CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — George Walker, Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum general manager, passenger operations, died Jan. 4, 2023, following an accident at the organization’s shop facility in the early afternoon hours, according to Penelope Soule Gault, museum marketing and public relations director, and a statement posted on their website. 

The museum’s statement reads: “The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum family is heartbroken by the passing of long-time employee George Walker. He was involved in a tragic accident at the shop. At this time no other details are available. Please keep Mary, Andrew, Aaron, and Charlie in your prayers as they deal with this tragic loss.”

Walker began his involvement with the museum as a teenager in 1981. He spent a brief period with Norfolk Southern steam program in which he worked on both Nos. 611 and 1218. He then returned to the museum on a full-time basis, where he has worked for nearly 30 years. Walker was a dynamic advocate for steam locomotive restoration. He wrote the business plan: “Steam for the 21st Century,” which became a model for numerous locomotive restorations.

By Bob Lettenburger, Trains Associate Editor, January 4, 2023

            CSX has joined the relief effort in eastern Kentucky, where heavy rain on July 27 led to widespread flooding, forcing hundreds of people from their homes; at least 35 people died. The region is home to many CSX families, several of whom have been affected, according to the Class I railroad.

            CSX reported on Aug. 10 that it has contributed $50,000 to the American Red Cross for disaster relief and $25,000 to the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund. It also provided $5,000 and transportation services to Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation (KSHC). KSHC assembled former Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus housing cars into a nine-car train to provide 100 beds for relief workers in the region; CSX took on the job of moving the train into position as close as safely possible to the affected area.

            CSX is now is matching employee donations—up to $1,000, dollar-for-dollar—to the CSX Employees Disaster Relief Fund (EDRF) or the Red Cross through its Matching Gifts program. The CSX Employees Disaster Relief Fund provides financial assistance to employees who have suffered severe damage to their homes and property, according to the railroad. It said that donations to the Red Cross will support the wide range of assistance under way, including working with community and government agencies to assess damage and support emergency needs. The Red Cross is providing shelter, food and health services to families who lost their homes and belongings; Team Eastern Kentucky, formed by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, is also assisting.

            “The flooding has disrupted the lives of many CSX employees and their families,” CSX Vice President of Corporate Communications Bryan Tucker said. “They’re experiencing significant financial hardship, and I encourage all CSX employees to consider helping your co-workers by providing a tax-deductible contribution to the CSX Employees Disaster Relief Fund.”

-Railway Age

Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 heads east at Archer, Wyo., on Thursday, Aug. 5. (Zach Marlow) – CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Big Boy has begun this year’s Big Trip.  Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 left its Cheyenne headquarters today, heading east to Sidney, Neb., on the first leg of a month-long, 10-state journey that will take it to New Orleans and back. Union Pacific offers both a detailed schedule and live tracking of the Big Boy on its website, as well as location updates on Twitter. Watch Trains News Wire for more information as the trip progresses.

By Cheryl Truman — ctruman@herald-leader.com

The R.J. Corman Railroad Co. said Monday that it will launch its Lexington Dinner Train on Aug. 14, a key move in a dispute between the company and Lexington Center Corp. that spawned a lawsuit.

The train’s first run, which boards at the company’s Lexington Station, 150 Oliver Lewis Way, near Rupp Arena, is to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original My Old Kentucky Dinner Train in Bardstown.

The Nicholasville-based company said in a news release that the Lexington Dinner Train will run along a 15-mile track from Lexington to Versailles, passing through the Ashview and Calumet horse farms, Keeneland Race Course and the Woodford County village of Pisgah before returning to Lexington.

The trip begins and ends on a rail spur where the company first pledged to start a dinner train in 2010.

The spur extends east from Corman’s Lexington yard, running beneath a bridge on Oliver Lewis Way and onto the parking lot owned by Lexington Center Corp., Rupp Arena’s parent company. The spur leads to a glass-walled structure with red Churchill Downs-like spires that Corman built last year to house “Old Smoky,” a steam locomotive that once chugged through China.

Corman said in a federal lawsuit filed in May that Lexington Center Corp. wanted to shut down the spur.

The launch of the dinner train apparently doesn’t mean that the legal dispute between Corman and Lexington Center has been settled.

“As this continues to be a matter of litigation, we have no comment,” said Bill Owen, chief executive of Lexington Center.

“We’re not going to comment about the lawsuit,” said Noel Rush, vice president of finance and administration for the R.J. Corman Railroad Group, “We are … trying to reach the public through the media about this Lexington dinner train.”

In late June, Lexington Center Corp. asked the court to determine a date by which the excursion train must begin and resolve other disputes regarding the 2010 lease.

In addition to its regular run, the train will cater groups and events. Tickets are sold online at Kydinnertrain.com and at 1-866-801-3463.

The train will begin service at 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Lunch is $69.95 for adults and $44.95 for children. Dinner is $84.95 and $54.95. Special adult and children’s murder mystery trains will be $109.95 and $69.95, respectively.

The menu includes a “golden spike” salad with local goat cheese, and a “chocolate choo-choo” dessert: a chocolate engine filled with Chantilly cream and dark chocolate mousse on a chocolate-raspberry track.

On October 26th and 27th, restored steam locomotive no. 765 will operate a round-trip excursion between Fort Wayne and Lafayette, Indiana, retracing the route of the famous Wabash Cannonball passenger train.  Sponsored by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society in cooperation with Norfolk Southern Corp, the excursion will feature economy and coach class seating aboard vintage passenger cars. Passengers will enjoy a day long trip behind steam locomotive no. 765, lunch and layover in downtown Lafayette along the Wabash River, on-board entertainment, and more. Visitors to the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s Open House this weekend at 15808 Edgerton Road, New Haven will be able to tour the locomotive up close.  Tickets will go on sale at 6:00PM EST on September 1st.  Ticket prices will range from $89 and $99 for economy coach seating for children and adults and $109 and $119 for deluxe coach. Railroad historical society members are eligible for a 10% discount on all coach class tickets.  Additional accommodations to be announced. Boarding and parking locations yet to be determined.

NS Excursion Schedule!

from:  http://tvrail.com/pages/21st-Century-Steam

September 7 & 8 ~ Chattanooga TN to Cleveland TN

Railfest – two round trips per day; 10am & 2pm – In conjunction with TVRM’s “Railfest”, round trip mainline excursion trains will operate from Chattanooga to Cleveland.  Departing from TVRM’s Grand Junction Station, the train will travel to Cleveland through Ooltewah, using  NS’s Knoxville route.  The train will turn on the wye track in Cleveland.  Passengers will remain on the train until it returns to Grand Junction.  It is expected, as with past Railfest trips, excursions from Chattanooga to Cleveland wiill feature #630 without diesel assistance.  Tickets are $45 for the excursion, which includes Railfest admission.

September 14 & 15 (mornings) ~ Birmingham AL to Parrish AL.  Steel City Rail Adventure – Approximate 4-1/2 hour, 82-mile round trip rail excursions depart at 8:00am and return around 12:30pm. These trips operate northwestwardly on the Norfolk Southern mainline toward

Sheffield, and return.  Passengers will remain on the train for the complete round trip, including the turn around point in Parrish. The boarding location will be the old Southern Railway Terminal Station property (now a vacant lot with parking) located at 2680 2nd Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203.

All times shown are Central Time. Tickets are $45 for adults and $35 for children age 3-12. Children under age 3 not occupying a seat do not require a ticket.

September 14 & 15 (afternoons) ~ Birmingham AL to Wilton AL.  Steel City Rail Adventure – Approximate 4-1/2 hour, 98-mile round trip rail excursions depart at 2:00pm and return around 6:00pm. These  trips operate southwardly on the Norfolk Southern mainline toward Selma and Mobile. Passengers will remain on the train for the complete round trip, including the turn around point in Wilton. The boarding location will be the old Southern Railway Terminal Station property (now a vacant lot with parking) located at 2680 2nd Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35203.

All times shown are Central Time. Tickets are $45 for adults and $35 for children age 3-12. Children under age 3 not occupying a seat do not require a ticket.

Submitted by Don Clayton

Remember the Chevy Vega?  This is how they were shipped. Until the early 1960s, automobiles moved by rail were carried in boxcars. These were 50 feet long with double-wide doors.  Inside was room for four full-sized sedans on a two-tier rack – two raised up off the floor on a steel rack and two others tucked in underneath them.  This protected the cars during transport but wasnt very efficient, as the weight of four vehicles was far less than the maximum weight a boxcar that size could carry.  When 85-foot and 89-foot flatcars came into service, it was possible to pack a total of fifteen automobiles in one car on tri-level auto racks. But it still didn’t approach the maximum allowable weight for each flatcar.

When Chevrolet started designing Vega during the late 1960s, one of the main objectives was to keep the cost of the car down around $2,000 in circa-1970 dollars.  At the time, the freight charge for moving a loaded railroad car from the Lordstown, OH assembly plant to the Pacific coast – the longest distance cars produced at Lordstown would need to travel – was around $4,800.  Since the Vega was a subcompact, it was possible to squeeze three more cars on a railroad car for a total of eighteen, instead of the usual fifteen.  But that still worked out to around $300 per car a substantial surcharge for a $2000 car. If only Chevrolet could get more Vegas on a railroad car, the cost per unit of hauling them would go down.

The engineers at GM and Southern Pacific Railroad came up with a clever solution.  Instead of loading the cars horizontally, the Vegas were to be placed vertically on a specially designed auto-rack called the Vert-A-Pac.  Within the same volume of an 89-foot flatcar, the Vert-A-Pac system could hold as many as 30 automobiles instead of 18.

Chevrolet’s goal was to deliver Vegas topped with fluids and ready to drive to the dealership.  In order to be able to travel nose-down without leaking fluids all over the railroad, Vega engineers had to design a special engine oil baffle to prevent oil from entering the No. 1 cylinder.  Batteries had filler caps located high up on the rear edge of the case to prevent acid spilling, the carburetor float bowl had a special tube that drained gasoline into the vapor canister during shipment, and the windshield washer bottle stood at a 45 degree angle.  Plastic spacers were wedged in beside the power train to prevent damage to engine and transmission mounts.  The wedges were removed when cars were unloaded.

The Vega was hugely popular when it was introduced in 1970, however it quickly earned a reputation for unreliability, rust and terrible engine durability.  When the Vega was discontinued in 1977, the Vert-A-Pac cars had to be retired as they were too specialized to be used with anything else.  The Vert-A-Pac racks were scrapped, and the underlying flatcars went on to other uses.

The Western Kentucky NRHS chapter is getting a group together for the Monterey Super Fall Foliage Excursion. The excursion is October 12, 2013 and boards at 7:30AM at the TCRM in Nashville, TN. This is the 216 mile round trip, see the web site for details (http://tcry.org/pdf/13-10-12.pdf). This trip will sell out early so we need to act fast.

We already have enough people for a group discount, so the ticket price will be $47.00 per person. In order to get the group discount all the tickets have to be purchased at one time with one payment. I need to have payment for the tickets by the next NRHS meeting on April 15, 2013 (I can accept the payment at the meeting.) If you will not be at the next meeting, you can mail me a check at the address below. If you want me to mail your tickets to you please enclose a stamped self addressed envelope. I plan on going to Nashville on April 16, 2013 to purchase the tickets.

Steve Miller
2721 S Virginia St
Hopkinsville, KY 42240

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I (Chuck Hinrichs) got a message from Jody Moore with Pullman Rail Journeys yesterday.
The regular runs of the first class private cars on the City Of New Orleans are beginning their regular runs next Friday, March 29. They will be running on two Chicago – New Orleans cycles per week with Chicago departures on Tuesdays and Fridays and New Orleans departures on Thursdays and Sundays.
The cars have been in the yard upside Union Station for a while, so we knew it was coming soon.
This is a new venture, so it remains to be seen whether or not it will be viable as a long term operation. The cars look great on the inside, and these folks are really going out of their way to make it a first class operation.
These runs may be around for a while; too soon to tell. But I would suggest that anyone wanting to ride down the Mailine of Mid-America in the round end observation car Ponchatrain Club should take the opportunity sooner rather than later.

For more information visit their website, http://www.travelpullman.com.

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DVDs to Share…

Some of you may be familiar with the DVD series Great American Layouts by Allen Keller.  Some of the videos are dated.

I have the following:  1. N Scale Cumberland Valley System of Bill and Wayne Reid 2. Ken McCorry’s Conrail 3. Howard Zane’s Piermont Division 4. John Armstrong’s Canandaigua Southern and The Yosemite Valley of Jack Burgress 5. Lou Sassi’s West Hoosic Division 6. Jim Providenza’s Santa Cruz Northern 7. Bill Aldrich’s New York, New Haven and Hartford and Bob Hayden’s Carrabasset & Dead River Railway 8. John Pryke’s New York, New Haven and Hartford 9. Paul Dolkos’ Boston & Maine New Hampshire Division 10.  W. Allen McClelland’s Virginian & Ohio and Rick Rideout’s L&N Henderson Subdivision 11.  Dick Elwell’s Hoosic Valley Railroad and Gil Freitag’s Stony Creek & Western 12.  Lance Mindheim’s Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville 13.  Weathering Techniques, Creating Scenes, and Building Structures.  14. Bob Brown’s Tuolumne Forks Railroad.

If you would like to borrow one or more, just let me know, Bill Thomas.

Norfolk & Western Class J 611 Restoration and Return to Excursion Service – The “Fire Up 611!” Study will research what it will take to restore, maintain and operate the iconic locomotive.

A Fire Up 611! committee has been formed to examine the costs and feasibility of restoring the locomotive so she can once again thunder across the landscape. The Fire Up 611! committee will announce its findings within 90 days. February 22, 2013 – ROANOKE, VIRGINIA – The Virginia Museum of Transportation announced today that it is studying the feasibility of returning the iconic Norfolk & Western Class J 611 Steam locomotive to operating condition.