Category: General Post

If this lamp could talk, what an array of stories it could tell.   The bent top, dirty glass, and broken wire frame adds much character and story to this photo.  This Handlan Buck lantern glows intently in the fading dusk at the East Ely Yard of the Nevada Northern Railway.

Just how many conductors or brakemen waved this relic in signaling the engineer to stop,  proceed or kick a car.  Clearly this lamp earned it’s keep.  Reliable and effective, these only need  TLC and a little kerosene to faithfully serve it’s handler.   No dead batteries, no cell towers, or cyber wizardry,  just solid technology from an era long past.

The Nevada Northern RR is a great place to visit, been there twice.  Great operating collection, and a friendly staff that had no problem letting me wander around at will.  You can experience the so-called “loneliest road in the world,”  US 50,  if coming from the Reno area.   Bring water, have the wife bring a book….

Rails today use hand held radios to do all the signaling from the ground and lamps like this find their way into memorabilia collections, as this one did for Steve Crise.   Watch for them at the next garage sale down the street.  There are a few hanging from the ceiling of my man cave.

Excerpts from Railroads Illustrated May 2009.   Photo credit:  Mike Massee,  submitted by Gary O. Ostlund

 

Chuck Hinrichs passed this note from a friend on to me for publishing:

I was recently visiting the Railroad Museum in Princeton when the gentleman working there told me that they are in dire need of individuals to help keep the museum going. It appears that many of the guys who helped create it have passed on. They have a very nice little collection but are in desperate need for volunteers to help work there. If any of you are in or near the Princeton area, please consider working with them to keep the place alive. Otherwise I fear we’ll eventually see it shuttered and the collection will simply disappear into garages and basements.

 

Brian Banta, in cooperation with the Railfans of Indianapolis is hosting a diesel powered excursion on the Indiana Railroad.  Date is Sunday, November 14, 2010 (Subject to Change)

Route is the Indiana Railroad: Segment 1: Jasonville, Indiana to Fayette, Indiana (just across the Wabash River from North Terre Haute) and return.  Segment 2: Jasonville, Indiana to the new Bear Run Mine Loop (largest surface mine east of the Mississippi River) then to the Indiana RR mainline.  Segment 3: Bear Run Mine junction to Elnora, Indiana then back to Jasonville.

Seating is sold only to fill 70% capacity.  Departure 9:00 am from Jasonville.  Return by 5:00 pm.  Cost $65.  No one under age 16 allowed.  Checks only.  Must be prepaid before October 30, Full refunds up to October 29.  Checks deposited November 1. Price includes all the food & drinks you want.  Send check made out to BRIAN BANTA (not to the Banta Train) as follows:  Banta Train, PO. Box 56, Edinburgh, IN 46124.

Map to boarding site will be mailed a week before trip, in case boarding site changes.  No alcohol permitted, No smoking permitted. Sorry no coffee provided.  You may bring your special drinks (NO Alcohol) and food.  Restrooms on board.  – submitted by Chris Dees

CINCINNATI RAILROAD CLUB and MIAMI VALLEY RAILFANS Present SUMMERAIL AT C.U.T.

1:00 PM to 10:00 PM and RAILROAD SHOW AND SALE

10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, in the Rotunda on Saturday, August 14, 2010 at Cincinnati Union Terminal, 1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio

Join us at this historic art deco railroad terminal to escape the summer heat and enjoy a day of high quality railroad photography. There will be twelve 222 multimedia digital and dual-projector slide presentations, all set to music. The programs will run from 1:00 – 10:00 p.m., with a break for dinner (on your own) from approximately 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. Admission is $15.

A railroad show and sale will be set up in the terminal rotunda from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is free.  Friday August 13 in CUT Auditorium will be some traditional “talkie” programs from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Admission is free.  Thursday August 12 in Tower A will be the Cincinnati Railroad Club’s monthly business meeting at 8:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Plans call for steam to ride the Norfolk Southern rails again, through display and excursion program with TVRM

NORFOLK, VA., and CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — Norfolk Southern Corporation is in negotiations with the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum with regard to the operation of a limited schedule of steam locomotive event appearances and passenger excursions beginning later this year.  “21st Century Steam” would highlight milestones in rail history and provide an opportunity for audiences to learn about today’s safe and service-oriented freight railroads.

The program would feature three venerable coal-powered steam locomotives: Southern Railway 4501:  Built in 1911 by Baldwin Locomotive Works, 4501 served Southern Railway in freight service in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, before being sold to a short line railroad.  No. 4501 was retired from revenue service in 1963 and enjoyed a second career in the excursion program operated by Southern Railway and Norfolk Southern from 1966 until 1994.  This Ms (Mikado superheated) Class locomotive has 63-inch driving wheels.

Southern Railway 630:  Built in 1904 at the Richmond, Va., works of American Locomotive Company, this Consolidation-type locomotive has traveled throughout the Southeast, often in the company of 4501 and sister locomotive 722.  An extensive six-year rehabilitation to Federal Railroad Administration standards is being completed at TVRM’s Soule Shops complex in Chattanooga.

Tennessee Valley Railroad 610:  Built in 1952 by Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton for the U.S. Army, 610 has been the mainstay of TVRM steam operations since 1990.  It also appeared on several Norfolk Southern steam excursions from 1990 to 1993.  No. 610, also a Consolidation type, was one of the last steam locomotives built in the U.S.

“This is the right time for steam to ride the Norfolk Southern rails,” said CEO Wick Moorman.  “We have a fascinating history, and we have a compelling message about how today’s railroads support jobs, competition, and the economy.  It is a forward-looking message that resonates with people everywhere.”

“21st Century Steam can help introduce historic and modern railroading to a broad new audience of supporters,” said TVRM President Tim Andrews.  “We are pleased to be developing this relationship with Norfolk Southern for the purpose of preserving and interpreting the steam age, and of bringing today’s railroad closer to people young and old, in communities large and small.”  The launch of 21st Century Steam would coincide with key dates. 2011 will be 4501’s 100th birthday and TVRM’s 50th.  The year 2012 will mark Norfolk Southern’s 30th anniversary.      21st Century Steam’s initial appearances and runs tentatively could take place in the Chattanooga area this fall, with locomotives 610 and 630.  No. 4501 could join the program sometime in 2011, after rehabilitation.  Exhibit dates, ticketing, and other details will be announced later.

“The sights and sounds of a steam train are powerful enough to catch the public’s attention in this busy and complex age,” said Jim Wrinn, author of Steam’s Camelot: Southern and NS Excursions in Color, and editor of Trains Magazine.  “A steam train is a living piece of American history that teaches volumes about this exciting industry that has much to offer our country today.  Once the door is open with the steam locomotive, you’ve got an opportunity to teach a new generation how railroading is the right transportation solution to so many challenges facing us.”

Later this year, Norfolk Southern and TVRM plan to launch a web site in support of the program. Correspondence can be addressed to 21stcenturysteam@nscorp.com.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded in 1961 in Chattanooga to create an interpretive operating museum of historic equipment and artifacts in an authentic setting.  Today it operates an extensive schedule of historic and scenic trains in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia, supported by its East Chattanooga locomotive and car shop complex.  TVRM is the largest operating historical excursion railroad in the Southeast.

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.

CINCINNATI RAILROAD CLUB and MIAMI VALLEY RAILFANS Presen

SUMMERAIL AT C.U.T.
1:00 PM to 10:00 PM and RAILROAD SHOW AND SALE
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, in the Rotunda
Saturday, August 14, 2010
CINCINNATI UNION TERMINAL
1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio

Join us at this historic art deco railroad terminal to escape the summer heat and enjoy a day of high quality railroad photography. There will be twelve 222 multimedia digital and dual-projector slide presentations, all set to music. The programs will run from 1:00 – 10:00 p.m., with a break for dinner (on your own) from approximately 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. Admission is $15.

A railroad show and sale will be set up in the terminal rotunda from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission is free.  Friday August 13 in CUT Auditorium will be some traditional “talkie” programs from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Admission is free.  Thursday August 12 in Tower A will be the Cincinnati Railroad Club’s monthly business meeting at 8:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Continue to remember Ron Stubblefield and Jim Finley in your prayers.  Tom Johnson’s wife, Georgeann, received a great report from her last doctor visit.  No cancer in the lymph nodes!  She will undergo precautionary radiation treatments for six weeks.  Tom thanks all for your prayers.

Here are a few updates:

Fantastic news. The first legislation to explicitly authorize a 220 mph high speed rail network in the Midwest has passed the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee. Sponsored and championed by Transportation Chairman Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), the bill would create the Illinois High Speed Rail Authority, an independent agency tasked with developing a public-private partnership to build, operate, maintain and finance new tracks for passenger trains capable of traveling more than 150 mph. This is historic. The bill is SB2571 (amendment 3). More than 600 members emailed their legislators in support of the bill. Join them now as the bill moves to the floor of the Senate by clicking here.

Combined with Governor Quinn’s support of bullet trains in his State of the State address, the momentum for a public-private partnership to build new tracks for true high speed rail is growing!

-submitted by William Corum

With the new year here, it is time to mark your calendars for Homewood, Illinois and our 7th Annual Rail Heritage Weekend, coming to you this year on May 15th/16th, 2010.  As always, we will have our popular Saturday night multi-media/slide show starting at 7PM, and on Sunday hosted railfanning at our busy train-watching platform starting at 6AM and the big Train Show (operating layouts, vendors, historical societies, antiques, etc) at the Village Hall municipal complex from 9AM to 3 PM.

CN will have prototype equipment on display adjacent to the Train Show venue.  This year we will also have our Rail Equipment Park caboose, IC 9426, open for touring–we finished interior restoration since last year’s event.  If luck is with us, we might have GP10 IC 8408 open also, although that is a very big maybe and depends on how the Spring work days go.  More detailed info in a couple of months–meanwhile, get us on your schedule and we will see you in Homewood in May!

Homewood is located in the south suburbs of Chicago and is accessible via both Metra commuter and Amtrak long-distance train service. More info available at www.homesweethomewood.com.

Distant Whistle by Mary Rae McPherson
A reprint from her blog site: http://alongtherails.wordpress.com

We woke up to snow on the ground on the morning of Saturday, January 5, 1985. While the snow was nice to see, it did seem to be something of a waste; after all, school was out on Saturday regardless. Why couldn’t have come down earlier and given us an extended weekend?

I was 12 years old that winter, still plenty young enough to be able to appreciate the opportunity to sled down the hill out behind our house east of Carbondale, Illinois. That would have to wait for later in the day, however. First up was a rare late morning basketball game at the SIU arena with my father and grandmother. The Salukis lost to Tulsa in a close game, 98-96. The loss wasn’t all that unexpected; we lost half our games that year.

It was mid afternoon before I got out in the back yard for a go on the hill. My grandmother stayed on the back porch and watched as I got my red toboggan out. I had gone down the hill several times when I could have sworn I heard the sound of a steam whistle. I stopped and listened more closely. For a few moments there was nothing but the sounds of traffic on nearby Illinois highway 13.

After a few moments I went down the hill again and was trudging back up the hill when I heard it again. It wasn’t my imagination. It was the deep moan of a three chime steamboat whistle off in the distance.

“Did you hear that?” I asked my grandmother.

“Yes,” she said.

I was surprised; not that there was the whistle of a steam locomotive to hear, but rather the fact that I COULD hear it. I knew that the nearby Crab Orchard & Egyptian Railroad was the last steam powered shortline in the United States. I had known about it for a few years. I had even seen the engine running up close on a couple of occasions. But to actually HEAR it? They almost never ran on Saturdays, and the prevailing winds almost always carried sounds from the west. The CO&E was east of us.

I stood there quietly, listening as the sound of that whistle came rolling in through the woods from the east. I would have loved to have been standing along the track somewhere, watching as the railroad’s #17 came by with a short train heading for the west end of the line. That wasn’t going to happen, as it was too far away for me to get to on my own. But to be standing in the back yard and listening to that melodious whistle was the next best thing.

It turned out to be the only time I ever heard that whistle from my house. The railroad often ran before I was home from school, and sound didn’t usually carry that way anyway. More often I would hear the distant air horns coming from the Illinois Central Gulf trains in Carbondale a few miles to the west. I would see #17 one more time, toward the end of June when I was invited to ride the cab of the engine from the west end to downtown Marion on a freight train. Then in September of ‘86, the engine suffered a serious failure of the piping inside the boiler and never ran again. I never forgot those days, when I lived so close to the last steam powered railroad in America.

In early December, 1987, my copy of the latest issue of Trains Magazine arrived in the mail. I brought it to the house with the rest of the mail, and went to my room to look through its pages. Imagine my surprise when I turned to the photo spread on pages 46 and 47, only to see a photo of Crab Orchard & Egyptian #17 passing Odum Concrete in Marion.  The caption began as follows:  Southern Illinois doesn’t get all that much snow, and the 8-mile Crab Orchard & Egyptian rarely strayed from its Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, so 2-8-0 17 heading west from Marion after a 4-inch snowfall on Saturday, January 5, 1985, was a double treat for the photographer.

Immediately I thought back to that afternoon, standing in the back yard with my grandmother and listening to the distant sound of #17’s whistle. It was wonderful to see a photo taken that day, a photo that rekindled that memory and changed it into something I would remember the rest of my life.

-thanks to Mary Rae McPherson for her permission to reprint this story.

The best way to see how bullet trains transform economies is to ride them and see the cities they serve.  To ride a bullet train you have to travel overseas. A year ago, members of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association traveled to Spain to see how that country is using high-speed trains to unify the country. This year, we hope to visit France, which pioneered European high-speed rail in 1982.  We hope to include the following elements on this trip:

• A TGV duplex ride on France’s first high-speed line
• A ride at 205 mph on a German-built ICE-3
• A presentation on SNCF’s proposal for a bullet train network in the Midwest
• A tour of a modern light rail line
• A visit to Antwerp Central, rated one the world’s most beautiful railroad stations. It also has a new four track bypass similar to Chicago’s proposed West Loop Transportation Center.

Before we move forward planning the details of trip, we need to gauge interest. We are considering either June 13 – 19 or September 12 – 18.  The trip will go when we have received ten refundable deposits for one of the possible weeks.  We will book the trip through the Society of International Railway Travelers which has given excellent support on past trips.  A potential agenda can be found at: http://www.midwesthsr.org/events/. Please respond to this email and answer the following questions if you are interested in going: (If this email got forwarded to you, send the email to: mark@midwesthsr.org)

1) Do you prefer June or September?
2) Are you willing to spend up to $2,500, $3,500 or $4,000 plus airfare?
3) Would you be interested in an extra three days that would have a focused agenda on trains and facilities?
4) Would you rather go to China?

Make sure to include your full contact information if you want to keep informed. Rick Harnish, Executive Director Midwest High Speed Rail Association 4765 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625, 773-334-6758.  Join us at midwestHSR.org.