From our President

Those of you that gathered in Hopkinsville last month for our customary satellite meeting were treated to an excellent program by David Hayes. He took us around Ecuador and we didn’t even have to leave our seats.

I saw a couple of recession news items of interest.  Our balance of payments with China should improve a little with the order last fall for six hundred 6000 horsepower locomotives; half from General Electric and half from Electro Motive Diesel.  These have not been too popular in the States and several railroads are turning them in or retiring them, mostly in favor of 4300 horsepower units. But China is trying to modernize their railroads and this is one of their steps in that direction. Most of these engines will be shipped as kits with final assembly in China.

I was somewhat surprised by the number of coal trains that Union Pacific hauled out of the Wyoming Powder River Basin in 2008.  They set an all time record of 13,212 trains hauling 204.6 million tons of coal which was about 5 percent more than the previous year. Last December they moved about 36 trains per day.  Wow!

As I write this we are getting ready to go to Alaska to visit my brother-in-law and we should be riding the Alaska Railroad while we are there. I’ll fill you in later.

I hope to see all of your smiling faces at our next meeting on June 22, at the Center in beautiful downtown Madisonville. We should be having a great program by Wallace Henderson.