... The state's rail network also took a hit. The New England Central Railroad and all of the state-own railroads were shut down due to flood-related damage. Four rail bridges in the state were impassable and Amtrak service in Vermont has been suspended until further notice...
SOURCE: 8/30/11 http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011108300301
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Freight Trains Have Impact on Vermonters’ Daily Lives
Vermont drivers can thank trains for the rock salt that public works crews across the state spread on icy roads each winter.
At the Burlington rail yard adjacent to the headquarters of Vermont Rail Systems, Perry Martel showed visitors an enormous shed that he estimated housed at least 100 train cars’ worth of road salt — ready and waiting on a recent summer day for snow to fly.
Road salt is just one of the many commodities that Vermont Rail System hauls over the 350 miles of track it leases or owns in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.
“We haul about 25,000 carloads a year on our system,” said David Wulfson, president of the company his father founded in 1964. Most of rail freight affects Vermonters’ daily lives, yet they don’t realize their dependence, Wulfson said.
It’s the gasoline in their cars and trucks, the fuel for their furnaces, and the feed and fertilizer for the farms producing the milk and cheese in home refrigerators, he said. Vermont Rail, for example, hauls a “gas train” to Burlington every day — averaging 15 tanker cars.
“People don’t realize how important rails are. They don’t realize at all,” said George Barrett, co-owner of Barrett Trucking Co. Barrett imports the rock salt that is stored at the Burlington rail yard as well as sheds in Rutland, North Clarendon, White River Junction, Rochester, Ely and Stark, N.H.
Barrett chuckled when asked if the rock salt could come by truck instead.
“The cost would go right out of this world,” he said. “We can ship 100 tons of salt for under $2,000. Probably closer to $1,500,” he said. One tractor-trailer load would haul 25 tons and cost $800 to $900.
“If it wasn’t for rail, there would be another 100 trucks a day, maybe more, on 22A all winter long,” Barrett said. “Without rail, I don’t know what we would do.”
Joseph Flynn, rail director at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, noted the interdependence of passenger and freight rail lines. “In Vermont, every passenger train runs on somebody’s freight railroad, so we can’t ever forget the importance of freight.”
The railroads operating in Vermont — Vermont Rail Systems and New England Central Railroad — have supported the state’s efforts to secure federal funding for track upgrades for passenger service because those improvements also benefit freight hauling.
Railroads especially want to see investments that strengthen bridges because that is what prevents freight cars from being loaded to capacity. Throughout Vermont, the top weight per car is 263,000 pounds while the national standard is 286,000 pounds.
“So lumber arrives maybe two stacks short,” said Christopher Parker, executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network.
The $74 million improvement project under way on the New England Central Railroad line running from St. Albans to White River Junction and then south to Massachusetts includes 37 bridge upgrades. When the work is completed in the fall of 2012, the entire 191 miles will be able to carry 286,000 pound cars.
“It will enable us to market ourselves as a way to move heavier loads,” said Charles Hunter, assistant vice president for government relations at New England Central. NECR hauls about 35,000 carloads of freight a year, including wood chips to the McNeil electric generation station in Burlington, LP gas to Montpelier and a lot of grain for the farms in Franklin county.
Back at the rail yard in Burlington, Martel, with 22 years invested in a railroad career, offered up the virtues of rail that he acknowledged most Vermonters have forgotten or never knew.
“A truck may get it there quicker, but by rail, it will be cheaper,” Martel said. And greener, he added. “We move a ton of freight 500 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel.”
SOURCE: Freight Trains Have Impact on Vermonters’ Daily Lives - Burlington Free Press burlingtonfreepress.com
Road salt is just one of the many commodities that Vermont Rail System hauls over the 350 miles of track it leases or owns in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.
“We haul about 25,000 carloads a year on our system,” said David Wulfson, president of the company his father founded in 1964. Most of rail freight affects Vermonters’ daily lives, yet they don’t realize their dependence, Wulfson said.
It’s the gasoline in their cars and trucks, the fuel for their furnaces, and the feed and fertilizer for the farms producing the milk and cheese in home refrigerators, he said. Vermont Rail, for example, hauls a “gas train” to Burlington every day — averaging 15 tanker cars.
“People don’t realize how important rails are. They don’t realize at all,” said George Barrett, co-owner of Barrett Trucking Co. Barrett imports the rock salt that is stored at the Burlington rail yard as well as sheds in Rutland, North Clarendon, White River Junction, Rochester, Ely and Stark, N.H.
Barrett chuckled when asked if the rock salt could come by truck instead.
“The cost would go right out of this world,” he said. “We can ship 100 tons of salt for under $2,000. Probably closer to $1,500,” he said. One tractor-trailer load would haul 25 tons and cost $800 to $900.
“If it wasn’t for rail, there would be another 100 trucks a day, maybe more, on 22A all winter long,” Barrett said. “Without rail, I don’t know what we would do.”
Joseph Flynn, rail director at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, noted the interdependence of passenger and freight rail lines. “In Vermont, every passenger train runs on somebody’s freight railroad, so we can’t ever forget the importance of freight.”
The railroads operating in Vermont — Vermont Rail Systems and New England Central Railroad — have supported the state’s efforts to secure federal funding for track upgrades for passenger service because those improvements also benefit freight hauling.
Railroads especially want to see investments that strengthen bridges because that is what prevents freight cars from being loaded to capacity. Throughout Vermont, the top weight per car is 263,000 pounds while the national standard is 286,000 pounds.
“So lumber arrives maybe two stacks short,” said Christopher Parker, executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network.
The $74 million improvement project under way on the New England Central Railroad line running from St. Albans to White River Junction and then south to Massachusetts includes 37 bridge upgrades. When the work is completed in the fall of 2012, the entire 191 miles will be able to carry 286,000 pound cars.
“It will enable us to market ourselves as a way to move heavier loads,” said Charles Hunter, assistant vice president for government relations at New England Central. NECR hauls about 35,000 carloads of freight a year, including wood chips to the McNeil electric generation station in Burlington, LP gas to Montpelier and a lot of grain for the farms in Franklin county.
Back at the rail yard in Burlington, Martel, with 22 years invested in a railroad career, offered up the virtues of rail that he acknowledged most Vermonters have forgotten or never knew.
“A truck may get it there quicker, but by rail, it will be cheaper,” Martel said. And greener, he added. “We move a ton of freight 500 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel.”
SOURCE: Freight Trains Have Impact on Vermonters’ Daily Lives - Burlington Free Press burlingtonfreepress.com
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
New "NEMCO" Switcher Arrives at Ayer MA Plant
NEMCO #1000, the long time switcher for the New England Milling (now Horizon Milling) plant in Ayer MA, has been replaced by this SW1500. I do not know what reporting marks the unit has, but as you can see, the road number is 13. Hopefully it will not have bad luck!
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| ©2011 Jonelle DeFelice |
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Athearn Portland Terminal Chip Hoppers in HO & N Scale
Amtrak Sues Trucking Company After Fatal Downeaster Crash
NORTH BERWICK, Maine -- Amtrak is suing the Massachusetts company that owned the truck hit by the Downeaster passenger train last month in North Berwick, Maine.
The driver of the truck owned by Triumvirate Environmental Inc. of Somerville , Mass.
Amtrak claims the driver, 35-year-old Peter Barnum, of Farmington , N.H.
The lawsuit claims Barnum drove the tractor-trailer around the lowered crossing gates, despite flashing lights and the train's horn.
It claims Triumvirate failed to properly train and negligently hired Barnum, who the lawsuit claims was "unqualified to operate the Kenworth tractor-trailer."
Amtrak says the damage exceeds $3 million, not including the loss in business during the cleanup.
Barnum was carrying a load of trash to an incinerator.
Amtrak has declined to comment on any pending litigation, and their attorney John Bonistalli said the lawsuit speaks for itself.
Bonistalli won't comment on why the lawsuit was filed before the investigation into the accident was completed, but he did say it's not uncommon.
Officials at Triumvirate Environmental have yet to return calls from News 9.
The suit was filed in federal court in Massachusetts
SOURCE: Amtrak Sues Trucking Company After Fatal Downeaster Crash - New Hampshire News Story - WMUR New Hampshire
Feds Dive Into Big Dig Sinkhole Saga
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| Photo by Matthew West |
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