Amtrak Attains 110 m.p.h. on First Portion of Lincoln Service Route
ON OCTOBER 19, 2012 AMTRAK RAN A HIGH SPEED demon- stration train for the press and dignitaries on the Lincoln Service route between Joliet and Normal, Ill., and return. At Dwight (above) the speed was ratcheted up to 110 m.p.h. for 15 miles to Pontiac; regular op- eration of six daily Lincoln Service trains at the higher speed began on
American Steam Railroad
FRISCO MIKE FINDS A HOME: The Amer- ican Steam Railroad Preservation Association has announced that it will move Frisco Mikado No. 1352 to the Midwest Railway Preservation Society’s former Baltimore & Ohio roundhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, for restoration. The big Mike will have company in the form of former Grand Trunk Western Mikado No. 4070, which is also being restored at the facility.
November 22. Other Amtrak trains on the route, including the Texas Eagle, will adhere to the previous 79-m.p.h. maximum. 110-mph service is projected to be in place along nearly 75 per cent of the Union Pacific- owned Chicago-St. Louis corridor by 2015, which will reduce travel time between Chicago and St. Louis by more than an hour.
Built in 1912 by Alco as a Consolidation, No. 1352 was rebuilt by the railroad into a Mikado during World War II. It was retired in 1956 and placed on public display in Kansas City, Missouri’s Swope Park, where it suffered from neglect and vandalism. The locomotive was eventually purchased by the Smoky Hill Rail- way and Historical Society, which sold it to an individual who moved into storage in rural Illi- nois. Last year, American Steam Railroad ac- quired it for restoration.
Amtrak
TAKES OVER CSX TRACK IN NEW YORK: Amtrak’s long-awaited 25-year lease of nearly 100 miles of CSX trackage in upstate New York was consummated on December 1 after being delayed by nearly a month by the after- math of Hurricane Sandy. The passenger rail- road will now maintain and dispatch the Hud- son Line from CP 75 (the end of Metro-North ownership
at Talgo Era Draws to a Close in Milwaukee
AFTER COMPLETING THE LAST OF FOUR Talgo Series 8 train- sets for Wisconsin and Oregon in September 2012, Talgo, Inc., has moth- balled its assembly plant in Milwaukee, Wis., and laid off most employ- ees. While the trains’ body shells, wheels, and exterior doors were imported from parent company Patentes Talgo in Spain, the majority of the other components were sourced in the United States. The two 14- unit trains purchased by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for the stillborn extension of Amtrak’s Hiawatha route to the state capi- tal of Madison are in storage and caught up in litigation after the state decided not to accept them. But there’s also a bright side to the story, as on November 29 one of the two 13-unit sets built for the Oregon DOT left the plant via Wisconsin & Southern and BNSF Railway en route to the Transportation Technology Test Center in Pueblo, Colo., for testing and certification. The Oregon trains are expected to enter revenue service on
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RAILFAN.COM
the Amtrak Cascades route out of Seattle, Wash., in early 2013. The Wisconsin Talgos are another story. The administration of Demo-
cratic Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle ordered the trains in 2009 with an option for two more; they were to run on an extension of the Hiawatha route to Madison over Wisconsin & Southern track. Those plans were firmly quashed after Republican Governer Scott Walker replaced Doyle in the 2010 election. While campaigning, Walker promised to kill the Madi- son extension because although its construction (and the Talgos) would be funded by a federal grant, the state would be liable for maintenance and an ongoing subsidy. And kill it, he did. In November 2012 the legislature voted not to build a maintenance facility for the trains and to cancel the Talgo maintenance contract, and in April the state missed a $4.6 million payment. On November 2, 2012 Talgo filed suit against the state for breach of contract, and the new trains’ future is uncertain at best.
Poughkeepsie) through
BO GRAY
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