Side Tracks
Another New Year
January 25th, 2012As I mentioned in my final blog of last year, I would be starting 2012 out with an extended rest period due to shoulder surgery on December 28. While I will admit there was some very needed recuperation going on (it’s kind of interesting when you are on Percoset and Oxycontin how you can tilt your head back, close your eyes, and next thing you know it is 90 minutes later), it really separated me from the railroad world for that time. So now that I have been back in the saddle for ten days or so, there are a couple of things that have already popped up as things to watch during the next year.
- 1. Conductor Certification - This one is the 900-pound gorilla on the operations side. The rulemaking and implementation have been on a very compressed schedule, and the FRA is going to be hard pressed to approve the certification plans of the railroads in a timely manner.
- 2. Section 45G tax credit - The current tax credit expired on 12/31/2010, and none of our efforts last year led to its renewal. What does that mean? We carry on with our efforts to have it retroactively renewed, which in the past have borne fruit.
- 3. The election - In case you haven’t heard, there is a Presidential election going on this year. Now I can’t tell you which will be more contentious, the Republican primaries or the actual election itself, but considering that this has been going on almost since the end of the last election cycle maybe we all need a break. One other thing to consider, and something generally overlooked in a Presidential election year: this is also a Congressional election year, and the entire House and a third of the Senate are also up for reelection. The more local races will most likely in the end prove more important to you than the White House.
- 4. PTC - Still there, is getting closer all the time. There was an interesting letter sent to the AAR and ASLRRA by the head of the NTSB expressing concern over the number and type of accidents recently caused by crews not following restricted speed rules. Watch out folks, keep it up and next thing you know PTC will be everywhere, signaled territory and not.
- 5. Narrowband Radios - This is the last time (for now) that I am going to mention this. On December 31, you better be changed over to narrowband. If not, my friends at the FCC might be having a word with you. Just do it.
And of course this year will have its share of meetings, with CSXT in March, RR Day on Capitol Hill later that same week, ASLRRA Connections 2012 in April (you’ll be hearing more about it in the coming weeks), CP in May, NS in July, and UP and BNSF in the fall with the ALSRRA Regionals. No matter how you slice it, 2012 will be interesting, to say the least.
—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.
Big Spenders
January 12th, 2012Look for railroads to continue to devote a hefty percentage of their revenues to capital projects in 2012.
That was one of the main takeaways from last week’s NRC conference in San Diego, where industry heavy hitters disclosed their capital spending plans to an audience of contractors and suppliers.
Bob Stevens, vice president and chief engineering officer of the Florida East Coast Railway, noted that the 351-mile FEC has primarily become an intermodal operating company with port connections in Port Canaveral, Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Intermodal units represent 81 percent of FEC’s volumes and 61 percent of its revenues.
He sees a major opportunity for FEC to grow its market share in Florida because of an under-penetrated intermodal market, capacity constrained highway system and the upcoming Panama Canal expansion. In addition, FEC is positioned to benefit from the restoring of on-dock rail at the Port of Miami, with the first train expected this September. It will also benefit from the Florida governor’s decision to provide $77 million to fund the 50-foot dredge at the Port of Miami.
FEC has partnered with Port of Miami to restore the port’s Bascule Bridge and to build an intermodal container transfer facility, which will open as a two-track facility to support current activity but expand within several years to a larger facility capable of handling 500,000 annual lifts.
Stevens noted that terminal capacity projects are a priority for the railroad as are bridges. “Our bridges are dated; we try to replace 1 or 2 bridges a year,” he said.
Union Pacific Railroad expects to earmark about $3.3 billion in capital spending in 2012, according to Bill Van Trump, senior AVP of engineering. He noted that the company fell behind a bit a few years ago on ties, but the railroad is making progress in that area. UP is also dedicating more money to upgrade and replace bridges.
“I’m leading the charge to put more rail in,” he added.
Capital is also being earmarked for operational bottlenecks and new commercial opportunities. He specifically mentioned siding extension work in the Pacific Northwest to accommodate longer trains and infrastructure investments in Texas to take advantage of “unprecedented growth” in business from frac sand and crude oil.
Genesee & Wyoming’s annual total capital investment has averaged $100 million from 2007-2011 and that trend is expected to continue in 2012, according to Gerry Gates, senior vice president, Southern Region.
Planned projects include replacing about 350,000 ties, surfacing about 760 miles of track, placing 240,000 tons of ballast, replacing more than 65 miles of rail, performing over 1220 CWR welds. In addition, the company is targeting two bridge renewals and rehabilitation of more than 150 bridges and locomotive purchases and upgrades, among other things.
OmniTRAX, Inc., which operates 17 railroads, says its preliminary capital construction plan calls for spending of $22 million with more than half of that earmarked for ties and surfacing work. About 25 percent of the total would go toward new construction and 8 percent to bridges.
Ken Koff, chief engineer, noted that ties are the company’s primary focus in 2012 and that bridge repair and upgrades continue as a significant part of their capital program.
—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.
Close to Home
January 10th, 2012I’ve been home for the last ten days or so recuperating from my shoulder surgery, and for the last couple of days I have been trying to figure out what to write for this first blog of the year. I was bouncing around between Conductor Certification, the ASLRRA Connections 2012, Hours of Service, or even the Presidential Primary season when I woke up this morning to some shocking news.
Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I have talked many times about the importance of getting to know your politicians. It doesn’t make a difference what level of government the person is in, but if they have some oversight of your business, you need to know that person. Or, more importantly, that person needs to know who you are, and what you do.
In our case, our State Assemblyman was Alex DeCroce. This morning, we all woke up to the news that Alex had passed away suddenly at the statehouse last night following a late night of votes before the new Assembly was sworn in today. Alex was the minority leader of the assembly, and had been chairman of the Transportation Committee at times during the 23 years he had served in the Assembly.
Alex truly cared for the people that he served. Shortly after my father passed away, I ran into Alex at a function and even though he really didn’t know me as well as he knew my father, he pulled me aside, looked me straight in the eye and told me that if I ever needed help at the railroad, that I should not hesitate to call him. And he was serious about this. Over the years, he looked out for and helped New Jersey’s Short Lines whenever he could. It didn’t matter which party was in power, Alex had risen through the ranks to earn the respect that we all gave him, and he used his power sparingly, which is unusual in this day and age. The New Jersey Short Line Association recognized Alex for his contributions to the industry a couple of years ago by awarding him the Benjamin J. Friedland Award, which was a small tribute to the respect that Alex had earned in the state.
Some of you might be thinking that the relationship was helped along by contributions to his re-election campaigns, but I can honestly tell you that I didn’t contribute to anything until 2011. Alex was one of the true rare people that were completely true to his word, and when he gave you his word, there were no conditions. You didn’t abuse the privilege of his help, and because of that when you needed it, you got it full on. He will be missed by people all over the state, within the transportation community, and mostly by his family. We all have a huge hole to fill in our hearts and professional lives.
—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.
Just Call Me Lefty
December 28th, 2011Those of you who have been around me for the last two years know that I have been dealing with a bad right shoulder. It’s not from an injury, per se, but more from just use. I’ve dealt with impingement and a biceps tendon that doesn’t want to stay where it is supposed to, and frankly while I am not in severe pain all the time, when I do hurt, it is significant. The last two years have been measures of what I can’t do, and not what I can, and finding out has usually been extremely uncomfortable.
So what have I been doing about it? Well, over the last two years I have had two orthopedists, months of physical therapy, two MRIs (including an MRI arthrogram, where they inject dye into your shoulder), four cortisone shots, and numerous doctor visits. About three weeks ago, I made the decision with my orthopedist that it was time to go under the knife (really take a look with the arthoscope) and fix my shoulder. This was not a decision I made quickly or lightly, but at age 44 I would like to be able to throw a ball to my kids, swim, or climb up on a locomotive or car without pain or the risk of further injury because I couldn’t hold on with my right arm.
Now comes the “fun” part. I am right handed. Very right handed. So, I have been practicing doing everything with my left hand for the last couple of weeks since I won’t have use of my right arm after the surgery for a bit. Most things have been ok, but there are a couple of things that have been a little dicey (think bathroom, and you’ll get my drift), and it should make for an interesting recovery period.
By the time you read this the procedure will be done, and the recovery will have begun. I will be out of the office for at least two weeks, and I’m out of all service until I am off of the “good stuff”. There will be months of physical therapy, and the complete recovery period will be three months to a year, which all depends on what is actually done during the procedure. But, hopefully by the time this is all done it will be well worth it, and I believe it will because anything will be better than what I am dealing with now.
Am I nervous or concerned? You bet, because it is surgery and general anesthesia, and I have had neither before. But I know that I have surrounded myself with the best caregivers I can, and with the support of my family we will all get through this.
So, first of all I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and thank all of you for taking time to read my ramblings. I’ll be back in the New Year with more of them, and if you need a little bed time reading, take a look at the new rest rules for airline pilots. Don’t be surprised if you see great similarities between their new rules and the passenger and freight railroad hours of service rules that we have all been dealing with.
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.
Ending the Year on an Up Note
December 15th, 2011Everyone likes surprises this time of year. When all the numbers are in, 2011 will be seen as a good, solid year for the railroad industry. In some segments, surprisingly good.
For the first 48 weeks of 2011, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 14,021,412 carloads, up 1.8 percent from the same point last year, and 11,019,041 trailers and containers, up 5.1 percent from last year. In November, U.S. rail carload traffic saw its highest year-over-year percentage increase in eight months, and year-over-year intermodal traffic grew for the 24th straight month. As the AAR’s Senior Vice President John Gray put it: “There are still clearly a lot of things that aren’t right with the economy, but we hope this improvement in rail traffic is a sign that the pace of economic growth is increasing.”
In the third quarter, most of the Class I railroads reported very strong financial results with some posting record earnings and there is every reason to believe that their fourth quarter and full-year performance will be similar. In the last year, rail employment is up by about 5 percent and railcars in storage are down more than 17 percent.
The most encouraging sign for suppliers is the dramatic, faster-than-expected recovery in the railcar building sector. Many analysts had predicted that railcar deliveries for 2011 would land somewhere in the low 20,000 neighborhood. Turns out they will likely be double that number, with some dramatic growth in tank and hopper cars.
Current demand is fueled mainly by orders for railcars to transport crude oil from shale and tar sands fields, small-cube covered hoppers for sand use and fracking operations and large covered hoppers for minerals and agricultural products.
Railcar builders have been responding by ramping up their underutilized production facilities and rehiring workers. American Railcar Industries, Inc., a leading manufacturer of hopper and tank cars, reported orders of over 9,100 railcars during the first nine months of 2011, giving the company its largest backlog since June 2008.
Overall, North American railcar manufacturers have an order backlog of more than 50,000, the highest since 2008.
At Greenbrier, new railcar deliveries in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year were a record 4,000 units, compared to 700 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Total new railcar deliveries were 9,400 units in fiscal 2011, compared to 2,500 units in fiscal 2010.
New railcar orders for 5,300 units were received during its final fiscal quarter; orders for 19,500 units were received during the full fiscal year. Greenbrier’s new railcar manufacturing backlog as of August 31 was 15,400 units with an estimated value of $1.23 billion, compared to 5,300 units valued at $420 million as of August 31, 2010.
At Trinity, the company is projecting delivery of between 13,600 and 14,000 new railcars for the year. As a point of comparison, Trinity delivered 4,750 railcars in 2010 and slightly more than 9,100 railcars in 2009.
Perhaps the best news of all is that the strong car building numbers and backlog are not seen as a one-year blip. Factors behind the surge in railcar activity, including a strengthening U.S. energy market, continued diversion of truck traffic to rail, and strong equipment replacement demand, give this recovery legs.
—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 immediate 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.
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
December 12th, 2011Last weekend we had some of the busiest days on the “southern” (non-Maine) parts of the Morristown & Erie system. We had our regular crew at the Bayway Refinery switching, the Stourbridge Railway ran their Winterfest and Santa Express trains, and on the “traditional” M&E we had the Whippany Railway Museum’s Santa Express and the Toys for Tots special, which are two of our highlight events of the year.
I’ve written about both of the trains in the past, and they are both very special to us. The Santa Express is in its 19th year now, and we really think that we’ve finally got this thing down pat now. At least we think that. As of this writing, we’ve completed three of the five running days, and so far it has been a grand success. Not only have the regular 1, 2, 3, and 4pm trains all sold out, but the museum added 5pm trips, and they are just about all sold out. It’s kind of interesting, because some of the people riding are definitely the second generation of passengers, and every once in a while someone will stop me and tell me about how either they rode with their parents and now they are bringing their kids for the ride, or how they brought their kids for the ride and now they are bringing their grandchildren.
Another interesting thing is how the operation runs. When I say we have this down to a science, I’m not really kidding. The trips take 42 to 47 minutes. We watch Santa’s progress through the train so that he both gets through the entire train and has some time to rehydrate before the next train, and we also closely watch the loading and unloading of the train when we return to the station. Amazingly, we can turn the train over in about six to eight minutes, in which 300 passengers get off, and 300 get on. So, 4500 passengers down and another 3000 or so to go (and someone will always ask me what time the 1:00pm train leaves), and we then get to rest (and do our regular freight work) until the three running days of Easter, where the train is bigger, but the rabbit doesn’t speak.
This was the third year that we participated in the Toys For Tots Special, which is a collaboration of the M&E, NS, NJ Transit, NYS&W, the Military Transport Association, and the Marine Corps. This year the train operated on the NYS&W on December 10, and on the M&E on the 11th, and made 12 stops to pick up donations. Over 8600 toys and over $3000 for the Marines were collected at the stops, which goes a long way for this worthy campaign. Most of the people who operated the train donated their time and their expenses, and for those people it is a truly memorable experience. Once again, John Sobatka from Norfolk Southern was the driving force behind organizing the train, working with the local governments to arrange where the train would stop and that everyone would be safe, and also working with all of the railroads involved, so that it would be a seamless operation. The only bit of excitement this year occurred when the NS locomotive that was pulling the train developed a fault on the NYS&W, and he had to pick up one of the M&E locomotives to substitute and pull the train the next day. Again, a flawless operation by all involved allowed “Operation Toy Train” to take place without a hitch.
I truly hope that everyone has a Happy Holidays. As you can see here, there are a lot of elves in New Jersey that are working to do their part.
—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 are Family
November 30th, 2011No, I am not having a 70’s flashback, and I am not a Pittsburgh Pirates fan (I did go to a Village People concert with Sister Sledge as the opening act, but that’s a different story), however I did attend two celebrations over the last two weeks that were very different, but had a similar message.
First up was the 85th anniversary celebration for the Railroad Construction Company, which is one of the heavy construction contractors that the M&E uses for its larger projects. We have always had a close relationship, and over the years we have also worked together on some joint venture projects, so it was an honor that we were included as the only short line people at the event.
Family is a word that looms large with RCC. The Daloisio’s have been the center of the RCC family for its 85 years, growing from a small track construction company to the major contractor that they are today, with four companies that now do all sorts of construction, from track to highways to buildings, and is one of the largest contractors in our area. Al Daloisio, whose father started RCC and has been their guiding force for as long as I have been in the industry, has always made sure that family has come first no matter how large the company has grown. Any large company can have multiple family members working for the same organization, but RCC has flourished by having not only multiple members of the same family work there, but multiple generations of the same family working there is not uncommon.
The party itself was an opulent event for close to 500 people. The guests were treated to a first class meal and celebration, and when you got to your table sitting on the seat was a book chronicling RCC’s 85 year history, with pictures and words, and I can’t tell you touched I was to see a picture of one of the M&E’s locomotives crossing a bridge that RCC had repaired featuring prominently as part of their history.
Now the other event I attended was not nearly as opulent nor as large as the RCC anniversary party, but it was just as much fun. It was my 25 year high school reunion. A little ancient history here: I graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, in 1986 with a class of about 450 people. Maplewood was (and still is) considered a “commuter suburb” of New York City, and while a number of our parents worked in the area, a lot commuted into the city, which created a widely diverse community of race, religion, and wealth. My graduating class was just as diverse and I think it allowed us to adapt to the changing world that we live in a little bit easier.
While the attendance was a lot lighter than our 20th reunion (mainly due to poor notice of it taking place, but that is another story), it was really great to see those that were there. There were probably eight of us that had gone to school together from kindergarten on (yes, that is 38 years ago), and it was a lot of fun comparing tales of how our families are growing. While social networking like Facebook has improved how we stay in touch with our relations of the past, there are really only three or four close friends from high school that I regularly keep in touch with. As for the others, it was great rekindling those old relationships, and even after the event ended, we all sat around and talked for a couple of hours before leaving.
While the two events were both similar but vastly different, there was one common theme in both: Family is important, whether it is blood or experience that binds you. Time might make it seem like the ties are fading, but when you walk into the room and become a family again, you realize that those bonds will always remain strong.
—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.
Putting Out Fires
November 17th, 2011A lot of people who work do the same thing every day without too many highs or lows, and for the most part they live a very happy life. This is even true for a lot of people in our industry, even considering the considerable safety challenges that we face. There are some, however, like myself that have made a career out of putting out the fires created by the actions of our customers or suppliers. The last ten days or so seem to have been an all-out blaze around here on both the M&E and SDS sides of things, and while none of them has gotten out of hand, the three main issues are good examples of what can (and does) seem to go wrong at times.
At the M&E, our fire seems to be taking care of everyone equally with the resources that we have. Anyone that has worked in railroad operations will tell you that trying to serve your customers efficiently and effectively is always your goal, but it is one that can be elusive at times. Fortunately, we are having a bit of a fall rush, and business has been a bit more brisk than what has been normal over the last couple of years. Because of this increase of traffic, the resources that we have to serve our customers have been stretched a little thinner than normal. So how do we keep the customer happy? First of all, knowing what the customer really needs is of primary importance. Most times when someone calls and says that they need the car yesterday they have built some time into their schedule, and you can work with them to make sure that their needs are met. Just as important is knowing when “now means NOW,” and being able to use what resources you have to keep them operating (and therefore happy).
With SDS, the two most recent fires were created a little bit differently. In one case, a customer decided to replace a computer that they were using , and they purchased all of the latest software. When they loaded ROCS on the new computer, it wouldn’t work, and they then called me to see what I could do. As I started to work on the issues, I started getting errors that did not match anything that I had seen with other customers. After some serious research, I found that the author of the database software that we used to build ROCS (I won’t say who it is, but let’s just say that their name begins with an M) had created such a big bug in the newest version of the DB software that I was faced with having to re-enter a major portion of the code in ROCS. When I presented the problem to my customer, I gave them two options: the first was to roll the new computer back to an earlier version of the DB software, or the second was to keep using their old computer while I rebuilt ROCS around the bug. The first option would have been far easier for me, but in the long run was not the correct path to take, so I have been rebuilding ROCS for the new DB software and should have the customer up on their new computer in a couple of days.
Finally, a different customer all of a sudden stopped receiving waybills and consists from their Class 1 interchange partner. Their first action was to call me to see if it was an issue with ROCS. Fortunately it wasn’t, but the data that they were receiving was messed up. The next step was to get their data supplier involved, and lighting a fire under them since this customer was essentially at a standstill without this data. Let’s just say that their idea of important wasn’t the same as mine, and a couple of phone calls and 36 hours of waiting finally got the problem resolved. The lesson here was making sure that the customer knew that I knew how important this was (remember “now means NOW” from above), and that I was doing everything that I could to get this resolved as quickly as possible. While no one was truly happy, everyone knew what was going on.
And did I mention that my In-Laws were here for a visit last week?
I hope that everyone has a happy Thanksgiving, and don’t eat too much.
—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.
What to Write About…
November 2nd, 2011It’s been crazy in my life since I last wrote a blog, and with all that has gone on since, what do I write about? Well, since I really can’t decide on one thing, let’s give you all a quick run through so that I don’t leave anything out.
ASLRRA Regional Meetings
Last week we were in Louisville, KY for the last of the ASLRRA Regional meetings for 2011, and after going through all three regionals and hearing what is going on, it really looks like 2012 is going to be a busy year. Between PTC, Conductor Certification, Hours of Service waivers, the final Narrowband radio changeovers, the changing economy, and other various regulatory issues, we are all going to have our plates full. Oh, and don’t forget that next year is an election year…
ASLRRA Connections 2012
Following the Louisville meeting, I took a road trip up to Indianapolis with a couple of the ASLRRA staff to take a look at the site of next year’s ASLRRA Connections, of which I am the meeting chairman. The brand new JW Marriott Indianapolis is an absolutely first class hotel with facilities that will help our event run smoothly and help to keep it the premier educational event in our industry. The program for Connections is also starting to firm up, with the various educational track committees submitting their breakout session topics, and from what I have seen so far, there are some really exciting sessions planned with top notch speakers already lined up to provide you with the latest on all of the hot topics in our industry. Following a successful debut at the regional meetings this year, we will be adding sessions focusing on fuel conservation to the program for 2012, and we have a first class lineup for our general sessions on both Monday and Tuesday so keep your eyes open for more information about Connections 2012 here and on the ASLRRA website. The booth sales for the exhibition have just started, and the registration for the meeting should open late in January. Stay tuned…
Snow in October?
Ok, if you are in Denver and reading this you are saying “so what?” But in New Jersey, it is not supposed to snow in October. Ok, maybe a flurry, but not SIX INCHES!!! This was not fun. At all. We lost power at 1:30pm on Saturday afternoon, and got it back at 5pm on Tuesday. It was four cold days and nights in our house, and fortunately our neighbor had installed a large generator following Hurricane Irene, and he let us plug in our refrigerator and chargers, so all was not lost. At the height of the storm, it sounded like gun fire around our house, with all of the trees losing limbs and falling around us. Our street was blocked for a while, and our town still looks like a disaster zone five days later. Schools may be closed all week, and my kids are going stir crazy at home. Between the horrible winter, the hot summer, the torrential rains of August, Hurricane Irene, and the October Nor’Easter, I’m really beginning to believe that this is one cruel joke, and can’t even think of what might come next.
—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.
Remembering a True Short Line Entrepreneur
November 2nd, 2011Jack L. Hadley, who worked for more than four decades in the railroad industry, passed away on Oct. 30 at the age of 85.
Although he spent the bulk of his career at the LTV steel railroads and retired as president of the railroad division, he is perhaps best known as one of the short line industry’s earliest entrepreneurs. After retiring in 1987, Hadley said he was still too young to quit railroading and purchased his own short line: the Kiamichi Railroad Co., based in Hugo, Okla.
The Kiamichi was a family operation, with Jack serving as president and his daughter Judy handling some administrative and real estate duties, while his son Ken was a master mechanic and another son, Tom, was outside legal counsel.
“He always had a business model in his mind that would work, and the only way he could be sure was to test it,” Hadley’s daughter, Judy Shaffer, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It not only worked. It worked remarkably well.”
Within a year and a half, the short line had tripled the number of employees it had and was serving more than 100 businesses. The Kiamichi was the first winner of the Short Line of the Year award in 1989, then sponsored by Modern Railroads Short Lines and Regionals magazine.
I served at the time as editor of that publication and recall the short line’s selection for Short Line of the Year. I remember all the adversity that Jack and his railroad faced starting up that railroad, which was one of the early line spin-offs from Burlington Northern. Rail customers were distressed at the loss of the Class I railroad and the unknown factor of a new short line with an odd name. BN employees viewed it as union busting. During its first few months of operations, incidents of vandalism and sabotage were common.
Jack and his family railroad won over the locals quickly and engineered a remarkable turnaround in public opinion and railroad carloadings and customer service. He later bought the adjoining Chaparral Railroad Co. and was operating the South Orient Railroad in Texas as well. He sold the railroads in 1995 (the Kiamichi is now part of RailAmerica) and retired a second time, returning to Latrobe, Pa.
Jack wasn’t one to sit on the sidelines. He was active in numerous organizations and served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Short Line Railroad Association, chairman of the Pennsylvania Railroad Association, and as a regional vice president and national chairman of the former American Short Line Railroad Association. He also served as chairman of the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and Industry and president of the Hugo (Oklahoma) Chamber of Commerce and served on the Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association.
I offer my condolences to the Hadley family, and especially to Jack’s wife of 63 years, Jeanne E. Hokanson Hadley. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Jack’s memory be made to Excela Health Home Care and Hospice, marked for “Direct Patient Care,” 134 Industrial Park Rd., Suite 1600, Greensburg, PA, 15601.
—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 immediate 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.
Content Sections
