(rshsdepot) Rail News-- Big Boy Move- Deaths at Rail Crossings Go Back UP.

[Don Mills <dmills_@_marshall.edu>]

Iron Horse heading for new pasture

Iron Horse Heading for New Pasture Last Haul for Big Boy The Giant Locomotive Will Be Moved Saturday to Lauritzen Gardens.
Source: Omaha World - Herald 
Publication date: 2005-03-11


Big Boy won't be riding the rails to its resting spot atop a bluff. The steam locomotive -- one of the largest ever made -- will take its final trip Saturday hoisted up on dollies. 
Big Boy No. 4023's lofty place is being prepared in what will be the new Kenefick Park, named in honor of former Union Pacific Railroad President John C. Kenefick and his wife, Hani. 

Centennial No. 6900, one of the largest diesel locomotives, will be moved later to the park, which is under construction at Lauritzen Gardens, at First and Bancroft Streets. 

The two locomotives each will be moved on six hydraulic-drive dollies, operated by remote control at 3 miles per hour -- about walking speed. The locomotives will be placed on temporary track at the park until their permanent displays are completed and they can be winched into place. 

The locomotives have been stored behind the Durham Western Heritage Museum since being removed from the former Kenefick Park along Abbott Drive to make way for the Qwest Center Omaha. 

Saturday's trip -- from near Eighth and Pacific Streets down 10th Street and along Bancroft to the botanical center -- could take up to eight hours, said Dave Scribner of Scrib's House Moving. 

Streets will be closed only while the locomotive is passing through, and police will oversee the route. 

The locomotive's tender has been removed and will be towed by a truck. The company has moved other locomotives but hasn't used the hydraulic-drive dollies, Scribner said. 

"We have a lot of hills to climb and go up and down, and I thought this was the safest way to transport it," he said. 

Scribner said he expects to see 300 to 500 spectators along the route, knowing that "there are a lot of rail fans." 

Rain or snow could postpone the trip. 

"Cold won't bother me," Scribner said, "but moisture will. We have to take it up a real steep incline at the gardens." 

Publication date: 2005-03-11
- ----------
Deaths at Rail Crossings, After Decline, Go Back Up
By WALT BOGDANICH 

Published: March 13, 2005


eaths at railroad grade crossings rose 11 percent last year, according to new federal figures, and the government failed to meet its 10-year goal of no more than 300 crossing deaths by 2004. 

Crossing deaths had been falling steadily in recent years. But last year, 369 people died at rail crossings, with three of the four major freight railroads reporting a rise in deaths, federal figures show. Norfolk Southern registered a 50 percent increase, the most of any major railroad, with 60 deaths. More people, 77, died at crossings owned by Union Pacific, the nation's largest railroad.

      
     
In all, more than 3,000 accidents occurred at grade crossings last year - about one every three hours. Some rail-safety experts say the figures suggest that the railroads and the government are not doing enough to make grade crossings safer. 

"I find that disconcerting, because we had a history of slow but steady decline of grade crossing fatalities over the years," said George Gavalla, a former top safety official with the Federal Railroad Administration. "We worked hard to encourage railroads to invest in crossing safety programs, and looking at these statistics, I wonder if that level of investment was being maintained."

Federal transportation officials declined to respond specifically to questions about the failure to achieve their 10-year goal. 

Tom White, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, a trade group for the large freight rail companies, said, "We very much regret the increase, and we wish it had not occurred." But the rail association and the Federal Railroad Administration said the rise in deaths needed to be viewed in the context of heavier rail traffic last year. 

Mr. White said the association was "committed to working with all of the authorities to bring those numbers down." One way to do that is through more driver education, he said. 

But Harvey Levine, a former vice president of the railroad association who is an advocate for rail crash victims, said railroads should examine their own conduct, pointing to sight obstructions that make it difficult to see approaching trains.

Last summer, after The New York Times reported on grade crossing hazards, Union Pacific said it would improve the way it reported accidents, monitored warning signals at crossings and collected evidence from crossing accidents. Last Monday, the New York state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, said another railroad, CSX, had agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle state charges that it failed to report properly and fix promptly hundreds of warning-signal malfunctions at grade crossings across the state.

Deaths at CSX crossings last year rose to 58 from 52. Gary Sease, a CSX spokesman, said his company would try to reduce deaths by cutting vegetation at crossings and closing more crossings, and with programs to educate drivers.



- --Boundary_(ID_ULo6VNl8oCla3Fkh+nzyqQ)
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1106
********************************

=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org