SD70MAC TRACK

All of the SD70MAC's have returned to road service and are operating as follows:

LMS 700-714

The LMS C40-8W's spend much of their time off of Conrail leased to either Union Pacific or Canadian National.  These units are used in regular service on both roads.  The 700-714 are currently on lease to the Union Pacific and are operating as follows:
 

CSX Transportation Inc. (CSXT) announced that it is investing $2 million to replace a unit of its Buskirk, KY., bridge that crosses the main channel of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River.

Built in 1903, the bridge is part of CSXT's Big Sandy Subdivision, a key segment of railroad between Russell, KY., and Elkhorn City, KY.  The Big Sandy segment, which is primarily used for transporting coal, feeds into the Kingsport Subdivision, which stretches across the southern tier of the state.

Due to be completed in 1998, the project involves replacing the Buskirk bridge's center span, a pin-connected 167-foot long truss span, with a welded deck plate girder span, at a total cost of $2 million.  Once in place, the new span will require less maintenance, while improving vertical and horizontal clearances.

"Planning for and then moving ahead with necessary improvements to our infrastructure is the hallmark of our capital planning process," said Alan F. Crown, vice president and general manager, C&O Business Unit.  "Projects such as Buskirk continue to illustrate our unyielding commitment to safety and providing superior service to our customers."

The Buskirk bridge project is part of an ongoing $806 million capital spending program designed to enhance safety and customer service throughout CSXT's eastern rail network, and is in addition to a planned $488 million capital spending program as part of the joint acquisition of Conrail by CSX Corporation and Norfolk Southern Corporation. -CSX Corporation

HOMECOMING

CSXT AC60CW 600 with the GECX 90 Gemini test car was at Newton, KS on May 10.  The 600 is returning after spending nearly two months on the FRA test track in Avondale, CO.  The 600 had been delivered to the FRA on March 18.  -Ken Ardinger

CSX SD70MAC'S

The sister SD70MAC's to the Conrail units are CSX 700-724.  These units originally worked between Grafton, WV and Baltimore, MD hauling coal exclusively.  Today, most units remain in coal service but are finding their way around the system.  The following summary gives you an idea of where the 70MAC's are operating:

Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) was pummeled by more than 300 weather-related incidents during the winter of 1996/97, shutting key transportation corridors in Canada and the United States and challenging
thousands of employees at every turn, the railway will show today as it enters its fourth day of testimony at Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) hearings.

CPR was confronted by an unprecedented number and frequency of debilitating winter incidents last year, many of which occurred simultaneously on different sections of its vast network, according to evidence to be,
presented today by the railway as it continues to provide detailed evidence in response to a Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) complaint about railway service during the last crop year.

CPR's evidence today will include a month-by-month account of events during the winter of 1996/97, along with evidence of the resulting impacts on railway operations.  The railway will document, in detail, the crippling effects of:

    - more than 100 separate incidents and weather-related delays in November
      and December 1996, including rockfalls, landslides, heavy snowstorms
      and blizzards, derailments, ice storms and extreme cold at a number of
      locations, from Ontario to the West Coast, including the Midwest U.S.

    - about 65 events in January 1997, including a record number of
      avalanches and severe winter storms that stranded trains and employees
      in Canada and the U.S., and which resulted in a 10-day closure of the
      railway's only corridor to the West Coast

    - more than 60 impacts in February, with the accumulated effect creating
      critical congestion and backlogs on CPR lines, in rail yards and in
      repair shops across the railway's network

    - about 100 incidents during March, April and May, including blizzards,
      mudslides, derailments and signal failures, culminating in devastating
      floods in southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and Minnesota

CPR's evidence will document not only the impact of those events on CPR equipment and track, but also the efforts of employees and the expenses incurred as the railway endeavored to recover from the frequent and widespread service disruptions that brought transit times rise to record levels for all commodities.

With the launch of a massive recovery effort across Canada and the U.S., the railway saw dramatic increases in expenses, in particular for overtime wages and the repair and rental of locomotives and other equipment.  As it struggled to ease traffic backlogs, the railway acquired additional leased locomotives last year, with a record number of units in its fleet by the end of March.

The railway's evidence was presented today by Neal Foot, vice-president of mechanical services, Paul Nimigon, general manager of service design, and John Gradek, director of long-term resource planning.

Their testimony brought an end to evidence from the railway's first operations panel, with further evidence to be presented by other CPR officials in the coming days. -Canadian Pacific Railway

Today, an Operation Lifesaver Special will be operated out of Green Bay to Oshkosh and return on the following schedule.
 

The car consist should be: Prarie Rose, Algoma Country, Montana, Two ACRI Coach cars, and one ACRI Lunch Counter car. The train will load and unload at the Title Town Brewery Station in Green Bay. I believe this to be the old C&NW station.

After this trip is run, the entire consist plus Camp Car WC 77 will be sent to Schiller Park,IL for a trip out of there on Friday May 15. We will post info about the May 15 trip as soon as it is available.-Ray Weart

Reading & Northern has acquired an identical sleeper to the R&N Car #1.  The ex-NJT sleeper will be painted and renumbered to R&N #2.  The car arrived on the property last evening.

R&N has also informed ERN that an excursion schedule will be released next Monday.  We will bring you the schedules as soon as they are made available.  The excursions will be operated with diesel power and no steam-powered trips are on tap for 1998. -Kevin Burkholder

NYS&W 142 STEAMS IN VERMONT!

NYS&W 142 will be operating in the New England States this summer and early fall. The proposed events for the 142 while on Vermont Rail Systems:
(All are subject to sudden change!)

NYS&W 142 plus 4 cars move to Whitehall, NY. Via CPRS (D&H)
Jul 23 Syracuse, NY; AR Whitehall Jul 24
Jul 25 Press trip, Rutland to Bellows Falls, ONE WAY

• LV: 10:00 ET.  Newpaper, magazine reporters, local and state officials.
• AR: 13:30 ET.  Bus people back to Rutland.

• 3 trips daily plus all TRANSPO 98 events on the weekend.

Aug 15/16 and 22/23 use regular CVW schedule.

Aug 28 Deadhead trip to Rutland.

Aug 29 to Bellows Falls

• LV Rutland   8:OOam     Photo stops going East
• AR B Falls  11:30am    Service train etc
• LV B Falls   1:30PM
• AR Rutland   5:OOpm

Aug 30 to Whitehall and Ludlow

• LV Rutland.  8:OOam
• AR Whitehall 9:15am 40mph
• AR Rutland  11:OOam Service engine WATER
• LV Rutland  11:30am
• AR Ludlow    2:OOpm Water Service and run around train
• LV Ludlow    3:30pm
• AR Rutland   5:OOpm Tie up engine for nite

FREIGHT OPERATIONS

Effective Monday, April 27, l998 the on-duty times for train crews will be set as follows:

A dedicated move of Amtrak Express box cars is scheduled for tonight. Amtrak A-9001-13 will operate from Ft. Worth tonight about 22:00 CT headed for Chicago, IL via Oklahoma City, Ark City, Augusta, Emporia, Ottawa, Kansas City, Galesburg, IL and the BN line to Chicago Union Station.  The train should consist of two
Amtrak engines and 38 empty express box cars.  It is due in Kansas City at 16:00 CT on the May 14. Arrival in Chicago will be on May 15 in the morning hours. -Keel Middleton

The first of 18 dual-mode DM30AC's left Schenectady, NY yesterday from GMLG construction.  Long Island Railroad 500 has been sent west to Colorado to the AAR test facility.  The unit was trailing in a light engine move this morning destined for Chicago, to a BNSF interchange.  The light engine move, Conrail ENS-301 was last reported at CP-358, IN at 08:40 ET with Conrail 6445/6726/5564/6260/6425/6524/5607/6758/and the LIRR 500. - Andy Kirk, John Krattinger