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Bremerton Turntable Navy Donates
After six years of on-again, off-again negotiations, the U.S. Navy donated a 85-foot long turntable to the Chehalis- Centralia Railroad & Museum of Chehalis, Wash., on September 2, 2015. The turntable was used at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., to turn Northern Pacific steam locomotives that pulled trains to and from the shipyard during and after World War II. The 70-ton American Bridge turntable was installed at the shipyard in April of 1945. The turntable was last operated about ten years ago and was declared surplus by the Navy.
PHOTO BY DAN SIMMERING
REGIONALS/SHORTLINES EAST STEPHEN KOENIG
R.J. Corman Acquires Carolina Southern
R.J. Corman Railroad Company completed its acquisition of the former Carolina Southern Railroad on August 17. The 80-mile line from Myrtle Beach to Whiteville, N.C., was purchased for $13.7 million. Almost immediately the company went to work clearing brush and prepping the line for service. The railroad has not operated since 2011 when the owners were forced to shut down due to numerous bridges along the line that needed strengthening and repair. RJC expects to resume operations within six months. The trackage is a former Atlantic Coast Line branch.
Claremont & Concord G&W Acquires
On September 6, Genesee & Wyoming took over operations of the Claremont & Concord Railroad. The railroad, whose origins go back as far back as 1848, will now be part of the largest shortline hold- er in the world. Over time, its operations will be integrated with the larger New England Central Railroad which con- nects at White River Junction, Vt., and Claremont, N.H. Genesee & Wyoming’s NECR is a regional freight carrier that operates a 394-mile rail line between New London, Conn., and the border of Vermont and Quebec. There has been no announcement made regarding disposi- tion of the railroad’s motive power which includes a MLW S-4 No. 105 (ex-CN 8032) and an EMD chop-nose GP9 No. 1907 (ex-BN 1907).
New York New Jersey New Power for
New York New Jersey Rail, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, operates the last rail freight carfloat across New York Harbor. Three new diesel-electric freight locomotives from Knoxville Lo- comotive Works (KLW) were delivered at the end of August. Unit design, engi- neering, and production originated from KLW’s manufacturing facilities in Knox- ville, Tennessee. The KLW SE Series SE10B low-emis-
sion switchers are operating at NYNJ terminals in Jersey City, N.J., and Brooklyn, N.Y. The locomotives are equipped with state-of-the-art drive train systems patented by KLW and MTU. Each single-engine, 1,050-h.p. die- sel-electric unit is designed to reduce lo- comotive emissions and to increase fuel efficiency. The locomotives will not only reduce existing emissions levels by more than 90 percent, but they will also help NYNJ save more than 60 percent in fuel costs while significantly reducing engine noise levels.
Freight Car Storage on Saratoga & North Creek
Amid controversy, Saratoga & North Creek is hoping to store up to 500 oil tank cars on its line. Environmentalists have been very much against the idea, in spite of the support that it could provide the railroad and the local community. Protect the Adirondacks director Peter Bauer and a reporter from North Country Public Radio visited several sidings along the railroad and posted photographs of passenger cars in storage
at the end of September. The railroad’s lawyer sent notice to Bauer threatening legal action should he return to the property. Bauer’s lawyer fired back that use of the corridor was allowed as long as it did not “unreasonably interfere with railroad operations.” The railroad leases and operates the
former Delaware & Hudson Adirondack Branch that runs through the heart of the six-million-acre Adirondack Park in upstate New York. Saratoga & North Creek assumed operation in 2011.
Toledo, Lake Erie & Western Railroad
A recent article in the Toledo Blade said that Toledo, Lake Erie & Western’s formal discontinuance of service on track that provides the only outside rail connection should not affect future restoration of passenger operations. The discontinued track is leased from Norfolk Southern, which continued to operate freight on the line. Clarice Wyse, president of TLEW,
said the Bluebird excursion train that last ran between Waterville and Grand Rapids, Ohio, in 2010 is unlikely to re- sume running before next year, but Nor- folk Southern’s end of freight service on 1.8 miles of track into Waterville has no bearing on the excursion train’s future. The last trains to use the track were
several movements of empty Detroit Edison coal cars that were stored on the TLEW’s rails about three years ago. The railroad has not operated since the 2011 season after vandals broke into the equipment and stole seats and cut fuel lines. NS has indicated that it does not intend to remove its tracks anytime soon.
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