Operation Lifesaver trip in New Jersey

On Wednesday, May 13th, a special Operation Lifesaver train was operated over the former Lehigh Valley line from Manville to Oak Island yard and back to Manville. This was a joint operation of NS, CSX, and Conrail, and the train was made-up of two NS locomotives (numbered 3352 and 5826) and two NS business cars. Passengers were local public safety officials and educators. I was onboard as a 4-H educator. There was a TV camera mounted on the lead locomotive, and there were large screen TV's in the cars. Thus, we were able to see and appreciate the railroad from the locomotive crew's perspective. The entire train was turned on the "Y" in Oak Island so we saw the railroad in both directions. We also learned some sobering statistics. For example, in New Jersey in 2008 there were 30 collisions with motor vehicles resulting in 15 deaths. Even more troubling, there were 21 deaths and 15 injuries involving people trespassing on railroad property. Below are some photos from this trip.

Train before departure from Manville.

Me getting on one of the business cars.

Nose of trailing locomotive from vestibule of first car.

CSX crew standing on their locomotive awaiting our arrival in Oak Island before they could depart.

Harry Brochinsky, a North Hunterdon H.S. teacher, and me.

Passengers departing at Manville.

Norfolk Southern CEO Tells Stockholders 'It Will Get Better'

Received the following via email.

May 14, 2009

'It Will Get Better,' Norfolk Southern CEO Tells Stockholders

NORFOLK, VA. - The business fundamentals that created a record five-year run for Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) leading into the recession are still in place, and, "Longer term, it will get better," said Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman during the company's 27th annual stockholders meeting, held today in Williamsburg, Va.

"Rail's future and our potential to help solve our nation's transportation crisis are as promising today as they have ever been," Moorman said.

"The fundamentals of our business are very strong," he said. "The factors that drove our growth over the past five years - higher fuel efficiency in a world with rising energy costs along with ever-increasing highway congestion - are still there, along with our superior performance in terms of emissions and sustainability." Moorman's remarks are posted on the company's Web site at www.nscorp.com.

In official business, stockholders re-elected four directors: Daniel A. Carp, chairman of the board of Delta Airlines Corporation; Steven F. Leer, chairman and chief executive officer of Arch Coal, Inc.; Michael D. Lockhart, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Armstrong World Industries; and Moorman. Stockholders also ratified the appointment of KPMG LLP as auditors and did not approve a stockholder proposal concerning additional disclosure of corporate political contributions.

Norfolk Southern Corporation 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 superior connections to western rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America's largest rail carrier of metals and automotive products.

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

Big Little Railroaders

Received the following picture and text via email from Larry DeYoung, COO of the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad (LA&L) in New York state. The LA&L is also featured in a column by Roy Blanchard in Trains magazine for June, 2009. Note that we carry Trains and a lot of other magazines about real railroads as well as model railroads. I hope these children all grow up to become railfans and model railroaders.

We had a visit from a preschool Friday morning. Dug out the caboose (in six years I had never before seen it) and took them for a ride. Photo by Ray Martel taken on the LA&L at the Lakeville, NY, shops. The preschool is, as far as I know, unnamed but run by the mother of one of our mechanics.

Special movie theater screening of "The General" starring Buster Keaton

Received the following via email courtesy of the "NY Society of Model Engineers."

Step Back Into Time

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in 1927?

The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in Jersey City is going to offer
you that ability. At least, how it would have been going to the movies.

On Saturday, May 16, at 8:30 pm the beautifully restored historic Loew's Theater (worth the entry fee of $7.00 just to see it) will present Buster Keaton in the original 1927 movie

The General

Many GREAT historic shots of railroad equipment.

Starring Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Joseph Keaton.Directed by Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman.(1927, 74mins., B&W)

Musical accompaniment for this silent classic will be performed on the Loew's Wonder Morton Pipe Organ!

PLUS -- a classic Keaton short is also included in this special screening.

Admission price for this movie: $7 for adults / $5 for seniors, children and students w/ID

The theater is located in Jersey City's Journal Square business district. There is plenty of nearby parking.

See: http://www.loewsjersey.org/ for additional information.

When mainline excursions were still in...

Received the following via email.

Remember when mainline excursions were still in? Turning back the pages to April 26, 1986, the location is Pattenburg Quarry which was still operating. Black River & Western's 41 and 42, two CF-7s, provided the motive power for this excursion over the Lehigh Line. If memory serves me correctly, the train was returning from a trip to Phillipsburg, NJ. Note the passengers peering out of the open windows and the roof of the LV Tower can be seen off in the background. Ahhh... what memories!

Norfolk Southern CMO Seale to Address Wolfe Transportation Conference

Received the following via email.

May 12, 2009

Norfolk Southern CMO Seale to Address Wolfe Transportation Conference

NORFOLK, VA. - Donald W. Seale, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Norfolk Southern Corporation, will address the Wolfe Transportation Conference in New York City at 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 20.

Interested investors can listen via a simultaneous webcast at http://cc.talkpoint.com/wolf001/051909a_ke/?entity=8_G5NC8DO. After the webcast, the presentation will be posted at www.nscorp.com.

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, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America's largest rail carrier of metals and automotive products.

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

News about East Broad Top Railroad

Following article is from a newsletter on Trains.com

New nonprofit organization to operate East Broad Top Railroad

Published: Thursday, May 07, 2009

Rockhill Furnace, Pa. - A new nonprofit organization has signed an agreement to operate the East Broad Top Railroad for three years, and the organization hopes to attract enough grant money during that time to buy the Pennsylvania narrow gauge from its longtime owners, Joe and Judy Kovalchick. The railroad, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964, has had a precarious existence in recent decades, with each operating season rumored to be its last.

The new organization, the East Broad Top Railroad Preservation Association, was put together by Larry Salone, who took over as executive director of the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum in 2007. Salone is a restaurant- and engineering-company owner who says he took his first train ride as a kid on the East Broad Top, which the Kovalchick family has operated as a tourist railroad since 1960. Joe Kovalchick's father, Nick, was a salvage dealer who bought the railroad after its last common-carrier runs, in April 1956.

Salone, who scheduled a press conference at the railroad Friday, said during a visit to the EBT last Saturday that the railroad's current employees would remain on the payroll, and that the schedule for the coming year would remain largely unchanged. But he said he hoped that riders would begin to notice small improvements as soon as the EBT opens, on June 6. The railroad will accept credit cards for the first time, he said, and shuttle buses will run between the East Broad Top and the Altoona museum during the museum's annual railfest weekend, June 27-28.

He said he planned to begin seeking money to reopen about six miles of track from the current end of operations into Mount Union, where the railroad transferred coal and other freight to the Pennsylvania Railroad in a dual-gauge yard. Salone also discussed putting a second EBT steam engine back in service - most likely No. 14, a 1912 Baldwin Mikado that is nearly identical to the only engine currently operating, No. 15. In addition, he talked about converting additional freight cars for passenger service so that the line's 19th-century coaches could be reserved for special occasions.

The East Broad Top began operating in 1873 along a main line roughly 33 miles long, of which about five miles are currently in service. The rest of the railroad is almost entirely intact but is badly overgrown. In addition to six narrow-gauge 2-8-2s in three sizes, the EBT has a unique 1927 Brill gas-electric car in operating condition, a standard-gauge 0-6-0 in Mount Union, and a sprawling machine-shop complex that is being restored by a volunteer organization, the Friends of the East Broad Top. The Rockhill Trolley Museum operates on a portion of the railroad's old Shade Gap branch.

Avid railfans

There is an interesting article and a short video on CNN about railfans. Link to article is below. When you get to the article, there is a tab that will take you to the video.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/08/railfan.train.watching/index.html

Memphis Trolley celebrating 16 years of service

Received the following via email from Kermit Geary, Jr. Photos, captions, and text are his.

Sixteen years ago the Memphis, TN trolleys restarted operation and have been running ever since. It took ME 16 years to realize the treasures they have running there!!!

Memphis Trolley 1978 in Memphis, TN 4-20-2009

Memphis Trolley 204 at Memphis, TN 4-30-2009

Memphis Trolley 553 & 454 at Memphis, TN 4-30-2009

Memphis Trolley 553 at Memphis, TN 4-30-2009

Reminder - National Train Day, 2009

National Train Day is this Saturday, May 9th. For complete information, please visit the following web site.

http://www.nationaltrainday.com/2009/

We are not planning any celebration in the store, but we do specialize in trains and model railroading. We have plenty of model railroading merchandise including models of Amtrak equipment.

Stop in Saturday, take a look around, and wish us a Happy Train Day.

Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine

There is a new model railroading magazine now available, but you won’t find it in your local hobby shop or on any newsstand. It is online, and it is free!

The 2nd edition is now available for downloading, and it comes in two versions: the Lite Edition that is 16 MB and the Premium Edition that is 99 MB. They both have the same content, 132 pages of text and pictures; the difference is the Premium Edition includes “rich media,” whereas you must download the “rich media” separately with the Lite Edition. By “rich media” I believe they mean sound and video. Yes, videos are included, something you will never get in a printed magazine. Their web site also includes blogs, forums, and a newsletter to keep you up-to-date between editions.

The 1st edition is also available, ??? pages of text and pictures.

The web site is: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

Personal opinion – great idea, price is right, content looks good so far, but it is really not suitable for a dial-up connection.

The EYE IN THE SKY is WATCHING YOU!!!!!!

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

Note the "eye" formation in the clouds in the first picture. Click on the picture to see it enlarged. Then use your BACK button to return to the blog.


Making a quick trip to Louisiana for a All You Can Eat Catfish Buffet at the Catfish Inn at Hodge, LA tomorrow!!! of course, I always manage to stop by and visit shortlines and other interesting sights along the way!!!

The EYE IN THE SKY is WATCHING YOU!!!!!!!

CN 5533 & train leaving Dyersburg, TN on 4-30-2009

CN 077373 (Rail Flaw Detector) at Fulton, KY

GMTX 9094 and sister 9089 at Mayfield, KY 4-30-2009

TennKen GP-28 no 9435 at Dyersburg, TN 4-30-2009

UP local with LLPX 2215 switching at Brinkley, AR

MP X-192 scale test car at Stuttgart, AR 4-30-2009

Rail-Link 285 'fogging for mosquitos' at Stuttgart, AR 4-30-2009

The Future of railroads??? Ugh!!

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

Also found this critter enroute from Mayfield, KY to Patterson, GA. Sure hope these things don't catch on...sooner see a mess of "catfish" than these things around.

Progress Rail 2008 at Madisonville, KY

Progress Rail 2008, P&L 3810, P&L 3803 at Madisonville, KY

Progress Rail 2008 details

Progress Rail 2008 frame number

Weekly Rail Carloading Report - Week 16, 2009

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 16 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.

Note: This web site has new tables and graphs every Thursday. So, if I am late or miss a week with this blog posting, you can check for new data on Thursdays.

Reminder: Norfolk Southern 2009 Investor and Financial Analyst Conference

Received the following via email.

April 29, 2009

Reminder: Norfolk Southern 2009 Investor and Financial Analyst Conference

NORFOLK, VA. - Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) has invited active sell-side analysts as well as the company's largest shareholders of record to attend its 2009 Investor and Financial Analyst Conference on June 3, 2009, at The David R. Goode Building in Atlanta, Ga.

The event, which will begin at 8 a.m. and conclude around 3 p.m., will provide Norfolk Southern an opportunity to present a comprehensive overview of the company's financial and strategic initiatives.

The David R. Goode Building is located at 1200 Peachtree St. N.E. in midtown Atlanta and is about a 35-minute drive from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The office building also is accessible by Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA).

Qualified investors interested in attending the meeting should visit the Norfolk Southern Web site at www.nscorp.com, select the "Investors" tab, and submit the required information by May 6, 2009.

NS will provide a continental breakfast and lunch at the conference. Participation requests should note any dietary restrictions or other special requirements.

NS' intent is to accommodate everyone who wants to attend the conference; however, attendance will be restricted if demand exceeds capacity. Each firm should limit its participation to a single representative. NS will notify confirmed registrants by email.

Simultaneous Webcast details for interested investors will be provided at a later date.

Norfolk Southern Corporation 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, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America's largest rail carrier of metals and automotive products.

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