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ment with BNSF Railway in which Union Depot will pay $2.3 million project for BNSF to restore the depot’s connection to the main line along with the required signaling system; BNSF dispatchers will control the station tracks and approaches.
SEATTLE STATION IS FINISHED: The main waiting room of the landmark King Street Station in Seattle, Wash., has reopened to the public after a $55 million restoration which has returned its public areas to their original 1906 splendor. The Washington De- partment of Transportation started the proj- ect in 2009. Workers installed a new terra cotta tile roof, restored the four clocks in the building’s landmark tower to operation, re- moved the “modern” suspended ceiling to ex- pose the waiting room’s original ornate ceiling with its intricate cast plaster detailing, and made seismic and structural upgrades. The building also features a modern, geothermal heat pump HVAC system.
Austin Steam Train Association
SP MIKADO TO RETURN: Work is under way to return the Austin Steam Train Associ- ation’s Southern Pacific Mikado Mk-5 No. 786 to service. The 1916 Alco has been out of serv- ice since 1999 due to a cracked cylinder saddle, which has been replaced by two new castings from the Fairmount Foundry in Hamburg, Penn. The new cylinder saddle was machined, assembled, and mounted on the frame by Steam Operations Corp., of Muscle Shoals, Ala., and the boiler was patched and re-tubed by Historic Machinery Services of Steele, Ala. New driving wheel tires have been installed and turned by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum of Chattanooga, Tenn., and compo- nents including the air compressor and cold water pump were refurbished by Backshop Enterprises of Wheat Ridge, Colo. Now ASTA plans to reunite the repaired components in Texas and will determine how long the locomo- tive’s reassembly will take. While No. 786 has been out of service, the group’s ex-Santa Fe Al- co RSD15 No. 442 has been substituting.
Catskill Mountain
TRACK REHAB PROGRESSES: This spring, volunteers have been busy cutting brush and repairing track on the Catskill Mountain Railroad. The line has been re- opened from Kingston, N.Y., a couple of miles west to the Route 209 crossing, where two passenger cars were retrieved and moved east toward the railroad’s Cornell Street Yard in Kingston. The move into the city was thwarted when, concerned about flaking lead- based paint and other evils, the city fathers obtained a court order to keep the cars out. For good measure, a city dump truck was temporarily parked across the track. CMRR Chairman Harry G. Jameson III said, “By placing a dump truck blocking the CMRR’s tracks . . . Mayor [Shayne] Gallo committed a Class D felony of NYS Railroad Law 53-e . . . unlawful interference with a railroad train.” The ex-Lackawanna m.u. car and ex- Delaware & Hudson, née New York Central heavyweight diner Lion Gardiner had lan-
South Shore Detour Puts Amtrak Blue WaterUnder Wire
DUE TO A WORK WINDOW FOR REPAIRSto Norfolk Southern’s Calumet River bridge be- tween Porter, Ind., and Chicago Union Station, on April 8 Amtrak’s Blue Water detoured over the South Shore and Canadian National between Wilson, Ind., (above) and CUS.
guished for over 15 years; the railroad hopes to move four more cars from the opposite side of the road. The Lion Gardiner was recently named one of the country’s “most endangered railroad landmarks” by the National Railway Historical Society. According to Jameson, the diner will be trucked to another site for restoration by an un-named group. CMRR, whose lease on the track expires in 2016, is embroiled in a contest with owner Ul- ster County, which wants to tear up the track and replace it with a hiking and biking trail.
Coos Bay Rail Link
LAST SEGMENT IS PUT INTO SERVICE: On April 29, 2013, Coos Bay Rail Link made its first revenue run out of Coquille, Ore., the westernmost station on the 134-mile former Southern Pacific Coos Bay Branch, as the first loads of plywood in more than five years left the Roseburg Forest Products plant. CBRL had reopened the line between Eugene and Coos Bay in October 2011, but two wooden trestles needed to be repaired in order to re-
NJ Transit Builds South Jersey Link Between Light and Heavy Rail
THE PENNSAUKEN TRANSIT CENTER will allow easy transfers between the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line, the RiverLINE light rail, and local bus routes. Located at Delair Junction, off Derousse Avenue at the end of the Delair Bridge, it will include a 280-space commuter parking lot. The $40-million facility will have two high-level platforms on the Atlantic City Line and a single low-level platform for the RiverLINE and is expected to be finished later this year. On April 7, 2013 (above) a westbound Atlantic City Line train passed the construction site.
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MICHAEL T. BURKHART
BRUCE STAHL
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