More Monday morning rail news:
— Pan Am Railways’s Hoosac Tunnel in Western Massachusetts, closed since Feb. 12 because of the partial collapse of a wall, reopened Saturday night, Norfolk Southern has reported to its customers. The first train through was East Deerfield, Mass.,-to-Binghamton, N.Y., train 11R. Work on the tunnel will continue through April, requiring 12-hour closures which could delay some traffic. Tunnel repairs required installation of 40 arches at its west end, with plates welded between those arches.
— BNSF Railway has terminated the lease of its 13-mile branch between Columbia Falls and Kalispell, Mont., which had been operated by Watco’s Mission Mountain Railroad since 2004. BNSF resumed operations on the line April 1, the Flathead Beacon reports. The Mission Mountain will continue to operate a line between Eureka and Stryker, Mont., but will cut from seven employees to three. The short line was featured in the “Train-Watching” section of the Feb. 2020 Trains.
— L.A. Metro will be able to speed up construction of the Wilshire/Rodeo station on the Purple Line subway extension thanks to a decision by the Beverly Hills City council to allow closure of Wilshire Boulevard. Metro says the move will allow contractors to complete decking for the station sooner than expected “and will help us minimize future construction impacts to local businesses as they struggle to overcome the impacts of the COVID-19 health crisis.” Metro is also offering daily updates on confirmed COVID-19 cases among Metro employees here, and its latest service updates here.
— Landrum, S.C., has received a $200,000 grant toward refurbishing a former Southern Railway passenger car for use as the Landrum Rail and History Museum. GoUpstate.com reports that the $200,000 grant from the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism will cover about half the cost of restoring the Pacolet River, a 10-roomette, six-bedroom sleeper built by Pullman Standard in 1949 for Southern’s Crescent Limited.
Nice to see the Hoosac Tunnel opening up
Southern Railway’s 10 roomette 6 double bedroom River-series sleeping cars from Pullman-Standard were not only assigned to streamliners. They were assigned to secondary trains like ‘The Birmingham Special, The Carolina Special’ and ‘The Pelican’ which were never streamlined. These sleepers highlighted the Pullman green heavyweight consists with their shimmering corrugated stainless steel bodies bringing up the rear. They were often the only single lightweight car on the whole train.
Other stainless steel sleeping cars Southern ordered from Pullman-Standard were the 14 roomette 4 double bedroom (14-4) Valley-series. These cars were originally assigned to the Washington – Memphis streamliner ‘The Tennessean’. One of the sleeping cars was rightfully named ‘Tennessee Valley’, reflecting the train’s route through its namesake. These sleepers were through cars to New York with one terminating and originating with the rest of the train in Washington. They were later assigned to other trains.
Yes, the name “Crescent Limited” died during the Depresison; the train ran as #37 and #38 for several years. and was then resurrected as the “Crescent”.
The Pacolet River was built for the Crescent, not Crescent Limited. It and the other River Series cars were used on any and all Southern’s streamlined trains.
as far as Mission Mountain is concerned, the TRAINS curse is alive and well