RUTLAND RAILS BEYOND THE by Philip R. Jordan
The Rutland Railway shut down in 1961, ending an era in New England railroading. Three years later the railroad was revived by the state of Vermont and began operation as two different companies. Author Philip R. Jordan looks at the Rutland’s successors — the Vermont Railway and Green Mountain Railroad — with a tour of the lines between Burlington, Vermont, and North Walpole, New Hampshire.
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ONCE UPON A TIME the decision makers in the Dallas, Texas, area were very leery about building a light rail system, but minds do change. For the last decade or so, it seems that the rails cannot be put down quickly enough and since 2009, DART has con- structed more than 40 miles of rail line. De- cember 1, 2012, was the day of the grand opening of light rail service to the communi- ty of Rowlett with rush hour service com- mencing on December 3. There was much hoopla and fireworks in Rowlett to celebrate the opening. The $360 million, 4.5 mile ex- tension of the Blue Line tops off the build out of the northeast rail service. Elsewhere in Big D, the light rail Orange Line is edging ever closer to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The Orange Line debuted with three new stations in Ju- ly 2012 and is now four miles and three sta- tions longer; the last of the stations is on the property of the DFW Airport. The final sta- tion at the airport is expected to open for revenue service late in 2014. The DART rail system is 85 miles long and is the largest electric light rail system in the U.S., and there is much more to come. Thanks to John A. Lee and Bill Cousins for the news.
Boston Rail Improvements
Improvements to rail service and support of rail service continue to be made nationally and Boston has been no exception. Massa- chusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) opened its new Wonderland Transit Center, the outer terminal for the Blue Line rapid transit, on June 30, 2012. The Blue Line is the rapid transit approach to Boston’s Logan International airport. At Wonderland, there is a new 1500 space garage, new bus facilities, space for bicycles and improved pedestrian access. The MBTA is also going to buy an addi- tional seven new locomotives for its com- muter trains and will also upgrade 74 com- muter coaches. As the summer of 2012 came to an end, there were track improvements on the Red Line rapid transit between JFK/UMass and Quincy. Commuter service has been improved between Boston and Fitchburg and between Boston and Worces- ter. Improved levels of commuter rail service make it necessary to expand Boston’s South Station. Thanks to David Harris and Charlie O’Malley for the news.
The Expanded FrontRunner Opens in Utah I recall a naysayer about rail transit lectur- ing me on the rail facts of life about 30 years ago. I was told, most sternly, that people to the far west of the Mississippi River were deeply in love with their automobiles, cher- ished their freedom and that no one had ever seen John Wayne ride a trolley or a sub- way. As a majority of the U.S. population moved farther to the west, the expert stated, there would be no more of this nonsense about rail transit.
That proved to be dead wrong. It is proven by the major rail transit operations in Port- land, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose,
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Phoenix, and Dallas and on the light rail and commuter train service in Utah. December 10, 2012, was the exciting day of the grand opening of the Utah Transit Au- thority’s FrontRunner commuter rail line be- tween Provo and Salt Lake City. The first rides were available on December 8, with regular service commencing on the 10th. The entire FrontRunner system is 89 miles long and runs between Provo in the South and Pleasant View in the North. That is certainly a major commuter rail line, about as long as the NICTD/ South Shore line between Chica- go and South Bend. The line to Provo from Salt Lake City was ten per cent under budg- et and about two years ahead of schedule. With the FrontRunner in service, it will be easier to get around the west side of the mountains.
The expansion of commuter rail service in Utah has to do with vision and the desire to achieve. I certainly wish there was more of that vision and desire here in the Hoosier Holy Land. The vision to improve transit in the Indianapolis region has been getting some support recently, but for years has been hooted down by the forces of nega- tivism. There have been serious columns in the press that have some decent argument and some arrant nonsense about transit im- provements. Where is the vision? Thanks to Carl Edd, John A. Lee and Will Murphy for the news and reminders.
Purdue, WPI and Electric Railways The first decade of the 20th century was the golden age of electric railways and most es- pecially the electric interurbans that enjoyed mushroom-like growth. Several engineering schools took electric railways very seriously; one of these was Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue had a locomotive test- ing facility similar to the one owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, Penn., and the school also owned a number of steam locomotives that were used as part of the program in railway engineering. Purdue also had an electric railway car of
the interurban type. Major experimentation was carried out on this car, with special em- phasis given to the air resistance of an in- terurban car at high speed. Car ends of dif- ferent shapes were built and the various ends were tested along many interurban railway lines in Indiana. As I recall, a para- bolic end was best suited as the most effi- cient —with the least air resistance —for a high-speed interurban car. Similar testing
PLEASE SEND light rail, tran- sit and commuter rail news items and correspondence di- rectly to Prof. George M. Smerk, Emeritus Suite, Kelley School of Business, 1309 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701.
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