters saw when they passed FasTracks are being sidetracked.

Plans may still change

RTD told the public leading up to the successful sales tax vote in 2004 that the specifics of each FasTracks project weren't carved in stone. "All improvements will be subject to the results of the final environmental process," the plan notes in at least 11 places.

Yet, even after that final process, plans might not be solid.

The West Corridor light rail, the first FasTracks project out of the chute, already had a completed environmental study at the time of the vote. Yet, it is undergoing cutbacks. RTD has proposed $113 million in trims to the line -- through Denver, Lakewood and Golden -- and says it is still over its $511.8 million budget.

Some of the downgrades in the plans since the public vote:

• Opening-day train schedules on the West Corridor between the Denver Federal Center and the Jefferson County Government Center were reduced to every 15 minutes instead of every five minutes. RTD projects the reduced service will cost it 300 daily riders.

• As a byproduct of the service reduction, RTD will build only a single track between the federal center and Jeffco complex. That means service can't be built up to five-minutes frequencies in the future without adding the second track.

• The light rail will go over Sheridan Boulevard on a bridge north of 10th Avenue instead of staying at ground level and rebuilding Sheridan to bridge over the tracks. Residents wanted the original plan to address traffic problems on Sheridan.

• RTD will reduce the number of security cameras along the West Corridor.

• Instead of four-car station platforms, the West Corridor will have stations built for three-car trains. This is at a time when RTD's policy is to build four-car platforms, even retrofitting the T-REX stations for the added service.

• The Gold Line serving Arvada and Wheat Ridge was planned for light rail but could end up using larger electric commuter rail trains on existing tracks or electric streetcars through neighborhoods. If streetcars are chosen, a study shows travel time to downtown Denver would jump to 41 minutes from 25 for traditional rail.

• RTD originally planned to build drainage systems to handle flooding from a 100-year storm, a high level of prevention. But now, RTD has scaled back its standards for the West Corridor to a five-year storm design and could extend that policy to other corridors.

Representatives of other corridors have seen these belt-tightening moves on the West line and are concerned about what that means for their projects. But the changes aren't being happily accepted along the West Corridor, either.

The 100-year flood plain crosses the light-rail path on 13th Avenue west of Wadsworth Boulevard.
More frequent storms, such as the five-year variety, would send water across the tracks in many locations.

"During those events, the train would be shut down for a period of time," said Dave Baskett, Lakewood's transportation planner. "If it was bad enough, the tracks might be damaged."

Paying the difference

Even some parts of the West Corridor that will be built as planned are only staying that way because they were rescued with outside money after RTD wanted to cut them.

Setting a precedent for other FasTracks corridors, RTD has offered to restore some items it says it has to cut on the West Corridor if cities or other parties are willing to pay the difference instead.

In two cases, Denver has agreed to pony up money to restore RTD-proposed cuts.

Denver will contribute up to $5 million to keep four pedestrian bridges in the plan as FasTracks passes through Lakewood Gulch and Sanchez parks. RTD wanted to eliminate the bridges to save money but agreed to split the cost with Denver.

Denver also has agreed to pay the difference in order to keep the original concrete paving for bike paths along the West Corridor. RTD proposed changing to less costly asphalt.

Whatever changes are made, says RTD's FasTracks team, the agency's goal of completing a regional rail system remains the focus.

"We have to look at the program from the big picture: We are here to provide transit and to provide what was outlined in the FasTracks plan, and we're going to do it," said Pauletta Tonilas, FasTracks spokeswoman. "A lot of this is just smart value-engineering items that are more cost effective for the program. You could look at it as a downgrade, but you could also look at it as a more effective way of doing a corridor.

"The end user will never notice many of these things when the corridors are opened."

RTD chief Cal Marsella says the Union Station change is for the better. Plans are in the works for a bus concourse under a future extension of 17th Street to connect Union Station's commuter tracks with the remote light-rail platform.

It would have moving sidewalks enclosed from the weather. "The bottom line is, the world has changed a lot since the vote," Marsella said.

The new arrangement for transfers works better for Denver's plans for new development. Denver wants to push 18th Street, which now ends at the station, down into the valley for more public access.

"This will meet regional mobility needs and city redevelopment plans with the financial resources we have, as best as we can," Marsella said.

Not everyone on board

Even so, the plan to separate the transfers between light rail and commuter rail stands out as having the most impact on riders.

"When I was out selling FasTracks to voters, it was basically going to be a cross-platform transfer," RTD board member Pulliam said. "What's coming out is a time-consuming walk between the two. It's not a convenient system."

Some transit fans say it's essential that Union Station have the train lines conveniently located next to each other.

"That's what was sold to the voters," said Jon Esty, president of the Colorado Rail Passenger Association. "We say all the major modes have to be located on the station property."

For Esty to be at odds with RTD is notable. Earlier this month, he was one of three individuals and two organizations RTD honored with an award called Champions of Transit for their dedication to the growth and success of RTD's system.

Now, Esty is saying RTD's Union Station design will cost more down the road and limits options for transit expansion.

Rowe, of Citizens for Commuter Rail, which has been advocating rapid transit along the Boulder-Denver corridor for nearly 10 years, said it is "simply unacceptable" to separate the two train systems so far apart.

Right now, the light-rail platform is right next to the passenger train tracks. Moving light rail more than two blocks away is "a giant step backward," he said.

"The irony is that at the existing train station, it's all there right now," Rowe said. "I'm saying what's wrong with this that we have to tear it all up to improve it. In my opinion, it's a project that has just run amok."

But even with moving walkways and cover from the weather, the new plan can't replace a simple walk across the platform.

"People would say you'd walk this far if this were an airport," added Esty. "But this is not an airport. What about the mom going to the airport with two kids?"

Jim Graebner, co-chair of the citizen-based Union Station Advisory Committee to RTD, said the most important thing is to maintain the functionality of the system, regardless of where things end up on the ground.

"If it were a perfect world, I'd do it differently," Graebner acknowledged. "For those people going to the airport from the light rail, that has an impact. Union Station itself may become less utilized and less of a hub because of less pedestrian traffic going through it.

"I'm confident we'll make it work. It's healthy to have a lot of good debate on how we design and build it. We're going to come out all right." - Kevin Flynn, The Rocky Mountain News

---

TOWNS SEEING BOOST FROM TROLLEY SYSTEMS

PEORIA, IL -- Trolley and streetcar systems are by no means cheap. Nor are they self-sufficient, typically operating with the help of taxpayer money. They also aren't a magic solution to urban traffic congestion.

But for some cities that have incorporated trolley systems into their transit systems, the success comes from spurred development and interest in areas that previously went under utilized.

The city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, used a streetcar system to help transform a nearly 70-acre brownfield that once housed automobile production to create about $150 million in new investments along Lake Michigan and the city's core, according to Kenosha's transportation director Len Brandrup.

"It was being used as an impetus to bring people back to the old downtown of Kenosha rather than continue sprawl," he said.

Part of a citywide master plan, the tax-subsidized system is nearing its seventh year in service. It cost about $5 million to build from scratch, has a $300,000 annual operating budget, counts some 60,000 passengers each year -- about as many per hour that board the city's buses -- and charges a quarter each time you hop on.

Brandrup admits the $5 million pricetag to build Kenosha's two-mile line could not be duplicated today based on costs, and it's no money-maker for the city of about 100,000 residents. However, commercial advertising -- often used by public transportation to capture revenue -- is not allowed on the five streetcars they have in operation.

The streetcars are an economic tool to "re-densification of the urban community," he said.

"It's about the only trick left in the bag," Brandrup said. "It's a worthwhile public investment, but make sure it's for the right reason."

Investments along the streetcar line include condos, a new museum, and a museum that has since reopened. Expansion of the streetcar line is in the works.

In Little Rock, Arkansas, the $29 million, 3.4-mile streetcar system has brought in some $300 million in investments since it began in November 2004, officials there said.

Betty Wineland, interim-executive director of the Central Arkansas Transit, said the streetcar system was created initially to connect the state capital with a neighboring burg but has recently been expanded to include the Clinton Presidential Library on its path.

"I would say that it is viewed as very successful," Wineland said, noting more than 3,000 people ride the vintage streetcars every day.

With a new baseball diamond being built in Little Rock and continued development, expansion of the line is expected.

"As more condos and lofts open downtown, people are snapping them up -- there are more residents inhabiting downtown," she said, attributing part of that migration to the streetcars. She estimates more than 225,000 have taken the system in its first two years of operation.

The operating budget this year is expected to be about $700,000. It is funded by Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County.

Charlotte, North Carolina, has a light rail and trolley system that cost about $40 million and has seen more than $300 million in reinvestment along the 2.1-mile line.

"We don't bill it as a people-mover, but people who live along the line do use it to commute," said Jean Leier, a spokesperson with the Charlotte Area Transit System. The trolleys in Charlotte are out of service until November, when a light rail system upgrade will be complete.

And the Tampa, Florida, TECO Line, a 2.4-mile streetcar system, cost $55 million to build but has generated $800 million in economic development.

Columbus, Ohio, Mayor Michael Coleman was recently quoted in The Christian Science Monitor as saying his city has a plan to use a streetcar system to connect the city's spread-out downtown attractions and bring an estimated 6-to-1 return on the initial investment.

With about 20 streetcar and trolley systems operating across the country, it's no wonder that nearly as many are in the planning, design or construction phase. - Dave Haney, The Peoria Journal Star

---

COMMACK MAN INJURED IN LIRR GAP

PORT JEFFERSON, NY -- A Commack, New York man suffered leg injuries Wednesday evening when he fell into the gap between the platform and the Long Island Rail Road train he was exiting, a railroad spokeswoman said.

George Lutz, 59, was taken by ambulance to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center after slipping up to his knee in the gap at Kings Park station at 19:45 hours, spokeswoman Susan McGowan said.

He was exiting one of the railroad's standard diesel trains that left Hunterspoint Station in Queens at 18:30 bound for Port Jefferson, McGowan said.

Lutz was diagnosed with swelling and bruises from ankles to knees on both legs, McGowan said. He was released that night.

He did not return phone calls, and his son said his family did not want the incident publicized.

There were two gap-related injuries at the Kings Park station from 2001 to 2006, according to a Newsday investigation.

From 1995 to 2006, there were more than 800 gap incidents at the commuter railroad's 124 stations, including the death of Natalie Smead, 18, in August. - Michael Amon, Newsday

---

THE END