Back in the nineties, the DM&E was planning on running coal east by renewing the C&NW line in southern Minnesota but the unreasonable powers that be in Rochester raised such a fuss that there were delays after delays until other circumstances caused the cancellation of those plans. Rochester even got seismic "experts", along with the Mayo Clinic, to claim those trains running through town would fatally disrupt sensitive instrument measurements even though there were already trains running through town on jointed track in worse condition. They also made it sound like there would be several inches of coal dust blanketing everything in town. And, Mayo said nothing about all the construction, including work with pile drivers, right outside the clinic, at that time. All the other towns along the line reached agreement with the railroad. Doug
Proving that if paid enough, anyone will say anything about anything while ignoring the same thing going on right at their doorstep... Back to my morning coffee...
Thirty five years ago, in the Pacific NW, we lost an extremely popular powerboat racing site due to these same kinds of falsehoods and outright prevarications. Even though proven in court to be outright fraud, they still won.
I'd forgotten about that. At the time I also wondered if competing railroads were covertly supporting these baseless claims to prevent DM&E access to the coalfields.
*Everything* is connected. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if one of those railroads, and Mayo, share one or more board members, or are prominent Mayo donors. Likewise which of those railroads have friends in high places? It doesn't take much. Well-connected people with money and power only need to say "that isn't in your best interests" to the right people. I just saw a headline that said Facebook had tried to reopen an 18 mile rail line to ease commutes for its employees. You'd think that's a "green" project and California would be all over that. But somebody didn't like it and even all of Facebook's money and lawyers couldn't make it happen.
I remember there was tremendous opposition to the NAPA Valley Wine Train from communities along the proposed route, with every environmental card put into play. This happened in MA too when a long-removed New Haven line was to be put back in place for Boston commuter service. I was astonished at the opposition in both cases, loud and suspiciously well organized it would seem. Eventually, both projects got the green light. In the case of Napa Valley, the train is now a major tourism draw and a vital contributor to the region's economy.
And all those folks riding the train up and down the valley drinking the local wine are not choking the roads with exhaust belching SUVs and smashing into each other.
NS SD70ACe 1034 leading a westbound UP stack train in Fairfax, IA. January 1, 2023 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would tend to believe your scenario to be real. So-called "experts" do not spend their time doing such work, traveling for it, etc, for nothing. They come at a stiff price, which I doubt was funded strictly via internal means.
On an unseasonably warm January day, Lehigh Valley 40 rests in the yard at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Strasburg, PA. Following the end of her service on LV, the RDC worked for the Reading and SEPTA.
Budd knew how to build them. Solid, reliable, durable and really good looks. Some are still running! Just noticed something, with the dirt running down the nameplate, it looks like it's Lehigh Malley at first glance...
I am wondering what would have happened to the DM&E, if the project had gone forward. With the forced downturn in coal, would they have survived that loss of traffic, after such an investment?
Over the years I had the privilege of volunteering alongside some former Budd employees at the Museum. They said that Budd only stopped building the RDC when Cummins wouldn't supply the 6-110 engines to them any longer. Take that for what it's worth.
From early this afternoon at Little Mountain SC near the south end of Slighs siding, a lone unit just crusin' south. I'd set up with great anticipation and, well ..... . There's a nice picture to be made here, with a long straight in dappled morning light, but it'll have to wait.
Just afterward, I had a flashback to 10/20/1994 at Confluence, PA when the same thing happened. My wife and I were trying to find CF Tower there unaware that had been destroyed in a derailment in 1987.
