Heritage: Northwest Railway Museum

The excursion train (at left) had tied up for the day at the historic Snoqualmie, Washington depot on 26-June-2010

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - If the family history is correct, I took my first excursion train ride at what was then the Puget Sound & Snoqualmie Valley railroad between Snoqualmie and Snoqualmie Falls, Washington. The heritage railway had come to be on a former Northern Pacific branch line when the Burlington Northern abandoned it in favor of access to the area above Snoqualmie Falls using a former Milwaukee Road line from Cedar Falls. I hadn't actually ridden the line since, despite its extension to North Bend, so this year it was time to finally rectify that.


Recently-restored Northern Pacific boxcars sat outside the Conservation and Restoration Center of the Northwest Railway Museum on 26-June-2010

In the intervening time, the organization has become the Northwest Railway Museum and focused its efforts on restoring what had been a very publicly decaying fleet of rolling stock and displays. A major step in that effort was getting grant money to build a Conservation and Restoration Center along the excursion line east of Snoqualmie. Equipped with a drop pit and a growing collection of classic tools, the facility is now the site of a lot of work on the locomotives and cars at the museum. Soon to be added to the complex is a four-track train shed, nearly half a football field in length, which will be able to store in climate-controlled conditions the entire current active fleet of the museum.


The new train shed at the Northwest Railway Museum was nearly ready for occupancy when viewed near Snoqualmie, Washington on 26-June-2010

Thanks to the kindness of a museum volunteer that I had worked with on other projects in the past, I was able to tour the new facilities and see the projects that were underway. The 1951-era Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44 diesel is well along to returning to operation, and I was impressed with the progress on former Spokane, Portland, and Seattle coach #218, built in 1912 and well along to returning to its 1920's appearance. Before long, the unique "Messenger of Peace" chapel car will be taking its turn in the facility.


The interior of former Spokane, Portland, and Seattle passenger car #218 was under restoration at the Conservation and Restoration Center of the Northwest Railway Museum on 26-June-2010

The reason to come out to the Northwest Railway Museum, though, is mostly to ride the train, currently hauled by former Army RS-4TC diesels. The 9.0-mile round trip from North Bend to Snoqualmie Falls and back makes for a leisurely 70-minute ride. While the line may be best known for its tree-obscured view of Snoqualmie Falls, the best views are of the Snoqualmie Valley below the falls (which featured a Peregrine Falcon watching the train on my trip), and of Mount Si (famous from the "Twin Peaks" television show), visible from many locations on the line.


Mount Si appeared beyond the south fork of the Snoqualmie River as viewed from a Northwest Railway Museum excursion train on 26-June-2010

The real treat for younger riders was hiding, though--Thomas was on hand for his upcoming visit in July. For more information on the excursions and the Day Out with Thomas, see the Northwest Railway Museum web site.

Transport: Changes on GO Georgetown Line

The final GO Transit mid-day Georgetown Line train for now, Bramalea-Toronto train #266, crossed Black Creek in Toronto, Ontario on 1-April-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week, GO Transit introduced a variety of spring schedule changes, but arguably the most interesting ones were on the commuter rail Georgetown Line. The second line to see mid-day service after the Lakeshore Line, the Georgetown Line is set for major service expansion, including an express line from Union Station to Pearson International Airport.

For now, that means the end of mid-day train service on the line, replaced by expanded bus service, in order to allow construction crews greater access to the tracks of the GO-owned Weston Subdivision that carries the line from the Bathurst Street interlocking near Toronto's Union Station to Halwest near the Bramalea, Ontario station. Previously, a single train set did three round trips at mid-day spaced about 90 minutes apart, meaning a regular and repeated need to clear the tracks to let that train through.

As long-time readers of this blog know, I can be over-interested in the operational logistics of railroads. It's interesting that this service change eliminated only the train set and crew associated with those three mid-day round trips. The "shoulder" trips on the edge of rush hour remain, as those used different train sets and crews. What's especially interesting is that two VIA Rail Canada intercity trains, one each direction, are still scheduled to use the line about 11:00. So, the longest break in the action will extend from about 11:00 to 15:30 in the afternoon--I guess four hours is useful.

The morning schedule was basically unchanged, with four through trains from Georgetown to Union Station (which overnight in Georgetown) supplemented by three shorter-distance trains from Bramalea (which deadhead empty to Bramalea to start their runs). Thus, I didn't pay much attention to the afternoon trains, which I presumed had retained the old pattern (#281 running to Brampton, then deadheading back to Union Station to become a Stouffville Line train, four through trains to Georgetown #205, #207, #209 and #211, and a final train #269 running only to Bramalea and then returning to the Willowbrook Yard service facility for the night).

The afternoon schedule has actually changed significantly. The first train, #281, now leaves at 15:30 instead of 14:45 and runs all the way through to Georgetown (why it wasn't renumbered to #203 to match the through series is hard to explain), not returning to Union Station. The four through trains to Georgetown were left the same. That meant that the last one, #211, has nowhere to remain in Georgetown and has to return to Willowbrook Yard. Train #269 has been extended to Brampton, and still deadheads back to Willowbrook Yard. Thus, each evening there are two trains that head back empty over the line to Toronto.


The first "deadhead" of GO Georgetown Line train #211 back to Toronto passed a Canadian National work train at Dundas Street West on 5-April-2010

Last night, I happened to be walking in Parkdale and crossed the Georgetown Line as the first train #211 deadheaded back to Toronto. At the time, I thought maybe #269's schedule had changed more than I had thought, and it was only after I took a closer look at the new schedule that I realized it was #211, not #269. Such are the hazards of being a railfan after schedule changes!

Residents along the line, who are pushing for electrification, will see three fewer of "Dalton's Dirty Diesels" at mid-day, so they ought to be happy for now.

Margin Notes: No Tracks, CN, Chrome

Tracks were conspicuously missing from Roncesvalles Avenue in front of the streetcar mural in Toronto, Ontario on 4-March-2010 as construction on the road continued in other blocks

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Some deceiving spring weather has allowed exploration by foot which is not normally tenable in early March here. Among the sights I have encountered was the above scene on Roncesvalles without streetcar tracks in front of the well-known streetcar mural. Construction was ongoing a few blocks in either direction, but right there (and for that matter, in front of the famous Solarski Pharmacy) it looked like streetcars were just a thing of the past. Rest assured, they'll be back next year.

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If Canadian National (CN) keeps running its business as it has, it may want to start removing all its tracks. According to a parliamentary study as reported in the Financial Post, a mere 13% of customers report a high level of satisfaction with CN's service. This reinforces that the 61% on-time delivery rate mentioned earlier on this blog is not acceptable. However, CN's main competitor, Canadian Pacific, is not exactly a model, either, with just 25% of customers reporting a high level of satisfaction.

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The British press sure didn't think people had a high level of satisfaction with those games recently concluded in Vancouver, British Columbia whose name began with "O". I find it a bit odd that they decided to name the games after me, though--the "Glitch Games." I wasn't trying to be associated with them, really.

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I try not to be associated with the fawning praise that the technology press tends to bestow on products from Google, and what I have to say today may help. As most readers of this blog know, I am far from an early adopter of new technology, but after I start hearing early adopters raving about things, I tend to try them. So, I downloaded the Google Chrome browser this week to see how it compared with Mozilla Firefox, which I tend to use the most, and Apple Safari, which I use on occasion. While I will admit that on some java-based media sites it did appear to be somewhat faster, it wasn't a huge difference and my Internet connection seems to be the limiting factor so that all three of the browsers seem to be about the same speed on most activities. So, the fact that Chrome has so many fewer features than Firefox or Safari, including security customizations that I sometimes use, means that I am putting it aside and sticking with the browsers I know.

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Google Chrome may be faster at certain things, but being faster may no longer be culturally preferable. There seems to be a growing movement for pacing oneself, for slowing down. Hence, there is actually a drink for sale in Canada called Slow Cow which touts itself as a relaxation beverage. So, now we have a full spectrum of drinks, from Slow Cow to Red Bull.

Culture: What Rail Says About a Country

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Let's accept for the moment part of yesterday's premise that the appropriate way to experience a country is by train. What would we learn about North America by doing so?

In Mexico, we'd learn that we can't experience the country by train. With a few exceptions including tourist trains, long-distance and even corridor passenger rail does not exist. Passenger service was ended in 1997 as the national railway was prepared to be privatized. Bus service, some of it reasonably luxurious, has moved into the market once occupied by rail. So, what we learn about Mexico is that the gap between the rich (traveling by private vehicles and air) and the poor (traveling by bus) is so substantial that the middle-class niche normally occupied by rail is not large enough to justify infrastructure investment in long-distance passenger service in a country that does not have a lot of money to spend on transportation.

In the United States, we'd learn that there is a great deal of variation across the country. In the northeast, traditionally where the most people lived until recent generations and where national lawmakers still live, rail service is actually reasonably useful and modern. Amtrak operates high speed service on the corridor between Boston, Massachusetts and Washington DC. However, even where population density is approaching such levels in the west, state governments have had to step up and fund corridor service on their own. California, Washington, and even Illinois have had to pump state money into creating corridors that have started to rival in ridership the Northeast Corridor which is federally funded. Meanwhile, long-distance service languishes with outdated equipment and little respect from host, freight railways, with on-board service from Amtrak that is uneven at best. First class sleeper service is laughable by international standards. Many cities, including large ones like Phoenix and Las Vegas, have no service at all. Unless one lives in a privileged area (where a state pays for corridor service or the federal government funds service), one is almost on one's own in riding a train, rather like many Americans feel treated by their government in general.

Canada presents a similar but distinct picture. In the main population corridor between Windsor, Ontario and Quebec City, Quebec, service is frequent and reasonably modern with good on-board service. However, it is far from world class, with no high-speed service though operator VIA Rail Canada clearly tries to do the best it can. Long-distance service is infrequent, with several routes (including the solitary transcontinental train and the train to Gaspe, Quebec) only running three times a week, but when it does run, it provides world-class service, not only to sleeping car passengers but in coach for the common person as well. Furthermore, in remote areas where service is needed, service still operates, including remote areas of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, in some cases under provincial or even Native administration. Yet, especially in the west, there are major cities, foremost Calgary, with no service at all where people have to turn to other modes. One gets the impression that Canada does not have unlimited resources, but does a good job of reaching all classes of society with what services it does have, where it does have them.

There may be something to the idea that one can learn a lot about a country from its rail system. The differences between Mexico, the United States, and Canada are reflected in what rail service is available in each country, and what it is like to ride them.

Transport: The Wrong Metric

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Long-term readers of this blog know that the author is very big on setting up proper incentive structures and proper evaluative metrics before letting the invisible hand of the market do its work in a given market. It appears that freight railroading may not be using the proper metrics and thus investors are being grossly mislead about which are the leading freight railroads in North America.

The Association of American Railroads has long published its railroad performance measures which focus on train speed and terminal dwell hours as a metric of how efficiently a railroad is operating. This seemed to make sense; if trains were operating faster and getting through yards faster, then they should be reaching customers faster and thus providing better service. On the financial side, the operating ratio was viewed as a key figure, which seemed to make sense--if a railroad is spending less money to earn more money, then that railroad would seem to be operating efficiently.

Of course, one of the ways to reduce operating costs is to reduce money spent on improving infrastructure, maintaining existing infrastructure, and safety. Neglecting such expenditures hurts the railroad in the long run, so operating ratio seems like a typical Wall Street metric--making money in the short-term at the expense of the long-term. Still, even Wall Street should eventually notice eroding profits from lost business, regardless of operating ratio.

Railfans have been becoming suspicious of these metrics in recent years, as Canadian National (CN), which owns the former Illinois Central, Wisconsin Central, and Grand Trunk Western lines amongst others in the United States as well as its traditional Canadian routes, was cleaning up on the metrics. CN had a 63% operating ratio in the third quarter of 2009, way below the industry average of around 75%. Operating velocity and terminal dwell time were also much lower on the CN than on primary competitor Canadian Pacific. Yet, when railfans observe the two rivals, CP--while far from perfect--seemed to be actually operating like a real railroad trying to deliver freight, and CN has just been bizarre to observe, with schedules rarely held to in many corridors (despite supposedly being a "scheduled railroad"), trains taking traffic well beyond its destinations, and other operating fiascoes. It seemed that CN was mainly making its statistics look good by running exceptionally long trains, at the expense of train frequency and service quality, leading to lost business. Especially suspicious was the fact that CN had re-defined some of the metrics so that the AAR would no longer directly compare the CN's performance with the other "Class I" railroads in North America.

This all came to a head recently in a recent Trains magazine article by noted writer Fred Frailey. According to that article (not available on-line), CN's on-time car delivery to customers is only 60%. This statistic is not easy to find for all railroads. However, buried in this filing related to a proposed merger that never happened, BNSF's figure in 1999--hardly a recession year--was 91%. In intermodal service, BNSF touts 99% on-time delivery, and considering that it offers guaranteed carload service in many service lanes, one has to assume they are achieving at least their 1999 levels, or the guarantee would be too expensive.

Railroads are a service industry. They provide the service of moving freight from one location to another. If they can't do that on their intended schedule, then they aren't doing their job. There's a reason that Warren Buffet chose to purchase BNSF and not Canadian National, and it isn't just that CN is nominally a Canadian company. For a performance metric, on-time delivery seems to be a more appropriate metric than system velocity or terminal dwell time. The AAR should start reporting it publicly and consistently across the major railroads.

Transport: Big Nothing on Santa Fe

TORONTO, ONTARIO - On Tuesday, Berkshire Hathaway announced a $26 billion outright purchase of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, whose operational unit has been legally known as just "BNSF" since 2005. The news has received wide attention in the financial press as it is the largest purchase ever by Berkshire Hathaway. I seem to be regarded as some sort of transportation analyst, as I have received many e-mails asking what this means for BNSF. The general consensus on the answer, with which I have no reason to disagree, is almost nothing.

BNSF was formed by a 1995 merger between the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railways, two iconic names in United States railroading. With more than 32,000 route miles, the vast majority west of the Mississippi River, the line was the largest in the nation until the Union Pacific acquired Southern Pacific a year later in response. Since then, BNSF CEO's Robert Krebs and Matt Rose have been credited with prudent investment and general competence in running their railway, which remained much more fluid than its primary competitor during economic good times.

Berkshire Hathaway had already been investing in BNSF for some time, seeing in the financial numbers the same competence that industry observers have seen. Its stake had already reached 22% even before this week's news. While Berkshire Hathaway had invested in other railroads, most notably Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, its largest stake had always been in BNSF.

Note that in addressing this acquisition, I refer to "Berkshire Hathaway" and not its primary investor Warren Buffett. While Buffett may be one of the richest people in the world and an iconic figure as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, there is little reason to believe that he will take any kind of hands-on role at BNSF. Generally speaking, Berkshire Hathaway purchases companies in part for their quality management and then leaves them alone to run their business and make a profit that goes back to Berkshire Hathaway. There seems no reason to believe BNSF is going to be any different than Dairy Queen, Coca-Cola, Wrigley, Geico or any other company in which Berkshire Hathaway has significant investment.

So will BNSF have a new name? Unlikely. Will it paint its locomotives a different color, such as a return to the famous red and silver warbonnet of predecessor Santa Fe? Unlikely. Will its attitude toward Amtrak, toward which it has been regarded as a much better partner than other Class I railroads, change? Unlikely. Will it change its position on steam excursions over its lines? Unlikely. Will anything perceptible to the public change? Unlikely.

It is entirely possible that the only thing that will change at BNSF is that it will no longer pay dividends to investors, instead sending its profits to Berkshire Hathaway. This may also mean more freedom for BNSF in making long-term capital investments with a portion of those profits, an area in which it was already regarded as more proactive than its industry peers and which may make it even better-positioned for economic booms in the future.

Indeed, Buffett himself described this investment as an enormous "bet on the future of the United States," citing the relative fuel-efficiency of railroads for overland transportation. Some analysts think it is also a bet on continued imports from foreign countries, which usually move by rail from ports to their final destination regions, and on domestic coal, of which BNSF is a major carrier.

Whatever it is, there will be a lot of surprise if the Berkshire Hathaway acquisition makes much difference in the day-to-day operations of BNSF.

Transport: Reacting to a Steam Locomotive

A lone photographer on a ladder was noted in the middle of a field near Baldwin Road outside of Owosso, Michigan on 26-July-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - One of the joys of riding behind a steam locomotive is watching the reaction of people along the tracks. Whenever a large steam locomotive moves, a hoard of railroad photographers generally chases the train, and their antics can be anything from amusing (such as the man on a ladder seen above) to horrifying (such as the man reported to be steering with his knees at high speed while chasing an all-day Train Festival excursion earlier last weekend in central Michigan).


A van with an open door paced former Nickel Plate #765, a large steam locomotive, as it ran back to Owosso, Michigan along King Road on 26-July-2009. The train had slowed to about 25 mph by this time.

These railroad fans who knew that the train would be operating are not nearly as much fun to watch as locals who did not know that the train was coming. Some just drop their jaws. Others are seen breaking into a Steve Martin-style "What the @#!% is that?" routine. Children can even run in fear, or, fortunately more commonly, jump for joy. Inevitably, just about everyone waves.


Rafters on the Deschutes River near Tuscan, Oregon reacted to the passage of the "Daylight" steam locomotive on 16-September-2006.

Even locals that have heard that train is coming--and perhaps have even set out lawn chairs as they waited for it to come by--can be entertaining. The children, especially, can have unpredictable reactions. Quite a number seem to be captured with the awe that inspires many of them to be future crew members of steam locomotives, or at least future passengers of the trains.


Will she be a future steam engineer? Two children joined an older family member in watching the passage of Nickel Plate Road #765 through Bannister, Michigan on 26-July-2009

A few people, of course, are completely oblivious to the passage of the special train. They are so intent on what they are doing--whether it be fishing, digging for clams, or just household chores, that they pay no attention to the rare event unfolding before them. I find these people the hardest to explain--is a short wave not at least called for when a steam train goes by?


Two fishermen in the Black River near La Crosse, Wisconsin were practically oblivious to the passage of Milwaukee Road #261, a large steam locomotive, on 16-September-2008.

One of my all-time favorite scenes while watching steam locomotive observers was not captured in a photo. A man had set up for a photograph of the "Deschutes River Daylight" returning from Bend to Portland, Oregon in September 2006. As the steam locomotive passed, he apparently lost his balance and fell straight into a ditch. I never heard who it was, or whether his shot taken before the fall turned out.

One never knows what one will see from a steam train, but the people will always be entertaining.

Photos: Union Pacific Steam

Union Pacific's Western Heritage Express crested Sand Pass, Nevada with steam locomotive #844 providing the only power on 5-May-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site goes back a couple months. The early portion of a trip to the west coast of the United States in spring 2009 focused on following and riding the Union Pacific "Western Heritage Express" between Roseville, California and Winnemucca, Nevada via the former Western Pacific route through the Feather River Canyon between 29-April and 5-May-2009. The experience included riding the train from Portola, California to Winnemucca where the steam locomotive was unassisted and ran at 70 mph. Also included are aerial views from the westbound flights and scenery along the route.

Transport: Eight Gauges

TORONTO, ONTARIO - I have to question to attitude of the urban legend debunking site snopes.com because of their treatment of the relation of the width of the horse's ass to the space shuttle. They categorize the urban legend surrounding that relationship as "false," yet immediately in the text they admit that "isn't exactly false," that the Roman chariot width was based on compatibility with horses, that the dimensions of later transportation forms including the railroad were derived from roads used by Roman chariots, and that space shuttle designers did take into account transportation limitations, including the use of railroads, as part of their supply chain. So, while I agree with them that it is clear that the relationship is "trivial" and "unremarkable," calling it false is nearly as misleading as calling it true, especially since most people don't bother to read their well-developed explanation.

The question of gauge, or the distance between the two rails of a railroad that lies at the heart of that urban legend, is a pretty interesting thing to contemplate. It's a real triumph of standardization that such a thing as "standard" gauge exists in the railroad world, no matter how closely it actually follows from the width of a horse's rear end. What's really made it happen is the need to interchange equipment--pointed out in the Snopes essay surrounding the US civil war--to serve wider markets, and the sale of equipment worldwide, pointed out by Snopes as a 19th century matter between the US and England, but much more powerful in the post-World War II era of globalization when second-hand equipment can end up anywhere, whether it's NightStar equipment from Europe ending up in Canada or used American diesels ending up in Australia (and vice versa). A good portion of the world's railroads really does use "standard" or "Stephenson" gauge--4 feet, 8.5 inches, or 1435 mm between the rails--Wikipedia estimates it at 60%.

Gauge has been on my mind since I recently realized that I had experience with an odd gauge without even realizing it. The Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire uses 4 foot, 8 inch gauge for obscure reasons; 1422 mm instead of the 1435 mm standard. I managed to ride that line in 2003 without noticing that it wasn't standard gauge. But, considering that it doesn't interchange its equipment with anyone else, it's not surprising that its odd gauge has survived.

This led to the question of just how many different gauges have I actually experienced? (This doesn't count transit systems, miniature railroads and non-historical tourist operations like Disneyland.) I've been working on the log of all my miles on railroads in my lifetime, so this actually wasn't that hard figure out. The answer turns out to be eight. Those are:

(1) 4 foot 8.5 inches/1435 mm: Standard gauge experienced on many railroads in North America, Britain, Europe, and Australia
(2) 4 foot 8 inches/1422 mm: Mount Washington Cog Railway (US)
(3) 3 foot 6 inches/1067 mm: Zig Zag Railway (Australia), Huntsville and Lake of Bays (Canada)
(4) 3 foot 3.37 inches/1000 mm: 6 different railways in Switzerland and Austria
(5) 3 foot/914 mm: Roaring Camp & Big Trees, Durango & Silverton, Sumpter Valley, and Yosemite Mountain and Sugar Pine (all US)
(6) 2 foot 7.5 inches/800 mm: Wengernalpbahn, and Pilatusbahn (both Switzerland)
(7) 2 foot 5.9 inches/760 mm: Zillertalbahn (Austria)
(8) 2 foot/610 mm: Maine Narrow Gauge and Edaville (both US)

That may seem like a lot, but I have never experienced any of the major "broad" gauges wider than standard gauge--the 5 foot 6 inch used in India (remember, BART doesn't count), the 1668 mm used in Spain and Portugal, the 5 foot 3 inch used in Ireland, Brazil, and Australian Victoria, and the 5 foot used in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

I guess I don't go where horses used to have larger posteriors.

Photos: 6213 Move

The 6213 turned off Bremner Drive and arrived at the John Street Roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario on 10 June 2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site features the the Laurie McCullough Building Moving Company's historic move of former Canadian National 4-8-4 steam locomotive #6213 from the Canadian National Exhibition grounds to the John Street Roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario. The locomotive's tender moved first, overnight on 4-June-2009; the locomotive itself moved early on the morning of 10-June 2009. Full coverage of each all-night move is provided.

Heritage: Moving Locomotive 6213

The move of the 6213 was underway as the locomotive was maneuvered onto Newfoundland Drive on the Canadian National Exposition grounds in Toronto, Ontario on 10 June 2009. The CN Tower marked its destination in the background.

TORONTO, ONTARIO - The long-awaited move of former Canadian National steam locomotive #6213 to its new home took place overnight last night. The 1942 Montreal-built locomotive had been on display at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds since soon after its donation to the city of Toronto in 1960. With the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre at the John Street Roundhouse rapidly becoming a reality, the time had come for the 6213 to move to the roundhouse.


The front end of the 6213 was the tail end of the move on Newfoundland Drive in Toronto, Ontario in the wee hours of 10 June 2009

Whitby, Ontario-based Laurie McCullough Building and Moving won the contract to move the locomotive. Its tender had been relocated the previous week, as covered previously on this blog. The locomotive, with its longer length and much heavier weight, presented a greater challenge, but Laurie McCullough pulled off a largely uneventful move.


While the locomotive did not ride through the Prince's Gates as the tender had done, it did pass nearby on Lake Shore Boulevard West as observed on 10 June 2009

One of the consequences of the width of the trailer was that it was decided not to route through the Prince's Gates, instead reaching Lake Shore Boulevard West via Newfoundland Drive, necessitating a complicated tight turn out of the parking lot. While some estimates foresaw the need for five tight turns along the route, entering Newfoundland Drive and the transition from Rees Street to Bremner Boulevard near the roundhouse proved to be the only two such situations.


Toronto Transit Commission crews were on hand to raise the de-powered streetcar catenary at Bathurst Street for the passage of the 6213 on 10 June 2009

Among the other complications encountered along the way were the streetcar wires at Bathurst Street, raised out of the way by the TTC, and the need to add a number of wheels to the trailer to traverse Lake Shore Boulevard West's westbound lanes over Spadina Avenue. The 48 wheels used for most of the trip were expanded to 80 for the trip over Spadina, then removed before making the maneuver onto Rees Street.


The 6213 looked almost like a Southern Pacific cab-forward as it crossed Spadina Avenue in Toronto, Ontario on 10 June 2009

While the wheel transitions and the tight turns helped to draw out the process into an all-nighter, it never dragged as the crews were constantly in motion pushing the activities forward. As the sun started to come up with the destination in sight, some in the crowd were surprised to realize so much time had passed.


The giant Cito Gaston poster on the side of the Rogers Centre seemed to approve of the Laurie McCullough crews re-aligning the wheels of the 6213's trailer on 10 June 2009

A surprising number of people turned out to observe the move. At least forty people were on site as the move began before midnight, and about a dozen followed it for the entire night, all the way to the roundhouse. The majority were either Toronto Railway Historical Society volunteers or members of the Toronto Locomotive Preservation Society, the group that has diligently maintained the locomotive during its nearly fifty years on the exhibition grounds. Global and CityTV were also each around for at least portions of journey.


After sunrise, the 6213 was sitting beneath the coaling tower at the John Street Roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario on 10 June 2009

In the coming days, the locomotive will be eased off the trailer onto the roundhouse tracks and become part of the collection at the roundhouse. For more coverage of the 6213 move and the roundhouse, see the Toronto Railway Historical Association web page.

More photographs from the locomotive move will appear on a future update to my photo site

Margin Notes: Detours, P3's, Pile Drivers

A detouring Montreal to Calgary Canadian Pacific train passed underneath the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario on 7 June 2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Because of two derailments, one on the Toronto-Montreal mainline at Oshawa, Ontario on Friday and one on the Ottawa-North Bay mainline at Hodgson, Ontario on Wednesday, the Canadian Pacific has been detouring its priority traffic on the Canadian National between Toronto and Brockville, Ontario this weekend. This means that Canadian Pacific freight trains have been passing through the Union Station Rail Corridor in Toronto for the first time since I moved here. After missing two detours on Saturday, I finally caught what apparently was the next-to-last westbound detour today at Bathurst Street, led by a locomotive in the "Olympic" scheme. The sight will probably not be seen again unless there's another derailment.

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The Canadian Pacific was at the center of what stuck me as the quote of the week from host Kathleen Petty on CBC Radio One's The House yesterday. In a discussion about the possible sale of crown corporations, the Canadian Pacific came up, and Petty responded to the dialog by saying, "That sounds like a P3!" [That's a Public-Private Partnership, for those not up on the latest terminology.] I had never thought of transcontinental railroads as a P3 before, and considering the mess that many of the transcontinental railroads in the United States created from their land grant "P3's" in the gilded age, it certainly doesn't make me feel any better about contemporary P3's.

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Railroads continue to annoy residents of The Junction neighborhood of Toronto as a result of the current project to create a grade separation between the GO Transit Georgetown Line and the Canadian Pacific North Toronto Subdivision to enable expanded GO service on the Georgetown Line. The pile driving on the project is so loud that I can often hear it more than 2.5 kilometers away, and a friend has reported being able to hear it 3 kilometers to the north. I find it very hard to believe that the noise cannot be better mitigated than that.

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The Swansea Historical Society annual walk, "Along the Boardwalk of Humber Bay," stopped on the 1994 Humber Bay Arch Bridge in Toronto, Ontario on 6 June 2009

I don't think the project can be heard on the other side of the Gardiner Expressway, but that was the location of this year's Swansea Historical Society walk. I had no idea how much I didn't know about the shores of Lake Ontario between the Argonaut Rowing Club and the Humber River--from the fact that the Toronto Argonauts Canadian Football League team started as an adjunct to the rowing club to the presence of the Lion Memorial to the Queen Elizabeth Way near the Humber River. More coverage of the walk will be forthcoming in a future entry.

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After all the time I spent earlier this year in California where Spanish speakers represent a significant portion of the population, imagine my surprise this past week when a bank teller at my local branch here in Toronto started speaking to a customer in Spanish. Being used to overhearing--and mostly understanding--such conversations in California, it took me a couple seconds to realize that I was in my own neighborhood in Toronto. There's no denying that Toronto is a thoroughly multi-cultural community.

Heritage: Moving the 6213 Tender

The move of steam locomotive #6213's tender paused under the Prince's Gates at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds early on the morning of 4 June 2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - The last major element of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's collection started its move to the centre's John Street Roundhouse site across from the CN Tower early this morning. The tender of the 6213 locomotive, long on display at the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, was transported to the roundhouse tracks by truck in what turned into an all-night adventure.


The TTC had to raise its streetcar wires, turned off for the overnight period, in order to allow the passage of the tender through Bathurst Street as the CN Tower loomed in the distance on 4 June 2009

The nighttime move was necessitated not only to avoid traffic, but also since the TTC streetcars do not run after 01:30. The streetcar wires needed to be de-powered and temporarily raised to allow the passage of the tender past Bathurst Street as it headed down Lake Shore Boulevard West.


The 6213's tender entered the westbound lanes of Lake Shore Boulevard West heading east as part of its trip early on the morning of 4 June 2009

Another interesting aspect of the routing was that the move had to run eastbound on the westbound lanes of Lake Shore Boulevard over Spadina Avenue. The clearance to go under the Gardiner Expressway was only large enough via this route, and not via the eastbound lanes. It is the bridges on this part of Lake Shore Boulevard that have delayed the transport moves, as they were re-inspected to ensure that they could handle the weight of the tender and the locomotive.


The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's Whitcomb diesel #1 started to pull the tender off the trailer onto the roundhouse tracks at daybreak on 4 June 2009

While the move itself went quite smoothly, with the trailer positioned at the end of track #34 at the roundhouse by 03:30, it took some time to properly set up the track ramp from the trailer to the roundhouse, so it was 05:30 before the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's Whitcomb diesel switcher started to ease the tender off the trailer. With some hiccups along the way, that process was not completed until about 06:30, and the tender was not tied up for the day on track #33 until after 07:00.


The tender of the 6213 was on the John Street Roundhouse's turntable to be rotated so that its coupler was facing the turntable at first light on 4 June 2009

With the tender move completed, the next step will be to move the locomotive itself, which may occur as soon as next week. Watch the Toronto Railway Historical Association web site for advance information.

More pictures of the move will be forthcoming on my photo site.

Margin Notes: Scooby, Pledge Drives, Transport

A "Spirit Zone" sign at the University of Albany featured the Great Dane mascot as seen on 1 June 2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - I had no idea that Scooby Doo was going to become a theme of my latest trip. However, the generation-old cartoon has had quite an influence on regional universities. In the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, each school in the "Five Colleges" consortium is commonly associated with a Scooby Doo character in folklore. Smith College is Velma, Mount Holyoke is Daphne, Amherst is Fred, Hampshire is Shaggy, and of course the University of Massachusetts at Amherst is Scooby himself. Yet, it's the University of Albany (part of the State University of New York system) that actually has a Great Dane that looks much like Scooby Doo as its mascot, as seen above.

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While they may not air cartoons, one of the joys of traveling in United States for me is usually getting to hear local public radio stations. There was little joy in this latest trip, as the public radio stations serving the areas where I spent the most time--WFCR 88.5 FM Amherst (and affiliated WNNZ 640 AM) and WAMC 90.3 FM Albany--were both in fund-raising mode. WFCR's pledge breaks were bad enough, but WAMC's were prolonged and borderline disturbing. WAMC president and CEO Alan Chartock hosts many of the pledge breaks himself, and had no problems making comments like "we've been doing that for the past eight years, not just the past year," and "we criticize Democrats too; you just heard that in the last report." It's statements like that which allow right-wingers to paint public radio as a left-wing atrocity and discredit the balanced programs that do appear on public radio stations such as the major NPR news magazines.

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I ended up listening to a lot of WAMC yesterday when I was in stopped traffic on the Berkshire Extension of the New York Thruway after an accident shut down the westbound lanes near the Canaan, New York tolls for nearly an hour. After about twenty minutes without moving, just about everyone had shut down their engines and I was treated to the surreal experience of listening to birds chirp on an Interstate highway (the eastbound lanes were behind a grove of trees and almost inaudible).

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The incident on the Thruway underscored the misguided nature of a statement I had made to a friend in Albany after the derailment experience on Friday. I claimed that since I would be driving a rental car on Monday, I would be in more control of my schedule. Driving presents only an illusion of control--in reality, one is just as much at the mercy of those around them in a car as in any other form of transportation. Real freedom comes from having choices, instead of having little choice except to drive as is the case in most of North America, and surprisingly even in much of the urban Albany area.

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Bicyclists enjoyed the trails along the Erie Canal near Fairport, New York on 2 June 2009

Farther west, there are locations in which a true multi-modal scene could be seen in New York. The New York Thruway toll road (I-90), the Erie Canal, the bike path along the Erie Canal, and the former New York Central railroad (now CSX) could conceivably be placed in the same frame at many locations between Amsterdam and Syracuse, New York.

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The platforms at Buffalo, New York's Central Terminal, effectively abandoned since 1979, were viewed on 2 June 2009 from Amtrak's detouring Maple Leaf on the Loop Lead

Amtrak's Maple Leaf traverses the old New York Central between New York City and Buffalo, and an unexpected pleasant surprise occurred as the train approached Buffalo today. It turned out that the train was detouring over the CSX Belt Subdivision around Buffalo because of track work. While the detour meant skipping the Exchange Street station and views of the Peace Bridge, it meant rare miles for me and a different view of the derelict Buffalo Central Terminal train station as the train traversed the Loop Lead to enter the Belt Subdivision.

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The ridiculous immigration inspection of the Amtrak Maple Leaf at Syracuse, New York that was taking place last year has apparently ceased. An immigration agent was boarding the train to make sure no illegal aliens were on board the train bound for Canada. (The agent was also supposed to ensure US residents had correct paperwork to enter Canada and re-enter the United States, but never checked my identification and spent a lot of time talking to Hispanic-looking people on the train both in my experience and in other reports.) Exactly why the United States cared was a bit beyond me, and why the inspection occurred in Syracuse and not closer to the border (say, in Buffalo) was really beyond me. The only inspection on the train today was the Canadian inspection upon entry to Canada at Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Heritage: Keystone Arch Bridges

Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, powered by a P42DC locomotive built in 2001, crossed a Keystone Arch Bridge in Chester, Massachusetts completed one hundred sixty years earlier in 1841, on 1 June 2009

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Nestled in a somewhat remote part of the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts lies a series of engineering landmarks. The Keystone Arch Bridges of the Western Railroad, the oldest arched railroad bridges in the United States, still stand along the West Branch of the Westfield River, two of them part of a hiking trail, and one of them amazingly still in use on the CSX's Berkshire Subdivision mainline.

I became aware of these engineering gems when I first rode the Amtrak "Lake Shore Limited" route between Boston, Massachusetts and Albany, New York on a Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts Fall Foliage Flyer special in 2001. Two of the arched bridges are visible from the current line, which bypassed all but one of the Keystone Arch Bridges in a 1912 line relocation, and the history of the bridges figured prominently in the route guide.


The Keystone Arch Bridge "B" in Becket, Massachusetts, bypassed in a 1912 line relocation and now traversed by the Keystone Arch Bridges Trail, was viewed from Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited on 14 May 2008

The bridges were built as part of the Western Railroad, chartered in 1833 as part of an effort to connect Boston to the Hudson River to try to win back traffic that was headed to the ports around New York instead of Massachusetts Bay. The Western Railroad would be the longest (150 miles) and highest (crossing the Berkshires at an elevation of 1458 feet at Washington Summit) in the world when it opened in 1841. The eastern approach to the summit followed the west branch of the Westfield River, requiring a series of bridges especially around the West Branch Gorge. The Friends of the Keystone Arches web site describes how George Washington Whistler and Alexander Birnie surveyed and built the bridges to last, obviously quite successfully.


The West Branch of the Westfield River featured clear water 70 feet beneath the Keystone Arch Bridge "B" in Becket, Massachusetts on 1 June 2009

In 1870, the Western Railroad became part of the Boston and Albany, the name under which it would operate for most of the line's existence. The Boston and Albany was part of the New York Central system, and has since been part of Penn Central, Conrail, and today is part of CSX.


The Keystone Arch Bridge Trail crossed 1841-era Bridge "A" in Becket, Massachusetts on 1 June 2009

Since 2001, the Keystone Arch Bridges have been more accessible thanks to the Keystone Arch Bridges Trail. The 2.5 mile trail in Chester and Becket, Massachusetts parallels the Westfield River partially using the rights of way of the old Pontoonsic Turnpike horse-carriage route and the original Western Railroad. The highlight of the experience is walking over the "A" and "B" Keystone Arch Bridges with their views of the West Branch of the Westfield River far below; it's hard to believe that the robust bridges have stood for more than 170 years.


The view from Keystone Arch Bridge "A" in Becket, Massachusetts included this look down the west branch of the Westfield River toward the West Branch Gorge on 1 June 2009

The Keystone Arch Bridges Trail is accessible from Middlefield Road from Chester, Massachusetts. The sight of modern freight trains and Amtrak crossing the 1841-era "Double Arch" bridge in Chester, Massachusetts was a sight worth seeing in 2009.

Transport: My First Amtrak Derailment

WARE, MASSACHUSETTS - I've been on board a train that derailed before. The most dramatic incident was a special Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts Excursion in fall 2003 on the Washington County Railroad near Fairlee, Vermont. Running along the Connecticut River at a speed near 25 mph, passengers on "The Dartmouth" excursion suddenly felt vibrations not unlike an earthquake after a rail either spread or turned over after the passage of the locomotives on the normally freight-only line. The engineer was immediately advised by the conductor of the situation and brought the train to a safe halt. My car was leaning substantially toward the river, but was not in any actual danger of moving any farther, and nobody was injured in the incident. Passengers were bussed back to White River Junction, and the excursion was re-run successfully in the spring of 2005.

However, before today, I had never been on a normally-scheduled Amtrak train that derailed. After taking a VIA Rail Canada corridor train from Ottawa to Montreal to start the day (a train that averaged 58 mph, including stops, for its 115 mile journey), I left Montreal on Amtrak train #70, the "Adirondack," operated as far as the United States-Canada border by VIA crews on track owned by Canadian National. It had been a slow trip after departing on time, with dispatching issues and slow orders placing the train nearly a half hour behind schedule as we approached the border.

Not even one mile into the United States, before reaching the junction with the Canadian Pacific line that would take us to Schenectady, New York, and short of the location where United States Customs and Immigration would normally inspect the train, we were operating in yard limits at less than 10 miles per hour when I didn't like what I had just heard or felt. I thought I heard a noise like a wheel falling off a rail and felt too rough of a ride. After a few more feet, the engineer stopped the train.

On the radio, he said, "Head end to #70, I think you need to walk the train." "Why?" "You'll see." Sure enough, when the conductor walked the train, he found that three of the five cars in the train were at least partially off the rails, and reminiscent of the "Dartmouth" incident, my car had all of its left wheels off the track and was leaning noticeably, though not enough to require evacuating the car. As soon as a derailment was verified, I knew that my train ride for the day was over. In general, when wheel sets touch the ground, they have to be replaced before the car can return to revenue service, so this train wasn't going anywhere, at least with passengers on board.

Customs and Immigrations agreed to walk about a quarter-mile to clear the train where derailment had occurred. In the meantime, the crew announced a "mechanical failure with the train" (I'd say it was a mechanical failure of the track) and scrambled to deal with situation. Buses were called, then upon arrival refused to run up the access road to where the train was located, instead staying at the Rouses Point, New York station. By the time the crew improvised, carrying luggage on railroad pickup trucks while most passengers walked the quarter-mile to the buses, we had spent nearly four hours in Rouses Point.

Despite the delay, the direct run on the buses to Albany-Rensselaer where through passengers would be placed on a train again nearly made us on schedule again. The crew with the exception of the lounge car attendant (and I'm being charitable to her by leaving it at that) clearly tried hard to minimize the disruption as a result of the incident, and I give the conductor particular credit for his coordination efforts; he was so busy I never got a chance to ask his name. Ultimately, the blame for the derailment has to fall on Canadian National for not maintaining their tracks well enough to handle a passenger train traveling at less than 10 mph.

It certainly was not just another routine day on the railroad.

Transport: Intermodal Solutions

PORTLAND, OREGON - My Amtrak Cascades corridor train was delayed in departing Seattle, Washington earlier this evening, waiting on a connecting bus from Bellingham that was scheduled to arrive a half-hour before the train departed, but because of traffic ended up delayed nearly 45 minutes. The time allowed for some reflection on the concept of intermodal transportation.

One thing that European countries seem to understand that the United States, with its emphasis on individual corporations and entities does not seem to understand, is that people want to get from point A to point B as easily as possible. They may prefer certain amenities or carriers along the way, but the main thing is being able to get from their origin to destination without major inconveniences along the way. In Switzerland, for example, the extensive passenger rail system is not only set up for easy connections between intercity and local (S-Bahn) services operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), but also other rail carriers like the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB) and the Bern-Lotschberg-Simplon (BLS)--and also the Post Bus system and ferries like the Schifffahrtsgesellschaft des Vierwaldstättersees (SGV). Go to the SBB web site and try, for example, a trip from Zurich, Switzerland to Friedrichshafen, Germany (home of the Zepplin museum) and all the intermodal possibilities appear.

The same sort of integration does not exist in any form in North America. Not only is there no easy way to compare Greyhound, Amtrak, and Southwest Airlines on a trip from, say San Diego, California to Sacramento, California, but there isn't even a good interface to compare all airlines, as many discount carriers like Southwest and Allegiant don't appear on the major travel search sites. Even if such a comparison site were available, there is no easy way to connect between services in most places. Bus and train stations are in different locations, and if a connection to an airport is available at all, it's via a city bus service, adding yet another leg for travelers.

Individual systems are making progress in this regard. The state-subsidized Amtrak California system provides integrated connecting train and bus service. It's not a coincidence that on this trip I used an Amtrak California bus from Sacramento to Oroville--it ran more frequently than Greyhound and departed from a more convenient location in Sacramento (of course, because of laws to protect Greyhound, I had to buy a ticket from Davis to Oroville and not ride the train from Davis, but it was still cheaper than Greyhound). Around Toronto, Ontario, GO Transit operates an integrated rail and bus system throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, but integration with local transit systems is sorely lacking. In the San Francisco Bay Area, 511.org has long provided a multi-modal trip planner that has become quite useful, but fare integration has yet to follow suit in the manner that it has in Europe.

It's not rocket science to set up an integrated trip planner so that getting from Newark, Delaware to Amherst, Massachusetts could be done most efficiently by the traveler. Nor is it rocket science to set up a fare collection system to properly reimburse the individual carriers along the way so that the traveler would need to purchase only one ticket. However, setting up connections between different modes of transportation is a much harder infrastructure problem, and someone needs to have the authority to run the integrated resources. Unfortunately, that someone is most logically government, something that Europeans are willing to accept but still seems to be anathema to North Americans. So, likely North Americans will continue to lack the convenient public transportation systems that exist in Europe.

For the record, despite leaving Seattle 23 minutes late, thanks to relatively low freight traffic levels and quality dispatching from BNSF (including veteran Centralia South Dispatcher Earl W. Johnson), my Amtrak Cascades train arrived in Portland only 12 minutes late. The train reached its final destination of Eugene, Oregon only 5 minutes late, according to Amtrak.com. It definitely made sense to wait for the bus.

Transport: So That's a SBU

Don't call it a FRED! A SBU sat on the coupler of the last car of Canadian Pacific train #240 as it crossed the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario on 25-February-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Every child knows what should be at the end of a train--a caboose. Unfortunately, since the crew size on most mainline trains was reduced to two people in the 1980's, that hasn't been the case. With the engineer and the conductor in the locomotive, there was no need for the caboose, and it was replaced by a device to monitor the air brake pressure at the end of the train.

For most of my life, I've thought this device was properly called a FRED, or Flashing Rear End Device. (Some railroaders claimed the "F" stood for something else easily guessed with a colorful imagination but not printable here.) It served a number of purposes, a marker at the end of the train so that it would be visible to following trains, a monitor of air brake pressure at the end of the train transmitted by radio to the locomotive so the crew knew whether their train was intact, and in some cases it was capable of setting the brakes from the end of the train when requested by the crew in an emergency.

Up in the locomotive, there had to be a device to receive the signal from the FRED, and these receivers came to be called "Mary"s. Mary didn't seem to stand for anything; someone just thought it would be amusing and the name seemed to stick. When trains departed major terminals, the crew would often be asked for their "FRED and Mary numbers" to keep track of the devices. Apparently in some regions, Wilma was used instead of Mary in a nod to the Flintstones, but I have personally never heard that term used.

FRED and Mary were rarely used as official names. The FRED was sometimes called a EOTD, or End Of Train Device, with the "D" later dropped. On Burlington Northern "wheel" reports for trains in the early 1990's, the FRED came to be labeled as the REEOT (Rear End End of Train device) and the Mary came to labeled as the HEEOT (Head End End of Train device). Having an "End of Train" device at "Head End" of the train apparently didn't strike the railroad as being the least bit ironic, but the terminology had clearly become messy. In time, the HEEOT became a HOT, or "Head Of Train" device, which is perhaps a bit better.

Since moving to Canda, I have heard Canadian Pacific crews and Rail Traffic Controllers refer to a "SBU". It seemed like they were talking about a FRED, and this prompted a bit of research. It turns out that the Association of American Railroads, of which virtually every railroad in the United States and Canada is a member, adopted in 1999 a new terminology for these devices based on the terminology that originated here in Canada. The device on the rear of the train is now called a SBU, or Sense and Brake Unit (though there are two different device codes based on whether it can apply the brakes). The name at the head of the train varies based on function. If it just displays information, then it is a Receiver Display Unit (RDU). If it can control the brakes at the rear as well, then it is a Communications Display Unit (CDU). Sometimes the are two devices, the Communications and Logic Unit (CLU) to receive the information, and the Information and Display Unit (IDU) to display it. The whole thing seemed very Canadian to me, quite accurately describing the equipment, but with names that are almost completely non-memorable.

Thus, it's not surprising that in most places in the US, one still hears about "FRED and Mary numbers," not SBU and RDU numbers. But, the next time you see a train, if you want to follow AAR practice, remember that not only is there not a caboose on the end of a train, there isn't really a FRED either. It's a SBU.

Transport: Metrolinx Open House on Air Link

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Yesterday, I attended an open house in my neighborhood run by Metrolinx, the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, about the plans for the so-called Georgetown South Rail Corridor, including the inclusion of an Air Rail Link between Pearson Airport and Union Station on the route. The open house included people from Metrolinx and GO Transit, the agency that will operate the commuter rail service on the route.

Many of the nuts and bolts of the proposal are better covered, as usual, on transit advocate Steve Munro's web site, so those interested in more extensive analysis and debate are encouraged to visit that site.

My impression from the room full of displays is that Metrolinx seems to be doing its assigned task of coordinating various levels of service across the region with their work on the Georgetown South corridor. As it was clear that infrastructure upgrades were going to be required to expand the existing GO commuter rail service in the corridor, they went through and tried to include all of the foreseen uses of the line as part of the upgrade. In this case, that meant adding capacity for GO service branching off to Bolton as well as accommodating local and express trains to Bramalea, doubling VIA Rail Canada intercity service to Kitchener/Waterloo and beyond, and allowing for every 15 minute express Air Rail Link service.

The amazing thing to me was how well the role of private company SNC Lavalin, which will operate the Air Rail Link service, was completely hidden in the open house. It wasn't being denied; anyone answering questions would mention "the private operator" (I never heard SNC Lavalin mentioned by name) and talk about how it was their role to build the infrastructure between the GO corridor and the airport. However, none of the Metrolinx materials mentioned that a private operator was involved. Someone passing through the open house and just reading the materials would never know about the private involvement. I found that to be incredibly dishonest and quite disappointing.

If GO Transit were operating that service, the fare between Union Station and the airport could be expected to be similar to its commuter rail fares and hence reasonable, perhaps $5-$7. SNC Lavalin intends to charge $20--and that's $20 that will go into the private company's hands, not to improving regional mobility. While SNC Lavalin may be paying for the track construction on the airport branch, the bulk of the infrastructure expense involved in their project will be for the capacity expansion on the rail corridor between Woodbine and Union Station, which will be paid for by the province as part of the Georgetown South project. That seems like a pretty good deal for the company to me. Nowhere in any of the Metrolinx open house displays was anything mentioned about this fare, which I think would change public perception of the project.

While I commend a Metrolinx representative at the Open House for pointing to the multiple layers of service on Japanese long-distance routes as a guide, an arguably more relevant model for airport service are the airport stations in Europe at places like Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt, and Geneva. In these locations, one can catch a train on regional services to many destinations, not just the local "main" station (though that is available as well). I would like to see a station established at Pearson that someday could be the terminus or at least an intermediate stop for VIA trains to Ottawa, London, and Windsor. If not that, it should at least be capable of handling standard GO commuter rail trains.

By instead accommodating only two-car trains run by SNC Lavalin, the proposed station precludes these possibilities, and the original "alignment 1" included grades and curves that would preclude running anything other than these short trains to the airport station, even if it were upgraded in the future. An "alignment 2" looked more promising at least in terms of gradients, though the representatives at the open house stated that it was intended only for the self-propelled trains as well.

In light of all that, it was hard not to view the Georgetown South Open House as a sales job designed to build public support for spending that will benefit a private company without even revealing that the private company existed. I included such opinions, highlighting the aspects of the plan that benefited the private company and did not keep better options open, in my submitted comments. We'll see if they make any difference.

For those interested in seeing the open house for themselves, a number of additional open house dates on the project remain; refer to the on-line schedule provided by Metrolinx for details. There is also a virtual open house on-line.

Transport: Blame it on Lawyers

TORONTO, ONTARIO - During my trip over the holidays, not a single leg occurred as scheduled. Every single air leg was re-scheduled or canceled as a result of winter weather or general airline incompetence. A road trip to visit my grandparents took much longer than it normally would have because all the mountain passes were closed, necessitating a detour through the Columbia River gorge for the second straight year. Even my warm-weather leg from Sunnyvale to Placerville, California was subject to delays--my bus from Stockton to Sacramento was held for a late connecting train, which itself had been held in Bakersfield for a late bus from Los Angeles.

The transportation meltdown has been especially pronounced this season in the Pacific Northwest. A series of snowstorms battered Washington and surrounding states for the second half of December, resulting in many of the delays that I experienced, and now that everything is melting, flooding has caused an even wider paralysis--until just a few hours ago, Interstate 5 and the BNSF Railway had been closed between Seattle and Portland for several days. The only realistic way to get between those two cities was by air (and, for once this season, the airlines were operating normally), since the mountain passes were closed as well.

It seems a legitimate question why Interstate freeways--originally conceived as a part of a national defense system--should be so vulnerable to flooding. There are perpetual flooding candidate locations along I-5 in the Chehalis, Washington area where the lanes could be raised and flood culverts installed if it were chosen to spend the money to protect against these rare events (that seem to be not-so-rare as the years pass). In this time of fiscal stimulus, perhaps that kind of project can be made "shovel-ready" in time to capture some Federal dollars.

On the Amtrak side of the equation, the passenger carrier is at the mercy of the freight railroad that owns the line, which in Washington state means BNSF. For many years, the BNSF had a policy that after any weather-related incident which disrupted the track structure--usually a mudslide--the line affected could not have passenger trains operated on it until no further incident occurred for 48 hours. In other words, freight trains could operate for almost two days before another passenger train would be allowed, leaving passengers stranded. The policy has had an adverse impact not only on Amtrak but on the Sounder commuter trains that operate between Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma, Washington.

Clearly, if other trains are operating, then it would be physically possible to operate the passenger trains--in fact, it must be safe, or the railroad would not put its own train crews at risk. Even if the freight carrier is allowed to clear a backlog of profitable freight trains before running passenger trains again--an argument whose legitimacy could be argued when taxpayer dollars have been spent to upgrade the tracks to handle additional passenger trains--that rarely would take two days. Something else is causing the BNSF to not allow the passenger trains to operate.

It turns out that something is liability. If BNSF allows the operation of a passenger train and a weather-related accident occurs, then it is open to lawsuits, and their lawyers determined that the 48-hour policy was required to demonstrate commitment to a safe operating environment. Never mind the people that cannot get to work because their commuter train isn't operating for two days while the trains carrying their garbage to the landfill are running. At some points, the BNSF has claimed that it was a Federal Law as reported in this article (or maybe the reporter just made a mistake), but no such law seems to actually exist.

There are plenty of other reasons to be upset with trial lawyers. I am still amazed about the things that I was able to do in Australia on tourist railroads and even in public parks that would never be allowed in the United States because of the potential liability. Specialized doctors quit their practices because they can't afford the insurance, we can't swim while a boat race is occurring, fences have to be placed in unsightly locations to prevent people from entering property and injuring themselves ("no trespassing" signs are not enough), we can't run excursion trains unless covered by Amtrak's insurance policy, the list could go on for paragraphs. The fact that public transportation is being shut down when it is needed most--during times when other forms of travel may not be practical--is yet another reason that legal reforms are required in the United States.

The "California Zephyr" may never be trapped on Donner Pass the way the "City of San Francisco" was in January 1952 thanks to modern policies necessitated by liability concerns, but routine travel in the wake of seasonal weather will be impeded.