Grassroots Railroad Sports?

Another big merger dust-up is brewing in New England. CSX wants to take control of Pan Am Railways in New England, formerly the Guilford Lines. New England isn't too keen on it, because CSX is already saying there will be a workforce reduction of 500-1200 people. Norfolk Southern isn't happy about it, because they get access to New England over Pan Am subsidiary Pan Am Southern, and they're concerned that CSX taking over Pan Am will shut them out of New England. CSX is proposing that NS and CSX will have joint ownership of Pan Am Southern and it will be operated by Genesee & Wyoming, with NS having the option to buy out CSX's 50% in seven years.

Speaking of New England, do you know anything about the Housatonic Railroad? Other than seeing a couple engines passing their yard in CT, I've never seen a train running on their tracks, and I've had ample opportunity. Seems strange. The people at the Danbury railroad museum had nothing good to say about them a few years ago, indicating that they were summarily refused permission to run any excursions along their tracks, which again seems odd given how little those tracks seem to be used. According to their website, they're making noises about starting passenger service from Danbury to Pittsfield, which would be quite interesting (once people start traveling again, obviously) - maybe that has something to do with their stance on excursions?

In reply to 02Pilot :

A quick read of their wikipedia entry says the service from Danbury to Pittsfield is dead in the water because it would cost $100-$150 million dollars to bring the physical plant up t0 spec for passenger service. Looks like Houstatonic is caught in that old downward spiral of customers leaving them because their service is in decline due to worn out infrastructure, but they can't afford to upgrade their infrastructure because their customers. They canceled their agreement with the Berkshire Scenic Railway in 2011 due to the poor condition of the track making it not feasible to run. I'd guess probably the higher insurance costs of passenger service also played a part.

So what's the usual outcome of such situations? Buyout by a larger railroad? Abandonment and conversion to rail trail? There has to some value in their RoW, but I don't know how much it would duplicate other lines running north-south. There's nothing that carries major N-S freight traffic to the west of them until you cross the Hudson (West Shore Line), but I have no idea about what's east of there.

In reply to 02Pilot :

If the railroad can make a good enough business case or the government (local, state, or federal) sees a value to it, then sometimes they can get a bailout. Sounds like the Houstatonic has already received a bunch of state money though, and getting any more government money right now is a difficult ask. A buyout, if it has enough perceived value, is another option, either by a Class 1, like CSX, or by a regional/shortline operator, like Genesee & Wyoming. Abandonment doesn't necessarily mean ripping up the tracks, and they can sometimes see reactivation at a later date. New York Central's Adirondack Division and the remains of its St. Lawrence Division sat unused for 15+ years until Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern scooped them up. The old D&RGW Tennessee Pass route hasn't seen a train in 20+ years, and now there are two regional lines in a bidding war to reactivate it. Sometimes that revival is an excursion route. Genessee Valley Transportation had the old Lowville & Beaver River line as part of MA&N, then pretty much abandoned it, and now some guy is reviving the Lowville-Carthage segment as a new tourist line. MassDOT has already purchased 37 miles of the Berkshire Line on the Houstatonic to connect their service to New York City. 

NickD said:

Well, there is now one less Class I in the US. Canadian Pacific bought out Kansas City Southern. That presumably includes Kansas City Southern De Mexico, so CP now will operate in all three regions of North America, Canada, USA and Central America

CP has now said that if the $25 billion merger goes through, they will relocate their global headquarters from Minneapolis to Calgary. The US headquarters in would be the ex-KCS headquarters in Kansas City, and the old KCS de Mexico headquarters in Mexico City and Monterrey would stay where they are as well. CP is assuring folks that Minneapolis will remain a base of operations and that they won't slash jobs there though.

Kansas City Southern 900-series 2-10-4s at the Pittsburg, KS roundhouse. KCS actually served two Pittsburgs, one in Kansas and one in Texas

I've read a couple articles about the CP-KC merger and something around 58% of their cargo is grain and propane transport would be a huge export into Mexico since they use quite a bit of it.

In reply to dxman92 :

It has the potential to be a very big deal. The biggest problem I see is that there is zero overlap on the KCS and CP networks. So they don't have any shared routes that they could use to handle excess capacity like when UP bought Southern Pacific and D&RGW. If the new traffic overwhelmed  the Moffat Pass route, they could send it around Tennessee Pass instead. I predict some serious growing pains. After UP's big buying spree, they had a pretty ugly traffic meltdown in '97. And that was all rails in the same country and same relative area. Canadian Pacific already has 12,500 miles of track from Albany and Montreal to Vancouver and from as far north as Edmonton down to Kansas City. Now add another 6700 miles from KCS, all the way down to Veracruz and Tampico in Mexico, plus the Panama Canal Railway. No way there won't be logistical issues.

A Kansas City Southern 2-8-8-0 "Big Malley" at rest. While all of the engines are scrapped, IRM has the tender from #759

A KCS Consolidation with an auxiliary water tank holds one of their Big Malleys at bay behind it on the grade into Page, Oklahoma. KCS seemed to randomly assign motive power in helper service and Joe Collias' The Search For Steam has a photo of an old teakettle of a Pacific as a front-end helper to one of their big Texas-types 

Although they possessed an almost exclusively EMD diesel roster, KCS was apparently seduced by the Raymond Loewy styling on the Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Builts. They purchased 5 of the units in '47. Within 10 years, KCS was sick of the Fairbanks-Morse engine and sent them to EMD to be repowered with 567 V12s. An interesting detail on the KCS Erie-Builts is the unusual fabricated steel trucks, as F-M had not signed a contract with General Steel Castings for their A-1-A trucks.

KCS F-units, still on the job in 1981, lead a freight train

KCS's crack train, The Southern Belle, was a simple but well-maintained affair. After every other line was putting their passenger trains on life support, KCS kept the Belle in tip-top shape. They even ordered new passenger cars for it in '65, the last intercity passenger cars purchased until Amtrak's big Amfleet purchase in the mid '70s

While KCS currently uses the same livery as they did on their first diesels, they did not stick with it all these years, like Union Pacific did. Instead, they came full circle back to the original scheme.

The original Southern Belle scheme, as applied to the EMD E3A that they purchased in 1940 was red, yellow and Brunswick Green. Yes, that is a very, very dark green, not black. It was also applied all subsequent passenger units, including E6s, E8s and those Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Builts.

Their first carbody freight units, EMD F3s and the later F7s, were painted in a scheme that was very similar. The red and yellow locations were inverted, and the Brunswick Green was actually black on these.

Meanwhile their early road switchers, like GP7s, and their yard power was painted in a basic black with a thin white stripe. Remants of this hung around well into the mid '60s, like on this Alco HH-series switcher in '66.

In '56, KCS had some wrecked F3s and F7s rebuilt to F9 specifications and they were sent back in a simplified paint scheme that was a solid red with a yellow band around the windshields and roof. This was pretty quickly phased out and replaced with a solid red with a black roof, like on the EMD-repowered F-M Erie-Built

Around '58 or '59, the red dip paint became the standard for their road switchers and yard power as well. The last locomotives delivered in this paint scheme were their GP30s, and some of those wore that paint until their retirement in the '80s.

Around '65, KCS got tired of the red paint scheme and went to the "Ghost" livery, a bright white with red billboard lettering and an yellow stripe around the bottom. They even had two E8s painted in this scheme after they discontinued passenger service and pressed them into freight hauling. Or, you have this oddity, #45, one of two F-M H-15-44s that the KCS rostered. Like their Erie-Builts, KCS got tired of the opposed-piston engines and had them repowered with EMD engines. The last of the Ghosts were repainted or retired in the mid-2000s.

The "Ghost" did not last too long before it was replaced by the "Grey Ghost". The white was changed out for a light gray and yellow chevrons were added to the noses. This became the standard scheme across all units, including yard power. Introducd in '78, it was the standard scheme into the 2000s.

In 1995, KCS bought a batch of retired FP9s off of VIA Rail for use on their executive train and painted them in Brunswick Green with a red and yellow stripe along the bottom.

In 2003, they were given a facelift and painted into the original Southern Belle livery.

This was so well received that KCS decided to paint all their motive power moving forward in the "Retro Belle" scheme, starting in 2007.

Speaking of ALCO high hood 660's. Delaware-Lackawanna short line has re=patrioted a Lackawanna  HH660 in RELCO mellow yellow.

In reply to LS_BC8 :

Yeah, that's a pretty big deal. There aren't many HH-series switchers left, and #409 will be back on home turf at Scranton. DL&W had three HH-660s, and #410 was retired and scrapped, #411 was scrapped after a wreck in Syracuse, NY, so #409 is the sole survivor. They weren't the first DL&W diesels (they had some of those Alco-GE-Ingersoll Rand boxcabs) but they were pretty close to it.

#409 at Scranton. That's the Scranton station in the background. The higher track is the Nicholson Cutoff, what Steamtown now runs on, while just behind #409 is a Laurel Line E.M.U. car.

I'm amazed that there are any HH-series switchers still operational, since they run a Macintosh & Seymour 531 engine. If a 244 is difficult to get parts for and a 539T is impossible to get parts for, 531 parts might as well have been buried with King Tut.

Also, whenver I see photos of Alco HHs, my mind immediately goes to popsicles, because of the hood shape. Funny that there is a strong similarity between these and Fairbanks-Morse hood units, but the HHs were designed by Otto Kuhler and the F-Ms were the work of Raymond Loewy.

The last active wig wag signal on a mainline, located in Delhi, Colorado, was retired this month. It was also the last active wigwag in all of Colorado. Plans are for it to go to the Colorado Railroad Museum.

The curious tale of four locomotives seperated at birth.

After the success of the original 1930-built GS-1 non-streamlined, 73" drivered 4-8-4s (SP called a 4-8-4 a Golden State), they returned in 1937 for another batch of 6 semi-streamlined engines called a GS-2. These retained the 73" drivers and all other mechanical specs but added a skyline casing, side skirts, a conical smokebox door with an encased headlight and that famous red, yellow and orange "Daylight" colors.

After the GS-2, SP went on to purchase GS-3s, GS-4s (like #4449) and GS-5s, which featured 80" drivers as a move more towards passenger service. Other than the driver size, the GS-3 was identical to a GS-2, while the GS-4s switched to the double headlights in a teardrop smokebox door and the GS-5s had roller bearings on the axles and rods. During WWII, SP tried to buy another batch, but the War Production Board wouldn't allow an 80" drivered passenger engine, so the GS-6s reverted to the 73" drivers of a GS-2, and were also delivered without the side skirts and the bright Daylight colors. They also had the conical smokebox doors with the single headlight.

The War Production Board also diverted 6 of the GS-6s from SP's 16-engine order and diverted them over to the Western Pacific, where they were called a GS-64 (Golden State type, 64000lbs tractive effort). Some of the patented Southern Pacific parts were removed, and WP had them equipped with trailing truck boosters. But the main noticeable difference was that WP installed elephant ear smoke deflectors on them, which resulted in a very strange looking engine.

Also during WWII, the Central of Georgia founds themselves short on modern motive power and placed an order for new engines. The War Production was not allowing new designs, so the CofG decided to order 8 of the GS-2/GS-6 design for themselves, which they classified as a K-2 and called a "Big Apple". This was the most cosmetically removed of the examples. CofG installed their usual large-diameter smokebox door and narrow pressed-steel pilot, crowded the pilot deck with a radiator for the air compressors,  installed an Elesco vertical coil feedwater heater which nearly hid the smokestack in place of SP's Worthington SAs, and hooked them to a comically stubby 4-axle tender. The result was an engine, that while well-suited to the CofG's needs in performance, was very cosmetically questionable.

Of all the siblings, no GS-2s survive, no WP GS-64s survive except for the tender of #484, no CofG K-2s survive although one was set aside for preservation and then scrapped by a change in management, and only one GS-6, #4460, survives.

Some other examples of related steam locomotive designs showing up in different spots.

Probably the most famous example is the tale of the C&O T-1 and the PRR J1. During WWII, the PRR needed newer, faster and more powerful freight engines. The War Production Board was not allowing new designs, so the PRR had to pick a proven design. They tried the Norfolk & Western Class A 2-6-6-4 and found it not to their liking. Then they tried out the C&O's new 2-10-4s and fell in love with them (PRR also wanted to test a C&O 2-6-6-6 but couldn't get their hands on one to test). Since the PRR couldn't change any major mechanical specs to make it their own, they applied PRR aesthetic cues to to make it their own. This included moving the bell back on the boiler, relocating the headlamp to the top of the smokebox, trading out the footboards for a cast pilot with a drop coupler, relocating the air compressor radiator to the pilot deck and installing a unique cab with a semi-circular side window. The C&O T-1 was handsome but relatively nondescript, but the J1 was a fearsome, brutal-looking machine.

Canadian National took ownership of Central Vermont in 1923 but largely left the line's identity and operations alone and Central Vermont was content to operate with a fleet of quaint Ten Wheelers and Consolidation. After a flood destroyed a huge portion of the CV, CN invested considerable money and manpower in rebuilding them and from then on began to exert more corporate influence on the CV. Part of this was a purchase of new motive power, including a batch of Pacifics, Texases and Mountains. The CV's U-1-a Mountains were built off the CN's U-1-a Mountain blueprints, which was a rather light engine by US standards. While the CN version, with it's Elesco feedwater heater, small smokebox door, all-weather cab and high-capacity tender, looked like a hulking monster, the Central Vermont was much more dainty-looking. The Elesco feedwater heater was replaced with a Coffin internal heater, it had a large-diameter smokebox door, an outside-journal lead truck and a regular cab.

Another case of the War Production Board getting involved. Frisco, long an adherent to the Mikado and Mountain designs, needed additional steam power when the Frisco essentially became a moving oil pipeline in WWII. Frisco ordered 25 modern Northerns based off of the CB&Q's excellent O-5a Northern. Frisco replaced the Elesco vertical coil-type feedwater heater with a Coffin internal feedwater heater and installed a trailing truck booster engine. They also replaced the cast pilot with a boiler tube pilot with footboards, installed the typical Frisco extra-tall cab, and generally just cleaned up the overall design. Also interesting was that while the Q's Northerns were all delivered as coal-burners, Frisco had theirs delivered as a mix of oil- and coal-burning engines. And this must be an early photo of the Frisco #4503, because it still has the Frisco Faster Freight winged logo on the tender. Not long after delivery, the penny-pinching president Clark Hungerford took one look at the logo and commented "How much tonnage does this pull? Get it off" and all the tenders had the logo painted over and replaced with just the numbers.

Here's a confusing one. How could these two engines possible be related? Well, during WWI and the USRA's reign, several railroads were recipients of a standardized Heavy Santa Fe. While most of the lines, like the CB&Q or the Erie, were content to leave them as delivered, the non-PRR heritage must have bothered the PRR. So, in the early 1920s, the PRR took their 130 USRA Heavy Santa Fes, class N2, and ran them through their shops. They altered the rear boiler course to give it a Belpaire boiler, moved the headlight and bell to the typical PRR locations and installed doghouses on the tender. The resulting engine was called an N2sa. The 2-10-2s were rather anemic in comparison to other PRR power at the time, particularly the I1 Decapod, so they were shuffled off to the farther-flung ends of the PRR network. Although they lived long lives, they were rarely photographed and are considered the red-headed stepchild of PRR power.

While the New York Central was developing impressive modern Mikados, Hudsons and Mohawks, the neighboring New York, Ontario & Western, always a sickly line, was making do with a roster of antique Ten-Wheelers, camelback Moguls and Consolidations, and a class of very light clean sheet design Mountains, class Y-1s. The NYO&W would never own a Mikado or a Hudson, or even a Pacific, but in '29, as NYO&W's traffic peaked, they needed new motive power. They ordered another batch of Mountains, class Y-2, but rather than their own design, these were a duplicate of the New York Central's L-2a Mohawk. NYO&W deleted the Coffin internal feedwater heater and equipped them with a shorter tender, but the lineage is still very evident. The Y-2s ended up being the last new steam power the O&W purchased, and '29 ended up being the high water mark for the line, as traffic had halved by '32 and the line went bankrupt in '35.

During WWII, the Denver & Rio Grande Western put in an order for EMD FT diesels, but the War Assets Administration turned down the order. Instead, Union Pacific was in the midst of receiving a big order of their famed 3900-series Challengers and the WAA diverted 6 of those articulateds to the D&RGW, who numbered them in the 3800-series and classified them as an L-97. D&RGW was never that impressed with them and after just three years on the property, turned them back over to the government. Some say that the problem was that the UP engines were "runners" and D&RGW wanted "luggers". Others say that the reason D&RGW wanted diesels on the area they were assigned to was because of poor water quality. And some say, the D&RGW just really wanted diesels. The government then sent the six orphans to the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio. The Clinchfield also wanted diesels, and got them shortly afterwards. The unloved engines were parked in 1952, although they sat in a Florida scrapyard as late as 1969, waiting for the equipment leases to run out before they could be scrapped.

Boston & Maine bought three batches of truly monstrous 4-8-2s from Baldwin in 1935, some of the heaviest in the US, right around the same time they were ordering some of the largest Pacifics in the US from Lima. With 73" drivers, a total weight of 788,800lbs and 67,900lbs of tractive effort, they were some pretty awesome machines. They were also very visually distinct, with a pair of small elephant ear smoke deflectors and a centipede tender behind them. Nine years later, an addition three engines of the very same design were constructed for the little Lehigh & Hudson River, right down to the smoke deflectors, tender and even the class designation (Both called them an R-1). The R-1s were apparently quite an eye-opener for L&HR crews, who were used to plodding short-drivered 2-8-0s and USRA Light Mikados. The R-1s were the first engine on the L&HR to have a driver diameter larger than 64", and they would hit 70mph on the grade from Mcafee to Sugar Loaf with ease. There must have been better water treatment over on the B&M than on the L&HR though, because the L&HR fought with foaming and excessive scale buildup in the boiler.

Well, you win some, you lose some. Earlier this week it was announced that the Nashville Steam Preservation Society, who is restoring Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis #576 to operation, had received a $40k grant from the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust for the rebuilding of the Westinghouse cross-compound air pumps on the big 4-8-4. Then last night that nasty storm blew in part of the building at the Tennessee Central Railway Museum where they are working on the engine. No one was hurt, and it didn't do any major damage to the engine, but its definitely going to be a setback to the restoration process.

In reply to NickD :

Damn, that sucks. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Fortunately it didn't damage the engine, so it's just a mess to clean up. At least it wasn't a fire.

The big Dixie (NC&StL's name for a 4-8-4, because they sure weren't going to call it a Northern) is going to be an impressive machine when it's complete. CSX has been surprisingly helpful with moving the engine to its new home, even posing it in front of the old Nashville station for a photo op, and donated a boxcar to use as a tool car. Between that and their involvement with the C&O #2716 restoration, it makes me wonder if we're seeing a softening of CSX's "no steam, no vintage equipment" policy