www.railfan.com/railnews
will also run on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents Day, and Independence Day, but service will not be provided on Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day, Labor Day, or Memorial Day. Trains will stop at West Balti- more, Halethorpe, BWI Marshall, Odenton, Bowie, and New Carrollton. The new service is offered only on the Penn Line; the Camden and Brunswick Lines retain their weekday- only schedules. The expansion has been made possible by an increase in the Maryland gas tax, part of a package instituted by Governor Martin O’Malley last summer to fund high- way and mass transit.
Metrolink
PERRIS VALLEY LINE WORK STARTS: Metrolink has received a $75 million federal grant and construction has started on the 24- mile Perris Valley Line from Riverside to Per- ris, Calif. In early December 2013 welded rail was being dropped along the route. The branch will serve four stations: Riverside Hunter Park, Moreno Valley/March Field, Downtown Perris, and South Perris. Passen- gers will be able to transfer from Metrolink to Orange Empire Railway Museum streetcars in Perris. The Riverside County Transporta- tion Commission purchased the former BNSF Railway San Jacinto Branch in 1993; BNSF still owns the line beyond South Perris to San Jacinto, and its San Jac Local serves cus- tomers as far as Winchester on weekdays.
New England Steam Corp.
MAINE CENTRAL 470 IS LIBERATED: On December 3, 2013, the Waterville, Maine, city council accepted a proposal by the New England Steam Corp. (
www.newengland
steam.com) to acquire ex-Maine Central 1924 Alco Pacific No. 470 from the city for $25,000. NESCo has two years to raise the funds, after which the locomotive will be moved to a shop located on the Downeast Scenic Railroad at Ellsworth, Maine, where it will be rebuilt for excursion service. No. 470 pulled the last steam-powered Maine Central train on June 13, 1954, was put on outdoor display shortly thereafter, and was donated to the city on Oc- tober 28, 1962. The intervening years of expo- sure to cold, wet Maine winters have not been kind, and NESCo says that, while the boiler barrel and major components appear to be in good condition, the tender tank, cab, and other sheet metal will need to be replaced. See last month’s RAILNEWS for more information.
Pennsylvania DOT
NEW FUND SUPPORTS RAIL TRANSIT: On November 25, 2013, Pennsylvania Gover- nor Tom Corbett signed into law the 2014 transportation funding bill. By 2019 the measure will provide $1.3 billion to the state Department of Transportation for highway infrastructure upgrades and will also provide up to $495 million for mass transit. This money will support the operations of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority in Philadelphia and the Port Au- thority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, along with Amtrak’s state-supported Key-
The T Receives First New Locomotive from MotivePower
MBCR NO. 2001 IS THE FIRST MOTIVEPOWER HSP46 to be delivered to the Massachu- setts Bay Transportation Authority wearing a revised version of the T paint scheme that was cho- sen using an online poll. The 40 locomotives were to have been in the 1200-1239 number series, but the T says that since the agency already has equipment in that slot, the new units are being numbered 2000-2039 to honor the new millenium. In a departure from MPI’s previous reliance on EMD power and d.c. traction, the 4600 h.p. locomotives feature a General Electric EVO 12-cylin- der prime mover and GE electrical equipment with a.c. traction housed in a carbody designed by Cesar Vergara Studios. The trucks are also newly designed to accommodate GE a.c. motors. No. 2001 is being used to train the T’s mechanical forces at Boston.
25
Ex-Baltimore & Ohio Tower is Razed in Ohio
CREWS DEMOLISHED THE CRUMBLING REMAINS of VN Tower in Nova, Ohio, on a rainy November 22, 2013. The century-old wooden structure at one time controlled crossovers and two passing tracks on the former Baltimore & Ohio main line and had been out of service since October 1993. The interlocking machine reportedly has been acquired by Utah’s Heber Val- ley Railroad for incorporation in to a museum display.
MBTA
CARL KOPCHAK
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