THE MEMPHIS BUFFTHE MEMPHIS BUFFVOLUME 35, ISSUE 11 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 35, ISSUE 11 NATIONAL RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY NOVEMBER 2008 NOVEMBER 2008

BNSF's Big New Cranes BNSF's Big New Cranes City of New Orleans Returns To Central Station City of New Orleans Returns To Central Station II II

Frisco's Sleeper-Buffet-Coach Cars Frisco's Sleeper-Buffet-Coach Cars

Memphis Chapter OfficersPresident – David Chase dchase@memphisredbirds.comVice President – Bruce SmedleyNational Director – Bill Strong williambstrong@bellsouth.netSecretary – Oliver Doughtie doughtio@bellsouth.netTreasurer – Thomas Doherty TRDoherty@aol.comLibrarian – Mike PendergrassPublication Editor – Tom Parker tscottparker@gmail.com

Last Month’s Meeting

We had fifteen attendees at the October meeting. David Chase brought the meeting to order. Carl Lancaster reported that the GM&O Historical Society Convention in Union City was a success, with the society actually making a small profit. Bruce Smedley reminded everyone about the model train exhibit this month at the Pink Palace. Bruce also invited anyone with programs ideas for next year to contact him. Tom Doherty announced that the dues notices for 2009 had been mailed although no one in attendance had yet received theirs. David Chase announced that it was time to furnish the library a schedule for next year. David said that he would bring it up at next month's meeting when hopefully there would be more members in attendance. The Memphis Green Line was also briefly discussed.

Our October program was a video of the 2008 NHRA Convention in Texas which was presented by Jerry Michnewicz. The video featured the Trinity Star, the Pine Woods Special, the Dallas Rocket, and the Quanah Zephyr.

This Month's MeetingThe November meeting will feature a round table discussion on travel by Amtrak. Everyone is invited to participate with their experiences, both good and bad. Individuals who may have never traveled by Amtrak or have questions about Amtrak are invited to participate in the discussion.

BUFF ONLINE: www.buff.illinoiscentral.net User Name:Member Password: Buff (Capital “M” & “B”)

Cover Photo: On October 14, 2008, Canadian National crews were busy relaying the rail which had been removed during the repair of the Central Station sinkhole. Their task was completed in time for Amtrak #58 to roll over the repaired track into Central Station that same evening. Tom Parker Photo

BNSF's Big New CranesBy Tom Parker

On March 23, 2004 The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) an-nounced a $40 million plan to expand its Ten-nessee Yard, intermodal facility in Memphis. BNSF's new intermodal terminal at Tennessee Yard will feature 5 large cranes which will

span 8 track, three truck lanes and 4 stacks of containers 4 containers high. In addition, 3 smaller auxilary cranes will be used to shuttle containers to and from storage and feed the larger cranes. All eight of the cranes are wide span , high-

One of the large production cranes begins to take shape as Barnhart Crane and Rigging employees piece it together like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. Legs for a second crane are in the background Tom Parker Photo

Paving is going on in the foreground as the second crane is being assembled in the background. T Parker Photo

performance Rail Mounted Gantry (RMG) cranes. The BNSF was the first American Intermodal operator to order such cranes from their man-ufacturer, Konecranes of Hyvincaa, Finland. The cranes are all-electric and will, thus, have a low environmental impact.

They are also equipped with Regenerative Network Braking units that enable energy, re-leased during lowering the load or during braking, to be fed back to the local grid, in-stead of being wasted in braking resistors.BNSF is committed to what it calls a "massive overhaul" of crane technology. The company

A view of the giant cranes from Lamar Avenue on September 11, 2008 Tom Parker Photo

This picture taken from Shelby Drive on September 27th, show two cranes virtually complete. Pieces for additional crane(s) litter the ground . Carl Lancaster Photo

installed four of Konecranes' wide span units at the North Seattle International Gateway (North SIG) Intermodal facil-ity, improving flexibility and increasing capacity for con-tainer stacking.Wide span cranes are signific-antly wider than current sta-bilizer beam cranes, have the

capability to load containers onto truck chassis or railcars, and can be used to stack con-tainers, all under one crane span. It uses cable-suspended lift spreaders with overhead cabs, which have sophisticated anti-sway systems.In addition to Seattle and Memphis, BNSF is expanding

this technology across its sys-tem, including sites in Los Angeles, and Kansas City, Kan.For more photos and informa-tion visit Mike Condren's website at: http://www.cbu.edu/~mcon-dren/Recent-Trains/TY/TY-Intermodal-Terminal.htm

The two cranes loom over parked trailers in this view from Lamar Ave. Tom Parker Photo

Production cranes have a span of over 280 feet wide that can lift off 8 tracks, 3 truck lanes, and 4 wide/4 high stacks. Adjacent stacking crane stacks 5 wide/5 high with ability to transfer containers between cranes

Amtrak Returns to Central Station By Tom Parker

"We appreciate the direct ac-tion by Mayor Herenton to cut through the red tape and order the work done to restore direct service to Central Station. With an able assist by City Council Member Myron Lowery, con-stant encouragement by tour-ism officials, local rail advoc-ate William Strong and others, our Amtrak train is back on its normal route in Memphis."

Ray Lang, Senior Director, Amtrak Government Affairs.

In an example of why you shouldn't believe everything you read in the newspaper, the Memphis media reported that “Amtrak's City of New Or-

leans train service will return to Memphis Central Station at 6a.m. today.” (Friday,October 17th) One news source got it right.

On Tuesday the 14th, Channel 13 news reported that the northbound City of New Or-lans would be running through the station that night.After hearing that bit of news. I determined that I would

Passengers await the arrival of # 59 the morning of October 15th a Central Station

10/15/08. The "City" in Central Station. Equipment used to relay the track sits in the adjacent track

The sinkhole on August 13th

take a drive down to the sta-tion the next morning to catch the first southbound train through the station following the repair of the sinkhole. The saga began on April 21st, when the sinkhole beside the track caused the trains to be re-outed around the station.After negotiations between the City of Memphis, Canadian National and Sprint Commu-nications who had a fiber op-tice cable running through the area), repairs were finally bu-gun on August 11th , over 3 1/2 months after its discovery.In a little less than two months, the City of Memphis' contractor, Ferrell Paving, completed their work on Oc-tober 6th. The City released the site to the Canadian Na-tional Railroad to relay the track. By the afternoon of Oc-tober 14th the CN completed relaying the track and that night the northbound City of New Orleans rolled into the station.

"I am pleased that parking and rail service has been expedi-ently restored to Central Sta-tion, I want to thank the pat-rons of Amtrak for their pa-tience and especially thank those at the negotiation table for their commitment to getting the problem solved." Dr. Willie W. Herenton, Mayor, Memphis, TN

10/12/08: CN Crews have begun relaying the track

10/14/08: Tamper is at work leveling the relayed track. Note repaired retaining wall.

Bottom: 10/15/08: Southbound City of New Orleans in Central Station. The relayed track is in the foreground.

New Sleeper-Buffet-Coach Cars Placed In Service(Reprinted from February, 1935, Frisco Employees Magazine)

Wide interest in railroad circles has been centered on the two new welded passenger cars, recently built at the Frisco's West Shops under the direct supervision of J. G. Hayes, car foreman The cars are the first in this part of the rcountry to have been built by welding instead of riveting, and are called sleeper-buffet-coach cars, containing six sleeping compartment sec-tions, buffet in center capable

of feeding twelve people, and coach end which will seat thirty people. The two cars have been named "Memphis" and "Pensacola", and were constructed specially for the run, Memphis to Pensacola, Fla., the Frisco's terminus on the gulf. One of the cars ar-rived in St.Louis the morning of January 5 and was on dis-play at the St. Louis Union Station on January 6, and cre-ated no end of interest for

both railway officials and em-ployes and the traveling pub-lic. One of the newest features worked out in these cars is the fact that there are no rivets in the sides or roofs, and every piece of steel has been welded t o g e t h e r throughout. This is a complete reversal of the usual car buildi ng practice, that is, of riveting cars togeth-er. In this work the Frisco has done considerable pioneering, and as far as it is known. there

Part of the group which met to christen the new sleeper-coach-buffet car, "Thc Pcnsacola " at Pensacola, Fla. on January 15. Dorothea Kurn, niece of J. M. Kurn, Trustee of Frisco Lines, officially christened thc car and is shown in the accompanying photograph between the two uniformed trainmen, the brakcman and the conductor.

is only one other railroad do-ing this work at the present time, and that road is an east-ern one. Each car is air condi-tioned throughout, with two separate cooling units, one in each end of the car. The over-head heat is controlled by thermostats. The air passing through ducts and will supply heat for the car in normal weather, but when more heat is required, the floor heat may be cut in. The cooling and heating devices are controlled on the same panel, by switches. The sleeper end of each car con-sists of six sections, or one-half a modern sleeping car, with convenient wash rooms and toilets. The main body of the sleeping end is painted a beautiful shade of Nile green, with trimmings of surf green. The silk window curtains and plush on the seats are or dif-ferent shades of green, which are complementary to the general color scheme. The ceiling is painted a cream col-or, which gives light reflection. Lamps are painted in the darker shades of green to give the proper contrast. The coach end is painted two tones of buff and tan, with cream

ceiling and fleur-de-lis pattern of green plush on the seats. The carpet is a taupe color with flower design, which makes a very pleasing con-trast in the coach and sleeping compartments. Sash and doors are of walnut color, which blends with the pastel shades in the car.

Cars Create Much Interest While Displayed at Memphis,

Pensacola and St. Louis The cars were accorded big receptions at Memphis, Tenn., and Pensacola, Fla.. as well as at St. Louis, and interest in them was manifested by the crowds which milled through while they were on display at the three points. The "Mem-phis" was brought in Memph-is January 7 by J. R Coulter,

general traffic manager, and J. W. Nourse, passenger traffic manager. Mrs. Willis Campbell, promlnent club woman of Memphis, Tenn., of-ficially christened the car at Memphis, and more than 400 interested persons at that point inspected it. At Pensa-cola, the car was presented to

the people, for their use and enjoyment, by Samuel Pasco, Frisco attorney, and accepted by Hon. H. Clay Arm-strong, Mayor of the City of Pensacola, Fla. Dorothea Kurn, niece of J. M. Kurn, Trustee of Frisco L i n e s, formalIy christened the car at that poin sur-rounded by officials of the city administration and presidents and members of the various clubs at Pensacola, Fla. These cars were under construction at the Frisco's West Shops at

Springfield for five and one-half months, and an addition-al welded car will be carried in the train with each car, which will present to the pub-lic the latest in combination passenger coach, mall and baggage. The new combina-tionmail baggage cars are now under construction and will be put in service sometime during March.

(Left) A view of thc six section sleeping compartment. (Right) The coach end which will seat 30 persons. (Bottom) A Side vicw of Ihc new sleeper-buffet-coach car, a complete unit of railway equipment

CABOOSE

Rock Island 18058, which is now restored and on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation. Mike Pendergrass photo.

Meeting Schedule

November 10, 2008December 8, 2008

Meetings are the 2nd Monday of each month in the White Station Branch

Library from 7-9 pm.5094 Poplar Avenue

Memphis, TN (in front of Clark Tower) Contact the Editor

Tom Parker3012 Wood Thrush Drive

Memphis, TN 38134tscottparker@gmail.com

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