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Roanoke as a viable transportation option for travel to cities along the Northeast Corridor” with the passage of the transportation bill. The Star City has been without passenger service for 34 years since Amtrak’s Hilltopper was discontinued in 1979.
MORE CHI-MIL-STP SERVICE ON TAP? In light of ridership that’s doubled in the past decade and often packed trains, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to add three express trains to Amtrak’s state-sup- ported Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha Service. The new schedules would make just one stop between Chicago Union Station and Milwau- kee, at the Milwaukee Airport station serving Mitchell International Airport, eight miles south of the Beer City. By skipping stops and operating at a maximum of 90 m.p.h. (vs. the current 79), the expresses would trim 11 min- utes off current schedules. This project is cur- rently in the early developmental stages. Meanwhile, Amtrak is studying the addi- tion of a second daily schedule between Chica- go and St. Cloud, Minn., on its Empire Builder route. The railroad is evaluating timing, infra- structure requirements, and operating costs while developing ridership and revenue fore- casts. A draft feasibility study will be pub- lished in December. The new train would fol- low the current Empire Builder route between Chicago and St. Paul, but the St. Cloud seg- ment could run via Minneapolis or Fridley. Be- cause this corridor is under 500 miles, Min- nesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois will need to agree on how to apportion their financial sup- port for the new train.
CSX Transportation
NEW FLORIDA—MIDWEST SERVICE: CSX and the Tampa (Fla.) Port Authority are working to develop the Green Express (GX), a refrigerated unit train which will link the Florida port with a refrigerated warehouse and distribution center at the Inland Logistics Port in Kingsbury, Ind., twice a week to serve the Chicago metropolitan area. Running on a 56- hour schedule starting later this year, the GX trains will handle refrigerated and dry goods using a dedicated fleet of 6450 cu.ft. and 7780 cu. ft. mechanical refrigerator cars leased from Iowa Pacific Holdings. This is the first phase of a proposed national network which will even- tually link Tampa, Philadelphia, Chicago, and California’s Central Valley. Refrigerated cross- dock facilities at Tampa will receive produce grown in Mexico and the Caribbean and process it for transshipment by rail to the Northeast, Midwest, and Southern California.
California Western
FULL SKUNK SERVICE RESUMES: On August 17, California Western resumed its normal Skunk Train excursion schedule be- tween Willitts and Fort Bragg, Calif., after Tunnel 1 partially caved in and severed the line on June 19, stranding the line’s equip- ment in Willitts. Funds to repair the tunnel were secured when the railroad sold the Save the Redwoods League an option to establish a conservation easement along the right of way for $300,000.
Wooden Pennsy Cabin Car is Preserved in New Jersey
THE MORRIS COUNTY CENTRAL RAILROAD’S ex-Pennsylvania Railroad N6b cabin car returned to Whippany, N.J., on July 10, 2013, nearly 40 years after it left Whippany for MCC’s new home in Newfoundland, N.J. The wooden car body was donated to the Whippany Railroad Museum by the Klemchalk family, who are the current owners of the former NYS&W Newfound- land Station, the surrounding property, and the railcars on the site. J. Supor & Son Trucking & Rigging lifted the Pennsy caboose off the Erie trucks it was sitting on at Newfoundland and moved the car to Whippany, where it was placed on display (above). The Klemchalks own the steel frame of a wooden Erie caboose they’re restoring at Newfoundland, which Supor placed on the trucks that previously supported the Pennsy car. Whippany plans to replace its car’s wooden siding and repaint it into an authentic PRR scheme with a black cupola.
25
The North Shore and the Nash . . . Perfect Together
SUNNY SKIES AND MILD TEMPERATURES on August 4 brought a large turnout at the Illinois Railway Museum's Vintage Transport Extravaganza in Union, Ill., as automobiles, trucks, buses, and other types of motor vehicles were displayed throughout the museum grounds. The number one location at the entrance was allocated to the Nash/AMC Club. Fitting- ly, North Shore cars passed the Nash club area reuniting two long time icons of Kenosha, Wis. The Studebaker club, another Midwestern favorite, was located next to the station and other models were displayed in other locations around the museum grounds.
STEVEN HEPLER, WHIPPANY RAILROAD MUSEUM
ROBERT JORDAN
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