The rail magazine for the computer age. =================================================== RAIL ONLINE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3 SEPTEMBER 1993 =================================================== Editor-in-Chief: Peter Kirn, 73232,3534 CompuServe, 73232.3534@compuserve.com Internet Compilation Copyright (C) 1993 E/Press publishing A non-profit publication from E/Press. ----> INTERNET / USENET READERS! CENSUS `93? We want to hear from you. Once we send RailOnline out via Internet and UseNet each issue, we have no way of finding out what happens to it. SEND US AN E-MAIL NOTE - stand up and be counted! We'd like to get an esimate of how many readers we have on the two nets. Your reply will help us tailor services for our Internet and UseNet readers. Address messages to 73232.3534@compuserve.com. Put in text like "I READ RO!" - that's all we need. While you're at it, feel free to let us know a bit about yourself. If you'd like to give us feedback about RailOnline, and aren't sure what to say, check out the reader feedback card in the "Letters to the Editor section" - search "@@B". I hope to see my "in" box for e-mail really full. -Peter Kirn ============== IN THIS ISSUE: ============== E-PAGES: Instead of using conventional searching, RailOnline takes advantage of the search-and-find features in your editor or word processor. For instance, to read the letter from the editor, have your editor search for the text "@@A". The indexing header has been changed from "@" to "@@" this issue. From the Editor..........................................@@A Railfans deserve respect Letters..................................................@@B RAIL NEWS US Headlines.............................................@@C Conrail news: Conrail lags behind industry...............@@D INSIGHT: Alabama derailment : Part I.....................@@E Northeast rail news......................................@@F Pacific news.............................................@@G Railfanning news: Fall folliage trips in NE..............@@H Media news: Third Tracks Ahead season....................@@I International / Canada...................................@@J International / Europe: Chunnel coming in 1994...........@@K t I d B i T s ...........................................@@! RAILONLINE FEATURES Cover: Northern Illinois Rail Paradise ..................@@L Cover: Railphoto `93 a Winner............................@@M Travel: The Winnepeg Trains..............................@@N Model RRing: Industry Connection.........................@@O Model RRing: Give Old Locos New Life.....................@@P Cyberspace Report: Railroad Tycoon Deluxe review.........@@Q Daniel Dawdy: Time for railfan reform, and GB&W takeover.@@R RailOnline info: staff, contacting RO, submitting to RO, copying RO, and the next issue, @^ Check out the RO Guide at @@1. It's your travel guide to the contents of this issue. TIRED OF PRINTING OUT RO? Fear not. RailOnline is dedicated to readers first, so we try to provide as many viable options for readers as possible. If you like to read RO away from your computer, consider the paper edition. It includes additional photographs and images not found online. And it features an attractive layout, set up like a commercial magazine. To make this option more viable, we've sliced the cost to you over the past few months. Now, for only $1.29 an issue, you receive a 30-page or longer magazine, shipped first class to your door. Contact us via e-mail at 73232,3534 CIS to request a subscription or for more information. And just think - it'll never run out of ink, either! __________________________________________________________________ FROM THE EDITOR: Railfans deserve respect @@A __________________________________________________________________ Railfan issues continue to be a focus in this issue as the last issue of RailOnline. Ethics seem to be at a low, and the railroads are growing wary. Porter, Indiana, was targeted as a common spot for tresspassing not only by townspeople, but by railfans, and we covered last issue. In this RO as well as the last, assistant editor Daniel Dawdy has been taking on the problem. However, I suppose none of these issues can be looked at without first examining a very basic question: do railfans have any value? Is the definition of a railfan simply some guy who likes trains and will do anything to get photographs of one? Is the most a railfan can do for a railroad avoid tresspassing and not do stupid things like stand on a railroad track to get a photograph of the lead unit of an oncoming train? We all know, of course, that railfans can be, and have been, far more. Chances are, the fact that you're reading RailOnline means that you yourself are to some extent a railfan. If a railfan is anyone who appreciates railroads, we have an extremely large chunk of the population. In fact, engineers are often railfans themselves, and get the same thrill strapping themselves into the seat of a locomotive as pilots do strapping themselves into a commercial jetliner. Sometimes, railfans become businessman, owning shortlines. In the United States alone, the number of people who simply like trains numbers in the tens of millions at least, and probably more. Many railfan photographers are true artists. Not only to they go beyond just pointing an SLR at an oncoming train and feeling lucky if it doesn't come out as a blur, but they can also prove themselves as among the foremost photographers in the world, as in the case of titans like Don Ball, Jr. What value can railfans be to the rail industry? Plenty. The profound interest some railfans have in the railroads leads them to be the most knowledgable in its activities. RailNews is certainly an example of this. No one is better suited for writing articles on railroads than the people who find the knowledge of them a pleasure in itself. They understand the historical context, the people, and the technology behind the industry's movements. The history of the railroads often finds railfans as its only guardian. In this issue, we see three great examples of preservation at work, from a crane in Canada to a look at the showcasing of equipment in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Preserving the equipment itself or the memory, railfans have provided people with thousands of sources in literature, models, and restored trains and train structures. ARPs, Associations of Rail Passengers, are the first line of defense for the rail side of our transportation infrastructure. The United States especially has not always been so lucky, as an entire interurban system was basically dismantled, and all of its passenger service had to be rebuilt from the ground up following the fallout of the 60s. Competition was not the only culprit; government was also a major culprit. Thanks to ARPs, passengers have someone lobbying for them to avoid repeating the same mistake. ARPs are crucial to maintaining a balance between different forms of transportation. In this issue, one success story comes to us from our greatest news partner, the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger: ARPs were able to save Amtrak from a painful blow that could've prevented them from continuing to work on high speed rail. These sorts of battles are constantly going on on the local and national levels, and they're often not realized. Railfans play a major role in providing the enthusiasm required to make ARPs work. As I've learned as the editor of a publication that can't pay writers for their work, enthusiasm is the first step in acheiving every goal. Railfans are hardly short on enthusiasm in any cases, and that's a terrific resource. We owe a great deal to the elite group of railfans that keeps railroads in the past, present, and future. Railfans need respect from the rail industry, and the general population. It would be a welcome gesture for railroads to add facilities at common railfanning spots as has already been done at Horseshoe Curve at Altoona. However, railfans need to respect themselves, as well, and what they can do. The same power they have to help the rail industry can go in the opposite direction, by tresspassing on rail property, and endangering their lives in a multitude of other ways. The act of railfanning is a privelage, not a right, and railroads are businesses. I hope that everyone reading this will take the opportunity to re-evaluate their roles as railfans, not simply from the perspective of "what am I doing wrong that I should change?", but how they can expand their roles. Perhaps we should consider joining an ARP and lobbying for railroads. Or call the local rail museum and ask how we can volunteer. Or read up a bit more on rail history. Or try to develop photography skills. In the end, it is self-respect that we're lacking here. If we don't work on it now, it's going to be a long downhill slide for railfans. There will always be jerks. But if each of us (including myself) goes beyond what we've done in the past, they'll seem a lot less noticable. There are hundreds upon hundreds of readers of RailOnline. Imagine what we alone could do. CORRECTION: The Internet e-mail address for Matthew Mitchell, editor of the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger, should have been iekp898@tjuvm.tju.edu. I apologize to Mr. Mitchell and to anyone else who was caused inconvenience by this error. RAILONLINE GUIDE: @@1 In this issue: We begin our coverage of the tragic Alabama accident in the new RailNews USA/Insight section, formally the special report section. Coverage is continued in the next issue. Changes are coming at Conrail. Conrail was reported as lagging behind the industry in terms of quality, and the railroad is undergoing reorganization on multiple levels. See the RailNews USA/Conrail section. Three new sections have been added to RailNews. Richard Brundage is sending us news from the railfanning community in northern California in the RailNews USA/Pacific section. In RailNews USA/Railfanning News & Information, we've added "Classic Equipment News", which will keep you up to date with vintage rolling stock, locomotives, and sites across the country. We've also added the RailNews USA/Media News section for coverage of television and videotape programs, starting out with information on the third season of the popular show Tracks Ahead. We welcome a new member of the official news team here at RailOnline, with Bryce Lee taking a position as the RailNews International/Canada correspondent. We believe Mr. Lee combined with RailOnline will be one of the most effective combinations available for Canadian news, especially for US and European readers. A doubleheader of railfanning articles leads this issue, on two major events, from myself in northern Illinois, and from Ken May at Steamtown. If you're going to be in the northeast, be sure to check out the railfanning section for information on fall folliage trips. Fall grows shorter by the day, alas. Matthew Mitchell with the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger has brought us a wealth of northeast news, from loads of bad news from SEPTA including more reported losses in ridership to the results of "Try Transit Day" in the northeast news section. In Europe, BritRail is gearing up for the beginning of service through the "Chunnel" (Channel Tunnel) in 1994, and our North American readers can reserve their seats now. Model railroaders will enjoy yet another article from Roger Hensley, this time with some ideas for breathing new life in that old AHM locomotive diaplayed on the shelf. Modelers will also be happy to know we've added Walthers to our growing list of manufacturers sending us fast, detailed direct information. Lastly, Daniel Dawdy and I are taking on the same issue - whether or not it's time for some improvement in the railan community, which we covered in last month's RailNews special report. As usual, while my associate editor and I basically agree, we both see different angles of the issue. My thoughts lead this issue while his finish it off. I look forward to your response to both of our articles. That's issue 4, a third of the way through our first year of operation! Happy Oktoberfest! -Peter Kirn, Editor __________________________________________________________________ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: @@B __________________________________________________________________ We received a great deal of enthusiastic comments via Internet and CIS from Europe as well as the United States. These are only two selections. Thanks to all of you, and please continue the feedback. It's always appreciated. -PK AGREES TIME IS NOW TO WORK ON RAILFAN REFORM Send a great big "THANKS" to all the folks who worked on Rail Online. This looks like a great venture, and much appreciated. I also appreciated your editorial on railfans, railroad property, and etiquette. A lot of work needs to be done, both by the railfan community, and by the railroads themselves. There probably are a lot of folks in the industry that can help; there are many, many railfans that want to help. And then there are the occasional jerks (on both sides) that create problems for everyone. How about railfans working with Operation Lifesaver for local presentations to schools, public groups, etc.? How about organizing railfans to attend government hearings and other gatherings where the railroads need help against the roadbuilders and the AAA? Somehow, we railfans need to demonstrate our ability to assist the railroads as they try to do their job, so we can overwhelm the reputation we all get from the few jerks. Thanks again. Paul Marsh in Omaha, NE via Internet and Daniel Dawdy BEST WISHES, BUT WHERE IS THE SPELL CHECKER? First, I want to say that RailOnline is, on the whole, very well done and deserves the thanks of those of us who have read it, since much work must be involved. A nit though: Please run the text through a spelling checker! Typos are inevitable, of course, but when they repeat they become an embarrassment to the author, one that is unnecessary given the software available. With best wishes for the endeavor, David Soderblom in Baltimore, MD Via Internet and Daniel Dawdy Response: I agree completely. Unfortunately, RO was released under less than ideal circumstances in the last issue due to the Chicagoland move, and my hardware didn't support very fast spell-checking. I apologize for all errors. You can expect an end to typos - or at least close to it - for coming issues, including this one. -PK ====================== QUICK FEEDBACK CARD... ====================== Please take a moment to fill this out and copy this to your terminal software. Internet readers, contact 73232.3534@compuserve.com. CIS readers, send to 73232,3534. - How would you rate the new RailNews section Tidbits? (5 is very satisfied, 1 is not satisfied). 1 __ 2 __ 3 __ 4 __ 5 __ - Why? ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ - Which of the articles was your favorite(s) in this issue of RO? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ - What would you like to see more of in RO? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ - Write any more comments you wish. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for your continued support of RailOnline. RO is your publication. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS USA US Headlines @@C __________________________________________________________________ ALABAMA CRASH WORST IN AMTRAK HISTORY 47 passengers died in the September 22 derailment of the Sunset Limited, more than have died in all other Amtrak train wrecks in its 23 year history. It is now nearly certain that the accident was caused when a barge pushed by a river tug got into the wrong waterway and struck the railroad trestle. But what happened on board the MV Mauvilla is still unclear. Fearing lawsuits, neither tug captain Andrew Stabler nor owner Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co. has made a public explanation. Drug and alcohol testing of the boat crew may be worthless, since nine hours elapsed between the accident and the tests. The tragic crash attracted masses of media coverage. The coverage has brought up the often recurring issue of quality journalism. Rather than restate coverage so far, RO has decided to include thoughts from behind the headlines in our Insight section. We include comments by RO's partner in news coverage, the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger's editor Matthew Mitchell, as well as our own editor. Also, a piece will appear in next month's issue from a railroad employee with his own experience in the matter and that of Amtrak crews. (The article was delayed this month). Our own condolences go out to the families and friends of passengers. As a rail publication that works with many rail employees, we also send condolences to the friends and families of the Sunset Limited crew, as some of our own readers knew the crew personally. -Peter Kirn with Matthew Mitchell AMTRAK OPERATING FUNDS SAVED Delaware Valley Rail Passenger An amendment which would have eliminated all of Amtrak's $331 million Federal operating funding was rejected 337-84 in the House. Had the amendment passed, nearly all of Amtrak's service would be shut down, and commuter rail operators would also face problems. JUDGE SPIKES AMTRAK STRIKE Delaware Valley Rail Passenger U.S. District Judge Stanley Harris issued an injunction against a threatened strike by the United Transportation Union against Amtrak. At issue was work rules on the LA Metrolink commuter trains which are operated by Amtrak-UTU wants a conductor from its union on board trains which are moved into maintenance yards. Had a strike been called, not only would Amtrak's nationwide trains be affected but also many commuter lines including SEPTA. Under the provisions of the arcane Railway Labor Act, Amtrak claimed the dispute was a minor one which must be submitted to mediation before either party to the dispute could take action. UTU claimed the dispute was significant enough to permit an immediate strike. The order has already expired. Railfan issues continue to be a focus in this issue as the last issue of RailOnline. Ethics seem to be at a low, and the railroads are growing wary. Porter, Indiana, was targeted as a common spot for tresspassing not only by townspeople, but by railfans, and we covered last issue. In this RO as well as the last, assistant editor Daniel Dawdy has been taking on the problem. However, I suppose none of these issues can be looked at without first examining a very basic question: do railfans have any value? Is the definition of a railfan simply some guy who likes trains and will do anything to get photographs of one? Is the most a railfan can do for a railroad avoid tresspassing and not do stupid things like stand on a railroad track to get a photograph of the lead unit of an oncoming train? We all know, of course, that railfans can be, and have been, far more. Chances are, the fact that you're reading RailOnline means that you yourself are to some extent a railfan. If a railfan is anyone who appreciates railroads, we have an extremely large chunk of the population. In fact, engineers are often railfans themselves, and get the same thrill strapping themselves into the seat of a locomotive as pilots do strapping themselves into a commercial jetliner. Sometimes, railfans become businessman, owning shortlines. In the United States alone, the number of people who simply like trains numbers in the tens of millions at least, and probably more. Many railfan photographers are true artists. Not only to they go beyond just pointing an SLR at an oncoming train and feeling lucky if it doesn't come out as a blur, but they can also prove themselves as among the foremost photographers in the world, as in the case of titans like Don Ball, Jr. What value can railfans be to the rail industry? Plenty. The profound interest some railfans have in the railroads leads them to be the most knowledgable in its activities. RailNews is certainly an example of this. No one is better suited for writing articles on railroads than the people who find the knowledge of them a pleasure in itself. They understand the historical context, the people, and the technology behind the industry's movements. The history of the railroads often finds railfans as its only guardian. In this issue, we see three great examples of preservation at work, from a crane in Canada to a look at the showcasing of equipment in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Preserving the equipment itself or the memory, railfans have provided people with thousands of sources in literature, models, and restored trains and train structures. ARPs, Associations of Rail Passengers, are the first line of defense for the rail side of our transportation infrastructure. The United States especially has not always been so lucky, as an entire interurban system was basically dismantled, and all of its passenger service had to be rebuilt from the ground up following the fallout of the 60s. Competition was not the only culprit; government was also a major culprit. Thanks to ARPs, passengers have someone lobbying for them to avoid repeating the same mistake. ARPs are crucial to maintaining a balance between different forms of transportation. In this issue, one success story comes to us from our greatest news partner, the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger: ARPs were able to save Amtrak from a painful blow that could've prevented them from continuing to work on high speed rail. These sorts of battles are constantly going on on the local and national levels, and they're often not realized. Railfans play a major role in providing the enthusiasm required to make ARPs work. As I've learned as the editor of a publication that can't pay writers for their work, enthusiasm is the first step in acheiving every goal. Railfans are hardly short on enthusiasm in any cases, and that's a terrific resource. We owe a great deal to the elite group of railfans that keeps railroads in the past, present, and future. Railfans need respect from the rail industry, and the general population. It would be a welcome gesture for railroads to add facilities at common railfanning spots as has already been done at Horseshoe Curve at Altoona. However, railfans need to respect themselves, as well, and what they can do. The same power they have to help the rail industry can go in the opposite direction, by tresspassing on rail property, and endangering their lives in a multitude of other ways. The act of railfanning is a privelage, not a right, and railroads are businesses. I hope that everyone reading this will take the opportunity to re-evaluate their roles as railfans, not simply from the perspective of "what am I doing wrong that I should change?", but how they can expand their roles. Perhaps we should consider joining an ARP and lobbying for railroads. Or call the local rail museum and ask how we can volunteer. Or read up a bit more on rail history. Or try to develop photography skills. In the end, it is self-respect that we're lacking here. If we don't work on it now, it's going to be a long downhill slide for railfans. There will always be jerks. But if each of us (including myself) goes beyond what we've done in the past, they'll seem a lot less noticable. There are hundreds upon hundreds of readers of RailOnline. Imagine what we alone could do. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS USA Conrail News @@D __________________________________________________________________ All stories courtesy Conrail Newswire CONRAIL LAGS BEHIND INDUSTRY? Distribution Magazine's annual survey of rail shippers rated Conrail lower than many other major rail carriers on several indicators, including On-Time Performance, Equipment and Operations, Customer Service and Administration. Conrail ranked above the industry averages only on Value. HARRISBURG OPERATIONS REORGANIZED, CAR SHOP TO CLOSE, STRONG PRESENCE STILL PLANNED Conrail is reorganizing train operations in the Harrisburg area, effective October 4, to reduce unnecessary handling of customers shipments, a move that will reduce employment in the area. A total of 198 of the more than 1,100 employees in the Harrisburg area will be affected by the reorganization. Many of the affected employees will have the opportunity to transfer to other positions. Labor Relations and Personnel representatives will be available at SMART 8-324-2068 to provide information and answer questions. Informational meetings for employees will be held this week at convenient locations to be announced. The reorganization will eliminate the classification operation at Enola Yard -- along with support functions like car inspection and repair, maintenance of way, customer service and clerical operations. While the car repair facility at Enola will close, the diesel terminal will remain in operation. Crew reporting points for through trains will be transferred from Enola to other locations within the Harrisburg area. Local yards in the Harrisburg area will continue to provide switching service for Harrisburg customers. The reorganization is a result of adjustments in traffic flows that eliminate the need to handle at Enola freight cars that are not originating or terminating at Harrisburg customers. In fact, there are no freight cars currently moving through Enola directly to or from customers in Harrisburg. In addition, the classification operation at Enola is the oldest of any of Conrail's major classification yards. Despite the moves at Enola, Conrail will retain a strong presence in Harrisburg. The area is headquarters for the Harrisburg Division. In addition, Harrisburg remains a hub for rail intermodal service in the Mid-Atlantic, with a Conrail intermodal terminal at Lucknow and a new terminal at Rutherford Yard used by Triple Crown Services, the intermodal joint venture of Conrail and Norfolk Southern. Local yards in the Harrisburg area will all continue to serve local customers on shipments originating or terminating in Harrisburg. NEW INTERMODAL TERMINAL IN SYRACUSE Conrail officially opened its new $5 million intermodal terminal at Syracuse during a ceremony September 17 involving Conrail employees and customers and state officials. General Manager-Intermodal Operations Dale Schaub said the terminal is a key part of part of Conrail's efforts to improve intermodal service to New York State and New England. The terminal, located at DeWitt Yard, is designed to handle double-stack containers as well as conventional intermodal trains. Among the terminal's functions is converting New England-bound double-stack trains to single- stack, since clearances into New England cannot yet accommodate double-stack. The terminal employs 22 people, and handles 13 intermodal trains daily. It is large enough to hold 32 standard intermodal flatcars and has storage for up to 345 containers or trailers. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS USA Insight: Alabama Amtrak accident @@E __________________________________________________________________ MATTHEW MITCHELL Editor, Delaware Valley Rail Passenger ...The issue of rail safety got great attention in the media following the derailment, precisely because fatal train accidents are so rare. People accept serious risks they face everyday, most notably riding in a car, but are very afraid of the least common threats. And regrettably, news reports were full of hysterical reactions which would be funny if not for the seriousness of the accident. One TV reporter suggested Amtrak trains should carry life preservers for all on board! A more effective way to improve the safety of our nation's transportation system would be to give Amtrak the money it needs to buy more trains and get more passengers out of their cars and onto the rails. Decades of statistics have proven that private automobiles are ten times more dangerous than passenger trains or commercial airliners. Another misunderstanding pertained to reported safety devices on the bridge. The system which automatically turns signals red if a bridge collapses is the ordinary track circuit, in use for a century. If a rail is broken, the small electrical current passing through it is cut off, and 'fail-safe' signals turn red. But the barge collision shifted the track and didn't break it. Special hazard detection wires are used in places where the risks are greater, such as rockslide or avalanche areas, but there was not supposed to be any boat traffic under this trestle, and the cost of equipping every one of the nation's thousands and thousands of rail bridges with collision detectors should be much better spent on more effective safety measures. PETER KIRN Editor, RailOnline It's difficult for anyone to know how to react to a tragedy such as the Alabama rail accident recently. Our general tendency is to look for something that can be learned from the experience. Unfortunately, there is little to be found. Media coverage was very poor, but that's hardly something new. Amtrak has been shown not to be responsible for the accident. How do we deal with that? I think, basically, just accept it. Sometimes there are risks that are inevitable and can't be overcome, in all things. Everyone reading this publication is in someway involved with railroads. Many have railroads as a main interest or career. This makes the news especially painful. Railroad employees were certain to have felt a little queezy hearing the news, even if they didn't know anyone involved along the route. Perhaps just dealing with the realization of these risks will be the best way to make sense out of this event. For those of you who were involved with people along the route, or even knew the crew who died, there is really very little to say. Death as part of a railroad is no different from untimely death anywhere else. It's also no easier. I'm sorry the mainstream press hasn't treated the issue in a sensitive manner as it should be. They have presented the facts, but they've clouded them with speculation, and they haven't brought the railroad side of the story. I hope we can all take a better look and these two sides of the story, myself as editor of RailOnline, but all of us as informed members of a railroad community. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS USA Northeast News @@F __________________________________________________________________ Thanks to the news team at DVRP:Howard Bender, Chuck Bode, Tom Borawski, Larry Joyce, Mike McEnaney, Don Nigro, John Pawson. All DVRP stories (C)1993, used with permission. SEPTA BOARD CAUGHT IN DOUBLE-BIND, VOTES TO DELAY CAR CONTRACT DECISION Tom Borawski Delaware Valley Rail Passenger * "The most compelling pressure we should feel frankly are the people who sit in that audience....The people who put their kids on that El line every day. That's the pressure that should be driving us...." -Senator Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Pennsylvania) * "I am confounded by the impassioned plea and then the vote to delay for up to three months. I don't follow his logic...." -Andy Warren (Bucks Co.), in response to Williams' speech * The SEPTA Board received pressure in a new direction last month as New York Governor Mario Cuomo threatened to blacklist Pennsylvania firms from New York State government contracts if ABB Traction Corp. was not awarded the $300 million Market-Frankford car contract. The Board continued to receive threats from Western Pennsylvania lawmakers pushing Pittsburgh-based AEG Westinghouse's bid and warning of "trouble in Harrisburg" if ABB wins, leading to a strained atmosphere at the special Board meeting called August 24 to consider the contract. The SEPTA Board vote means three-decade-old cars will continue to ply the rails of the Frankford El. The stereophonic threats led the Board to throw the whole issue into the lap of yet another consultant to determine the eligibility of the bidders. The consultant study is to last a maximum of 80 days. The motion to seek the new study was made by Board member James Schwartzman (Senate appointee). The consultant is to be approved by Chairman Tom Hayward (Delaware Co.) with input from other Board members. It is unclear if the selection of the consultant might add further delay on top of the 80 day study period. The contractors, afraid that to say no might be to lose the contract, have extended the validity of their bids for 90 days. The attempt to pass the buck to an outsider came a week after the Board failed to get a majority vote either to award the contract to ABB or to reject ABB's bid, and six months after the bid opening. Only Edmund Jones (Delaware Co.), Jettie Newkirk (Philadelphia), Andy Warren (Bucks Co.), and Franklin Wood (Bucks) opposed the delay. Both SEPTA's own staff and a $70,000 consultant study have determined that ABB was the lowest responsible bidder for the contract. Jones pointed out that the study done by consulting firm O'Brien Kreitzberg found ABB responsible. He said if the new study finds all three bidders responsible, "We're right back then where we are right now....I think that we're spinning wheels for an unnecessary purpose." He later pointed out that the new study may cost more than the $210,000 estimate. Newkirk added, "The time period is more lengthy than I think is reasonable to ask." Richard Voith attempted to amend the motion to cut the review period down to 45 days, but it was decided that it might not be possible to complete the review in the shorter time. Patrick McCarthy (Governor's appointee), who was attending the meeting by telephone, started to debate Voith's amendment after it was voted down, demonstrating the unwieldiness of Board member 'telecommuting.' New Board member and State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Philadelphia), who took the seat formerly occupied by FTA Administrator Gordon Linton, packed the audience with constituents, presumably to pressure his fellow board members to vote against any delay. Williams said, "The most compelling pressure we should feel frankly are the people who sit in that audience....The people who put their kids on that El line every day. That's the pressure that should be driving us....But up to this point I have to question how responsible we are being with regard to what we're doing to other people's lives." He added, "I have to temper what we're doing here. It's not a compromise for consensus. Frankly, it's a move to seek other areas of cover." Shortly after Williams spoke, the board voted on the 80 day delay. The motion passed with 9 affirmative votes-including the same Anthony Hardy Williams who just finished preaching to the board about "other people's lives." Warren was flabbergasted by Williams's pro-delay vote. He said, "I am confounded by the impassioned plea and then the vote to delay for up to three months. I don't follow his logic...." SUSQUEHANNA DELAYS STARTUP OF SYRACUSE SHUTTLE TRAIN Ken May RailOnline News Staff According to an article published in the Sept. 15 edition of the Syracuse New Times, the start-up of the proposed passenger shuttle train service in the upstate New York city scheduled to begin this month will be delayed for at least six months or more. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway announced back in May 1993 that it was planning to operate shuttle service using four ex-Metro North Commuter Railroad rail diesel cars over the ex-Lackawanna line running through the City of Syracuse. New York State Assemblyman Michael Bragman told the New Times, "Everything is under way, but everything is delayed. It's on track for the spring." $771,000 in state funds has already been spent by the Susquehanna to upgrade trackwork between Syracuse and Jamesville since June 1993. Another $500,000 was released by the New York State Department of Transportation in early September for additional track rehabilitation and bridgework. More state money will be used for construction of passenger loading platforms at the Carousel Center, Armory Square and Carrier Dome station stops. Track will also have to be relaid at the Carousel Center alongside the Conrail mainline to allow shuttletrains to access the shopping mall. Delaware Otsego Corp. (parent company of the NYS&W) Vice President of Administration William Matteson told the Syracuse _New Times_ that the delay in start-up of the shuttle train operation was due in part to the need for more research on the scope of the project. "We found it still needs quite a bit of study and research," Matteson was quoted as saying. A marketing study was commissioned by the Susquehanna over the summer to determine the demand for rail passenger service in Central New York State. The results will be analyzed to help set initial train schedules. Matteson also said that the shuttle train run will eventually be expanded to serve the planned intermodal transportation center near the Syracuse Regional Market when the facility is built in the next year or two. Meanwhile, trackwork is also being done on Susquehanna's line from Binghamton to Jamesville, NY (7 miles south of Syracuse). Private contractors have been quite active during August and September rehabilitating the trackage between Jamesville and Tully on Onondaga County. Much heavy track renovation remains to be completed on the ex-Lackawanna line from Syracuse to Binghamton before NYS&W freight and passenger trains can operate over the route. (See August RailOnline article) NY SENATOR RAISES STAKES Delaware Valley Rail Passenger Philadelphia Business Journal reports that New York State Senator John R. Kuhl Jr. warned western Pennsylvania legislators that he had sponsored a bill that would exclude all Pennsylvania businesses from New York State contracts "if SEPTA doesn't give ABB the YMarket-Frankford" contract." "TRY TRANSIT DAY" PROMOTES MASS TRANSIT Delaware Valley Rail Passenger For the first time in years, SEPTA took part in the nationwide Try Transit Day promotion. The participation of the region's biggest transit operator made the day into a major event, leveraging support and publicity worth thousands of dollars if SEPTA had to pay for it itself. KYW radio was the hero of the day, devoting countless minutes of coverage to transit topics and taking the bold step of suspending its usual traffic reports in favor of "transit reports." The all-news radio station (which gets a huge audience of auto drivers) also prepared a week-long series of Regional Affairs Council reports highlighting the problems overdependence on cars causes and showing how some companies are solving them by finding alternative ways to get people to the workplace. KYW is has now permanently converted its traffic center to a "traffic and transit center" so listeners will routinely hear the words, "SEPTA, PATCO, and New Jersey Transit are running on or close to schedule." SEPTA offered discount fares, $1.00 on the transit divisions and $2.00 on the RRD. For the convenience of people trying the system for the first time, and to avoid antagonizing them, the normal penalty on fares paid on the train was waived. PATCO did SEPTA one better; all rides were free! NJ Transit offered $1.00 rides between Lindenwold and Philadelphia. SEPTA reported mixed results, citing a 10,000 passenger (2%) increase overall, but not the swarm of new riders which other cities have seen on "Try Transit Day." An increase of 4.6 percent was reported for the RRD, where SEPTA has lost the most to the private auto. PATCO parking lots were close to capacity. All three systems observed that mid-day ridership increased more than at rush hour: car commuters' habits are quite firmly entrenched. SEPTA REPORTS MAJOR LOSSES; NJT AND METRO NORTH GOING STRONG Delaware Valley Rail Passenger In its final Revenue and Passenger Analysis for the fiscal year, SEPTA reported a stemming of its ridership losses. Annualized CTD ridership was virtually level over the course of the year but down 1.2% over fiscal 1992. Suburban Transit ridership actually was up for the year, by 1.0%. SEPTA's fare revenue totals on all divisions were influenced by passengers' shift from passes to single-trip tokens and tickets. On the transit divisions, this has the effect of lowering the average fare and total revenue, while on the railroad, it increases fare revenue. On the commuter rail lines, the RailWorks(R) megaproject caused an overall ridership loss of 9.2% and sharper declines on the affected lines, but the bad trend did flatten out late in the year. SEPTA is nearly alone in the area in its losses. Only Maryland MTA (Baltimore city and suburban transit) showed worse ridership performance in the last two years. NJ Transit and Metro-North were the best performers, gaining 1.5% this year. SEPTA's projections for 1994 cite the crucial need to win back passengers from other modes of travel. Economic conditions are not favorable for job growth in central Philadelphia, so the market will not expand. HIGH-TECH PENNSYLVANIA INVENTORY OF RAIL LINES ALMOST COMPLETE Delaware Valley Rail Passenger The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Affairs (DER) and its consultant, Wilbur Smith Associates, held seven public meetings across the state last month, to present their work to date on inventorying the state's active and abandoned rail lines. The September 20 meeting in Philadelphia lasted five hours, in which the formal public presentation was given three times to accommodate people's differing schedules. The inventory is required by recent legislation, which as usual did not provide funding to cover the cost. DER and the Bureau of Parks worked to put together a coalition of interests and agencies to share the cost and presumably share the results. That coalition included DER, PennDOT, the US Environmental Protection Agency, Industrial Heritage Project, Pa. Department of Community Affairs, and the National Park Service. The project also included active rail lines, so that if any of them are abandoned, adding them to the list of trail candidates will be simple. The data was assembled with a computerized geographic information system (GIS) which includes both tables of data and computer-generated maps. The GIS allows information to be kept current more quickly and cheaply than in a paper map-based system. More significantly, many types of analysis can be performed with the GIS. The data can be cross-referenced to census data or transferred to other computer systems for other uses. The consultants are expected to spend another two months refining the data before turning it and the computer system over to the Bureau of Parks. The consultants used a multitude of maps and documents as sources, but still admit to a few gaps in the data. At the meetings, people with detailed knowledge of specific areas identified other corrections. The Bureau is committed to update the abandoned segment list from ICC records, and census data can be easily updated. An agency and funding still need to be found to keep the other info up to date. Despite these minor faults, the system is a major accomplishment in railroad information. The Bureau of Parks offered to make printed information available to groups working on specific projects, and to make the entire database available to agencies and groups with the necessary resources (a large-capacity PC and the commercial software). This inventory will be useful to trail projects, rail projects, and many other projects that use geographic data in the planning process. NEWTOWN PRIVATIZATION PLAN UPDATE Matthew Mitchell Delaware Valley Rail Passenger The Newton privatization has taken additional turns this month. Fisk's plan changed to exclude Center City and add two new cities. Meanwhile, one bidder has brought up allegations over the plan. The SEPTA Board gave SEPTA management permission to proceed in negotiations with Rodney Fisk's Newtown Interurban Coalition for private operation of passenger rail service on lines to Newtown and Quakertown. At the Board meeting last month, it was revealed that Fisk has reconfigured his plan, withdrawing from Center City and extending his proposed service to Hellertown and Norristown. SEPTA GM Lou Gambaccini and Treasurer Feather Houstoun both expressed doubts to the Board over Fisk's ability to run the trains on a break-even basis. SEPTA's chief objective in arranging the deal is to insulate itself from any financial risk in the transaction. To finance the cost of trains and track repairs, Fisk is counting on a pass-through of added subsidies SEPTA would receive from the Federal Transit Agency. Because the money is allotted on a per route-mile basis, Fisk's operation must cover more than just Fox Chase to Newtown in order to leverage sufficient money. Newtown Interurban Coalition will issue 30 million dollars worth of 'tax-exempt certificates of participation' to finance capital costs. The bonds would be guaranteed by Bucks County, and paid back out of dedicated state grants. The amount of the payments would be pegged to the incremental Federal subsidy, now estimated at $300 thousand per year. If the financing scheme and Fisk's operating plan can get put together, service on the new lines could start as soon as next fall. Fisk's original plan for Newtown service was to reach Center City via the Conrail trackage which was used this summer for RailWorks detour trains. That plan has been dropped for reasons which have not been disclosed. However, Conrail has been cool to Fisk's proposed ventures in the past and is known not to care for passenger trains interfering with its freight operations. Most of the substitute trackage, including all of the Stony Creek Branch, is owned by SEPTA, even though its use is freight-only. The extension of Fisk's originally-proposed Quakertown to Hellertown service adds nine miles to the route and brings it into Northampton County. Neither the county nor LANTA has not been reported as a participant in the project. Hellertown is about two miles south of Bethlehem, and may become a park-and-ride site. Pre-SEPTA trains covered the 29 miles from Hellertown to Lansdale in about 55 minutes, making intermediate stops at Centre Valley, Quakertown, Perkasie, Sellersville, Telford, Souderton, and Hatfield. The 10-mile Stony Creek branch has not seen regular passenger service in over 50 years, but several large companies are now located along the line and may generate ridership, both direct riders from Lansdale and north and reverse commuters changing trains at Norristown. Fisk originally proposed to use his railcars for weekend excursions from Philadelphia to the outlets in Reading. The fate of that service in the new plan is not known. Despite the benefits which Montgomery County residents would gain from the expanded train service, County representatives Stewart Cades and Floriana Bloss voted against the negotiating go-ahead. Board members Earl Baker and David Woods also voted no. It is widely speculated that MontCo's opposition is to protect wealthy landowners along the Newtown right-of-way from any possible inconvenience caused by trains in their backyards again. In Board debate, Cades found his arguments quickly shot down. When he tried to couch his opposition in environmental terms, Daren Martynick of Chester County replied: "There is no greater conservation measure any of us can do than to vote for increased mass transit." Shortly after Cades expressed the County's opposition, Hatfield Borough Manager Mark Kurflin spoke in favor of the service. Andrew Warren pointedly asked Kurflin where his Borough is: Montgomery County. Cades is also concerned about the new service attracting riders who now use SEPTA's R2 and R3 lines, but that in fact may bring some benefits to Montgomery County in the form of fewer people driving to MontCo stations: adding to traffic and taking up limited parking capacity. The vote to authorize negotiations came after Houstoun spelled out certain conditions NIC must satisfy before a contract is finalized. While making sure SEPTA will not incur any added costs is the foremost concern, the new venture must also obtain insurance indemnifying SEPTA from any claims resulting from the new service, show proof of any necessary trackage rights over other railroads and secure approval by the Federal Railroad Administration. Should negotiations be successful and Fisk's financial plan be approved, the Board will take a final vote on awarding the contract. Bidder Regensburger calls foul A "white paper" issued by Newtown line bidder Robert Regensburger alleges improprieties on the part of virtually everyone involved in the Newtown line privatization, especially Bucks County and SEPTA. The most serious of the allegations holds that Bucks County has promised to guarantee loans to rival bidder Rodney Fisk without a public vote or an open process. All kinds of collusion are alleged. Regensburger also alleges that a member of SEPTA's Planning and Development staff has circumvented procurement rules to leak information to Fisk. Regensburger feels that something about Fisk's desire to operate service to both Newtown and Quakertown is somehow suspect, and is adamant that Fisk's plan will fail. He concludes that the whole privatization should be called off rather than award the contract to Fisk. ROUTE OF PHOEBE SNOW MAY LIVE AGAIN Jerome Rosenfeld RailOnline News Staff Penn. DOT and NY DOT are both looking to restore passenger service via the former route of the Phoebe Snow from Elmira and Binghamton, NY via Scranton, PA. For the route to be reinstated, NJ DOT would have to relay the missing 26 miles of track Conrail removed in 1984 between Delaware, NJ and Port Morris, MK. At the moment, NJ DOT owns only one and a half miles of the Lackawanna cut-off from Port Morris. Amtrak would operate the service after the Kearny Connection is completed in 1995, allowing direct NJ Transit service from Gladstone, Montclair, and Dover, NJ, into Penn Station. RAILWORKS ON TIME AND UNDER BUDGET Delaware Valley Rail Passenger Louis Gambaccini crowed to the media late last month as RailWorks construction crews drove to an on-time reopening of the commuter rail trunk line through North Philadelphia. Gambaccini says that the final cost of the project will be some $90 million below the budgeted $354 amount, thanks to the slack construction market. SEPTA will not be able to spend the remaining funds as it chooses, though. Most of the money is coming from Federal grants, and SEPTA must apply to the FTA to get that money back for other projects like Wayne Junction-Glenside renovations or Frankford El reconstruction. NJT RUNS SERVICE THROUGH TO HACKETSTOWN Jerome Rosenfeld RailOnline News Staff In October 1994, NJT will be running Boonton Line commuter trains to Hacketstown, NJ. The trains presently terminate in Dover and Netcong, NJ. The extension will result in changes at Dover Yard. The yard will become a 100% electric yard, with only Silverliner MU and ALP-44 locomotives. A new yard will be constructed in Port Morrish, NJ, on the site of a former Lackawanna yard, which will also handle future passenger trains on the Lackawanna cut-off to Delaware. STORM CUTS OFF RAIL SERVICE Delaware Valley Rail Passenger A strong storm on the 27th brought reports of tornados in Delaware County and the north suburbs. It knocked out service on the Reading commuter rail trunk, the R3 Elwyn, and the Media-Sharon Hill trolleys. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS USA Pacific News @@G __________________________________________________________________ All provided by Richard Brundage for RailOnline TAKE THE LAST TRAIN TO PETALUMA On Sat the last SP Sprint train ran Petaluma to Suisun Fairfield with SD9's 4362/4440/4306 plus a Rio Grande caboose. The last SP train from Willets to Petaluma had SD9 as lead unit with about 25 cars. On the tail end was former SP Daylight coach, Marin, which has been sold to a party in Canada. U30CS ON BURLINGTON NORTHERN As of early July BN is restoring to operation some 5300 series U30C's for cabooseless trains. They are being used on ballast trains, mostly loading at M-K west of Cheyenne on the UP. EARLY IC GEEPS ON SP IC GP10's 8178/8330/8365/8371/8343/8345 have been leased to the SP and are being used in Pine Bluff-Memphis service. OVERLAND ROUTE SHEILDS APPLIED TO UP BOX CARS 50'6" box cars 301158/301105 now sport Overland Route shields on their sides and were recently seen in the Tacoma area. UP apparently applied the emblems to cars to keep them under trademark registration. UP ADDS PASSENGER CAR The newest addition to the UP passenger car fleet is "Pacific Limited". The car was built by ACT '55 as a lunch counter car 4003 in series 4000-4004, and converted to a cafeteria lounge in 1960. The car was the only one kept by UP, and though they later sold it, it has now come around full circle. UP will use it as a kitchen car in its large passenger car fleet. CALTRANS HOLDS PUBLIC MEETINGS Informal public meetings will be held in October to discuss the ten-year program for improvements to rail passenger services in California. The purpose of these meetings is to receive public comment prior to the publication of the Rail Passenger Program Report in December. Meetings will be held in Santa Ana Oct 7, Oakland Oct 13, and Fresno Oct 14. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS USA Railfanning News & Information @@H __________________________________________________________________ FALL FOLLIAGE IN THE NORTHEAST: WHERE TO GO Delaware Valley Rail Passenger United Railway Historical Society trip from Hoboken, NJ to Lackawaxen, PA: Oct. 16. Info from URHS, W-11 Avon Drive, East Windsor, NJ 08520. B&O Railroad Museum (Baltimore): special trips Oct. 16, 23. Phone 410-752- 2393 for information. Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (Strasburg, PA) Railfest '93 trips: Oct. 30- 31 phone 800-TRAIN-50 *Many of the following lines will also be offering autumn leaf trips: Black River & Western (Ringoes and Lambertville, NJ) 908-782-9600 Blue Mountain & Reading (Hamburg, PA) 215-562-2102 Chadds Ford and Brandywine (Chester County, PA) 215-793-3155 East Broad Top (Orbisonia, PA) 814-447-3011 New Hope & Ivyland (New Hope, PA) 215-862-2332 Steamtown National Historic Site (Scranton, PA) 717-961-2034 Strasburg RR (Strasburg, PA) 717-687-6486 Wanamaker, Kempton and Southern (Kempton, PA) 215-756-6469 Western Maryland Scenic RR (Cumberland, MD) 800-TRAIN-50 Wilmington & Western RR (Wilmington, DE) 302-998-1930 Penn's Landing Trolley (BVTA, Philadelphia) 215-627-0807 Rockhill Trolley Museum (Orbisonia, PA) 814-447-9576 Baltimore Streetcar Museum (Baltimore) 410-547-0264 ====================== CLASSIC EQUIPMENT NEWS ====================== A new part of RailOnline's railfan news services: What's happening with vintage locomotives, rolling stock, and structures BALDWIN AND GEEP TO UNITED RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Jerome Rosenfeld RailOnline News Staff Recently the URHS received two diesel locomotives, now stored on the Morristown & Erie Railway siding in Whippany, NJ. The first unit is NJ Transit (ex-CNJ) GP7 5202, the only such unit ever to receive full NJT paint. 5202 was accompanied by ex-Navy Baldwin VO-10000 19. The URHS received the two locomotives in addition to an Erie-Lackawanna crane and flat car. MARC REPLACES F'S AND E'S Delaware Valley Rail Passenger MARC will be buying more rebuilt GP40 locomotives to replace its classic F and E units and to provide for continuing ridership growth. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS INTERNATIONAL Media News @@I __________________________________________________________________ TRACKS AHEAD TELEVISION SERIES ENTERS THIRD SEASON WITH NEW UNDERWRITER Brio, a Norwegian toy manufacturer, has joined Kalmbach Publishing and W.K. Walthers, Inc. in underwriting a third "Tracks Ahead" series produced by Milwaukee Public Television Channels 10/36 WMVS/WMVT in Milwaukee, Wis. The next 13-part series will include an expanded staff, new graphics, and a yet unnamed well-known personality to host the show. Filming will be done in seven countries including the US and Europe with an emphasis on the United States. Due to the complexities of organizing and filming such a series, it is not expected to be released on PBS until 1995. The second series of Tracks Ahead which aired last fall and winter in Milwaukee was seen on nearly 200 public television stations in 44 states. • Are you a video or television producer working on a rail project? Send us information on it. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS INTERNATIONAL Canadian rails @@J __________________________________________________________________ Meet Bryce Lee: Bryce Lee is the newest member of the RailOnline team, taking a post as Canadian correspondent. Mr. Lee was assistant editor for the Upper Canada Railway Society in the late 1970s, and assistant head of public relations for the Ontario Rail Association through 1978. He's been the editor of a number of small non-aligned publications as well as a number of motorcycle historical publications. For 24 years, he was technical coordinator of learning resources for one of five school boards in metropolitan Toronto. Currently, Lee is involved in Railpace magazine as Canadian editor in addition to generously sending the same news coverage to RailOnline. Lee makes his living as an importer of specialty motorcycle parts and sidecars from overseas as well operating a small landscape company. "As the saying goes, I keep busy," says Lee. "Tend to be an observer and commentator on the prototype railway scene as opposed to [being] a member of any specific railway awareness group. Am distrustful of big business and any group associated with the popularly elected governments in Canada." We happily welcome Mr. Lee on board the growing team of individuals that work on RailOnline each month. CP CHANGES OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT Bryce Lee RailOnline News Staff CPRS has announced major changes in operations, introducing a "corridor concept" for all areas. Larry Field was named as corridor operations manager for all divisional operation and maintenance activities between Montreal and Detroit and overseeing and co-ordinating CPRS train operations on the CSXT between Detroit and Chicago. The following territorial re-allignments have been made to more clearly define corridor traffic patterns: The Bridge Line Division - Lacolle Subdivision from Rouse Point to Delson - Dunnville Sub. from Smithville to Port Maitland - Fort Erie Sub. from Fort Erie to Brookfield - Goderich Sub. from Hamilton Junction to Guelph Junction - Hamilton Sub. from Niagra Falls to Hamilton Junction - Hamilton Belt Line from Kinnear Yard to end of track - CN/CP Canada Southern from Hewitt to 24th Street, Detroit. The Toronto Division - Canpa Sub. from Obico to Canpa - CN Oakville Sub. from Guelph Junction to end of track - Goderich Sub. from Guelph Junction to end of track - Port Burwell, St. Mary's, St. Thomas, Waterloo Subdivisions - Hespeler Spur The other three corridors identified under the corridor plan are the Northwest Corridor from Toronto to Thunder Bay, the Northeast Corridor (the Bridge Line Division to Chicago), and the North-South Corridor from Montreal south to the ex-D&H Bridge Line Division, and Toronto over the Niagra frontier to the Bridge Line Division. LENGTHY CP ABANDONMENTS APPROVED Bryce Lee RailOnline News Staff The National Transportation Agency of Canada (NTA) approved on August 24,1993, CP Rail System's request to abandon most of its track east of Sherbrooke, Quebec. The abandonment order takes effect in 1994, 12 months after the date of the ruling. The rulling applies to 334 kilometers of track running from Sherbrooke to Saint John, New Brunswick, including a tiny stretch in Nova Scotia. The only stretch of line the NTA did not clear for abandonment is a 12 kilometer stretch between Cyr Junction and Grand Falls, NB, used exclusively by McCain Foods to ship its frozen food products. The NTA deemed the line economically viable. The railway must still receive approval from the US Interstate Commerce Commisssion to dispose of the 324 kilometer stretch running from the Quebec border through the state of Maine to New Brunswick. Hearings begin in Bangor, Maine, on October 12, 1993, for this portion of the railway. The current ruling requires the lines to continue operating for a year as VIA Rail Canada, Inc., runs passenger service on part of them three days a week. The deadline will give VIA either time to purchase the track itself or find an alternative route. CP Rail's representatives said the Port of Saint John and the Port of Halifax were both served by CNNA. The Canadian National railway line runs along the lower North Shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, then through New Brunswick to Saint John and on to Halifax, Nova Scotia, all in Canada. CP SUFFERS SEVERAL WASHOUTS Bryce Lee RailOnline News Staff On July 28, 1993, CPRS suffered a major washout on the Nipigon Subdivision in an area 91 miles east of Thunder Bay, Ontario. In addition, washouts were reported on both Keewatin and Kaministiquia Subdivisions. The end result was numerous slow orders and detoured trains. The washous also resulted in detours due to continued heavy flooding afterwards. Trains detoured south from Moose Jaw to Portal SK and northwards from Toronto and St. Luc via the Soo and Wisconsin Central. VINTAGE UNITS WANTED BY MEXICAN RAILWAY Bryce Lee RailOnline News Staff Mexican State Railways wants to purchase the trucks currently under the disused weled rail train located at Smith Falls, Ontario. The welded rail train consists of Fairbanks-Morse B units, all ex-Pennsylvania Erie-built in 1948 at Smith Falls. The fourth is at Winnepeg. The Mexicans want to get their other two PA's up and running. Falls Iron and Metal will probably cut up the carbodies on site, and maybe ship the trucks to Mexico. Continuing high speed rail coverage in RO A CANADIAN LOOK AT THE X2000 Bryce Lee RailOnline News Staff On the 28th of July 1993, ABB Canada Limited and CP Rail sponsored two special trips on the X2000. The morning trip left Toronto Union Station at 10:00 and followed CP lines west through Milton to Guelph Junction. The afternoon trip left at 1:11p following the same route. Arrial was at 2:06p, with return depature at 2:15p with arrive at Toronto Union at 3:00p. Guests on board were served food and nonalcoholic drinks on CP utensils. Some of the seats on the X2000 cars had hookups for power (for PCs, etc.) and antenna hookups for cellular telephones. There was a photocopier available, a galley, and a conference salon in the west end of one car much like four seat set with table in between and a door to be shut to maintain privacy. Seats were arranged in a 2/1 arrangement (two beside each other across the aisle from a single seat). Each had a light switch and music control for three channels of music with volume control, including volume for the video tape player unit in the car. The train operated its two trips as a push-pull train. The consist from west to east from the leading coach rewards was the: - Coach with control cab at leading end - Coach car with a large disability accessible washroom - Galley / dining car - Coach car - Combined control and baggage car - Amtrak 380 pushing locomotive As a bystander, I was impressed by the very shrill single tone European train whistle, loud enough to hurt the ears, which was heard as the train approached the various level crossings. The CPRS Dual Flags logo was neatly placed on top of the Amtrak logo along with the ABB logo. The train was very sleek and clean in contrast to the grubby Amtrak locomotive. __________________________________________________________________ RAILNEWS INTERNATIONAL European rails @@K __________________________________________________________________ Special thanks to BritRail Travel International, Inc., New York, for their continued support of RailOnline's coverage of British Rail service overseas. "CHUNNEL" RAIL SERVICE COMING IN SUMMER 94 Peter Kirn RailOnline On May 6, 1994, the Channel Tunnel will officially open, a monumental project that has taken 192 years and an estimated $13 billion since a French engineer first proposed it in 1802. Specially-developed trains will carry passengers from London's Waterloo International Station to Paris in three hours, and from London to Brussels in three hours and 15 minutes. Eurostar, the international rail service's brand name, will be operated and marketed in Britain by wholly-owned British Rail subsidiary European Passenger Services (EPS). In North America, Eurostar will be marketed by BR subsidiary BritRail Travel International, as usual. The Channel Tunnel is not the only major part of the project. EPS's initial investment for infrastructure and trains exceeds a billion pounds. Construction of the Waterloo International Terminal and the North Pole International servicing depot, upgrading existing lines, and the construction of chord link lines are among neccessary items on the agenda. In 1995, Eurostar will extend services to the Midlands, the North of England, and Scotland. In the same year, Eurostar will start overnight services linking the Midlands, the North, Scotland, South Wales, and the South West with Paris and Brussels. Night trains between London, the Netherlands, and Germany will begin running in 1996. "The pent-up demand for the Channel Tunnel is astounding," said Tim Roebuck, president of BritRail Travel International. "We receive a steady stream of requests from people who want to participate in the first historic crossing through the Channel Tunnel." In response to the demand for the Channel Tunnel service, BritRail Travel is offering the Eurostar Reservation Request Register. All requests for tickets will be registered and given a reservations request number. Before the new service is implemented, and the general public can make reservations, BR will contact these parties. North Americans may make early reservations by writing Eurostar Reservation Register, BritRail Travel International, 1500 Broadway, 10th Floor, New York, New York 10036. BritRail Travel may be contacted at (212) 575-2667. * * * European rail coverage is first in line on our expansion agenda here at RailOnline. Look for another addition to our news team in the coming months! __________________________________________________________________ RailNews t I d B i T s ! @@! __________________________________________________________________ ...stories about railroads fitting into non-railroad people's lives, the offbeat and the bizarre, and the little pieces not quite big enough to fit into an ordinary rail magazine news section, it's RailNews... with flavor! PENN STATION GOES UPSCALE Delaware Valley Rail Passenger NJ Transit is expecting to cap off its renovation of Newark's Penn Station with an upscale restaurant in a portion of the present waiting area. It's expected to open sometime in 1994. CONRAIL UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN UNDERWAY Conrail Newswire Kick-off events for Conrail's 1993-94 United Way campaign are scheduled throughout September and October. This year's emphasis for United Way is the expansion of division participation through formation of teams on each division, each led by the division general manager. These division teams, as well as teams at the department and headquarters level, are focusing their efforts on generating more participation by employees. Senior Vice President- Finance Bill Brown is this year's campaign chairman. The 1992-93 United Way campaign generated $498,000 in employee pledges, and the 1991-92 campaign, $515,000 in pledges. When combined with Conrail's dollar-for-dollar corporate match, those two campaigns placed more than $2 million in needed funds in the hands of community organizations throughout Conrail's service territory. SANTA FE RAILROAD LAUNCHES SAFETY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN Courtesy Santa Fe railroad The SF safety department has announced a special safety awareness campaign to continue through the end of the year. Each month will feature an information campaign on a particular type of injury. In addition, one week of each month has been designated an "injury-free week." The goal is to complete these injury-free weeks without a single incident of injury across the railroad. The information campaigns will focus on these themes: October -- no injuries operating switches, derails, hand tools November -- no injuries tripping, falling, stumbling December -- no back injuries The injury-free weeks are: October 17-23 November 7-13 December 5-11 CHICAGOLAND & SF BOWL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Courtesy Santa Fe Railroad For the second year, Santa Fe is participating in the Junior Achievement Bowl-A-Thon on Saturday, October 23. Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization that provides young people with practical economic education programs. More than 55,000 students in the Chicagoland area participated in JA programs last year. The Bowl-A-Thon is JA's major annual fund raiser to help meet operating expenses. Santa Fe is going with a country & western theme for this year's activities. The event is on Saturday, October 23, at 1:00 p.m. at Woodfield Lanes on Golf Road in Schaumburg. SEPTA BOTCHES UP SCHEDULE Delaware Valley Rail Passenger The September timetable change may have set a record for most typographical errors and after-publication changes. Flyers notifying passengers of the errors papered stations. Incorrect zones were listed for some stations, while other stations were completely left off. Downtown terminal points of a few trains were changed as well. NJT EXPANDS PROGRAM FOR BIKERS Delaware Valley Rail Passenger For truly environmental commuting, NJ Transit has expanded its "Bike Aboard" program to its Main Line/Bergen County Line trains out of Hoboken. Cyclists must obtain a free NJT bike permit. NJT specifies that riders must carry two elastic bungee cords at least 24 inches long for the bikes to be strapped down. Bicycles are permitted during off-peak and weekend hours only. The Star Ledger reports that passes issued for the two lines previously cleared for bikes (North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley) total 800. To obtain a permit or for more information call 1-800-772-3606. CLEAN YOUR COMMUTE DAY Delaware Valley Rail Passenger States from Virginia to Maine are participating in a "Clean Your Commute Day." The day is sponsored by the Ozone Transport Commission, a Northeast environmental group. SEATTLE METRO ONLINE Delaware Valley Rail Passenger The King County Metro of Seattle can now be reached by e-mail: at the address bob.white@metrokc.gov This could be the beginning of a new era of public participation in transportation planning. Computer networking can let transit agencies and government publicize reports and information with ease, and field direct responses from citizens. The e-mail address is made possible through the Internet, a free international network for e-mail and other services. __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES Cover Story: Northern Illinois Rail Paradise @@L __________________________________________________________________ Well, almost, anyhow... Labor Day festivities at the Illinois Railroad Museum by Peter Kirn Somewhere in between fall and summer lies a handful of days that could be classified as near paradise. These are the days organizers pray for when planning railfanning events in early fall across the country. Here in Northern Illinois, it seems the targeted window was hit right on the nose. In addition to the perfect backdrop, the Illinois Rail Museum orchestrated some terrific railroad drama for visitors. Labor Day weekend was perfect, with mild weather that was neutral enough not to be warm or cool, a gentle breeze, and solid blue skies against a green landscape only just touched by fall. It almost seemed to beckon railfans to the IRM facility, or any railfanning event, for that matter. The Illinois Railway Museum lies in Union, Illinois, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Union appears to visitors from Chicago or Rockford (which are close to equidistant from the town), as only a handful of houses and building plopped down in between the rolling farmland. However, the town is home to a very impressive set of rail equipment. Frisco steam locomotive 1630 was the center of attention, running trains down the line once or twice an hour. 1630 had an interesting history, too. Originally sent to Russia, 1630 was stopped by the Bolshevik Revolution, which eventually put it in the hands of Frisco. The locomotive's cab was polished to a glossy black shine for the day, and billows of smoke curled around farmhouses and tall cornfields all day long. A second train was equally popular. While its equipment did not have any unusual appeal, it had one major advantage in its favor: food. Lunch was served in three diners. To my delight, the one being publicised was the Louisville & Nashville Galt House, named after a famous hotel in my hometown of Louisville. (You're bound to see some L&N coverage here in RailOnline, I'm an L&N nut!) The L&N car was a bit far from home in contrast to an IC diner, perfectly suited to the rolling fields of Illinois. The lunch menu, which could be smelled as soon as the diner train pulled in, featured sandwiches from pre-Amtrak menus, such as on the George Washington. The favorite was the Pan-American burger from the L&N. The third main train running back and forth along the line also had its novelty. Headed up by Burlington Northern SD26 6244, the train was dubbed the "caboose train" for the three cabooses that hauled passengers behind two CB&Q hoppers and a Borden milk car. The IRM treated visitors to transit action, too, with several light rail and trolley routes running, two down the long line, and others in a circle around the IRM grounds. IRM's transit collection is very impressive, tracing Chicagoland's rich interurban history, right down to a vintage "L" station. Unlike many operations, the IRM leaves most of its train sheds open to the general public, so that visitors can see work behind the scenes on equipment that has a lot of promise once it can be restored. Regular displays at IRM include a Milwaukee Road FM, a CB&Q E5, and dozens of unusual pieces of non-operational rolling stock. Operations were relatively simple, with trains lined up in a rotation down the single, long IRM line, but the museum watched over them in the traditional manner - right out of a restored tower, with a dispatching crew. Not quite paradise, but pretty close to it when it comes to how to spend a weekend. __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES Cover Story: Railphoto `93 a winner! @@M __________________________________________________________________ by Ken May "Railphoto '93" met and surpassed the expectations of both event organizers and participants in the three day program of railfan activities held Friday, Sept. 17, through Sunday, Sept. 19, at the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA. "Everything went very well," said Jim Fransen, Pland Chief of "Railphoto '93" and Vice President of the Steamtown Volunteer Association. "The weather was generally cooperative and we were quite pleased with the turnout for the program," Fransen commented. "Railphoto '93" also proved to be a financial success in that all expenses were covered, according to Fransen. The fourth annual program was sponsored by the Steamtown Volunteer Association in cooperation with the National Park Service. The "Railphoto '93" program offered six different steam and diesel powered passenger train excursions over the long weekend plus railroad equipment displays, a night photo session and a banquet. Three of Steamtown's restored steam locomotives operated during the three day program - Canadian National Mikado No. 3254 and Canadian Pacific Pacific No. 2317 ran on mainline trips while Baldwin Locomotive Works switcher No. 26 handled roundhouse shuttle duties at the Park. Conrail displayed a SD60 diesel engine and its "Operation Lifesaver" train. CP Rail System sent a SD40F2 unit in the new "dual flags" livery and RSD17 unit "The Empress of Agincourt" along with two baggage cars containing exhibits depicting the history of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The Morristown and Erie Railroad brought up C430 No. 19 to show at the Park. Equipment displays were open to the public all three days of the program during regular Park hours. The following privately owned vintage diesel locomotives participated in "Railphoto '93": - New York, Susquehanna and Western Technical and Historical Society Budd RDC No. M-1 - Anthracite Railroads Historical Society Central of New Jersey F3A-B-A set - United Railroad Historical Society Reading RS-3 No. 492 - NRHS Central New York Chapter Lackawanna E8A No. 808. Private varnish attending included Pennsylvania Railroad "Broadway Limited" coaches "Mountain View" and "Aldar Falls"; New York, Susquehanna and Western diner No. 507; ex-New York Central parlor car "Morris County" of the Morristown and Erie; Norfolk Southern business car "Blue Ridge"; and ex-Long Island Railroad commuter car "Good Vibrations" owned by Railfan Tours. Friday, Sept. 17, the afternoon rail diesel car excursion from Scranton to Pocono Summit, PA, and return was a sellout with 90 passengers. Steamtown's two regular Scranton to Moscow, PA, steam powered passenger train roundtrips ran Friday morning and afternoon. Friday evening's dinner train consisting of ARHS CNJ F3A-B-A units and private passenger cars carried 60 passengers from Scranton to Moscow and back. Dinner in the diner was catered by the Lackawanna Station Hotel. The night photo session at Steamtown Friday night attracted 110 photographers for the 2 1/2 hour event conducted by Steve Barry of Railpace Newsmagazine and Kermit Geary of ARHS. Three photo locations at the Park in theroundhouse and shop areas were open for night shots. Both Saturday's steam powered freight and passenger train excursions and Sunday's steam/diesel doubleheader passenger train excursion were well patronized with 280 and 260 riders on board respectively. Saturday, Sept. 18, two excursions left the Park in the morning - a photo freight train consisting of vintage freight cars powered by CN 3254 and a passenger train made up of Steamtown's restored DL&W coaches led by CP 2317. The trains travelled over the recently rehabilitated ex-Lackawanna mainline southeast out of Scranton to Moscow and returned to the Park in the afternoon. Sunday, Sept. 19, a steam/diesel doubleheader passenger train departed the Park in the morning for a run over the former Lackawanna high iron with CN 3254 and CP 2317 hauling the DL&Wcoaches and all six private passenger cars upgrade to Moscow. The train returned to Scranton behind NRHS CNY Chapter DL&W E8A and Delaware Lackawanna Railroad newly repainted C425 in the afternoon. Photo runbys for Saturday's and Sunday's excursions were staged at three different locations along the Scranton to Moscow route: Nay Aug Tunnel, Milepost 125.5 and Elmhurst Reservoir. A full house was on hand for Saturday evening's banquet at the Lackawanna Station Hotel in downtown Scranton. Award presentations were made to representatives of Conrail, CP Rail System, Delaware Lackawanna, Morristown and Erie, and New York, Susquehanna and Western for their support of "Railphoto '93". Steve Lee, head of the Union Pacific steam program, was special guest speaker. A member of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Florida showed slides of their facilities before and after last year's Hurricane Andrew disaster. Jim Boyd of Railfan and Railroad Magazine presented a slide show to the audience to top off the evening's activities. Next year's "Railphoto '94" at Steamtown will continue the reputation that this program has earned in the past four years but on a scaled-down level from "Railphoto '93". The Steamtown Volunteer Association will be busy making preparations for the grand opening of Steamtown National Historic Site over the Memorial Day 1995 weekend. "We are already planning some special events to mark Steamtown's dedication ceremonies," said Jim Fransen. Mark your calendars now for the festivities at Steamtown in 1995! __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES Travel: The Winnepeg Trains @@N __________________________________________________________________ Memories of Winnepeg's trains prior to the Amtrak era, and opportunities for creating some new memories by Dennis Larson Several years ago, Amtrak began Thruway bus service between Grand Forks and Winnipeg. The concept was very sound as it made rail travel possible from Chicago or Minneapolis - St. Paul with a direct trainside bus connection. Grand Forks is served by the Superliner equipped EMPIRE BUILDER, so last fall we began talking about revisiting the Manitoba city. My wife has never been there and my last visit was in January of 1969. Unfortunately the new service has not been popular and the bus was discontinued. Winnipeg will have to wait for our visit a while longer. Pre-Amtrak trains provided very good passenger service from Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Five railroads, the Northern Pacific, Great Northern (now BN), Soo Line, Canadian Pacific, and Canadian National participated in the operation of three daily trains. Luckily for me I had the opportunity to use all of them. The most popular train operated by the GN, was heavily promoted with excursion fares and advertising. The Winnepeg Limited was an overnighter leaving from Saint Paul Union Depot and Minneapolis' Great Northern Station. It connected with trains arriving and departing to and from Duluth, Chicago, Kansas City and Dallas. Compared with the EMPIRE BUILDER and WESTERN STAR, the WINNIPEG LIMITED was not one of the premier trains. But it was one of the better short distance trains carrying 1940's and 1950's era coach and sleeping cars, which meant that some cars were hardly 15 years old. I can't remember dining car service but you could get light snacks. As good as the WINNIPEG LIMITED was, I am amazed how little I can remember of the trips on it. The Soo Line also operated an overnight Winnipeg train from Union Depot and the Milwaukee Road Station in Minneapolis into the CP Station in Winnipeg. The WINNIPEGER operated on a 12 hour schedule for the 464 miles, about the same as the WINNIPEG LIMITED. Unlike the GN, the SOO never had modern equipment except sleeping cars leased out to them. Coaches were early 1900 vintage and in all my travels have never ridden on older equipment. The WINNIPEGER trip about 1966 or so took me only as far as Alexandria, Minnesota and back. This journey was solely for the sake of train riding only. My home at the time was on the Soo Line's St. Paul - Chicago line in Wisconsin, so I had little interest in more Soo Line riding. According to the Soo Line agent in Alexandria, the Winnipeger was often delayed in 20 below zero weather because the steam heating system would freeze up. The trip remembered vividly was the first visit to Winnipeg in October of 1964. Departing Saint Paul at 8:40 AM on the MAINSTREETER, Northern Pacific's Seattle local with coaches, sleeping cars and a diner, the train sailed across the Minnesota farm and lake country at 79 MPH. NP trains were always well kept, on time and this train was no exception. Then at the little town of Hawley, Minnesota, Winnipeg passengers detrained for the northbound connection. Similar to Amtrak's recent idea, NP had a "bus" for the balance of the run, in the form of a Budd Rail Diesel Car. It seemed like a bus with quick starts and stops but looked, smelled and felt like a train. The numerous station stops on the route were handled with ease. This portion of the rail line was in typical branch line condition, a little bit on the shaky ride side. Looking out the front, one could see the "snaky" rails all the way to the horizon. Speeds compared to the MAINSTREETER were very modest, somewhere in the 50 MPH range. About an hour out of Grand Forks the crew took orders for box lunches. At Grand Forks we got our food, eating in our seats airline style. At the beginning of the run the car was about half full but when the Canadian border arrived it was near capacity. Custom's inspections were performed on board and we were soon in Maple Leaf country and on the CNR at Emerson Junction. Another passenger from Winnipeg filled me in on the latest news of the CN and CP during the trip. Really the same story as today, cut backs in service. At 8:25 PM the Budd Car pulled in the CNR station and I was off to the Fort Gary Hotel for the evening. On the way out the station door I heard the PA announce our arriving train from Grand Forks, Fargo, Saint Cloud, Minneapolis, Saint Paul AND "Chicaga". I had forgotten that some cars on the MAINSTREETER had originated on the BURLINGTON BLACK HAWK the night before. Single rooms at the Fort were going for about $7.50 (Canadian) a night then. The rail fare was as low as $17 (US) round trip if you got the round trip excursion fare. The return trip the following evening was on the WINNIPEG LIMITED and I opted for a roomette. As mentioned earlier a very nice train but when you get on and sleep most of the trip, there is nothing much to report or remember! I must not forget a "fourth" rail route to Winnipeg. This was operated by the NP to International Falls. Riding out of Saint Paul one evening as far as Brainerd, connected with another Budd Car about 5:00 AM on the way to Superior, and finally hooked the Badger Express back into Saint Paul the next morning. Although the coach only International Falls train terminated at the border, connections were possible. Across the border at Fort Francis, a three day a week CNR local stopped on the Thunder Bay - Winnipeg run in the afternoon. Regularly scheduled Budd Car service is back again. You can travel on one of these cars from Duluth's Union Depot to Two Harbors along the Lake Superior shoreline. Departures during the summer season are around 10 AM and 4 PM weekends only, for the 3 hour, 56 mile trip. During the week one hour trips are operated throughout the day from Duluth to Lester River and return. The line is the ex-DM&IR and is now owned by the Duluth Rail Authority. Service is provided by the North Shore Scenic Railroad. Reservations are necessary for the Two Harbors round trip as the car can be sold out through the end. Tickets for the Lester River round trip can be purchased before boarding. Several times a year six or seven car trains are operated by the Duluth Museum of Transportation to Two Harbors and return. Rail fares during the 1993 season are about $15 (US) for the Two Harbors round trip. The one hour Lester River trips were priced at $8 (US). Telephone 218-722-1273 for latest fare and schedule information. __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES Model railroading: INDUSTRY CONNECTION @@O __________________________________________________________________ Fast, detailed product news from industry leaders With Peter Kirn WM. K. WALTHERS ADDED TO INDUSTRY CONNECTION Sept. 29 - RailOnline welcomes Walthers to the businesses supporting detailed product news in the Industry Connection. Walthers joins Life-Like, Atlas, and Stewart Hobbies. Walthers can be contacted at 5601 W. Florist Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53218. WALTHERS INTRODUCES COLD STORAGE WAREHOUSE MODELS IN CORNERSTONE SERIES (HO scale) Sept. 16 - Walthers has added yet another set of models to their popular Conerstone Series, the R.J Frost & Storage. Cold storage plants store perishable foods for shipment or distribution to local buyers. Walthers' model features simulated concrete construction, rail and truck loading platforms, separate windows and doors, a roof-top refrigeration unit, and a fire escape along with modern and steam-era signs and decals. Walthers has created a set of accessories for putting the plant in either steam- or deisel- eras. For modern-era modelers, the new Arcticar, introduced to railroads in 1992, is modeled. The car is very large, 76' scale long and 17' tall. Also, a modern cab-over reefer truck has been released. For steam-era modelers, 40' wood reefers are available. 933-3020 R.J Frost & Storage $29.98 439-943 Cab-over reefer truck $7.98 ARTICAR REFRIGERATED BOX CARS $11.98 ea. 932-5451 Articar/GATX Demo 932-5452 Simplot 932-5453 McCain 932-5454 Carnation 932-5455 Cryo-Trans 932-5456 Universal Frozen Foods 932-5450 Undec. LIMITED EDITION 40' WOOD REEFERS 932-9110 3-pack $29.98 -> A GIF montage featuring b&w photos of these models will soon be released by RailOnline for CompuServe readers. Internet readers, mail us an IBM-formatted disk for a copy to 25777 Tara Drive, Barrington, IL 60010, SASE. We will return you all the GIFs free of charge. LIMITED RUN C&NW CARS (HO scale) Sept. 16 - Walthers has released a limited run 3-pack of C&NW PS-1 box cars have been released. Built following WWII, the cars survived for several decades. The models feature box car red, black-ended cars, with three numbers in each pack. A CSTPM&O (Omaha Route) car is labeled with "The Route of the 400 Fleet", with two C&NW cars labeled with "The Route of the 400 Streamliners" slogan. On the opposite side of each car, as was prototypical practice, the cars have "The Overland Route slogan. LIMITED-RUN 40' PS-1 CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN BOX CARS 932-9108 3-pack $29.98 Three improved additions to Main Street USA line (HO scale) Sept. 16 - Walthers has added three upgraded models to its "Main Street USA" line. Older cast-metal details have been replaced, with a new molded styrene roof and molded styrene details. Trim, windows, and doors have been molded in place for easy assembly. New decals for each include over a dozen different business names and various window signs. Leviathan Manufacturing also features offset brickwork. MAIN STREET USA COLLECTION 933-3003 Leviathan Manufacturing $9.98 933-3004 Wallschlager Motors $9.98 933-3005 United Trucking Transfer Terminal $9.98 -> A GIF montage featuring b&w photos of these models will soon be released by RailOnline. FINALLY - AN ATLAS STEAM LOCOMOTIVE FOR N SCALERS Atlas is modeling a USRA 2-8-8-2, the first from Atlas in many years. The unit features die cast construction for high tractive effort, a 7 oz. weight, a cab, 4-axle standard tender, cylinders, and pilot made of injection molded plastic, etched brass ladders and handrails, a precision instrument motor, and factory installed Micro-Trains couplers. Numbers aren't printed on the locomotives so that modelers may create their own numbering scheme from provided decals. The enginers require a minumum radius of 15" to operate. Pricing was not yet available and printing. We hope to have figures for the next issue. USRA 2-8-8-2 4150 Undec. 4151 Santa Fe 4152 Rio Grande "Flying Letters" 4153 Rio Grande "Scenic Line" 4154 Clinchfield 4155 Norflok & Western 4156 Northern Pacific 4157 Pennsylvania 4158 Union Pacific 4159 Virginian Atlas may be contacted at 1-800-872-2521 for inquiries involving pricing, availability, etc. __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES Model Railroading: Giving old locos new life @@P __________________________________________________________________ Even an old AHM locomotive can perform like a top-of-the-line engine by Roger Hensley "...the motor would just about fit right in place of the old one and I'm sure the worm gear will fit. And after all, I do have the other one to display... Ah, but that's another story!" ..And this is that story. Since I wrote the above, I have found myself unable to resist the small voice coming from the NWSL Sagami Motors saying, "Buy me... and it will run." In truth, the AHM power truck left much to be desired. Its performance was not as smooth as I like and it had a tendency to stall on un-powered #6 turnout frogs. It's gross when you have to speed up your train just to get over a turnout. The alternative is to make liberal use of a yardstick to nudge the loco back into operation when it stalls. Not at all prototypical and I have to fight the feeling that I want to beat the locomotive WITH the yardstick, not just nudge it! I re-motored my RS-2 using a small Sagami Motor from NorthWest Short Line (#053-162039). This project is not tough if you take your time and pay attention to detail and should work on any similar AHM power truck. I have a DREMEL Moto-Tool with cut-off disks, a NWSL 'THE PULLER' wheel & gear puller (#053-454) and a MASCOT Swivel Head Pin Vise (#230-811) for holding small drill bits. All of these make the conversion much easier, but it can be done without them . You will need a soldering iron, solder, wire and a small piece of .005 thick sheet brass (K&S #370-250) for the new power pick ups and GE Silicone II Glue & Seal. Got it? Let's do it! First, I removed the motor brushes and tension spring from the top of the power truck and removed the truck from the locomotive frame with a left twist (viewed from the top), down and out movement. I proceeded to remove the side frame, wheel assemblies and idler gears. I removed the two screws holding the endcap in order to remove it. Then I removed the rotor of the old motor by removing the worm gear with a gear puller (pushing the motor shaft out of the worm gear). I pulled the magnet plates out of the frame. There are three of them, one on each side and one on the bottom. The NWSL Sagami 162039 motor will just fit into the truck sleeve when the magnets are out. I test fit the motor, making sure that the power connections for the new motor were on top and mark the shafts for cutting. The top shaft will need to be cut off and the lower shaft must be shortened. Remove the motor and make the cuts. The Moto-Tool and cut-off disks really shine here! I glued the motor into place using the GE Silicone II Sealer & Glue (NOT Bathtub caulk). There are probably other silicone glues that will allow you to form motor mounts as you glue, but I know that this one works and the motor won't twist loose on you under load! I tested the motor to see that the shaft still spun freely by hand and then let this dry overnight before continuing. I replaced the Worm Gear by pressing it onto the new motor shaft supporting the top end of the motor shaft as I pressed the worm gear on the bottom. I reassembled the power truck and test it by hand and under power. Be VERY careful that the Worm Gear isn't on too tightly as this can cause binds with the idler gears of the power truck that can result in the melt down of your brand new motor! Make note of the direction that it runs as well. You want the loco to run with everything else on your railroad, not in the opposite direction. This conversion has made the unit operate much more smoothly under power, but it still stalls at #6 frogs. With the knowledge a loco will run better, we can work to make it perform better, as well. I had two RS-2s to work with. One had traction tires on the driven wheels and one didn't. I used one of the traction tired wheelsets from one unit for increased pulling ability and one wheelset without traction tires to facilitate better power pickup when I put my unit back together. I disassembled the power truck again and remove the wheels and gears. I made new power pickups (wipers) for each side of the power truck out of strip brass. I used .005 brass strips because it forms easily, has some spring-like qualities and conducts electricity well (besides, I had some on hand. .010 may work as well). This is a matter of cutting the brass to fit (scissors) using these guidelines. The wiper wants to run along the side of the frame making contact with the back side of both driven wheels. It needs to be slim enough to go over the axles without binds. I cut notches to fit over the axles leaving the overall wiper thicker for support purposes. I did a lot of 'cut and fit' to get the shape right. The wiper wants to be formed outward on the ends like a spring to the wheels without putting a lot of pressure on them (wear, you know, old bean). Using a #50 drill bit (.070), I drilled a mounting hole in the side of the wiper and sideframe together. I soldered a wire to the wiper long enough to reach the correct connection on top of the motor. I did the other side the same way and then mounted them with 2/56 screws 1/8" long or so (or a self tapping screw, the choice is yours). It is important that the screws don't protrude far enough to bind against the gearing. I reassembled the unit, soldering the wires and testing the result. I was able to not only solve the stalling problem, but also to have a unit that is a pleasure to operate thanks to the new motor. __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES CYBERSPACE REPORT @@Q __________________________________________________________________ RO no longer on AOL We regret to announce that RailOnline, which was born on America Online, had to pull out from AOL. Interest dwindled until it was practically non-existant. JP Flaherty, head of AOL distribution for RO and the creator of the intended RailOnline forum which became RailOnline magazine, made the decision along with editor Peter Kirn to pull RO from AOL. Software Review: RAILROAD TYCOON: STICK WITH THE ORIGINAL RECIPE? Dick Knisley Originally for CIS:TrainNet users Railroad Tycoon, a simulation featuring a combination of operating trains and controlling them from a business standpoint, has been rated by gamers as one of the all-time greats, even by non-railfans. Recently MicroProse introduced a "deluxe" version (read: more expensive),and the question was created: stick with the original or upgrade? Many avid RRT fans were disappointed with the changes. This review, uploaded to CompuServe's TrainNet forum, is just about the most extensive available. Enjoy! -PK (RRT Deluxe is a commercial product markted by MicroProse. RailOnline does not make software endorsements. The following author is unaffiliated with MicroProse or its competitors.) > Installation The installation program works smoothly and will copy the game to your hard drive; you'll need about 6MB of free space for the game. The only complicated part is setting up for sound support, you'll need to know the type of sound card and which IRQ, DRQ and DMA port is it using. Failure to get these right is a sure way to have the game "lock up" when it runs. Once done, you won't have to do the set up every time the game runs anymore - that's nice and overdue. > New graphics and sound The loco images are nicely done and look good. Most of the graphics otherwise show detail level improvement, but nothing dramatic. The sound, other than the digitized clips, is not changed, but many more sound cards are supported. The digitized clips are cute (click on a farm and hear a cow moo, click on the ocean and hear seagulls, etc,etc) but get tiresome fast. I turned them off in the first 30 min. The graphics are however no more e ffective than those in the original and the update to 16 color VGA is hardly a move to state-of-the-art. Summary: ok, not impressed. > New maps The major improvement. South America (most of it), Southern Africa and North America (all US, S Canada, N Mexico) are added with the first two having new economies (products, industries, etc) added. Good job, although my impression so far is that both S America and Africa are hard to do well in -- even more so than the old England map which has been removed. On the negative side, the maps are no larger or more detailed despite the shift to VGA. Summary: good, real addition. > User Interface Changes are few, and I don't like most of them. The appearance of the F3 and F4 level maps is a garish color scheme that I don't like and the mostly yellow-green map makes reading the city names in yellow text hard. On any map, switching to the detail level (F4) no longer is done by just pressing the key, you hit the key and then click the mouse on the desired center of the F4 map -- annoying change. The transition to the F4 map is slow, about a second on my 486/33 with a fast video card. The F4 map is SLOWWWWWW -- unusable for anything except building track. On my machine at the "slow" setting, the F3 screen runs too slow (slower than RRT), while the "moderate" setting is too fast for my taste (quite abit faster than RRT). It becomes dangerously easy to miss events, a major "getting-used-to-it" adjustment. Scrolling the maps is also sluggish, liveable but annoying. Summary: poor, no improvements, some loss of ease of use. > New locomotives Another substantive improvement, but with some mixed results. The good news is that there are 11 new engines that will show up and some of them are nice additions and fill real gaps in the RRT set, all are nice to have and add variety. The bad news is that several of the original locomotives are gone! And the limit of 10 different varieties per map is still there. The Challenger, A1 Class (4-8-4), V200, RE Class 6/6, and the TGV (!) are missing. The TGV is a major loss, but you wouldn't get to use it now away -- the latest the European map may start is now 1870 vice the 1900 start of the original. Also, several new ones are almost useless since by the time you get them you know that still better ones are only a few years away, so you skip them. The horsepower and speed ratings are consistent with the original, and in many cases are still too low. The F-series at 60mph tops is one of the worst, especially now that the GP is here with an 80mph top speed. And the Atlantic is a French version with a 50mph top speed although it will show up on all the American scenarios as well. The 4500 (4-6-2) locomotive's large icon leaves the tender off and it looks odd hooked up to a cut of cars. Summary: poor to excellent. > Documentation A mixed bag caused by what appears to have been a hastily done job of making minimal updates to the original. Numerous errors and inconsistencies result. The tutorial reference will confuse new users since there is no tutorial now, a loss that's hard to understand. Numerous references to England remain, though the England scenario is gone. The manual still (!) refers to game lengths of 40, 60, 80 and 100 years, although neither the original or RRT Deluxe behaves that way. The screen images don't look much like the new menus, though the printed images are generally still correct in substance. There are two errors in the Player's Aid chart, both in the S American economy: (the Petroleum->Refinery(Mgf Goods)->City cycle is wrong). The new engines are documented in an add-on section. Summary: poor update, though docs are still good overall. > Misc. Changes No new computer players were added, so you get the US guys when playing in S America and the European ones for Africa. Lots of new messages show up and these are now more appropriate to the map, but many are just historical window dressing. The bridge building animation is gone, replaced with a nice graphic image of the appropriate bridge type with a train on it. When starting the game, the N. American maps plus Europe can now be started in 2 or more different years which results in different mixes of engines available. The Africa and S American maps start at fixed times. > Documented bugs There are a number of documented bugs, some new and some carried over from the original. Although I've seen many reports of crashes, I've not seen any at all on my machine. Those I know about for sure are: - There's a regression bug associated with the rolling stock icons. Due to the way the car icons are handled now, the old-time, 4-wheeled cars are no longer replaced with the modern 8 wheeled versions when the modern locos start showing up. Instead, you will always see the 4 wheel versions of the cars no matter what the year if you're playing the Western Hemisphere maps and you'll always see the 8 wheel, modern ones no matter what the year in the Eastern Hem maps. Looks strange and gets very annoying after a while. - On the S American maps there are two icons for the Sugar Plantation, although they will function the same.-- there's a bug that will keep many players from being able to save games. It applies a "read only attribute" to the save file that will prevent subsequent saves in that slot, but removing the attribute via DOS will fix the problem. -- your cash will no longer rollover if you reach $32 million, not because they fixed that bug, but because you'll not be allowed to accumulate that much. Instead you will declare a dividend once you get over $15 million to reduce it. However, this will stop the growth in your net worth and, therefore, your stock value -- the investors get upset, even though you're paying out millions in dividends. - The rollover problem is still there in the reports whenever your all-time earnings in a category equal or exceed $100 million it will go negative with a resulting loss in your retirement bonus. - The individual totals (passengers, mail, fast freight, ...) in the reports (YTD) drop under zero if they reach 32,500,000 and influence the stock market. - On the broker screen, certain stock values over a million aren't displayed correctly. Example: if the treasury or the public owns 1,050,000 shares, it is displayed "1,50,000" (a zero missing). > Game play In most ways, the net change is negative compared with the original. Specific changes you'll notice include: - Changes have been made to defeat the "buy an opponent to rob the bank" strategy. That's ok, but opponents will often now buy up all or nearly all of their stock so fast you can't even get into the broker at all. - You can no longer buy/sell stock before you've have a train in operation, so the ploy of letting an opponent start first and then draining off his cash won't work. Strangely, the shift-4 money machine was left in though. - The most serious problem is that, in a deliberate attempt to make the game harder, the revenue per carload rates have been reduced. The new maps show this in the extreme, I'm not sure, but I think it has been applied to the others as well. The result is to seriously damage the playability of the game and it doesn't even achieve the desired results. Sure, its harder to be profitable and expand, but it becomes so hard that your opponents stop being much of a challenge! At Mogul or Tycoon level they even have trouble staying alive, much less expanding fast. Some minor stock manipulation will let you seriously damage or kill off entirely any that threaten you. In the latter part of the game, the balance has swung completely against you and them. Its now even harder to stay profitable late in the game. - Low revenue per carload, and you can't counter that with faster engines and longer runs because there are no engines fast enough to complete the long pax and mail runs needed within a single fiscal period. The fun part of RRT for me was building a huge empire spanning the continent and that is now extremely hard and very slow to achieve. Summary: mixed feelings, but mostly negative. > The bottom line? If you loved RRT, get the upgrade. If you've been thinking about getting the game new, its a toss up between the original and this. The street price for RRT original ($25 or so) is less than the upgrade price ($32 or so) and its still a very playable, highly enjoyable and addicting game. If you can find it and MPS will let you, get the original and then upgrade -- total price is less than a copy of RRT Deluxe and you'll have both versions. RRT Deluxe looks better and has some nice additions -- but it has many problems, is certainly no more fun than the original and at a list price of $70 the trade off swings in the original's favor -- if you can still find it on the shelves. __________________________________________________________________ RAILONLINE FEATURES Daniel Dawdy @@R __________________________________________________________________ TIME FOR A BIT OF RAILFAN REFORM No wonder the railroads don't like us. We, and I say we as collective railfans, keep getting in the way, injuring and even killing ourselves in alarming numbers. When I was kid back in say circa 1966, I used to ride my bike down to the Milwaukee Road yards near the old "five points" in Janesville, WI. I would wander around taking pictures with my old Pro box camera and watch the smoky Fairbanks switchers going about their business. Many times, a yardman would let me "wizz around" on the turntable whether there was a unit on it or not. People were generally friendlier and there was no major vandalism problem. Today it's a different story. Railfan gathering places are being closed down in the name of safety, or is safety just the excuse that's given? I was fortunate to have been in Porter IN., twice this year taking still photos while my son was manning the video camera. The location was great. There is a Conrail mainline, with Amtrak splitting off to Michigan and a few feet further down, the CSX is also heading off to the "auto state". You could see Conrail, Amtrak and CSX with run-throughs from Chicago & Northwestern, CP Rail, Norfolk & Western, Burlington Northern, Via and others. The people ranged from the cliche railfan to an ex Amtrak executive I met my last visit. Then came the article on Porter in the July issue of Trains Magazine. Shortly thereafter, came the NRHS convention to Chicago and finally, the closing down of Porter Indiana! What,if any, do these events have in common? I tried to get the story from the Porter police and from Conrail, the apparent force behind the crackdown. No one wanted to talk to a railfan about the railfan problem. I am not sure which straw which broke the camel's back. Conrail is cracking down on trespassing and trying to shove all this under the umbrella of Operation Life Saver and you know what? I don't blame them. I don't like it but if I put myself in their shoes I would probably do the same thing. In Virginia, CSX was instrumental in pushing through a law that forbids trespassing upon the property of any railroad. It is designed to reduce the over 500 deaths involving trespassing last year. I wonder how many lawsuits against the railroads involved were started on behalf of those poor unfortunate trespassers. (I would love to know how many of those people had cameras in hand.) My friends, therein lies the major problem. Railroads are in business for only one reason. It's not keep unprofitable trackage in beautiful photographic areas; it's not to keep old first generation power running around for the sake of history; it's to make money and turn a profit. Running trains is how they do that. Killing people is not good PR. Railroads will no longer try to figure out who is a law abiding railfan and who is not. I think many larger railroads are going to just make it a blanket policy to say enough is enough. They don't have time at the corporate level to decide on a case by case basis where railfans can or can not gather. Who do we blame for this way of thinking? Many of us only have to look in the mirror. GRAPEVINE... WISC takeover of GB&W! There has been talk on the Internet, some very heated, about the Wisconsin Central's take over of the Green Bay & Western and the Fox River Valley. The debates ranged, or raged, from "What will happen to the GB&W Alco's?" to "What will happen to the union people and how many jobs will be lost?". Well, after some court battling, the take over went through a few weeks ago. The Wisconsin Central also bought New Zealand Railways. Now the Wisconsin Central is looking North to Canada. I have been told by a reliable source that the WC is not just thinking about, but is extremely interested in buying the Algoma Central. The Algoma is better known for its tourist activities than freight, and turning this back into a profitable road would be a challenge. I plan to travel the Algoma up to Hearst in December and will follow up this story with the employees thoughts about a takeover. Hey Peter, can I submit this trip on my Rail Online expense account? [Sure, Dan - send me all your receipts and I'll put it right on the next paycheck I send out! -PK] __________________________________________________________________ RAILCALENDAR __________________________________________________________________ Your event here! If you have a rail-related event, just send it to us. We'll publish it for no charge! We reccomend that you notify us two months in advance of the event. __________________________________________________________________ RAIL ONLINE @^ __________________________________________________________________ ===== STAFF ===== Peter Kirn Editor-in-Chief CompuServe Distribution Daniel Dawdy Assistant Editor Internet Distribution SENIOR CONTRIBUTORS: Matthew Mitchell Rail passenger news (from the Delaware Valley Rail Passenger) ASSOCIATE CONTRIBUTORS: Bryce Lee Canadian news coverage Ken May Northeast news coverage Roger Hensley Model railroading Jerome Rosenfeld Northeast news coverage Northeast news photography Additional. submissions: BritRail Travel Int'l, Atlas Model Railroading Co., Conrail, Santa Fe Railroad, VIA Rail, Life-Like, Stewart Hobbies, and Dorr Alitzer, SysOp of the CompuServe TrainNet forum, as well as all our guest authors. RailOnline is a non-profit organization. RailOnline is copyright (C)1993 E/Press publications. 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Our first annual issue devoted entirely to model railroading features. We welcome your own articles and ideas to make this a truly special issue. Come celebrate model railroading month with us! - The latest RailNews, right up to printing And much more... ...all in the November issue of RailOnline 1993 The international rail magazine for the computer age.