I don't suppose it's any secret that I support the existence of passenger rail service. I do believe I would prefer it to long-range aviation or automobile travel, and if I had the money, I'd probably stick to passenger trains for travel. However, I have not had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is, primarily because I don't happen to live anywhere near an Amtrak or Virginia Railway Express station. I think the nearest one is around Charlottesville, Virginia, on the C&O line through there. However, it appears that perhaps something is coming to change that.

Courtesy of D.B. Zukowski's site, I have learned of the formation of a new political action committee whose "exclusive purpose of supporting candidates for public office who are dedicated to the advancement and expansion of a national rail passenger network". I interpret that to be a lobbying arm for Amtrak, since they're the only ones (either de facto or de jure) who do that.

This PAC, dubbed "Passenger RailÂ…Today", has two names attached to it already. First is a man named Tim Gillespie, who apparently has several years experience in government relations at Amtrak. Through my own ignorance, I've never heard of him before; I can't say anything about him. The second is someone that I've heard of, a chap named Bennett Levin.

Mr. Levin is known to rail enthusiast circles as the man who operates former Conrail business train E8As as PRR 5711 and 5809. He's done something very nice with his operation of Liberty Limited specials for wounded soldiers recently. He is also a trustee of the Army War College Foundation, so make of that what you will.

The PAC have no website as of yet, but Mr. Zukowski's interview with Mr. Gillespie tells you pretty much all you need to know for the time being. I for one am glad that they exist. Thanks to Mr. Zukowski for giving me the initial information.

UPDATE: Whoops, I forgot to post the link to Mr. Zukowski's article. Here it is. The Country Pundit regrets the error.

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A contrary view to my belief in Amtrak is held by Mr. Joseph Vranich, who operates a blog dedicated to the disestablishment of Amtrak. He has not opined on this subject as of yet. When/if he does and I notice it, I will modify this post accordingly. My chief question for him, asked in an honest way, is this: The private railroads did everything in their power to bail out of the passenger service by 1970 for the most part, with the Southern Railway staying in solely because of Graham Claytor from all appearances. What has changed that should convince me that the Class I carriers would want back into the market, or would allow anyone else to operate over their trackage?

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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To steal a piece of construction from C-3P0, "I'm afraid the Superintendent has gone and done something enviable." That is to say, he's gotten an excursion ride aboard a train powered by Milwaukee Road 261. This locomotive, a 4-8-4 Northern steam locomotive originally built for the Milwaukee Road, was built by the American Locomotive Company in 1944 and was restored to operational service in 1993 by volunteers in a for-profit capacity.

His entry has lots of useful pictures and is a good read; go on and check it out. We in western Virginia haven't had this kind of opportunity in some years, so it's a fun thing to read about a museum piece's successful operation. Love that Skytop lounge!

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Inbetween dodging service outages reportedly caused by Turkish nationals hacked off at a fellow Munuvian, I bring you this:

The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta, Secretary of Transportation, has announced his intention to resign effective 07 July 2006.

I read this and instantly thought of Rip, who doesn't like Mr. Mineta. A quick trip to his site confirmed it; he was just about equal to the Corner in posting speed.

This might be a good thing for supporters of the current National Railroad Passenger Corporation, or it might not be. Mr. Mineta definitely seems to have had it in for Amtrak in its present incarnation, and may or may not have been entirely fair in the process. His departure presents an opportunity for things with regards to Amtrak to get better, and it also presents an opportunity things to get worse. That is, the appointment of someone with the same axe to grind against the system, but with more skill and persistence.¹

Nonetheless, I would like to thank Mr. Mineta for his service and wish him well in his future endeavors.

---

¹ I realize there's more to being Secretary of Transportation than sitting on the Amtrak board of directors, but that's what I chose to remark upon.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 08:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I am pleased to see this:

According to Rip the MofW guy, the patronage of various passenger rail systems throughout the country posted increases from 2004 to 2005. The first part of Rip's data covers---I assume---"heavy rail" (i.e. things we think of as traditional trains) as opposed to "light rail", which is usually trolleys, trams, and the like.

The figures he has show gains in the three Amtrak California services, with a nearly double digit gain in one of them. Of course, Trains magazine has said in the past that the State of California and her citizens have made deliberate policy choices that improved service and attracted riders, so it is not necessarily unexpected to see growth in California passenger operations. At the same time, it's not unwelcome, either. The more people that get used to taking trains, the better, because that may allow policy-makers to do something other than "add another HOV lane". Hopefully such thinking will spread to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Hint hint, Interstate 81.

He also points out excellent growth in "transit" patronage in various urban markets. I don't know exactly what "transit" means---it is a term of art---so I'll have to reserve commentary on this. I further suggest that you go to his site and read the entire post for what appears to be a majority of good results.

It is also pleasing to see that Metro-North posts increases. They incorporate part of the old New Haven Railroad, and everyone in the East should love the New Haven.

Also worth noting are data from Amtrak, courtesy of the February 2006 issue of Trains. The specifics are rather detailed and I don't have a single figure for how many percent of increase there was, but Amtrak did post a record patronage figure for the third year in a row. For the fiscal year ending 30 September 2005, Amtrak hauled 25,374,998 passengers to points all over the country, from the Northeast Corridor to the route of the California Zephyr.

This, even while certain political figures in Washington, D.C. try to zero in on the final annihilation of the alternate to Southwest Airlines known as Amtrak. (With apologies to Glen A. Larson.)

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Y'all thought your correspondent might have overlooked a very important anniversary that happened today. No, it's not my birthday, but it is a birthday nonetheless.

01 FEBRUARY 1968 - The Penn Central Transportation Company is born from the merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central System.

This was not a merger that created new efficiencies, improved service, cut costs, or took advantage of synergies between the two (and later three) railroads that comprised it. Rather, it was a last ditch effort undertaken by two ancient rival corporations whose economic fortunes had turned bad and were headed towards worse at Run 8 speeds.

The two main leaders of the new company, Stuart T. Saunders from the PRR and Alfred E. Perlman of the NYCS, didn't get along. The railroads didn't have a lot of good connections between their separate lines. But wait, there's more:

The bankrupt and hapless New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad successfully sued for inclusion into the merger, and became a part of the Penn Central system on 01 January 1969. Where there had been two ailing railroads floundering towards a hoped-and-prayed-for success, there were now three.

Deteriorated physical plants, hopeless administrative snarls, questionable diversifications, a weak economy, lethargic-if-not-lethal Federal regulations and even hostile weather combined to form a lethal cocktail that would send the giant railroad into bankruptcy on 21 June 1970, a mere 872 days after its creation.

This bankruptcy was the largest in American history at that point, with the Penn Central losing in the neighborhood of a million dollars (in 1970s value) per day for at least a year, with previous daily losses being in the neighborhood of $300,000 to $500,000.

It is a vast and complicated story to tell, and I don't understand all of it. For you, the reader, know that the death of the Penn Central gave us Amtrak, Conrail, railroad deregulation, and the vast array of commuter agencies that line the Northeast Corridor to this day. For a variety of reasons, the Penn Central Transportation Company is my favorite fallen flag---I stubbornly refuse to admit that the flag of the N&W has fallen---and I celebrate the anniversary of its birth.

Too bad I never got to ride the Twenty Cent Broad.

If you're interested in the Penn Central, I invite you to visit two of my favorite PC websites:

Penn Central Railroad Online
Penn Central Railroad Historical Society

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Although your correspondent cares mostly about rail transportation, rails can't bridge the Atlantic, and so there are things that float to be interested in. Generally, they're painted haze gray, but I digress.

Today's "Oh, that's interesting" Wikipedia article is Panamax. No, that's not the less-successful recording format defeated by Betamax, but rather refers to the maximum allowable dimensions of a vessel if it is to clear the Panama Canal. This limit is not an absolute ceiling; the US Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are not capable of passing through the Panama Canal. Furthermore, large commercial vessels (supertankers and the like, I suppose) are being built that exceed the Canal's dimensions, and thus have to round Cape Horn with our carriers.

This is an example of engineering decisions made a century or more ago imposing limits on modern day commerce, which I always find interesting. This happens in railroading as well; just ask Amtrak about its attempts to improve schedules north of New York City. Decisions made during the assembly of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad system---in the late 1800s and early 1900s---are reportedly one of the major constraints for improvements.¹

Other "max" classification areas include the Suez Canal and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

I found this whilst looking up the ownership of SS United States, the now-defunct United States Lines.

---

¹ One unattributable story that I've read suggests that the New Haven management intended to realign some of the worst sections after World War II. The company was acquiring its new right-of-way when Patrick B. McGinnis took over management from Frederick C. DuMaine, Jr. in a 1954 proxy fight. Mr. McGinnis promptly sold all the acquired land to the State of Connecticut or other agencies, permanently dooming the idea.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In a previous entry, I mentioned the head of the New York Central System, Alfred E. Perlman. While making sure that I had his name spelled right, I found something very interesting:

Public Domain Theater Part II/IV (The Big Train)

This is a promotional film made by the Central in the 1950s; its content is unknown to me and I've never heard of it before. (Of course not; it's from the green team.) I'm downloading the film's two parts as we speak, and will post commentary in the near future. From what I understand, it follows the course of an Early Bird scheduled fast freight from Chicago to the City of New York. One source of mine indicates that the Central promised 29 hours from terminal to terminal and introduced the service in 1954; we shall see what the film says.

I've never really seen Perlman that much, nor have I ever heard his voice. This promises to be very interesting.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Earlier posts have hinted about this in the past, but I might as well repeat it: I'm not much of a model railroad man, having not the time, space, skills, or budget for it. That being said, I like having the odd railcar to sit on a desk as a static display, inspired by a photograph of Stuart T. Saunders and Alfred E. Perlman wherein a model of a 50' boxcar is shown in the new jade green-and-black Penn Central livery.

I in fact bought an Athearn 50' Penn Central boxcar with that exact photograph in mind. It's a close enough match.

Anyways, I figured that it was about time to update the readership on the gradually growing fleet of railcars. All are in HO scale, which I find to be the best for display and low cost of acquisition.

Boxcars
PC 142772
DL&W 12022

Hoppers
NS 144711
PC 459755
N&W 12988
N&W 107579

Cabin Cars
PC 26403
N&W 557524

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I haven't yet laid out for any motive power, but I intend to, sooner or later, purchase an Alco C628 in Penn Central livery. I wouldn't mind having an N&W C630, especially in the Pevler Blue livery, but those don't seem to be as readily available for cheap.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 05:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Last week, Amtrak's depleted board of directors fired the passenger system's president, David Gunn.

I of course am not impressed with this action, because I was impressed with David Gunn. I hadn't seen a negative thing about him in various profiles and the like, and although I'm not an industry participant, I figured him to be qualified for the job. Conversely, Norman Mineta had been pretty much on my 'losers list' over issues of airport security. Several watchdogs had caught Mineta in what were either considerable errors or outright lies in his public statements regarding Amtrak, and this reduced Mr. Mineta's credibility to zero in my eyes.¹

Anyways, there's a large brouhaha from Congressional representatives along the Northeast Corridor about Gunn's firing, and the best place that I can think of to keep track of it is Rip Track.² I'm willing to bet that Rip has dealt with Amtrak under Gunn's predecessor, George Warrington (now heading New Jersey Transit) as well, so some sort of comparison can probably be made. Rip has already commented upon working with Gunn's Amtrak; see here.

It probably goes without saying that I support Mr. Gunn's plans for an improved Amtrak, and do not favor the President's.

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¹ Not that my opinion of Mr. Mineta matters; he serves at the pleasure of the President, and I doubt that George W. Bush cares what I think.

² "The Northeast Corridor" is defined, more or less, as the ex-Penn Central line from Union Station in Washington, D.C., to South Station, in Boston, Massachusetts, and various States inbetween. Go Sox!

Originally, Washington-Boston service was a joint effort by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Both were components of the Penn Central merger; the New Haven arrived in 1969 after its creditors successfully sued for inclusion. Thanks for nothing, Patrick McGinnis.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you read Trains magazine (and you should), you're probably aware that in January 2005, Matt Rose, the head of the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Company, chose to retitle his railway. In the words of the ancient Crusader knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he chose poorly. Mr. Rose and his board determined that 'BNSF Railway' was what the Fort Worth-based company needed to be named to answer the challenges of the new century.

Said Mr. Rose, ""BNSF has identified itself as progressive, vital, approachable and resourceful -- a strong part of the global transportation network. As we look to the future, we believe that our identity should reflect those core attributes. We are excited about this new identity as we believe it reflects our future as a leader in transportation service and innovation, as well as the growth of BNSF Railway and its contributions to the global transportation network".

Now, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, so I'm not exactly sure where one gets 'progressive, vital, approachable, and resourceful' from "BSNF Railway". If I were a shipper, I'd more probably think "trend-chasing, poorly focused, and wasteful" to spend what the BN&SF probably did to get this logo. (On the other hand, it wasn't as stupid as 'Verizon'.) Call me crazy, but I don't see how changing your name to 'BNSF Railway' reflects your place in the 'global transportation network'. Not that I really care; the only modern railway I care for is headquartered in Norfolk, and hopefully wouldn't do something so bone-headed.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the BN&SF has had approximately ten months to tell the world that it's now reflecting its place in the global transportation network with its new identity and yackety schmackety. Meanwhile, David Gunn has been fired, and there may be lawsuits over it. Amtrak stockholders are potentially involved here, and what does the New York Times call Mr. Rose's railway?

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Ha ha ha.

---

Yes, this is probably a juvenile entry.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Superintendent of the Cold Spring Shops reminds me that SS Edmund Fitzgerald was lost with all hands on 10 November 1975. His entry was, of course, timely and contained informative links. See here for my previous entry, also made two days after the anniversary. Interesting.

Users of the Microsoft Train Simulator can sort of get in on the ore-hauling action (including delivering to ore docks with lake boats similar in appearance to Edmund Fitzgerald) by purchasing Michigan Iron Ore: The Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to the Superintendent.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Trains paid tribute to the Erie Lackawanna Railway in the March 2005 issue with a nice article about the line's fate after 1960, which saw the merger of the Erie Railroad with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. Additional tribute---maybe---was delivered later in the issue by dubbing the EL the Marcia Brady of Conrail. Once I stopped laughing, I realized that their reasons made sense, from the Kenobi certain point of view; the EL is beloved far beyond its geographic scope, and in large part due to the exterior appearance (much like Maureen McCormick, who got better as time went on) of their locomotives. People are suckers for gray, maroon, and yellow.

Anyways, back to the point of the post: I've found a new EL website, and it's located here. It's about two weeks old, and looks like the possible start of something pleasant. Here's to the Friendly Service Route.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:28 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The first toy airplane that I can remember is, likewise, a Pan Am Boeing 747-100 (or -200), purchased when my family went to Washington, D.C., for a visit. I was never a passenger on a Pan Am flight, but it's remained one of my favorite airlines my entire life.¹ Reading about Juan T. Trippe, the founder and autocrat of PAA for decades, has only served to interest me more in the once-great aviation giant.

As a less historically minded friend of mine once said, "Your sad devotion to these ancient transportation companies hasn't helped you conjur up their stolen market share, or given you clairvoyance enough to reignite public interest in---"

I found his lack of faith disturbing. Ahem.

Jollies aside, I've found something worth noting, and it's a tribute to the power of the individualist publisher who writes what he will, in the hopes that someone somewhere will read it and find it interesting.

Comes now No Such Blog, which has a series of short articles on various topics of Pan Am history. I suggest starting at the very beginning (a very good place to start) with the article on Pan Am's genesis.²

They're interesting articles, and I enjoyed reading them all. That I was almost late for an appointment as a result is a testament to their quality. The best one, from a "ooh, secret files" sense is about the loss of the Hawaii Clipper. It's tantalizing enough to be potentially accurate.

You've got to love the secret history---hijacking or no---of the United States and her government in the years prior to World War II. It's compelling stuff.

NB: Pan Am lives. Yes, that's right. In 2005, the Pan Am Clipper Connection serves routes on the East Coast. A bit of delicious irony: The Clipper Connection is operated by Boston-Maine Airways. Why do I care and why is this notable? Because the owner of it all is one Timothy Mellon, who happens to be the head honcho of Guilford Transportation Industries. GTI operates the Guilford Rail System, of which the Boston & Maine Railroad is a component. That's synergy, friends and neighbors.

To wit, GTI/GRS has painted approximately 250 Boston & Maine/Maine Central boxcars in a Pan Am livery, doing so some time in March 2005. If you've got the July 2005 issue of Trains, turn to page 13. As is usual, GTI/GRS hasn't commented upon the project. Getting information out of them is apparently like pulling teeth from a baleen whale.

¹ If you care, the others are Cathay Pacific Airways, the British Overseas Airways Corporation, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Delta Air Lines. If Eastern hadn't been a direct competitor to the Pennsylvania Railroad's Northeast Corridor passenger service (i.e. the Morning/Afternoon Congressional and the Senator), then perhaps I'd like them as well. I've had a passing interest in the Soviet airline, Aeroflot, as well for a couple of years. I vaguely remember thinking that they were funny because they wrote what looked like "A3POCPAOT" on the side of their planes. Our dreaded enemy, unable to spell their airline's name. At the time, nobody told me that there was such a thing as the Cyrillic alphabet.

² As sung by the delightfully beautiful and oh-so-British Julie Andrews. The only time I've ever stood slack-jawed in a Disney Store was when they had Mary Poppins on, and she'd just arrived on screen. Talk about an arresting beauty! The girl I was in the store with came back by, figured out what was going on, and snapped, "Another pale-skinned, blue-eyed blond with a British accent. You're so predictable!"

Credit for this find is split evenly; Sheila O'Malley posted comments at The Llama Butchers; going to her site gave me this bit of direction.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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RipTrack "deals with Railroad Track Engineering, Design and Construction. Not only should Professional Railroad Track Engineers find something of interest here, but also those whose tax dollars are being spent for all of thsoe new Light Rail and Commuter Rail Projects".

The postings are somewhat sparse, but I would like to point out that which caught my eye:

-Posting of an interview with former Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) man and Rock Island Railroad president/CEO John Ingram

The Rock (more properly the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad) probably stands as the most visible victim of the absolute mess the Federal Government had made of railroad regulation in the post-World War II period. (The Penn Central died of a variety of wounds, some of which were self-inflicted; blame for that mess can be spread to the government and everyone else involved as well.) Suffice it to say that the Rock Island and the Union Pacific started merger talks in 1960. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the merger in 1974. There are of course a lot of factors in this, I'm sure, but fourteen years is a long time. Ultimately, the UP lost interest in the by-then deteriorated CRI&P, so the Rock was left to rot. See here for documentation.

The Ingram interview was interesting to me above and beyond the Rock Island---of which I am not particularly enamored---because Mr. Ingram hints at some of the talk of railroad nationalization, something that was kicked about in the 1970s as the Penn Central collapsed and the Consolidated Rail Corporation loomed on the horizon.

Interesting stuff. RipTrack makes list.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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08 April 1970: John Palmer Fishwick (1916-) is elected to serve as the tenth president of the Norfolk and Western Railway.

Fishwick succeeded Herman H. Pevler as president. Pevler, a former senior officer of the Wabash (leased by the N&W on 16 October 1964), is most famous to me as being responsible for the introduction of the blue livery with Dulux lettering. Mr. Fishwick is famous also for introducing the overall black livery with white "NW" lettering.

A Pennsylvania Railroad history site notes that Fishwick engineered a coup against Pevler, after Pevler suggested that a Chesapeake & Ohio man would become head of the combined C&O/N&W. Fishwick, reportedly having engineered the merger in the first place was not impressed, and thus got Pevler booted to the position of "Chairman", supposedly a meaningless promotion.

Of course, with the debacle occurring in the Northeast with the Penn Central, the C&O/N&W merger would be called off by the respective companies. C&O President Gregory S. Devine and Fishwick would announce this on 19 March 1971. Interestingly enough, Devine would retire as President within two weeks, replaced by the man who would make the Chessie System (and later CSX) a reality, Hays T. Watkins, Jr.

Fishwick would serve as President of the Norfolk and Western throughout the tumultuous 1970s, being replaced by Robert B. Claytor in September of 1981.

Congratulations (albeit 35 years later) to J.P. Fishwick, and thank you for your service. I found an article in something called The Roanoker that had caught up with Mr. Fishwick for a paragraph interview. Click here to read it and see a picture of Mr. Fishwick that has to be from the early 1980s. I am amused to see that the most clear 100-ton coal hopper belongs to CSX; I think the next one from the right is an N&W one in the Pevler-era "hamburger" livery.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 07:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sure it's Saint Patrick's Day, but I'm primarily of English heritage, and we don't need to celebrate a saint from a land we conquered. Tee hee. Top of the mornin' to ye, Mr. Adams. Life's no fun when even Ted Kennedy is raining abused upon you, is it? But enough of that. I apologize for earlier outages; something went wrong with the CGI on the server end, and I can't fix that.

On 17th March 1883, the first load of Pocahontas coal arrived at the Norfolk & Western Railroad's facilities in the city of Norfolk. The company name is significant; the N&W RR was a corporate predecessor to what would become the Norfolk and Western Railway (i.e. N&WRy) in an 1896 reorganization. By the looks of it, the trip from "Pocahontas Mine No. 1" to Norfolk took five days, as sources indicate that the first load from No. 1 departed on 12th March 1883.

"Pocahontas coal" is the term given to coal extracted from a certain area in Virginia and West Virginia. At one time, the area's coal was some of the best available in the United States; moreover, the United States Navy chose this type of coal to support the coal-fired warships of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet was probably fueled by Pocahontas coal.

Pocahontas Mine No. 1 is in Pocahontas, Virginia. A brief search indicates that this mine is still in existence and, more importantly, can be toured as a museum. Now that I know it exists, I'll have to detour over there the next time I'm in the area, and see what we have. Representative Richard C. Boucher (D-9th) introduced legislation in 1994 that would have created the "Appalachian Area Coal Heritage Act" in support of the Pocahontas area; relevant Thomas links are here and here. Whether it passed, I don't know.

Three railways served the Pocahontas area, the Norfolk and Western, the Virginian, and the Chesapeake & Ohio. It is worth noting that all three of these railways were strong financial performers, primarily due to their position as coal haulers. Indeed, they were strong enough to become the modern-day Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation, the Virginian being merged into the Norfolk and Western on 01 December 1959.

At any rate, 122 years and probably a couple billion tons later, the Norfolk Southern Railway continues to haul coal eastward to Lamberts Point, Virginia, for outbound consumption. Hooray for coal and its employment.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was checking the site logs, and I saw that someone was looking for Norfolk and Western's 4-8-4 "J" number 611 for Microsoft's Train Simulator. Well, I am pleased to report the following information:

The model, and apparently its textures, have been created. The *.ENG file, which is to say the numbers that the simulation will use to replicate the performance of the locomotive, is under production. I have no information about any particularized sound suite.

More information is available by clicking here. This link may become inoperative at some time in the future, due to the nature of the forum software.

And praise to God & 'Racehorse' Smith, for a last-generation N&W steam locomotive pack is not too far from completion. Included will be the following locomotives:

J 611
M 1100
A 1218
Y3 2009
Y6 2171

Also, an accurate model of Jawn Henry, the N&W's coal-fired steam turbine monster of the 1950s, has been seen in production. Rule Roanoke, baby. To borrow a phrase from Gihren Zabi, sieg steam! (So long as it's N&W steam, that is.)

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a little something that I wandered across while goofing off listening to Portishead's 1994 release, Dummy. It's a parody of Charlie Daniels' hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", re-written by Southern Pacific agreement employees, whose contracts have been picked up by the SP's new owner, the Union Pacific Railroad.

So as not to clog the front page with this, it's in the extended entry. more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I found an Amtrak-themed song while browsing my SiteMeter records. It's set to a song by the Beatles, "Happiness is a Warm Gun". I've never heard the original, so I can't even try to sing the song. Without further adieu, "Amtrak's Hope is David Gunn".

Interesting.

Link recovered from here.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 04:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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1. Hallelujah! Yes, there's the birth of a certain Christ child to celebrate, but also, there's the publication of the first-ever Penn Central Railroad Historical Society calendar. I know what's going to be on my wall in the coming year. That, and the two Norfolk and Western Historical Society calendars for 2005. Hooray for calendar proliferation.

2. Living in Virginia can occasionally complicate finding Penn Central things, especially when there's a lack of local hobby shops. I had to be in the City of Richmond before I found a Penn Central boxcar, and I had to go over the border into North Carolina to find the next step in my ever-so-slight move towards having a model railroad collection: An Athearn HO-scale wide vision cabin painted and lettered for the Penn Central. The livery calls it an "N9", but the N9 series on the Penn Central (and later Conrail) were converted boxcars, so that's inaccurate. However, who cares? I'm not a rivet counter, and seven bucks for a caboose from one of my favorite fallen flags can't be passed up.

3. At the one local hobby shop I've got, I did manage to find a Norfolk Southern three-bay open hopper, complete with coal load. Now to find a Penn Central Alco C630 to pull this odd-looking train now assembled on a shelf over my computer. Er, those aren't cheap, are they?

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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