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American Car & Foundry
MILTON PLANT TO REOPEN: Freight car builder American Car & Foundry has an- nounced that its assembly plant in Milton, Penn., will be reopened to build tank cars in response to burgeoning demand for the cars by the domestic oil industry. The plant has been shut down since 2009, but about 250 workers will be called back later this year.
Amtrak
COSCIA REPLACES CARPER: The Am- trak Board of Directors has picked Anthony R. Cosciato replace Thomas Carper as Chair- man. President Obama appointed the 53-year old Coscia to the Amtrak board in 2009. Cos- cia was chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2003 to 2011, where he was involved in NJ Transit’s pro- posed Access to the Region's Core project, which was ultimately scuttled by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in 2010. That project has been revived and redirected by Amtrak as the Gateway Project, which will build the ARC’s two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River and also enlarge and expand New York’s Penn Station to accommodate more Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. Coscia advocates improving not only the rail corridors that link the nation’s urban centers, but also the long-distance routes that traverse parts of the country which are underserved by other modes of travel. He also supports invest- ment in rail infrastructure so it can handle more trains and carry more passengers at higher speeds.
2014 FUNDING REQUEST: Amtrak has asked Congress for $373 million in operating support in Fiscal Year 2014, 17 per cent less than in 2013, plus $2.065 billion in capital sup- port. The reduction in operating support re- flects Amtrak’s improving revenues, which amounted to over $2 billion and covered 88 per
Deal Assures Restoration and Operation of Long Island No. 39
THE RAILROAD MUSEUM OF LONG ISLAND and the Strasburg Rail Road have announced an agreement in which the museum’s Long Island Rail Road G5s 4-6-0 No. 39 will be rebuilt by the Strasburg and operated there for 48 years. This year RMLI will raise $1,000,000 to move the loco- motive from Riverhead, N.Y. to Strasburg, while the railroad will invest another $1,086,861 and finish the restoration within three years. (The locomotive’s boiler has been at Strasburg since 2005.) Tax-deductible donations may be made to “RMLI Engine 39” at P.O. Box 726, Greenport, NY 11944-0726. RMLI President Don Fisher said, “this partnership is the best way to get the lo- comotive restored . . . After 33 years . . . New Yorkers and others living in the Pennsylvania Railroad region may finally ride behind this historic steam engine.” Shown above in service at Queens, N.Y. in 1947, No. 39 pulled the last steam-powered LIRR train, a farewell to steam special in October 1955. It is one of three remaining G5s Ten-Wheelers, all built at the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Juniata shops. LIRR No. 35 is at the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum in Oyster Bay, N.Y., while PRR No. 5751 has been cosmetically restored and is displayed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, across the street from the Strasburg yard.
cent of its operating costs in 2013. The capital funding will go to maintaining the Northeast Corridor and other Amtrak-owned routes; to advance the Gateway program to expand ca- pacity between Newark, N.J. and New York,
including new tunnels under the Hudson River; to acquire new equipment, and to im- prove accessibility for passengers with disabil- ities. $212 million will go toward debt service.
JOINT DIESEL PURCHASE PLANNED: The Illinois Department of Transportation will be the lead agency in a cooperative pur- chase of at least 35 higher-speed diesel loco- motives to be acquired by Michigan, Califor- nia, Missouri, and Washington, as well as Illinois. The Federal Railroad Administration has set aside $808 million for the purchase. IDOT will work with the other states to man- age the procurement process for the 125- m.p.h. locomotives, as the California DOT ear- lier had spearheaded the development of the next-generation bilevel corridor cars now under construction.
Modern 4-4-0 Joins Three Rivers Rambler Roster
STONE MOUNTAIN SCENIC 4-4-0 NO. 60 has been acquired by Gulf & Ohio Railways in Knoxville, Tenn. Built by Baldwin for the San Antonio & Aransas Pass in 1922, the locomotive became Texas & New Orleans No. 260 and was sold to Paulsen Spence in 1954. In 1962 it went to Stone Mountain and operated as Texas II until 1983. Now stored out of public view, No. 60 will be evaluated for possible restoration and service on G&O’s Three Rivers Rambler excursions.
GATEWAY “TUNNEL BOX” TO BE BUILT: Amtrak plans to build a “tunnel box” in order to stake its claim on valuable Manhattan real estate that will be needed to accommodate two proposed new rail tunnels under the Hudson River as part of the Gateway project to in- crease capacity at Penn Station and on the Northeast Corridor between New Jersey and New York. The 800-foot long concrete box will establish the railroad’s right of way through the Hudson Yards mixed-use development that’s being built over the Long Island Rail Road storage yard on Manhattan’s West Side.
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DAVID FOSTER
F.G. ZAHN, RAILROAD MUSEUM OF LONG ISLAND COLLECTION
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