Track Warrants

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Issue No. 29
September 21, 1996

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AMTRAK

NO MONEY TO KEEP PIONEER RUN

Sep14--A federal decision to free up air quality money to help keep four threatend Amtrak runs in operation won't save the Pioneer, a state official said Friday.

The Pioneer is one of four trains Amtrak says it will cancel as of Nov. 9. Thursday, the federal transportation appropriations conference for 1997 agreed to permit the use of funds, known as the Congestion Management and Air Quality account, normally reserved for congestion management, to keep the trains running until Congress can consider the situation. This money is normally used to help cities and states with their air quality management efforts.

This money won't help Oregon save the train. Robert Krebs, passenger rail manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said the state has only $6 million left in its air quality fund, and all of that money has been allocated. About $1.3 million is used to subsidize the passenger rail service in the Willamette Valley. The Willamette Valley service has about 60,000 riders per year, compared with about 10,000 for the Pioneer run through Eastern Oregon.
via Dave Bono

BNSF

2 WEEK TRIP

Sept17--I just returned from a 2 week trip to Minnesota and Wisconsin. BNSF is running lots of new GEs on the Mississippi river lines. We were at La Crosse WI. last wednesday 9/11 and saw BNSF 998. So by now the 1000 should be running around. DM&IR tunnels motors are up to 409, with the second 10 on the way.
John Black

BNSF TODAY

NEW INTERMODAL SERVICE
Sept19--BNSF today announced that it will initiate new intermodal service between St. Paul and California as well as between Texas and key points in the Pacific Northwest.

Effective Sept. 30, BNSF will offer domestic intermodal service between St. Paul and the California cities of Fresno, Los Angeles, Modesto, Richmond, Sacramento, San Bernardino and San Diego, as well as to Phoenix, Ariz. This service will provide a fifth-day availability for all shipments. International service will be offered between St. Paul and Los Angeles, Long Beach or Richmond. Both of these services will operate via Galesburg, Ill.

"We are excited about the prospects of offering new single-line service in this corridor as a result of combining the former Burlington Northern and Santa Fe intermodal networks," said Steve Branscum, vice president of Intermodal Marketing. "Shipper interest was high, and we worked diligently to establish this service in time for the rapidly approaching peak intermodal season. As a result, BNSF now offers the only direct intermodal link between St. Paul and these Southwestern markets."

Also effective Sept. 30, BNSF will begin offering domestic and international intermodal service between Dallas/Fort Worth, using BNSF's Alliance Intermodal Facility, and Portland, Ore., Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma, Wash., and Mission and Vancouver, British Columbia. The service will replace BNSF's existing Dallas-to-Pacific Northwest service currently offered in conjunction with Kansas City Southern. Sixth-morning availability will be offered on this new service.

Additionally, new domestic and international intermodal service will be offered between Houston and the same Pacific Northwest cities. This intermodal service will be the company's first in this corridor since Burlington Northern Railroad withdrew from the Texas intermodal market in April 1994. The new service will offer seventh-morning availability for all shipments. Both Texas services will operate via Kansas City.

TSS ROLLOUT REACHES VANCOUVER, TACOMA, PASCO AREA THIS WEEK
Sept18--The rollout of the Transportation Support System (TSS) reached the Vancouver, Tacoma and Pasco, Wash., area this week. The phased rollout began in early July and has been implemented at additional locations at two-week intervals.

Included in the cutover that began this week are Albany, Bend, Eugene, Kalamath Falls, Salem, East St. Johns, St. Helens and Willbridge, Ore., and Longview Junction, Longview, Pasco, Tacoma, Vancouver and Wishram, Wash. This phase of the project will complete the rollout to the Pacific Northwest.

BNSF Intermodal hubs also have been cutting over to the new system. Implementation at hubs in Dilworth, Minn., Spokane, Wash., Shelby, Mont., Seattle, Wash., Tacoma, Wash., and Portland, Ore., are complete. Between now and January 1997, cutovers are set for hubs in Chicago, Detroit, Kearney, Neb., St. Paul, Minn., International Falls, Minn., Galesburg, Ill., Omaha, Neb., St. Louis, Mo., Remington, Kansas City, Denver, Memphis, Birmingham and Springfield and Billings. The latest implementation brings BNSF near the halfway mark with the implementation of the system, which combines car and train scheduling with yard, terminal and hub management. In a letter mailed to affected customers this week, senior vice presidents of BNSF's business units noted that timely synchronization of information provided by the existing and new information systems will be a focus of the company as the rollout reaches this point.

"Both the existing and new information systems are running during the transitional period, synchronized so as to provide consistent information. As we approach the halfway point with TSS implementation, timely synchronization of the information provided by the two systems has become more difficult," the letter said. "As a result, although movements are being made as scheduled, the reporting of information on some movements on the former BN may be affected." To minimize that effect, BNSF is accelerating its plan to convert customer-event reporting to the TSS system. This conversion, originally scheduled for the end of this year, began Sept. 16. During the transition period, BNSF will assign additional employees so that any delayed reporting issues can be resolved in a timely fashion.

AMTRAK TRAIN ON BNSF ROUTE RANKED NO. 1 FOR JULY
Sept12--Amtrak has high praise for the role BNSF has played in running the daily Mt. Baker International between Seattle, Wash., and Vancouver, British Columbia. In July, the train was ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction across the entire Amtrak system, receiving a score of 94 -- the highest among the 37 Amtrak train groups operated throughout the United States. For the three months ending in July, the train's average customer satisfaction index score was 92.

Schedule convenience, ride comfort and on-time performance -- which since Aug. 1 has averaged at just above 96 percent -- are among the service elements judged by each Amtrak customer. In sending a letter of thanks to BNSF dispatchers, field and support staff, Amtrak's Pacific Northwest operations team noted that customer satisfaction scores are independently compiled and represent "the highest compliment we can receive." "We appreciate your efforts in helping us achieve this ranking for the first time ever in the Pacific Northwest Corridor."

COLLEGE BECOMES 13TH TO OFFER RAILROAD OPERATIONS DEGREE Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City, Iowa, is the latest of 13 community colleges around the country to offer an applied science degree in railroad operations. BNSF is part of an eight-member consortium that developed the curriculum and is sponsoring the accredited program in response to the demand for more educated and technically trained employees in the railroad industry. The consortium is also encouraging its employees to further their education and obtain higher education degrees.

The associate degree in railroad operations at Western Iowa Tech Community College becomes BNSF's eighth joint educational partnership. Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in Overland Park, Kan. introduced the applied science degree in railroad operations in January, 1994.

Other colleges have sought accreditation using JCCC's program and curriculum as a model. Director of Railroad Operations at JCCC, Phil Hubbard, says the placement record for railroad students speaks for itself -- "100 percent of our students that have successfully finished the conductor and dispatcher's programs have been placed with Class I railroads"

Although classes in railroad operations are usually taken by railroad employees furthering their education, the curriculum can also be taken by students with an interest in a railroading career. Director of Terminal Operations for BNSF at JCCC, George Jordan, says "The railroad has come a long way in the past 150 years ... the skills of the past are no longer adequate. We feel it (the program) will be modeled in the future in terms of skills and requirements necessary for our youngsters to enter into a viable industry that has tremendous potential and opportunity for them."

Applied science degrees in railroading can be earned from Carl Sandberg Community College, Galesburg, Ill.; Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kan.; Northern Wyoming Community College District, Gillette; Richard J. Daley Technical College, Chicago; St. Paul Technical College, St. Paul, Minn.; University of Montana Northern, Havre; Western Iowa Tech Community College, Sioux City; and Western Nebraska Community College, Alliance.
From BNSF Today, via James Czarnecki

METROLINK

CURRENT ORANGE COUNTY LINE CONSTRUCTION AND RUMORS

• Mission Tower was boarded up Friday, September 13. The junction on the river in front of the balloon track to the LA Shops Yard is referred to as CP Pasadena Junction and the junction for the connecting track from the Alhambra Line towards old Taylor is called CP Main Street. Boarding up the tower immediately after the end of operations is a good first step towards preserving the structure because of the large number of homeless people in the area and the nearby housing project. SP trains on the east side of the river now can be heard on channel 47 (160.815MHz) and are under the control of the Metrolink River Sub dispatcher.
• Amtrak continues to do what appears to be a ground contamination cleanup project at Redondo Junction.
• BNSF Commerce Diesel Facility: Construction of most of the trackage is nearly complete. Some concrete slabs are starting to be poured for the out buildings.
• La Mirada Yard: A major drain culvert replacement project is just starting on the main line. Because of its location, shooflys may not be possible, so we could some single tracking in the near future.
• Buena Park: The Dale Street underpass construction is continuing, but the shooflies on both mains are still present. No sign of the new Buena Park Metrolink station yet, though. Finally, track crews have started reassembling the west end of the little yard at Buena Park, with about 500' of snap track stored there for the job.
• Anaheim: The double track is completely installed and the new north (#1) track is being surfaced. CP East Anaheim and CP Howe have been retired, so there is only one main track from CP La Palma to CP Maple. Construction at the Stadium station continues, with the north track torn up to allow completion of the pedestrian tunnel.
• Serra: A NEW project has just started to extend Serra siding from the bridge south of San Juan Capistrano station to the overpass over PCH in Dana Point. Construction and realignment of the main line will probably continue until the end of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if double track isn't installed from CP Avery (the current end of the double track) all the way down into San Juan some time in the next year.
• Stuart Mesa: The Coaster Maintanence Facility is nearly complete. Should be done by the beginning of next year.
• RUMOR: Amtrak is considering moving Amtrak 570 up 25 minutes...although timekeeping on its current schedule has been outstanding.

Ron Lehmer, (Sept 19)

NS/KCS

NS/KCS NEWS

Sept17-- Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern in August began providing daily run-through train service between Birmingham, Ala., and Shreveport, La. One train operates each day in each direction via the Meridian, Miss., gateway.

Each year the run-through service is expected to handle 30,000 rail cars, including more than 20,000 which had been interchanged at Meridian and 10,000 previously routed through New Orleans.

Officials of NS and KCS say that the new service enables them to ship freight faster and more consistently. The run-through interchange at Meridian has reduced transit time between Birmingham and Shreveport from about 80 hours to 48 hours, and bypassing New Orleans has resulted in fewer shipping delays.

Norfolk Southern, with headquarters in Norfolk, Va., operates a 14,500- mile rail freight network in 20 states and the Province of Ontario. KCS is a Class I railroad operating a 2,800-mile rail network in nine states. It is the core business subsidiary of Kansas City Southern Industries (NYSE: KSU) headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.
Norfolk Southern Corporation http://www.nscorp.com, via PRNewswire http://www.prnewswire.com, via Brian P. Kreimendahl

POTB

PORT OF TILLAMOOK BAY FIGHTS STATE FOR CONTROL OF RAILROAD

Sep15--The Port of Tillamook Bay has hired a lawyer to help regain control of its railroad without state oversight. It is also trying to avoid having to compromise to save steelhead in the Salmonberry River.

The Railroad was struck hard by last winter's storms. The state worried that repairs along the Salmonberry River would harm the runs of steelhead. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has tried to engineer a compromise that would allow continued operation of the rail line with greater emphasis on environmental protection.

The Port's lawyer told the governor the compromise violates the state's agreement with the Port, probably violates federal law and places too much emphasis on environmental protection. The Port said if it doesn't succeed, the rail line should be forfeited back to the state or liquidated.
via Dave Bono

SP

SP DISPATCHERS USING THE IDENTIFIER "UP"

Sept14--Today, 9/14/96, is the first day I have heard the (former?) SP dispatchers using the identifier "UP" on their radio transmissions. The dispatchers for the former D&RGW west end trackage used to identify themselves as "SP Dispatcher 78." They are now using, "UP Dispatcher 78."
Paul Greenfield

RAILFANNING REPORT

Sep13--The last day of the independent existance of the Southern Pacific was Sept. 10, 1996. I had to observe this day. My family goes way back with the Southern Pacific. They gave me a summer job that helped me to go to college. The same for my father. An uncle did 47 years as a trainman. My grandfather was a carpenter in B&B service on the SP. The rumor is that my great-grandfather was a station agent in the early days of the railroad here in Oregon. Anyway, to remember those that I knew as well as the two I never got to meet, I took a day off to take some photos.

With me was the guy who still smarts from the tag line he got in the NMRA 1994 Convention here when he led guided bus railfan tours of the Columbia Gorge. The convention touted him as "one of the Northwest's premier railfans", John Davis. Anyway, Premier and I took the day off to play.

We were out at first light at the SP Broolkyn Yard in Portland in time to see the BN hauler from Eugene and Albany pass through the yard on its was to home rails at Union Station. BN 2929, 3518, and 2751, 28 cars and caboose BN 12402. Through Brooklyn at 6:27 AM. The yardmaster refered to it on the radio as the "rocket".

Working the West end of the yard were two UP SW 10s MUed. UP 1244 and 1226. Also present was SP 2674 looking very tired.

A check of the roundhouse at 6:50 AM found the following locomotives: SP 9777, 6348, 7321, 7557, 9613, 7304 and SSW 8090.

We decided to move out into the countryside South of Portland to try to get some low sun angle shots of actual trains in motion. Breakfast at McD's en route. We checked Clackamas. Nothing. Oregon City, nothing, Coalca, nothing. Just North of Canby we were surpised by an Eastbound that was by me before I could properly set up (cock the camera). 8:10 AM. SP 8676 and 8661 with 54 cars. A quick u-turn onto a four lane highway in the rush hour put us into Clackamas for a shot off of the I-205 overpass at the East switch. Good illumination, roof detail, sloping radiators.

We then heard the dispatcher give track and time until 9:30 AM. We were snooping around Clackamas to kill time when John remembered that he had left the hose running in the cattle water tank at home. I was left to watch no trains while he ran home to shut it off. Just as John was returning I heard the detector sound off about 2 miles West of Clackamas. John was driving into the field of view so I waved to him to go out of sight. He buried the truck in some weeds and hurried to his photo spot. I was expecting another boxcar train but it turned out to be the Ringling Brothers Circus train, Eastbound from California for an engagement in the Seattle area. SP 9605, 9700 and 54 cars (we think) of circus. We heard that it would water the stock cars at Brooklyn so we moseyed into town to watch.

At Brooklyn we watched hoses being led to the cars, saw used straw being off-loaded and observed the cars being aired out. Watched a handler break open a bale of hay and hold a large flake of the bale up in the air. A grey trunk of an elephant neatly reached out and took it. Watering took a couple of hours. As the train prepared to leave we set up on the pedestrian overpass at the East (north) end of the yard for photos.

We then ran for beans, discovering a barbeque joint with absolutely no appearance points whatsoever but with a long line and a great aroma. To go. Ate by the West drill of Brooklyn Yard sitting on the tailgate batting away yellowjackets and watching a track maintainer adjusting a stiff switch. Then the two locomotives we had seen at Canby appeared and started to double together two or three tracks to go West. In between the rebuilt SD45s was UP 1224, dead in consist, bound for Eugene. The trains's symbol was BREUM. It was fairly heavy for just two units. We counted 79 cars. SP 8661 UP 1224 (DIC) and SP 8676.

We moved out to a photo location at Willsburg Jct. to try to get well-lighted photos of this symbolic grouping of locomotives. We had to wait for Amtrak 11 to clear, then to wait for Amtrak 14 to roll in from the siding at Clackamas. 14 had a private car, Caspar Mountain on the rear. Then it was the turn of 8661 and the other SD 45 to do their work. It is a very visible grade West out of Brooklyn Yard through Milwaukie. We wanted to hear the locos load up and work. They did, slowly accelerating. Just as the last few cars were about to go out onto the main, the train made a near-emergency stop. The train did not move any more. Pretty soon the crew radioed for permission to back down into the yard to try it again. They had stopped clear of Harrison St. in Milwaukie to allow an ambulance to go by. Permission was granted and the train rolled back into the yard. At this time we changed our location to Railroad Avenue in Milwaukie to pace the train up the hill on its next effort. Slack was stretched and another effort was made. Bang, it broke in two, breaking a knuckle. The Brooklyn carman responded with a replacement and the train was put back together again. Then air tests were made and the train was inspected to see that all wheels were on steel, not ties. Then, the next try. Did well this time, sounded good, cresting the hill in Milwaukie doing about 15 MPH with 79 cars. 4:40 PM.

The train then caught a yellow over yellow signal to go into the siding at Clackamas. Road traffic was picking up by now as we made our way there. Just as we arrived a really large Eastbound piggyback roared through. The units on the pig were SP 9314, 9713, and 9342 with about 59 cars. Then the BREUM cleared the siding and finally got moving, Eugene being still about 100 miles away.

By now it was about 5:30PM and we decided to call it a day. It was a very typical SP day. Very little traffic but a lot of interesting things to see. The circus train was a suprise to us and a nice bonus. John has railfanned the SP in these parts for most of his life (he has photos of SP Train 11 behind PAs, Es and FPs as well as SDP 45s) and he commented that the break-in-two was a really fitting end to his SP raifanning experience.

My father talks about a rare road trip (he was a switchman/college student) down the valley to Eugene. This would have been during the closing years of the Depression. The train had an engineer with a nervous condition who was normally restricted to yard service, a 2-10-2 and just enough cars to make getting to Woodburn without a helper questionable. They ran for that hill in Milwaukee I have been talking about, getting up to a speed where the drivers were pounding before starting to be slowed by the grade. Eventually they were in a siding waiting for other, hotter traffic. Once they had a highball and my dad lined the switch the engineer started to accelerate so quickly that my dad could not climb onto the engine. He did, however, swing onto the caboose, much to the suprise of the conductor. My dad started out the front door of the caboose and the conductor asked where he was going. "Over the cars to the engine." No way (paraphrased and cleaned up) said the conductor. My dad was told it would be suicide to go over the top. "let that goofy so and so get himself in the next siding if he wants to leave you..."

It was a beautiful late summer day, cool in the AM, 80 degrees by midday with the vegetation almost California-dry. Most of the time my ancestors knew wet nights, snow on Cascade Summit and washouts on the branches in the Coast Range. I am glad that I took the day off.
Jeff Pape

LETTERS

WSJ

Sep13--Please take notice of todays Wall Street Journal Front Page story about US Seaports and American Railroads. Make for interesting reading. Thanks again for the Track Warrants.
DH3rd

TODD WILSON

Sept17--I noticed in the TW#27 a note from Todd Wilson in Hutchinson KS. I have misplaced his email address, could you please forward it to me at the address below?

I sure enjoy the TW's. It must be quite a bit of work to put them together.
Thanks Clarence Matthews cmatthew@pta6000.pld.com

(I don't keep track of E-mail addresses in a way that makes responding to this type of query easy. Also, I personally have no way of knowing without going through a lot of back and forth E-mails if Todd wants his address to be given out. So, I am posting this in the newsletter for Todd to respond to.
--Steve)

MARLBORO UNLIMITED TRAIN

Saw mention of the Marlboro Unlimited train in one of your newsletters. I have won the trip but have yet to hear much more than the prelim info. Do you have any more info such as points of embark & debarkation, etc..? If so, please email me at your convenience.
Thank you in advance.
Marti Richardson, ralwrigh@ix.netcom.com

RAIL TRANSIT IN NO. CALIF.

Sept17--Does intercity rail transit fall within your purview? I'm interested in updates (from anybody) about passenger service in Northern California, specificially along the corridor north of San Francisco. There's an old line that runs from Larkspur north to Healdsburg and beyond which state and local authorities want to put back into passenger service. Any more info on this?
Thanks.
Mark Pritchard pritch@sybase.com

BAD NEWS

The following addresses are being deleted. Some have asked to be deleted, some have switched to new addresses, most have had problems with transmission:

dlh@netvoyage.net, ndavis@spider.innercite.com, settca@wwc.edu, m.tenenbaum@ieee.org, dkendall@iamerica.net

TAKING STOCK