Iron Horse Roundup- Yet Another Tropical Storm Irene Cleanup Edition

New England Central detour freight MFMO (Millers Falls, MA- MOhawk Yard, Schenectady NY) preparing to head west at Pan Am's former Boston & Maine yard in East Deerfield, MA on September 8, 2011. Only a stone's throw away from the NECR interchange at Millers Falls, the train will then continue north to Whitehall, NY where it will traverse over the Vermont Railway system via Rutland and north to 'home' rails at Burlington, VT- Photo, Matt Baj

As cleanup from Irene continued throughout the Green Mountain state and elsewhere, Class 1 and regional rail carriers were scrambling to accommodate an array of detour traffic over the regions intact lines throughout the month of September.

Canadian Pacific ES44AC GEVO #8780 and a pair of former BNSF SD40-2s blast out of the East Portal of the Hoosac Tunnel in Florida, MA with loaded unit ethanol train MOPW (MOhawk Yard to Providence & Worcester interchange at Gardner, MA)on September 10, 2011. The first car is actually a spacer, while the ethanol tak cars are obscured by the shadows. Photo, Matt Rooks

The flurry of activity breathed new life into obscure and long-forgotten junctions and spawned an alphabet soup of new and improvised train symbols on one railway.

Rail America's New England Central got the ball rolling on September 9th with a southbound detour train from Essex Jct, VT that consisted primarily of empty welded rail cars from the track improvement project on NECR's Roxbury and Palmer subdivisions and backlogged freight cars. The detour train (NECR gave it the symbol 323X) would traverse the western end of the Green Mountain state between Burlington and Rutland before heading west to the Canadian Pacific interchange at Whitehall, NY on the Vermont Railway's former Delaware & Hudson's Rutland branch.

Once on CP rails, the detour freight would be handed off to the Pan Am railway at Mohawk Yard just outside of Schenectady, NY. From there, the NECR detour would continue east over the former Boston & Maine Fitchburg Main to the NECR interchange at Millers Falls, MA.

At least one unit ethanol train was rerouted off VRS's Green Mountain Gateway in the wake of Irene. On September 10, Canadian Pacific handed off a 50 car loaded ethanol train to Pan Am at Mohawk Yard. From there, the train would travel as far east as Gardner, MA on the former Boston & Maine line where it was handed off to the Providence & Worcester.

Vermont Railway GP38-2 #303 leads a solid set of red EMDs north out of Crescent, NY after having just swapped cars with Pan Am freight EDSR (East Deerfield, MA to Canadian Pacific's yard at SaRatoga, NY) on September 11, 2011. The Pan Am freight picked up carloads of limestone slurry and handed over ballast cars and empties. Normally, the interchange would take place in Hoosac Falls, NY. Photo, Gary R. Schermerhorn

The B&R line between Rutland and North Bennington, VT was also damaged in the aftermath of Irene. In addition to local lumber and grain traffic, this portion of the Vermont Railway System also hosts a weekly unit limestone slurry train that is handed off to Pan Am in Hoosac Jct, NY and on to Maine from there. Interestingly, the original routing for the slurry train when it first started was over the Green Mountain gateway where it was interchanged with the Pan Am at Bellows Falls before continuing to Maine. The south end of the B&R branch was reopened in recent years to accommodate the slurry train and give the VRS and Pan Am a second interchange point.

Like the NECR detours, the VRS slurry train reached the Pan Am via Canadian Pacific at the Whitehall, NY interchange and used Vermont Railway motive power- although instead of travelling to Mohawk Yard, they apparently met with a Pan Am freight just outside of Saratoga, NY on Canadian Pacific's former D&H Bridge Line.

New England Central GP38-2 #3857 leads a mixed bag of power from other Rail America roads and leasers across the Hudson River on the former Boston & Maine west end in Mechanicsville, NY at dusk on September 16th, 2011 with symbol freight MFMO. This would be the last NECR detour train using the Pan Am routing as the Green Mountain Railway line would reopen to through traffic less than 24 hours later. Photo, John Bazan

On September 16, the Vermont Railway's Green Mountain Line re-opened to through traffic between Rutland and Bellows Falls, VT. Not only did this mean that through trains could resume on the former Green Mountain Railway, but that the NECR could utilize a less circuitous detour than the Pan Am and Canadian Pacific lines through Western Massachusetts and Upstate New York while work was continuing on reopening their Roxbury Subdivision north of White River Jct, VT. Instead, NECR trains could travel from New London, CT or Palmer, MA as far north as Bellows Falls, VT before detouring over the Vermont Railway System.

Former Goderich & Exeter GP38 #3843 leads a NECR GP38-2 and Connectictut Southern B39-8 as they lean into the curve at Royalton, VT with New England Central train 323-21 on September 21, 2011. This is the first northbound through train on the former Central Vermont Roxbury Subdivision since Tropical Storm Irene struck. Photo, Kevin Burkholder

After weeks of clearing fallen trees and moving in train loads of ballast, rip rap and gravel, the NECR line north of White River Jct and south of Essex Jct, VT had been reopened to through traffic on September 21st.

Crews had been working around the clock to reopen both the VRS and NECR lines since late August. The final NECR work train reportedly ran north out of White River Jct. on September 25 with a Florida East Coast GP40-2 (ironically, with the 'Hurricane' logo on the hood) and a NECR GP38-2 followed by 9 cars of rip rap to shore up repairs made along the line.

While most of VRS's Washington County Railway line between Newport, VT and White River Jct survived Irene, the trestle across the White River itself was undercut when floodwaters twisted one of the stone piers supporting it, causing the deck to drop almost 6 feet our of alignment. Crews have erected a temporary support system and will replace the damaged piers with a concrete pillar. The bridge might be carrying trains as early as this week. Since the warped trestle isolated the WACR's Connecticut River Division from the rest of the Vermont Railway system, the WACR has been borrowing a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic B39-8 to service the line south of the MM&A interchange in Newport.

Iron Horse Update for July 2011- 32 Killed in China High Speed Rail Collision; Zephyrs & Iron Horses Gather in Quad Cities, CSX vs Trial Lawyers

ILLINOIS: Rock Island's Train Festival 2011 is in the books and organizers say the four-day event drew more than 40,000 people to the Quad Cities, translating to millions of dollars put into the local economy.

"For each individual that comes in, they spend 200–300 dollars a day in restaurants, hotels, and entertainment. That's spent after they leave the festival," Nelson said, "this is good clean economic industry. They bring in their money and then they leave."

Folks from at least 46 states and 14 foreign countries are checking out the locomotives

Among the featured locomotives at the 2011 event were Nickel Plate 2-8-4 Berkshire #765 and Iowa Interstate's two Chinese made 'QJ' class 2-10-2 steam locomotives.

Photo- Tom McNair

The Nickel Plate #765 travelled from Logansport, IN to and from the Quad Cities over a Norfolk Southern/Toledo Peoria & Western/Iowa Interstate routing and powered eastbound excursions to Rock Island and Bureau IL and back and westbound excursions over the Government Bridge and west to Walcott, IA along with IAIS QJ 2-10-2 #6988.

Photo- PeytonG

Although Santa Fe 3751 wasn't able to make it out from California this year, the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL managed to step up and send their Nebraska Zephyr trainset that they purchased from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1968. Although operational, this is the first time the Nebraska Zephyr trainset has ventured out from the Illinois Railway Museum under it's own power in more than 43 years.

Curiously, with Nickel Plate #765 being made by Lima Locomotive Works in 1944 and the Iowa Interstate's Chinese QJ steam engines fabricated by the Datong Locomotive Factory in 1986, the 1936-made Nebraska Zephyr trainset featured the oldest motive power hauling excursions at Train Fest 2011. According to the Illinois Railway Museum, CB&Q E5(A) #9911A is also the last surviving locomotive of its kind. On Sunday July 24, the Zephy trainset powered an excursion from Rock Island to Bureau, IL and back over the Iowa Interstate's former Rock Island Chicago-Council Bluffs, IA line.

The Nebraska Zephyr travelled on Canadian Pacific's former Iowa, Chicgao & Eastern (ex I&M Rail Link exx Soo Line nee Milwaukee Road) Chicago line before crossing the Mississippi RIver and turning south towards the Quad Cities at Subula, IA and heading south on the ex-Milwaukee Road line (now CP Rail) to Davenport. Also along for the ride were the museum's CB&Q EMD SW7 #9255 and Chicago & North Western F7A #411.

Other attractions at the 2011 Train Festival included Flagg Coal 0-4-0 #75, Lehigh Valley Coal 0-6-0 #126, Viscose 0-4-4 #6 and replica Central Pacific 4-4-0 #63 (aka Leviathan).

Nor date or venue has been announced for Train Festival 2012 yet. With the combination of the state's centennial and ongoing restoration work towards Santa Fe 4-8-4 #2926, I wouldn't be shocked to learn if the event moved out west to the Land of Enchantment. But then again, it's also Arizona's centennial and the Grand Canyon Railway already has established a history of running steam-powered excursions. Then again, that's just idle speculation on my part.

photo- Kevin Burkholder

PROVIDENCE & WORCESTER: Providence & Worcester [NASDAQ: PWX] is reportedly leasing a trio of former Oakway Leasing SD60s from GATX [NYSE: GMT]. GMTX SD60s #9014 and #9059 were spotted transiting via the New England Central in White River Jct, VT on July 25 (above) destined for the P&W. Reportedly the cab signal equipment that Amtrak requires to operate on the Northeast Corridor were scavenged from the P&W's two GE Super 7s. According to Kevin Burkholder, the cabs and rooflines have been modified for the six-axle leasers to operate under the catenary on the NEC in Rhode Island as well as between New Haven CT and Queens, NY.

The 6-axle EMD leasers represent a departure for the P&W, who have demonstrated an affinity for burly, 4-axle GE products purchased secondhand from the New York, Susquehanna & Western, BNSF or CSX. It is thought that the blue & white EMD's will be powering the stone trains from the Tilcon Stone quarry in North Branford, CT to the New York & Atlantic interchange in Queens, although some have expressed doubts that Metro-North (the commuter agency that operated the NEC between Penn Station and Connecticut) is reluctant to allow 6-axle units on their rails.

The SD60s were leased to the Burlington Northern in 1986 through Oakway, Inc- a subsidiary of Corrnell Rice & Sugar- in a first of it's kind "Power by the hour" arrangement in which BN purchased nothing more than the electrical output from the fleet of SD60s and leased on a kilowatt hour basis.

Xinhua photo

CHINA: At least 35 people were killed and nearly 200 injured when two high speed trains collided in the eastern province of Zhejiang on July 23rd.

The first train was traveling south from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou when it lost power in the lightning strike and was hit from behind by the second train in Wenzhou city at 8:27 p.m. (1230 GMT) Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The second train had left Beijing and both trains were destined for Fuzhou in eastern Fujian province.

The Ministry of Railways said in a statement that the first four carriages of the moving train and the last two carriages of the stalled train derailed.

Begun in earnest in 2007, China's high speed rail projects were hailed by many as an example America should follow if it were to remain competitive on the world stage. However, in recent months, allegations of graft, kickbacks and corruption have resulted in many senior level officials in China's Railway Ministry being forced to resign, including Railways Minister Liu Zhujin.

Domestic media coverage of the crash has been uncharechteristicaly critical, with Party censors ordering reporters to discontinue their probe into the crash and focus on 'touching stories'. Comments questioning the official version of events or sharply critical of the Communist Party's handling of the aftermath are appearing on Chinese microblogging sites like Weibo, often faster than government censors can delete the offending comments.

CSX: Nearly a decade after paying out in asbestos-related lawsuit settlement, CSX [NYSE: CSX] is suing Pittsburgh-area trial law firm of Robert Pierce & Associates alleging fraud and racketeering in pursuit of claimants and settlements.

CSX's lawsuit against the Peirce firm is rooted in the last days of the mass asbestos lawsuits, when plaintiffs' firms routinely rounded up hundreds or thousands of people who had been exposed to the cancer-causing flame retardant, and brought gargantuan claims against manufacturers and employers.

CSX alleged that in 1999, an employee named Danny Jayne went to an asbestosis screening set up by the Peirce firm or its affiliates. A doctor found abnormalities on his x-ray, and in 2002, the company agreed to settle his claim for $7,000.

Meanwhile, the company alleged, another CSX employee named Ricky May was screened and tested negative for asbestosis.

But at a subsequent screening in 2000, a contractor working for the Peirce firm helped arrange for Mr. Jayne to pretend to be Mr. May, CSX claimed. That resulting x-ray was used by the firm to justify a claim on behalf of Mr. May, which CSX settled for $8,000.

CSX said the law firm took advantage of an expedited court system that didn't allow for scrutiny of individual cases and pursued the cases with fraud and negligence. The Peirce firm didn't deny that Mr. May and Mr. Jayne had pulled a fast one, but argued that they had acted without the lawyers' knowledge or encouragement.

In August 2009, a federal jury in West Virginia found that the Peirce firm and its contractor weren't liable for fraud. That, however, didn't end the matter.

CSX has since pursued a broader theory, outlined in detail for the first time in a July 14 court filing: that the Peirce firm pursued "a calculated and deliberate strategy" of "unlawful conduct, including bribery, fraud, conspiracy and racketeering."

CSX said the firm used "intentionally unreliable mass screenings" by a radiologist who had a criminal history and a doctor who has been accused of tailoring diagnoses to fit lawsuits.

The company pointed to 11 cases in which Peirce-paid professionals found no signs of asbestosis in an employee, then later screened the employee again and found the disease. It settled just one of the cases, for $25,000.

CSX is going after the Peirce firm using the civil provisions of the 40-year-old Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute. RICO is a law more often used by law enforcement to prosecute organized crime.

The firm "repeatedly used or caused their agents to use the mails and wires," CSX said in a July 14 court filing, characterizing the communications as "mail fraud" and "wire fraud."

Neither CSX nor the Peirce firm would discuss details of the case, now before Senior District Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr.

Legal experts are hard pressed to think of another case where a corporation on the recieving end of mass litigation retaliated by invoking RICO against trial lawyers. Even if CSX falls short in their attempt to being RCO charges against Pierce & Associates.

According to Attorney Mark Behrens of the Washington, D.C., defense firm Shook Hardy & Bacon CSX would be the third company in recent years to take such action against a law firm. The two other companies won their respective suits- interestingly, one of them was another railroad. In 2010, a judge and jury ruled that MacComb, MS based lawyer and former Democratic state senator William Guy pay the Illinois Central Railroad $420,000 in damages after representing plaintiffs thay they knew had been awarded a settlement from an earlier suit.

photo- Ray Peacock

ARKANSAS & MISSOURI: As part of its ongoing 25th anniversary celebration, the all-ALCo Northwestern Arkansas shortline Arkansas & Missouri continues to operate a slew of excursions between Springdale and Fayetteville, AR.

This includes an August 14 run between Springdale and Winslow, AR that will be a fundraiser to help in the ongoing efforts in rebuilding Joplin, MO after May's deadly F5 tornado tore through the city center. Riders are also invited to bring paintbrushes, theater makeup and fabric to help the East Middle School's art and theater department after the tornado levelled the school.

ALABAMA: Rail America [NYSE- RA] announced in April that it would be acquiring the Gulf & Ohio's three disconnected Alabama shortlines, the 15-mile Conecuh Valley Railroad, the 36-mile Three Notch Railroad and the 20-mile Wiregrass Central.

The acquisitions by Rail America come a few months after the Gulf & Ohio acquired the previously independent Lancaster & Chester in North Carolina. That deal was finalized in November 2010.

Photo Matt Adams

PATRIOT RAIL: Boca Raton, FL-based Patriot Rail announced their aquisition of six railroads formerly operated by the Weyerhaeuser company [NYSE- WY] was finalized this year.

• the DeQueen and Eastern Railroad (DQE) operates over 50 miles in southwest Arkansas;
• the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad (TOE) operates over 41 miles in southeast Oklahoma and connects directly with the DQE at the Oklahoma/Arkansas border;
• the Columbia & Cowlitz Railway (CLC) operates over 14 route miles in southwest Washington;
• the Patriot Woods Railroad (PAW) operates over 23 route miles in southwest Washington and connects directly to the CLC;
• the Golden Triangle Railroad (GTRA) operates over 9.5 route miles in central Mississippi; and
• the Mississippi & Skuna Valley Railroad (MSV) owns 22 route miles in Mississippi.

This brings the total number of railroads owned and operated by Patriot Rail to 13 (although under Weyerhauser, there was little if any distinction between the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern and DeQueen Easter and the Columbia & Cowlitz and Weyerhauser Company Forestry railroad). In the above photo, a quartet of Weyerhauser Woods SW1500s is seen crossing a trestle in Ostrander, WA just north of Longview, WA in March 2006.

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.