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Railroad Newsline for December 25, 2006 (MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL)

Compiled by Larry W. Grant

In Memory of Rob Carlson, 1952 – 2006

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RAIL NEWS

SOMETIMES SANTA RIDES A LOCOMOTIVE TO REACH A CHILD

LOUISVILLE, KY -- Many Christmases before the screen adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's seasonal classic "The Polar Express," Esther Jo Long lived her own small version of the magical children's story as a 5-year-old.

During the late 1930s and early '40s, she and her parents, James and Mabel Morris, her three sisters and one brother lived in a large old farmhouse beside the L&N Railroad tracks on the northern outskirts of Shelbyville, Kentucky. Her father was a tobacco farmer.

"I was the baby of the family," she said. "We weren't what I would consider poor, but I didn't know at the time that we were kind of strapped for money."

One day while her mother was hanging clothes on the line in the backyard and Esther Jo was playing nearby, an engineer waved to her as the big steam locomotive rumbled past, and Esther Jo waved back.

Soon, she was waving to other engineers and to conductors on the freights and passenger trains that passed every day.

"As things continued, they started throwing me off small items -- a bag of candy, chewing gum, comic books or toys, nearly once a week," she said. "Even when I wasn't at home, we would sometimes come back home and there would be a little bundle of something out on the bank that they had thrown to me while I was away. To a small child it was just fantastic."

Once when the train was stopped at the crossing nearby, an engineer with a long gray beard helped her into the engine and let her sit at the controls of the locomotive and wave to her mother. The engineer was J.J. Allen, who lived in Winchester, KY.

C.L. Love of Danville, 88, who served more than 40 years as a conductor for the Norfolk Southern Railway, recalls that he and other trainmen often pitched treats and small gifts to children who waved to them along the Southern tracks. Grown-ups who lived near the railroad often looked forward to newspapers that the trainmen pitched from windows of the passing trains.

"We'd take stuff from home sometimes" to throw off, Love said.

The bookmark moment of Esther Jo's friendship with the trainmen came on a snowy Christmas morning when she was about 5. She was upset that the snow was so deep that she could not go out in the yard to wave. But when she heard the train coming, her mother raised the window on the side of the house next to the tracks, and Esther Jo leaned out to wave through the snowflakes.

"We noticed that the train was slowing down and slowing down -- and when it got right to our side yard, the conductor stepped down on the very last step and dropped this big box for me. Of course I just nearly had a fit when I saw him do that," she remembered.

"My dad went out and waded through the snow and brought it in for me. It was a big doll with a long, white dress and a bonnet on -- I would say it was probably 24 to 30 inches long -- just a beautiful doll. The note said, 'From your railroad friends.' Of course I just cherished that doll."

A few years later the doll and nearly all of the family's other possessions were lost when their home beside the tracks was destroyed by fire. But Esther Jo Long's vivid memories of that distant, snowy Christmas morning -- and the kindness of the trainmen to a little girl who stood in the yard and waved -- have never dimmed.

"It's just something that has stuck with me all my life," she reflected. "To this day, I just absolutely love trains … and if I have a chance I will still wave to a trainman wherever I am." - Byron Crawford, The Louisville Courier-Journal

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TWO FRIDAY DERAILMENTS IMPACT BNSF CALIFORNIA OPERATIONS

This is an update to the derailment of BNSF Railway Company train S LPCLHA1 19 that occurred at 16:40 CT Friday, December 22, 2006 at Hector, CA. This location is 25 miles east of Barstow, CA.

Both main tracks are estimated to re-open at 18:00 CT Saturday, December 23, 2006.

Customers may experience delays from 24 to 48 hours on traffic moving through this corridor due to congestion.

And, at approximately 17:45 CT Friday, December 22, 2006, Union Pacific Railroad train MWCRVB derailed 14 cars blocking the single main track at Marcel, CA. This location is approximately 41 miles east of Bakersfield, CA on the Mojave subdivision where BNSF shares trackage rights with the UPRR.

The Union Pacific has set the estimated time of opening for 17:00 CT December 23, 2006.

This will only impact traffic coming from and going to Northern California. Customers may experience delays between 24 to 36 hours on traffic moving through this corridor. - BNSF Service Advisories

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SURPRISING FORECAST FOR AMTRAK: GROWTH

New York Times photo by Jamie Rose here:

[graphics10.nytimes.com]

Photo caption reads: Alexander K. Kummant, who became the president of Amtrak in September after his predecessor was fired, says “the stars may be aligning” for a renaissance in passenger and freight railroads in the next 5 to 10 years.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Amtrak could see a ridership growth spurt of 50 percent in the next five to 10 years, but it would require billions of state and federal dollars invested in the tracks of other railroads, and millions more of private investment in passenger rail cars, the new president of the railroad said Thursday in an interview.

“The stars may be aligning” for a renaissance of rail, both passenger and freight, said Alexander K. Kummant, who was named president of Amtrak in September, after the board fired his predecessor, David L. Gunn.

Mr. Kummant indicated that Amtrak was backing away from some ideas that had upset Amtrak supporters, including putting the Washington-to-Boston corridor under separate ownership. He also said he did not intend to slash the long-distance network because it was a national asset that, once lost, would probably never be recovered.

Mr. Kummant appeared to rule out much-discussed plans to privatize major parts of Amtrak’s unionized work force, instead saying it would make better sense to expand passenger service, and with it union jobs, while outsourcing only peripheral functions, like tree trimming.

The railroad may be poised for a rebound. Congressional Democrats, soon to be in control, are hopeful that they can enact a law setting goals for Amtrak, replacing the one that lapsed in 2002. Those goals include some of what Mr. Kummant listed as his own strategy, like financing rail projects the way that the federal government finances highways — by offering matching money to the states — and helping Amtrak and local rail transit agencies consolidate their purchases of new equipment at reduced cost.

The proposals passed the Senate overwhelmingly last year, but House Republican leaders would not bring them up for a vote.

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who co-sponsored a bill with those provisions, will be in charge of the Senate’s rail subcommittee next year. Mr. Lautenberg said he would offer a similar measure when Congress reconvened.

Amtrak reported record revenue of $131.2 million in November, the highest of any month. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, ticket revenue was $1.37 billion, up 11 percent over the 2005 fiscal year. Its flagship Acela train, which runs between Washington and Boston, was sidelined for months with brake problems in 2005, but now is running well, and national ridership is up.

But Amtrak, which has $3.6 billion in long-term debt, will remain heavily dependent on federal subsidies of about $1 billion a year for the foreseeable future. And it has enduring labor problems; most of its employees have been without a contract for seven years.

Mr. Kummant, a former freight rail executive, said that the rail network nationally was overloaded, but that strong growth in freight traffic, and the interest in rail as a solution to congestion and energy problems, opened the possibility for government investment in private freight railroad lines that Amtrak used.

He said the additional money needed — perhaps $1 billion a year for 10 years — was modest compared with what Washington spent on other modes of transportation. He said that track improvements for “the cost of four or five highway interchanges” would allow corridors of several hundred miles with passenger service at more than 100 miles an hour.

But both Amtrak and the freight railroads would need outside capital. Matthew Rose, chairman of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, said Mr. Kummant’s idea of government investment “makes a lot of sense” as long as it is carefully devised to avoid government interference in private-sector decisions. Mr. Rose said that railroading was in a “rising tide” era, and that without government help, Amtrak would inevitably be squeezed and unable to provide reliable service.

Amtrak’s chairman, David M. Laney, chosen by the Bush administration, and Mr. Kummant are viewed with suspicion by some of Amtrak’s allies in Congress, who fear they share the view of the Transportation Department that the railroad, a perennial money-loser, should drop its long-distance routes. But in a one-hour interview in his office, which was punctuated by the vibrations from trains passing in a tunnel four stories below, Mr. Kummant said, “We’re not going to do anything radical there.”

The cost of cross-country trains comes to about a dollar and a half per American per year, he said, and they are irreplaceable. He compared trains like the Empire Builder and the City of New Orleans to assets like national parks. “I haven’t had the opportunity to go to Glacier National Park since 1976, but I pay taxes every year in the hope that I have the option to go back,” Mr. Kummant said.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report in November that 80 percent of Amtrak’s losses were on long-distance trains, which were not helping with congestion, urban mobility or energy use, and suggested they be dropped.

Mr. Kummant spoke six days after he fired several top executives of Amtrak; he would not comment on why. Mr. Laney said Mr. Kummant was simply making room for his own management team.

Mr. Kummant said Amtrak was looking into a new way to buy rail cars for its aging fleet: allying with commuter lines and ordering cars by the hundreds, instead of the dozens, cutting the cost to manufacture new models.

Joint purchase efforts are already under way in a partnership between Metrolink in Southern California and Tri-Rail in South Florida, while New Jersey is buying locomotives identical to those being bought in Montreal, said Anthony M. Kouneski, vice president for member services at the American Public Transit Association.

Mr. Kummant also raised the possibility of using “equipment trusts” to provide passenger cars and locomotives, much the way freight cars and airplanes are often purchased, with banks or other investors buying the cars and leasing them to Amtrak long-term.

The Amtrak president seemed conciliatory toward the railroad’s unions, suggesting that they could share in the railroad’s growth and observing, as a former manufacturing executive, that “outsourcing is no panacea.” But he said that the railroad would need flexibility from its unions. For example, he said, the highly skilled workers who maintain the overhead power lines should not spend their time trimming trees, and their union should allow the railroad to bring in outside contractors to do that job at lower cost.

Tony Iannone, vice president of the United Transportation Union and an Amtrak conductor, said that Mr. Kummant was “saying the right things, and we are patiently waiting” to hear more. - Matthew L. Wald and Don Phillips, The New York Times

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THE LONG AND SHORT OF THE HEBER CREEPER

PROVO, UT -- From 1899 until 1967, a short-line railroad (its official name was Utah Eastern Railway) ran between Provo and Heber City via Provo Canyon.

It made slow trips: The urban landscape in Provo and the steep grades and curves in the canyon rendered speed impossible. In fact, the engine fairly crawled over some stretches at 20 miles per hour or less, giving the line its nickname -- the Heber Creeper.

The Heber Creeper seemed destined for slowness even before the railway came into existence. The idea for a line through Provo Canyon was conceived almost 50 years before labor on the track began.

Soon after the first Mormon settlers arrived in the Great Basin in 1847, Brigham Young and other church leaders expressed enthusiasm for the construction of a transcontinental railroad through Utah Territory. In 1852, the Utah Territorial Legislature voted to send a memorial to the United States Congress asking for the passage of a bill that would encourage construction of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.

Utah leaders were of the opinion that the best route for the line led through Provo Canyon.

Mounting problems between the Northern and Southern states, and the resulting Civil War, slowed construction of the transcontinental railroad. When track laying finally picked up steam after the war, a route was surveyed and constructed through Weber Canyon instead of Provo Canyon, making Ogden the railroad center of Utah.

Despite the fact that Provo had been snubbed, railroad enthusiasts didn't give up easily. The idea of a rail line through Provo Canyon just keep creeping along.

In 1874, an English company contemplated laying track through the canyon and beyond, to Coalville in Summit County. From there, the line would transport coal to urban areas.

But the plan withered in its formative stages, and the company built no line. Mining companies eventually sent the coal to Ogden over the transcontinental line, and it came to Utah Valley via Salt Lake City on two locally constructed lines, the Utah Central and Utah Southern railroads.

A sneaky survey

None of the schemes promoting a railroad through Provo Canyon materialized until April 1896. That year the Salt Lake Tribune reported:

"A gang of surveyors ... who are exceedingly mum and refuse to say for whom they are working, are establishing what appears to be a grade for a railroad through Provo Canyon."

Travelers through the canyon confirmed the newspaper's report.

The mysterious surveyors turned out to be employees of the Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, and even though the company denied it was scoping out a railroad grade, that is in fact what it was doing. The tentative line through Provo Canyon terminated at Park City. The possibility existed that a line might later be extended from there to the Uinta Basin.

Provo's Daily Enquirer worried that the company had no intention of laying track, but only staked its claim to the route to keep other railroad companies from constructing lines through the canyon.

These fears proved groundless. The Rio Grande Western hired the Springville company of Deal & Mendenhall to spearhead construction.

Preparation of the track bed and the laying of rails proved to be a lengthy process. The precipitous, narrow canyon retarded the progress of the grade builders, but their most toilsome task was bulldozing past a man named Nunn who was not in the habit of being pushed around.

Industrial vision

In 1896, L.L. Nunn and the Telluride Power and Transmission Company planned the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the Provo River just below Bridal Veil Falls. They intended to build a small, temporary power plant, later named Nunns, and to create electricity with water carried to this plant by way of a flume.

The company planned to build a power line from Nunns to Mercur, a boom town in the Oquirrh Mountains northwest of Provo, and other mines located in the western mountains.

Workmen would also use some of the Nunns electricity to help build a larger, permanent power plant near the mouth of Provo canyon.

To provide water for the larger plant, which the company named Olmstead, Nunn planned to build an 80-foot-high dam across the Provo River near Upper Falls. This idea met with some opposition.

The dam would make it necessary for the railroad company to build its grade high up on the mountainside, a job that the Rio Grande Western considered to be too costly and difficult.
Also, many people in Provo worried that a high dam would be a danger to the community. If it collapsed, much of the town might be washed away.

The railroad company and the power company both claimed to own right of way near the dam site. In September 1896, a judge injoined the Telluride Power Company from doing further grading for the Rio Grande Western in that area.

Deal & Mendenhall moved its men a little farther up the canyon and continued working, but no more grading could be done in the area of the dam site until the problem with the right of way could be solved. Two long court cases ensued.

Provo controversy

Meanwhile, the people of Provo found themselves in a bind. They wanted and needed both the large power plant and the railroad to Park City. However, Provo's Utonian reported: "If we are to lose one it had better be the power plant, as it is believed that while both will be advantageous and profitable to the community, the greatest good to the city will result from the operation of a railway between Provo and Park City."

This appears to have been the opinion of the majority of Provo's population.

As its lawyers fought the court case with the power company over the right of way, the Rio Grande Western moved ahead with its scheme to build the line to Park City. Initially, the company planned for the line to skirt the western edge of Provo and then run northeastward to the mouth of the canyon.

At the time, some of Provo's mill owners and other influential citizens whose manufactories were established along the millrace on 200 West convinced the railroad that a line up 200 West would be beneficial to everybody.

The Rio Grande Western petitioned Provo for a franchise permitting it to run its tracks along 200 West. The company also asked the city to grant it some land on University Avenue and 600 South for a depot.

These requests stirred up a hornets' nest in Provo.

The Utonian favored the 200 West route. It pointed out that a line on that street would stimulate manufacturing, and property values in the area would rise.

The newspaper promoted the idea that if the railroad company would grade 200 West and the crossings, the road would become "a far better street for general travel than it is today."

Provo's other newspaper, the Daily Enquirer, took the opposite point of view and effectively countered the Utonian's opinions with sarcasm. The Enquirer marveled at what a unique idea it was to divide the city with "a living, rumbling, smoking, rattling, tooting line that will not let the east ender nor the west ender forget for a moment that Provo was once a city."

About the citizens who lived along 200 West, the Enquirer wrote:

"They have slumbered as long as Rip Van Winkle to the rhythmic lullaby of the mill race. The clangor and rush of a dozen trains at night will give a new and lively turn to their dreams."

Permission granted

The Enquirer went on to say that having the train cross 12 streets a dozen times a day would give "72 opportunities not now enjoyed of training our teams not to be frightened of the car!"

Perhaps 72 times more railroad accidents would happen. That would help make the "daily papers bright and sparkling."

Citizens held a mass meeting to discuss granting the railroad a right of way on 200 West. The City Council debated the idea in public meetings. Finally, in mid-March 1897, the council granted the railroad's petition, and surveyors rapidly went to work on the route through town.

On April 16, the court ruled on the first railroad right of way case. The decision awarded the Rio Grande Western the route through Provo Canyon. Telluride Power Company immediately appealed the decision to the Utah State Supreme Court.

Provo residents received some disquieting news in June 1897. They learned that the Rio Grande Western had purchased the Utah Central branch line from Echo Canyon to Park City. Now it appeared that there would be no need for the Rio Grande Western to build the line through Provo Canyon.

Fears that now no canyon railroad would be built were somewhat allayed in early August when rails, spikes and ties began to arrive in Provo. By the end of the month, workmen, many of whom were from Provo, started laying track on 200 West.

Provo City and the Rio Grande Western worked together to improve 200 West. The city graded the street and filled low spots with gravel. By early September, the Utonian reported that the street was "already in better condition than it has ever been."

Unfortunately, a soggy accident in early October 1897 caused the road to rapidly revert to its former condition.

At the woolen mill, located on 200 West between 100 and 200 North, a weir backed up the millrace for several blocks, creating a large pond. Water from the pond was channeled through a water wheel that powered the mill's equipment for making cloth.

The railroad company had planned to build a rock retaining wall along the stream to protect the railroad tracks from possible floods. The wall was to be 12 to 14 feet high near the water wheel, and would then taper to a height of about 8 feet as it extended northward.

The Rio Grande Western shipped in 30 carloads of rock from Spanish Fork Canyon to build this block-long wall.

The call of lunch

Laborers busily dug away the high clay stream bank to within 2 feet of the millrace to prepare for the construction of the wall. They had just finished trimming the bank at its highest point near the mill's water wheel when the noon whistle blew. The men quickly left their work in search of lunch buckets.

Only one small girl who lived in the neighborhood remained at the site. What she observed may have reminded her of the Biblical flood, only without two of every animal.

Water pressure against the highest point of the clay bank caused it to give way, and a torrent gushed down 200 West, washing away the sidewalk, track bed and the newly improved road.

Flood waters coursed down 200 West to 100 South where some of it cut through to 300 West and ran southward to 300 South.

At some points, it nearly flowed into people's houses.

A small lake formed on Center Street between 200 and 300 West, tempting local businessmen to close shop, grab poles and go fishing. Much of the water ran down 200 West and eventually found its way back into the millrace.

Road conditions in that part of town quickly returned to circumstances like those experienced during pioneer times.

The Daily Enquirer reported: "Travel on H street (200 West) between 7th and 10th (Center and 300 North) is impossible as there is now no road."

The watermaster turned off the flow in the millrace, and railroad laborers repaired the break in the ditch bank. While the water was off, the woolen mill switched from water power to steam power generated by its coal-fired boiler.

When the destruction caused by the flood was finally repaired, damages totaled several hundred dollars, a fair sum in those days.

Finally, in December 1897, Utah's Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the district court dealing with the first right of way case; but the second case was not settled until May 1898.
The railroad company constructed about one mile of track between 1897 and early 1898, but it made no further significant progress on the line until early in 1899.

A dollar a day

In March 1899, the Rio Grande Western finally awarded contracts for a grade from Provo through the first 10 miles of Provo Canyon. Deal Brothers & Mendenhall of Springville got the contract. It paid its subcontractors by the day. A man received $1, a man with a team got $3.50, and a man with a wheel scraper was paid $4.

The contractors made good progress early in 1899. Track crews began working in Provo during March. They replaced the temporary iron rail on 200 West with steel track. Carpenters built two bridges over the millrace.

By April, workmen had completed the six miles of grade extending to the mouth of the canyon. Less than a month later, bridge builders completed a structure across Provo River at the mouth of Provo Canyon, and by the end of May workers had completed laying rail to the mouth of the canyon.

Work trains transported spikes, ties and rails to the end of the line.

After three years of planning, and with work slowed by lawsuits and local disagreements, the Rio Grande Western readied its workmen for the assault on Provo Canyon, the most formidable physical obstacle on the route to Heber. - D. Robert Carter, The Provo Daily Herald (D. Robert Carter is a historian who lives in Springville, UT)

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CITY SEEKS FEDERAL PRESSURE AGAINST REMOTE-CONTROL TRAINS

An Eastern Oregonian Photo here:

[www.eastoregonian.info]

Photo caption reads: A Union Pacific remote-controlled locomotive lies on the side of the tracks after it collided with a coal train in April outside of Hermiston. EO file photo.

HERMISTON, OR -- The city wants its congressional delegation to help battle Union Pacific's plan to run remote-controlled trains through town.

City Manager Ed Brookshier said Friday he intends to contact the offices of Sen. Gordon Smith and Rep. Greg Walden.

"I'm positive we're going to have to get help," he said.

Larry Bartee of Pendleton, Smith's local liaison, attended a meeting Dec. 14 between city and railroad officials. The City Council's resolution in November to ban remote-control operations prompted the meeting, which railroad officials requested.

Brookshier said two railroad directors came to Hermiston Dec. 14 to persuade him and others remote-control operations are safe. He isn't convinced, even though employees on board the trains conduct all "remote" operations.

"The technology for remote-control locomotives as of right now - today - is designed with the thought that they be operated in a rail yard or an industrial area, not in highly populated residential areas," he said.

Industry regulations and training aren't geared to municipal operations, either, he added.

"The question is, how can you begin to operate a device that wasn't intended for that type of operation, and over which no one has developed a set of regulations for how you do it - if you do it," Brookshier said.

Union Pacific's north-south tracks through Hermiston cross eight streets, just three of which have crossing barriers, Hermiston, Orchard and Elm avenues.

"The most troubling crossing for me is the Highland crossing," he said.

Recent traffic counts on West Highland Avenue show the street carries an average of 7,700 vehicles every 24 hours.

"That's a very large volume of traffic," he said. "That, coupled with the fact that it is a major pedestrian crossing and a major school bus crossing."

The Highland Avenue crossing is about a block from Hermiston High School and is a route for students who attend West Park Elementary School.

Union Pacific operates trains on the "Umatilla turn," the route through Hermiston from Hinkle to the Port of Umatilla, between 23:00 and 07:00 five days a week, said Mark Davis, a railroad spokesman in Omaha. Each train has about 12 cars.

Railroad officials have completed their review of remote-control locomotive operations through Hermiston and have submitted a training plan to the Federal Railroad Administration, he said.

"We will continue to attempt to educate local officials about this proven technology," Davis said. "The next step for us in the planning phases is to begin to look at a supervised operation test of the technology."

That means remote-control supervisors would work with the locomotive operators to ensure everyone is comfortable with the equipment.

"We know that the technology is proven," he said. "We know that it operates safely. It's just when we begin to operate this technology in new territories, it's not uncommon to have one or two training supervisors accompany the employee."

Canadian railroad officials developed the remote-control locomotive technology. Davis said Union Pacific has been using it for several years. Railroad officials believe remote operations improve safety and increase operating efficiencies. But that doesn't mean the railroad is putting locomotive engineers out of work.

"The engineers that no longer operate these locomotives in rail yards are much needed to operate road locomotives," he said. "We still need engineers to operate trains."

Regardless of whether Union Pacific operates a train by remote control or with a full crew, Davis said drivers need to heed train warnings and pedestrians should stay away from the tracks when trains are passing

"It's the driver's choice to get into the path of an oncoming train," he said.

Mayor Bob Severson remains concerned about community safety because the railroad hauls anhydrous ammonia along the route.

"I just don't feel comfortable with somebody running a train with remote control," he said. "I just hope we can work something out so that won't be happening." - Dean Brickey, The East Oregonian

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RAILROAD BOARD'S LEGAL BILL LEADS TO DEBATE ABOUT OPEN MEETINGS

PIERRE, SD -- South Dakota's Railroad Board, after arguing about when closed meetings are appropriate, decided in open session this week how to pay a $5,800 legal bill.

The question for the board was which of two funds should be used to pay the bill - and, by extension, perhaps, future legal expenses.

The answer - pay it from a railroad administration fund instead of the railroad trust fund - came after members considered but rejected an executive, or closed, session with their legal counsel.
Board members instead voted 3-2 against closing the meeting, and Karla Engle, legal counsel for the Transportation Department, talked with them about possible funding sources with members of the public present.

Chet Groseclose of Aberdeen said he saw no need for confidentiality.

"I don't think which public fund ... is used to pay public bills is a matter for executive session," he said.

Some board members said they were confused about exactly when executive sessions are allowed.

Although the bill that sparked the discussion was modest, the Railroad Board sometimes faces legal costs as high as $900,000 in a given year, Roxanne Rice, the Transportation Department finance director, said.

The decision to use the administration fund is a break from common practice, said Bruce Lindholm, state Office of Railroads program manager. In the past, he said, "for the most part" legal fees were taken from the trust fund.

The railroad trust fund functions in large part as a revolving loan fund. Regional rail authorities borrow money for track and siding improvements and repay the debt with interest.

The administration fund, for railroad management and administration, is built through leases and fees on state-owned rail property. It pays for spraying weeds, fixing culverts and other property issues, Lindholm said. - Terry Woster, The Sioux Falls Argus Leader

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IN CROCKETT, FLOUR HAD POWER BEFORE SUGAR

CROCKETT, CA -- Before sugar came to Crockett, California, there was flour and Abraham Dubois Starr.

In 1883, Starr chose a spot on the Carquinez Strait called Wheatport (now known as the west end of Crockett) to build the biggest and best flour mill in the world.

Starr started milling flour in Marysville in the mid-1850s. He then went on to build a bigger mill in Vallejo.

By the 1860s, there were 100 flour mills operating in California. With the proliferation of flour mills, more farmers planted wheat. And by the 1870s, wheat and flour were the state's most profitable exportable products. Starr's mill in Vallejo produced 2,200 barrels a day. It was so successful, he incorporated his company in 1883 and got former governor George C. Perkins and former mayor of Oakland Dr. Samuel Merritt to serve on the board of directors.

Starr's activities included more than operating a flour mill. He was active in Republican politics and had been elected a supervisor in Solano County.

He was a close friend of railroad mogul Leland Stanford and was a director on the California Pacific Railroad Company, which built the track from Sacramento to Vallejo. With the incorporation of his Vallejo mill, Starr had more capital at his disposal. He embarked on constructing an even bigger mill than his Vallejo operation, which was the biggest in California at the time.

Not only would there be a mill, but docks, a grain warehouse and a wheat-cleaning plant. The warehouse would have a capacity of 150,000 tons. The docks would be able to accommodate six ships at a time.

"Whole train loads could be unloaded, and if necessary the wheat cleaned and graded with quick dispatch on two floor-levels of tracks, extending the length of the warehouse," Starr's nephew. W.A. Starr, wrote in an article about his uncle in the September 1948 issue of the California Historical Society Quarterly.

By 1884, the warehouse, cleaning plant and docks were ready for business. The flour mill, which would be made of brick, wouldn't be completed until 1891. It would have a milling capacity of 8,000 barrels a day -- "Thus to become the largest in the world," wrote Starr's nephew. "Foundations were concrete arches resting on bedrock, said to be the first time a concrete foundation was successfully placed in underwater construction."

"As a boy I was often taken to Wheatport by my uncle, 'A.D.,' as he was known to his friends.
He made the trip almost daily from Oakland. Sometimes we crossed the strait at noon to the South Vallejo mill in a small sail boat, kept and manned for that purpose, returning to Oakland via the ferry to Vallejo Junction, where we met the evening train."

As W.A. Starr grew older, his uncle would give him a job, "running alongside the hand trucks to stencil a mark on each bag of wheat as the men trucked them over the scales, five to a load, and on to the chute at the ship's side, down which they slid into the hold. Here barefooted men received the bags, weighing about 140 pounds and carried them on their backs to the spot where they were stowed away. To wear shoes would have cut the bags as the men tramped over layer after layer in filling the hold."

Loading ships was hard, hot and dusty work. But while there wasn't a coffee break, there was another more satisfying drink supplied to the men. "For refreshment a bucket of lager beer was placed behind the scales and in the hold from time to time, one of the gang being assigned to carry the bucket to and from the nearest saloon, of which there were many along the tracks."

Most of the ships docking at Wheatport were built for speed, "with high masts carrying a great spread of canvas for their size ... As the clippers approached or left the Golden Gate under full sail during the active wheat shipping season in the fall of the year, the sight was unforgettably beautiful."

The sailing ships may have been built for speed, but they still took from 100 to 160 days to sail around Cape Horn to their European destination.

The Starr flour mill at Wheatport never did operate at its full capacity. In 1893, a financial panic initiated a great Depression both in the United States and Europe.

"Wheat was good for nothing this season; not good security for the sacks that held it. This great commodity reached the lowest average price ever before recorded in the history of the United States," wrote John Boggs, president of the state board of agriculture in 1893 in a report to the then-governor, H.H. Markham.

The panic devastated Starr's operations. There was a ruinous clause in Starr's contract with British buyers. If the wheat didn't get to Liverpool within a stated time, the contracts expired.

In 1893, the ships were becalmed. They missed the deadline. From the time the ships sailed to the time they arrived in Liverpool, the price of wheat fell to half what it had been. The British refused to honor the contracts. Starr had to declare bankruptcy.

Starr, a widower, gave up his Oakland home and moved in with his brother William, also of Oakland. He died the next year.

George McNear, the wheat king of California, picked up both of Starr's flour mills at bargain prices. But the bonanza created by wheat was mainly over. McNear never did make a big profit out of his Wheatport mill. In 1897, he turned the flour mill into a sugar refinery and couldn't make that work, either.

It wasn't until 1905 that a group of Hawaiian sugar planters bought the plant and turned it into C&H Sugar Co. - Nilda Rego, The Contra Costa Times

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CARDIFF'S COLORFUL HISTORY TIED TO SEA, RAIL

CARDIFF, CA -- Named for its pretty Welsh counterpart, the southernmost of the five communities that make up Encinitas, California has a colorful history.

It once boasted a hotel, two piers, a kelp-processing plant and a train depot, said Cardiff historian Irene Kratzer.

Cardiff began to emerge as development of the coastal corridor edged its way from San Diego into North County in the late 1880s. A Scot, Hector Mackinnon, had originally settled the area in 1875. His homestead overlooked San Elijo Lagoon.

Mackinnon farmed 600 acres, growing barley and corn and planting orchards. His wife, Sarah, raised cows and chickens and made jellies to help sustain the family and pay for expenses, Kratzer said.

But as the century turned, more people began to settle the area. Railroad tracks, which originated in National City, and passenger depots built along the coastal route made Cardiff accessible and encouraged trade.

Residents of nearby Encinitas would travel to the Cardiff train depot to deliver their home-produced goods, which were then shipped south to San Diego. Warner Rathyen, owner of the Encinitas Garage, delivered fresh milk daily in his Buick Roadster.

Photo here: [www.signonsandiego.com]

Photo caption reads: Photo courtesy of Lynwood Cole.In his Buick Roadster, Warner Rathyen delivered milk daily to the rail depot in Cardiff for shipment to San Diego. With him was Douglas Saterlee. The photograph dates to about 1913.

Frank Cullen, a Boston artist, arrived in the area in 1910, buying part of Mackinnon's land.

Cullen's wife had grown up in Wales, and it was her suggestion to use Cardiff as the name for the area. By 1911, Cullen began to develop his Cardiff seaside resort.

Inside lots sold for $30 each, and corner lots were $45, Kratzer said. Cullen's wife chose British street names, such as Manchester, to give Cardiff an international flavor. Visualizing his development as a replica of a British Victorian seaside resort, Cullen built a majestic hotel, a restaurant and a mercantile exchange centered on the railroad depot.

One of the piers he built was just north of where the Chart House Restaurant is today on Coast Highway 101. It was washed away in a 1916 storm. The other, reported to be 300 feet long, was built to support a power-generating machine. It was destroyed in 1919, but its exact location is unknown.

In 1916, Victor Kremer, a German musician, bought land and moved into a home in the newly developing composer district north of Birmingham Drive. Locals say he might have added the “by-the-Sea” to Cardiff, from the song “By the Beautiful Sea.”

Kremer also had a large passion-fruit plantation behind his home, said Muriel B. Fisch, editor of the California Rare Fruit Growers' yearbook. He processed the fruit, marketing the product under the name Passionola, which was used as a cocktail mix. '

Cardiff's only industry, a kelp works, was built by Olivenhain resident Clarence Cole in 1912, said his grandson, Lynwood Cole. The seaweed was processed for use in food and for industrial applications such as potash, a derivative of kelp and a key ingredient of gunpowder.

After World War I, the demand for potash declined and the plant was dismantled. Pieces were moved on a wagon drawn by four horses down San Elijo Avenue to the Cardiff train depot. Some of the lumber was used to build George's Inn, near where the Chart House now stands, Cole said. The plant's foundation is still visible along San Elijo Lagoon's muddy north bluff.

The Cardiff Mercantile Co., which housed a general store, served as the cornerstone of the business district. It is the only remaining commercial building left from Cullen's era. It is at the northeast corner of Chesterfield Drive and San Elijo Avenue, across from where the train depot once stood. - Diane Welch, The San Diego Union-Tribune

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QUIT BELLYACHING; HERE IS THE NEWS OF A REAL BLIZZARD

Hanging on my living-room wall is one of the most unusual newspapers ever published in the United States.

It is the Saturday, March 15, 1884, edition of the weekly Eagle River Shaft, published in the Colorado mining town of Red Cliff, near Leadville. My edition is a single sheet, seven-columns across and printed on one side. Most of the stories are two or three sentences long, and the page includes several ads.

It was typical of the newssheets of the time - other than it was printed only on one side, considered a waste of valuable inventory by any responsible publisher.

It is the details of the stories that reveal why this one-page edition of the Shaft is unusual.

"Tuesday there was a snow slide at Woodstock on the Gunnison extension of the South Park. It was near the station. The agent, F.R. Brown, and eight others were killed. Mrs. Doyle lost five children. These particulars, received by wire, furnished the only items of news from the outside for the past week."

There was more grim news.

"It is a difficult matter to guess when the trains will be running on this branch again. Our mines are all idle ... business is at a standstill."

"Last evening the only news we could learn concerning the railroad and the mails was not encouraging. ... There are four thousand feet of snow slides from twenty to forty feet deep."

"Simply as a matter of news we state that there was another slight fall of snow this week - something over two feet."

"Nine locomotives were dead and abandoned on the Blue River branch last Monday."

"According to the last observation of our weather reporter, it is not ascertained whether or not the back bone of winter is now broken."

"Many cases of snow-blinding are reported during the last few days."

"Wednesday the thermometer again dropped down to 29 degrees below."

"Frank Allen walked out from Leadville last Saturday and continued down the river to his ranch the next day."

"Jas. McAftee, John Gardner, J. Ben Lewis, E.F. Campbell, Solon Osgood and Robert Law started from Leadville Wednesday morning and walked to Red Cliff, reaching here between 02:00 and 03:00 Thursday."

"From present appearances, Red Cliff will be fortunate if it has a train in ten days from now, even if the weather is moderately favorable."

"Some six or eight teams were to start from Dotsero and Gypsum the early part of the week for the county seat. They were to come by wagons to bellyache and from there on runners. It is probable they are still on the other slope of this mountain."

"John Gardner killed his cow the other day for the luxury of a little fresh meat. It was a sort of matter of necessity all around - the cow would probably have died for want of food before another moon."

The editor was not without his sense of humor, though. Among the published items were these tidbits of commentary:

"Our county officials are growing desperate. ... It was as pretty as a picture to see this noble gang shoveling snow yesterday."

"The best advertising medium is the Shaft, just as present everyone on the Eagle (River) is forced to read and re-read it as it is the only paper to be had."

"For a spring morning, the weather was rather cool yesterday morning at sunrise. The mercury shrunk in the thermometer to 22 degrees below the zero mark."

"According to a report on the street this morning, the supply of whiskey is running short. This will never do. The roads must be opened immediately."

None of this is what makes this edition of the Shaft worth saving.

What makes it unique is that the publisher, victim of interrupted supply lines, could not replenish his dwindling inventory of newsprint, and the March 15 edition I own was printed on the backside of a roll of Chinese wallpaper.

Now that’s the hardship - and the ingenuity - brought by a real blizzard. - Chuck Green, The Pueblo Chieftain

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AN ICY CHRISTMAS: HOLIDAY SEASON IS MINNESOTA'S TIME TO SPARKLE

Related Associated Press photo by Jim Mone here:

[cmsimg.enquirer.com]

Photo caption reads: Thousands line the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis for the Holidazzle Parade.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Heading home for the holidays, I'm already smiling as the plane approaches the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The surrounding farm country is blinding in its unbroken whiteness through the flat horizon.

In its final approach over downtown Minneapolis, the plane swoops over the Mississippi River, sugar-white patches of snow floating on its lapis lazuli surface and the chain of city lakes.
I see skaters have cleared a shiny swath of Lake of the Isles in front of wreathed mansions. Cross-country skiers (some of them no doubt sporting jingling reindeer antlers) do the rounds of Lake Calhoun, while ice-fishers are drilling holes in Lake Harriet.

Any visitor who joins them on lakes and trails gets the hearty welcome of the initiated - one who has seen through the exaggeratedly scary reputation of bone-freezing cold and realized that this is the season the Twin Cities really shine.

Such are the memories of Christmases past for those of us who call the area home. One of my favorite wintertime moments was when two ice-fishers gave me barely liquid beer as the reward for having drilled my first hole through at least a foot of ice into black lake water. I drank the beer standing on Lake Harriet 50 yards from a popular beach, the downtown skyline reflecting the setting sun a few miles to the north.

Hot chocolate is a preferred drink at the Holidazzle, an evening, 30-minute parade with a dozen floats and hundreds of characters all decked in glittering lights on downtown Minneapolis' main shopping street, Nicollet Mall.

Think Minnesotans exaggerate their Nordic prowess? The parade, in its 15th season, is only canceled for blizzards or at least minus 20 wind chill. And of course, weather varies from year to year; the mean temperature on Christmas Day for the past five years has ranged from 34 to minus 4.

Admittedly, there's a way to cheat. You can watch the parade from the glass-enclosed skyways that crisscross the Twin Cities' downtowns at second-floor level. It's so warm inside that you can walk sleeveless to restaurants and shops, none of which is more crowded that the Minneapolis Macy's on Nicollet Mall.

Thousands of children stand in line for hours every holiday season to watch the animated holiday display at the downtown Macy's, which this year tells Mary Poppins' story.

I don't even like shopping, but no Dec. 26 goes by without my fighting the throngs of fellow pursuers of holiday sales through the Mall of America, with its 520 stores on four floors and an amusement park in the middle - all indoors of course, 70 degrees year-round.

It'd be worth visiting the country's largest mall, next to the airport in the suburb of Bloomington, only for the multifloor wreaths, the car-size red and gold balls, a 1,496-square-foot gingerbread house and the towering trees in the main rotunda where community, school and professional groups hold holiday concerts.

It's hard to envision that the first, unthinkably cold-resistant pioneers settled just upriver of this temple to consumption. The mansions their descendants built in the 19th and early 20th centuries return to the air of Christmases past with their decorations.

Costumed guides tell the stories of women made to faint on their settees by their absurdly tight corsets at the Alexander Ramsey house, just north of a St. Paul square lined with brightly colored Victorian houses.

Christmas is just as Victorian up the bluff overlooking the Mississippi at the James J. Hill House, built for a railroad magnate in 1891 at the beginning of Summit Avenue, St. Paul's mansion-lined historic answer to Fifth Avenue. Nearby, the massive bulk of the 1915 Cathedral of St. Paul is set off by red-ribboned wreaths and towers of poinsettias.

Half an hour east of town, in the former lumberjack settlement of Stillwater on the St. Croix River, the 1870 courthouse is decorated to celebrate Minnesota's ethnic heritage with all things Scandinavian.

The same spirit - down to straw animals hanging from the Christmas trees - pervades "Nordic Christmas" at Minneapolis' Swedish Institute, the mansion built by Swedish immigrants at the turn of the century. Their heads crowned by candles, girls in white carry cookies during the festivities to recall the feats of St. Lucia, the fourth-century martyr who, legend has it, carried food to starving Swedes across a lake.

And no old-fashioned holiday would be complete without Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," which the Guthrie Theater has brought on stage for more than 30 years. For the first time this season, it will be at the Guthrie's new home on the Mississippi in Minneapolis' historic milling district. Theater-goers will get sweeping river views from the new building's futuristic hanging bridge.

But for the iconic shot of Minneapolis, you have to go back to the original Guthrie site and have your picture taken in front of the giant spoon-with-cherry sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden - capped with freshly fallen snow and with glowing skyscrapers in the background.

And as you pull away to head to another museum, a ski trail or that last-minute gift-hunt, listen for the slide-and-crunch sound that cars make on immaculate snow.

Clearer than the Salvation Army bells, it spells Christmas in the Twin Cities.

As does the chuckle that ripples through my plane as it nears the airport. The pilot has just announced it's a balmy 10 degrees. The uninitiated gasp, but the Minnesotans aboard are already reveling in this real-life winter wonderland. - Giovanna Dell'Orto, The Associated press, The Cincinnati Enquirer

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TRANSIT NEWS

STREETCARS: EVOLVING MEANS OF MOVING URBAN MASSES

There was a time long ago when streetcars were a vital part of America’s transportation scene. With bells clanging, air compressors chuffing, and poles swishing along overhead, they rumbled in elephantine majesty up and down city streets.

Even Coles County, Illinois had streetcars, otherwise called “trolleys.” In 1904 the Central Illinois Traction Company laid tracks connecting Charleston and Mattoon. Its streetcars not only carried passengers between the two towns, but also transported them to Urban Park located at the site of the present-day Charleston Country Club. There pleasure seekers found a dance pavilion, a swimming pond, concessions booths, picnic grounds, and the pleasant shade of a heavily-wooded glade.

Then, in 1911, the City Streetcar Line in Charleston placed tracks down the center of Sixth Street. During daylight hours the conveyance connected Old Main with the town square. It also ran farther north to the railroad depot and the Brown Shoe Factory. At the corner of Monroe and Seventh, tracks laid in a “Y” enabled the streetcar to turn around.

Long before either of those two trolley systems was ever imagined, of course, most city dwellers simply walked. Naturally, wealthy residents used their own carriages for transport about town.

As seaboard cities grew in size, however, municipalities authorized private carriers to run modified stagecoaches called “omnibuses” up and down their streets. New York City in 1827 was the first to institute such a system. And within only a few years hundreds of such horse-drawn conveyances were cruising Philadelphia and Boston as well.

As railways began capturing the nation’s attention in the early 1830s, John Mason installed tracks along New York’s Bowery, while John Stephenson developed a pair of lavishly-appointed cars (both horse-drawn), fitted with cast-iron wheels. To mark the opening of the line, a gala celebration was held at City Hall November 14, 1832. “This event will go down in the history of our country as the greatest achievement of man,” the mayor expansively declared.

But more than two decades went by before any other street railways were laid.

Boston next took up the challenge, installing “horsecars” upon rails in 1856; and by 1859 Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Chicago had followed Boston’s lead.

However, such innovations were not always well received; carriage owners, cabmen and carters sometimes objected to such installations; and displaced laborers occasionally stoned the cars and placed obstructions on the tracks.

The earliest horsecars, pulled by one animal, consisted of a single enclosed compartment accommodating 20 or 30 passengers. An open platform accommodated the driver, while an entrance platform was installed at the rear.

Eventually these horsecars grew in size, comfort and appointments, and required a pair of animals for traction. Such work was hard on the horses, though; three to five years was the average length of service. Then, too, after a great equine epidemic killed many animals in 1870, a new means of traction had to be found.

At first, city fathers turned to steam. Small locomotives, called “steam dummies,” were either enclosed within car bodies, or attached as separate rolling stock. But, as these machines were both noisy and dirty, the search for alternatives went on.

In the later nineteenth century caustic-soda reactors, compressed air, naphtha gas, and wire-rope cables embedded in the pavement were all tried.

The cable-driven system was briefly successful. Each car was pulled by a cable attached at distance to a steam-driven power plant. Some cables were several miles long. Twenty-eight cities, including Chicago, eventually installed cable cars. But while these vehicles were quiet and clean, the open slots in the pavement often clogged with ice, snow, and dirt.

Even as the steam-driven cable car was being touted, inventors were seeking effective ways of harnessing electricity to the task. Around the end of the nineteenth century Thomas Edison, Stephen Field and Leo Daft (among others) independently began constructing electric locomotives.

In 1885 Daft installed a powerhouse and a third-rail distribution along a two-mile stretch of a Baltimore street. A small electric locomotive successfully pulled behind it a modified horsecar. But after experiencing difficulties with embedded third rails, Daft turned to overhead wires, with electric motors incorporated into the car bodies themselves. These streetcars were called “trolleys,” after the trolling device that kept the pole which transmitted the current in contact with overhead wires.

In 1887 Montgomery, Alabama, became the first city in the world to boast an electrified street railway system, with some 18 cars operating over 15 miles of track. By the end of the following year 21 companies elsewhere were operating 172 cars over 86 miles of track. And while that trackage represented only one per cent of the American need, many cities were joining the boom.

Most notable among these was the installation in Boston, where city fathers were on the verge of switching from horsecars to some other motive power. As it happened, representatives of that city’s government visited the electrical system put in place in Richmond, Virginia, by Frank Sprague, noted electrical inventor.

In a dramatic display of his system’s capacity, Sprague one night lined up 22 cars, front to back, on a track designed for only four cars. Then Sprague roused from his hotel room Henry Whitney, president of Boston’s West End line. At the wave of a lantern, all cars started up. And although the voltage dropped markedly, soon every car was rolling out of sight.

Convinced, Whitney obtained authorization to electrify Boston’s line. By the end of the 1890s more than 200 cities had adopted trolleys. And by 1902 there were 22,000 miles of tracks. For fifty years uncounted millions of passengers rode trolleys to work and play.

But then along came the motorbus, which not only could go anywhere, but also was safer, as it deposited passengers at the curb, not in the street.

Today, of course, with few exceptions, streetcars are found only in a few cities, and in nostalgic theme parks where riders enjoy that quaint mode of transportation. There, upon occasion, romantic young riders still confess, as Judy Garland sang in 1944, “I went to lose a jolly hour on the trolley, and lost my heart instead.” - Hal Malehorn, The Matoon and Charleston, Illinois Journal Gazette and Times-Courier

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LOS ANGELES FIRE TRUCK COLLIDES WITH TRAIN

LOS ANGELES, LA -- A fire truck responding to an emergency collided with a commuter train Friday, slightly injuring nine train passengers and a firefighter, authorities said.

The collision occurred shortly after 5 p.m. south of downtown and caused a portion of a commuter train to derail, said Dave Sotero, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The passengers were taken to the hospital with minor to moderate injuries, said fire spokesman Brian Ballton.

The firefighter suffered minor injuries. The crash was being investigated. - The Associated Press, The Billings Gazette

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LIGHT RAIL SPURS RUSH OF PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT

PHOENIX, AZ -- Two years before the light-rail system opens, private investors are starting to pump more than $1 billion into new developments near the rail stations.

The investments promise to reshape key corners and neighborhoods along the 20-mile route, an infusion that is typical of light-rail systems but is occurring earlier in the Valley than in other cities.

"I don't think you've seen this level of public and private investment anywhere else in the country before a light-rail line even opens," said Bo Martinez, Phoenix's economic development manager for light rail.

Phoenix officials' projection is based on the dozens of applications for city permits along the route.

Developers and lenders say the investment interest is tremendous. They and city planners say real estate near stations is changing hands and prices are rising.

Last month, 6 acres next to the future Central/McDowell Station sold for $26 million, double what the seller paid a year earlier. The buyer, a partnership between Las Vegas-based AmLand Development LLC and Israeli BSR Group, hinted at building a mixed-use development.

Other light-rail-related projects include:

• Luxury townhomes near Spectrum Mall. Developer Richard Olsen says they will cater to urban professionals working downtown.

• Developer Reid Butler's plans for a hotel, high-rise condos, shops, retail and parking along Camelback Road from Central to Fifth avenues.

• Union Station Lofts in Tempe, a mix of stores, restaurants, offices and nearly 600 condos, lofts and live-work spaces on Apache Boulevard near McClintock Road. It would replace the Tradewinds Motel.

Light rail is not the only catalyst for such developments. The housing market is shifting toward infill housing as commuters rebel against long drives and development on the fringes remains pricey.

Other factors also can make a location desirable.

A restaurateur may open a place in downtown Phoenix, for example, because 15,000 Arizona State University students are expected in the area, in addition to light rail.

Still, Phoenix officials say interest in rail-centric ventures is picking up.

High-profile developers, including Butler, are canvassing neighborhoods to solicit support for their projects. Real estate magazines tout light-rail opportunities.

Martinez says that about twice a month people ask him if they can have an unplanned station near their business site. It's not an off-the-wall idea. Tempe says it is close to a deal with three firms - Salt River Project, Trillium Residential and Chestnut Properties LLC - to share the cost of building a $5 million station on Washington Street west of Mill Avenue.

The hottest area is near Spectrum Mall, where a 795-space park-and-ride lot will attract Interstate 17 commuters. Older bungalows and strip malls are being replaced with low-rise condos and pricier townhomes catering to upscale professionals.

In east Phoenix, business parks are sprouting partly because corporate tenants see light rail as a way to attract workers.

Along Apache Boulevard in Tempe, development is going vertical, with apartments, stores and office fronts. One project in the works will be 18 stories tall.

Redevelopment has long been a major selling point of light rail.

In Denver, business leaders predict more than $2 billion in private money will be invested near stations on the T-REX line, which opened recently. Development in Denver, Dallas and Salt Lake City came after train systems proved themselves.

Development in the Valley is emerging before the tracks are laid, partly because light rail's record was proved elsewhere, developers say.

Kelly Wood says he is eyeing property on an extension six years before it is expected to open.

But the opportunities near rail bring risks.

Ridership could be less than predicted at some stations. A retail complex can be poorly laid out. Builders could outpace demand, which some fear is occurring with condos.

Property values are a mixed blessing. Although good for property owners, rising values can price out investors and discourage redevelopment.

In Phoenix, Olsen paid $9.50 per square foot in 2004 for bare land to build his luxury townhome project on 19th Avenue. Nearby owners asked $22 when he looked to repeat the venture nearby. He said he can't build for that.

"If the speculative value increases, the golden goose doesn't die, but a lot of goslings do," Clark said. - Sean Holstege, The Arizona Republic

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THE END