biglittlerr

There is an interesting report available on the web that is "A Weekly Report of North American Rail Freight Traffic by Major Railroad and Commodity." It is currently showing data for week 27 of 2009.

http://railfax.transmatch.com/

Here is an example of the information available on this web site. This graph shows Total Traffic for 2008-2009 vs. 2007-2008. There are more graphs and tables on the web site showing data by railroad and by commodity.

Received the following via email.

July 13, 2009

Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific Offer Refrigerated Trailer Shippers the Rail Industry's Fastest Intermodal Delivery from Los Angeles to Atlanta with New Expedited Service

NORFOLK, VA. AND OMAHA, NE., - Norfolk Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railroad today announced they have launched a new expedited intermodal service specifically designed for refrigerated trailer shippers between Los Angeles and Atlanta. This new service gives customers the option to have their refrigeration units serviced during the stop in El Paso, Texas, significantly reducing the risk of protective service failure during transit. New rail customers will find this premier service a seamless shift from over-the-road transportation by providing truck-like speed (more than 500 miles per day) and reliability.

This is the industry's fastest intermodal service between Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.

Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UPN) owns one of America's leading transportation companies. Its principal operating company, Union Pacific Railroad, links 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country. Union Pacific serves many of the fastest-growing U.S. population centers and provides Americans with a fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly and safe mode of freight transportation. Union Pacific's diversified business mix includes Agricultural Products, Automotive, Chemicals, Energy, Industrial Products and Intermodal. The railroad emphasizes excellent customer service and offers competitive routes from all major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports to eastern gateways. Union Pacific connects with Canada's rail systems and is the only railroad serving all six major gateways to Mexico.

Norfolk Southern contacts
Media Robin Chapman 757-629-2713 robin.chapman@nscorp.com
Investors Leanne Marilley 757-629-2861 leanne.marilley@nscorp.com

Union Pacific contacts
Media Tom Lange 402-544-3560 tomlange@up.com

For customer inquiries, please contact your Norfolk Southern or Union Pacific sales representative.

Received the following via email from Kermit Geary, Jr.

Just a reminder that there will be a photo charter on the Middletown & Hummelstown RR using their recently restored Western Maryland S-6 and vintage freight cars on Sunday July 19th, 2009. Train leaves Middletown, PA depot at 0800 and will feature street running as well as rural railroading at its finest.

Fare is $45.00.

You will be required to sign a release prior to boarding the train.

For more info and tickets contact:

http://www.briansmodeltrains.com

or

Brian Saul briansmodeltrains@yahoo.com

Send ticket requests to:

Brian's Model Trains
109 West Main Street
Myerstown PA 17067

Space is limited to 50 people...ticket sales have been brisk, order yours TODAY!!!

Received the following via email.

July 6, 2009

Norfolk Southern Names Julian To Lead Safety Efforts

NORFOLK, VA. - Norfolk Southern Corporation has named David F. Julian vice president safety and environmental, effective July 1, with office in Roanoke, Va. He reports to Mark D. Manion, executive vice president operations.

NS' safety and environmental department is responsible for employee safety training and awareness, grade crossing safety and trespassing abatement programs, and environmental protection, including hazardous materials safety and industrial hygiene.

Julian succeeds Charles J. Wehrmeister, who retired from NS' lead safety position after a 40-year career with Norfolk Southern.

Julian joined NS in 1971 in the mechanical department and later served in a variety of marketing positions, including district sales manager, regional sales manager, director automotive, and group vice president, before being named in 2005 to his most recent position, president automotive and supply chain services. Julian holds a management degree from Jacksonville University and attended the University of South Alabama Graduate School of Business.

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.

Norfolk Southern contacts
Media Frank Brown 757-629-2710 fsbrown@nscorp.com
Investors Leanne Marilley 757-629-2861 leanne.marilley@nscorp.com

There is an interesting report available on the web that is "A Weekly Report of North American Rail Freight Traffic by Major Railroad and Commodity." It is currently showing data for week 26 of 2009.

http://railfax.transmatch.com/

Here is an example of the information available on this web site. This graph shows Total Traffic for 2008-2009 vs. 2007-2008. There are more graphs and tables on the web site showing data by railroad and by commodity.

Received the following via email. Link to video follows text.

A spectacular meteorological event was recorded earlier this year (Jan. 7, 2008) by an automatic video camera mounted inside the cab of a locomotive hustling across Illinois. These forward-facing cameras are installed to document information through a locomotive's front windshield of grade-crossing and train/pedestrian accidents. This locomotive (and thus its camera) was, however, facing backwards, as it was the 'trailing' engine of a multiple-unit locomotive consist. The gray Union Pacific covered hopper car visible from the beginning and through most of the clip is the first car behind the engines on a long manifest freight. The passing scenery barely visible along the periphery of the camera's view suggests to my eyes that this train was making perhaps between 40 and 50 m.p.h. at the time it was struck by the hand of Mother Nature.

The tornado that intercepted the train apparently lifted and threw several cars right out of the front of the train, just behind the first car. As the rear of that first car is then dragged off the rails by derailing equipment behind it, the trailing freight cars can be seen independently sliding on their sides down the embankment at left. Lots of sparks! Also note that the track structure behind the engines, where all of those cars had just derailed, remained intact! The integrity of the track is, however, about to be compromised, big time.

The engines grind to a fairly abrupt halt on a bridge: their air brakes went into emergency application when the compressed air brake line between the train's cars was broken in the initial derailment. They had only their own mass to stop. The rest of the train's automatic brakes are still engaging and trying to soak the momentum out of many more thousands of tons of moving steel and lading. This is why, out of the mists like some terrifying specter, being shoved ahead at a pretty high rate by the inertia of the rest of the train still in motion behind it, comes a white -- and derailed -- tank car loaded with Ethylene Oxide, bouncing along the track centerline, throwing sparks of molten metal as freight car steel grinds hard in a most unnatural manner along the steel rails. Had the tank car been breached, these sparks would almost certainly have been a (literally!) "sure-fire" source of ignition.

The careening tank car collides with that derailed U.P. covered hopper still coupled to the rear locomotive (tight-lock couplers DO work), which then unceremoniously flips off the bridge. The still-moving tank car immediately glances off the back of the locomotive and veers over into the vacant area of the bridge spans where there had once been a second track between the girders. A Hi-Cube Norfolk Southern box car that had been coupled behind the tank car then does a hyper-dramatic "high-speed/slow-motion" pirouette around the end of the now-stopped tank car. Just before the whole caravan of angry, twisted steel finally comes to a tangled, crumpled halt, you can see the end of one last Hi-Cube car being launched and plunging down the embankment and into the gully at left, rolling on its side as it dissipates the last of its stored kinetic energy. The physics at work here are staggering, when you consider that the cars, themselves, weight 30-40 tons when empty, and may be carrying up to 100 tons of cargo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azV5bC2br-Q

(Train sightings on 7-3 & 4-09.)

...with the only real noise being caused by the neighborhood kids setting off fireworks. Went trackside on Friday and Saturday but there wasn't much to see. On Friday, NS 64J was coming east through Flemington Junction with its consist of empty muncipal waste containers for refills.

On Saturday, after reading about the freight cars being stored on former CNJ tracks in Asbury, I decided to take a trip and check it out for myself. It is quite an unusual sight and quite indicative of the economic hard times being experienced not only by this country but around the world. There were cars of every type-gondolas, coil cars, spine cars, etc.that could be seen from the Vliet Farm Road grade crossing in Asbury. Hopefully, the economy will soon start to get better and these cars will once again be back in revenue service.

This happened early (2 AM) Sunday morning, 7-5-09. Story and photo on CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/05/u.s.disney.monorail/index.html

Received the following via email from Kermit Geary, Jr. Text, photos, and captions are his.

Vacation started out on a good note...the R&N ran an OCS from Reading to Jim Thorpe on 7/3/09 and then used the 425 on the regularly scheduled Lehigh Gorge trips on July 4th....providing much fireworks as she run up the Gorge!!!

R&N 425 pases CNJ 56 at Jim Thorpe, PA

R&N 425 along 'the Wall' in the Lehigh River Gorge, PA

There is an interesting report available on the web that is "A Weekly Report of North American Rail Freight Traffic by Major Railroad and Commodity." It is currently showing data for week 25 of 2009.

http://railfax.transmatch.com/

Here is an example of the information available on this web site. This graph shows Total Traffic for 2008-2009 vs. 2007-2008. There are more graphs and tables on the web site showing data by railroad and by commodity.

(Train sightings on 6-28-09.)

...that says when a person is trackside that "ten minutes after you depart, that is when a train will appear." Such was the case on my Sunday morning trip up to the Lansdown Road grade crossing. My goal was to get a shot of the solar powered friction management system NS had installed there as an eastbound train was passing by. With good sunlight this morning, I decided to see if I could accomplish that goal. The first train to come through at 9:06 was NS 22V, Not a bad shot but not what I was hoping for. About thirty-five minutes later, NS 18G came through around 9:42.

Received the following via email.


Norfolk Southern Quarterly Earnings Conference Call

(Train sightings on 6-27-09.)

Being given a break from what seemed like a unending stretch of rainy weather, NJ was finally given a Saturday morning in which the sun shone brightly. That enabled me to get trackside to see what was running along the Lehigh Line. From 9 AM until 10:30, I only saw four trains, two eastbounders and two westbounders. No foreign power but the still was some ex-CR units to be seen. The trains seen were as follows:

Lansdown Junction: NS 21M had NS 2758, NS 2778 and NS 7529 for power at 8:45.

NS 214 must have been holding for 21M at Pattenburg because it came east at 9:02. Motive power consisted of NS 9732, PRR 6769 (ex-CR 5512) and NS 9415. Note the solar panel that has been recently installed in the accompanying scene.



Heading down to Three Bridges, I was fortunate to catch NS 22V at 9:50. Its leader was PRR 8335 (ex-CR 6086) and NS 8372.



My final train for today was NS 213 with NS 9839 and NS 9157 for power.

At both of my locations, there was also piles of ballast that had been recently placed there off to the side. Perhaps for more LEHL MOW to be done in the near future?

Received the following links via email. If you have an appreciation for architecture, railroads, history or all three, you will likely recognize some of these lost landmarks:

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/06/22/11-beautiful-train-stations-that-fell-to-the-wrecking-ball/

http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/06/25/6-more-great-train-stations-lost-to-the-wrecking-ball/

Columbus (OH) Union Station (all that is left)...one of the few major rail station demolitions where an effort to save anything tangible was made, though this giant relocated arch is still but a token hint of what it used to be connected with, downtown:

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3863

Received the following via email.

Michael Jackson's death leaves AEG in the lurch

"The death of Michael Jackson came just weeks before he was to start a series of comeback concerts that the onetime King of Pop hoped would relaunch his career and straighten out his finances. Now concert promoter AEG Live is left in the lurch. The company, which is owned by reclusive media mogul Philip Anschutz, had shelled out more than $20 million on the concerts."

"In 1984, he [Anschutz] entered the railroad business by purchasing the Rio Grande Railroad's holding company, Rio Grande Industries. Four years later, in 1988, the Rio Grande Railroad purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad under his direction. With the merger of the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Corporation in September 1996, Anschutz became Vice-Chairman of Union Pacific."

There is an interesting report available on the web that is "A Weekly Report of North American Rail Freight Traffic by Major Railroad and Commodity." It is currently showing data for week 24 of 2009.

http://railfax.transmatch.com/

Here is an example of the information available on this web site. This graph shows Total Traffic for 2008-2009 vs. 2007-2008. There are more graphs and tables on the web site showing data by railroad and by commodity.

Hal Carstens passed away Tuesday, June 23, 2009. He was the founder of Carstens Publications, publishers of Railroad Model Craftsman, Railfan & Railroad, and Flying Models magazines plus numerous books on railroads and model railroading.

Received the following via email. We can all weep - no more NEAT Train pictures in Kodachrome :(


Kodak retires Kodachrome

The company will discontinue the color film after 74 years

Posted by Elizabeth Strott on Monday, June 22, 2009 10:52 AM
"They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world's a sunny day," Paul Simon sang in the 1973 song "Kodachrome."

It looks like Simon will have to come up with a new song now that Eastman Kodak (EK) is retiring its Kodachrome color film after a 74-year run. Kodachrome sales have plunged since the introduction of both new films and digital technology, and the product now makes up less than 1% of Kodak's still-picture-film sales, the company said. About 70% of Kodak's revenue now comes from its commercial and consumer digital businesses.

"It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its rich history," Mary Jane Hellyar, president of Kodak’s Film, Photofin ishing and Entertainment Group, said in a statement. "However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology -- both film and digital."

Hellyar said current supplies of Kodachrome will likely last until early fall. Dwayne's Photo, in Parsons, Kan., is the only photofinishing lab that still processes the complex Kodachrome film, Kodak said, and it will continue to do so through 2010.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry's famous National Geographic cover of an Afghan refugee girl was shot on Kodachrome in 1985. McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honors the company's founder, in Rochester, N.Y. Kodak will also compile other iconic images and post them on its Web site.

Shares of Kodak stock were down 18 cents, or 6.3%, to $2.67 th is afternoon. The stock has plunged more than 76% over the past year.

Following text is from the Red Caboose web site concerning the recently announced "partnership" with InterMountain. We carry both manufacture's products when we can get them. Getting InterMountain directly from the manufacturer hasn't been too difficult if the items are in stock. Orders for future runs can take a long time. Getting Red Caboose products directly from the manufacturer has been difficult for some reason. Maybe with this "partnership" things will be better.


RED CABOOSE/INTERMOUTAIN "PARTNERSHIP"

Red Caboose and InterMountain Railway Company have entered into a "partnership" arrangement under which InterMountain will be responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of all Red Caboose product beginning May 1, 2009. InterMountain will provide information to its dealer network for Advance Reservations on all new releases, and production quantities will be determined by the interest shown through the reservations. The reservation period will be approximately seven weeks and production will follow within four to five months.

InterMountain will also have access to all of the existing Red Caboose inventory and will make that product available through its dealer network as well. All Red Caboose finished product will be shown on both the Red Caboose and InterMountain websites. Undecorated kits and miscellaneous parts will continue to be available directly from Red Caboose.

Both Red Caboose and InterMountain are pleased to announce this new relationship and to continue providing this fine line of railroad models to the model railroad hobby.

More information on the Red Caboose web site.

http://www.red-caboose.com/cgi-bin/e_catalog/catalog.cgi

Received the following from Kermit Geary, Jr. Text and photos are his.

Finally made it from Syracuse to Binghamton, NY on the NYSW....80 miles, 324 defects...whew!!! Starting on the CNYK to Port Jervis tomorrow, then down the Southern Div to Little Ferry, NJ. From there ...who knows! Might be heading back to the A&O before taking two weeks off for a Photo Charter on the MIDH and the Steam Fest in Owosso, MI. Hope all is well.

Below is a link to the official YouTube video of the Miniatur Wunderland train set in Hamburg, Germany. (See our posting of Sunday, March 29, 2009, titled World's largest model train layout.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN_oDdGmKyA&feature=player_embedded

Following article is from the Daily Record web site.

Lackawanna Cutoff chugs closer to federal funding

June 14, 2009

The plan to restart rail service on the Lackawanna Cutoff - which runs from Port Morris in Roxbury to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River - has entered the final stage of it environmental review.

If the Federal Transit Authority adopts a revised environmental assessment for the proposed rail line, the project would be eligible for further funding.

Advocates for rebuilding the historic cutoff, which operated from 1911 to 1979 and is a necessary link to restore passenger service between Scranton, Pa. to Hoboken, a 133-mile trip, would help reduce the daily traffic clogging Route 80.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, a long-time supporter, said, "This development is welcome news to all of us who want to get cars off our clogged highways and will assist our efforts to secure funding for the entire Lackawanna Cutoff."

The Federal Transit Authority next week will publish a revised environmental assessment, which after a 30-day public comment period, could result in the issuance of a finding of no significant impact, or FONSI, which would give the project environmental approval.

The assessment generally concluded that there would be limited environmental damage from the construction of the rail line because the work would be done on an existing rail right-of-way or on state-owned land that once supported rail activities.

"This is the end of the environmental review,'' said Joe Dee, spokesman for NJ Transit, the lead agency for the $551 million restoration project.

The FTA already issued a FONSI for the 7.3-mile section of the cutoff between Port Murray, near Landing in Roxbury, to Andover. NJ Transit last year announced a $36 million project to rebuild tracks along that stretch.

Gerald Rohsler, Morris County's transportation director, said, the FTA announcement means "this is essentially done. This is a good thing."

The release of the FONSI will trigger a three-year period in which action on the project must occur, or the environmental approval will be withdrawn, Rohsler said.

What hampered progress on the cutoff for years was the lack of rail capacity in the eastern end of the line into New York, Rohsler said. That was resolved last week with the start of a project to build an $8 billion transit tunnel from New Jersey to New York City. It will be the third transit tunnel into Manhattan.

Norman Ressler of Lake Hopatcong, president of the Penn-Jersey Rail Coalition, a longtime advocate of the cutoff, said the release of the environmental assessment will finally move the project along.

The project calls for eight passenger stations.

The project has been panned by some environmentalists.

At a 2007 public hearing Rich Anoh of Blairstown asked, "What is the possible logic in this, making it easy, in fact subsidizing a person's choice to travel from Scranton to Hoboken on a daily basis? How is traveling 260 miles a day environmentally responsible?"

The environmental assessment estimates the new train service will carry 40,640 two-way passengers annually in 2012, increasing to 66,040 by 2030. It would serve part of eastern Pennsylvania where population has been increasing, as well as parts of Sussex and Morris counties.

Following is an article from The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh, NC, about an accident that occured on Sunday, 6/7/09 on the New Hope Valley Railway. This accident was also caught on video by a passenger on the train. That video has been posted on YouTube, and the link is below also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enkh9A5jdUI

Excursion train hit by car

BY JACK HAGEL AND ROBERT WILLETT, Staff Writers

BONSAL, NC - On the first Sunday of most months, hundreds come to this small town, about half an hour southwest of Raleigh, to get a close look at old trains.

But few, if any, have gotten as close a look as Brian Kielty got Sunday -- and certainly not without paying the fare.

Kielty, 50, of Apex was driving about 10 mph in a 21-year-old, blue-with-wood-trim Mercury Colony station wagon, approaching a railroad crossing on Daisey Street shortly before 4 p.m.

Problem is, a New Hope Valley Railway train, operated by a volunteer crew as part of the N.C. Railroad Museum, was making use of that crossing at the time, finishing a nine-mile trek carrying about 100 train enthusiasts.

"You're obviously not going to move a train with a car, especially at that speed," Trooper Ricardo Quiñones said.

Nobody was injured in the collision, which happened near the Chatham-Wake county line, Quiñones said. But he estimated that there was about $1,000 in damage to the train.

The station wagon was rendered undriveable.

Kielty said he was all right, but he declined to comment further before eventually being driven home by a family member.

Kielty was charged with failure to reduce speed, Quiñones said. "I've never seen anything like this," said the seven-year law enforcement veteran.

Indeed, train-on-car collisions are the ones we tend to remember, not the other way around.

But Bob Crowley, corporate secretary of the New Hope Valley Railway, says it's much more common than one would think.

"You'd be surprised at the number of people who just don't pay attention and drive into the side of the train," he said.

Yet it's never happened to New Hope Valley Railway, he said.

For 21 years, Triangle train fanatics have flocked here to ride the New Hope Valley Railway.

The rides run on the first Sunday of each month from May to December, and have been known to draw 1,000 passengers a day for five round-trim runs on 41/2 miles of track in Chatham and Wake counties. Tickets usually sell out weeks in advance.

The volunteer organization, with about 100 members, maintains and operates seven locomotives, including one of about 100 steam engines still in operation in the country.

Engine No. 17 was pulling the 50-year-old excursion car that was struck in the wreck.

The collision caused the railway to cancel the day's last run.

But the trains are expected to run on schedule next month, Crowley said. "About the only thing we're going to have to do different," he added, "is put a little paint on the car."

There is an interesting report available on the web that is "A Weekly Report of North American Rail Freight Traffic by Major Railroad and Commodity." It is currently showing data for week 22 of 2009.

http://railfax.transmatch.com/

Here is an example of the information available on this web site. This graph shows Total Traffic for 2008-2009 vs. 2007-2008. There are more graphs and tables on the web site showing data by railroad and by commodity.