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wood products, clay, and plastics. The track- age is currently a noncontiguous branch of GFR which is reached via trackage rights over Norfolk Southern between Adele and Valdosta.
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge
NEW OBS CAR DELIVERED: The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad recently took delivery of Knight Sky, a new glass- topped observation car similar to the existing Silver Vista. The trucks feature Timken roller bearing journals, a first on the railroad. The 50-foot car, was built by Melcher Bros. steel fabricators of Durango, Colo., and after the interior is completed will seat 30 passengers in a 2-1 configuration. The Colorado Railroad Museum of Golden provided castings for the project.
Florida East Coast
MORE DETAILS ON PASSENGER PLAN: On April 1, 2012, Florida East Coast Indus- tries announced that it intends to begin run- ning high speed passenger service between Or- lando and Miami, Fla. by 2014. The “All Aboard Florida” route includes 40 miles of new trackage to be built between the FEC main line at Cocoa and Orlando. Many observers have wondered how FEC could blithely assert that it could accomplish that feat in just a few years. What about obtaining a right of way? It turns out that the Orange County Ex-
pressway Authority has been planning just such a link since 2006. In one version of the proposal, the rail line to Orlando would leave the FEC main line at Titusville and follow highway 407 west to highway 528 (the Beach- Line Expressway), which runs directly west to Orlando. (The new rail line could just as easily follow highway 528 west out of Cocoa all the way to Orlando, which is what FEC has said it plans to do.) East of the city near the airport, the highway crosses the Stanton Spur, a rail line owned by the Orlando Utilities Commis- sion and which serves its Stanton Energy Cen- ter power plant. The Stanton Spur is currently dispatched by CSX, which runs unit coal trains over it to the generating station. The spur also happens to skirt the southern bound- ary of Orlando International Airport, which would be an important stop on an Orlando- Miami rail route.
Iowa Pacific
GETS NOD FOR CALIFORNIA ROUTE: Iowa Pacific Holdings is the preferred choice in Santa Cruz County’s search for an operator on the coast-hugging former Southern Pacific Santa Cruz branch, which runs between Wat- sonville Junction and Davenport, Calif. Sierra Northern had operated the line, which was leased from Union Pacific, until the end of 2011. Now the county wants to purchase the line for $14.2 million, but needs to appoint an operator first. Other bidders for the contract included Patriot Rail, Roaring Camp & Big Trees (which connects with the line at Santa Cruz), the Golden Gate Railroad Museum, and Railmark. Iowa Pacific would provide passen- ger excursions over the route as it does on the Saratoga & North Creek in New York state.
Terminal Railroad Buys Leased SD40-2s
THE TERMINAL RAILROAD ASSOCIATION OF ST. LOUIS has purchased three SD40-2s it had been leasing from CIT and is having them repainted into its new red and white scheme by Qual- ity Rail at TRRA’s shop in Venice, Ill. TRRA 3006 is ex-CEFX 3161, nee Union Pacific 3585; CEFX 3158 is ex-UP 3810, nee-Katy 601 and will become TRRA 3005; TRRA 3004 (not pictured) is ex- CEFX 7091, nee Burlington Northern 7099.
Long Island Rail Road
SECOND TRACK TO RONKONKOMA: New York’s MTA Long Island Rail Road will soon begin working to add 12.6 miles of second main track on the busy Ronkonkoma Branch by linking existing sidings between Ronkonko- ma and Farmingdale. Bids will be accepted in July and the project could be completed by 2019. The state legislature recently appropriat-
ed $138 million dedicated to the project.
EAST END DMU PROJECT GETS CASH: New York State has budgeted $37.2 million for Diesel Multiple Unit cars to replace aging, ex- pensive to operate conventional locomotive hauled trains on the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk and Greenport Branches. The use of DMU’s would allow the LIRR to operate more frequent service more cheaply.
New Paint on Tennessee Short Line
CANEY FORK & WESTERN is repainting its three-unit roster into this handsome green scheme. GP9 No. 105 (ex-531, nee-Western Railway of Alabama 531 ) was at McMinnville, Tenn., on April 23, 2012. No. 105 and roster mate GP7 No. 106 (ex-2345, nee-Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis No. 719) previously wore black, with yellow cab and ends. Ex-CSX (nee CR) B23-7 No. 3162 will also receive the new image, which is the fleet color scheme of Ironhorse Resources. Ironhorse owns eight other short lines and switching operations in Texas, Tennessee, and New Mexico.
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BRIAN JUDD
MARK MAUTNER
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