Current news

Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Magazine, Sep 2003 by Butler, Jim

Please send items to:

Everett N. Young

59 Vera Dr., Pikeville, KY 41501-1424

briarhopper@setel.com

Beavers May Have Caused Derailment

from the Detroit Free Press, May 8, 2003

submitted by H. J. Hales II

Cleanup could take another day or two following a nine-car train derailment in Holly Township-perhaps caused early Wednesday morning by a failed beaver dam unleashing a rain-swollen 25-acre pond that washed out the rail bed.

Officials said the flood waters raced downstream, forcing 25 area homes to be evacuated briefly.

In the derailment, seven cars packed with automobiles and auto parts, and two locomotives in the 22-car CSX train tumbled from the tracks several hundred yards off North Holly Road about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday. Officials said the train's engineer and conductor suffered minor injuries. Both men-whom the railroad declined to identify-were treated at Genesys Regional Medical Center near Flint. One of the men was kept overnight for observation.

No cause has been established for the crash or flood, but the possible failure of one of the area's numerous beaver dams is being explored.

Police and firefighters responded to a call from CSX minutes after the derailment of the train bound for Toledo from Saginaw.

CSX spokesman David Hall said a train traveled that stretch of rails around 3 p.m. Monday and reported nothing unusual. He said an inspection of the track Monday afternoon also found nothing wrong. Hall said the two-man crew on the early Wednesday morning train sensed something was amiss with the tracks while braking for a lower speed limit through the village of Holly. They tried stopping the train, but it quickly derailed.

Officials from the state Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was too early to tell how many gallons of diesel fuel spilled when the two locomotives fell on opposite sides of the tracks. But the leakage appeared to have been contained to the immediate area of the derailment, said DEQ analyst Earl Friese, Jr.

Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said the agency is investigating the wreck, but said it's unclear how long it will take to confirm the cause. He said FRA officials at the scene also had been told that a break in a beaver dam may have led to the flooding.

Editor's Note: One of the derailed locomotives was CSXT SD40-2 No. 8417.

CSX Improves Service to Richmond Port

from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 12, 2003

submitted by Robert Roadcap

Crossing the storage lot at the Port of Richmond, Marty Moynihan stopped his car beside a massive honeycomb of black pipes. The piles of steel pipe resemble a big public works project-new sewage lines, perhaps, or replacements for broken water mains. But all the pipe means something else for the port director: growth.

"We'd like to see steady stream coming in," Moynihan said this week. "We'll take it one rail car at a time."

The port recently reached an agreement with CSX Corp. to become a transfer point for shipments of heavy goods such as pipe and metal beams.

The city-owned port has three new industrial clients, which it declined to name, that use CSX to ship goods on rail flatcars until they reach the facility beside the James River. The South Richmond facility has its own rail spur, but until recently has not been able to capitalize on its train connection.

Now CSX is working to connect clients with the port's heavy equipment that can handle big loads that usually are taken off ships. The port also offers plenty of warehouse space for shippers that want to use it as a storage facility.

Diane Murray, a national account manager for CSX's logistics network, called the port "a perfect fit for all types of commodities, including steel building products and aluminum."

Because of the slumping economy, the port is operating at half its capacity, according to Richard Beadles, chairman of the Port of Richmond Commission.

The new deal with CSX fits the port's efforts to add to its maritime business, which currently handles one large ship per week. Beadles said the port has developed a strategic plan to become a "more comprehensive cargo and logistics center for Richmond and the central Virginia area."

The port's employment picture has remained flat, but could improve with the new joint venture with CSX, according to Moynihan.

Steel shipments by rail amounted to 4,130 tons between December and February, nearly three times the year-earlier volume. "That's the equivalent of a small ship," Moynihan said.

Buckeye Steel Reorganizes

from the Columbus Dispatch, May 25, 2003

submitted by Luther George

Buckeye Steel Castings, which closed and went bankrupt last year after a century of molding steel to help make the railroads run, is rising from the ashes as Columbus Steel Castings.

Buckeye Steel was founded in Columbus in 1881 and moved to Parsons Avenue in 1902. The company, which once was run by President Bush's great-grandfather, survived years of up-and-down business making railroad car undercarriages and other components. [They made the tender trucks for K-4s and probably other C&O steam locomotives.-ENY]