Will Trains Get a Stimulus?

So far it looks like highways and airports will get a much bigger slice of planned infrastructure spending.

I'm eager to see how well the new OneRail Coalition fares in advocating for more rail investment. The coalition membership includes American Public Transportation Association, The Association of American Railroads, Amtrak, the National Association of Railroad Passengers, The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Railway Supply Institute, States for Passenger Rail Coalition, and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership.

Read up on the subject at the above links and learn more about the complicated network of business and government interests.

A Very Basic Question

As we learn that American International Group (AIG) is a major rail rolling stock lessor here's something to consider.

Should any nation allow a business to be "too big to fail"?

This is a very basic question both for free market capitalists and government control liberals alike.

It seems to come down to whether a business that's "too big to fail" is a threat to a nation's security. What do you think?


Email Mikesrails

What's Your Favorite Station?

I have many to choose from as my own favorite. I'll start with El Paso Union Depot, Los Angeles Union Station, New York Grand Central, and others that have had a place in my life.

My favorite: 30th Street Station Philadelphia. A grand architectural monument with very busy train activity. I could have picked Grand Central but did not since it is now only a commuter rail station. 30th Street hosts Amtrak long distance trains in addition to SEPTA and TNJ regional rail services.

What's your favorite? Let me know by email and I will post some of the results in about a month. Email Mikesrails

Inaugural Train Tradition

A good number of presidents have ridden the rails to their inaugurations. They include:

• William Henry Harrison, who rode from Frederick MD to Washington via Baltimore on Feb 6 and Feb. 9, 1841
• Abraham Lincoln, arriving disguised on Feb. 23, 1961
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, arriving on Mar. 1 ,1933 on a B&O special from Jersey City, NJ.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower, arriving Jan. 18, 1953 on a PRR special from New York City three days after the Pennsy's runaway Federal crashed into the Union Station concourse.

City Employees FCU Saves Historic Station

San Antonio, Texas, October 22, 2007. Abandoned in 1970 when Missouri Pacific discontinued passenger service to San Antonio, and again later when Amtrak consolidated its operations at Sunset Station, The International & Great Northern station on Medina Street was restored in the 1980's by the San Antonio Employees Federal Credit Union. Noted for its Moorish design, copper dome and stained glass windows, this fine example of early 20th century station architecture lives on for us to see today. The NRHS Gulf Chapter has a PDF document online from their 2005 tour of the area.

Woodrow Avenue Hot Spot

Behind Dash 8 8335 a Norfolk Southern (still in Conrail blue) merchandise freight heads west through Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania past one of the area's Brown's feed mills on July 3, 2007. Woodrow Avenue is a good train watching spot with public parking available. You may also see local switching action for the feed mill and other local customers as well as the occasional appearance of short line Penn Eastern whose 12 mile line joins the NS main here.

Early Morning at the Station Inn

With NS 7658 ES40DC in the lead, an early morning doublestack climbs east for the Gallitzin Tunnels in front of the Station Inn in Cresson, Pennsylvania. The front porch of this fine Inn faces the Norfolk Southern main line ten miles west of Horseshoe Curve. Lots of quality train watching here both day and night. I spent the night of August 13, 2007 here in preparation for a day at the Sand Patch grade on the old B&O route.

POTUS on Rails Update

Further details on the Jan 17 ride by President Obama and Vice-President Biden to Washington for the inauguration.

The Secret Service insisted on 2 diesel locomotives for each of the three trains used so the players involved could get out of harm's way in case of a power failure on the fully-electrified Northeast Corridor.

The 2-car advance train of 10-6 sleeper Pacific Command and Amtrak Business car Corridor Clipper was reported to be carrying armed soldiers. Having attended an number of outdoor public events with the presidential candidates last year, I think what people were seeing was the fatigue-wearing Secret Service members who carry automatic weapons concealed in large black bags.

The 10-car POTUS train featuring open observation platform car Georgia 300 was otherwise made up of Amfleet I coaches and cafe cars. Among the passengers was Amtrak Acela Express Conductor Gregg Weaver, who has known VP Biden for over 25 years. The POTUS train was headed by P42 locomotives 44 (for the 44th President) and 120 (for the inauguration on 1/20).

The third train of 5 cars carried more Secret Service, police, and press pool folks covering POTUS departures.

POTUS train scheduling was very complicated due to Secret Service requirements that no other trains overtake or pass POTUS, and that stations be empty up to 4 hours before the train so buildings could be checked by police and dogs for bombs and suspicious people.

All in all, a great day for Amtrak. Now, if they can just fare as well from now on out.

Freaky Diesels

The April, 2009 Trains Magazine issue about grain leads the railfan to places where some diesel "critters" can be seen. That would be at grain elevators. These odd and colorful locomotives include such as:

• SW1 at Colorado Sweet Gold in Johnstown, CO
• CF7 at Zacky Farms in Traver, CA
• S6 at Foster Farms in Livingstone, CA
• Plymouth at Short Milling in Kankakee, IL
• GE 65T at Bartlett Milling in Statesville, NC
• RS4TC at Pilgrim's Pride in Pittsburg, TX
• S3 at Parrish & Heimbecker in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
• SW14 at Archer Daniels Midland in Clinton, IA

A fine illustrated article by Jim Wrinn can be read online by Trains subscribers (and you should be one if you're reading this).

Moving the Crops by Rail - Big Business

Above, at Norfolk Southern's Dillerville yard in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, you can see some of the various designs for the top loading hatches on closed hopper cars.
Grains that move by rail are:

• Corn - the world's largest crop by weight. Culktivated across the US, concentrated in the Midwest. About 20% of the 13 million bushel crop in 2007 went into ethanol. Another 17% was exported in 2007.
• Soybeans - Often planted by farmers in rotation with corn to benefit the soil. Mostly used for oil. The remaining soybean meal goes into animal feed. The US is the largest soybean producer in the world and exported around 32% of the 2007 crop.
• Wheat - Bread and pastry. The hard Durum wheat variety is made into semolina flour for pasta. The US is 3rd in world production, behind China and India. 40to 60 percent of the US crop is exported.
• Oats - animal feed and food products.
• Barley - animal feed and beer.
• Sorghum and Millet - animal feeds.
• Rye - animal feeds and breads.
  

Moving the Crops by Rail - The Cars Get Bigger

In the 1990s covered hopper cars reached 286,000 pounds with a 110 ton grain capacity. In the above photo an older 100-ton Burlington Northern hopper shares the siding with a newer 110-ton hopper from the Dakota Minnesota and Eastern (now Canadian Pacific). Both cars are delivering their loads to a feed mill in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania.
Agricultural products, mostly grains, account for around 10% of the rail tonnage in North America. Recently grain shipments have declined because of low commodity prices causing some grain production to sit in storage waiting for higher prices.

Moving the Crops by Rail - The Closed Hopper Car

The covered hopper car offered grain shippers greater protection from the elements and provided the railroads with a more efficient means of loading and unloading the grain. The hopper also can be used for loads like lime and chemical fertilizers if properly cleaned before loading with sorghum or corn or wheat. Railcar cleaning is a going business today.
This PRR H30 hopper car was used primarily for loads like fertilizer or soda ash, but is typical of earlier closed hopper cars used for grains in the grain growing states of the Midwest.

RMP Charter Day - A Big Success

Marking the 327th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Charter Day, Sunday March 8, 2009 brought 2,832 visitors to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. On this one day each year the public is admitted free of charge to view the more than 100 historic rolling stock artifacts in the museum's world-class collection. Museum afficials and volunteers were smiling at the 5 PM closing time. Visitors are shown here waiting in line to go up into the cab of Conrail EMD GP30 diesel #2233.
This year's charter day was especially poignant because the proposed state budget for 2009 cuts $2.9 million for support of the state's 25 museum sites of which the Railroad Museum is the largest. This proposed budget cut is one more in a string of years where the state has cut support for its own historic heritage.
Public support for this historic treasure can be most effectively made though The Friends of The Railroad Museum. Your tax-deductable contribution and/or membership in The Friends goes directly into rolling stock restoration, museum staffing, and collections support. Contributions can also be directed for specific purposes like the restoration project in this year's All Aboard appeal.

Crops Move by Rail - The Box Car

We can mark the start of agricultural products shipped by rail to the Baltimore & Ohio in the 1830's. In the early days of railroading most shipments of grain and milled grains were in bags in box cars. After the development of the grain elevator in the 1840's more and more shipments were in bulk. Box cars were the predominant rolling stock used. A box car would be prepared for a bulk shipment of something like wheat or oats by nailing wood planks inside the car door to create a bin about 2/3 of the car's height, a process called "coopering". Grain would be poured from the elevator into the car and then the door would be shut to protect the load from the elements as best ass possible, On delivery, the load would be shovelled out by hand or poured out by tilting the car, something that required individual handling of each car. Although hopper cars date back to the early days of railroading, the box car was favored by railroads because of its utility. The roads did not want a car inventory sitting around waiting for harvest time.
The car above is Lehigh Valley 75073 on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA.

Politics Has Invaded My Model RR

DME - The Good Looking Grain Hopper

I expect we will continue to see Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern cars for many years in the Northeast. Above, this fine looking grain hopper is seen at Norfolk Southern's Dillerville Yard in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The backdrop is the demolition for the Armstrong commercial flooring plant in the Summer of 2007. The recent acquisition of DM&E by Canadian Pacific is another sign of railroad resurgence in North America. Others would be Norfolk Southern's tunnel expansions for double-stacks in West Virginia, BNSF's double tracking the Transcon Route in Abo Canyon, New Mexico, and Union Pacific's double tracking of the Sunset route between Los Angeles and El Paso.

DME - We Expect to See Your Cars For Years

The Dakota Minnesota & Eastern (now part of Canadian Pacific) cars we see most of in the East are grain hoppers like the one above at an F.M. Brown's Sons feed mill in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. This is on the old Reading Company Lebanon Valley route from Reading to Harrisburg, now Norfolk Southern's main East West route from the East Coast megalopolis to Chicago and the West. The road crossing at the bottom of the picture is Woodrow Avenue, one of the best railfan spots in the Northeast. There's a lot of traffic and a varied type of loads: coal, rock, metals, automobiles (fewer right now), grain, and lots of intermodal including the NS own Road Railer trailers. Lots of different locomotives from SD70's to new ES's to local jobs behind GP-38's. This is also the spot to see local road Reading & Lancaster and their GE U23b locomotives joining the NS main line to exchange freight in Reading.