Pair of Ex-Conrail Units Working for CSX

CSX C40-8W No. 7389 is eastbound in Akron on May 20, 2006. The unit was built in November 1994 as Conrail 741. Speaking of which, the 7389 is working with another Conrail unit that still displays its CR livery.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Still Wearing its Chessie Roster Number

Western Maryland No. 7165 has its Chessie System roster number as it sits in the sun in Willard on Sept. 2, 1978.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Visiting the Renovated Hobbs Station

Earlier this month tourist train operator Nickel Plate Express and the parks department of Noblesville, Indiana, held a grand opening ceremony to celebrate the renovation of the Hobbs Station site.

The complex will serve as the boarding site for all Nickel Plate Express trains, which operate over a 12.4-mile segment of a former Nickel Plate Road branch line that once ran from Indianapolis to Michigan City, Indiana.

Today Nickel Plate Express trains operate between Noblesville and Atlanta, Indiana.

The station is a former NKP depot that once stood in Hobbs, Indiana, on the former Lake Erie & Western.

It was brought to Noblesville in 1967. The station sits where the former Indiana Transportation Museum sat in Forest Park until being evicted by the city in 2018. Some former rolling stock from the ITM collection is still on site.

Renovation of the Hobbs Station was a $1.6 million project that included landscaping and walking paths, a restroom addition, historic signs and paved parking. A covered platform was constructed in the boarding area.

The station complex re-opened on June 6. Nickel Plate Express operates primarily on Saturdays and offers caboose rides and various theme-train excursions.

I visited the site on June 25 on a day when 15-minute caboose rides were being offered.

Passengers rode in a former Monon caboose pulled by a former NKP GP7.

Noblesville officials hope that the train rides will serve to attract tourist to the expansive park which itself has many attractions including a golf course and merry-go-round.

Group Meets Funding Goal for New Firebox

A group working to raise money for restoration of a former Pennsylvania Railroad K4s steam locomotive  said it has exceeded its goal.

Trains magazine reported on its website that the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society has raised more than $100,000 to be used to construct a new firebox for ex-PRR 4-6-2 No. 1361, which is owned by the Railroaders Memorial Museum and for years was on static display at Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, Pennsylvania after being retired in 1956.

The 1361 is one of just two of the 425 K4s class locomotives built that still survives.

The other survivor is the 3750, which is in the collection of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.

The Altoona museum restored the 1361 to operating condition in the late 1980s but it has not operated since 1988.

The fundraising efforts by the PRRT&HS are part of a larger campaign by the Altoona museum to raise $2.6 million to bring the 1361 back to operating condition.

The story can be read at https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/prr-group-raises-100000-toward-restoration-of-k4s-steam-engine-no-1361/

Ohio Central Two for Tuesday

Here are two photos of Youngstown & Austintown GP7 No. 1501, formerly a Pittsburgh & Lake Erie unit, on the Ohio Central in July 1998. The top image shows the 1501 sitting in Sugarcreek,. The bottom image was made of it pulling a southbound train approaching Baltic.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

PennDOT, NS Reach Agreement on Route Improvements to Pittsburgh-Harrisburg Route

An agreement has been reached between the state of Pennsylvania and Norfolk Southern on infrastructure improvements that will be made as part of plans to launch a second daily Amtrak train between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

The improvements will cost $200 million with final details on the projects to be worked out by late this year.

Officials said the second Amtrak train is still about three years away from being inaugurated.

Currently the Pittsburgh-Harrisburg segment is served by Amtrak’s New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian, which operates via Philadelphia.

There are numerous Amtrak trains operating between Harrisburg and Philadelphia on the Amtrak-owned Keystone Corridor.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation did not provide any details about planned infrastructure projects and a department spokeswoman said the agreement has yet to be signed by all parties involved.

It is at this point an agreement in principle. Earlier reports indicated that 12 new and upgraded interlocking plants on the NS Pittsburgh Line.

NS Launches New Operating Plan

Norfolk Southern launched on Monday a new operating plan that is largely focused on improving intermodal service although it will be applied to all types of freight shipments.

The plan, known as Thoroughbred Operating Plan|Service Productivity Growth was described as an evolution of its previous operating plan known as Thoroughbred Operating Plans 21.

TOP|SPG continues to build upon the elements of the precision scheduled railroading model with its emphasis on efficiency but also adding and more point-to-point intermodal service.

For example, NS will consolidate all intermodal traffic moving between Chicago and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at one terminal in Chicago, 47^th Street.

Under the previous operating plan, NS operated one train daily between 47^th Street in Chicago and Rutherford Yard in Harrisburg and one train daily between 63^rd Street in Chicago and Rutherford.

In the new operating plan Chicago-Harrisburg intermodal operations will be consolidated at 47^th Street and expanded to four daily trains between there and Harrisburg. The intermodal trains serving the 63^rd Street terminal will be eliminated.

NS officials said they are seeking to increase the number of miles per day that cars travel by reducing how often those cars are handled en route and how much time they spend sitting in yards.

The running time will be adjusted for more than half of all road trains. Schedules will be changed for 90 percent of all scheduled trains.

There will be changes to 39 percent of yard blocks. The officials said the new operating plan seeks to reduce network directional imbalance, and simplify operations of routes and terminals.

The carrier indicated it will increase the number of daily intermodal trains it operates systemwide from 79 to 85.

NS CEO Alan Shaw cautioned that implementation of the plan won’t occur overnight.

In a video created to announce the new operating plan, Shaw said the goals of the plan are reducing the complexity of the NS network by reducing train meets and how often cars need to be worked while en route.

In a social media post, NS said the new operating plan “isn’t a radical change in how we work with our customers, but a shift in how we execute our operations to move their shipments more directly and consistently.”

NS said there will be no operating changes for most customers and for those who are affected It has been working with them to ensure they are prepared for coming changes.

Above all, NS indicated, the new operating plan seeks to provide greater consistency in the service provided to shippers.

NS Promotes 3 in Law Department

Norfolk Southern has promoted three executives to new positions in its law department effective July 1.

Nabanita Nagwill become executive vice president and chief legal officer, overseeing the law, government relations, and audit & compliance functions.

Jason Morris has been named vice president law. He has been vice president labor relations since June 2021.

Wai Wong will succeed Morris as vice president labor relations. He joined NS in 2015 as assistant general solicitor and is currently assistant vice president human resources.

EL Monday: Early in the Conrail Era

Erie Lackawanna F7A No. 7121 is westbound in Akron on May 8, 1976. This is about five weeks into the Conrail era.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Committee OKs Transportation Funding Bill

A congressional committee last week approved a bill that provide a 23 percent increase in discretionary spending for public transit, and passenger and freight railroads in federal fiscal year 2023.

The Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill was approved by the transportation subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on a voice vote.

The bill is expected to be considered this week by the full Appropriations Committee, which wants to clear spending bills before the July 4th recess.

It would then move to the Senate. The 2023 federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

Much of the appropriations proposed by the bill are above the amounts appropriated for the current fiscal year, but below what was authorized in earlier congressional action.

For example, the bill approves $1.6 billion for Amtrak’s national network. That is an increase over the $1.4 billion appropriated for the current fiscal year but short of the $2.2 billion authorized for FY 2023.

Total Amtrak funding in the bill would be $2.3 billion versus the $3 billion proposed by the Biden administration and $3.3 billion sought by Amtrak.

The passenger carrier had said it needed that level of funding because of “the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic [that] continue to affect revenue and ridership.”

Amtrak said “robust FY 2023 grant funding is needed to enable Amtrak to continue operating our long-distance trains.”

The bill approved last week allocates $500 million for the Federal State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program, which funds capital projects to bring facilities and infrastructure to a state of good repair, improve performance, and expand or establish new intercity passenger rail services.

The Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program would receive $630 million. This includes a $150 million set-aside to “support the development of new intercity passenger rail service routes including alignments for existing routes.”

The bill contains language that seeks to prevent Amtrak from reducing or eliminating national network service, stating that Amtrak may not “discontinue, reduce the frequency of, suspend, or substantially alter the route of rail service on any portion of such route,” except in an emergency or during maintenance or construction outages.

No funding was appropriated for the Restoration and Enhancement Grants program, which provides operating assistance grants for initiating, restoring, or enhancing intercity passenger rail transportation.

Instead, the bill says Amtrak may use up to 10 percent of its $1.46 billion national network grant for the activities outlined in the service restoration program.