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It’s Fall Tour Time Again

September 7th, 2010

With the end of summer comes the annual “Fall Tour” of the ASLRRA’s Regional Meetings. For me it is a busy and fun time, where I wear both the hats of a railroader and a supplier. The Eastern Region Meeting in Baltimore next week is probably the best example of this. While I am registered under my own corporate identity of Short Line Data Systems, and we are an event sponsor of the meeting, I am also running for a Board of Directors position in the region as a railroader for the Morristown & Erie. And, if that wasn’t enough, I am also the meeting chairman, representing both entities at once! (I think)

The Regionals are a very different animal compared to the Annual. First of all, you don’t have all of the mass of exhibitors in a monstrous exhibit hall. If you want to spend some time with a supplier, it can be done in a much more relaxed setting. Second, the meeting program is a lot more varied, with speakers and topics that don’t normally get covered as in depth at the Annual. You also get a chance to interact with the speakers more at a Regional meeting, since the crowd isn’t as large. We will have STB Chairman Daniel Elliott as our keynote speaker in Baltimore, and while he does have some restrictions about what he can talk about, this is a really good opportunity to hear what he has to say about our industry and where he sees it going.

Another great thing about the Regional meetings is the cities that they take place in. During an Annual you rarely get to even walk out of the hotel and see the sun, but during a Regional you do get a chance to experience the city that the meeting is in. In Baltimore we will get a chance to experience the Inner Harbor, while in Kansas City it will be a Royals game and some really good barbeque, and in Atlanta it will be the World of Coca Cola and the other sites. You also get to spend quality time with customers and/or fellow railroaders in a fun and rewarding setting with the recent addition of social projects benefitting local groups such as Habitat for Humanity and the B&O Railroad Museum that have allowed us to give back to the city we are visiting.

Finally, the Regional Meetings are a good opportunity to spend time with my colleagues and friends in both the industry and the ASLRRA staff. There are more stories of things that have gone on at a Regional (some that can even be repeated) than I can write about in this column, and all have one thing in common: the short line “family” and all of its crazy cousins.

See you in Baltimore, Kansas City, or Atlanta (or all three).

—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 also served as chairman of the ASLRRA’s Technology Committee for the past four years.

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What I Did on My Summer Vacation…

August 23rd, 2010

My kids don’t go back to school until after Labor Day, but I thought I would write about what I just did over the last week. Holly and I got to spend a week together in California doing what every good tourist should do: Universal Studios, the San Diego Zoo, and the granddaddy of them all, Disneyland.

Some of you are saying “wasn’t he just in Orlando a couple of months ago and went to the Magic Kingdom?” Well, you guys are correct, we did get to spend a day in the park at the end of the ASLRRA Annual Meeting, but this was different. This was VACATION!

First of all, we were in Southern California, which is going through their coolest summer in years (San Diego had their hottest day of the summer while we were there, 82 degrees. Our hottest in New Jersey this year was well over 100 degrees), and it was warm, but not humid. Second of all, we were in Southern California, which, until it falls into the Pacific in the Big One, is a beautiful place to visit.

So why did we go to Disneyland? Especially since we didn’t have our kids with us? Mostly because we didn’t have our kids with us and we wanted to go to Disneyland. Both of us are big kids at heart, and we both truly enjoy the experience that one has on the Disney properties. Walt Disney was a master planner when it came to the experience, and even 55 years later that experience reflects his understanding of human nature and how to provide quality at such a high level that one wants to return over and over again. When one looks at Disneyland, and tries to compare it with Walt Disney World in Florida, you can see both the limitations that Walt had when he first built the park in California and how in their second version the Disney company (Walt died five years before WDW opened) took those limitations and turned them into the experience that tens of millions enjoy every year. The other thing that Disney does better than anyone I have ever seen is how they deal with people. Be it transporting them, serving them, or entertaining them, the Disney management process and style cannot be matched. Books and studies have been written taking apart the process, and while it is one that many (including myself) have tried to copy, it is nearly impossible to do.

So which property did we like better? Florida has a better overall package due to the amount of space they have, but there are individual rides, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion which are significantly different and tell the story better in California (sometimes you shouldn’t fool with the original). In the end, the original Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, truly shows what one man can do with his dream, if he controls it from the start (Disney himself said that Disneyland would never be finished, and signified it by not putting gold leaf on one of the spires of Sleeping Beauty castle). The parks that followed the original have been in Walt’s style, but do not have his touch. This is probably best shown by California Adventure, the sister park to Disneyland that has never had the popularity or polish of the original, and was so far off the mark in its theming that it is undergoing a major rebuild that will result in almost 40% of the park changing before it is done in 2012.

And the best part of my trip? I got to spend a week with my wife having fun. We laughed, we got away from the daily grind, and we got to relax. We actually spent a day sitting by the pool and taking a nap, which for us is truly unusual. It really was a vacation (and thank you to all who left us alone while we were away, it makes a difference).

—By Steve Friedland

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I’m Outta Here!

August 12th, 2010

Well, not gone completely. But, I am going on vacation with my wife next week, and I thought that this would probably be a good time to take a look back at this year’s entries, and see where we have been, and where we are headed going into the latter third of this year.

Let’s start out with my resolutions for the New Year. Back in January, I gave you a list of items that I thought I would be able to accomplish in 2010. Fortunately, I did not list losing weight on that list, because I would have failed miserably, but otherwise I have done ok. The Narrowband radio transition has begun, and I hope that my efforts and the efforts of the AAR and ASLRRA to get the message out have been successful. Things on the regulatory front have been relatively quiet (compared to the previous 18 months or so), and work has been progressing on conductor certification and the other regulatory requirements brought about by the Rail Safety Act of 2008.

The regulatory process has its roots in Washington, of course, and a large group of railroaders and other industry people descended upon the House and Senate office buildings this spring for Railroad Day on Capitol Hill, and for one of the first times that I could remember, we went to the meetings being the “Good Guys” and not the “Evil Empire.” I hope this good will continues (or some other political cause distracts our representatives), because there are going to be a couple of things that we need to get done, like a long-term tax credit.

Things have been kind of busy at the M&E so far this year, with traffic slowly growing following a hit due to the economy. We have been running our passenger excursions for the Whippany Railway Museum with great success, and our proximity to New York has led to a recent increase in the number of film and photo shoots that we have been involved with. I guess that trains are “in” with the popular media this year.

SDS has also kept me pretty busy with travel, and while my vacation will be the first time I have been west of Texas this year, the power of remote access to computers has allowed me to keep closer to home. I have been trying to get updates and revisions done, but like anything else in life your intended and actual schedules can vary greatly. One travel highlight of the year has been my flying up to our railroad in Maine in a Piper Cherokee piloted by the M&E’s computer hardware contractor, which was a truly memorable and unique experience.

Finally, as usual I have been very busy with my friends and associates at the ASLRRA. This year’s Annual Meeting was a resounding success, with a spectacular program and venue, and a record number of attendees. The Regional Meetings are now approaching, and registration has opened for this year’s Eastern Region Meeting in Baltimore September 11-14. I am honored to be the chairman of this meeting, and I believe that the Association and the planning committee (which included my blogging cohort on this site) have put together a first class program for the meeting (but I am biased). Come down to Baltimore (or go to Kansas City or Atlanta), and get to see the “latest and greatest” that is going on in our industry.

Well, I’m out of here, and I hope that everyone enjoys the last couple of weeks of summer.

—by Steve Friedland

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No, You Are Wrong About That

July 27th, 2010

I have mentioned in the past my hobby of building model cars. In particular, my interest is in open wheel (Formula 1 and Indy) and sports prototype (Le Mans) type race cars, and I have built up a pretty large collection of built and unbuilt models over the years. One of the major parts of building a scale model of something is researching the subject, and (hopefully) getting the correct information so that you can create an accurate representation of the real thing. Since going over to Europe and visiting a bunch of museums in England and Germany is not in the current budget plans at the moment, the best reference source these days is the internet, and the many forums and sites that are available at your fingertips.

For many years, I was an active member of a group on the ‘net that dealt with Formula 1 cars, and I actively communicated with people all over the world, exchanging information, ideas, and critiques of work that everyone was doing on their various projects. As time went on, I got busy with my own business, and family, and while I was still building the models, I found myself spending my time reading the posts from the group, and doing less and less of my own posting. One of the big reasons why I did this was the increasing number of people who joined the group, and took it upon themselves to be experts on the subject, to the point of dismissing other people’s input in a discussion, whether their own information was correct or not. These days, I still observe the group, and read what comes across on their website, but I really have no interest in participating with people who have to be the “expert.”

With railroading, we have some of the most detail-oriented hobbyists out there. Whether they are modeling a certain railroad or taking and collecting pictures (or just about anything else having to do with a railroad), the railfan is a very unique character. Many of these people have been interested in trains since childhood, and a lot of them have “their” railroad that they have focused on throughout this time. Sometimes this extreme focus has led to a history or belief about certain things that went on with the railroad that is a little different than reality.

There are a number of railroad discussion boards and sites available today, and while I check on a number of them, you will never see me or most of the M&E’s management post or comment on these boards. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons: first, in this day and age of heightened security, there is a real concern about “loose lips sink ships,” and we have to make sure that we run a safe and secure operation. Next we are trying to run a business here, and giving public explanations of what is going on with our customers is not fair to them, and not good business practice. Lastly, the fact remains that we have been “corrected” by railfans about things that went on here, and if they feel that they can be the expert on the subject, then we will let them be the “public” expert. Believe me, if we want to get a message out on one of these outlets, we have a number of “mouthpieces” that can put out the word.

We all have our hobbies and interests. When they become an obsession or start to alter reality then they stop being fun for others.

–By Steve Friedland

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New Tools, New Toys

July 12th, 2010

I was in Montreal recently for the AAR Wireless Communication Committee meeting, and as many of you have heard me talk about in various forums over the last couple of years, the change to narrowband radios is now upon us. If you have locomotives in interchange service, you should have already changed your radios on the locomotives to a narrowband capable one, and you should be working on (or already have started) purchasing narrowband portable, mobile, and dispatch radios for the rest of your system in preparation for the start of the transition, which will take place in 2011, and run through 2012.

While the physical changeover won’t be starting for at least another six months, one thing everyone should be doing now is renewing their license with the FCC to include the narrowband channels. All you have to do is contact Jim Reimer at the AAR, and his people will help you with what you need to do.

One of the other things that people have heard me recommend over the last couple of years is that when you buy your new equipment, make sure that you are buying equipment that is capable of tri-mode (25kHz Wideband, 12.5kHz Narrowband, and 6.25kHz Very-Narrowband NXDN Digital) communication. This is especially important if your railroad is in a congested area, because it is possible that when the migration is done that some areas will have the 6.25Khz channels in addition to the 12.5kHz ones. Now remember, you should first check to see if your existing equipment can be reprogrammed to handle the 12.5kHz channels before trashing all of your existing equipment, and only buy what you need.

This is only the start of what will be a massive change for our industry, and “stay tuned” to keep up with the latest goings on.

While I was in Montreal, a new toy arrived at home for me to play with: a 64Gb wi-fi only iPad. I have been watching the goings on with this new exciting piece of hardware, and finally decided that it was time to take the plunge and see what it can do. If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you know that I own an iPod touch, and feel that it is a very powerful handheld computer, in addition to being a great way to have your music and videos on the go. I also have a Motorola Droid cell phone, which is without a doubt the best and most useful mobile device I have ever had, and I seem to prefer the Android operating system (which is on the Droid) to the Apple operating system in the iPod and iPad.

So, my quandary is “what can the iPad do for me?” It’s a great tool to look at news and the web, videos are beautiful, and there are tons of Apps available for reasonable prices. It has all sorts of potential, but I just don’t know yet what the “must have” reason for it is. I’m sure I will find it (or develop it), but it just hasn’t jumped out yet and tapped me on the shoulder and said “Hi”.

And don’t think for a second that I am going to get rid of it. It’s my new toy.

—By Steve Friedland

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The Only Way to Fly…

June 30th, 2010

As many of you know, the Morristown & Erie actually has three railroads under its umbrella: the original M&E, which operates in Morris County, New Jersey, the Maine Eastern (MERR), which operates in the midcoast section of southern Maine, and the Stourbridge Railway (SBR), which operates in north eastern Pennsylvania. The Maine Eastern and Stourbridge both have active excursion passenger lines on them, and for ticketing on both railroads we utilize a ticketing system that I wrote for them known as PETROCS. PETROCS has been in use at the MERR for four years now, and this is our first season operating the service on the SBR. To maximize the utilization of our resources, we decided to handle all reservations for both railroads from our Maine offices, and I had to go up there with our computer person to set up the hardware that would allow us to get everything done.

When the MERR started up, I spent a good amount of time up in Maine setting up our processes and computers for both the freight and passenger sides of the operation, but schedules and the fact that things were running smoothly had kept me from getting up there over the last couple of years (it is amazing what you can do with a telephone and remote access of a computer these days), and it was good to have the opportunity to make the trip. Normally, to get up to Rockland, which is where our offices are, you drive up (eight hours) or take the plane or train to Portland and drive from there (travel time on the plane or train plus a 2 ½ hour drive), both of which really result in a full day of travel (at least). This time though, I had my ace in the hole.

Arthur Olshan, who is the contractor that maintains our computers in New Jersey, is a private pilot with access to a 1964 Piper Cherokee, which is a four seat propeller plane. Our plan was to fly up together to Maine to the Owl’s Head airport, which is five minutes from our offices, spend two full days up there setting up the new system, and fly back. By flying directly up it would take us about 2 ½ hours to get there, and we actually gained an extra half day to get stuff done, which in the end we needed. The flights themselves were great, with clear weather and light winds in both directions, and the ten mile visibility allowed us to get a great view of the route and the land below us. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience, and one that I would do again if the opportunity presented itself.

The visit to our Maine offices was good too. As I mentioned above, it had been a couple of years since I had been up there, and while it really was my intent to come up and pay a visit, life kind of got in the way. We do have some great people taking care of the operation in Maine, and while Arthur and I were dealing with making sure the electrons and bytes were going in the right direction, they were very patient and accommodating to our disruption. We got the new ticketing system up and running in the time allotted, and even ended up with some time to deal with some aging hardware that had not been really swept of viruses since my last visit up north.

Now, if you are wondering how the costs compared with going the traditional route, for the situation that we were in, it was less expensive to do what we did. If we had to rent a plane, it would have been more expensive. The extra time that we gained by the direct flight was definitely put to good use, and if we had really run into problems we would have been able to adjust our travel schedule to fit our needs. Oh, and there was one other benefit to taking our own plane: my wife, mother, and step-father got to have some fresh off the boat lobsters that I brought back with me for dinner, with no extra baggage charges .

It really was the only way to fly.

—By Steve Friedland

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It Used to Be a Lot Easier Back Then…

June 14th, 2010

When you look at how railroads were built originally, there were huge challenges. How the builders dealt with those challenges is directly related to what they needed to do in the long run. In the East, railroads were really in their infancy when the first lines were built, so curves were tighter, bridges shorter in length and height, and the roadbeds generally followed the flattest geography there was, and that is a river.

The Morristown & Erie is a great example of that, as the original 1895 alignment of the roadbed follows the Whippany River. Once expansion took place to the west (and I’m talking across the Mississippi and beyond, not into Pennsylvania), railroad technology had moved forward to the point that instead of going around an obstacle, in many cases you went through, over, or across it (The Rockies were a bit of a challenge, but it was solved). No matter what the challenge, the railroad was able to get through no matter what the cost in people or material.

Fast forward to today. We’ve already proven that no matter what the geographical or physical challenge, we can overcome it. So, what are the challenges to a modern railroad? Are they physical? Yes, but in a different way. Are they geographical? Yes, but not in the way you might think. In fact, most of the challenges to the modern railroad come from ourselves, and the belief that we can dictate to all others how things should be at any time.

Let’s take a look at where the current challenges come from:

Federal Government: These are the people who should have the most say, and really do. Since most railroads cover multiple municipalities, states, or countries, it has been decided that the Federal Government has the most say in how we operate and what we do. This doesn’t mean that the lower levels of government or localities don’t have any control, as evidenced by some of the parts of the Rail Safety Act of 2008, but the Feds do have the final say. This could be through the FRA, STB, OSHA, or any of the alphabet soup of agencies that we deal with, but it is in the end easier than having to have all of those same agencies for each town that a railroad operates through.

State Government: They have a bit of regulatory control over what we do, but where the state governments really get involved is with the purse strings. It could come through taxation, but for short lines, a lot of control by the states comes through their infrastructure assistance programs. For a short line, maintaining the right of way can be a very expensive prospect, and a number of states have assistance programs to help fund rehabilitation and development. To get these funds, companies will have to meet the requirements of the state agencies that provide these funds, and in some states, those agencies are at the mercy of the local governments, as in New Jersey, where state projects require letters of support from each municipality that a project will take place in. It’s amazing to watch a multi-million dollar project come to a screeching halt because a local town manager doesn’t want to write a letter.

Local Government: For the most part, this is a case of “what’s in this for me,” and from what I’ve run into all across the country they really are not looking at the things that we are looking at. In many cases, we may see a new customer as increased revenue for the railroad, but the local government is looking to see if they will be receiving any new tax revenue for what could be a drain on the municipal resources. Also, they are the closest to the community at large (see NIMBY’s, coming in the next section), and have the most at stake in responding to their constituents. The local governments really have the most to gain from dealings with the railroad, but if handled poorly they also might have the most to lose.

NIBMY’s (Not In My Back Yard people, otherwise known as the neighbors): This group can be the biggest impediment and the biggest help you might have. Work with them, and show how the project will benefit them, they will be your biggest friend. Cross them once, and you will never have their support again, no matter what you do. Now don’t think that I feel that you don’t have a right to have a clean safe place to live and raise a family. In fact it is the opposite. I hope that everyone has the opportunity to live and raise a family in a clean and safe place. Where I draw the line is when you have someone who has moved next to the railroad, and knows full well that the railroad is there and what it does, and then expects you to improve their situation for them. I’m sorry, but that is simply not anyone’s responsibility to do other than the person themselves. Not the railroad, not the local government, not the state government, nor anyone else. We all have a right to coexist, equally and fairly for all.

Are the current obstacles to building and operating a railroad any more dangerous or daunting than what the pioneers of the rail industry faced in the 19^th Century? Physically yes, time and cost wise, no.

—By Steve Friedland

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What George Clooney and I Have in Common

May 27th, 2010

Since the ASLRRA Annual Meeting at the beginning of May, my travel schedule has filled up quite a bit. My travel is both for the M&E and for SDS, and the trick of all of this has been scheduling things so that I get a chance to actually spend time with my family for more than a day or two at a stretch.

My last trip was to the eastern part of Texas close to the Louisiana border, and while I was on the road I came up with this list of things that most people don’t normally do when they travel, but if you are a member of that fraternity of frequent travelers (like George Clooney’s character in the movie Up in the Air) these things are second nature to you. A lot of them have come from the strange look I get when I am traveling with my wife or people that don’t fly as much as I do, but if you start talking with another frequent traveler they know exactly what you are talking about, and usually have a trick or two of their own. So, without further adieu, and with all apologies to Jeff Foxworthy…

You know you might be a frequent traveler when…

The TSA people at the security checkpoint know you on a first-name basis.
You know the difference between seat 4A on an EMB-145 and seat 4A in a CRJ-200, and have a preference.
You know that getting upgraded to First Class doesn’t suck, and that getting upgraded to First Class on a jumbo jet really doesn’t suck.
You look at a rental car agent as if they have two heads when they try to “upgrade” your car to a Crown Victoria (cop car) or a Mercury Grand Marquis (same car, different name).
You make your plane reservation to maximize the frequent flier miles.
You add a plane trip at the end of the year to make sure that you qualify for your Elite Frequent Flier status.
You know when you get a good rental car. You also know how easy it is to get a bad one.
You actually have a preferred airline and you use it no matter what the cost or how out of the way their route might take you.
You know all your hotel/airline/rental car frequent guest account numbers by heart.
You know the three letter codes for almost every airport in North America by heart.
You get a birthday card from the car service that takes you to and from the airport.
You only take the hotel shampoo and soap that you like.
You have SeatGuru.com as your homepage.
You can make a meal out of the snacks at the President’s club.
You go to retrieve your car in the parking deck of the airport - to the parking spot you parked in two trips before.
You only stay in one hotel brand, and will use it no matter how far away it is from the event you are going to.
You own a GPS that you use just for traveling.
You have clothes that never make it to a drawer when clean, only back into the suitcase.

–By Steve Friedland

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Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

May 11th, 2010

It’s amazing. For all the planning and preparation that goes into the ASLRRA Annual Meeting by myself and a cast of what seems to be thousands (but in reality is about two dozen) for over a year, the meeting itself flashes by in an instant. Is it a case of “time flies when you are having fun?” Maybe, if you consider 18+ hour days and little sleep fun, but no matter how you dissect it, this year’s event in Orlando was nothing short of a resounding success.

I started attending the ASLRRA Annual shortly after my father’s death in 1998, and at the first meeting in Atlanta I was thrust into a world of railroading that I really knew nothing about. I knew very little about the political and regulatory goings on in Washington, and this whole world of suppliers was a foreign thing. There were a couple of people that I had heard about from my father, and some other people that I knew from some other meetings that I had attended, but as a whole, the entire experience was completely new to me. The meeting itself was different back then too. There were maybe a half dozen speakers for the entire event, and something in the range of 800 total attendees.

As the years moved on, my attendance and involvement with the meeting changed. In 2002, Short Line Data Systems started exhibiting at the meeting in a single booth in the outer regions of the exhibit hall with a camp trunk of exhibit materials (this year we had two pallets weighing over 700 pounds in a double booth that was in a more prime location), and in 2007 it was my privilege to be the chairman for the meeting in Baltimore, which for that time was the most successful meeting in Association history. (Proudly, I can say that the attendance number from Baltimore has been eclipsed each year since, including a record attendance this year). I have remained a part of the planning committee in recent years, and it still amazes me how much this event has evolved since my first meeting twelve years ago.

The highlights of this year’s meeting? I have a bunch. First was Monday morning’s general session. You can’t beat the speaker lineup that was there this year (we’ll try for next year, but it will be tough). Unfortunately no one had all good news, but things are getting better. Next was the exhibit hall. We had some of the best traffic we have ever had at our booth, and we have heard similar stories from other exhibitors. The layout was great, and the “green aisle” was a good addition to the hall.

My last highlight of the meeting is a truly personal one. I got to spend over a half hour visiting with a true friend and matriarch of the short line industry, Maggie Silver. When the definitive history of the short line industry is written, there will be two chapters about Maggie. She is a pioneering woman in the industry, and was my earliest mentor when I got thrown into the mix all those years ago. What did we talk about? Everything. The industry, the ASLRRA and the meeting, family, and friends and associates lost. And while she may no longer be involved with the industry on a day to day basis, her counsel is both desired and appreciated, and I treasure the time we do get to spend together. (And yes Maggie, I’m going to lose some weight).

One last story. As many of you know, ASLRRA Chairman Tom Schlosser ended his term, and Mike Ogborn was elected as the new Chairman of the ASLRRA Board of Directors. I have had the pleasure of working with Tom on ASLRRA matters for a number of years, and we have developed a pretty good friendship. Five years ago when the Annual Meeting was in Anaheim, a Sunday night post-opening event was held at Disney’s California Adventure park, and I ended up going on the Tower of Terror ride with Tom, Ron Martin, my wife Holly, and Sally Johnson, who was the Association’s grassroots coordinator at the time. The line for the ride was a little long, and the whole time we were waiting, Sally was getting more and more nervous about the ride itself. We did what most people do and told her that the ride was nothing, and since both Holly and I had ridden the one in Florida, we had mentioned that there was a lap bar and nothing could happen. Well, we get to the front of the line and we all get in our seats, and Sally looks around and there is nothing in front of her and she asks the attendant where the lap bar was. The attendant looks at her, starts to close the doors, and in a booming voice replies, “The lap bars are in Orlando!”

She screamed for the entire ride.

–By Steve Friedland

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It’s a Small (Rail) World After All

April 29th, 2010

If there is one thing that never ceases to amaze me, it is the closeness of the railroad family. In this industry, there are seven Class 1 railroads and over 550 small railroads, and I don’t care what meeting you are at or what part of the country you are in, once you start talking with another railroader about who you know or where you have worked, without fail you will come up with at least one common acquaintance. In fact, what other industry do you know of that being an ex-con is a badge of honor?

A really good example of this took place last week, when I was on the road for SDS, and working at a customer’s office. The superintendent of this railroad has been at his job there for about two months, and came to this job via other positions at railroads in Florida and Mississippi. Now after talking to him for a couple of minutes, we both came to realize that we had a number of acquaintances in common, and we both had some very interesting stories to tell about those people. Now bear in mind that we had never met prior to my going to this customer, but now there is another branch of this web of people.

I’ve really had an immersion in this over the last month or so as I have been putting together the opening video for the ASLRRA Annual Meeting. For those of you who have never been to the annual, we open the general session of the meeting on Monday morning with the safety briefing and call to order, and then we run a short video of pictures of the short line industry. The video, which runs anywhere from two and a half to four minutes, has been my project for the last couple of years (you can see last year’s opening on YouTube, and if you are taking a break from this year’s meeting and are in Epcot for the Illuminations fireworks show, the music might be a little familiar). Each year we ask the membership of the ASLRRA for pictures of their railroads for the presentation, and we usually receive a couple hundred pictures every time we ask. The quality of the shots vary from something taken with a cell phone camera to professional photos that were prepared for promotional purposes, but they all tell a story about the railroad they were taken on, and I have to put that story together.

This year’s video is tied into the theme of the meeting, Connections, and what I tried to do was show the connections that the short line industry has: between the Class 1’s and their customers, between the suppliers and the railroads, and between the railroads and the public at large. The hard part was picking the pictures to tell the story. I know a lot of the people from the railroads that submit pictures, and have been on a number of the properties. Where the difficulty comes is making sure you have a balance of all of the railroads, and not focusing on one line in particular. You also don’t want to promote your own self or your railroad too much (full points for those of you who recognize me in one of the pictures shaking hands with Congressman Steven Rothman of New Jersey, it was the hardest picture to decide to use). In all, after over a hundred hours of work I think that the video is pretty good (like any artiste, it will never be perfect in my eyes), and I hope that everyone enjoys it.

So, for those who will be in Orlando over the next couple of days, or for those of you who are just doing your job, take some time to talk with someone about their experiences in the industry. You’ll be surprised by how small the world we work in really is!

—By Steve Friedland

P.S. - Still trying to figure out what an ‘ex-con’ is (besides the penal definition, of course)? In railroad terms, an ex-con is a person who was an employee of the original Conrail, prior to the merger with Norfolk Southern and CSXT in 1999. Get a bunch of ex-cons together, and you will understand what a badge of honor it is to be a part of that group.

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