The Non-Irene Iron Horse Roundup for August/Setpetmber 2011: Genset-apalooza Edition

ARGENTINA: At least 11 people were killed and dozens more injured after a bus collided with two trains in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires last month.



CCTV cameras on the nearby station platform filmed as the disaster unfolded. Upon impact with the bus, the first train was knocked into the path of an oncoming train that was also pulling into the station.

Argentine Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said that most of the fatalities were on board the bus. The crossing that the bus used was reportedly protected by gates that lowered on a train's approach.

Arizona Eastern B39-8 #8560 leads a train north into Duncan, AZ on the former Southern Pacific Clifton Branch in April 2009. Photo- Micheal Derrick

ARIZONA: Greenwich, CT based shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming [NYSE: GWR] announced last month that it has completed the purchase of the 200+ mile Arizona Eastern from Iowa Pacific Holdings.

Arizona Eastern operates two branchlines in Arizona and New Mexico. The 130 mile line between the Southern Pacific Sunset Route in Bowie, AZ and the copper mines around Miami, Globe and Claypool, AZ was purchased from Southern Pacific in 1988. In 2008, the AZER purchased the 70 mile Clifton branch between Lordsburg, NM and the Freeport McMoRan [NYSE: FCX] mine at Morenci, AZ from Union Pacific.

The deal is worth an estimated $90.1 million and includes about 50 miles of trackage rights over Union Pacific's former SP Sunset route between Bowie, AZ and Lordsburg, NM to connect the two lines.

Nickel Plate 765 doing a photo runby on the Cuyhoga Valley Scenic Railroad at Boston Mills, OH on September 25th. Photo, Richard Thompson

OHIO: The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's restored Nickel Plate Berkshire #765 travelled to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in September to haul a series of excursions as part of the CVSR's 'Steam in the Valley' event. The steam powered excusrions were in additon to the regular slate of diesel powered excusrion trains on the CVSR. This is the second year in a row that the #765 made an appearence on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

The Berkshire travelled northwest to Owosso, MI from the Akron area to haul a series of fall foliage excursions for the Michigan Steam Institute between Owosso and Alma, MI over track belonging to the Great Lakes Central. The October excursions in Michigan are reportedly to help raise funds to bring the Michigan Steam Institute's own Berkshire steam locomotive- Pere Marquette #1225- back into working order after its 15 year boiler inspection.

F Units and passenger cars from Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern make their way across the Hudson River at Stillwater, NY enroute to the former B&M yard at Mechanicsville, NY. Photo, John Bazan

PAN AM RAILWAYS: On August 22nd and 23rd, Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern operated a joint Office Car special between Ayer, MA and Mechanicville, NY to view progress on the rebuilding of the West end of the line as well as the former B&M Mechanicville yard, which is currently being rebuilt as an intemodal and auto unloading facility.

The office car special used FP9s and cars from both railways before being split up at Mohawk Yard in Schenedtady, NY with the Pan Am equipment heading back east and the Norfolk Southern equipment making its way back to home rails via Canadian Pacific and Binghamton, NY.

Freshly repainted into Boston & Maine 'heritage' colors, Pan-Am GP9 #77 is seen at the former B&M yard in E. Deerfield, MA drilling cars with Guilford-painted GP9 #72 on September 25, 2011. Photo, Justin Winiarz

OTHER PAN AM NEWS: Workers at Pan Am's Waterville, ME shops painted former Boston & Maine GP9 #77 into vintage maroon and gold colors complete with the B&M 'Minuteman' herald that adorned the railway's early diesels.

The locomotive debuted in it's 'new' colors in August and saw service on Waterville, ME-based local SAPPI-3 before being transferred to the Boston & Maine's freight yard at E. Deerfield, MA where it was put into service as the yard switcher. Reportedly, more 'Heritage' style locomotives are in the works for Pan Am, including some vintage EMD's that could be painted in Maine Central's green and orange paint scheme.

Photo, Dave Duccolo

CALIFORNIA: Stockton, CA based Central California Traction Company purchased their first genset locomotive, which was completed by the Brookville Locomotive Works division of Brookfield Equipment in August. The locomotive, designated a BL21CG is former Brookville Locomotive Works Demonstrator #259 which was rebuilt from a Maine Central GP38.

In addition to the former Brookfield demonstrator, Central California Traction currently rosters a number of SW1500s as well as a couple of 1st generation GP18s and GP7s.

Brookfield has previously built gensets for both ConnDot and MetroNorth to be used in passenger and work train service.

NBSR GP38-2 #2317 seen heading west on the former Montreal Maine & Atlantic/ Bangor & Aroostook Millinocket subdivision with Maine Northern/New Brunswick Southern Train #901 bound for Brownsville, Jct, ME on July 30, 2011. Photo, Ron Tilley

MAINE: St. John, NB-based New Brunswick Southern Railway has begun operations over nearly 230 miles of track owned by the state of Maine beginning in July. The track was the former Montreal Maine & Atlantic Millinocket subdivision between Millinocket, ME and Madawaska, ME as well as branch lines to Houlton, Limestone and Ft. Fairfield, ME. Previously the line had belonged to the Bangor and Aroostook.

In early 2010, the MM&A filed a notice of intent to abandon most of its northern trackage. The state then reached an agreement with MM&A to purchase the lines for $20 million and then subcontract operation of the lines out to a third part while MM&A would retain trackage rights over the line to serve between St. Leonard, NB to the north and Brownville Jct, ME to the south.

In April 2011, the New Brunswick Southern- part of Canadian congolmerate J.D. Irving's holdings in transportation, lumber, food processing agriculture, retail and shipbuilding- was awarded the contract to operate the former MM&A lines, with the actual transfer set to take place on July 1, 2011.

Prior to the agreement, the New Brunswick Southern already operated over 100 miles of former Canadian Pacific track in the state of Maine as the Eastern Maine Railway between the Maine Central/Guilford/Pan-Am junction at Mattawamkeag, ME and the international border at Vanceboro, ME as well as the MM&A connection in Brownsville Jct.

Parent company J.D. Irving said that they expect to hire 30 additional employees and purchase more rolling stock as a result of the agreement with the state of Maine. To accomodate the expansion, the NBSR also purchased a pair of former Union Pacific GP38-2s that arrived in July


OREGON: The former Southern Pacific branchline between Eugene and Coos Bay, OR has been reopened and is seeing limited freight service as the Coos Bay Rail Link ran the first through train over the line in nearly four years.

Rail America's Central Oregon & Pacific last operated over the line in September 2007, electing to shut down most of the branch west of Eugene due to at least nine aging tunnels that would cost an estimated $7 million to repair. A month later, the Port of Coos Bay filed a $15 million suit against Rail America saying that they failed to provide the required 180 day notice prior to shutdown. In late 2008, the surface transportation board ordered Rail America to sell the line to the Port of Coos Bay for $16 million. Since then, contractors have gone to work replacing washouts, strengthening tunnels and inspecting trestles and crossings. In April 2011, it was announced that Arizona-based ARG Trains would handle the railway operations of the 133 mile line.

The first revenue Coos Bay Rail Link train departed Eugene on October 11th with a single SW1200 and dozen centerbeam flatcars, arriving in Coos Bay the following day.

MPI GP15D Genset #1509 and GP20D #2009 are seen waiting to enter yard limits in Rutland, VT with a local freight on August 10, 2011. Photo, Kevin Burkholder

VERMONT: The Vermont Railway began testing a pair of MPI Gensets in early August. The two locomotives- a 1500 HP GP15D and 2000 HP GP20D- were scheduled for three months of testing and began service as a pair on the Rutland to Florence, VT local their first week.

At around the same time, the VRS has started the long-term lease of two former Rail America GP38-3s- numbered 3801 and 3803.

Iowa Interstate 2-10-2 QJ steam locomotive #6988 seen running around the wye at Bureau, IL on September 9, 2011. Photo, Erik Rasmussen

IOWA INTERSTATE: Just because Trainfest 2011 is over and done with doesn't mean that the Iowa Interstate was finished with steam for the year. On the weekend of September 9-11, the town of Geneseo, IL- just east of Rock Island, IL on Iowa Interstate's former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific line- was home to the 5th annual 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'.

Besides vintage aircraft and automobiles, the Iowa Interstate provided the trains by having Chinese built 2-10-2 QJ class steam locomotive #6988 on display along with a switcher from Patriot Renewable Fuels. The #6988 also powered short excursions out of Geneseo with Iowa Interstate coaches.

Iowa Interstate ES44AC #513 is seen leading detoured freight BICB (BI = Indiana Harbor Belt Rail Yard at Blue Island, IL; CB = Council Bluffs, IA) off IAIS rails in Peoria Heights, IL on October 9, 2011. Photo- Craig McGregor

OTHER IOWA INTERSTATE NEWS: A derailment in Tuskwila, IL on October 7th forced the detour of Iowa Interstate's daily Chicago-Council Bluffs, IA (and its eastbound counterpart) BICB/CBBI by way of Peoria, IL and then west to Colona, IL on the BNSF via Galesburg, IL.

About a half dozen cars loaded with ethanol ignited and the village of Tuskwila had to be evacuated after the derailment in the early morning hours. Nodoby was injured in the wreck and the fire was contained by mid-morning.

The NTSB is dispatching a 6-person team to investigate the cause of the derailment.

New Genset from Tacoma Rail basking in the sun enxt to Mount Rainer Scenic's Restores Polson Logging 1922-buil Balwin on Aug 27th. Andrew Temoshek photo

WASHINGTON: Tacoma Rail has taken delivery of its first genset, an 3GS21B from National Railway Equipment. The locomotive arrived on the property in time for an open house where the 3-day old diesel was on display with Mount Ranier Scenic Railway's restored 1922-built Baldwin 2-8-2 #70, contrasting the old and the new.

[Hat tip: Steel Wheels Photography; Canadian Railway Observations; Peoria Station]

Today's Train of Thought- Favorite Trestles in Ohio State, April 25, 2011

And I'm not talking about the embattled Ohio State Buckeye football coach.

I get the feeling that Respondek Rail Corp is what we would wind up with if a railfan decided to own and operate a series of shortlines and a contract switching service. With a small fleet of 1st generation EMDs painted in colors reminiscent of fallen flag Illinois Terminal, owner Terry Respondek expanded operations in 2005 by leasing from CSX the 42 mile former Chesapeake & Ohio line between Richmond, IN and Fernald, OH.

In 2007, Norfolk Southern acquired the remaining 50% stake of the nearby shortline Algers, Winslow & Western. In a way, the AW&W's fleet of unmodified SD9s went full circle- with the southern Indiana shortline acquiring the six axle roadswitchers from Norfolk Southern predecessor Southern Railroad (nee Central of Georgia- old enough that they likely replaced steam locomotives on the C of G) before the coal-hauling shortline was acquired by the Norfolk Southern.

Since the NS has a much larger fleet of higher horsepower and much newer diesels at their disposal, the red white and black SD9s of the AW&W became surplus. Instead, Respondek purchased all 4 the former AW&W diesels for operation on their new Indiana Eastern (IERR), where two of them continue to work in the red white and black of the fallen flag (likely by design on Respondek's Part). Two of the other former AW&W SD9s are painted in the green with yellow trim paint scheme of sister railroad Squaw Creek Southern.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Michael Biehn caught IERR SD9s #205 and #206 trundling westbound across the former C&O trestle on September 17, 2008 in Okeana, OH- just east of the Indiana State Line and northwest of Cincinnati. The train has stalled while climbing the grade between Fernald, OH and Cottage Grove, IN and the two vintage SD9s are doubling the hill after splitting their train in half.

Epic FAA-IL Update- First Lady's Plane Involved in Near Miss

A Boeing 737 carrying First Lady Michelle Obama had a closer call than intially reported with a military cargo flight approaching Andrews AFB earlier this week.

The close call on Monday night left 2.94 miles of distance between the Obama plane and the 200-ton C-17 jet as they both approached landing at Andrews Air Force base just outside of Washington. Air traffic controllers at Andrews directed Obama's plane to abort a landing, the board said in a statement Friday.

Obama's plane, a Boeing 737, was considerably smaller than the 200-ton C17 ahead of it. Federal regulations require five miles between planes to avoid dangerous wake turbulence when the plane in the lead is significantly larger than the one trailing.

The Andrews controllers immediately ordered the 737 pilot to execute a series of turns to increase its distance from the cargo plane. When the distance continued to narrow, the controllers directed the 737 pilot to abort the landing and circle the airport until the cargo jet cleared the runway.

The incident involving the First Lady came a few days after a controller at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, OH inadvertently left his mic open, transmitting the soundtrack to a movie he was watching on a portable DVD player over the assigned frequency for that airspace.

The FAA said that the controller and a manager have been suspended in the wake of the most recent incident [but, hey! At least he was staying awake! -NANESB!]. Reportedly the movie in question was Cleaner (2007) Starring Samuel L Jackson and Ed Harris.

But what can I say that this Taiwanese animation hasn't already said?
[Hat tip- Death by 1000 Papercuts; Next Media (Taiwan)]

Sports Nog Chowdah Update- Pats Leader of the Pack; Snap Caps- B's Skid Halts vs Washington; C's Pick up Pace vs Indy

NFL: On some weekends, there's a noticeable lack of competitive games and fans, bloggers and sports media types are left struggling to try and find ways to make a tepid batch of games otherwise sound appealing.

This has not been one of those weekends, however.

Sunday night's game between the Patriots and Green Bay Packers in Foxboro- which seemed to have a little bit of everything- is as good a place as any to start.

Although New England won their last two games by convincing margins, the Packers would prove to be anything but easy or predictable from the opening kickoff....which happened to be an onside kick that Green Bay booted and promptly recovered and got on the board with a Mason Crosby FG from the Pats 31 yard line.

On the next posession the Pats would get the ball back on their own 27 yard line. Although Brady would get sacked for a 7 yard loss when they made it to Green Bay's half of the field, the Pats were able to convert on 3rd and 17 thanks to a Brady pass to Deion Branch. This would be followed by a 33 yard Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run to make it 7-3 New England.

Now....they way it's gone for the past few weeks, you'd think that would be it for the Packers, but not so fast. Without starting QB Aaron Rogers, Matt Flynn was going a capable job of filling in and before you knew it, the Pack had taken the lead on a 66 yard Flynn to James Jones catch and TD run followed by a more sustained drive that was kept alive by New England penalties later on in the second to make it a 17-7 Green Bay lead.

Reeling from this stunning turn of events and with their backs to the wall right before halftime, the Patriots would deploy their secret weapon- 313 lb Guard Return Specialist Dan Connoly.
Shaking off tackles and picking up key blocks, Connoly returned the Packers kickoff 71 yards to Green Bay's 4 yard line and the Patriots cashed in on 3rd and goal to cut the Green Bay lead to 17-14 at halftime.

The momentum would continue to swing New England's direction with the start of the second half when CB Kyle Arrington would return Matt Flynn interception 36 yards to paydirt and the Patriots would take the lead 21-17.

The Packers would re-take the lead on a 7 minute drive- again kept alive by penalties on the Pats defense- to make it 21-24. After a 3 and out in which Brady was sacked (again) deep in their own territory, the Packers would get the ball back midfield and once again drive it down inside New England's 10 yard line. This time the defense held firm and the Packers were limited to a FG attempt, although the Packers built their lead to 27-21. The Pats would get a Shayne Graham FG on their next possession to close within 3.

With 11 minutes to go in regulation, Flynn was sacked by Devin McCourty to open up Green Bay's next possession. The Packers would then go three and out before kicking ot off to give NE the ball on their own 31 yard line after a 4 yard Julian Ettleman return. The following drive would see Woodhead with four carries and one catch for 37 total yards, capped off by a 10 yard TD pass to Aaron Hernandez from Brady to put New England up 31-27 with just over 7 minutes left.

Although Green Bay got a 45 yard return from Sam Shields before the drive sputtered at the New England 40. However, they were able to keep the Patriots pinned deep in their own territory. The Pats would go 3 and out and give Green Bay good field position on the ensuing kickoff with just over 4 minutes left.

Right away, Matt Flynn threw a pick but that was negated by a 5 yard penalty on the Patriots defense. The Packers got as far as the New England 15 yard line with less than 10 seconds left when the of experience on Flynn's part would come back to haunt the Packers on 4th and 1. A confused looking Flynn looked as though he was waiting for some sort of cue on which play to run with the clock ticking (an no timeouts remaining) and instead got sacked by Tully Banta-Cain as time expired, with New England holding off Green Bay by a final of 31-27.

Tom Brady actually had a pretty quiet night by Brady standards, going 15-24 with 163 yards, 2 TDs and getting sacked 3 times. Matt Flynn acquitted himself reasonably well in a high-pressure situation, going 24-37 with 251 yards and 4 TDs (unfortunately for Green Bay, this includes the pick-6 to Arrington) and 5 sacks.

The ball was thrown about pretty evenly by Brady on Sunday, with Woodhead getting the most yards (71 total, all but 12 of them rushing). The Pats now have a 12-2 record and will travel to Orchard Park, NY the day after Christmas to take on the Buffalo Bills.

Interestingly this marks the 6th consecutive week that the Patriots scored 30 or more points- all wins (although unlike the last few weeks, they needed every one of those points).

ELSEWHERE IN THE AFC EAST: In a 'Why can't both teams lose?' match up, the New York Jets (i.e. Jerkass Cheaters) survived a late drive from Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers to hang on and win by the final on 22-17 on Sunday afternoon in the steel city. This brings the Jets record to 10-4 (presently tied with the Baltimore Ravens, who had beaten the New Orleans Saints 24-30 at home on Sunday) although Baltimore does own a tiebreaker in by virtue of beating the Jets in the season opener.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Holy Crap! Did you see this one out of the Meadowlands? Just to set the scene a little, do not think that this was a toght game finishing up- hell no! The Giants led the Philadelphia Eagles by a margin of 31-10 with just over 8 minutes left in regulation. The Eagles quickly countered to make it 31-17 and got the ball back after the Giants turned it over on the ensuing kickoff. Next thing you know, a couple of quick strkes from Eagles QB Micheal Vick (including a TD run of his own) and the game is suddenly tied at 31-31. After a 3 and out with just over a minute left in regulation where Giants QB Eli Manning got sacked with 14 seconds left in the game, which leads us to this 'Holy Crap!' moment:

In case the embedded video doesn't work, the Eagles win it on a DeSean Jackson kickoff return (that he fumbled and then recovered no less) as time expired at the Meadowlands with the final score Philly 38, New York 31.

NFC NORTH: With additional panels collapsing at the Metrodome during last week's blizzard, the Monday night game between the Bears and Vikings has been moved outdoors to the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank stadium. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay offered the Colts' Lucas Oil Field for use on Monday night, but the league went ahead with the decision to keep the game in the twin cities. TCF seats roughly 14,000 less than the Metrodome (admission will be on a 1st come, 1st served basis) and no alcohol will be served on Monday night during the game.

NHL: The Boston Bruins snapped their 3 game losing streak on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals, who came into the Garden riding a 7-game skid.

The Bruins got on the board early with goals from Bergeron, Ference and Wheeler. The Caps would get on the board in the 2nd to make it a 3-1 game and adding to it in the 3rd to make it a 1 goal game. Tim Thomas stopped 39 of 41 shots faced on the night, giving the B's their first win in nearly week.

The B's will next take on the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night at the Garden. The Ducks come into Monday night's game riding a 2-game losing streak.

NBA: Totally missed this one- I'm not sure if this was rescheduled so that it wouldn't conflict with the New England/Green Bay game on Sunday night (but with the rest of the NFL schedule) or if it was supposed to be an afternoon game all along, but the Celtics took care of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday by a final of 99-88 for their 13th straight win.

Their next game will be on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers as they'll try and go for 14 straight.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Not necessarily a good weekend for anybody trying to convince skeptics that there's no such thing as too many Bowl Games, a the closest Bowl game this week was decided by 23 points.

New Mexico Bowl: BYU 52-UTEP 24
Humanitarian Bowl: Northern Illinois 40- Fresno State 17
New Orleans Bowl: Ohio 21-Troy 48

Perhaps the most noteworthy development is that the New Mexico Bowl is Brigham Young's final game as a member of the Mountain West Conference, as the Cougars will be striking out as an independent team effective next season.

Iron Horse Roundup- October/November 2010 Edition

BBC Photo

INDONESIA: At least 36 people were killed in an October 2nd collision between two trains at the Petarukan station on the island of Java.

Officials believe that a signalling error one one of the trains was what led the Jakarta-Surabaya train to collide with the rear cars of the stopped Semarang-bound train.

That same day, another accident in nearby Solo resulted in at least one fatality.

UKRAINE: At least 43 people were killed when a train collided with a bus packed with commuters in the eastern part of the country on October 12.

Officials from Ukraine's interior ministry said eyewitnesses reported that the bus ignored warning lights and bells from the level crossing in the town of Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region that indicated an approaching train.

All of the fatalities were on the bus.

Doyle Massey

UNION PACIFIC: Aside from it's regularly featured stint of hauling visitors between Denver, CO and Cheyenne, WY for Cheyene's annual Frontier Days, Union Pacific's 4-6-6-4 Challenger #3985 also got to stretch its legs hauling the Ringling Bros. Circus train from Cheyenne southbound to Denver at the end of September. The #3985 then continued on with the scheduled Missouri River Eagle excursion to Kansas City and St. Louis after briefly returning to Cheyenne.

Here, the 3985 is seen racing southbound through Platteville, CO with the circus train on its way to Denver on September 28, 2010.

Cody Zamostny

FT. WAYNE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY: The gem of the FWRHS's collection, 1944 Lima-built Berkshire Nickel Plate 2-8-4 #765, has been pretty busy since Labor Day. In September, she was deadheaded over the Norfolk Southern and Wheeling & Lake Erie to Akron, OH where she operated a series of excursions over the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

In October, the 765 powered a series of excursions out of Owosso, MI for the Steam Railroading Institute while their own Berkshire- Pere Marquette #1225- is being disassembled for it's 15 year FRA boiler inspection.

Upon completion of her whirlwind tour through the Buckeye and Great Lakes State, the 765 returned to the FWRHS facilities in New Haven, IN where she'll go into storage for the winter.

NORTH CAROLINA: The Aberdeen, Carolina & Western has acquired a pair of former Canadian National, nee Wisconsin Central SD40-3 locomotives for service on it's line between Gulf and Charlotte, NC.

CONNECTICUT: Six cars of an 80 car unit ethanol train derailed in the late night hours of November 9th at the Providence & Worcester yard in Willamantic, CT. The derailment took place within yard limits, which meant that the train was travelling at a slow speed. None of the derailed cars ruptured, and the contents of the tank cars were transloaded from the two that had actually hit the ground. The train had arrived from Rail America-affiliated New England Central and Brattleboro, VT.

There were no injuries and the FRA continues to investigate the cause of the derailment.

NORTH DAKOTA: Officials from the Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western are disputing the FRA's findings regarding a March 2010 derailment in Washburn, ND that killed DMV&W conductor Jeff Heitzmann and injured the train's engineer. The FRA's report stated that an obstructed drainage ditch contributed to that saturation and undermining of the roadbed which in turn sent the lead two locomotives down an embankment.

The DMV&W, however, said that the stretch of track where the derailment took place had been inspected regularly in the weeks prior to the derailment and hasn't been a problem in their nearly 20 years of operating the line between Bismarck and Max, ND. Railroad officials insist that it was an underground spring located some 6 or 7 feel below the roadbed that undermined the track, causing the derailment.