Union Pacific: Not Like A Good Neighbor

[zardoz]

This is from the Racine Journal-Times

The train that wouldn't move
By Abe Winter

CALEDONIA , WI- A stopped train blocked the railroad crossing at Six Mile Road for more than six hours Sunday, infuriating residents and town officials and racking up more than $13,000 in fines for the railroad.

The Union Pacific train was delivering coal to the We Energies plant when it stopped. The last car on the train blocked the crossing from at least 4:33 p.m. to 10:33 p.m. When police checked at the other end of the train, there was no locomotive attached.

Town Chairman Susan Greenfield called it "a nightmare."

Police Chief Jeffrey Meier, tongue-in-cheek, said, "The price of coal probably is going to go up."




Caledonia police issued 20 tickets in all. Nineteen of the tickets, written every 20 minutes, carried a fine of $660 for blocking the highway. The other ticket, for $1,280, was for being a public nuisance because it was the sixth time since October 2003 the railroad had been ticketed for similar violations.

Caledonia police said they could have written more tickets. The town ordinance forbids blocking a highway for more than 10 minutes.

Meier said police dispatchers called the railroad in Omaha, Neb., several times, and the railroad was going to try to find the engine and engineer. But they hadn't been found by 9:30 p.m., prompting Meier to tell the railroad that 6,500 people rely on the crossing, and warn them of the implications if the blocked crossing caused a delayed emergency response to a fire or rescue call.

That seemed to do the trick. Union Pacific sent an engine and crew from Waukegan, Ill., to move the train.

Union Pacific offered no explanation Monday, although Meier thinks he has it figured out.

"They probably parked this train on a side track and left without checking to see if they had cleared the Six Mile crossing," Meier said.

"It's hard to say why, but in one incident we cited them for last year, they parked the train and went for lunch."

"The train blocking that particular crossing has been a problem for some time," Greenfield said. "I don't recall it ever being blocked for that length of time, though."

Greenfield blasted Union Pacific for creating what she called a dangerous situation. She said she fielded a lot of calls from angry people in Crestview, who had to drive out of their way to leave their subdivision.

"It was a nightmare," she said. "We never got an explanation. What appeared to happen is the train operator left the train blocking the crossing and left with his engine. So there was no engine to move the train."

Dennis Kornwolf, former town chairman and county executive, lives one-quarter mile north of the crossing and less than two city block east of the tracks. He's among the residents of about 1,300 homes using that crossing to get to Douglas Road and Highway 31.

"They could have moved it ahead and not caused a problem," he said.

"They've tied up that crossing for an hour to an hour and a half and they do it in the morning when people are going to work," Kornwolf said. "This is just an ongoing problem and there seems to be no way to regulate it - none.

"This railroad is a bad neighbor," Kornwolf said.

A call to We Energies yielded a phone number for a Union Pacific spokesman, who couldn't be reached Monday night.

Kornwolf said We Energies has to shoulder some of the blame.

"It's their responsibility," Kornwolf said of We Energies. "This is the blame game, and it's upsetting to hear them say that they have nothing to do with the

railroad."

Kornwolf said he would like We Energies to step up to the plate and do some damage control.

"Don't you think they could talk to the railroad and say `stop doing this'? You're powerless over this and that's what's so frustrating."


I open this to your comments.

[pmsteamman]

Its not hard for the conductor to drop off at this crossing and call the train in the clear.

[Mookie]

Well, they took the caboose off, they took most of the crew off, they moved everyone to the moon to deal with the problems on earth - and the problem is?

[Mookie]

PS - Call FRED! [:-,]

[CBQ_Guy]

UP Bites!!!

[Willy2]

I think that UP is really starting to stink. I never cared a whole lot for them, but now they are getting out of hand.

Willy

[UPTRAIN]

I'm sure the Railroad was there first...it should be the city's responsibility to build overpasses and flyovers.

[JoeKoh]

The debate goes on and on.Here in defiance the hire rd crossing is a big debate.thats why they are talking about building another overpass.Eventhough there is on on St rt 18 1/2 mile down the road.
stay safe
joe

[Anonymous]

The UP shouldn't have left the train there blocking the crossing, it is a clear violation of operating and safety rules. Good thing nobody hit it or they'd be on the hook for negligence as well. On the other hand, the municipality should have figured out by now that they don't have jurisdiction over this issue and complained to FRA or WDOT on safety grounds. They will lose the battle in Federal Court due to a lack of jurisdiction over the RR.

LC

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

I'm sure the Railroad was there first...it should be the city's responsibility to build overpasses and flyovers.

[#ditto]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CBQ_Guy

UP Bites!!!

50 years ago I would have disagreed...but the UPac line has devoured the good ol' CNW, Western Pacific, and MoPac-not a good thing in a railfan's view.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

I'm sure the Railroad was there first...it should be the city's responsibility to build overpasses and flyovers.

How big is the city? Brunswick is a city, and they can't even afford to keep the $1,000 a year to the non-state/federal funded Railroad Museum

[Anonymous]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...........REALY?
MR.love.

[Anonymous]

yep. the museum already has to support itself with admissions, memberships, and store sales only, yet the city wants us to get our elevator built, like, 5 years ago (Have 2 years left to get it done according to the state)

Sad thing is, the museum is the only reminder of the old B&O yard complex, CSX tore the rest out, and the City's slogan is "Home of the Iron Horse", but no-one wants to make any large donations.

[heavyd]

I would love to see a copy of traffic tickets the cops wrote up! How do you give a ticket to a TRAIN? LOL

[CShaveRR]

Jim, you must know a little about what's going on with that. The Oak Creek plant couldn't handle the train, so the crew cut off and went to Butler to tie up, probably on orders from the dispatcher. Their train was probably too long to fit between Six Mile Road and Seven Mile Road, but instead of pulling it up to clear 6 and making a cut to open up 7, they just left it.

Does that sound about right?

I don't think the railroad itself deserves the blame here...one dispatcher and one crew can divide the responsibility between them.

Boy oh boy, they can't fix this line up soon enough! I've heard the stories about an expansion of that plant (along with tales that the railroad isn't going to get the business), and about extending Metra to Milwaukee, which would be done along this line.

(This is the edited part)
OK...I just read the updated story on the Trains Newswire. Sounds like I was pretty close to the truth there, except that they did cut the crossing at Seven Mile Road, and still managed to block Six Mile Road! I'll let the dispatcher off the hook for that one. Unless the siding was just plain too short for the train, they really should have pulled up a little further and made the cut a little deeper.

[Mookie]

And while y'all are cutting up UP - BNSF isn't much better - and I am a big BNSF fan.

Burlington Iowa is suing the railroad for closing down a lot of jobs there in the burg. The original railroad was named for the city - according to the paper. Guess your family and pedigree don't count when there is $ to be made!

Anyone from that area of our planet care to comment?

Mook

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR

Jim, you must know a little about what's going on with that. The Oak Creek plant couldn't handle the train, so the crew cut off and went to Butler to tie up, probably on orders from the dispatcher. Their train was probably too long to fit between Six Mile Road and Seven Mile Road, but instead of pulling it up to clear 6 and making a cut to open up 7, they just left it.

Does that sound about right?

Carl-
I was wondering about that myself. My guess is that it was a Pleasant Prairie coal train. If the PP coal plant was down (a frequent occurrence), the railroad will first store a train on the Burst (BUrlington Road Storage Track). If that is filled, then the next train to sit goes to "K". Usually the Oak Creek coal trains go via the Kenosha Sub, and store at Racine if Oak Creek cannot handle the train. Additionally (at least back when I was operating), the Oak Creek trains were only about 103 cars long, whereas the Pleasant Prairie trains can get up to 130 cars. 100 cars would easily fit at "K", but 130 would not.

Regarding the UP not getting the coal business if the Oak Creek expands, do you have any idea how the coal would be delivered? By boat? The CP to build an access track from the C&M division tracks? Trackage rights?

A few years ago the CP built an access to the Pleasant Prairie coal plant; it is just northeast of 95th street & hwy H in Pleasant Prairie. The CP also installed crossovers at the same location (called WEPCO). I have yet to see the track used.

[dknelson]

Interesting ... at the same time that railroads are doing everything they can to get railfans off the property because of the perceived danger of terrorist sabotage, they leave a train unattended at a public crossing for 5+ hours. Seems to me the way to keep that equipment from being sabotaged -- since this train was due to enter a major power plant one's imagination can fill in the blanks to the damage that could be done -- is to keep it moving or to keep it in a secure area.
Curious, ain'a?
Dave Nelson

[CShaveRR]

I just figured Kenosha Sub (Old Line) with the street names; also thought Pleasant Prairie could handle more than one train at once.

As for UP not handling the Oak Creek expansion coal, I can't remember where I read that. I was left with the impression that ships (presumably loaded at Chicago) would bring it in. Somebody's got to know the full story on that one.

[zardoz]

Carl--
I forgot that Pleasant Prairie installed a second track in their plant that can handle an entire train. The reason I presumed it was on the Milwaukee Sub, was that I did not believe that the Caledonia town limits extend to the lake (Caledonia is actually bisected by the CP tracks on Racine county hwy G).

However, when I reread the original article (that I posted), there are two things that lead me to believe that you are correct. First, that a community called Crestview is actually on the lake side of the Kenosah Subdivision tracks; second, I remember spotting and picking up coal trains at Oak Creek, and it is indeed Six-mile road that we blocked.

It is indeed fortunate that the crew (presumably) did not leave the train out to foul the main, as that is dark territory. Could have been a real disaster.

Probably a crew of 90-day wonders.

It is so difficult to get good help these days!

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by UPTRAIN

I'm sure the Railroad was there first...it should be the city's responsibility to build overpasses and flyovers.

It doesnt matter who was there first!
You cant blame the town if the town has a perfectly legal grade crossing!

Its the RR resposibility to make sure they are complying with rules and regulations.

Its against the law to block the highway like they did, end of story!

The simple fact is that the crew was either to lazy to leave a crewman at the crossing to make sure it cleared, or simply didnt give a *** and left. This is stated as being a recurring problem so Uncle Pete acting all surprised doesnt wash with me either, they know they have a problem but dont seam to care about it. What if fire trucks, ambulances, or police were blocked by this incident and someone died from lack of aid? Uncle Pete would be liable for major$$$, so its not the towns fault and I am a really dissapointed to hear this "blame the victim" argument.

Build an overpass? How much money would you expect them to take away from the schools, trash collection, police and fire funds to build this overpass? Should Uncle Pete chip in some cash since they would also benifit from this?

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by heavyd

I would love to see a copy of traffic tickets the cops wrote up! How do you give a ticket to a TRAIN? LOL

"Mr Davison..There's an Officer Smith and a tow truck driver here. They need to see you about impounding a late model GM # 5683 for unpaid parking tickets.."

[vsmith]

How would you get the Denver Boot around the wheels? [(-D][:-,][D)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by heavyd

I would love to see a copy of traffic tickets the cops wrote up! How do you give a ticket to a TRAIN? LOL

In my hometown the speed limit had always been 10 miles an hour. CP rail or IMRL (I forgot who owned it at the time, it is now ICE) did some track work and the speed was increased to 25mph. This created a huge fuss by everyone in town. The cops were clocking the train and sending tickets to the company. I don't think any were paid and the railroad won. No court cases or anything, just people mad because they go fast.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by buellman2003

QUOTE: Originally posted by heavyd

I would love to see a copy of traffic tickets the cops wrote up! How do you give a ticket to a TRAIN? LOL

In my hometown the speed limit had always been 10 miles an hour. CP rail or IMRL (I forgot who owned it at the time, it is now ICE) did some track work and the speed was increased to 25mph. This created a huge fuss by everyone in town. The cops were clocking the train and sending tickets to the company. I don't think any were paid and the railroad won. No court cases or anything, just people mad because they go fast.

Sometimes it pays to look up and see whose leg you are biting!

[wallyworld]

Up until a couple of years ago, I lived in Northern Illinois and Southeastern Wisconsin inasmuch I was born in Chicago. Roundout on the old Milwaukee Road was another sore point with drivers. The most ridiculous turn of events that happened in that area occurred in Antioch, Illinois. The NIMBY folks decided that although they purchased a home near the railroad tracks which predated them by over a hundred years, they organized and attempted to outlaw trains sounding their warning horns at the approach to a crossing by of all things; municipal law! There were unprotected crossings in that town as well as plenty of kids on bikes, pedestrians and of course cars that crossed the paths of both commuter and freight trains. While this was going on I tried an experiment. I parked alongside the road next to the tracks as I heard a train approach, rolled up the windows and turned on my radio to a moderate level. I strained to hear the train approach and could not hear it despite my best effort. Talk about morons....

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wallyworld

Up until a couple of years ago, I lived in Northern Illinois and Southeastern Wisconsin inasmuch I was born in Chicago. Roundout on the old Milwaukee Road was another sore point with drivers. The most ridiculous turn of events that happened in that area occurred in Antioch, Illinois. The NIMBY folks decided that although they purchased a home near the railroad tracks which predated them by over a hundred years, they organized and attempted to outlaw trains sounding their warning horns at the approach to a crossing by of all things; municipal law! There were unprotected crossings in that town as well as plenty of kids on bikes, pedestrians and of course cars that crossed the paths of both commuter and freight trains. While this was going on I tried an experiment. I parked alongside the road next to the tracks as I heard a train approach, rolled up the windows and turned on my radio to a moderate level. I strained to hear the train approach and could not hear it despite my best effort. Talk about morons....

You know, we sit pretty close to the tracks - in the daylight. After the engine goes by the crossing, there are heavy coal cars that go by on a fairly straight track. Just close your eyes (imagine night) and you don't hear them. They are spooky quiet Even some of the engines are really very quiet for something that size.

Even a rattlesnake has a horn.....

Mookie

[wallyworld]

The rattlesnakes who bought these homes knowing full well they lived next to the tracks and trains have horns did not want them or keep them...what was really a sobering thought was that there was a baseball field with several diamonds on it. Kids will be kids and they would often take a shortcut over the tracks....