WWW.RAILFAN.COM/RAILNEWS
Southern 630 Pulls First 21st Century Steam Trips of 2013
THE NORFOLK SOUTHERN STEAM PROGRAM has gotten off to a good start this year as the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s for- mer Southern Railway 2-8-0 No. 630 pulled round-trip public excur- sions on March 2 from Chattanooga to Attalia, Tenn. Then on March 9 it ran from Bristol to Radford, Va., and from Bristol to Bulls Gap, Tenn., on March 10. Chase Gunnoe caught the 13-car train on the for- mer Norfolk & Western Pulaski District (above) as it crossed the New
BNSF Railway
LANDSLIDE MITIGATION PROJECT: BNSF will spend $16 million in an attempt to reduce the risk of landslides along its Puget Sound route between Everett and Seattle, Wash. The railroad has identified six locations along eight miles of track between Mukilteo and Everett as the most active slide areas. Ma- terial will be removed from the tops of the slopes and walls will be erected in the slide chutes to catch debris before it reaches the right of way. Due to unusually wet weather, more than 200 landslides have been reported between Everett and Seattle since last Thanksgiving, and rail service, including Am- trak and Sounder passenger trains in addition to BNSF freights, has been suspended for sev- eral days at a time.
Canadian National
NEW ALBERTA COAL BRANCH: Canadi- an National will build a four-mile spur from its main line near Hinton, Alberta, to serve the proposed Coalspur Mines Ltd. Vista Coal Mine Project. The new mine would ship 175- car unit trains to Ridley Terminals in Prince
River after leaving Radford on the March 9 return trip. The initial excursions were followed on March 16 with a morning run from Roanoke to Walton, Va., and an afternoon trip from Roanoke to Lynchburg, and a March 17 trip from Roanoke to Lynchburg, fol- lowed on March 23 by a Norfolk to Petersburg, Va. excursion. Trips were also scheduled on April 13 from Spencer to Barber Junction, N.C. and on April 20 and 21 from Asheville to Old Fort, N.C.
Rupert, British Columbia, for export to Asia. The mine is awaiting regulatory approval but could be finished by 2015.
Canadian Pacific
PHILLY SERVICE ENDS: As expected, Canadian Pacific ran its last train out of Philadelphia, Penn., as on March 11, 2013, SD40-2s 5698 and 6007 led nine-car train 159 out of South Philadelphia to Binghamton, N.Y. The route used trackage rights over Norfolk Southern and was inherited when CPR acquired the Delaware & Hudson in 1991; D&H was awarded the route upon the formation of Con- rail in 1976. It was never really a contender.
Claremont Concord
GEEP REPLACES ALCO: Colorful Clare- mont Concord Alco S4 No. 104, long-time mo- tive power on the West Lebanon, N.H., branch, has been replaced by chopnosed GP9 No. 1907, an ex-Burlington Northern Geep which was last used as a switcher at the Con Agra mill in Martins Creek, Penn. Painted in weathered Conrail blue, the unit was built as Northern Pacific No. 322.
Florida East Coast
MORE UNITS IN CHAMPION COLORS: Florida East Coast has taken delivery of SD40-2 No. 703, the first of three that will be repainted in the classic coral-and-orange Champion scheme this year. Designed by EMD for the E3 diesels assigned to FEC’s Champion streamliner in 1939, the bright col- ors were applied to BL2s, Geeps, and F units until being replaced by a simpler blue scheme in the early 1960s. GP40 No. 2000 received the colors in 2000 and SD40-2 No. 714 got the “new” image in 2011, but from now on, all re- paints will be in Champion colors. This year Progress Rail Services will overhaul and paint three Champion SD40-2s at Patterson, Ga..
General Electric
PRODUCTION STARTS IN TEXAS: In early March, General Electric completed the first locomotives at its new assembly plant in North Fort Worth, Texas, when BNSF ES44C4s 7101-7105 were delivered on March 8. The plant is slated to assemble 100 of the 175-unit order; the balance are being built at the main plant in Erie, Penn.
25
CHASE GUNNOE
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 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66