NECR and P&W may pool crews and power between Brattleboro and Worcester. Since 2007 NECR and P&W, along with the
states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and the federal government, have made substantial investments in the two roads’ physical plant, improving track and in- creasing clearances on the Great Eastern Route. This spring the state of Vermont will apply for a Transportation Investment Gener- ating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant to up- grade the remainder of the New England Cen- tral between St. Albans and the Canadian border with welded rail to accommodate 286,000 lb. gross weight freight cars and high- er speeds.
On October 19, 2011, an inspection train ran on over the Vermont Rail System from White- hall, N.Y., to Bellows Falls and beyond over NECR and P&W to showcase the route to Canadian Pacific officials (see RAILNEWS Janu- ary 2012), and most recently a St. Albans/Worcester trip on February 7, 2012, gave Canadian National officials a close look (see RAILNEWS April 2012).
Greenbrier Presidential Express Rock Island E Units on the Move, at Last!
THE MANLY JUNCTION RAILROAD MUSEUM’S ROCK ISLAND E UNITS were finally moved in February to Mid-America Car in Kansas City, Mo., for evaluation and possible restora- tion to service. After years of operation and then storage on the Midland Railway of Baldwin City, Kan., E6 No. 630 and E8 No. 652 were sold to the Manly Junction group in 2009 but were landlocked by a condemned bridge on the Midland. The bridge was repaired and the units were moved to the BNSF interchange in Ottawa, Kan., in October 2010. They sat there until February 2012 when BNSF moved them to Kansas City as special train O-OTTKCM, which arrived at Ar- gentine Yard on February 21 (above). The Manly Junction Railroad Museum was founded by Iowa Northern’s Dan Sabin, who started his railroad career on the Rock while still in high school.
CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT: The plan for the proposed weekly Greenbrier Pres- idential Express luxury passenger train, which is to operate between Washington (D.C.) Union Station and The Greenbrier Re- sort in White Sulphur Springs.,
W.Va., has been adjusted somewhat. In November 2011, work on refurbishing the 15 former American Railway Explorer (ex-GrandLuxe Express, exx-American Orient Express) passenger cars at Pottstown, Penn., was slowed when un- forseen engineering issues became apparent early last winter. Work on the cars is expected to pick up again this spring, but the train’s launch has been delayed from July to the fall or winter of 2012.
And due to capacity constraints imposed by short passing tracks on the Buckingham Branch Railroad’s former Chesapeake & Ohio North Mountain Sub between Gordonsville and Clifton Forge, Va., (leased from CSX), the GPE consist will likely be tacked onto Am- trak’s triweekly Cardinal rather than being run as a separate train. As a result, GPE’s for- mer Norfolk Southern, nee-Conrail C39-8s are no longer needed and are up for sale.
Iowa Pacific Holdings Ohio Wreck Forces CSX Detours
NINE CARS OF CSX UNIT REEFER TRAIN Q090-12 DERAILED in Greenwich, Ohio, on February 12, 2012, and several trains were rerouted until the mess was cleaned up on February 13. Q018-12 ran over Norfolk Southern as NS 072 on February 13; it’s shown rolling eastbound across the NS Maumee River swing bridge in Toledo.
24 MAY 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
FIRST CLASS SLEEPER SERVICE SET: The Pullman Sleeping Car Co. LLC, a new member of the Iowa Pacific Holdings family, plans to institute biweekly first class sleeping car service between Chicago, New York, and New Orleans beginning next October. Pullman says the cars will be moved in the consist of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited between New York and Chicago, and in the City of New Or- leans between Chicago and New Orleans. Trav- el will be available only between endpoints, not intermediate stops. The sleepers will not be ac- cessible from the Amtrak consist and will be ac- companied by lounges and dining cars which will serve freshly prepared traditional dining car meals to Pullman patrons.
President Ed Ellis says, “The goal is an au-
MICHAEL HARDING
JEFF CARLSON
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