Well, it’s almost time for another meeting. Those of you who saw Wally’s excellent movie on Steamtown, USA last time had a real treat.

Since it is almost Spring and weather is on our minds, I came across an interesting article in the Nov. 2008 issue of Trains Magazine.  The article dealt with how some of the railroads including Amtrak are using a service called WeatherData which is owned by AccuWeather.  They use National Weather Service data along with their own resources to make extremely accurate and specific recommendations to their clients regarding high winds, tornados, hurricanes, heavy rains, flash floods, etc. so that the railroads can stop their trains or make other changes.  For instance, they were able to stop the Amtrak Southwest Chief before it entered the path of the tornado that destroyed Holly, Colorado in 2006.  In 2007 they were able to stop two Union Pacific freight trains before they entered the path of the tornado that leveled Greensburg, Kansas.

Mike Smith, the chief executive with WeatherData, is an avid railfan and a model railroader with his own layout so his interest in how he can help the railroads comes naturally.  His father was an engineer for the Santa Fe and his uncle loved trains.  Some of his major customers are UP, BNSF, CN, Kansas City Southern, and RailAmerica.  CSX is also a customer but until recently only for hurricanes in Florida.  That changed after hurricane Katrina buried lines of engines and cars in mud in New Orleans.

Besides allowing the railroads to reroute trains around major blizzards or floods even high winds can pose a problem. In 2006 WeatherData warned its clients about wind gusts that could reach 80mph coming into downtown St. Louis.  The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis allowed a train to cross a bridge over the Mississippi River just as the gusts came in. Their train seriously derailed and there was a major pile up on the bridge.  The railroad is now a client of WeatherData.

Another interesting event happened in Putney, Vermont in 2005.  WeatherData told New England Central Railroad that heavy rainfall could cause flash flooding and possible washouts at a low spot near Putney.  The dispatcher sent a crew out to investigate and found that a 90 foot section of rail was hanging suspended over a washout.  The fact that this was welded rail kept the hanging rail from breaking and, thus, the electrical signals that went through the rail failed to indicate any danger.  The next train over this track was to be the Amtrak Vermonter in a few hours.  The dispatcher was able to stop the train in time and averted what certainly would have been a major disaster.

There are several other weather service companies that work with the railroads but WeatherData seems to have the bulk of this business at this time.  This is surely a great example of how new technology can improve our lives.

I hope to see all of your smiling faces in beautiful downtown Madisonville for our next meeting on Monday, March 23 at 7pm. The program will be by Jim Pearson who always has an interesting program and beautiful photography.