www.railfan.com/railnews
Rails Return to Trail in Southwestern Pennsylvania
THE FORMER MONTOUR RAILROAD WESTLAND BRANCH is feeling the weight of freight trains once more. Also known as the Midland Spur, the southwestern Pennsylvania branch ran four miles between Gilmore Junction and the Westland Mine, the last mine on the Montour which closed in March 1983. The line was abandoned in May 1986 and torn up soon after. In the late ’80s the Montour Trail Council acquired 46 miles of Montour right of way, including the Westland branch, for conver- sion into a recreational trail. In December 2010 Mark West reached an agreement with the trail council and Wheeling & Lake Erie to build a liq- uefied natural gas loading facility on the site of the old Westland Yard. The branch was relaid between Westland and a new connection with the W&LE at Southview, and in August 2012 the first loads were moved out
Monday that was no longer the case. Ironical- ly, Sandy dropped relatively little rain and nei- ther Bound Brook nor Trenton flooded. In the end, the storm surge inundated NJT’s dispatching office and power distribution cen- ter located on the first floor of the MMC, along with the shop building itself and much of its machinery. 62 locomotives, including nine new dual-mode ALP45DP’s, and 237 cars stored at the Meadows and at Hoboken were left stand- ing in several feet of water, damaging traction motors, air brake equipment, and submerging seats on the lower level of 84 Bombardier mul-
of the new facility. The branch is usually worked by train 643 based out of Rook Yard, called at 9:00 a.m. for Westland and return. The first photo was taken on November 11, 2011 looking east along
the trail where it crosses Southview Road; the new trail, which passes under the W&LE main line out of view to the right, is under construction in the foreground. The second shot was taken on November 16, 2012 as eastbound train 643 behind ex-Wisconsin Central (née-Algoma Central) SD40-2 No. 6316 and W&LE SD40-3 No. 4018 starts up the connection and across the new bridge over Southview Road with 24 loads from Mark West. Train 643 runs with units on both ends, as the train pulls west out of Rook and heads east and south on the Westland branch. An amazing sight in 2012, tracks relaid after 25 years! — DAVID BAER
tilevel coaches. In contrast, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, and the New York subway system lost little equipment in the storm.
Soo Line 1003
HOTBOX DELAYS RETURN TO SERVICE: As it was being towed under steam from Hart- ford to Middleton, Wis., on October 31, Soo Line Mikado No. 1003 set off a hotbox detector and the ensuing inspection revealed a hot bearing, which resulted in the locomotive’s
being taken out of service. The Wisconsin & Southern E units substituted for the 2-8-2 on a November 3 Toys for Tots run over WSOR be- tween Milton and Middleton, which would have been No. 1003’s first revenue trip after an overhaul which extended from February 2011 to September 2012. This was the first time a mechanical issue forced the locomotive to miss an event since its return to service in 1996. The Steam Locomotive Heritage Associ- ation says it will make repairs over the winter.
Union Pacific
WILL A BIG BOY RUN AGAIN? In early De- cember, Union Pacific confirmed that it was in- volved in preliminary discussions with the Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society and a “third party” who wants to return the Society’s UP Big Boy No. 4014 to service. The locomotive, which is displayed at the Los Angeles County Fair- grounds in Pomona, would be restored in time for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in March 2019.
VIA Rail Canada Fresh Paint and a New Image in Eastern Pennsylvania
NEW HOPE & IVYLAND shop forces have painted Pennsylvania Northeastern (PN) SD40-2W No. 5342 (ex-Canadian National), which debuted the bright new color scheme at the Lansdale (Penn.) Founders Day celebration on August 25; the designers appear to have taken some inspi- ration from Union Pacific’s Rio Grande heritage unit. The unit was still at New Hope and had yet to enter service in early December, but the upside is that PN was using its pair of ex-NS C39-8s regularly on its network of SEPTA (ex-Reading) trackage based in Lansdale.
NEW GASPÉ STATION TO OPEN: A new “gare intermodale” is under construction at the end of track in Gaspé, Québec, and should be ready to serve VIA Rail’s bustituted Montréal- Gaspé train (the former Chaleur) by February. Unfortunately, the little Budd streamliner cur- rently terminates in New Carlisle as track owner Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie continues to repair bridges on the eastern end of the line. The fact that in September SCFG was looking for a new bridge superintendent might provide a clue to when rail service might resume: Not soon?
27
WALT LANKENAU
TWO PHOTOS: DAVID BAER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60