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Grade Separation Project Changes Flavor of Pennsylvania City’s Skyline
NEW OVERPASSES HAVE REPLACED GRADE CROSSINGS on the Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line in Lebanon, Penn., and several classic brick industrial buildings and residences have been leveled to ac- commodate them. Busy Pennsylvania Route 72 North uses 9th Street (two photos above); the 10th Street overpass for the southbound lanes
an on-line scrap dealer has committed to use the railroad and “multiple prospective cus- tomers” intend to use the line if it’s restored.
Tri-Rail
NEW CARS, LOCOMOTIVES ARRIVE: In early January 2013 Tri-Rail took delivery of the first of 24 new Hyundai-Rotem stainless steel bilevel coaches, which are built to the same design as the Metrolink Guardian Fleet. The cars feature crash energy management systems that include pushback couplers, crumple zones at each end, and breakaway ta-
was still under construction in December 2012 and should be finished by the time you read this. Mike Burkhart memorialized the old streetscape in detail in the May 2008 R&R and showed in-progress photos of the demolition of the PDK furniture warehouse (above left) in the March 2012 RAILNEWS.
bles that crumble on impact. Cab cars have a semistreamlined front end designed to deflect struck objects and protect the operator and passengers. Also due to begin arriving at the end of the month were the first of 14 stream- lined 3600-h.p. BL36PH locomotives from Brookville Equipment. Except for four Col- orado Railcar diesel multiple unit cars and two CRC trailers delivered in 2006, these coaches and locomotives are the first new equipment to be acquired by Tri-Rail since 1989. The railroad has been operating with Bombardier bilevel coaches powered by five F40PHL-2 diesels rebuilt from GP40s by Mor-
rison-Knudsen, four M-K F40PH-2C’s, one ex- Amtrak F40PH-2, and six former Norfolk Southern GP49s that were overhauled by Mid-America Car in 2005.
Watco
WILL ADD ANN ARBOR TO THE FOLD: The short line holding company Watco, of Pittsburg, Kans., will purchase the Ann Arbor Railroad and hold the stock in a voting trust until the Surface Transportation Board ap- proves the acquisition. The 50-mile Ann Arbor runs from Ottawa Yard in Toledo, Ohio, to a connection with the Great Lakes Central at Osmer, north of Ann Arbor, Mich., along with a branch from Pittsfield to Saline, Mich. The railroad handles automotive traffic from Chrysler's North Toledo Assembly Plant, auto parts from Saline and Dundee, and grain and frac sand interchanged with GLC. Mike Hard- ing outlined the Annie’s operations in the May 2012 RAILFAN.
Las Vegas Railway Express Santa Rides Behind Illinois F’s
THE KEOKUK JUNCTION RAILWAY ran a holiday special on December 8, 2012 with for mer VIA Rail FP9A’s 1750 and 1752 pulling an ex-Chicago & North Western bilevel coach bor- rowed from Iowa Northern and a bay-window caboose for Santa to ride. The short consist made a trip between Mapleton and Cuba, Ill., and fares were donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Re- search Hospital. To other holiday specials were operated in Illinois that day; Canadian Nation- al/Illinois Central’s ran between Gibson City and Gilman, while the Monticello Railway Muse- um provided equipment for a Norfolk Southern holiday train from Decatur to Niantic and return; NS Wabash heritage SD70ACe No. 1070 led that run.
VEGAS PARTY TRAIN COULD HAPPEN: The X Train, proposed by Laas Vegas Rail- way Express to provide luxury rail service with dining and bar service between the L.A. Basin and Las Vegas, Nev., might be gaining some traction. In November 2012 the compa- ny announced that it had arrived at a condi- tional agreement to use Union Pacific tracks between the gambling mecca and the desert town of Daggett, where UP enters the BNSF Railway. The company says that a potential operating agreement with Amtrak, which would run the trains under contract, would include trackage rights over BNSF west of Daggett to Fullerton, Calif., where the com- pany plans to terminate at the Metrolink station. Las Vegas Railway Express says it has acquired a fleet of passenger cars and plans to pull them with a pair of F59PH diesels.
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EDWARD L. JOHNSON
TWO PHOTOS: MICHAEL T. BURKHART
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