The Lackawanna Limited wreck occurred when a Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad passenger train, the New York-Buffalo Lackawanna Limited collided with a freight train. Twenty-seven people were killed in the collision, and about twice that number injured, many from steam that poured into the railroad cars.
The building is built right over what had been the Great Northwest rail yard in Casper, which was still an active, although not too active, rail yard into my teens. I can't really recall when they abandoned the line, but it was abandoned.
Harding drove in a golden spike on the Alaska Railroad at Nenana, a town near Fairbanks.
Harding was really putting in the miles, and saw a great deal of Alaska during his trip, at a point in time at which it was fairly difficult to do so.
The most dangerous major airline in the world, Aeroflot, saw its birth when its predecessor, Dobrolet, began operations with a flight from Moscow to Nizhny.
Egypt banned its citizens from making the Hajj in reaction to the King of Hejaz barring an Egyptian medical mission which was part of it. The latter was done as an assertion of sovereignty by the Kingdom, which was not long to remain.
President Harding, continuing his Voyage of Understanding, was allowed to take the controls of a locomotive, fulfilling a boyhood ambition. It was an early electric locomotive.
The trip took Harding to Spokane, where he addressed a crowd on public lands. In his address, acknowledging the growing conservation movement that had received a large boost during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, he argued that use of public resources from public lands, rather than locking them up, preserved them. He also more or less correctly anticipated the size of the US population in 2023.
The thing that surprises me here is that it never occurred to me that there were human manned railroad crossings, but as this photo shows, they existed into the 1940s at least:
Indeed, in looking it up, it seems like the modern type of crossing with the lowering arms came about in the 1950s. An earlier automatic type called a "wig wag" was patented in 1909, but it must not have had universal use.
Railhead: The not so great train robbery.: CN police, RCMP investigating Monday train robbery in Brocklehurst Mar 28, 2023 | 1:36 PM KAMLOOPS — Kamloops RCMP are assisting CN Rail pol...
So, two days later, what do we now know?
Not much more, perhaps showing the difference in media access in Canada vs. the US.
The RCMP is asking for help. but the details so far have been very limited. It was an armed robbery, conducted by a man who felt in a white sedan, and who was wearing a hoodie.
That's it.
It's also the first train robbery in British Columbia since 1906. That train was robbed near Kamloops as well, by Bill Miner the Gentleman Bandit.
CN police, RCMP investigating Monday train robbery in Brocklehurst
Mar 28, 2023 | 1:36 PM
KAMLOOPS — Kamloops RCMP are assisting CN Rail police as they investigate a train robbery.
Spokesperson Cpl. Crystal Evelyn says RCMP were called just after 7:00 a.m. Monday (March 27). The incident took place at the junction of Tranquille Road and Ord Road in Brocklehurst.
It’s not known what was taken.
CFJC Today.
It’s not known what was taken.
Eh?
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0204
Allowable train lengths.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Chestek, Berger and Newsome and Senator(s) Gierau and Rothfuss
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to public utilities; requiring trains to be not more than a specified length; providing operational requirements; providing a civil penalty; providing definitions; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 37‑9‑1401 and 37‑9‑1402 are created to read:
ARTICLE 14
RAILROAD TRAINS
37‑9‑1401. Definitions.
(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Branch line" means a secondary railroad track that branches off from a main line;
(ii) "Director" means the director of the department of transportation;
(iii) "Mainline" means a class I railroad as documented in current timetables filed by the class I railroad with the federal railroad administration under 49 C.F.R. 217.7 when the railroad has five million (5,000,000) or more gross tons of railroad traffic transported annually;
(iv) "Railroad" means any form of non‑highway ground transportation that runs on rails or electromagnetic guideways;
(v) "Train" means one or more locomotives, coupled with or without cars, that require an air brake test in accordance with 49 C.F.R. part 232 or part 238;
(vi) "Siding" or "passing track" means a sidetrack with switches at both ends.
37‑9‑1402. Train length; penalties.
(a) In addition to other administrative or criminal remedies authorized by law, the director, after notice and opportunity for hearing, shall assess a civil penalty against a railroad company, corporation or employer as provided in this section.
(b) No railroad company operating in the state of Wyoming shall run or permit to be run any train that exceeds eight thousand five hundred (8,500) feet in length or exceeds the length of the shortest passing track or siding on which it travels on any mainline or branch line, or that routinely or repeatedly blocks any intersection for periods exceeding ten (10) minutes at one (1) time.
(c) Except as provided in subsection (d) any railroad company who willfully violates subsection (b) of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) per foot nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per foot of the amount of a train exceeding the limitation set forth in subsection (a) of this section.
(d) Any railroad company who commits a grossly negligent violation or who has a pattern of repeated violations of subsection (b) of this section which violation caused an imminent threat of death or injury to another person or that caused death or injury to another person shall be subject to a one (1) time fine not to exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.00).
(e) In determining the amount of any civil penalty under this section the director shall consider:
(i) The nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation;
(ii) The degree of culpability, history of violations, ability to pay and any effect on the violator's ability to continue to do business;
(iii) Any other matters that justice requires.
(f) At the request of the director, the attorney general may initiate a civil action to collect any civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section. The attorney general may bring a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction. A civil action under this section shall be commenced within three (3) years of the date of the violation or within three (3) years of the latest violation if a repeated offense is alleged.
(g) Any civil penalty received under this section shall be deposited in the state highway fund.
Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2023.
The art deco station served the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from its construction and then came to serve Amtrak later on. Amtrak service was discontinued in 1979, but it was resumed in 1998. The station also serves the Oklahoma City Streetcar service.
The Canadian Northern Railway and the Canadian Government Railways merged into the Canadian National Railway. The merger of the CNR and the CGR was forced by the government due to the financial failure of the CNR, although at one time the railroad had steamships as well as trains.
The CNN is one of the world's great railways, spanning all of Canada and the Eastern United States.
You'll note that the creation of this system is either an application of the American System of economics, albeit in Canada, or of Socialism. At one time the nationalization of railroads was not the controvery it would be now.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Congressional Action to Avert a Rail Shutdown
On Tuesday, I met with Congressional leaders from both parties and told them that Congress needed to move quickly to avert a rail shutdown and economic catastrophe for our nation. Now, I want to thank Congressional leadership who supported the bill and the overwhelming majority of Senators and Representatives in both parties who voted to avert a rail shutdown. Congress’ decisive action ensures that we will avoid the impending, devastating economic consequences for workers, families, and communities across the country. Communities will maintain access to clean drinking water. Farmers and ranchers will continue to be able to bring food to market and feed their livestock. And hundreds of thousands of Americans in a number of industries will keep their jobs. I will sign the bill into law as soon as Congress sends it to my desk.Working together, we have spared this country a Christmas catastrophe in our grocery stores, in our workplaces, and in our communities.I know that many in Congress shared my reluctance to override the union ratification procedures. But in this case, the consequences of a shutdown were just too great for working families all across the country. And, the agreement will raise workers’ wages by 24%, increase health care benefits, and preserve two person crews.I have long been a supporter of paid sick leave for workers in all industries – not just the rail industry – and my fight for that critical benefit continues.This week’s bipartisan action pulls our economy back from the brink of a devastating shutdown that would have hurt millions of families and union workers in countless industries. Our economy is growing and inflation is moderating, and this rail agreement will continue our progress to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out.
December 1, 2022
These photos depict, from a distance, the Billings Montana Railyard. The vintage station is visible in the photo above, on the far left, and the following photo goes from that point, to the right.
Billings is served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
Kingston's Hanley Spur: Modelling Tannery Effluent: Throughout the 1960's, there were persistent complaints and calls for action to alleviate the smells and effluent emerging from the Da...
Impressive.
Speaking of using petroleum
Gen. Luke Reiner[1] head of the Wyoming Department of Transportation, has stated that WYDOT is proposing to reroute Interstate 80 along the path of Wyoming Highway 30.
Eh?
Okay, this is the stretch between Laramie and Rawlins, which is notoriously bad during bad weather. For those not familiar with I80 in that area, or Highway 30 between Laramie and Rawlins, observe below:
“If you look at a map, you’ll see that the old highway, Highway 30, goes further to the north, and then sort of comes down from the north into I-80. Rumor has it that when they went to build I-80, that the initial route followed the route of Highway 30. And somebody made the decision, ‘No, we’re going to move closer to these very beautiful mountains,’ to which the locals said, ‘Bad idea,’ based on weather. And it has proved to be true.”
Our suggestion to the federal government is to say, ‘If you want to do something for the nation’s commerce along I-80, reroute it. Follow Highway 30 — it’s about 100 miles of new interstate, the estimated cost would be about $6 billion. So, it’s not cheap, but our estimate is that it would dramatically reduce the number of days the interstate’s closed, because that’s the section that that kills us.
the railroad is considering ceasing to serve the city.
News footage shows the rail line littered with the packages of thousands of stolen items.
We don't tend to post original commentary on this blog, but on our others, but given the topics, it's appropriate here.
And this will be a dual post, appearing on both Railhead and The Aerodrome simultaneously.
Like some, as in all, of our reflection posts that have gone up on our companion blogs, this entry is impacted by COVID 19, as everything is.
It's also heavily impacted by politics.
And of course, COVID 19 itself has become strangely political.
The onset of the terrible pandemic shut down nearly every economy in the world, save for those in areas with economies so underdeveloped that they couldn't shut down. That impacted the world's transportation networks in a major way, and it still is. COVID 19 also became a factor in the last election, with a large section of the American public becoming extremely unhappy with the Trump Administration's response to the pandemic. Added to the mix, heightened concerns over global warming have finally started to accelerate an American response to the threat.
All of which gets us to transportation, the topic of these blogs in some ways.
For at least a decade, it's been obvious that electric automobile are going to replace fossil fuel powered ones. There are, of course, deniers, but the die is cast and that's where things will go.
It's also become obvious that technology is going to take truck driver out of their seats, and put a few, albeit a very few, in automated offices elsewhere where they'll monitor remote fleets of trucks. Or at least that's the thought.
The Biden Administration, moreover, included money for railroads in is large infrastructure bill. This has developed in various ways, but the big emphasis has been on expanding Amtrak.
Amtrak Expansion. Cheyenne to Denver, and beyond!?
I have real problems, I'll admit, with the scope of the proposed infrastructure spending proposals that President Biden is looking at, but if they go forward, I really hope we do see rail service restored (and that's what it would be) between Cheyenne and Denver.The plan proposes to invest $80B in Amtrak. Yes, $80B. Most of that will go to repairs, believe it or not, as the Amtrak has never been a favorite of the Republican Party, which in its heard of hearts feels that the quasi public rail line is simply a way of preserving an obsolete mode of transportation at the Government's expense. But rail has been receiving a lot of attention recently for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that in a now carbon conscious era, it's the greenest mode of transportation taht we have, something the commercial rail lines have been emphasizing.Indeed, if the American public wasn't afraid of a nuclear power the same way that four year olds are afraid of monsters that live under their beds, it could be greener yet, and there's some talk of now supporting nuclear power among serious informed environmentalists. A campaign to push that, called the Solutionary Rail, is now active. We'll deal with that some other time.Here we're noting that we're hopeful that if this does go through, and as noted we have real reservations about this level of expenditure, that Amtrak does put in a passenger line from Cheyenne to Pueblo.A line connecting Ft. Collins to Denver has been a proposal in Colorado for quite a while and has some backing there. The same line of thought has already included Cheyenne. This has a lot to do with trying to ease the burgeoning traffic problem this area experiences due to the massive population growth in Colorado. Wyomingites, I suppose, should therefore approach this with some caution as it would tie us into the Front Range communities in a way that we might not want to be. Still, it's an interesting idea.It's one that for some reason I think will fall through, and I also suspect it'll receive no support in Wyoming. Still, it's interesting.
During the past year, locally, flights to Casper were put in jeopardy. This was a byproduct of COVID 19, as air travel dropped off to nearly nothing, nationwide, and that made short flights economically iffy.
Before the pandemic, Delta had cut back its flight schedule to Salt Lake, which is a major Delta hub. This caused its bookings to drop down anyway. I used to fly to Salt Lake in the morning, pre COVID, do business, and then fly back that evening. Once Delta cuts its flights back, however, that became impossible.
That meant that Delta, at that point, had aced itself out of the day trip business market, which it seemingly remains unaware of for some reason. COVID hurt things further. At that point it threatened to abandon its service unless it could receive some assistance. The county and the local municipalities rose to the occasion.
Delta receives a subsidty to continue serving the Natrona County International Airport
I'm really not too certain what my view on this is. Overall, I suppose it's a good thing.
Delta is one of the two carriers, relying on regional contractors, serving the Natrona County International Airport, and hence all of Central Wyoming. It flies to and from Salt Lake, while United flies to and from Denver.It used to have great connections. A businessman in Casper could take the red eye to Salt Lake and then catch the late flight back. That's no longer possible Frankly, depending upon what you're doing, it's nearly as easy to drive to Salt Lake now.
And perhaps that's cutting into their passenger list, along with COVID 19, although I'm told that flights have been full recently.
Anyhow, losing Delta would be a disaster. We'd be down to just United. Not only would that mean that there was no competition, it'd place us in a shaky position, maybe, as the overall viability of air travel starts to reduce once a carrier pulls out.
A couple of legislatures ago there was an effort to subsidize intrastate air travel, and I think it passed. While Wyomingites howl about "socialism", as we loosely and fairly inaccurately describe it, we're hugely okay with transportation being subsidized. We likely need to be, or it'll cut us off from the rest of everything more than we already are, and that has a certain domino effect.
I don't know what the overall solution to this problem is, assuming there is one, but whatever it is, subsidies appear likely to be part of it for the immediate future . . . and maybe there are some avenues open there we aren't pursuing and should be.
At the same time, infrastructure money became available for the state's airports as well.
Wyoming's Airports to receive $15.1M in Infrastructure Money
The Federal funds can be used for terminals, runways and parking lots and the like.
Of Wyoming airports, Jackson's will get the most, receiving $3.38M. Natrona County International Airport gets the second-largest amount at $1.34M. Natrona County's airport will use the funds for electrical work.
So flights were kept and improvements will be made.
Recently, pilot pay has been tripled, albeit only for one month.
United Airlines Triples Pilot Pay for January.
This due to an ongoing pilot shortage, which has been heightened by the Omicron variant of COVID 19.
I.e, United is trying to fill the pilot seats this month.
So, that's what happened.
Now, what might we hope will happen?
1. Electric Avenue
Everything always seem really difficult until its done, and then not so much.
Which doesn't discount difficulty.
The Transcontinental Railraod was created in the US through the American System, something that's been largely forgotten. Private railroads didn't leap at the chance to put in thousands of miles of rail line across uninhabited territory. No, the Federal Government caused the rail line to come about by providing thousands of acres of valuable land to two start up companies and then guarding the workers with the Army, at taxpayer expense.
We note that as, right now, railroad are already the "greenest" means of transportation in the US. They could be made more so by electrifying them, just as the Trans Siberian Railway is. At the same time, if a program to rapidly convert energy production in the US to nuclear was engaged in, the US transportation system could be made basically "green" in very little time. Probably five years or less.
If we intend to "build back better", we ought to do that.
This would, I'd note, largely shift long transportation back to its pre 1960s state. Mostly by rail. Trucking came in because the US decided, particularly during the Eisenhower Administration, to subsidize massive coast to coast highways.
For the most part, we no longer really need them.
Oh, we need highways, but with advances in technology of all sorts, we need them a lot less than we once did. And frankly, we never really needed them way that the Federal Government maintained we did. It's been a huge financial burden on the taxpayers, and its subsidized one industry over another.
Yes, this is radical, but we should do it.
Now, before a person either get too romantic, or too weepy, over this, a couple of things.
One is that we already have an 80,000 teamster shortage for trucking. I.e., yes, this plan would put a lot of drivers out of work, but its a dying occupation anyway. Indeed, in recent years its become on that is oddly increasingly filled with Eastern Europeans who seemingly take it up as its a job they can occupy with little training. The age of the old burly American double shifting teamster is long over.
And to the extent it isn't, automated trucks are about to make it that way for everyone.
The trains, we'd note, will be automated too. It's inevitable. They'll be operated like giant train sets from a central location. Something that's frankly easier, and safer, to do, than it would be for semi tractors.
2. Subsidized local air travel
It's going to take longer to electrify aircraft, particularly those that haul people, but electrification of light aircraft is already being worked on. The Air Force has, moreover, been working on alternative jet fuels.
Anyhow, if we must subsidize something in long distance transportation, that should be local air travel. Its safe, effective and vital for local economies. I don't care if that is quasi socialist. It should be done.
3. The abandoned runways.
Locally, I'd like to see some of that infrastructure money go to the extra runway or runways at the NatCo airport being repaired. I know that they were little used, but they're there.
