 |
Railroad Newsline for Friday, 05/18/07
Author: Larry W. Grant
Date: 05-18-2007 - 00:45
Railroad Newsline for Friday, May 18, 2007
Compiled by Larry W. Grant
In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006
RAIL NEWS
GOLDEN SPIKE WILL RISE
NORTH PLATTE, NE -- Gov. Dave Heineman joined nearly 100 officials to officially break ground Wednesday on the Golden Spike Observation Tower west of North Platte.
The tower will overlook the world’s busiest train yard.
Heineman congratulated North Platte for continuing to grow and predicted the $4.4 million project would be good for west central Nebraska and the entire state.
Tourism is the third leading industry in Nebraska, Heineman noted.
Planners expect at least 20,000 visitors will come to the tower in the first year, based on similar attendance at Buffalo Bill’s Rest Ranch on the north edge of town.
They expect as many as 40,000 visitors annually as word spreads.
The opening will be next summer, chairman DiAnn Kolkman said.
“It’s a great project,” architect Lee Davies of North Platte said. “It’s inspiring. We have the world’s biggest classification yard. It’s natural to take advantage of it.”
The tower will face northwest toward the west “hump” about a mile away, where 3,000 rail cars a day roll into a “bowl” of multiple tracks. The cars are hooked together to become new trains.
Every 24 hours, Bailey Yard handles 15,000 railroad cars.
The top floor of the tower will afford a view in every direction.
Visitors can also watch the 140 coal trains that come through Bailey Yard on an average day, stopping only long enough to be fueled, lubed and inspected.
A considerable amount of dirt work has begun at the 10-acre site slightly more than a mile west of North Platte.
Dirt has been hauled in to build the base of the parking lot and more will be hauled in coming weeks. A large hole is ready for below-ground pilings and the foundation.
The tower itself could start to go up in 2-3 weeks, construction superintendent Dave Burkhead said.
The base of the tower will look like an old-time train depot. Inside, a “Hall of Fame” will house historical items and other items of interest.
Visitors on the top floor, with their shoes 95 feet above the ground, can look in all directions from inside a bank of windows. One floor below, people can step outside and face Bailey Yard.
Bailey Yard Superintendent Cameron Scott said employees would benefit.
“From a personal standpoint, it will be great for us and for our families and friends,” Scott said. “We’re proud of what we do here. But now, there’s not a good way to bring family and guests out here and show them.”
John Way, treasurer of the project, said organizers have about a sizeable cushion of $800,000 in cash reserves. The United States Department of Agriculture has loaned them up to $4.1 million for 22 years, at a “great rate” -- fixed interest of 4.125 percent.
The budget allocates $4.4 million to build and finish the tower. That includes the cost of a new main water line to the Spike from the city limits, Kolkman said.
Even if no additional visitors were to come to see Bailey Yard from the tower, the USDA loan could be repaid from existing motel taxes, as long as the number of overnight visitors to North Platte remains steady, Way said. - George Lauby, The North Platte Bulletin
DERAILMENT TAKES A TOLL
Photo here:
[www.thenewstribune.com]
TACOMA, WA -- Two Union Pacific Railroad freight train engines derailed and knocked several cars from another train off the tracks south of DuPont early Wednesday.
The derailment caused a power outage, shut down part of a nearby roadway and halted Amtrak passenger train service.
No one was hurt.
Crews were working Wednesday evening to right the derailed engines and clean up the debris. Heavy equipment and cranes were being brought in, said Jenny Sharp, a spokeswoman for the DuPont Fire Department.
“We’re hoping the derailment will be cleaned up in the next 24 hours,” she said Wednesday afternoon.
Photo here:
[www.thenewstribune.com]
Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway were investigating the derailment. Its cause and the speed of the trains weren’t immediately available.
The collision and derailment occurred at a switching area about 03:15 hours Wednesday. A southbound Union Pacific train from Seattle to Chicago derailed about 1.5 miles east of Interstate 5 near the Mounts Road-Old Nisqually Road exit, Sharp said.
Two of the four engines pulling the southbound train came off the tracks. One locomotive skidded at least 75 feet down a steep embankment and came to rest at a 45-degree angle in one lane of Old Nisqually Road. As they derailed, the engines pushed several freight cars of a northbound train off the track. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the northbound train, heading from Portland to Seattle, was moving at the time.
The engines also took down some power lines, knocking out electricity to the City of DuPont.
Puget Sound Energy had power restored by about 05:30 hours, Sharp said.
The derailment closed Old Nisqually Road and Exit 114 of Interstate 5.
Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said the southbound train had 111 cars, plus the four engines, while the northbound train had two locomotives and 98 cars. Both trains were hauling shipping containers, Davis said.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe shut down the tracks for the day, canceling the Amtrak Cascades and Amtrak Coast Starlight service between Seattle and Tacoma. The trains weren’t expected to be available until sometime Thursday, Amtrak reported.
INFORMATION
Amtrak passengers affected by Wednesday’s accident near DuPont can call Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) or visit [www.amtrak.com] for updated information. - Stacey Mulick, The Tacoma News Tribune
RAILROAD ACCIDENT CLEARING DELAYED
TACOMA, WA -- The clearing of a section of railroad track where two Union Pacific trains derailed Wednesday has been delayed, officials said Thursday.
Crews had initially hoped to have freight and passenger rail service restored by 07:00 hours Thursday, but that has been pushed back to noon instead, James Barnes of Union Pacific said.
"This is a significant project," he said. "We're making great progress and we're working safely and efficiently, but we're now targeting for noon."
Gus Melonas of BNSF Railway Company said that one main line is expected to open by 12:00 hours, while the second will open by about 13:00 Thursday.
Two morning Amtrak trains were canceled, but all midday and afternoon passenger services are expected to run per schedule, he said.
Freight trains that had been using alternate routes are also expected to resume on these tracks this afternoon.
The priority is to make the necessary repairs to the tracks so that services can be restored quickly, Barnes said.
Overnight, crews rerailed two locomotives as well as several railcars, Melonas said. Two locomotives remain and are expected to be rerailed and moved out of the area by the end of next week. It could take up to three weeks to clear out all debris from the derailment site.
For drivers, Old Pacific Highway at Kuhlman Road is still closed and won't be reopened until later Friday at the earliest, Thurston County road operations supervisor Lane McAllister said.
Because the actual site of the derailment is in Pierce County, crews in Thurston County are coordinating road reopenings with that of Pierce County so as not to hinder any repair work that is being done there, he said.
In Pierce County, Mounts Road was still closed Thursday morning at about 07:00 hours. - April Chan, The Olympian
BLAST FROM THE PAST TO ROLL AS PUGET SOUND STEAM SPECIAL
Photo here:
[seattlepi.nwsource.com]
Caption reads: Five-year-old Stephen Breckenridge of Mount Vernon marches along as he gets a look Wednesday at Steam Locomotive No. 844, the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944. It is currently on display at the rail yard in Fife, along with other steam locomotives. (Scott Eklund / P-I)
SEATTLE, WA -- Life is full of wonderful occupational prospects when you're 6 or 7: professional Wiffle ball player or coloring-book artist, designer of Jetsons-style flying cars and, best of all, steam-locomotive engineer.
Alas, by age 8, the cruel realities of the world are all too apparent: No one will pay you to fill in coloring books or swat a perforated plastic ball with a plastic bat, and the technology to make cars fly still doesn't exist.
Worst of all, you were born decades too late to be at the throttle of a steam locomotive.
When Union Pacific 844 and Southern Pacific 4449 come charging through town Friday and Saturday at the head of an excursion train making the Tacoma-Everett round trip, more than a few spectators will wave at the engineer and wish, with a mixture of wistfulness and envy, that they'd been around for the glory days of steam locomotives.
But there are still people around who weren't born too late, who worked for the railroads in the waning days of steam.
What they remember are the noise and the heat and the smoke and the constant work to keep a steam locomotive running -- and the fun.
"It was pretty hot stuff," says Jack Christensen, who spent 57 years with the Northern Pacific and its successor, the Burlington Northern.
Christensen, whose father was a machinist with the Northern Pacific, started at age 16 as a laborer and worked through such jobs as hostler's helper, fire cleaner, supply boy and crew caller, eventually working up to fireman and then engineer.
Being a fireman was a particularly demanding job. While some locomotives used mechanized stokers to move coal from the tender to the firebox (and some used oil instead of coal), there were still plenty of hand-stoked locomotives to be operated.
Christensen remembers performing the fireman's ballet of "one foot on the locomotive, one on the tender. ... The locomotive is rocking one direction, the tender is rocking another." All the while the fireman is trying to maintain his balance while also trying to hit the open door of the firebox with a shovelful of coal (and firing a locomotive was more than just throwing the coal in, but making sure the fire was evenly distributed). Staring into the firebox too long, especially at night, could leave one "fire blind."
Many of those locomotives were also "innocent of any speedometer," Christensen adds. Crew members estimated speed by the passage of mileposts and the locomotive's own rhythm.
It wasn't just the equipment on the tracks that changed dramatically but the surrounding scenery. Christensen recalls running 100-car freight trains over what he calls the belt line -- the loop of track on the east side of Lake Washington that King County proposes to buy and turn into a trail. Trains crossed Bellevue's Northeast Eighth Street where, he says, "There was not a building in sight."
Frank Scobee, another veteran of the NP (and, like Christensen, son of an NP employee) remembers the Seattle waterfront when it was laced with railroad tracks. He worked shuttling cars from the piers to the switching yards, with crews occasionally taking their breaks at Ivar's.
Steam had its distinct drawbacks for those working on them. The Northern Pacific's bigger steam engines were a tight fit for the Stampede Pass tunnel -- so tight that the heat and smoke were blasted back on the crew in the locomotive's cab. Eventually the railroad went to using smaller locomotives to get trains over the pass. Even so, crew members had to wear masks (which Scobee says were really just wet sponges) while going through the tunnel.
But, Christensen says of such discomforts, "At 18 or 20, that stuff is nothing."
(To the extent that one ride in a steam locomotive cab equates to a career spent in one, your friendly neighborhood business columnist can verify the descriptions. One of the greatest professional thrills ever was to ride in the cab of a steam locomotive as it raced down the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia at the head of an excursion train.)
(The train was traveling at 50 mph. Between the jolts and sways, the assault on the senses from the noise of the locomotive, the opening and closing of the firebox door and coal trains passing in the opposite direction, it felt like 100. No amusement-park ride could ever hope to equal the experience.)
Diesel locomotives began showing up in World War II, and by the late 1950s steam was largely gone from mainline railroads such as the NP. Steam "was wonderful until we got diesels," Scobee says. "Then it was like being gentlemen"
As much skill and experience as is required to control a diesel at the head of a long freight train, the job lacks some of the romantic pull that being a steam locomotive engineer once had for generations of kids.
And may still have. A remark by Christensen probably won't help those trying to cope with a sense of having been born at the wrong time. "I'm surprised they paid us at all, it was so much fun."
CATCH THE TRAIN
The schedule for the Puget Sound Steam Special:
Thursday: Locomotives on display at Fife Yard, 08:00-17:00 hours.
Friday: Depart Tacoma Amtrak station 10:00; 12:00-14:00 hours in Everett; 16:30 hours arrive at Tacoma Amtrak station. This excursion is closed to the public.
Saturday: Depart Tacoma Amtrak station 10:00; 12:00-14:00 hours in Everett; 16:30 hours arrive at Tacoma Amtrak station. This excursion is open to the public.
Sunday/Monday: Locomotives on display at Fife Yard, 08:00-17:00 hours.
Information about tickets to the public excursion, when and where the locomotives can be viewed and the routes of the trains from Tacoma to Seattle and Everett can be found at [www.upsteam.com] and htto://www.orhf.org. Tickets can be bought online from TicketsWest at http:www.goto.seattlepi.com/r746 or by calling 800-992-8499. - Bill Virgin, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
INTERFERING WITH RAILROAD PROPERTY
SHERMAN-DENISON, TX -- For the second time in a week, railroad property in the Sherman, Texas area has been tampered with. Officer Jeff Jones reported that he went to a location near Graystone and Frisco roads Monday morning and met with a railroad representative who wanted to report damage to signals. Jones said that between Thursday and Monday, someone cut the copper electrical wires from the railroad crossing signal and broke into an electrical box. He had gained access by cutting off a padlock. Damage is estimated at more than $450.
Several days ago, the same railroad company reported similar vandalism to police. - The Sherman-Denison Herald Democrat
PARTNERSHIP PONDERED TO QUIET TRAIN NOISE
GRAND ISLAND, NE -- Grand Island, Nebraska's Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA) talked Wednesday about the possibility of sharing the cost of installing directional horns downtown.
Specifically, the CRA is looking at reducing train noise at Elm, Walnut, Pine and Oak streets.
Directional horns are mounted at train crossings and sound directly at traffic when a train is approaching as opposed to sounding the horn on the train. The result is a reduction in noise pollution from a train horn sounding up and down the tracks.
"In my opinion, the (existing train) horns are a condition of blight in the downtown," CRA Director Chad Nabity said. "They are a disincentive to making an investment in downtown."
Nabity said the downtown is making a request to the CRA for directional horns to be installed.
The same request from the downtown has already been made to the city.
The horns typically cost about $250,000 per railroad crossing, but because of a Union Pacific track upgrade, the horns would cost just $60,000 per crossing.
"We couldn't even consider it before," said Grand Island City Councilwoman Peg Gilbert, who is a liaison to the CRA.
Gilbert said she feels the horns are critical to a downtown that is finally getting its wings through the adoption of the Lied Main Street program. Lied Main Street focuses on downtown visioning, development and business recruitment.
"They are truly getting a vision and excitement," Gilbert said.
But trying to do business or host events downtown is difficult, she said. The trains are disruptive to outdoor and indoor activities because of the loudness of the horns and the sheer number of trains (about 75 a day) -- a frequency that will increase once UP finishes its track upgrade, Gilbert said.
"It will be more uncomfortable to do business downtown," she said. "It's horrible to have a meeting in the (Grand Island Area) Economic Development Corp. conference room."
The economic development offices are at Third and Locust streets -- just a block south of the tracks.
CRA member Tom Gdowski said if trains are part of the Grand Island's long-term future -- and they are -- it makes sense to look at investing money in the directional horns.
But CRA Chairman Barry Sandstrom didn't want the CRA to make a commitment in its budget just yet.
"I prefer we look at a partnership," he said.
Ideally, Sandstrom wants a cost-share with the CRA, the city and the Downtown Improvement Board.
Nabity said a financial commitment from the downtown, which operates solely on self-imposed taxes, would be difficult to get. He said perhaps the downtown's commitment can come through the offering to close driveways and install medians leading into some downtown crossings.
The closed driveways and medians could meet federal requirements to create what's known as a "quiet zone." That's an area where trains don't have to sound horns at all.
The quiet zones may work best at crossings that don't have a lot of businesses with driveways nearby. Crossings mentioned included Pine Street and Elm Street.
The CRA agreed it would leave its budget categories rather open in description so that a possible cost-sharing on directional horns could be done if partnerships are found.
Public Works Director Steve Riehle has previously stated he will seek funding in his budget for the coming year to put toward directional horns. However, that budget can be adjusted by city administration and the city council before it's finalized in September. - Tracy Overstreet, The Grand Island Independent
EXPANDING ETHANOL INDUSTRY IMPACTS GRAIN TRANSPORTATION
As the ethanol industry's demand for corn continues to increase, grain transportation may need to adjust to reflect the changes, the USDA's Transportation Services Branch reports.
More U.S. corn is expected to be used for ethanol than for exports in 2007/08, which means more corn would be moving short distances to nearby ethanol plants rather than being exported.
Rail grain loadings through May 5 were down 7.4% compared to the same period last year. Most corn going to distant feedlots and poultry producers travels by rail, but corn traveling short distances to ethanol plants usually goes by truck. Historically, corn makes up about half of railroad grain loadings. - California Farmer
MASCOT FOR SANTA FE SCHOOL? 'THE EXPRESS' TO HONOR CLEBURNE'S RAILROAD HERITAGE
CLEBURNE, TX -- In honor of Santa Fe Elementary School’s railroad heritage, the Cleburne ISD school board approved the option Monday to designate the new campus’ mascot The Santa Fe Express.
The idea for using The Express as a name didn’t come from the board members. It came from the staff who will be at the new school when it opens soon.
“We talked about it and felt that we wanted to stick with the idea of trains,” said Coleman Elementary Principal Susie Sarchet, who will take over at Santa Fe next year. “But we didn’t want to be called the Trains or the Choo-Choos.”
After considering the options, The Express seemed to fit best because it addresses Cleburne’s historical roots and is named after a very efficient and state-of-the-art train, Sarchet said.
Santa Fe Railroad for years employed many at its service shops in Cleburne.
Santa Fe is one of three new elementaries under construction in CISD, each housing grades kindergarten through five. Santa Fe is off Fergason Road near U.S. 67. - Philip Navarrette, The Cleburne Times-Review
IDLE RAIL CARS HERE FOR A WHILE
PEORIA, IL -- Thirty tank cars sitting idle along a small section of the Kellar Branch rail line have drawn the attention of visitors to the adjacent Rock Island Trail as well as some ire from city officials.
For nearly two weeks, the tankers owned by Granville-based Central Illinois Railway, which once contained highly flammable liquids, have been parked near the east end of Chanute Road, located behind a handful of businesses and just west of the Mount Hawley Airport.
They likely will remain there until at least the end of summer, City Manager Randy Oliver said Wednesday.
"Frustration," Oliver said of the latest result of what's become more or less a tug-of-war over the Kellar Branch.
Oliver said the rail company reports the vessels are empty and firefighters have visually inspected their exteriors to ensure nothing is leaking.
"We have been assured they are empty," said city attorney Randy Ray, noting, though, some of the tankers may still contain highly flammable residue, up to 3 percent, even though they are considered empty. "So we do have concerns."
Oliver said there's currently nothing the city can do to force CIRY to remove the tank cars off the city-owned rail line, short of filing some sort of restriction with the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that oversees railroads. That's currently being discussed.
Whether that would fly isn't known. Ray said the railroad company is breaking no law. And other railroad officials say parking rail cars is a common practice that can generate revenue.
It's also unclear whether more cars could arrive in Peoria.
Calls to CIRY officials on Wednesday went unreturned.
Fire Chief Kent Tomblin said the tank cars previously held non-odorized propylene and liquid petroleum gas, both highly flammable. None of the rail cars appeared to be in poor condition or leaking, he said.
"From the Fire Department's standpoint, they don't present any more of a hazard than if they were rolling through town," Tomblin said.
Both Ray and Oliver said the city has received calls from residents inquiring about the tank cars as they sit adjacent to the Rock Island Trail, a walking and biking trail that runs north from Pioneer Parkway.
Peoria petitioned the government in 2005 to kick Pioneer Industrial Railway off of the Kellar Branch short line and allow CIRY to operate. The hope was to then get the rail line abandoned, thus making way for expansion of the Rock Island Trail through Peoria.
Pioneer has since appealed. The federal STB has yet to rule.
"Whether you support a rail or a trail, parking cars on the rail does not support either one," Oliver said. - Dave Haney, The Peoria Journal Star
BLACK HAWK LINE BEST FOR AMTRAK
ROCKFORD, IL -- State officials say the best route for Amtrak to come back to Rockford is the one that it left in 1981. The Illinois Department of Transportation chose the old Black Hawk route from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa, which Amtrak says is the quickest, cheapest and potentially most popular of the four routes studied.
Now local leaders have to convince state officials to fund the $32 million in rail improvements. Service could start in 2009 or 2010.
The Black Hawk route uses the most direct rail line from Chicago to Rockford, going through Hillside and Genoa. Residents leaned toward the Black Hawk route during a public meeting last month, while local officials said they’d support whichever route IDOT chose.
“This quick decision was made possible because our local officials put their personal preferences aside and did what was best for the region,” U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, said. “As a result, we are closer than ever to restoring daily passenger rail service to northern Illinois.”
It was less than a year ago that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., started the process with a public meeting in Rockford gauging interest in restoring service. Amtrak studied options and released a report earlier this year.
But it’s uphill from here, officials warned. There’s no money in the state’s proposed 2007-08 budget for the rail improvements, so local leaders have to lobby for a last-minute addition or hope for something next year.
Mayor Larry Morrissey and others around the state will testify today before the Illinois House Railroad Safety Committee about the need to expand Amtrak service to Rockford, Peoria and elsewhere.
Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland, said the state needs to pass a capital improvement plan to fund these expansions. State Democrats and Republicans have competing plans, with a budget deadline this month.
“We think that it’s still possible this summer,” Winters said.
Janet Fisher, co-chair of the Blackhawk Area Railroad Coalition, said her group will circulate a letter supporting the funding this month. She’ll ask residents to sign the letter and send it to lawmakers.
Rail advocates like Fisher are optimistic there’s enough ridership to keep trains running this time.
Latest Amtrak estimates project 77,500 passengers a year, down from original projections of 113,000. The estimated travel time also increased -- just over two hours from Chicago to Rockford and five hours for the whole route.
While passenger numbers would be lower than longer-running state-sponsored routes from Chicago to St. Louis, Quincy and Carbondale, they would be higher than some similar routes in other states, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
“Certainly, that is significant ridership, and that is a lot of cars that are off the road and a lot of people that are getting to and from Chicago,” Magliari said. “Down the road, it’s possible to make other improvements to the railroad to get some higher ridership numbers.”
Amtrak is working with Canadian National Railway to use its tracks for most of the 182-mile stretch and to develop a plan for upgrading infrastructure.
Other things are still up in the air.
The state needs to find trains for the route because Amtrak doesn’t have enough. There will be about five stations between Dubuque and Chicago, including the possibility of two in Rockford, but those haven’t been decided.
IDOT chose the Black Hawk route over three others -- one that went through Marengo and Belvidere, one that went through Davis Junction and past Chicago/Rockford International Airport, and one that combined the airport and Black Hawk routes. - Thomas V. Bona, The Rockford Register Star
RAILROAD TRAFFIC HAS ANOTHER DOWN WEEK, REPORTS THE AAR
WASHINGTON, DC -- Carload freight and intermodal traffic on United States railroads were both down for the week ending May 12 compared to the same timeframe last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Thursday.
Although monthly and weekly volume has been down for much of this year, the AAR said some of last week’s declines can be attributed to major flooding in various areas of the United States.
The AAR said that intermodal volume totaled 232,435 trailers or containers for the week ending May 12, which was down 3.9 percent from the corresponding week in 2006. Intermodal container volume was down 1.1 percent, and intermodal trailer volume was down 13.6 percent.
And carload freight, which does not include intermodal data, came in at 320,620 cars for the week, down 7.0 percent from the same week last year. Carload loadings were down 8.5 percent in the west and 5.1 percent in the east. The AAR said total volume was estimated at 32.7 billion ton-miles, which is down 5.8 percent from 2006.
Of the 19 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR, 15 were down from last year, with lumber and wood products down 25.1 and metallic ores down 16.9 percent. Food and kindred products saw a 3.4 percent increase, and waste and petroleum products were up 2.7 percent.
Cumulative volume for the first 19 weeks of 2007 totaled 6,110,454 carloads, which was down 4.4 percent from the same week in 2006, said the AAR. Trailers or containers -- at 4,313,308 -- was off 1.1 percent and total volume of an estimated 620.7 billion ton-miles was down 3.1 percent year-over-year. - Logistics Management
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STEPS UP RAIL TRACK INSPECTIONS
Two new railroad cars will examine tracks around the country in an effort to detect flaws and prevent derailments, federal railroad officials said Wednesday.
The custom inspection cars will use laser technology to find problems such as tracks that have been bent, or have the wrong distance between them. They are being added to the Federal Railroad Administration's fleet of three existing cars and will enable the agency to inspect three times as much track annually, or nearly 100,000 miles of track per year.
"Finding track problems and getting them fixed before a train accident occurs is key to safeguarding communities," Joseph Boardman, head of the railroad administration said in a prepared statement.
Over the coming months, the cars will inspect railroad lines owned by Norfolk Southern Corp., CSX Corp., Union Pacific Corp. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., an agency spokesman said.
Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office said federal railroad officials have made progress toward identifying the most dangerous parts of the nation's rail system in the wake of several accidents, but more work needs to be done to evaluate the effectiveness of that effort.
While the railroad administration has developed ways to measure safety in such areas as accidents caused by human errors, track defects and equipment problems, it does not have ways to evaluate the success of its inspection and enforcement programs, the report found. The report also said inspectors are only able to examine less than 1 percent of the rail system every year. - The Associated Press, Forbes.com
APPREHENSION ABOUT CP STRIKE TAKES HOLD AT PORT
VANCOUVER, BC -- Nervous Lower Mainland port and truck operators are wondering where the first telling blows of 3,200 Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. track maintenance workers who went on strike Wednesday might fall.
The only victim Wednesday appeared to be Pacific Coast Terminals in Port Moody. Pickets appeared at the bulk loading facility early in the morning and members of the ILWU local 500 declined to cross the lines.
"That appeared to be the only location in the Port of Vancouver that was affected ... but we expect we will see some more activity," said port spokesman Duncan Wilson.
There were also reports of information pickets appearing briefly at Fraser River Port but there was no operational disruption.
CP said the strike delayed trucks in Vancouver and Toronto.
"By slowing traffic by 10 minutes, it's not going to impact train service," CP Rail spokesman Mark Seland said.
Delivery of intermodal containers represented 28 per cent, $311.6 million, of CP Rail's freight revenues during the first quarter.
Paul Landry, president of the B.C. Trucking Association said he had heard only one report of a picket at Fraser docks and there appeared to be no other problems.
"I know we would have heard about it if there were," he said.
Train traffic across Canada also stayed on track after the workers hit the bricks.
Any shutdown would be very serious for the Lower Mainland, a senior shipping industry official who did not wish to be named, said Wednesday.
"If [the ports] were shut down for any length of time it would be very serious indeed," he said.
The ports are already in a catch-up situation as a result of an earlier strike by CN workers and bad winter weather.
Shippers across the country have already raised concerns about the impact a second railway strike in four months would have on their bottom line.
"We could probably go for a few days, if there were service delays and disruptions," Maureen Fitzhenry, with the Canadian Wheat Board said.
"But when we start getting into a week or more, that's when things start getting unsustainable."
CP Rail said the strike was not disrupting its tightly scheduled freight runs. Canada's second-largest railway said there are no further talks scheduled with the Teamsters.
The fight is largely over money.
CP has offered pay increases of three per cent this year, four per cent in 2008 and three per cent in 2009. The union is seeking a 13-per-cent raise over the three-year period. The last contract expired in December.
The stoppage is the second to hit a Canadian railroad this year.
In February, 2,800 Canadian National conductors and yard workers represented by the United Transportation Union walked out for two weeks. In April, federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn pushed back-to-work legislation through, saying the dispute hurt the economy and threatened some rural communities.
Yesterday, he said that the government has the right to intervene if security or the health of the economy is threatened. - Ashley Ford, The Vancouver Province
ADDISON TRAIN DEPOT COMES HOME
Photo here:
[www.dallasnews.com]
Caption reads: Mark Hitchcock led the effort to move the Addison train depot from the Church of the Holy Communion to the end of Broadway Street in Addison, close to the depot's original home. Renovations to the depot could cost $300,000. (Nathan Hunsinger/DMN)
ADDISON, TX -- A piece of history rolled into town early Wednesday morning, under cover of darkness and with careful navigation of overhead power lines.
The Addison train depot left its home of 44 years -- the Church of the Holy Communion adjacent to the Frankford Cemetery in Far North Dallas -- and returned to the town it jump-started more than 100 years ago.
"We're just thrilled to have it back," City Manager Ron Whitehead said.
E.F. Hitchcock, who died two years ago, took the depot out of Addison in 1963. His house-moving company, led by grandson Mark, returned it.
"When the church contacted me, I dropped everything I was doing and went over there," Mr. Hitchcock said. "I wanted possession of it. I didn't want anything to happen to it."
The church gave Mr. Hitchcock ownership of the depot in exchange for removing it. He planned to store the building until he found an appropriate buyer. A church member thought Addison officials might want it and called Mr. Whitehead.
"I always knew it was there, but I never thought we'd have an opportunity to get it," Mr. Whitehead said. "I always imagined it would be there forever."
Workers loaded the building onto beams and dollies and pulled it with a truck. It stood about 22 feet tall, stretched 55 feet long and spanned 28 feet wide at its roof overhangs.
The journey started at midnight Tuesday. The truck navigated around traffic signals and under power lines raised with a bucket truck. Police escorted it along neighborhood streets and the wrong way down the Dallas North Tollway access road.
As the depot crossed the tollway's Arapaho Road overpass, a worker climbed to the roof to nudge a dangling traffic signal. Council member Tom Braun rode shotgun in the truck as it pulled the depot into Addison city limits.
The trip, about 4 miles, took 3-1/2 hours.
The town bought the depot from Hitchcock House Movers for $40,000, the approximate moving cost. Renovations could cost $300,000, Mr. Whitehead said. The council has not yet authorized those expenditures.
Town officials want to restore the depot and use it as a community building or museum. They hope to solicit donations and rally volunteers to cut costs.
"I saw this as a project the community could get behind," Mr. Whitehead said. "I think there would be a lot of appeal to that."
Council members initially were hesitant to commit to so much money but eventually agreed they could not overlook the depot's importance. Mr. Whitehead noted that a previous council had the same hesitation about spending $100,000 to restore the Works Progress Administration-built Stone Cottage.
"I've never been sad that the Stone Cottage is there with its history," said council member Jimmy Niemann. "And I feel eventually we'll feel the same way about this."
The Cotton Belt rail line connecting Memphis, Tennessee, to Fort Worth -- and passing through the community later to be called Addison – was completed in 1902. Town pioneer W.W. Julian donated a half-acre for a train depot.
"The significance of the depot to the town is that without the railroad, Addison probably wouldn't be here," said Liz Oliphant, an Addison resident who does public relations work for the town.
"By donating land for a depot, Mr. Julian assured Addison's growth. The community of Frankford died as Addison grew."
Tiny Frankford was east of the Dallas North Tollway near Hilton Head Drive. When the Cotton Belt bypassed it, the residents moved away. All that remains is the cemetery and neighboring church.
The railroad, which closed the depot after it discontinued passenger service, in 1963 gave the Addison depot to the Church of the Holy Communion, which the Episcopal Diocese revived that year as a mission. The church used the depot over the years as a Sunday school classroom, parish hall and vestry.
But the congregation has grown, and last year it built a new church building. The congregation no longer needs the depot.
A handful of church members gathered Tuesday night to watch the depot leave. Cab and Lyndall Link watched about 01:00 hours as the depot crept through the intersection of Knoll Trail Drive and Keller Springs Road.
"We have loved and enjoyed this building for many years," Mr. Link said. "The depot meant a lot to us. It's touching to see it go."
Addison officials plan to place the depot on town land at the end of Broadway Street just north of the Cotton Belt tracks. The location allows for connection to future rail developments when Dallas Area Rapid Transit starts using the Cotton Belt.
The spot also is close to the depot's original home just to the southwest, where the tracks formed a Y and branched into the now-abandoned spur line to Dallas. Until a foundation is built in about a month, the depot is parked on town land near Addison Road and Festival Way. - Elizabeth Langton, The Dallas Morning News
RAIL IMPROVEMENT PLAN GOING NOWHERE UNTIL LAWMAKERS MAKE TRACKS
One doesn't have to be mired in midday traffic on Interstate 35 or fuming while a 7,000-foot freight train clears a grade crossing to know that Texas' transportation arteries are going from clogged to worse.
Two years ago, the Legislature took one practical step toward relieving the congestion by proposing a "Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund" to help pay for moving freight-rail tracks away from crowded cities, to make getting around safer and more efficient for urban road users and railroad operators.
Texas voters approved this simple and effective remedy in a constitutional amendment election, but there's still one little element missing. The Legislature to date has put no money into the well-intentioned but empty fund -- not one dime, even though the Texas Department of Transportation estimates there are at least $17 billion worth of such rail relocations that could benefit the state right now.
Several legislators in the current session are trying to make at least a start at putting money into the fund. Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has proposed taking $25 million from the $118 million-strong Texas Emissions Reduction Program, citing the air-quality benefits of reducing road and rail congestion. And Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, is seeking a rider in the 2008-09 appropriations bill to put $150 million in general revenue into the relocation fund.
The relocation of the freight-rail lines, most operating at full capacity, would have multiple benefits for road and rail users. Safety would be enhanced by the elimination of hundreds of grade crossings and by moving hazardous-material loads away from densely settled areas. The carrying capacity of the rail lines would be increased by faster track speeds. The environment would be enhanced by the more efficient movement of cars, trucks and trains. And current urban rail routes would become available for road rights-of-way or commuter-rail operations.
The Austin area has a prime candidate for just such a relocation -- the Union Pacific's north-south main line through the city, which, if relocated east of Austin, would eliminate troublesome curves, grades and road crossings for the freight operation and make the existing route available for high-speed commuter-rail service. The costs of such a shift would be split between the state relocation fund and the private railroad owner, according to the terms of a 2005 agreement governing public-private relocation projects.
Time in the legislative session is ticking away for pending measures, but financing the Rail Relocation Fund could be accomplished with ease if lawmakers are serious about the clogged state of Texas' roads and railways. With all forms of transportation in Texas' urban heartland swelling in volume daily, solutions such as rail relocation can wait no longer.
Time to put the cash where the voters intended. - Editorial Opinion, The Austin American-Statesman
TOURIST TRAIN DECISION IMMINENT
DEADWOOD, SD -- A Fourth Circuit Judge said Monday he would decide soon whether a proposed tourist train from Whitewood to Deadwood, South Dakota could proceed.
Arguments continue in a case involving the Northern Hills Railroad Authority and landowners with property in the old right-of-way of a proposed rail line that would link Rapid City and Deadwood via Whitewood. Fourth Circuit Court Judge Randall Macy noted his decision of whether or not the right-of-way was abandoned and reverted back to the landowner could come as early as next week.
Attorneys for the Authority and for landowner Jim Swaby appeared before Macy in Deadwood Monday. Railroad attorney Tom Brady argued that the federal Surface Transportation Board has the power to determine when a rail service is abandoned and when it is reclaimed. Rail service to Deadwood ended in 1970, and the line owned by the Chicago and Northwestern ceased being used.
Swaby's attorney Eric Strawn said Brady's motion is baseless.
"If you accept this evidence as Mr. Brady is presenting it, what you will be doing is essentially cutting your legs out from underneath you, and you will not be able to rule on this," said Strawn. He went on to explain that if Judge Macy accepts what amounts to a federal decision by the Surface Transportation Board, he no longer has the authority to rule whether or not abandonment occurred.
There are six landowners embroiled in this civil action that include over nine miles of abandoned right of way.
One of the major arguments for Swaby and the other landowners is that the line will in fact cross through private property.
Macy informed the attorneys for both sides he will decide on the case soon and they can then do what they want.
"I'm not going to allow continued hearings and filings, otherwise, this thing is going to continue on forever. So based on what I've got, I'm going to take the information and decide on it," said Macy.
In a related case with different circumstances ended in a decision against landowner Charles Brown in December 2005, when the Black Hills Railroad Authority was allowed to claim right of way on a line that crossed his land.
Brown vowed to appeal and that case is waiting to be heard by the South Dakota Supreme Court. - Brandon Bennett, The Black Hills Pioneer
KOREAN TRAIN CROSSING SEEN AS SIGN OF PROGRESS
Photo here:
[graphics8.nytimes.com]
Caption reads: A train arriving today from the North's Kumgangsan station at the Jejin railway station in Goseong near the demilitarized zone, east of Seoul. (Pool photo by Jung Yeon-Je)
MUNSAN, SOUTH KOREA -- Trains crossed the border between North and South Korea Thursday for the first time in 56 years, in what was hailed by both countries as a key step toward reconciliation on the divided Korean Peninsula.
As white balloons soared into a blue sky here, soldiers swung open gates that were topped with barbed wire shortly after noon to let a five-car South Korean train enter North Korea.
It entered through the demilitarized zone, the world’s most heavily armed border, which is 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles.
At the same time, 240 kilometers to the east, a North Korean train trundled south down the coast.
Although these were one-time test runs on two short stretches of railroad that were linked through the demilitarized zone several years ago, they were highly symbolic to Koreans.
No train had crossed the border since the last trains carrying refugees and wounded soldiers arrived in South Korea from the north during the Korean War in 1951.
For decades here, in South Korean postcards and school textbooks, the bullet-scarred, rusting hulks of wartime locomotives trapped in the demilitarized zone have symbolized a divided Korea and a conflict that has never formally ended. North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war since the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
“These are not just test runs,” Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung of South Korea said. “They mean reconnecting the severed bloodline of the Korean nation.” He spoke during a ceremony at Munsan Station, 12 kilometers south of the demilitarized zone. “The trains carry our dream of peace.”
His North Korean counterpart, Kwon Ho Ung, who was also in Munsan, said the trains represented the “Korean nation’s wish to gallop to the destination of reunification,” despite what he called outside forces -- apparently a reference to the United States -- that are “not happy with reconciliation among Koreans.”
The major television networks in South Korea broadcast the event live.
The South Korean train, carrying 150 people from both sides of the border, pulled out of Munsan around 11:30 hours as fireworks exploded overhead.
It traveled 27 kilometers to Gaesong, a North Korean border town where South Korea runs factories employing workers from the North and where labor is less costly than in the South. The North Korean train, which also carried passengers from both sides of the border, made a similar journey, traveling between the Diamond Mountain resort and Jejin, 40 kilometers to the south.
South Korea has long dreamed of building a trans-Korea railroad that would connect its train network to China and to the Trans-Siberian Railway in the former Soviet Union, creating a so-called Iron Silk Road.
North Korea blocks overland access to Asia, which makes South Koreans “feel as if we live in an island,” the South Korean transportation minister, Lee Yong Sup, said yesterday.
A trans-Korea railroad would offer a faster and cheaper way for South Korea to bring exports that are now shipped by sea to China and Europe. It would also provide a shortcut for Russian oil and other natural resources transported to South Korea. Such a rail system would save South Korea $34 to $50 a ton in shipping costs, said Lim Jae Kyung, a researcher at the Korea Transport Institute.
But before the dream of a trans-Korea rail system comes true, transportation analysts and government officials say, years of confidence-building talks and billions of dollars in investment in North Korea’s decrepit rail system will be needed.
Officials acknowledge that such a dream will not be made real until after North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons and improves its human rights record. Those moves would help build public support in South Korea for large investments across the border and would open the way for international development aid.
Six-nation talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs have been stalled for months. Doubts persist over whether Pyongyang will give up its weapons program in return for economic aid and diplomatic recognition from Washington.
“I cannot understand why we should give rice, flour, fertilizer and everything else the North Koreans want when they don’t do anything for us,” said Hong Moo Sun, 71, one of a dozen South Koreans protesting just outside Munsan Station today.
The protesters were calling for North Korea to return their relatives.
Hundreds of South Korean fishermen, described by the North as defectors, were taken to the North in the years following the war.
Several who have returned have said that they had been held against their will.
Members of the Grand National Party, part of the conservative opposition in South Korea, called the event today a “train of illusion” -- the event, they said, appeared to draw voters’ attention in an election year.
South Korean officials say a trans-Korea railroad would invigorate inter-Korean trade, which tripled from $430 million in 2000 to $1.35 billion last year.
It would also bring cash to North Korea, which could collect an estimated $150 million a year in transit fees from trains that pass through its territory, according to some estimates.
But it is unclear whether or when North Korea might agree to regular train service across the border.
Procuring international aid to renovate the rail network and letting trains from one of Asia’s most vibrant economies, carrying exports and tourists, rumble through its isolated territory could threaten the North Korean regime, analysts and others say.
North Korea now relies on keeping its people ignorant of the outside world to maintain its totalitarian grip on power, those analysts add.
Both Koreas agreed in 2000 to reconnect their rail systems, which had been severed by aerial bombing during the war. It took three years to link the tracks on the west and east ends of the border.
After four more years of haggling and delays, the North Korean military agreed this month to allow one-time test runs.
The agreement came after South Korea promised to send North Korea 400,000 tons of rice, as well as $80 million worth of raw materials for shoes, soap and textiles.
South Korea has spent 544.5 billion won, or $589 million, on reconnecting the rail system, including 180 billion won in equipment, tracks and other material loaned to North Korea.
South Korean policy makers have called for patience in working toward reconciliation with the North. They have often been accused by conservative politicians and civic groups of giving in to North Korea’s strategy of extracting economic aid for every step toward reconciliation.
“This is a precious first step for a 1,000-mile journey,” Mr. Lee, the unification minister, said today.
South Korea has seen some tangible results in its overtures to the North in recent years.
The North Korean military cleared mines and moved some of its weapons to make room for the rail system and the Gaesong industrial complex. In addition, South Korean factory managers commute from Seoul to Gaesong using a road that was reconnected in 2004, and South Korean buses regularly take tourists to the Diamond Mountain resort in the North. - Choe Sang-Hun, The New York Times
TRANSIT NEWS
METRA ELECTRIC LINE BACK ON SCHEDULE; TANGLED WIRES AFFECTED RUSH-HOUR RUNS
CHICAGO, IL -- Metra Electric Line trains are back on schedule this afternoon after a train became tangled in the overhead wires Thursday morning.
Trains were between 10 and 30 minutes behind schedule this morning after a South Shore Railroad train near 12th Street became tangled in the overhead wires that transmit electricity to power the trains, Metra spokesman Tom Miller said. The problem happened between 07:30 and 07:45 hours.
The Electric Line runs between University Park and the Randolph Street station downtown, with branch lines to South Chicago and Blue Island. - Kristen Schorsch, The Chicago Daily Southtown
WILL METRO BE MADE TO TESTIFY ON PLANS?
HOUSTON, TX -- A judge heard arguments Wednesday, but did not rule, on a Richmond Avenue resident's request to order Metropolitan Transit Authority officials to testify about their transit plans.
Attorney Andy Taylor, representing Daphne Scarborough, had filed a motion in April to compel the testimony but did not formally sue the agency. Metro described the unusual tactic as a "fishing expedition."
Neither side called witnesses in the two-hour hearing before state District Judge Levi Benton.
Taylor began by arguing that Metro has violated the 2003 referendum in which voters narrowly approved the transit plan. He cited changes in the specified routes, substitution of Bus Rapid Transit for light rail on four of the five routes, and a reduction in bus service. He also questioned Metro's plans for funding the expansion.
Metro's lawyers, Gene Locke and Andrew Edison, said the agency is complying with the referendum and argued that the hearing should focus on the narrow issue of whether its officials should have to testify in the absence of a lawsuit.
Locke argued that applying the legal provision to government bodies like Metro would allow any litigant with a grievance to hamstring an agency in the performance of its duties.
Taylor responded that the alternative would be a "full-blown nuclear war" in court, wasting time and money.
To Metro's argument that the move is premature, Taylor said waiting until construction begins would require Scarborough to post an impossibly high bond to indemnify her if she lost the case.
Taylor also said Metro has not been candid with Scarborough and others who sought information about its plans. Edison replied that much of the data sought by Scarborough is available on Metro's Web page and various documents open to public view.
Other questions -- including the route of the planned University line -- have not been decided, he said.
Benton asked whether the issue could be resolved by having Metro submit sworn answers in writing, but Taylor insisted on oral testimony under oath, which he said is more effective at getting the facts.
Taylor argued that Metro must either abide by the 2003 referendum or submit an alternative plan to voters. When Benton asked when that could be scheduled, Taylor said a provision of the referendum bars another such election until November 2009.
Benton told the attorneys to submit written arguments and said he will try to rule promptly. - Rad Sallee, The Houston Chronicle
PROPOSAL TO GET RID OF UTA IS BROUGHT BACK
SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- A proposal to do away with the Utah Transit Authority and merge bus and train operations into the Utah Department of Transportation resurfaced Wednesday, even though it had so little support in the 2007 Legislature a House committee refused to advance it.
Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, wants to revive the aims of HB166, which died this past winter when he was unable to provide answers to basic questions about his bill and what exactly about UTA dissatisfied him.
During the Wednesday meeting of the Transportation Interim Committee, Harper said he wanted to "improve" the way highway and transit projects are ranked, evaluate whether transit fares are optimal, how to increase ridership and analyze the way UTA runs its transit services.
"There is a concern and perception that UTA is moving from a bus system . . . into a rail system," Harper said, suggesting that perhaps bus and rail should be separated.
This past legislative session, Harper said he sponsored HB166 in pursuit of greater administrative and financial efficiency for what he sees as a statewide, not local, service. But when committee chairman Rep. Fred Hunsaker, R-Logan, asked Harper to explain the bill's multimillion-dollar fiscal note, he couldn't.
On Wednesday, Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, supported Harper's renewed quest, saying he found UTA unresponsive to Clearfield community concerns about where to locate a commuter rail stop.
UTA officials responded to Harper's presentation by noting UTA is one of only two transit agencies in the United States that has a triple-A bond rating and that its board was made up of elected officials, former elected officials, educators, a transportation commission member and other professionals.
"We think a chaotic situation would come" if Harper's proposal were to move forward, said UTA Board of Directors Chairman Orrin Colby. "When something's functioning very well it's probably not the time to mess with it."
No one on the committee asked any of the several UDOT officials in the committee room, including executive director John Njord, whether the highway agency wanted to take over transit operations.
Several disabled transit riders told lawmakers they didn't like the way UTA was redesigning its bus routes. Bill Tibbitts, director of the Utah Anti-Hunger Action Committee, cautioned legislators about trying to wring too much money out of UTA fare boxes, saying that could decrease ridership and harm the people most dependent on public transit. - Patty Henetz, The Salt Lake Tribune
FASTRACKS GETS GOING WITH UNCERTAIN START
Photo here:
[mas.scripps.com]
Caption reads: RTD Chairman Chris Martinez, left to right, Jefferson County Commissioner Kathy Hartman, RTD board member Wally Pulliam and Rep. Jean Labuda, D-Denver, put some muscle into pry bars as they remove spikes from the old Associated Railroad tracks on Wednesday in Lakewood. (Ahmad Terry / The Rocky Mountain News)
DENVER, CO -- A couple dozen claw bars handled by a couple dozen dignitaries provided an old-fashioned start to the rocky road of FasTracks construction on Wednesday.
More than 100 people gathered near West 13th Avenue west of Quail Street to watch RTD officials, elected representatives and other FasTracks backers use the claws to uproot spikes from the old Associated Railroad tracks.
Starting next year, after the tracks are removed and utilities are relocated, construction will begin on the 12.1-mile West Corridor light-rail project from downtown to Golden.
But with the project as originally planned coming in substantially over its $511.8 million budget, what will replace those rails is still being negotiated by some of the same people who were on hand Wednesday.
Cal Marsella, RTD general manager, will meet next week with Jefferson County commissioners and other local officials who resist RTD's plan to cut $33 million from the West Corridor. RTD intends to build only one track instead of two in the last segment of the line from the Denver Federal Center to Golden.
RTD says it can still run its proposed schedule with a single track by building a passing track midway along the line near Red Rocks Community College. That design can handle projected ridership through 2030, RTD says.
The cost savings to RTD is huge. But local officials say if RTD is wrong, communities at the end of the line won't be able to take full advantage of development around transit stations.
"We need to be heard," said Jefferson County Commissioner Kevin McCasky shortly after the spikes were pulled out. "There are some other ways we can resolve this and we're going to do our best to try to do that."
The West Corridor is the first to get under way of FasTracks' six new rail projects, three extensions of existing light-rail corridors and enhanced bus service that are supposed to be finished by 2017.
The program is under intense pressure because construction cost increases have been higher than anticipated, busting the original $4.7 billion budget. On Friday, RTD will release its new estimate of the total budget and alternatives for financing, scheduling and contracting methods to deal with the problem.
Most of the West Corridor uses the path of a former trolley line from Denver to Golden that went in 117 years ago, primarily along West 13th Avenue. Associated Railroad took over the line and in 1941 built a spur to serve freight trains hauling ammunition from the Remington Arms plant, which later became the Denver Federal Center.
Wednesday's ceremonial start took place on that spur. The steel from the rails will be sold for salvage, and RTD expects to recoup $240,000 of the $252,916 cost of the job. - Kevin Flynn, The Rocky Mountain News
THE END
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 Railroad Newsline for Friday, 05/18/07 |
Larry W. Grant | 05-18-2007 - 00:45 |