posted
When UP comes on board, will they call it the City of Los Angeles or the City of Orlando? Will they have to wait for it to get to its destination to rename it?
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
That link is indeed dead now, and I'm unable to find the story elsewhere. It was titled "NS gets on track for passenger rail" and ran in the July 23rd edition of the Roanoke (VA) Times. The general gist is that the NS is considering providing locomotives and operating the "Transdominion Express" in partnership with the state of Virginia. The NS seems to have made a 180 in it's position on passenger operations. The article says that the NS may even bid against Amtrak to run the service. Googling "Transdominion Express" will get you the lowdown on the train.
Posts: 106 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
This sounds somewhat familiar. What I had heard is that agreeing to run passenger rail would make NS eligible for federal/state funding, which in turn could help its freight business.
Posts: 874 | From: South Bay (LA County), Calif, USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Sounds like they want to become like amtrak is in california, just an operator for the most part. I really wonder if they could turn a profit from it though?
Posts: 13 | Registered: May 2004
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Super, I think Palmer's right. It seems like the NS has figured out that by cooperating this way, they can get some work done to their plant increasing their own capacity. So much the better if they can improve their corporate image at the same time. Seems like a reasonable trade-off to me. I seriously doubt the NS has suddenly decided to be philanthropic.
Posts: 106 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
No philanthropy here. NS, being far and away the best-managed of the freight railroads (best of the worst?), figured out several years ago that Federal money could be had for improvements that benefitted the public in some way, and has been aggressively chasing such money.
Readers of this forum may recall NS' offer to increase capacity on the Shenandoah Valley line as an alternative to the widening of I-81 that would otherwise be required. The State of VA actually took a serious look at this, and found that adding rail capacity could reduce the need for extra lanes (each way) from three to one. They're now in the middle of developing an integrated plan for the corridor that will involve both rail and highway improvements.
So this proposal on passenger service is just more on the same subject, albeit the extra rail capacity would be intended primarily for the "Trans Dominion Express" rather than for freight.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I'm sure UP appreciates the track improvements (new rail; extended sidings) on the former SP coast line north of Los Angeles. These improvements were made after the bonds passed to help fund passenger rail. The UP is dependent on the commuter line for dispatching, though.
Posts: 874 | From: South Bay (LA County), Calif, USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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At 7+ hours end-to-end, it sounds like it'll be a worthwhile ride. Does anyone know which now-defunct railroad(s) once handled passenger service along the proposed Washington D.C.-Lynchburg-Bristol route?
Southern Railroad: Washington to Lynchburg Norfolk and Western: Lynchburg to Bristol
At Lynchburg, the trains moved from the Southern Railroad's Washington to Atlanta double track main to the Norfolk and Western's Norfolk to Cincinnati main, also double track from Norfolk to across West Virginia.
For trains that went beyond Bristol, it was then back on Southern Railroad to New Orleans or Memphis.
The trains in the 50's and 60's were the:
Tennessean, Washington to Memphis, day Washington to Knoxville, then overnight to Memphis
Birmingham Special: Afternoon departure, mid-morning arrival at Washington, overnight to Birmingham
Pelican: Late night departure early morning arrival at Washington, early morning arrival late evening departure from Roanoke, over the day to Birmingham then overnight to New Orleans.
At one time the Pelican had multiple through sleepers out of New York, with lines to Roanoke, Bluefield, West Virginia, Bristol, New Orleans.
Actually, the first few miles out of Washington were Washington Terminal Company to Virginia Tower in DC, then Pennsylvania Railroad to the south bank of the Potomac River, then Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac to just south of Alexandria Virginia. However, the zero point for the Washington to Atlanta main was Washington DC. Did any other railroad ever have their primary zero milepost point on track they did not own?
[This message has been edited by George Harris (edited 07-29-2004).]
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
First, I'm a lifelong railnut. This area is in my main area of interest, which is the southeast, as in those parts of the old Confederacy east of the Mississippi River. Also was a fairly regular rider of the Tennessean between Memphis and various East Tennessee points 1964 to 1967, Birmingham to Knoxville in 1968 & 9. Since those trains all went to Washington on the north end I know the area here probably better than any other railroad I only rode on once, which was Alexandria, Viriginia to Bristol in 1970. (Had a few Washington to Atlanta trips later.) Also have a December 1950 Official Guide, various Southern Railway passenger timetables 1962 to end of service, worked on WMATA project 1972 to 1978, giving me access to various RR maps in the DC area, have a 1990 NS Piedmont Duv ETT, some various CSX ETT information. Am a civil engineer working on rapid transit and railroads for most of my adult life. My interest has always been more on the civil engineering, alignment and track side of things. Collect all the railroad maps and other such information I can afford and get my hands on.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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