Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation Dedicates New Facility
THE OREGON RAIL HERITAGE FOUNDATION celebrated the grand opening of the Oregon Rail Heritage Center enginehouse and restoration shop during an open house held on September 22 and 23, 2012. The facility has been dedicated to the indispensible Doyle McCor- mack, a former Union Pacific engineer who has shepherded the group and its locomotives through the transition from its long-time home in UP’s old Brooklyn Yard roundhouse to the new structure, located adja- cent to the Portland Museum of Science and Industry. Now, visitors are able to see up close steam locomotives Southern Pacific 4-8-4 No. 4449 (above), Spokane, Portland & Seattle 4-8-4 No. 700 (inset), and Oregon Railway & Navigation (Union Pacific) 4-6-2 No. 197, along with several
NIAGARA BRIDGE AGREEMENT: Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada will assume responsibili- ty for the repair and maintenance of the rail portion of the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge across the Niagara River at Niagara Falls, N.Y./On- tario. The rail portion of the bridge had been maintained by Canadian National as a freight connection, but as traffic patterns changed CN moved its U.S. interchange upstream to the in- ternational bridge between Buffalo, N.Y., and Fort Erie, Ontario, leaving Amtrak’s New York- Toronto Maple Leaf as the only rail user of the bridge while CN continued to pay the bills. In a related development, the city of Niaga-
ra Falls, N.Y., plans to relocate the Amtrak station to the old U.S. Customs House, which will be converted into an intermodal trans- portation center. The current Amtrak depot is located in the old Lehigh Valley Niagara Falls freight house. The double-deck Whirlpool Rapids Bridge is owned by the Niagara Falls Bridge Commisson and carries highway traffic on its lower level. It replaced the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in August 1897.
diesels including McCormack’s “Nickel Plate Road” Alco RSD5 and PA4. While the roundhouse was not accessible to the public due to its loca- tion in the middle of a working railroad yard, the new building is not only open to the public but is easily accessible by car and by the new Eastside light rail line, which celebrated its grand opening on the same weekend as the Heritage Center. The group has raised $5,000,000 of its $5,950,000 goal to pay for the
new building. The Brooklyn roundhouse was vacated in July and UP wasted no time in razing it, having the structure leveled in August. The turntable was saved and will be installed in front of ORHF’s new facility as funding becomes available.
Apache Railway
RAILROAD’S FUTURE IS SECURE: The Town of Snowflake, Ariz., will work with owner Catalyst Paper to ensure that the Apache Rail- way is sold as an operating railroad. Last sum- mer Catalyst announced the closure of its Snowflake paper mill and said the railroad would shut down, too. On November 6, the Snowflake town council voted to acquire the railroad, by condemnation if necessary, in order to preserve rail service, but would prefer that it be sold to a private operator.
BNSF Railway
TEHACHAPI WORK IS PLANNED: The draft environmental impact report has been is- sued by the California Department of Trans- portation in connection with BNSF’s plan to double track five segments of the Union Pacific route across Tehachapi Pass, totaling 5.7 miles. The work will include 1.01 miles from Walong to Marcel, 0.34 mile at the east end of
CORRECTION: In our October caption for the new Amtrak Uptown station in Blooming- ton/Normal, Ill., we said the area is home to the University of Indiana; we must have been work- ing on an Indiana University Press book review earlier that day. The new station serves Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, along with Lincoln College in Normal, Illinois. Indiana University is located in Bloomington, Indiana. Hope we got that right.
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Cliff Siding, 1.55 miles from Rowen to Wood- ford, 2.75 miles from Caliente to Bealville, and 2.69 miles from Bena to Ilmon. The new track will bypass Tunnels 2 and 10, but they will re- main to accommodate the existing track. Al- though UP owns the route, BNSF’s traffic is heavier than that of its landlord and so BNSF and the state will jointly pay for the improve- ments. Currently, an average of 35 6000-foot trains a day traverse the pass each day, a number which is expected to grow to 50 8000- foot trains a day by 2020. Among other envi- ronmental considerations, the report describes how the project will affect scenic vistas through the pass, which “are considered to be highly sensitive due to the recreation activity they support.” What “recreation activity” is that? Railfanning, of course.
CSX Transportation
RF&P THIRD TRACK TO BE EXTENDED: The Federal Railroad Administration has re- leased $74.8 million to pay for 11 miles of third main track along the CSX former Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac main line between Arkendale and Powell’s Creek, Va. The extra ca- pacity will reduce delays to the 45 CSX, ten Am- trak, and 14 Virginia Railway Express trains that use the line each day. In addition, three
TWO PHOTOS: MARTIN E. HANSEN
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