More Friday morning rail news:
Fort Wayne, Ind., group completes rebuild of wooden Wabash caboose
The Fort Wayne (Ind.) Railroad Historical Society has completed an extensive rebuild of its century-old Wabash Railroad caboose, one of just two wooden Wabash cabooses in existence. Work on caboose No. 2534 began in 2018 under the direction of project manager David DePanicis, who worked with over a dozen regular volunteers over three years, committing over 5,000 hours and replacing over 90% of the structure with more than 1,000 pieces of new wood. The caboose was first displayed at Fort Wayne’s Swinney Park in 1957 as part of a display with locomotive No. 534; in 1984, the display was relocated to the society’s restoration facility in New Haven, Ind., but its condition had deteriorated during 60 years of exposure to the elements, leading to the restoration effort. More information, photos, and videos of the restoration are available on this page of the society’s website.
Six indicted for fraud, conspiracy in New York MTA overtime case
Five current or former Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees arrested in December, as well as a sixth individual, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of fraud and conspiracy for collecting huge amounts of unearned overtime and working together to cover it up. Newsday reports the indictment indicates the six men “fraudulently overstated the number of hours they had worked, and thereby each received over $5,000 in payments for hours they did not work.” The original group of five men each earned more than $348,000 in 2018 through claims of “almost physically impossible” amounts of overtime, acting U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss said when they were originally charged [see “Digest: Five MTA employees charged in massive overtime fraud scheme,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 3, 2020]. A sixth man, a Long Island Rail Road track worker arrested Thursday, made $271,913 in 2019, and is alleged to have claimed a 13-hour overtime shift when he did not work. The men face up to 10 years in prison for the fraud charges.
Santa Cruz transportation commission votes to advance rail and trail plan
The Santa Cruz County (Calif.) Regional Transportation Commission has voted 9-3 to support a electrified passenger rail system, sharing the right of way with a multi-use trail, as the best use for a former Southern Pacific Railroad branch. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports the vote marks acceptance of a study that chose the rail-and-trail concept over a bus rapid line, although it leaves open whether the system will be commuter rail or light rail. The decision came after a lengthy January meeting put off a vote following extensive, and divided, public comment on the project [see “Digest: MARC to suspend operations …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 15, 2021]. The next step in the process will be development of a business plan to analyze the cost of the project and how to fund it.
