ALTOONA, Pa. - This weekend the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona is once again sponsoring the Altoona Railfest. As has been a Railfest tradition, Bennet and Eric Levin’s Juniata Terminal Co. will be operating its two ex-Pennsylvania Railroad E8s, 5809 and 5711 painted in PRR Tuscan red. The E-units will pick up passengers from Harrisburg, Lewistown or Huntingdon for Altoona on Saturday, June 27; return trips are on Sunday, June 28. First class tickets are $50, coach is $30. The locomotives will also pull excursions to Horseshoe Curve. These 45-minute trips depart from the Altoona station on Saturday and Sunday at 10:20 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 2:45 p.m. Passengers will travel around the Horseshoe Curve, through the Gallitzin and Portage Tunnels, and loop around to return to the Altoona station via the slide and Bennington Curve. First class is $50, coach $30.
New this year is a partnership with the East Broad Top Railroad. Free shuttles will run on Saturday and Sunday from Altoona to and from the EBT, where passengers can ride behind narrow gauge 2-8-2s. Tickets are available at EBT; prices are $12 for adults and $8 for children 2-11. Shuttles will make three trips each day with 50 passengers and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit ebtrr.com for more details. For more information on the Railfest call 888-4ALTOONA.
For more information on Pennsylvania Train Rides,visit
WASHINGTON - National Transportation Safety Board investigators on the site of Monday’s heavy-rail collision on Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Red Line, found metal-to-metal compression streak marks on both rails of track for about 125 feet ending near the approximate point of impact, which is consistent with heavy braking. Earlier reports confirmed the mushroom button used to activate the emergency brakes had been depressed in the striking train’s cab, and brake rotors were discolored blue, which happens when high friction, such as heavy breaking, heats metal components.
Further, investigators Wednesday evening conducted tests at the accident site with a similar train and found that when the train was stopped in the same location as the stopped struck train, the train control system lost detection of the test train.
The Washington Metro system relies on about 3,000 track circuits to direct the trains when to proceed and when to stop. When running in automatic mode, as the striking train was Monday, the operator is primarily responsible to close the doors before leaving the station and override the system if need be.
Investigators will examine and test all circuits systemwide, as well as the rest of the train control system to understand how it functioned the day of the accident.
Investigators also interviewed the operator of the struck train who said he was running his train manually and felt a hard push from behind when struck.
The NTSB plans to conduct sight-distance tests, using trains similar to those involved in the crash. - Kathi Kube
LINDSTROM, Minn. -A little known tourist railroad in the Midwest began steam locomotive operations on June 20. The Iron Horse Central Railroad Museum near Lindstrom began it’s initial run of the former Dresser Trap Rock H. K. Porter 0-4-0 No. 4 running on Sunday June 20. This was the first of two public runs scheduled for this year; the other will be on Saturday Aug. 1.
No. 4 was built in 1923 as a tank engine. It was first used in the construction of the Tallahassee Power dam in Tennessee. It was then sold to the Dresser Traprock Co. in Dresser, Wis., where it was used to haul rock to the crusher. The museum acquired the tank engine in 1963, and removed the tank and added a tender in 1981.
The Iron Horse Central is a private museum with several wooden freight and passenger cars, a former Northern Pacific depot and steam locomotive, a Baldwin diesel, and a home-built motorcar dubbed the “Bumblebee.”
WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration is looking at the creation of a bond program to help fund high speed passenger lines, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has reported. Vice-President Joseph Biden has revealed the administration’s plan, saying it’s clear more funding will be needed to make the administration’s plan a reality.
Biden described the $8 billion allocated for high speed rail in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as a “down payment” on a national fast-train network. “We do know $8 billion is not going to put in place an entire high speed rail system in America, but it’s 8 billion times more than we had prior to the recovery act.”
Biden said the need for better passenger service is part of the need for “rebalancing” the nation’s transportation network. And despite the ambitiousness of the proposal, he said there is a precedent. “Let me remind you, the interstate highway system started the same way,” he said.
Biden, a former Delaware senator, has logged, by his count, nearly 8,000 round trips on the Acela Express, which goes as fast as 150 mph.
“This has sort of been a hobbyhorse of mine for the past 25 years,” he said, touting high-speed rail as a way to cut congestion and greenhouse-gas emissions, with line construction boosting employment.
As for that $8 billion, Biden said officials expect to have all the applications in by June 17 and start awarding money by the end of the summer.
OMAHA, Neb. - Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 will visit Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa, as part of the railroad days celebration. The event occurs June 20 and 21. Your whole family can board the train for only $10. This will be an event of a life time for you and your children together to truly experience the golden era of the steam locomotive passenger service, for only $10! Even in today’s economy, that is a tough deal to pass up.
Omaha was the launching point for the new Union Pacific as part of its effort to complete a transcontinental railroad. The railroad days will celebrate the area’s rich railroad heritage. For more information, visit www.omaharailroaddays.com.
No. 844 will be on display both days at the Durham Museum. Visitors will be able to look inside the engine’s operating cab.
You can follow the Union Pacific 844 after being requested to host the opening of the new Dispatch Center in Omaha and pull the Union Pacific Railroad Board of Directors on a special dinner train in this 1989 video. The passenger coaches are already in Omaha, so 844 pulls regular freight trains 500 miles over a two day span to Omaha. Then at Omaha we see 844 pull the evening dinner train, with some nice low light shots.
After the event is over, 844 has to head home to Cheyenne and pulls two more freight trains over a 2-day span, making for a total of 5 different trains on the video, and 4 are freights complete with a caboose. On the return we are also treated to some nice 65 mph pacing scenes next to the engine. You’ll enjoy the Nebraska landscape as we hit the major spots along the way, and even see 844 on the turntable in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This was the first run of 844, and GSVP was the only video company there.
The Union Pacific Railroad maintains the only steam locomotive that was never retired, No. 844. Built by Alco in 1944, it has been rebuilt twice, in 1999 and 2004. It is currently the largest running Northern weighing in at 486,340 pounds. www.scenicrailexcursions.com/wyoming_trainrides.php
Scranton,PA -Steamtown National Historic Site will offer a 104-mile roundtrip excursion to the Delaware Water Gap for the “Founder’s Day” celebration on Saturday, June 27. This excursion travels through a tunnel, along creeks and rivers, lakes and ponds and the beautiful Pocono Plateau throughEast Stroudsburgand passing nine railroad stations on its way to the historic town ofDelaware Water Gap. The steam-powered excursion will depart the Steamtown NHS Boarding Platform at9:00 a.m.
“Founder’s Day,” now in its fifth year, is a town-wide series of events held in honor of Antoine Dutot, who founded Dutotsburg, now Delaware Water Gap, in 1793. Some of the planned events include a classic car show, the “Arts in the Water Gap” fine arts and crafts show, bands, jazz and strolling musicians, and a “Rubber-Duck Race” for the children on Cherry Creek. The town is also host to a number of unique restaurants and dining establishments, and there be a free roving trolley and bus to all venues. After a 2-1/2 hour layover in town, the train departs at3:00 p.m.for return toScrantonat approximately5:15 p.m.
LINDSTROM, Minn. -A little known tourist railroad in the Midwest began steam locomotive operations on June 20. The Iron Horse Central Railroad Museum near Lindstrom began it’s initial run of the former Dresser Trap Rock H. K. Porter 0-4-0 No. 4 running on Sunday June 20. This was the first of two public runs scheduled for this year; the other will be on Saturday Aug. 1.
WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration is looking at the creation of a bond program to help fund high speed passenger lines, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has reported. Vice-President Joseph Biden has revealed the administration’s plan, saying it’s clear more funding will be needed to make the administration’s plan a reality.
OMAHA, Neb. - Cheyenne, Wyo.-based 
Scranton