And yes, Virginia, it's a meritless lawsuit. Probable judgment: For plaintiff in the amount of money requested because trains are evil and so are corporations.

At any rate, I found this story on yet another pirate-themed blog---did I miss something here?---which I'd stumbled across somehow: Caution: Do Not Walk on Tracks.

According to the article, plaintiff is suing because a train operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway struck her while she was walking along trackage near her home in Jeanette, Pennsylvania. (That's near Pittsburgh, so it must be former PRR trackage acquired from Conrail. --Ed.) Plaintiff's injuries consisted of "a broken finger, cuts, and pain", according to the complaint.

Now, if you'll allow me to mount my soapbox: Woman, not only are you an idiot, but it's readily evident that God has spared you, because playing chicken with a train is generally a guaranteed way to die in a splattered mist of bone, blood, and other viscera. People who duel with a D9-40CW (one of the most populous locomotives on the NSR) are usually minus a limb or two if (and I stress the conditional nature of this) they live. Many bleed to death, because of the considerable damage a locomotive can do to a mere human body.

As Don Imus puts it, "Jesus God Almighty!" How stupid do you get? I understand that occasionally, trains aren't the loudest things in the world, and one doesn't always process the information of "ground rumbling, bell ringing, horn blaring" as an approaching train. And I'm told that the Union Pacific has trouble keeping its grade crossings in operation. But come on! This was the woman's hometown, and she somehow doesn't know that trains run on railroad tracks?

Plaintiff's suit says of the NSR that, "Defendant's failure to warn plaintiff of the potential dangers negligently provided plaintiff with the belief she was safe in walking near the train tracks," and that the NSR should have posted signs warning passersby trespassers "of the dangers of walking near train tracks and that the tracks were actively in use."

As an old television program I used to watch said, "Gimme a break!" I suppose that this woman will want Robin Chapman, the NSR public relations guy, to walk with her everywhere and say, "Ma'am, these continuous welded rails indicate that at any point in time, a train operated by our crews may be coming by. Please be advised that...."

I am, of course, disgusted with this woman. I doubt that the operating practices of the NSR, or anything else connected to the company had anything to do with her injury. At any rate, let me take this opportunity to point any and all interested parties to Operation Lifesaver, the group founded to promote railroad safety amongst the general public. Their work is vital and worthwhile in the modern era, especially since the general public at large no longer interact with trains regularly enough to know basic safety habits.

Tip of the company-mandated safety helmet to Pirates! Man Your Women!

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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On 14 November 1955, the Norfolk and Western Railway inaugurated "one of America's first piggyback operations" between the Bristol (Virginia) yard and points in the Northeast. Piggyback is another name for what is now known as "TOFC", or Trailer On Flat Car, the precursor to today's intermodal containerized freight.

A bit of research indicated that this was a joint service between the Norfolk and Western and its "big brother", the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thus, at one point in time, the PRR's TrucTrain TOFC operation was hauled by N&W steam locomotives. Ostensibly, this would have been done by the N&W's monster Class "A" articulated locomotives.

Another fabulous first for Precision Transportation!

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to the superintendent of the Cold Spring Shops, I'm reminded of an unfortunate anniversary, and my note here is two days late.

On 10 November 1975, S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, a Great Lakes ore carrying vessel, was lost on Lake Superior, after having departed a loading dock owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad. She was loaded with ~26,000 tons of taconite ore pellets for use in the smelters serving Detroit and the automobile industry.

Twenty-nine men were lost as a result of her sinking. Popular culture knows of this accident due to a 1976 song written and performed by the Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot.

For a tremendous amount of information related to the loss of Edmund Fitzgerald, see SS Edmund Fitzgerald Online.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know you're a rail transportation enthusiast when, upon receiving a gift of a Hallmark Polar Express "North Pole Table Decoration", you don't immediately plug it up and run the thing. (Company link unavailable because the bums are redoing their site.)

Instead, you look at the locomotive to count the wheel arrangement. For what it's worth, the Polar Express is a 2-8-4 of the "Berkshire" type. For extra points, you look at the (heavyweight) passenger coaches and think you're looking at rolling stock borrowed from the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

According to one site, Pere Marquette #1225, a surviving Berkshire, was used as a visual reference for making the new Polar Express movie. The Pere Marquette Railroad was a Michigan-based railroad merged into the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway on 06 June 1947.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm watching the FNC coverage, and I'm pretty much seeing all the ads run there. I've seen the Norfolk Southern Railway's "Road to/of the Future" ad several times, and something's struck me about it. As best I can tell, all but a tiny stretch of that has been filmed on single-track line.

I'm not the ad agency handling the campaign, but I'd suggest that the NSR needs to suggest, among other things in its ads, that the physical plant of the railway has sufficient capacity to handle any new business that prospective new shippers would place upon new NSR trains. In other words, I'd show more footage along double- and triple-track lines, if not actually showing a couple of the bigger NSR yards. After all, capacity improves the ability to handle traffic growth which means timely deliveries of shippers' goods, for both existing and new customers.

From what I understand, any problems that the NSR has had in recent years are not capacity related, but still. If David R. Goode's people are reading this, then perhaps their next national ad buy might be improved by my suggestion, which is offered free of charge and without need for attribution. I am, however, very pleased to see my favorite modern railway on television, as opposed to the cursed Union Pacific.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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