First batch of unused railroad cars arrive at Acampo tracks By Ross Farrow News-Sentinel Staff Writer Updated: Friday, March 6, 2009 6:13 AM PST The first 45 to 50 of up to 500 railroad cars that will be parked indefinitely along Kennefick Road have arrived on the tracks near Kennefick and Woodbridge roads. Central California Traction is in the process of receiving unused lumber cars from throughout the West. They will remain parked along the east side of Kennefick Road until the economy recovers — and in this case, demand for lumber, according to traction General Manager Dave Buccolo. "There's just no demand for those lumber cars at all," Buccolo said. Buccolo said that none of the railroad cars are box cars. Kennefick Road residents have expressed concern that vagrants might live in box cars in their neighborhood, spray graffiti and commit crimes. Acampo residents Ruth Brown and Julia Priest wonder why the cars are being parked in front of homes instead of in more rural areas. Priest said she noticed last weekend that trains in the East Bay communities of Antioch and Oakley were parked in the middle of a field, away from residences. She noticed the trains were covered with graffiti and cuss words. "Out in the middle of fields is bad enough, but they weren't 50 feet in front of your house," Priest said. Central California Traction plans to park 400 to 500 unused lumber cars along the tracks from the north side of the Mokelumne River north to the Sacramento County line. They run parallel to Kennefick Road. Once 100 cars arrive in San Joaquin County, Central California Traction will move them north to the Liberty Road area and keep adding cars in increments of 100 until the tracks are filled up between the Mokelumne River and Dry Creek, Buccolo said. The cars will be moved to the Liberty Road area within two or three weeks, he said. Brown said the trains should be parked in more rural areas of Sacramento County, away from homes, rather than in close proximity of homes on Kennefick Road. Buccolo said that by summer, there will be railroad cars from Sacramento, south to the San Joaquin County line as well. The tracks run through Herald, Wilton and eastern Elk Grove into Sacramento. Central California Traction can't use the bridge crossing the county line at Dry Creek because it would need major repairs, Buccolo said. That's why he's not parking rail cars north of the county line at this time. Later this year, however, railroad cars will head south from Sacramento to Wilton and Herald, Buccolo said. Some 300 cars have been parked in the Gerber-Bradshaw road area of Sacramento for almost a year, he added. "By this summer, we'll have 22 to 23 miles of cars," Buccolo said. Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com
Man that's a lot of cars! So the demand for American lumber has dropped even in the Asian markets? Don't quite know what to make of the inclusion of the NIMBY's (not in my back yard) they include in this article. I, for one, would be thrilled to be that close to railroad equipment
Idle freight cars in storage According to the Association of American Railroads, the Class I's alone have enough freight cars in storage right now to stretch from New York City to Salt Lake City. Tough luck NIMBY's, chances are the railroad was there first. The Class I's are even renting museum trackage to store cars, as they've torn up most of their idle trackage.
Yup. Here in Montana there is a BNSF line on the east side with stored cars. The locals have been whimpering for several years. And are even trying to get a law passed. What stinks is that they'll likely eventually succeed. :thumbs_down: Boxcab E50
