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Railroad Newsline for Thursday, 05/31/07
Author: Larry W. Grant
Date: 05-31-2007 - 01:26
Railroad Newsline for Thursday, May 31, 2007
Compiled by Larry W. Grant
In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006
RAIL NEWS[/b]
[b]LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! 'THE GREAT DEBATERS' MOVIE SET TAKES SHAPE AT TEXAS STATE RAILROAD NEAR PALESTINE
Photo here:
[www.thecherokeean.com]
Caption reads: Gail Briant (left) and Cecile Aymami of New Orleans use hatchets to distress new wood on a train platform for a movie set. Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, who is directing and starring in "The Great Debaters," will begin shooting at the Texas State Railroad during early June. The movie is about an underdog debate team from Wiley College in Marshall that defeats Harvard University in the national championship. The movie will be released in 2008.
PALESTINE, TX -- A crew of 13 from Local #478 in Louisiana trained their tools on a movie set at the Texas State Railroad near Palestine last week.
When Denzel Washington, who directs and stars in "The Great Debaters," gets to town in early June the set will be ready, said Dean Allison, crew chief.
Saws hummed and hammers cracked through the pineywoods as the movie set took shape last Thursday.
Only the front of the depot and a few feet on either side will be in the camera's viewfinder, so the crew is not building out the interior, sides or back of the building.
And the cost? Mr. Allison has no idea what the budget is for this particular set. "We brought some of the lumber with us, and they set up a charge account for us at one of the local lumber stores," he said.
Cash registers will likely jingle more vigorously in Palestine than in Rusk as crew members book hotel/motel rooms, buy meals and fill up tanks of gas. No reservations have been made in Rusk at the Weston Inn yet, but local proprietors are hoping that if Palestine motels get booked to capacity during actual filming, some will overflow to Rusk.
Two members of Mr. Allison's team, Gail Briant and Cecile Aymami from New Orleans, wielded hatchets on Thursday to distress the new lumber used to construct the train platform.
"It just looks too new," said Ms. Briant. Once the construction is completed, she will pick up a different set of tools and tackle her specialty: painting.
When she is done, the front of the depot will look like a gently worn train station from the 1930s.
Photo here:
[www.thecherokeean.com]
Caption reads: Carpenter l Andrew Casbom of New Orleans uses a jig saw to cut wood for the construction of a movie set at the Texas State Railroad. Filming will begin in early July for "The Great Debaters."
The movie screenplay calls for the debate team from Wiley College to board a train and travel to a national competition out-of-state, where they face Harvard University.
Of the 120 or so minutes in the runtime of the movie, only a few will be devoted to the movie set at the Texas State Railroad. However, setting the stage with historical accuracy was important to Mr. Washington, who scouted local sites and hand-picked the TSR.
Once the filming wraps, a spokesman from the railroad said that the movie set will be removed from the tracks.
"The Great Debaters" will also star Forest Whitaker, who won a 2007 Academy Award for "The Last King of Scotland." Mr. Whitaker is a native Texan, born in Longview.
Movie-goers will get a glimpse of East Texas when the movie is released by The Weinstein Company in 2008. - Terrie Gonzalez, The Cherokeean Herald (Rusk, TX)
RAILYARD FUMES TERMED 'PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD'
Graphic here:
[www.registerguard.com]
Toxic vapors probably coming from solvent-tainted groundwater are collecting in crawl spaces in at least a half-dozen homes in Eugene's Trainsong neighborhood, studies show.
On Tuesday, a federally funded health authority termed the vapor concentrations a "public health hazard" because the chemical fumes seeping through the floorboards could -- over the years -- increase cancer rates for the people who live there.
Health officials are recommending that homeowners get the indoor air in their houses tested to pinpoint how much of the chemical they're actually breathing.
"Action does need to be taken," said Jae Douglas, epidemiologist with the Portland-based Superfund Health Investigation and Education program.
The houses in question are within a couple of blocks of the Union Pacific railyard in west Eugene - just south of where a succession of railroad companies operated a roundhouse where crews maintained, fueled, repaired and washed locomotive engines.
The solvent that splashed onto the ground over a century of operations now forms an extensive underground plume of groundwater pollution that reaches north into the River Road neighborhood and south into the Trainsong neighborhood.
The contaminant is, for example, under the home that Glenda Carroll, who works part time at the Salvation Army, has owned and lived in for 18 years.
"Oh, great. I had to be the lucky one," Carroll, 55, said. "That wouldn't be good. You couldn't even sell your house. Nobody'd want to buy it."
The state Department of Environmental Quality has mapped the plume as part of a voluntary cleanup agreement, first with Southern Pacific Railroad and then, after a 1996 railroad merger, with Union Pacific Railroad. The first of hundreds of groundwater tests started in 1995 and the last set was completed in October 2006.
Union Pacific Railroad is seeking the right remedy for the pollution, said railroad spokesman Mark Davis, who is based in Omaha.
"We're now at another very important step and that is to begin further tests and verification, and to find out what we would want to do is prudent and appropriate. That's a positive step forward," he said.
None of the environmental investigators can say how many residents in the Trainsong neighborhood are affected by solvent vapors seeping through their floorboards.
The state DEQ selected a group of homes to test where the groundwater concentrations of trichloroethylene were the highest. But homes on lots that actually were tested form an irregular checkerboard across the neighborhood.
The testing company was unable to contact some homeowners, couldn't get permission from others and may have been chased away by dogs at still others, said Greg Aitken, the DEQ project manager.
"It's reasonable to wonder that for every home that was identified, there might be one or two that weren't sampled that - if sampled - could be found to also have a problem in that general area," Aitken said. "It's a reasonable question to ask: Where do you start? Where do you stop?"
It's also unclear what homeowners in the Trainsong neighborhood should do with the health agency warnings about the contaminated groundwater and air in their homes.
Public health officials in the SHINE program say one thing. "Any home that's on the plume at the highest concentrations should contact DEQ and talk to them about whether or not their crawl spaces can be tested," Douglas said.
But DEQ officials say another. "In no circumstances would DEQ be in a position - for various reasons and not the least of which is money - be able to actually do crawl space testing," Aitken said.
The DEQ and the railroad are planning in July to install plastic vapor barriers in the crawl
spaces of the half-dozen homes now identified with the worst pollution. They'll do testing in the summer and then again in winter to see if the barriers cut off the vapors arising from the water in the ground. If that's effective, they may test more homes nearby. But that decision won't come until 2008.
Private, in-home air testing would be expensive and probably of limited value because of technical difficulties in conducting it, Aitken said.
Residents of the half-dozen homes in the areas of highest concentration say they are spooked by the news.
Dianna Jones, 58, rented one of the six houses for a dozen years and lived there with her two granddaughters before moving out earlier this year. She began worrying last fall when consultants for the railroad came to measure the fumes in her crawl space.
She said they wouldn't tell her anything.
"I'm thinking, `They know something I don't know,' " she said. "To me, that's endangerment. They ought to let you know what's going on right from the gate."
Jones, an employment training assistant, said she got eczema all over her feet two years ago. Her 12-year-old granddaughter has unexplained headaches. Her sister, who lives next door to the house that was tested, has ever-worsening lung problems.
"I said, `I don't care what I do, when I get my income tax (refund) it's going in the bank and I'm getting the heck out of there,' " she said.
Jones moved out of the neighborhood in April. The rental remains empty.
Trisha Nason, a substitute teacher who lives nearby in a rental home that wasn't tested, said she's scared.
The 53-year-old woman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. Through the surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, she said, the thought that brought her comfort was: "At least it was me and not one of my kids. That helped me a lot," she said.
Health officials calculated the increased cancers related to the vapors in the crawl spaces would be about 3 in 10,000 or 7 in 10,000, depending on the concentrations in any given home.
Nason said it's no comfort for her to hear that any potential increased cancer from the groundwater would take a long time to develop.
"My son that's 10 has lived here his whole life," she said. "I want to move to get away from this." - Diane Dietz, The Eugene Register-Guard
AT THE THROTTLE: CHANGES BIG AND SMALL AT THE NNRy
Photo here:
[www.elynews.com]
ELY, NV -- The goal of the Nevada Northern Railway Museum is to preserve the Nevada Northern Railway. Simple statement, no real surprises there, but it is a very deceptive statement. Why deceptive? Because you need to ask the question just exactly what are we preserving? And what does preserving it mean? The concept of preserving the railroad is actually a moving target.
Why a moving target? Short answer is because the railroad is not static; it is constantly changing, evolving. And it has been that way since when the first spike was driven back in 1905. And this is a challenge. And for us it is a very unique challenge. Our museum's mission is different from most museums; our artifacts do not just sit there. We present the artifacts to the public in use.
Our goal is to capture the thought process, the know-how, the experience of what steam railroading was like in Ely in the last century. And on a larger scale how railroading revolutionized society.
To accomplish this mission the museum is evolving and changes are being made to the railroad. Most of these changes are in the background and are not self-evident. But I thought you might enjoy a peak behind the curtain at some of the most recent changes.
The first change is in the East Ely Depot. Since I first laid eyes on the depot one aspect of the depot really bugged me, the boarded over door on the south side of the building, to me it looked like a missing tooth.
The museum has been using the women's waiting room of the depot as a gift shop for three years now. The only entrance to the gift shop was through the north door. This was a solid wooden door that did match the doors to the men's waiting room. And as mentioned earlier, the south door was boarded over. (This is another Nevada Northern Railway mystery. Why were the doors to the women's waiting room solid and to the men's waiting room glass?)
The blocked door and the solid door caused problems. Because none of the depot doors on the south side of the building opened, people didn't know how to get into the depot. If they tried the men's waiting room door and then went clockwise around the building, there were lots of door to try before they found an open door. Then when they finally found the door that was unlocked, the door would stick, and because it was a solid door, they didn't know that people were inside.
So to some of our visitors it became a very frustrating exercise of getting into the depot for tickets. Secondly, that solid wooden door blocked the view of people, so periodically there were collisions at the door. Again not the best imagine you want people to remember you by. So this spring, we installed two new doors to the gift shop. These are glass panel doors that match the doors in the men's waiting room. These glass doors bring more light into the gift shop. Allow people to enter the gift shop from the south side of the building, no more musical doors. And now the south side of the building looks complete.
Another major change is the yard. If you look at the pictures of the yard over the course of time there is one common trait that all of the photos share. That trait is no vegetation in the yard, no weeds, no grass, no nothing. To go back to this look, the museum hired the honor camp to remove all brush from the yard. It was an amazing transformation. The honor camp is continuing the brush removal on the Keystone branch. Over all the removal of brush transforms the museum from appearing to be an abandon railroad to a working railroad. Just looking at the yards, even with no trains running it is evident that trains operate here. Once the brush was removed, the yard was sprayed for to keep the brush and weeds from returning.
Another behind the scenes change was upgrading our training program. Trains operate on the Nevada Northern because of dedicated volunteers. These volunteers come from all over to support the museum. They are entering a dangerous profession, railroading. This is from the introduction of our rulebook, “You are about to undertake a highly unusual and dangerous responsibility, historic railroading. You will be using historic locomotives and equipment to demonstrate to the public what railroading was like in the last century. There are no push buttons, this is hard, demanding, physical work that requires your full attention at all times. Our program is unusual, we use paid staff with volunteers to create a team that runs trains and rehabilitates the equipment and buildings of this National Historic Landmark�This is a real time, hands-on experience and it does have its dangers.”
To operate trains safely with rotating crews, the museum worked to improve its training for train operations. Under the new program, everyone will need to requalify for their positions. This process will take a year. It will entail a great deal of work, but in the end it will be worth it.
And in support of operations, a small change was made at the enginehouse. The water system was replumbed. That brought water to the bays where the steam locomotives are kept. This will make watering the locomotives easier without dragging a lot of hose around.
All of these changes are designed to improve the museum and they are by no means over with. The railroad has been evolving since its conception and it will continue to evolve. The challenge is to be sensitive to all of the demands that are placed on the railroad. - Mark Bassett, The Ely Times
UNION PACIFIC LABORER CLAIMS INJURY FROM BEING OVERWORKED
EDWARDSVILLE, IL -- A Union Pacific laborer who claims he was injured on the job after working 27 consecutive hours filed a Federal Employers' Liability Act suit in Madison County Circuit Court on May 22.
Russell R. Baucum claims he sustained severe and permanent injuries to his heart and body on Dec. 5, 2006, at or near Mitchell, Ill. while repairing railroad tracks.
Baucum, represented by Gregory M. Tobin of Pratt & Tobin in East Alton, is seeking in excess of $100,000 in damages.
According to the complaint, Baucum was overworked without sufficient rest.
Baucum also claims the railroad failed to provide a safe place to work, failed to provide safe methods of work, failed to provide sufficient manpower and failed to provide safe tools and equipment. - Ann Knef, The Madison/St. Clair Record
FIRST OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY RAILROAD-CROSSING PROJECTS BEGINS
SAN BERNARDINO, CA -- Construction starts Tuesday on a $28 million railroad-crossing project in San Bernardino, California after seven years of delays.
San Bernardino Associated Governments, the transportation planning agency for the county, hopes the crossing will ease the delays that motorists face daily at the busy railroad crossing at University Parkway and State Street.
The site is the first of five railroad crossings where the agency plans to build overpasses or underpasses so that motorists aren't stuck waiting as trains go by.
Those wait times are expected to get worse as the amount of cargo transported through the area increases in coming years, said Cheryl Donahue, SANBAG spokeswoman.
"Our estimates are that people sit there and can wait 15 minutes for a train to pass," Donahue said of the crossing at University and State.
SANBAG was first promised $95 million in state funding for the projects at the five crossings -- identified as the busiest in the county -- in 2000. But because of state budget difficulties, the agency didn't receive the money until last year.
Although a groundbreaking ceremony was held last month, construction starts today with crews restriping sections of University and Cajon Boulevard. Concrete barriers will be installed Thursday as crews get ready to build a 35-foot-high bridge over the BNSF tracks and Cajon.
The bridge will include two lanes, a bicycle lane, a turn lane and sidewalks in each direction, and will be built to the east side of the street, Donahue said. The area streets will then be realigned toward the bridge.
Some brief closures are planned but most work is taking place away from the main road and won't slow most traffic, Donahue said. The agency expects to complete the project by summer 2009.
Transportation officials will look at motorist delay times, air quality and accident history at the sites in culling the list, Donahue said.
No funds have been set aside for the potential new projects but SANBAG is eying the next round of Prop. 1B state bond money. The measure, approved by voters last year, provides $3.6 billion for public-transit projects.
State legislators are expected to release guidelines for applying for Prop. 1B money later this year or early next year.
Later this year, construction is expected to start on a crossing at Ramona Avenue in Montclair. Two other crossings, Hunts Lane at the Colton/San Bernardino line and Monte Vista Avenue in Montclair, are expected to be under construction in 2009.
A start date for the fifth crossing, Milliken Avenue in Ontario, has not been set because funding has not been secured.
SANBAG already is looking ahead to the next five railroad crossing projects it hopes to fund. The agency board has asked its 24 member cities and the county to submit suggestions from which a priority list will be selected.
Transportation officials will look at motorist delay times, air quality and accident history at the sites in culling the list, Donahue said.
No funds have been set aside for the potential new projects but SANBAG is eying the next round of Prop. 1B state bond money. The measure, approved by voters last year, provides $3.6 billion for public-transit projects.
State legislators are expected to release guidelines for applying for Prop. 1B money later this year or early next year. - Imran Ghori, The Riverside Press-Enterprise
IT'S ABOUT TIME! RAILROAD TRESTLE FACE-LIFT OVERDUE
ROCKFORD, IL -- Rust is the universal language. To residents and visitors alike, it says something hasn’t been cared for. The Union Pacific Railroad overpass in the 600 block of South Main Street doesn’t just say its message, it screams it.
It’s a rusty eyesore that greets people at one of the city’s entryways in the worst possible way.
According to the Register Star’s Trash Tracker, the overpass finally is going to get an overhaul. We’re delighted.
The city has been working on a plan for a year and a half that would beautify the overpass and the surrounding area. A facade of textured metal would be placed over both sides of the overpass. The south side would feature a graphic design of the Rock River and would include a welcoming message from the River District.
Simply painting the overpass, which was done with a mural in the mid-’70s, would have been a half-measure. The new facade facing south will be a durable, sharp addition to a highly trafficked street; seasonal messages could be hung on the north side. In all, the improvements will cost $500,000.
That’s not cheap, but improving the South Main gateway to Rockford is critically important. People are eager for routes into the city that are quicker and that won’t mean driving through squalor. East State Street and Riverside Boulevard will only become more congested as the region grows.
The new facade on the rusty trestle will help convey a sense that travelers have truly arrived somewhere.
The only hang-up left is the Union Pacific Railroad. The city submitted plans to the railroad last November, and Mayor Larry Morrissey asked for an update in April. He received a reply that promised a decision by June 1: “The city’s request concerns a very difficult issue for the Union Pacific Railroad that has to be reviewed at an upper management level.”
We hope this isn’t code-speak for: slower than a freight train and don’t hold your breath.
What’s difficult for the railroad? Their trestle gets an overhaul, and our city gets to move beyond pretty pictures to genuine progress. Sign off on it, please. - Editorial Opinion, The Rockford Register Star
ARTISTS BREATH LIFE INTO DEPOT
Photo gallery here:
[www.insidebayarea.com]
OAKLAND, CA -- A trio of Oakland artists held an art show one recent Sunday inside the long-abandoned Southern Pacific train station at 16th and Wood streets in West Oakland.
It was the first event in the decaying, once-grand structure in many years and it drew a crowd; cars filled the weed-strewn parking lot and people wandered through the cavernous, empty, graffiti-tarred space, its murals stripped, even the marble floors cracked and smashed.
Jessica Serran, a Canadian artist now living in Oakland, said the station fascinates her. "I'm interested in decay, in time passing," she said. Her exhibits showed piles of cakes crumbling into dust.
They should have brought along a poet, a blue-collar guy like Carl Sandburg, who could chronicle the sad end of a mighty terminal that was the last stop on America's first transcontinental railroad, also the place where generations of African Americans found decent jobs as porters on transcontinental streamliners, and organized a union launching them into the middle class despite the nation's apartheid laws.
The art show, which was spare, may have marked the beginning of a new era for the station. After false starts and a great deal of civic uproar there is a deal.
The depot's not only being saved. Its become the centerpiece of a major housing development: "Central Station: It's a Bay Area destination," the developers say in their promotional literature.
As part of a complex agreement with a consortium of housing developers, it looks virtually certain the historic place will be refurbished and see life once more as a community center or a restaurant or shops or a museum, drawing railroad buffs from around the country or all of the above.
Several developers are working on housing projects around the station; the first three-story town home additions already under construction south of the depot. To the north, the old Pacific Cannery is being converted into residential lofts, just east of the town houses. Ninety-nine units of below market-rate rental units are planned for construction in a about a year, a project manager said.
But at the center of the whole 29-plus acre development is the Southern Pacific's historic old derelict: the 16th Street station.
Exactly what is going to happen there is an open question at the moment.
The developer, Bridge Housing, and the City of Oakland are asking for proposals from nonprofits and commercial businesses. Once they've been screened, they'll make their way to the Oakland City Council for the final OK.
One tiny problem: Although several groups, including the Oakland Heritage Alliance are working on a plan, no ideas have been submitted so far. The deadline, said Ben Golvin, of Equity Community Builders, who is shepherding the project, has been extended until July 2.
Meanwhile, Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance is hopeful. History buffs see the station being operated as a nonprofit "Train Station Partnership," with some commercial involvement to make money and pay the rent.
Amtrak used the depot until 1989 when the Loma Prieta did severe damage to the station.
Emeryville rushed in -- as it famously does -- and built a train station there; a few years later, in Oakland's more deliberate fashion, the Jack London Square station opened.
At the same time, the replacement freeway for the Cyprus Structure nearly skirts the edge of the old depot, so the tracks are gone. There's no way it can be used as a train station again.
Nevertheless, although it's been a campground for the homeless and drug users for nearly two decades, the building is important and valuable, Oakland historians believe.
It's eligible for the National Register of Historic Places," Schiff said. "We're also working to save the baggage rooms and other areas," she said. The baggage component is important historically, she said.
This has been a long process," Golvin said. "Making a deal with the city, trying to come up with a long-term use of the station that is solid."
There also apparently is going to be money available, potentially lots of it. The City Council sitting as the Redevelopment Authority, made the entire neighborhood a development area. Using its authority, a portion of property tax proceeds from the various housing projects can be diverted for use on enhancements like the old train station.
It's going to cost, Golvin said. "Basically, what we have is a big, high, tall box. It's of historic significance, so we can't do anything to the outside," he said. The inside is important too. Basically, they'll have to gouge out the interior walls, install some kind of steel frame or bracing, then cover it over, Golvin said.
Something also has to be done underneath, the bay came close to this site and the ground isn't exactly solid, he said.
The total project cost, depending on how much is rehabilitated, is between $25 and $32 million," Golvin said.
That may seem prohibitive, but check out the developers Web site: [www.welcomeaboard.com]. Money is coming to West Oakland, and some it well may save the old depot.
That art show may have just been the beginning. - William Brand, The Oakland Tribune
THREE SAVED FROM TRAIN AFTER WRECK
Video here:
[www.wfaa.com]
FORT WORTH, TX -- Three people saved from being struck by an approaching freight train were recovering from their injuries Wednesday morning after their car flipped over on a railroad track in Fort Worth.
Police said the car's occupants spotted officers following them and drove through a dead end street and onto a set of railroad tracks, flipping their car.
A police helicopter was able to alert an oncoming train while rescue workers removed the victims from the wrecked vehicle.
The incident was reported around 01:00 hours in the 2900 block of Adam Avenue. - Justin Farmer, WFAA-TV8, Dallas, TX
'INADVERTENT' CONSTRUCTION SHOULDN'T HAPPEN
Thanks to Union Pacific Railroad we now have another exculpatory reason to use when things go wrong.
Last week's Range News carried a story that the railroad laid new track through Central Avenue in Bowie without the formality of Arizona Corporation Commission approval. It certainly moved the project along.
Unfortunately the law requires the railroad to obtain ACC approval for new crossings or changes to existing crossings. Central was an existing crossing. Union Pacific is in the process of expanding its Sunset Route from El Paso the Los Angeles. The number of trains on the route will increase, and several areas will acquire a second set of tracks - Bowie and Willcox for example.
When asked how this happened, Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific in Omaha, replied that it was "inadvertent." That's certainly an unexpected explanation. Inadvertent means unintentional. Presumably he meant they didn't intend to build it without approval, not that they didn't mean to build it at all.
Davis explained, "We don't know (how it happened), but with the modern, mechanized machinery they use, they can just keep going." That's quite an image. A small army of track-building drones are given the go-ahead, but everybody forgot to stop them. Is no one in charge here?
Nevertheless, it is an answer that has legs in many other facets of life. There is home life: "Yes, dear. I inadvertently spent more money than we have in the checking account. I don't know how it happened but with these modern ATM cards, I just kept buying stuff."
And we all have job issues. "Yessir, Mr. Boss, I inadvertently failed to meet my deadline. I don't know how it happened, but with these modern computers, I just kept playing online games."
And for law enforcement, it's a whole new can of worms. "Sorry, officer, I inadvertently went 100 miles an hour down Haskell Avenue, but with these modern cruise controls, I just kept on going."
Or even, "Sorry, officer. I inadvertently robbed the bank on my way home from work. I don't know how it happened, but with these modern GPS systems, I just found myself here."
Granted, the examples are silly, but not a whole lot sillier than Union Pacific's answer. The point is, a well-run organization doesn't have inadvertent construction.
So either management is asleep at the switch or this was a handy way to move things along. The basic problem is that in this country, railroads answer to no one. The Corporation Commission can control crossings but little else. Perhaps it is time for Congress to examine whether that is still the best system. - Editorial Opinion, The Arizona Range News
CAUTIOUSLY CELEBRATORY AT TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT
AUSTIN, TX -- Hours after the last gavel pounded the 80th Texas Legislature closed the mood at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was cautiously celebratory.
“We are still deciphering the Appropriations bill and related legislation,” wrote Robert Cook, TPWD executive director, in an e-mail to the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
“It will be several days before we have a complete understanding of the details, but I am happy to report that we are very, very pleased with the appropriations approved by the Legislature.”
In the bill, held up by the Senate until the House passed a statewide water bill in the last session, the parks department’s operating budget will be pumped up from about $150 million over a two-year budget cycle to more than $300 million.
That should provide the keystone for upgrading the 600,000 acre system that has fallen into disrepair, and to bring back employees to staff the 120 sites statewide.
“With the funding provided by the Texas Legislature we will be able to make great strides in providing adequate staffing, equipment, repairs and operating to significantly improve our state park system.
Bottom line, the Legislature appropriated almost all of the funding we requested in our Legislative Appropriations Request which we submitted in August 2006,” Cook said.
According to Cook, a breakdown of appropriations includes:
Salaries and operating expenses — $25.6 million and 229 new full-time employees.
Minor repairs — $8 million appropriated for the biennium.
Equipment, transportation items and computers — $9.8 million appropriated for the biennium.
Support for state parks in other TPWD divisions — $3 million.
Major repairs — $44.1 million.
Land acquisition and development — $13.9 million.
Local parks grant program — $36 million.
In addition, the Legislature also approved $25 million for repairs and dry berthing of the Battleship Texas and $12 million was appropriated for the transfer of the Texas State Railroad.
“It appears that we will receive more than 90 percent of what was recommended by the State Parks Advisory Committee and requested by TPWD’s commissioners,” George Bristol, president of the Texas Coalition for Conservation wrote to supporters.
According to Bristol’s group, the department fell short $3.4 million in its request for transportation and equipment, $1 million in division support, $5.9 million in major repairs and $14 million in acquisition and development.
The local park grants appropriation was $3.5 million less than requested.
The department will receive almost double what was requested for Battleship Texas.
TPWD will also see an increase of $10 million in Texas Department of Transportation interdepartmental fund.
That money will be used to improve state park roads.
The last budget included $5 million.
In all, the department is expected to get about $180 million of its $195 million request.
But the good comes with restrictions and strings.
According to a Texas Coalition for Conservation summary the major repairs are to be funded with bond money.
The department has $17 million it can issue from an old bond program.
The remaining $27 million must come from a new bond package that has to be approved by voters in November.
TCC had hoped Legislators would have approved a pay-as-you-go plan or, if requiring a bond package, authorize the entire amount needed for repairs in a single bond.
Department officials have said that the peaks and valleys of having to repeat bond elections makes long term planning for repairs more difficult.
Also $17 million of the $36 million appropriated for the local parks’ fund has already been mandated to projects in select House districts and will not be required to go through the normal competitive bid process.
Actually new money for acquisition and development is only $4.3 million, and $2.5 million of that is mandated for purchasing land next to Palo Duro State Park.
The remainder of the $13.9 million for land purchases will come from the sale of Eagle Mountain Lake State Park and several small parcels, leaving the department only enough money to buy one park designated west of Fort Worth and add several small areas to existing state parks.
The budget is also built around the department raising an additional $16 million in park user fees.
Although the department doesn’t have a plan outlined yet, there has been some talk that it may have to start charging youth an entrance fee.
Another $6.7 million from the sporting goods tax fund will go toward support of 18 historic properties being transferred from TPWD to the Texas Historical Commission.
In the long run, however, that could be a savings for the department and help it focus more on recreational facilities and less on historic sites.
While legislators are offering the department more funding, it didn’t completely lift the cap on the state’s sporting goods tax.
In 1993, voters approved siphoning tax revenue from certain sporting goods items to state parks.
Parks had previously been funded in part by cigarette tax that was at the time declining.
However, while the sporting goods tax was generating more than $100 million in revenue legislators had continuously capped the fund, most recently at $32 million.
The remainder was moved into the state’s general revenue fund for other programs.
However, during the current budget cycle the department was appropriated to spend only $20 million of the $32 million.
As part of the department’s funding bill, legislators called for a review of the sporting goods tax fund and items targeted for it.
Parks’ officials are still hesitant to complain considering they are facing $400-$500 million in needed repairs.
Increases like the $8 million appropriated for minor repairs, up from just over $1 million this year, is a much needed cash infusion.
“It is a major success,” Walt Dabney, state park division leader told the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
“We are still going through the bill to understand the specifics. If what appears to be is real, we will be making great progress on restoring the Texas State Parks in the next two years.” - Steve Knight, The Tyler Morning Telegraph
THE OFFICIAL RAILROAD OF TEXAS
During the latter part of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, travel by rail was the way to go. It was fast and economical for the times. By the mid-20th century two things happened that took most of the passengers from the railroads. By this time the airlines were becoming more popular with faster service, and in the mid-1950s President Eisenhower started work on the interstate highway system, which made travel by automobile faster and easier.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department operates the Texas State Railroad, which runs between Palestine and Rusk in East Texas. They operate one steam locomotive and one early diesel locomotive, pulling early day passenger cars. They have other steam locomotives that are not operating.
The steam locomotive, No. 300, is a Baldwin 2-8-0 83-ton engine built in 1917. It operates out of Rusk and makes the round trip to Palestine and back. The diesel locomotive, No. 7, built in 1947, operates out of Palestine and makes the round trip to Rusk and back. The passenger cars are mostly 1920 vintage, except one car next to the engine, which is air conditioned.
While vacationing in East Texas recently, my wife and I rode the train. I prefer to leave from Palestine on the diesel train so I can watch the steam engine as it goes by at the midway point of the trip. (Be sure to sit on the left side of the car if you want to get a good view of the passing train.)
The trains leave their respective stations at 11 a.m. and reach their destination at 12:30 p.m. They leave on the return trip at 1:30 p.m. and return to their home stations at 3 p.m. The trip is 25.5 miles and the average speed is 20 mph. There are picnic areas at each station, and it is recommended that you carry a picnic lunch with you; their sandwiches are rather expensive. If you want to pack a cooler, it can be left in the baggage car for the trip. You will have an hour to eat lunch, look around the depot and check out the gift shop. Each station is about two miles out of town, so don’t think about looking around town while you wait for the train.
We got on the train through the baggage car, the first class ticket holders going to the front of the train to the air-conditioned car and the rest of us going toward the rear to the open cars.
One end of the baggage car has been converted to a snack bar, where you can purchase cold drinks, candy and popcorn on the way. Just after we left the station they fired up the popcorn machine and had the smell of fresh popped corn drifting through the cars.
Most of the trip is through the East Texas piney woods, where all you see is the forest and underbrush. There were a few areas where the forest opened up and there was nothing but a swamp we were going by. Some of the swamps probably covered close to 20 acres or more and were covered with water lilies. I was looking to see if I could spot an alligator, but all I saw was a large soft-shell turtle with his head sticking up. We were that close, the water came right up to the roadbed the tracks were on.
The car we were on was one of the old wooden framed passenger cars with wooden window frames. All the windows were open to let the air circulate through the car. The weather wasn’t too hot, so it was rather comfortable. We did get the smell of diesel wafting through the cars.
After we boarded the train and before we left the station we were warned not to stick our heads out the windows to look around. It was possible the windows could drop down. When we got to the mid-way point the train pulled over on a side track and stopped to wait for the steam train from Rusk to pass. When we heard the whistle of the steam engine everyone sitting next to the windows on the left side of the car stuck their head out the window to watch the engine approach. My wife took a picture of it coming toward us and also a picture of one of the passenger cars going by.
Just a little past the midway point is the town of Maydelle, which has a little wooden depot building sitting beside the tracks. There is also a turntable sitting out in the open where the engines were once turned around.
The road between Palestine and Rusk runs along by the tracks through Maydelle. Across the road you can see several old wooden store buildings reminiscent of the 1920s. This whole trip seems to carry you back in time.
Over the length of the rail line you cross 24 bridges, almost one for each mile of track. The longest measures 1,042 feet and crosses the Neches River. All 24 trestles are concrete.
There is a large Y-shaped track formation at each station, where the engines are turned around before starting the return trip.
All the property that goes with the railroad is considered a state park. There is a large park area around each station, but what makes this park so unusual is the 25 miles of right-of-way where the right-of-way is not much more than 100 feet wide in most places. That makes this possibly the longest, narrowest park in Texas, if not the whole nation.
You have perhaps heard that many of our state parks are short on funding, and the Texas State Railroad is no different. In fact, it is only funded through Aug. 31. Next week I will tell a little history of the railroad and tell what the future holds for it. - John Watson, The Cleburne Times-Review
PAYING TRIBUTE TO ... A WATER TOWER
Photo here:
[www.eldoradotimes.com]
Caption reads: The Beaumont water tower, a wooden tower built in 1885 by the Frisco railroad, is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. A festival this Friday and Saturday will celebrate the tower, town and also help raise money for the upkeep and restoration of the tower.
BEAUMONT, KS -- Paying tribute to one of the oldest railroad towers in existence, the 14th annual Beaumont Water Tower Festival will be celebrated with dinner, music, a parade and many other activities this Friday and Saturday in Beaumont, Kansas.
The two-day event kicks off Friday, at 17:00 hours, with a K.C. Strip dinner at the Beaumont Cafe and music by “Another Holiday Band.” Saturday starts with a breakfast buffet from 07:00 to 11:00 hours, with the parade to begin at 09:30.
Pat Squier, an event organizer, said the festival began as a way to commemorate the founding of the water tower. The tower was built in 1885, and depending upon the weather, 3,000 to 4,000 people attend the festival.
“We try to make sure there is a little something for everyone,” Squier said.
Marce Brewer, festival coordinator, said every year they try to change and add events to attract new people and keep others coming back. Some new events this year are gunny sack races for the children, horseshoe pitching and motorcycle games, including games for those who do not own a motorcycle.
“We are going to have fun,” Brewer said. “It is a great family day trip.”
The festival also serves as a way to raise money for the insurance, electricity care and maintenance of the water tower, as well as the addition of items to enhance the tower.
The “Friends of the Beaumont Water Tower” organized in 1989 and then went to work to gain ownership of the property, from the railroad, where the tower sits. The group held fundraisers and sold goods to raise money. The total preservation project was completed in 1998 under the direction of Dan Rockhill, a professor at the University of Kansas, and cost a total of $41,000.
The organization has won several grants and awards for their work in restoring the tower.
Currently, the group is trying to raise funds to transport an original Sheffield Flexible Water Column, which was found in a private collection in Wappingers, NY, back to Beaumont. The water column is already paid for.
Brewer said the “Friends” are also trying to get the Frisco logo on the water tower. It was the Frisco Railroad who built the tower.
The festival ends with a karaoke contest from 17:00 to 20:00 hours on Saturday. An Apple iPod will be the prize for first place, and the crowd judges, so participants are encouraged to bring their friends.
“Dress comfortable, bring lawn chairs, participate and listen to music,” Brewer said in regards to the festival. “Have a good time in the Flint Hills.”
For more information, visit [www.beaumontwatertower.com]. - Jacinda Hinkson, The El Dorado Times
AMTRAK TRIES DIFFERENT TRACK -- LUXURY CARS
WASHINGTON, DC -- In an attempt to increase ridership, two railroad companies are reaching back to the luxurious train journeys of the past.
Beginning this fall, travelers with an extra few days and money to spare will be able to climb aboard seven richly equipped vintage Pullman cars attached to Amtrak trains on three routes.
The promotion is a test of a partnership between Amtrak and GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, formerly known as the American Orient Express.
It is the first time the national passenger rail service will be an active participant in promoting luxury travel, said Cliff Black, an Amtrak spokesman. Although Amtrak has partnered with private companies as a vendor in the past, this is the first time it will be involved in a joint marketing plan.
During the test period from October until January 2008, the service will be provided on Amtrak's Silver Meteor, which travels from Washington to Miami; the Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago; and the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco.
During the fall and winter seasons, traveling becomes a hassle as snowbirds migrate and families reunite for the holidays, but the traveler looking for a unique experience can bypass the headache, said Christina Messa, vice president of marketing for GrandLuxe.
"Amtrak already has demonstrated that people are interested in an alternative to the high-stress, high-hassle factor of other modes of travel. Aviation might be fast, but it's frustrating," Black said.
The luxury cars will be attached to the back of each Amtrak train, which will continue to make regular stops. While conductors will walk between the two segments of the train, passengers will not, and each segment will be treated as its own separate train, Messa said.
Reservations specialists warn riders of the possibility of delays, but Messa said she is not worried about complaints.
"If there's a delay, that just means you get to be pampered for that much longer," she said.
The trips' prices will range from $789 to $2,000 per person for one- to two-night journeys. The new price makes luxury train travel more accessible to a larger audience of train fans who cannot afford the traditional GrandLuxe nationwide tours that cost up to $7,000 per person, Messa said.
Luxury sleeping cars equipped with hotel-like comfort, a lounge with a live pianist and a dining car that offers five-course meals are just some of the amenities of the seven-car train set. Each combined train can carry up to 47 GrandLuxe passengers.
Both Amtrak and GrandLuxe expect to profit from the partnership by expanding their market reach, company officials said. Amtrak would not be involved if officials did not think it was profitable, said Black.
Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said as long as Amtrak makes a profit, there should not be any criticism from Capitol Hill. Amtrak has an incentive to make a profit because taxpayers fund it, he said.
"Anything that gets people on the trains is a plus," he said.
Amtrak executives have been discussing this sort of partnership for the last year, but GrandLuxe could not schedule the test promotion until this fall.
The companies plan to evaluate the test program's profit and overall appeal before making a decision on whether to continue the service, Messa said.
"We're looking for market acceptance," she said. "Our product isn't about speed or low cost.
"It's about luxury, enjoying the experience, and being pampered." - Brittany Levine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
STORAGE TUNNEL AT RAILROAD PARK TO BE LENGTHENED
SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Thanks to a $50,000 donation from Paradise Valley, the tunnel at Scottsdale's McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park will be lengthened.
The tunnel is used at night to store the park's popular Paradise and Pacific train.
Part of the train, including the caboose, now sticks out when parked overnight, exposing the cars to the elements.
Paradise Valley resident and train buff Russ Mosser asked the town for the donation.
Because Paradise Valley does not have its own park, many town residents visit the nearby railroad park at 7301 E. Indian Bend Road, southeast of Indian Bend and Scottsdale roads.
The project probably won't begin until summer 2008, a park official said. It still must be designed and a contractor selected, said Bob McNair, who manages the park.
The 120-foot-long tunnel will be lengthened by as much as 40 to 80 feet.
The town's donation will be matched by the city and the Scottsdale Railroad and Mechanical Society, a non-profit civic group that supports the park.
Some of the donated funds also will be used for the park's birthday car project.
Mosser, a former Paradise Valley Town Council member, brokered the town's donation, first approaching Paradise Valley a year ago.
Mosser is a member of the Paradise and Pacific Tinplate (O gauge) Club, which operates at the park. He said the park is frequented by Paradise Valley residents since the town has no park.
McNair said Mosser's efforts are greatly appreciated.
"He initiated the whole deal, so this is his baby," McNair said.
In 1992, Paradise Valley donated $36,500 to help build the tunnel. Since then, more cars have been added to the train to increase the number of riders per trip.
McNair said depending on the tunnel's new length, at least one more car could be added to accommodate large crowds at such events as Holiday Lights.
The tunnel also will be improved at both openings to make it look more like a real train tunnel, McNair added.
A bypass railroad track is already in place, so when the tunnel closes for renovation, the train can still be used.
The project could take two to three months and will be done in the summer as opposed to the October-May peak season, McNair said. - Diana Balazs, The Arizona Republic
TRANSIT NEWS
MARC COMMITS TO LIGHT-RAIL CONSULTANT STUDY
KANSAS CITY, MO -- A consultant will make tracks into light-rail options for Kansas City in what could be a two-and-a-half-year process.
At a Mid-America Regional Council board meeting Tuesday, board members authorized providing $30,000 toward a $60,316, 18-month first phase. The balance would be financed by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
Parsons Brinckerhoff, which has a Lenexa office and works with MARC in evaluating its transit model, would be charged with determining transit ridership forecasts and evaluating light-rail alternatives, including the light-rail plan Kansas City voters approved in November as well as other area transit plans. Because so many entities have proposed transportation strategies, the issue is complex, said Mell Henderson, MARC transportation director.
A contract could be finalized in June, he said. The study would put the project in line with federal transit financing requirements. By the end of 2007 or early next year, it would provide a good idea of how much light rail to pursue, how that fits into a regional context and whether voters need to consider a new plan.
But there must be community consensus, which will be challenging because light rail now is subject to a lot more public scrutiny than the plan voters approved, Henderson said.
Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser said he will be in no hurry to push light rail but wants to gain regional cooperation through "robust discussions."
"There are at least three citizen plans that I know about. I'm being pushed in 100 different ways in this," he said. "But I want to do a regional plan. It doesn't make any sense to just transport people through Kansas City, MO. I want to leave this whole thing in flux for much longer." - The Kansas City Business Journal
COSTLY PLAN WON'T DO MUCH TO REDUCE TRAFFIC CONGESTION
SEATTLE, WA -- Public officials are asking voters to approve a multibillion-dollar roads and transit package in November that would increase the current transportation tax burden by $286 per year, or 22 percent per family.
The unbalanced tax proposal combines two areas of spending. The roads piece, commonly known as the Regional Transportation Investment District, would fund about $14 billion in regional road improvements. And the public transportation portion, Sound Transit Phase 2, would spend about $23 billion more on light rail, bus and commuter rail service.
So if voters approve the ST2/RTID ballot measure, they will commit to spending $37 billion.
Sound Transit's share of spending represents a majority of the total package and does away with a balanced roads and transit spending plan.
What does a $37 billion tax increase mean to the average family?
There are five types of public entities that have the authority to impose and collect transportation taxes in the Puget Sound region. These are the federal government, state government, counties, cities and special districts created by the state, such as Sound Transit and the RTID.
Those agencies have a variety of taxing powers that are used to support transportation services. Most of those assessments, however, do not affect many people and therefore do not have a consistent impact on a household budget.
Other taxes hit family budgets more consistently and can be measured in a household transportation tax index. They include sales and fuel taxes, annual vehicle registration fees and the motor vehicle excise tax.
On average, a Puget Sound family pays about $1,257 in transportation taxes.
Both RTID and Sound Transit attempt to illustrate their "bottom line" costs, but without the perspective of how much we currently pay, it is not easy for taxpayers to judge the actual burden.
Further, the agencies' estimates are not always accurate. For example, the RTID's revised Blueprint for Progress estimates that if the combined package is approved, the average cost per household would be $218 a year.
But this assumes a vehicle ownership rate of only one car per household. In reality, the average vehicle ownership rate in Washington is 2.01. That means the true household tax burden for the ST2/RTID package is actually $286 per year.
So what does the public get for their additional $286 in transportation taxes?
The Puget Sound Regional Council estimates that Sound Transit's full light rail plan will carry only 1.2 percent of all commuters by 2040 and traffic congestion simultaneously will rise 300 percent.
To look at it another way, Sound Transit will capture only about 14 percent of the predicted 1.2 million people expected to move into the region over the next 20 years.
Sound Transit's plan to spend $23 billion to move one-seventh of the region's projected population growth by 2030 is not only expensive, it is not even enough to reduce today's congestion at today's current population.
Most assume the RTID will handle the remaining 1 million people who will spill onto our already congested roadways. But with only one-third of the funding, the RTID package is unbalanced and does not even provide enough money for the region's most pressing road needs, the Evergreen Point Bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Sound Transit itself says its $23 billion package will increase the overall share of travelers using public transportation only from 3.5 percent to 4 percent.
In November, voters will have their chance to decide whether they want to spend $286 more per year on part of a plan that transportation experts already have concluded will not reduce traffic congestion. - Commentary, Michael Ennis, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Michael Ennis is the director of the Center for Transportation Policy at the Washington Policy Center.)
LIRR SHIFTS THIRD RAIL AT SOME 'GAP' STATIONS
NEW YORK, NY -- The Long Island Rail Road has moved the electrified rail at four of six platforms where it was deemed an electrocution risk to passengers who slip through the gap, according to an internal railroad document.
The so-called third rail, which supplies power to trains, runs parallel to the tracks. While in a few cases it must be placed close to a platform, LIRR officials identified six locations where the rail could be moved to the opposite side of the tracks, said railroad spokeswoman Susan McGowan, who confirmed the contents of a confidential "Gap Action Plan" draft obtained by Newsday.
Since November, the railroad has moved the third rail away from platforms on Flatbush Avenue station's Track 6, Hicksville's Track 3 and Hunterspoint Avenue's Tracks 1 and 2, McGowan said.
The LIRR plans to move the third rail on Track 1 at Jamaica Station sometime this year, and will develop an engineering solution for moving the rail on Penn Station's Track 18, where it is fixed in concrete, she said.
The problem can't be helped at some platforms in Jamaica, Hicksville, Ronkonkoma and Babylon, where train doors open onto two platforms at once.
"The third rail has to be on one side or the other," McGowan said.
Other details from the draft gap plan that have not yet been made public include special warning announcements at the Syosset station and a new maximum vertical gap -- the vertical distance between the train doorstep and platform surface -- of 5.5 inches. The document was dated March 2.
Last week, conductors began making announcements at Syosset that emphasize the station's wide gaps, McGowan said.
Also at Syosset, gap warnings made on the station's public address system will be made during rush hour every five minutes instead of every 15 minutes. At other times, except for late night, the gap announcement will be made a minute before a train is scheduled to arrive.
The railroad began narrowing platform gaps after the August death of a Minnesota teenager and a Newsday survey that found gaps as wide as 15 inches at some stations, including Syosset.
So far, the railroad has addressed about 70 percent of its widest gaps, LIRR officials said.
Since April the LIRR has moved tracks, shifted platforms and bolted boards to the edge of platforms at about a dozen stations.
Railroad workers are narrowing vertical gaps by lifting tracks, employing the same machines they use to shift tracks closer to platforms, McGowan said.
In a pilot program, the railroad is painting platform edges red to alert riders to the wide gaps between platforms and trains, McGowan said.
McGowan said the railroad also has posted new "Watch the Gap" signs on the sides of platforms at 26 stations. Riders waiting for a train can see these signs when they look across the tracks at the opposite platform. The LIRR so far has installed gap warning decals on train doors -- featuring a human figure slipping into a gap -- on more than 60 percent of the fleet. - Jennifer Maloney, Newsday
[b]THE END[/b]
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 Railroad Newsline for Thursday, 05/31/07 |
Larry W. Grant | 05-31-2007 - 01:26 |