Side Tracks
M is for the Many Things…
May 8th, 2013Last week at the 2013 ASLRRA Connections meeting the ASLRRA recognized ASLRRA President Rich Timmons for his eleven years of service to the Association. One of the first things Rich did in his remarks was to recognize his wife, Margo, for her years of supporting him while he was off fighting America’s wars and strengthening America’s Short Lines. I have been able to get to know Margo over the years, and she is an amazing person. While she might be the prototype of an Army Wife, she is also the prototype of a Railroad Wife.
Over the past 40+ years, Margo not only took the lead in maintaining the household, she also presided over thirty three (yes, one third of one hundred) moves all over the world. That is 33 times packing your (and your family’s) belongings, unpacking your stuff, cleaning the former quarters and preparing the new ones, sometimes with and mostly without the assistance of your spouse, and with two children in tow at times. Oh, and don’t forget that a couple of times it was halfway around the world.
As I said above, the spouse of a railroader does, in my opinion, come from a similar (if not the same) mold as an Army wife. While I have been fortunate to work in the same location for twenty years, a number of my coworkers have moved around the country as part of their railroad careers. And in a trend that bucks the national averages, most of them are still married to their first spouse, which says a lot about the strength of the relationships. I really am not going out on a limb to say that the strength of a railroader is built on the foundation of his family and his spouse at home.
That being said, and with Mother’s Day approaching, let me give a shout out to all of the railroad spouses out there, because without your strength and support, we wouldn’t be able to do our jobs safely and properly.
—By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR’s Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA’s board of directors.
Going the Extra Mile…
May 3rd, 2013
Just got back from Atlanta and the ASLRRA Centennial Convention. Big event. Lots of standing and walking. My legs and feet are still sore, but not as sore as those of my colleague, Tre Sanders.
Tre’s day job for us is in sales; he chases down leads and hustles to sell ads and subscriptions to The Pocket List and our other products. But anyone who knows him well knows that his passion is fitness. He’s a boot camp kind of guy. When he heard that GE Transportation was sponsoring a pedometer challenge during the convention, his first words were sign me up.
Combining the usual long walks on the show floor with his typical fitness regimen (including some noteworthy climbing of stairs at the Marriott Marquis Hotel), Tre was able to win the pedometer challenge. (He is pictured with his winning pedometer and his iPad prize.)
He logged more than 90,000 steps between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon. 90,000 steps. What does that really mean? The American College of Sports Medicine says it takes the average person 2,000 steps to walk one mile. The number of steps it takes to walk one mile varies from person to person because everyone has their own stride length. The longer your stride, the fewer steps it takes you to walk a mile
10,000 steps is about 5 miles. So, basically Tre walked or ran 45 to 50 miles over the course of the trade show. That’s impressive. On the trade show floor, I heard people talk about 6,000 or 9,000 steps daily. That’s impressive, too, if you consider that a sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day.
The pedometer challenge was a fun event that got lots of attendees talking … and walking. While the exercise itself was important, the challenge was part of a show-wide effort to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Cancer has touched the lives of nearly every attendee in some way and cancer claimed the lives of several notable short liners, including Dale Leake, and former ASLRRA Chairmen Walter Rich and Tom Schlosser. Tom’s widow, Christy, was on-site in Atlanta leading the charge in promoting the pedometer fundraiser.
Thanks to participation from hundreds of attendees, and matching contributions from GE, the group was able to present the American Cancer Society with a $13,000 check. And that’s what I call walking the walk.
—By Kathy Keeney
Kathy Keeney is Publisher of the Rail Group. The granddaughter of a railroader, she has been writing about railroads for more than 25 years. She is a past president of The League of Railway Industry Women and served on the board of directors for the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
Savor it
April 23rd, 2013In my lifetime, I have been fortunate to see a lot of history. Man landed on the moon (I was only 1 ½, but they still did it), the Bicentennial took place in 1976, the Berlin Wall fell, and we all survived the Millennium and the computer problems it caused (and didn’t cause). The big difference between all of the events I mentioned above and the ASLRRA’s 100th anniversary is that I didn’t participate in the planning of the other events, while I have been a part of the ASLRRA’s party planning.
It has not been easy. There are a lot of moving parts to this event, and making sure that they are all aligned in the proper sequence has been a bear. Add to that my responsibilities with the Morristown & Erie and Short Line Data Systems (by the way, do visit us in booth 005/006, which is right across from the Pocket List and ASLRRA booths in the foyer), the last couple of weeks have been beyond exhausting. As many of you know, I have had the fortune to chair the convention in 2007 and last year, and I can tell you that this year’s involvement and preparation have exceeded anything I have done in the past.
So, with all that has been going on you would think that I am dreading being at the meeting. That could not be farther from the truth. I honestly have to say that the knot in my stomach is more excitement than frustration. How often do you have the opportunity to be involved with the 100th birthday of anything? This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I am honored that I am going to be a part of it and that the railroad that I work for and the company that I own will be a part of it too. This will be a memorable event for all of the right reasons, and I will savor each moment, because there will never be an event like it in my lifetime.
I truly hope that you will savor it too.
—By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR’s Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA’s board of directors.
Talk on Campus
April 18th, 2013I’m thinking a lot about college these days. My twin nieces graduate next month from Notre Dame and we’ll make the trek to South Bend and cheer them on from the stands as they receive their diplomas at the famed football stadium.
At work, I’m involved in managing two college scholarship programs. I head up the Susan C. Murray Memorial Women’s Scholarship program. That scholarship, named in honor of my former boss and dear friend, is awarded annually to a daughter or granddaughter of a railroad or supplier member company of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. Susan worked closely with the association and was a driving force behind the creation of the ASLRRA’s trade show more than 25 years ago.
I’m having trouble believing that our company has conducted this scholarship program for 10 years. Time really does speed by. This year’s winner will be formally announced at the ASLRRA Centennial event later this month in Atlanta.
I also serve as scholarship chair for The League of Railway Industry Women. The LRIW Scholarship Program provides an opportunity for any member of the LRIW, corporate member company, or a member’s children to apply for scholarship funds.
Each year, the LRIW awards three scholarships to the best-qualified candidates. This year’s deadline for applications is July 1. Please click here for the LRIW scholarship packet.
One of the great things about the scholarships is getting to meet and monitor the progress of our winners as they move through college and beyond. I’m truly impressed by how well-rounded this generation is and how engaged they are in their communities and in social causes.
It’s rewarding to be involved in programs that lend a helping hand to young people who often face very large tuition bills. I’m reminded of two favorite quotes on education. The first is from Benjamin Franklin: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” The second is from William Butler Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
—By Kathy Keeney
Kathy Keeney is Publisher of the Rail Group. The granddaughter of a railroader, she has been writing about railroads for more than 25 years. She is a past president of The League of Railway Industry Women and served on the board of directors for the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
Like the Sands of Time…
April 3rd, 2013As I am writing this I am three weeks from leaving to go to Atlanta for the 2013 ASLRRA Centennial Connections. My pallets of booth displays are packed and are going to be picked up by the truck today, and I have been in the midst of the shower of emails and conference calls that take place before the meeting, and have become an annual ritual over the years.
I have written previously about what a big deal this year’s event is, and as we get closer, the number of days or times that you can say to yourself, “well, I can take care of that tomorrow,” is dwindling quickly. This process of planning the meeting has become a year-round project for a number of us who are involved with the ASLRRA, and I believe that this has improved the product that the attendees see each year.
What also has grown over the years is the number of people who are involved with the execution of the meeting. You see the onsite volunteers in their shirts, and they are an amazing group of people who for the couple of days before the meeting and during the meeting make things happen. When you seen them in Atlanta, please say thank you. Without them the meeting would not run as smoothly as it does.
Another group that does a huge amount of work but you generally don’t see them are the breakout track and educational session committees. Each of the seven breakout tracks has a group of five to fifteen people who select the topics, find speakers, get their bios and other information for the program, and then push them to get their presentations to us early so that we can have them ready on the computers at the meeting. Most people never see this work happen, and the group as a whole is never convened in one place (which is probably a good thing, because they would probably start to compare notes), but you should know that this mass of close to a hundred people puts a lot of work into the convention.
And finally, there is the person at the top. I got to chair the meeting last year and in 2007, and my good friend Judy Petry is doing it for the third time this year. She has had this meeting on her plate for a little over a year now, and she has done what she does best: she has organized, empowered, and encouraged all of the people mentioned above and all of the rest of the people involved to produce what will be a memorable event.
I hope to see all of you in Atlanta.
—By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR’s Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA’s board of directors.
We did it
March 19th, 2013
New Jersey delegation of railroads and suppliers present an award from the New Jersey Short Line Railroad Association to Rep. Albio Sires during Railroad Day visit. (photo by Peter Cutts)
As I mentioned in my last post, my thirteen year old son Andrew accompanied me to Washington DC last week for Railroad Day on Capitol Hill. It was Andrew’s first experience with the ASLRRA and what goes on at a meeting, and believe me, he got a full education in a very short period of time.
Our adventure got off to a fast start on Tuesday, with a very quick drive down to DC (don’t ask me why I don’t take the train, it is more of a scheduling issue than anything else) and on Wednesday Andrew got to experience one of the realities of preparing for an ASLRRA meeting: stuffing packets and name badges. Andrew also was dragged by his father from person to person being introduced to umpteen railroaders whose names he will never remember, but believe me, for his father it was a bit of pride being able to introduce him to the gang.
Railroad Day itself was a bit of an adventure. Andrew started his day off with a fifteen minute session with ASLRRA President Rich Timmons (when you have a school project comparing the Roman and modern US Armies, who better to ask than a retired three-star general?), and then moved on to the Hill visits. I have made it a practice over the years to stay on the House side of the Hill so that it is possible to make it to as many visits as possible, and in the end we made it to seven scheduled and one unscheduled (otherwise known as a “Jersey Walk In”) appointments, and overall it was a very successful day. We picked up one new co-sponsor from New Jersey (Rep. Leonard Lance) for the Section 45G tax credit legislation that we were lobbying for, and most importantly, we continued the relationships with the staffers and members that we have developed over the years. I think one of the most important things that Andrew learned was that it isn’t necessarily the items that you talk about in the meetings, but it is the fact that you are there and care enough that the meetings take place.
The high point of the day for all of us was the presentation of the NJSLRRA’s Benjamin J. Friedland Award to Representative Albio Sires. The award is, of course, named after my father, and we award it to someone who has positively affected the railroad industry in New Jersey. It was a thrill to have Andrew with me to present the award to the congressman, and Andrew will tell the story of the presentation to whoever will listen to him with a big smile on his face.
So all in all it was a success. For me, I got to spend quality one on one time with my eldest (we did go to a couple of museums on Friday before we headed home), and as a father that spends a good amount of his time on the road, it was a bonus for me.
—By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR’s Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA’s board of directors.
Going Green
March 15th, 2013Most folks associate the color orange with our Pocket List of Railroad Officials, but it’s also available in green now.
As we head into St. Patrick’s Day weekend, it’s apropos that we just unveiled a Green alternative for one of our venerable print directories. Our newly expanded Pocket List Digital Edition is a Green option that our subscribers have been asking for and that creates the additional marketing exposure that our loyal advertisers deserve.
Digitizing the entire 400 or so pages was no small undertaking. Tip of the hat to the entire Pocket List team, with noteworthy contributions from data and production manager Ed McCarthy and editor Heather Longo. The digitizing job involved more than 25,000 hyperlinks of email and web addresses for companies and contacts, making it easier for subscribers to connect directly with the people or companies that they are looking for.
The Green Digital Editions are available in both annual subscriptions and an individual copy basis every quarter.
And speaking of green, Happy St. Pat’s everyone. Enjoy the corned beef, Guinness stew and green beer.
—By Kathy Keeney
Kathy Keeney is Publisher of the Rail Group at UBM Global Trade. The granddaughter of a railroader, she has been writing about railroads for more than 25 years. She is a past president of The League of Railway Industry Women and served on the board of directors for the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
Just do it…Again.
March 7th, 2013Next week includes one of the most important days of the year for the Short Line Industry. It is Railroad Day on Capitol Hill, the day that we all go to visit our representative’s offices in Washington DC and remind them why we are important, and what we need them to do for our industry. The cynics out there who have just read the last statement are saying “well, that’s nice. You can be one of the maybe six or seven meetings that the offices have that day with people wanting to talk about what is important to them, and if you are lucky the staffer will remember who you are and what you said until the end of the day.” Now for some of the meetings you may be correct, and to be honest with you we will be one of maybe a dozen meetings that will take place, and yes, our message may not be the most memorable one of all of the meetings that will take place that day, but we will be there. Like we were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and so on. What is important is that we are there, and that continuity of meeting from year to year makes a difference.
A couple of years ago, a group of NJ railroaders met with my representative in his local office, and one of the comments he made to us was that we never came to see him. The fact was that we had met with his aides multiple times over the years, but the message was usually lost on the aide before it ever got to his boss. Interestingly, following that meeting, the representative himself made a point to see us when we were in town, and we also made an effort to see him at times other than just RR Day. Has it paid off? I have run into both the congressman and his legislative aide in places outside of the office, and they both not only recognized me, they took the time to ask how things were going with our issues. Sometimes the value of the meeting is not that you were there, but that you were there again.
I am doing something new this year for RR Day. I am bringing my thirteen year old son Andrew with me. I might be a little more excited about this than he is, but I think that he will get a huge education during the day. I’m also happy that he will get to see what goes on when I am on the road, and I am looking forward to introducing another generation of Friedlands to the industry.
See you next week in DC.
—By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR’s Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA’s board of directors.
Welcoming a New Team Member
February 14th, 2013Here on this web site and in our flagship publication, The Pocket List of Railroad Officials, we track and publish details on personnel changes at suppliers, railroads and contractors. Today, we have a personnel addition of our own to announce as John Parker has joined our Rail Group in a newly created sales position.
Based in Houston, John (or JP, as his friends call him) will help serve existing customers and prospects in the Central and Pacific regions of the country. He will largely be focused on digital media, including marketing opportunities in our group’s e-newsletter that reaches about 14,000 railroaders and suppliers and on our web site: www.RailResource.com. He will also sell advertising space in The Pocket List, our quarterly print publication that is a directory of railroad suppliers and freight and passenger railroads.
I’m pleased to have John join us. His experience working in the railway supply industry for the last few years and his enthusiasm make him a great addition to the team.
And team is a concept John is very familiar with. He played college basketball and coached basketball for nine years. He enjoys sports traveling, and is a Civil War enthusiast. John can be reached at jparker@railresource.com.
—By Kathy Keeney
Kathy Keeney is Publisher of the Rail Group at UBM Global Trade. The granddaughter of a railroader, she has been writing about railroads for more than 25 years. She is a past president of The League of Railway Industry Women and served on the board of directors for the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.
Doing Our Bit
February 13th, 2013A lot has been written about the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, and one of the hardest hit transportation agencies was NJ Transit. For whatever reason, a large portion of the agency’s rail fleet was left in locations that flooded, and some pieces of equipment had one foot or more of water inside of them (look up the movie Risky Business, and the scene where the Porsche of Tom Cruise’s father is fished out of the water, and you’ll get the idea). The day after Sandy hit, I was on the national coordination call that the FRA put together to determine how severe the damage was, and what help each railroad needed. When NJT got on the call, they told the story of what happened, and that in addition to the equipment being under water, their shops were equally damaged. There was a lot of discussion of what the other railroads could do to help, and no one had an easy solution, since moving the damaged equipment at any sort of speed was not an option. Once a quiet spot opened in the conversation, I spoke up and offered NJT the option of using our shops at the Morristown & Erie, which are located about 15 miles from where the flooded equipment was located and directly connected to NJT’s system.
Over the next couple of days there were continuing discussions and offers of assistance from all of the railroads in the area, but in the end NJT decided that the best course of action was to take us up on our offer. Less than a week after the storm ended, and even before NJT had resumed service on their system, ten locomotives were sitting on our doorstep. Our shop forces, combined with four people from their shops, proceeded to do change outs on all of the combos (traction motors and axles) on each locomotive. In the end, the controlling part of the process was receiving the rebuilt combos (we only received two or three deliveries a week). Once the combos arrived, the crews functioned like a well-oiled machine. The locomotive was jacked up, the trucks were rolled out, cranes were used to lift the trucks and change the combos. Then the process was reversed to get the locomotive assembled and set out on the interchange track for its trip back to NJT. There was no “us and them”, we all just worked together safely. We all had a job to do and we got it done.
The project finished up last week, and our house guests from NJT left after nineteen locomotives were completed. The Morristown & Erie was the only outside shop that NJT sent equipment to for repair. We thank them for their business and their trust in us. It’s a good feeling to know that we are there for each other.
—By Steve Friedland
Steve Friedland is a child of the railroad industry. Following summers and vacations working on the track gang for the family-owned Morristown & Erie Railway, a 42-mile New Jersey short line, he started full-time in 1994. He has worked in all areas of the railroad, including track, mechanical, signals, and operations, and currently is a member of the management team for the company as director of operations in Morristown, N.J. In 1999, he founded Short Line Data Systems, a provider of railroad EDI and dispatching software, AEI hardware, and management consulting to the short line industry. He currently serves as the ASLRRA representative to the AAR’s Wireless Communications Committee and is chairman of the joint AAR-ASLRRA Short Line Information Improvement Committee. He also is a member of the ASLRRA’s board of directors.
