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trackage under a 999-year lease.) The new lift span was floated into place on February 14 and the bridge was opened to rail and marine traffic on the 17th. Dismantling the bascule and the demolition of two concrete arch spans to accommodate the wider shipping channel should be completed by June 1. On February 15, Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit (which on February 24 broke ground on the first phase of its proposed commuter rail line over former Northwestern Pacific trackage between San Rafael and Cloverdale, Calif. see page 25), announced that it would purchase the Galveston bascule as a replace- ment for the spindly McNear swing bridge over the Petaluma River at Haystack Landing in Petaluma, Calif. The McNear bridge was built in 1903 to replace an earlier wooden truss and is largely unchanged from its origi- nal configuration. It provides a 56-foot wide navigation channel. The antiquated operating mechanism uses a system of belts and gears powered by an electric motor and has become increasingly unreliable. In addition, the span’s age and light construction impose speed and weight restrictions on rail traffic. Originally, SMART had planned to overhaul
the McNear bridge for $20 million, which would have extended its useful life by 20 years, after which a new structure would need to be built at an estimated cost of $30 million. The Galveston drawbridge was purchased for $4.2 million and the total cost is estimated to be $18 to $20 million, which includes purchase and disassembly of the bascule, moving the components to California, reassembly, and in- stalling the span on new foundations. The bascule bridge will have an estimated service life of 75 years, the channel will be widened to 87 feet, and heavier trains will be able to operate at higher speeds than the pre- sent bridge can accommodate. The “new” bridge will also take less time to raise and lower and should be much more reliable. SMART may use structural components from the 1903 bridge to upgrade other, smaller spans along the route.
Thanks to David Anderson of the North Coast Railroad Authority, Gus Campagna of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society (www.
nwprrhs.com), Ken Fitzgerald, and Ron Close for their assistance. --WALT LANKENAU
ARTWORK BY ANDY FLETCHER, COURTESY OF NORFOLK SOUTHERN
Norfolk Southern to Paint 30th Anniversary Locomotives
THE RUMOR MILL WAS RIGHT! Norfolk Southern announced on May 1, 2012, that it would have 18 new diesel locomotives painted in the schemes of predecessor roads to help commemo- rate the 30th anniversary on June 1, 2012, of the Southern Railway / Norfolk & Western merg- er, which took place in 1982. Rumors of such a project began to percolate in late 2011 and boiled over when a railfan publication announced on its website in mid-February that it would be done. The project was inspired by a collection of renderings of modern road units done up in historic paint schemes by artist Andy Fletcher, the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s artist-in-resi- dence. While Andy based most of his work on a line drawing of a General Electric ES44AC (above), the locomotives will come from both builders; ten Electro-Motive SD70ACe’s and eight GE ES44AC’s. While the EMD’s will be done at the Progress Rail Services assembly plant in Muncie, Ind., the eight GE units will be delivered in gray primer to be painted by the railroad at Chat- tanooga, Tenn., and Altoona, Penn. They’ll be numbered into the normal NS numbering system. From top to bottom and left to right, the units will be painted for Central of Georgia (GE); Central Railroad of New Jersey (EMD); Conrail (GE); Erie (EMD); Interstate (GE); Illinois Ter- minal (EMD); Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (EMD); Lehigh Valley (GE); Nickel Plate Road (GE); Norfolk & Western (EMD); New York Central (EMD); the original Norfolk Southern (EMD); Pennsylvania Railroad (GE); Reading (EMD); Savannah & Atlanta (EMD); Southern Railway (GE); Virginian Railway (EMD); and Wabash (EMD). NS says the units will begin to enter service in March and the fleet will be finished by the June 1, 2012, anniversary date.
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