Local railroad videos on youtube

Received the following list via email. These are youtube videos of local rail fan excursions by Adam Christman. Enjoy.

R&N 425 on October 18th excursion - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8An8jwo7q8

RDG FP7s on the Perk - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w79-uPDh2E

The WM S6 Charter - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W9qo-AmFXE

The CRHS Trip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9qz-x3UHI

MTH Authorized Service Center

Not only do we sell MTH (Mike's Train House) products, we are also an MTH Authorized Service Center.

New power for the San Luis & Rio Grande

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

Had the opportunity to get inside American Motive Power (AMP) at Danville, NY to see the new power for the San Luis & Rio Grande. Sitting outside were two slugs and a mother unit. Also a derelict F40 from Canadian American # 453, the stripped SD-45 from the NYSW # 3614, a frame from a GP-9? F#5519-34. Shop switcher AMP2008 was seen, but unable to get close to it.

SLRG 227 slug F# 757099-x2

SLRG 245 slug

SLRG 459 mother

Update on Hillsborough, NJ Quiet Zones

The following article is from The Courier News for 10-15-09.
(Previous postings on this topic were on 11-9-08, 4-2-08, and 2-20-07.)

Hillsborough, Norfolk Southern agree on safety improvements to train crossing

By PAMELA SROKA-HOLZMANN
STAFF WRITER

Courier News

October 15, 2009

Municipal officials have approved an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway Company that would allow train quiet zone electronic safety improvements at the Valley Road crossing.

Quiet zones are a section of a rail line that have one or more public crossings, where locomotive horns will not be routinely sounded. Under federal law, locomotives are required to sound their horns when approaching crossings.

Quiet zones previously were constructed at the Beekman Lane and Auten Road grade crossings, and safety improvements at the Roycefield Road crossing have been completed. But because Roycefield Road is less than one half mile from the Valley Road crossing, federal regulations require that both crossings be set as quiet zones together, Mayor Frank DelCore said.

Norfolk Southern must construct an electronic "power-out" indicator at the Valley Road grade crossing, which would tell the train engineer if the AC power is off. That way, the engineer can sound a train horn as a safety precaution, DelCore said.

The township wants to install a wayside horn at the Valley Road crossing, but Norfolk Southern continues testing the horn at other sites nationally and is not prepared to proceed, DelCore said. A wayside horn is one placed at a train crossing intersection and directed at vehicles.

Committeeman Carl Suraci said the quiet zone issue can be resolved by a new order from the state Transportation Department commissioner allowing for an interim quiet zone at Valley Road -- based upon meeting safety index criteria required in the federal regulations.

Suraci said a link will be added on the township's Web site for residents wanting to comment on the issue. DelCore added that once the new order is adopted, the township will continue working with Norfolk Southern to complete improvements at Valley Road and establish quiet zones at that crossing and the Roycefield Road crossing.

October delights #3

Received the following via email from Kermit Geary, Jr. Text and photos his.
Also see October delights #1 and #2 below.

Finally the best....saving it for last!! Spent Saturday on the Foster Brook & State Line RR riding and chasing (on foot) the neatest 2-foot gauge railroad in PA!! Power is the smallest SHAY ever built by LIMA. Privately owned and operated, this operation as a gem to behold! The ride consists of a single switch-back and about a 1/2 mile of trackage...work is underway to extend the line through a second switch-back to the top of the local mountain! This will add about another mile to the line. Enjoy the virtual ride!!

Weekly Rail Carloading Report - Week 40, 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 40 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.

Now that we are in the 4th quarter, you can see how rapidly carloadings dropped last year and how they have been slowly increasing in the 3rd quarter of this year. Let's hope they continue that trend.

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.

October delights #2

Received the following via email from Kermit Geary, Jr. Text, photos and captions are his.
WNYP is the Western New York and Pennsylvania railroad.
Also see October delights #1 below.

Chased the Hornell turn from Elm Valley, NY to Hornell NY on Sunday, after a fabulous day on the Foster Brook & State Line Railroad on Saturday...more next email!

The beautiful day combined with fantastic foliage...and two six-axle MLW's...made for a good day of photography. It was an easy chase, no need to challenge the smokey bears on the chase!!

Alstrom even obliged by letting the #1 posed by the shop!

WNYP 630 & train passing through CASS interlocking with NS in Hornell, NY

WNYP 630 switching interchange at Hornell, NY 10-11-2009

WNYP 637 passing Erie RR deopt and offices at Hornell, NY 10-11-2009

WNYP 637 ready to depart Hornell, NY for Olean, NY 10-11-2009

Alstrom 1 at Hornell, NY 10-11-2009

October delights #1

Received the following via email from Kermit Geary, Jr. Text, photos, and captions are his.
WNYP is the Western New York and Pennsylvania railroad.

Chased the Hornell turn from Elm Valley, NY to Hornell NY on Sunday, after a fabulous day on the Foster Brook & State Line Railroad on Saturday...more next email!

The beautiful day combined with fantastic foliage...and two six-axle MLW's...made for a good day of photography. It was an easy chase, no need to challenge the smokey bears on the chase!!

WNYP 630 & train passing Canacadea State Forest, Almond, NY 10-11-2009

WNYP 630 approaching Tip Top, NY 10-11-2009

WNYP 630 leads Hornell Turn at Elm Valley, NY 10-11-2009

WNYP 430 (with yellow ribbon to Support our Troops) at rest in Olean, NY 10-11-2009

NS adds new features to its e-commerce web site

Received the following via email.

October 12, 2009

Norfolk Southern e-commerce offers 'Railcar Event - Text Message Alerts' and live chat support

NORFOLK, Va. - Norfolk Southern customers now can receive text messages notifying them of the status of shipments with Railcar Event Alerts. Using a simple application on the company's e-commerce site, accessNS, customers can set up alerts to advise them of a variety of events for as many as three railcars, containers, trailers, or chassis at a time.

Once an alert is set up, Railcar Event Alerts checks the status of the equipment every hour and sends a text message to the customer's cell phone if the status has changed. Information available through Railcar Event Alerts includes:

· Changes in ETA or ETI
· Bad order notification
· When a shipment is received from another rail carrier
· When a shipment is placed for a shipper's customer
· When a car in the shop has been repaired and is moving again

For customers needing assistance with e-commerce applications, Norfolk Southern has added live online chat support. This is in addition to the toll-free help line and email support the accessNS team has provided all along. By clicking the "Live Support" link, available in the top left corner of the accessNS title bar or as a button on the accessNS sign-on screen, customers can open a chat session with support personnel in real time. This new feature allows the accessNS support team to help more customers in less time.

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is a leading North American transportation provider. 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 Robin C. Chapman 757-629-2713 robin.chapman@nscorp.com
Investors Leanne Marilley 757-629-2861 leanne.marilley@nscorp.com

Weekly Rail Carloading Report - Week 39, 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 39 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.

Book signing

Please join us in the store on Saturday, 10/10/09, from 12 to 3 for a book signing by Ralph A. Heiss of his book: The Lehigh Valley Railroad Across New Jersey.

From the publishers (Arcadia Publishing) web site:

“From Phillipsburg to Jersey City and all points in between, the Lehigh Valley Railroad hauled freight and passengers, while at the same time contributing to the social fabric of the area. The Lehigh Valley Railroad across New Jersey paints a picture of a railroad that provided over 100 years of quality service to the Garden State.”

"Author Bio: A resident of South Plainfield, Ralph A. Heiss has had an interest in railroads since childhood. He has lectured and authored numerous articles on various railroad topics."

Overland U.S. Army Hospital Cars

We have two Overland (OMI) brass, HO scale, factory painted U.S. Army Hospital Cars for sale.

OMI # AF-1035-5 Road # 89471
OMI # AF-1035-6 Road # 89480

Picture on the Overland web site: http://www.overlandmodels.com/showroom.php?model_name_id=97

List Price $618 each.

If you are interested, please email me: Jan@BigLittle.com

If you are really, really interested call me during store hours: 908-685-8892.

Better late than never...

(Train sightings on 10-4-09.)

...Is a listing of the trains spotted at Lansdown Junction along with a fall foliage report on if there is any color along the Lehigh Line at this early stage of autumn. First, a listing of the trains spotted Sunday morning...

NS 11J @ 8:56- had NS 2734 and NS 2628 bringing fifty-five autoracks west.

NS 18G @ 9:27- would have a trio of diesels, NS 9788, PRR 8437 (ex-CR 6261) and NS 2747, bringing 113 cars of mixed freight east. As you can see in this image, there is very little color to be seen at this location. About the only color to be found was from the poison ivy that had turned into a burnt orange.

NS 971 @ 9:50 was a short intermodal of mostly EMP COFCs. Motive power consisted of NS 9504, NS 8887 and NS 2546.

On the drive home, most of the trees along this stretch of the Lehigh Line were still wearing their green leaves. Might be a while before the reds and yellows of fall will be seen.

NS Quarterly Earnings Conference Call

Received the following via email.

Norfolk Southern Quarterly Earnings Conference Call

We cordially invite you to join us on Tuesday, October 27, 2009, at 4:30 p.m. ET to review our third-quarter results. We will issue earnings results shortly after market close on Oct. 27.

For those interested in participating, we will broadcast via teleconference that will be available by dialing 877-869-3847 several minutes prior to the start of the call. At the conclusion, you may listen to an audio replay, which will be available until November 3, 2009. The replay number is 877-660-6853, using PIN 2861, and access code 330016.

In conjunction with the call, a live webcast will be accessible and presentation materials will be posted on the company's web site at www.nscorp.com under the Investors section. Following the earnings call, an Internet replay of the presentation will be archived on the company's web site. In addition, the replay will be available for download to a portable audio player or computer as a MP3 - or podcast - file. Both the replay and MP3 file can be found at www.nscorp.com in the Investors section.

For electronic notification of future earnings events, we invite you to subscribe to NSInvest, Norfolk Southern's e-mail distribution list for news releases on earnings and issues pertaining to the financial performance of Norfolk Southern. To subscribe, please follow directions on our website under the Investors section.

Sincerely,

Leanne D. Marilley
Director Investor Relations
Norfolk Southern Corporation

The first Ohio Central unit in G&W paint?

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

Notes:

• The Ohio Central was bought by the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad (G&W) in 2008. Their locomotives are orange with two black stripes, as shown in these photos. Logos are different though.
• To see a picture enlarged, click on it. Then use your browser's BACK button to return to the Blog.

Released from Brookville, PA is the Ohio Central 4099. This is an ex Monongahela Super Seven. Seen in transit today (9-28-2009) in Dubois, PA.

Ohio Central 4099 at DuBois, PA (8)

Ohio Central 4099 at DuBois, PA (2)

Ohio Central 4099 frame number

(Number is stamped in the metal frame which is painted yellow. It is difficult to see. Enlarge the picture and look for shadows. I think it is 2525-4, but I'm not sure.)

Weekly Rail Carloading Report - Week 38, 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 38 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.

NS launches new web site: TheFutureNeedsUs.com

Received the following via email.

September 29, 2009

Norfolk Southern's TheFutureNeedsUs.com focuses on the benefits of partnerships and rail corridors

NORFOLK, VA. - Norfolk Southern has launched a new Web site focusing on the benefits of its corridor and public-private partnership projects.

The Web site, TheFutureNeedsUs.com, describes projects to increase rail freight transportation capacity and improve mobility and the environment. Information is provided for projects in Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, where governors Riley, Barbour, Rendell, Bredesen, Kaine, and Manchin are leaders in supporting transportation solutions.

The site outlines how upgrading the Crescent Corridor - the existing 2,500-mile rail route from the Southeast to the Northeast - will support a stronger economy, less highway congestion, cleaner air, and fuel savings.

The Crescent Corridor will be among the largest additions of new freight transportation capacity since the Interstate Highway System. That means creating or benefiting some 47,000 green jobs and producing these estimated annual benefits:

· $326 million in tax revenues to states and communities
· 1.3 million long-haul trucks diverted from interstates
· $146 million in accident avoidance savings
· 1.9 million tons in CO2 reduction
· $575 million in congestion savings
· $92 million in highway maintenance savings
· 169 million gallons in fuel savings

Crescent Corridor components include new intermodal facilities at Memphis, Birmingham, and Franklin County, Pa., and the expansion of terminals in Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Other projects include straightening curves; adding passing tracks, double tracks, and signals; and running more efficient trains.

TheFutureNeedsUs.com provides detailed information about other Norfolk Southern corridor projects, as well. This includes the Heartland Corridor to open a new gateway for double-stacked container traffic from the East Coast to the Midwest; the MidAmerica Corridor to create shorter and faster routes for merchandise moving between the Midwest and Southeast; and the Pan Am Southern Corridor to create an improved rail route between Albany, N.Y., and the greater Boston area.

The site includes photos, videos, maps, fact sheets, links, contacts, and a convenient form for contacting Norfolk Southern.

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

NS unveils experimental electric locomotive

Received the following via email.

September 28, 2009

Batteries ARE included:

Norfolk Southern unveils experimental electric locomotive

ALTOONA, PA. - With U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Congressman Bill Shuster in attendance, Norfolk Southern today unveiled the latest in alternative energy locomotive technology at its Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, Pa. NS 999 is a prototype 1,500-horsepower switching locomotive that relies solely on rechargeable batteries for power.

"At Norfolk Southern we strongly subscribe to the view that sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint are solid business objectives that also provide enormous benefits to the communities we serve," said CEO Wick Moorman. "By utilizing regenerated kinetic energy of the train and with no diesel exhaust emissions, NS 999 achieves those goals. This prototype locomotive was developed by Norfolk Southern, with the help of an incredibly creative partnership, including the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the Federal Railroad Administration, and The Pennsylvania State University, for which we are grateful. We must also recognize Congressman Bill Shuster, as without his active interest and participation in this project NS 999 would still be merely a concept."

"Today, the transportation sector currently accounts for just under a third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of nitrogen oxide emissions, and almost three-quarters of our petroleum consumption. We need to change that," said Secretary LaHood. "By working together to develop alternative energy sources and innovative technologies like this electric locomotive, we will make transportation more sustainable and energy-efficient."

"Historically, Pennsylvania has had a tremendous history in railroading, and it remains my belief that our state can still have a bright future in rail if we take advantage of dynamic partnerships between the private and public sectors like the one that produced this locomotive," said Congressman Bill Shuster, the Ranking Republican on the Railroads Subcommittee. "What Norfolk Southern and Penn State are doing with Congress and Secretary LaHood's support is truly significant and will help usher in a new generation of green locomotives fueled by American ingenuity. Let's not forget about the great work done by the Juniata Locomotive Shop employees who did a superior job producing this engine. I am proud to have worked to secure funding for this project, and I look forward to seeing it working the rail lines soon."

Congressman Shuster secured $1.3 million in federal funding for the NS 999 project.

NS 999 is an entirely electric locomotive that uses a lead-acid energy storage system comprised of 1,080 12-volt batteries to operate in railroad switching applications without the use of a diesel engine and with zero exhaust emissions. The plug-in locomotive also can regenerate dynamic braking energy through a system provided by Brookville Equipment Company. The recovered dynamic braking energy continually replenishes the energy storage system, and uses this recovered energy for tractive effort in rail operations. The batteries are carefully monitored and controlled through an elaborate battery management system to assure safety and maximum battery life, and when fully charged NS 999 is able to operate three shifts before recharging is required.

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is a leading North American transportation provider. 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

Russia's High-Speed Train

The following article is from The New York Times for Friday, 9-25-09.

The New York Times

September 25, 2009

Siemens Fills Russia’s Need for High-Speed Train

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

The Sapsan train arriving in St. Petersburg, Russia, after a test.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — In the last years of the cold war, the ultrasecret research institute that had designed the Soviet Union’s nuclear submarines received an unusual request: could it build a high-speed train?

The Soviet Union, despite its dependence on railroads, had fallen far behind Japan and Western Europe on high-speed transport. That the order came to the Rubin design bureau suggests that Moscow viewed catching up as a matter of national security.

The result of the little-known program was a slate-gray, round-nosed locomotive called the Sokol, Russian for falcon, that petered out soon after the Soviet Union did. The prototype achieved a top speed of only 143 miles an hour — hardly breaking a sweat by high-speed standards.

But the fall of the Falcon created an opening for Siemens.

This December, high-speed trains designed by the German conglomerate and adapted for Russian winters will ply the rails between St. Petersburg and Moscow. But Siemens hopes their final destination will be the last laggard of the high-speed age: the United States.

For years, businesspeople and politicians have dreamed about America entering the high-speed era, but Amtrak has been plagued by budget and service problems and the closest Americans have come to high speed is the Acela, which rarely runs at what Europeans call high speed.

Now Siemens and its competitors are hoping all that has changed. The economic stimulus passed by Congress in April includes a five-year, $13 billion high-speed rail program. Siemens is one of four makers of high-speed trains, none of them based in the United States, that hopes to take advantage of it.

Siemens executives said the tilt toward political acceptance of high-speed rail in the United States presented a remarkable business opportunity — assuming the systems get built.

The United States “is a developing country in terms of rail,” Ansgar Brockmeyer, head of public transit business for Siemens, said in an interview aboard the Russian test train, as wooden country homes and birch forests flickered by outside the window. “We are seeing it as a huge opportunity.”

To position itself to compete in the United States, Siemens has placed employees from its high-speed train division at its Sacramento factory, which produces city trams.

Siemens’s new train — the Sapsan, Russian for peregrine falcon — is a candidate for the high-speed link planned between San Francisco and Los Angeles that may open in 2020. Alstom, the maker of the French TGV trains, and Bombardier are also contenders. Japanese bullet train designs by Hitachi, which are lighter but less secure in a low-speed crash, the only type of collisions survivable, are another option.

The technological breakthrough of the Sapsan is that the train has no locomotive. Instead, electric motors are attached to wheels all along the train cars, as on some subway trains. (Passengers sit in the first car too.) Its top operating speed is 217 miles an hour, though in tests this model has reached 255 miles an hour, or about half the cruising speed of some jet airplanes.

In Russia, it took a decade of on-again, off-again talks before Siemens signed a deal with the state railways in 2006 amid a general thaw in relations between Germany and Russia.

Here as elsewhere, high-speed trains will compete with airlines. The 401-mile trip from downtown Moscow to downtown St. Petersburg will be 3 hours and 45 minutes. The average flying travel time is five hours, including the trips to and from the airport, check-in and security clearance.

The four-times-a-day service will trim 45 minutes from the fastest train service now. To achieve this, the Russian state railway spent $485 million upgrading the track and $926 million for eight Sapsan trains and a 30-year service agreement, at today’s exchange rates.

In other countries, high-speed trains have roundly beaten planes on price, overall travel time and convenience at ranges up to 600 miles between major cities. After high-speed trains between Paris and Lyons became well established, for example, commercial flights all but disappeared. And in the first year of operation, a Madrid-to-Barcelona high-speed link cut the air travel market about 50 percent.

In the United States — where the Department of Transportation has identified 11 high-speed corridors, including Los Angeles to San Francisco — high-speed rail would also compete with intercity car travel.

In Russia, it has a more peculiar competitor. With its vast distances and dismal roads, Russia has a long tradition of train travel, but Russians prefer to travel on overnight sleeper trains. (The highway between St. Petersburg and Moscow is at places a potholed, two-lane track.) Tea cups rattle on their saucers in the coal-heated compartments and beds are made with fresh linen.

The German trains, in contrast, are sleek strings of self-propelled, aluminum-skinned cars. But they will travel far below their 217 m.p.h. operating speed.

Pulling out of the St. Petersburg station on the test run, the Russian conductor kept the Sapsan throttled back at a modest 90 miles an hour as it rattled over older track in the city, making the typical clickety-clack noise of a train. High-speed rails are welded together and silent. It was like driving a new Porsche over a rutted road.

Out on refurbished track, the train accelerated to 150 miles an hour, the threshold until additional track improvements are made. As yet, not all the ties are as rigid as they should be, and the overhead electrical wires wobble as the train speeds by underneath. Sometimes electricity arcs in fire bolts.

Still, Russia has arrived in the high-speed club that includes Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Spain, Taiwan, Korea and China, which joined in 2007.

On the test run, over a stretch of the St. Petersburg-Moscow track, a birch forest blurred outside the window as the train revved. In one village, an old woman in a kerchief stopped in her tracks and pointed in surprise as the silver, rocket-shaped train sailed past at 150 miles an hour.

A worker cleaning a Siemens-made Sapsan train.
Its top operating speed is 217 miles per hour.

WHITE Ribbons on Conrail SD50 #6707 at Juniata Shops - 1991

Received the following via email.

An extremely rare February, 1991 'in-process' view by Jack Smith of CR EMD SD50 #6707 sitting outside the shop in Altoona showing just the outline on the Fireman's-side flank of the future ribbon location, prior to the application of the yellow and black ribbon details. The second and third photos, taken by John Osciak and Dave Trenn, show the intended result, out on the main line and in Ashtabula (Ohio) Yard.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1092117

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=91805&nseq=0

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=197394