National Train Day Iron Horse Roundup- May 7, 2011

Happy National Train Day everybody!

Railpictures.net/Mike Mautner

MISSOURI: Anheuser-Busch [NYSE: BUD] filed notice with the Surface Transportation Board that it will cease operations altogether on it's 13.5 mile Manufacturers Railway serving the A-B brewery in St. Louis.

The brewer told regulators that running the railroad "has become highly unprofitable," losing $700,000 last year and with a projected loss of $1.4 million this year. A-B has increasingly turned to trucks for shipping. Also, outside businesses, such as a brick salvager and a box maker, have stopped using A-B's rail service, the company said.

A-B said it would contract with other railroads to bring in supplies for making beer, as it does at its 11 other U.S. breweries. In St. Louis, trains bring in an average of six carloads of grain, celite and magnesite each day.

But the days of trains carrying out beer are gone, the brewer said. The last beer shipment by rail occurred on March 13.

"It's an end of an era," said Gregg Ames, curator of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The Manufacturers Railway was part of the Busch brewery since 1877 when founder Adolphus constructed a railway to supply the St. Louis brewery. InBev will reportedly use contract switcher Foster-Townsend Logistics (FTRL) to handle inbound shipments to the St. Louis brewery.

Railpictures.net/Michael F Allen

OREGON: Former McCloud River Railroad ALCo 2-6-2 #25 (shown above on the wye at McCloud, CA during an October 2008 charter) has found a new home to the north. The Garibaldi, OR based Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad acquired the restored ALCo steamer earlier this year and it was reportedly being transported to the western Oregon line back in March.

The 1925-built Prairie type locomotive was purchased new by the northern California logging railroad and after 30 years of service was replaced by a GE 70-tonner. The #25 remained on the property after its 1955 retirement, but was restored to working order as far back as 1962 and frequently in excursion service. McCloud River #25 is best known for it's appearance in the 1986 film Stand By Me. After appearing in the film, the #25 remained dormant for about 10 years while McCloud River #18 (a 1914-built 2-8-2) and a fleet of relatively modern EMD SD38s handled much of the excursion duties.

However, the #25 was restored in the late 1990s and would alternate excursion duties with #18 before the McCloud River filed to abandon all but 3.3 miles of trackage. The #18 went to nearby shortline Yreka Western for a few years before being sold to Nevada's Virginia & Truckee while the #25 remained on the property, powering intermittent excursions or charter trains until late 2008 when she went into storage and much of the McCloud river track was pulled up.

However, the #25 could not reach the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad by rail, since its parent company- the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad suffered considerable flood damage damage to it's 95-mile line between Tillamook to Banks, OR during a December 2007 storm and has yet to reopen.

The Oregon Coast Scenic also rosters a former Great Northern F7A diesel and a 1910-built Heisler steam engine.

Kevin Andrusia

MAINE: Shortly after ownership of more than 230 miles of the Montreal Maine & Atlantic line between Millinocket and Madawaska, ME transferred to the Maine DOT, the state of Maine had managed to line up a new operator last month.

PORTLAND — A Canadian company with a rail line in Maine has been chosen as the new operator for 233 miles of state-owned lines in northern Maine formerly owned by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, the Maine Department of Transportation announced today.

A five-member selection committee unanimously chose Eastern Maine Railway from among five applicants to run what is now known as the Aroostook Lines. The track, which stretches from Millinocket to Madawaska, had been in danger of being abandoned before the state agreed to purchase it and find a company to operate it.

Eastern Maine Railway is the U.S. affiliate of NB Southern Railway, which is part of J.D. Irving Ltd. based in Saint John, New Brunswick. The company has tracks in Maine that run about 100 miles from Brownville Junction to Vanceboro, along the Canadian border.

The selection committee was impressed by EMR's operating and business plans, said Denis Berube of the Northern Maine Development Commission in Caribou and a member of the committee.

"They really came across as being very dynamic in terms of chasing after the business, essentially wanting to satisfy the needs of the customers," he said. "They were in tune with what's going on in (Aroostook) County."

The track in northern Penobscot and Aroostook counties was at risk after the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway filed notice with the federal Surface Transportation Board that it intended to abandon the track. The company said it was losing millions of dollars a year on the line.

But the line was saved when the state agreed to buy the track and track rights for $20.1 million. The federal government agreed to contribute $10.5 million for track upgrades.

When the state acquired the tracks, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway agreed to continue operating them until mid-June, if needed. MM&A still owns and operates another 541 miles of track running from Maine to Montreal, with a short side track into Vermont.

The track, which includes branch lines to Caribou, Presque Isle, Easton, Houlton and Limestone, is a vital economic asset in northern Maine, said Nate Moulton, the transportation department's rail program director. For more than a century, rail cars have used the tracks to carry potatoes, paper, lumber and other products out of the region bound for markets across the U.S. and beyond.

The New Brunswick Southern presently operates about 225 miles of former Canadian Pacific trackage in Maine and New Bruswick and is a subsidiary of St. John, NB based J.D. Irving, Ltd

Postcard showing the Alishan Forestry Railway

TAIWAN: Five passengers were killed and 84 were injured when cars from an excursion train in Taiwan's Alishan National Forest derailed and plunged down an embankment.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) said the accident occurred at 12:17pm when a large tree next to the tracks fell and hit the last car of the train. Four of the train’s cars were derailed, with two tumbling down the embankment.

Most of the passengers aboard the train were tourists from China. Alishan is one of the most popular destinations among Chinese tourists to Taiwan, rescuers said.

After being privatized in 2008, many portions of the line suffered extensive damage after a 2009 typhoon and the Council of Agriculture's Forestry Commission has been seeking to transfer operations to the Taiwan Railway Administration before the end of the year. Although mostly dieselized, the railway will bring out the American-made geared Shay steam locomotives on occasion.

WISCONSIN: The CEO of the Wisconsin Southern has been charged with illegally funneling campaign contributions towards candidates for office including current Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Company chief executive William Gardner was charged last month with one count of excessive political contributions and one count of unlawful political contribution. The charges are both felonies that carry a combined maximum sentence of seven years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

Gardner pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to both counts in exchange for a recommendation from prosecutors that he serve two years on probation. He also won't be permitted to vote until he completes his sentence.

Investigators learned that between November 2009 and April 2010, Gardner reimbursed himself out of the railroad's expense account for $10,000 in donations he made to Republican Gov. Scott Walker's campaign and another $4,000 he gave to the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee and former Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan of Janesville. He also asked a handful of railroad employees to donate to Walker's campaign and reimbursed them with company funds.

Wisconsin law limits individual gubernatorial contributions to $10,000 per election and prohibits furnishing money to others for political contributions in their names.

Gardner came forward about a week after the probe began and told election officials he had used company money to reimburse his employees for political contributions and cooperated with investigators. Walker, who was in the midst of a primary at the time, promptly returned about $40,000 in contributions from Gardner and Wisconsin & Southern employees. Gardner has said he donated that money to charity.

The Milwaukee-based railroad operates about 700 miles of former Milwaukee Road and Chicago & Northwestern throughout southern Wisconsin as well as trackage rights to Chicago over Chicago's Metra commuter rail.

railpictures.net/Fabrice Lanoue

About 20 people were injured in southern Argentina when a narrow gauge excursion train derailed in high winds on April 23rd.

La Trochita, also known as the Old Patagonian Express is a 2 ½ foot gauge railway running between Ingeniero Jacobacci in Rio Negro Province to Esquel in Chubut province. Construction on the line began 1935 and worked its way some 400km south through the windswept Patagonian landscape to reach the provincial town of Esquel in 1945. With a fleet of small Baldwin and Henschel steam locomotives, La Trochita made the transition from state run revenue railroad to a heritage railroad in the early 1990s.

Railpictures.net/Jorge Moreno

MEXICO: FerroMex has placed an order for 44 new SD70ACE locomotives from EMD, the first of which is expected to arrive in May. January's order will augment 15 SD70ACE locomotives already on the FerroMex roster.

Iron Horse Update- Kiwis Go for Chinese; Deadly Wreck in Germany; Maine Buys 230-Mile Line; Steam In, Steam Out; New Shortlines on the Canadian Prarie

NEW ZEALAND: The first batch of 6 locomotives from Kiwi Rail's 20 unit order from China's Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock arrived in New Zealand at the end of November.

The locomotives are designated by Kiwi Rail as 'DL' class and rated at 3600 HP each and feature cabs at each end. Since arrival, the DLs will undergo commissioning and crew familiarization at Kiwirail's Hillside shop. The DL's will likely augment or replace older GE diesels, some of which were rebuilt when KiwiRail was part of Australia's Toll Holdings [ASX: TOL]. New Zealand's Rail and Maritime Transport Union has expressed concerns that the Dailan locomotives were too heavy for use on Kiwi Rail and that there are visibility problems with the cabs on each end.

The arrival of the locomotives came a few weeks before Kiwirail announced that China's CNR had beaten out Kiwirail's own Hillside shops for a contract to build 300 new COFC flatcars. Reportedly, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union is considering action along the lines of refusing to unload the remaining incoming DLs from ships in New Zealand to protest the contract being awarded to CNR.
GERMANY: At least 10 people were killed and and 50 injured with the death toll expected to rise after a passenger train collided with a freight train in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Investigators believe the freight train was travelling at speeds of 50 MPH while the passenger train was moving at 70 MPH. The passenger train- HarzElbeExpress (HEX)- was travelling between Magdeburg to Halberstadt when it collided with the freight train carrying lime.

State prosecutors have begun a criminal probe to determine if human error played a role in the accident or if a defect sent the two trains on the same track.

CANADA- NEW BRUNSWICK: The New Brunswick Southern Railway is continuing to rebuild after heavy winter rains hammered the Maritime provinces in mid-December. A 40 mile section of track between McAdam and Milltown, NB on the NBSR 's St. Stephen subdivision was hit with 32 separate washouts, 10 of which had been repaired by the first week of the New Year. [Hat tip- Confessions of a Train Geek]

Photo- Cal Murray

CANADA- SASKATCHEWAN: Less than a year after the startup of the Last Mountain Railway between Regina and Davidson, SK an even newer railway has acquired the 82-mile former Canadian Pacific line between Richardson and Stoughton southeast of Regina.

Motive power for the line is a pair of B23-7s from the nearby Last Mountain Railway (nee Southern) which started up operations in late 2009. The Last Mountain will be replacing the recently departed pair of GE's with a trio of former Canadian National/Wisconsin Central SD40-2s.

John Lucas- Edmonton Journal

CANADA- ALBERTA: Grain farmers in the Battle River region of Alberta are bucking a trend of abandoned branchlines and concrete mega-elevators, purchasing an 80km, C$5,000,000 former Canadian National branchline in order to preserve a railway link with the rest of Canada.

The railway has been a fixture of communities such as Forestburg, 180 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, for almost a century. So it was a shock when CN first announced it planned to abandon the route in 2003 at the end of a drought-stricken growing season after grain output — and grain car traffic — fell sharply.

“CN just came and said that was it, they intended to close the line, and we could truck our grain to the central terminals,” said Ken Eshpeter, a farmer in Daysland and chairman of the fledgling Battle River Railway.

So in late 2003, about 180 farmers quickly organized a “producer car group,” which could bypass the terminals and order its own rail cars directly from CN. They began loading directly from trucks or storage bins into grain cars spotted at sidings in hamlets along the route.

Galahad farmer Howard Vincett was among the first.

“We started a buddy system with our experienced farmers helping others who were new to it. Soon we had a lot of farmers doing it,” he said.

“People were meeting and helping their neighbours. It was wonderful to see such a return of that community spirit.”

As local elevators disappeared across the West, farmers had accepted the situation. They bought bigger trucks and drove 50 kilometres or more to the large concrete terminals along the main rail lines, where they could wait for hours in line.

But by using augers at rail sidings, the self-loaders were proving there was an alternative.

So when CN decided in late 2008 that the Battle River line was to be sold for the price of salvage, the co-operative began raising money for a bid.

“We couldn’t allow this wonderful infrastructure to disappear,” said Reg Enright, the railway vice-chairman who operates a farm near Rosalind.

Because of the success with self-loading, a lot of farmers felt the same way, and bought hundreds of the $5,000 “B” shares that allowed them to move five grain cars in the future for the price of the share.

“We told them straight up that this was a risky venture. But if it all failed, we could still sell the rails, and it is the best-quality, 132-pound, main-line steel,” Eshpeter said.

At today’s higher salvage prices, the 80 km of rail would likely be worth more than the $5 million paid to CN.

Battle River Railway Co-op's motive power is a sole former Canadian National SD40-2W, although a 2 stall heated enginehouse is under construction.

Photo- Kevin Burkholder

MAINE: The State of Maine has finalized the purchase of more than 230 miles of former Montreal Maine & Atlantic (nee Bangor and Aroostook) trackage between Madawaska and Millinocket, ME in November. The MM&A and the state had agreed on the purchase price of $20.1 million and the FRA cleared all legal hurdles for the state of Maine to assume ownership of the lines this month.

Because of mounting financial losses, the MM&A filed to abandon the line between Madawaska and Millinocket as well as branchlines between Squa Pan and Easton, ME and Oakfield and Houlton, ME in Feb. 2010. Rather than permanently cut off rail service to customers in Northern Maine, the state opted to raise funds to purchase the lines and lease them back to the MM&A, although they could subcontract operations to a third party such as Pan Am Railways or the New Brunswick Southern.

STEAM: With 2010 coming to a close, that also meant that it was time to drop the fires on some restored steam locomotives for the 15 year FRA boiler inspection.

Photo- Matt Beisser

CONNECTICUT- Valley Railroad's 1926-built former Birmingham & Southeastern ALCo 2-8-0 #97 made its last run before it was slated for the 15 year FRA inspection in late December. The #97 has been with the Valley Railroad from the beginning, when it started up in the late 1960s on a derelict former New York, New Haven & Hartford branch that ran parallel to the western bank of the Connecticut River.

Although the #97 will be out of service for the foreseeable future, this will not leave the Valley Railroad without steam power. Besides former Aberdeen & Rockfish 2-8-2 #40, the Valley RR also purchased fire-damaged Chinese built 2-8-2 SY #3025 from Pennsylvania's Knox & Kane Railroad in 2008.

Photo- Richard Stevens

WISCONSIN- The clock was winding down on Soo Line ALCo 2-8-2 #1003 in November 2010 as well, as her it was getting near time for her FRA mandated boiler inspection. The 1913-built Mikado ran a series of excursions and photo freights on the Wisconsin & Southern lines in the southern part of the Badger state for the last decade or so.

One of the final runs (before the FRA inspection) of the 1003 featured Polar Express author Chris Van Allsburg working as the 1003's fireman back in late October. The #1003 was also able to serve as power for the WSOR's 'Santa Train' in November.

When not in operation, the venerable Mikado is usually kept at the Wisconsin Automotive Museum in Hartford, WI.

Photo- Jim Kleeman

PENNSYLVANIA- Like Soo Line #1003 and Valley Railroad #97, the time has come for the mandated boiler inspection for Steamtown's Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 'Pacific' #2317. For the last two years she had been relegated to the 'Scranton Limited' trains that operated entirely within the Steamtown complex due to an issue with the trailing truck.

There is some ambiguity as to exactly when the #2317 might steam again. Some have said that Steamtown has put a higher priority on bringing Baldwin Locomotive Works former Eddystone, PA plant 0-6-0 switcher #26 back to service, followed closely by Boston & Maine 1934-built Lima 4-6-2 #3713.

Photo- Cory Rychener

STEAM 2.0- WHAT'S NEW IN 2010 AND BEYOND: Although the fires have been dropped on some big steam in 2010, others locomotives have returned to service after being dormant for decades.

KANSAS- Perhaps the most under-the-radar development as far as steam was concerned turned out to be the successful restoration of Santa Fe Baldwin 4-6-2 #3415 by the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railway in Abilene, KS. The 1919-built Baldwin was taken out of service by the Santa Fe in the late 1950s and donated to the City of Abilene where it was on static display for the last 40 years in Eisenhower Park before the city donated it to the all volunteer A&SV in the late 1990s.

After more than 12,000 volunteer hours, the 3415 was successfully test-fired in 2008 and cosmetically restored to her original appearance by late 2009. The 3415 will operate a few times a month on the A&SV's former Rock Island branchline between Abilene and Enterprise, KS when the railroad isn't using their 1945-built ALCo S1 diesel switcher [she's shown above arriving at Enterprise, KS on Independence Day weekend 2010 before having to run around her train and return to Abilene running tender-first].

Photo- JL Scott

Perhaps the oldest steam locomotive to be restored to working order is Southern 2-8-0 #154. The locomotive was built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works (a precursor to ALCo) in 1890 for the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia. Four years later, the ETV&G and the Richmond & Danville merged to form the Southern Railway, where the #154 continued to serve he Southern in Eastern Tennessee before being retired and donated to the city of Knoxville, TN where it was put on static display in Chilhowee Park. In 1989, it was given to the Old Smoky Railroad museum before being donated to the Gulf & Ohio Railways in 2008. Gulf & Ohio operates the popular Three Rivers Rambler seasonal excursions in Knoxville with 1925 built former Washington & Lincolnton 2-8-0 already powering some of the excursions.

Thanks to the hard work of the folks at Gulf & Ohio, Southern 154 was back in service and powering trains on the 3 Rivers Rambler in time for her 120th Birthday in July of 2010. The 154 is both the oldest operable Southern locomotive and the oldest known operating ALCo locomotive.

Photo- Jake B

ILLINOIS- A somewhat newer Southern locomotive also returned to service in the Midwest when the Monticello Railway Museum in Illinois completed their restoration of Southern Railway 2-8-0 Consolidation #401 in September 2010.

Along with some of the 1950s vintage streamlined diesels, the 1907 built Baldwin operated a number of excursions of the museum's 15 miles of right-of-way in September 2010. In 1995, a donor for the museum suggested that a working steam locomotive should once again be part of the Monticello Railway Museum, and after doing an inventory, it was decided that the Southern 401 was the most feasible candidate for restoration.

Photo- Ken J Johnson

CALIFORNIA- The Fillmore & Western railway occupies a fairly unique niche. While operating excusrions on a former Southern Pacific branch line between Montalvo and Piru, CA, it also features prominently in films like Inception or Seabiscut. Given its proximity to the Hollywood studios, the lightly used branchline is also just about ideal for movie and TV shoots for any scene involving trains.

To go with their stable of EMD and ALCo diesels is recently restored former Duluth & Northeastern Baldwin 2-8-0 #14, which reportedly will be fired by vegetable oil. Restoration work on the 1913 Baldwin was completed in November 2010, in time for the Fillmore & Western's Christmas excusrions. On January 2nd, the Fillmore & Western had a special excursion pulled by #14 for the volunteers who spent so much time getting her back to working order.