Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum (BSRM) Thread

[Jeff Smith]

Here is the article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_205453 ... ire-scenic

STOCKBRIDGE -- Housatonic Railroad Co. executives fired back on Thursday in their first public explanation of why they declined to extend the agreement enabling the Berkshire Scenic Railway to offer trips between Lenox and Stockbridge, saying the nonprofit had ongoing safety problems.

"We’ve looked through their inspection records and came to the conclusion that there is an ongoing systemic failure in safety on the Berkshire Scenic," Housatonic Railroad Vice President Colin Pease told The Eagle. "The liability becomes overwhelming."

Pamela R. Green, an attorney for Berkshire Scenic, said the claims are "completely and totally false."

Read the article for the rest; I really can't slice, dice, and provide proper context for this. But it's definitely looking like a bad divorce (as if there are any other kind). The "he said she said" in this is interesting.

[Jeff Smith]

In response to statements and allegations made by Colin Pease and John Hanlon of the Housatonic Railroad quoted in today's Berkshire Eagle:

The Board of Directors, members and volunteers of the BSRM are shocked and in disbelief that these two men have made these false statements. We thank all of you for your show of support over the last week; we ask that you continue to support us, stand-by us and trust that we will work tirelessly to be sure that the true facts are made public. BSRM will not permit our reputation to be tarnished or disparaged. BSRM has not and will not operate equipment in an unsafe manner or condition. We have complied with all applicable Federal Railroad Administration Regulations and we'll prove it. For those of you who are familiar with the background and experience of our directors, officers and mechanical staff, I hope you understand why these statements, comments and allegations are absurd and outrageous. We take these false allegations seriously and will treat them as such.

Jay R. Green, J.D.
Board of Directors
Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, Inc.

First: I want to qualify my statement by saying this is a personal opinion, and not that of railroad.net.

Second: Steamer is known for being very rigid where tourist operations, museums, etc. are concerned. If he's on your side, I would have to assume BRM is doing its job.

Third: I'm not generally in favor of the racket known as "legal lotto", however, if these allegations, previously private and now public, are false, and known to be false, I'd say BRM has a pretty good cause for action.

[steamer69]

HHRC seems to be full of poo with this one. Either there was an FRA violation or there wasn't. HHRC can not "create" FRA safety violations where there were none. It's like this. Either the wheel sets were condemed, or they weren't. If they weren't condemed then HHRC is just living in a glass house chucking stones. Maybe someone should request the HHRC FRA record, and we'll see who has the better record. I will put money on it that HHRCs record is not going to be clean enough to where they can try and throw this kind of dirt.....

[Otto Vondrak]

Read the article for the rest; I really can't slice, dice, and provide proper context for this. But it's definitely looking like a bad divorce (as if there are any other kind). The "he said she said" in this is interesting.

It does not appear to be that way to me, as BSRM has documentation from the FRA that refutes every single claim of HRRC.

-otto-

[Jeff Smith]

I was more talking about the article and the back and forth, and not taking sides. But I think everyone knows where my sentiments lay.

I'm not sure what it is about HRRC, but between the issues with P&W, now the BSRM, the Newtown controversy, the back and forth with CDOT on passenger service, well, there's one common denominator.

[Noel Weaver]

For a long period of time the northeast and especially New England has had at least one "bad actor" in the railroad business. Remember McGinnis and Alpert on the New Haven, the same McGinnis on the Boston and Maine, Guilford in earlier days on the Boston and Maine and Maine Central and maybe more. Today we have Hanlon and Pease on the Housatonic and they might be almost as bad and stupid as the bad managements of the past mentioned above. Equipment and operations have to conform to Federal Regulations and if they don't the Feds can and will shut them own until they correct any and all problems and conform. To the best of my knowledge the Feds have not encountered any major problems with this operation at least to date. As for the Housatonic, this is the same outfit that the Providence and Worcester has been having problems with for a few years now so maybe they ought to clean up their act and not make more enemies in the process.
Noel Weaver

[merrman]

I have not followed the new and issues surrounding the Housatonic, but I saw a comment under one of the articles posted here,
from the BH, referring to a dispute concerning an airport. Anybody know if, and how, this figures into the debate? And how
long has Pease been with them?

[steamer69]

Second: Steamer is known for being very rigid where tourist operations, museums, etc. are concerned. If he's on your side, I would have to assume BRM is doing it's job

Ain't that the truth. HHRC is being so fake right now that Barbi is getting jealous.

For a long period of time the northeast and especially New England has had at least one "bad actor" in the railroad business. Remember McGinnis and Alpert on the New Haven, the same McGinnis on the Boston and Maine, Guilford in earlier days on the Boston and Maine and Maine Central and maybe more. Today we have Hanlon and Pease on the Housatonic and they might be almost as bad and stupid as the bad managements of the past mentioned above. Equipment and operations have to conform to Federal Regulations and if they don't the Feds can and will shut them own until they correct any and all problems and conform. To the best of my knowledge the Feds have not encountered any major problems with this operation at least to date. As for the Housatonic, this is the same outfit that the Providence and Worcester has been having problems with for a few years now so maybe they ought to clean up their act and not make more enemies in the process.
Noel Weaver

LIKE BUTTON!!!!! Noel and I don't always see eye to eye, but this time I think he hit the nail right on the head.

[RonM]

Maybe not the best time to ask but I was wondering if any progress has been made on the RS-3?

[Otto Vondrak]

Maybe not the best time to ask but I was wondering if any progress has been made on the RS-3?

You man the No. 5? Good question... She's mechanically sound, I think they are raising money to put her in appropriate New Haven paint.

-otto-

[Jeff Smith]

I usually don't advertise "rival" threads, but in this case, I'll make an exception.

From the Yahoo HRRC Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRRC/message/9400

Alot of you i'm sure remember when the rs3m was shortly back in service (along
with the HELM SD40-2). There was a large train (By housy standards) sent north
out of canaan with the majority being heavy loaded spem cars and C&D - The
consist was the 3600 (i think) - 6200 - 9935 in that order. Those of you who
don't know alot about operations I can tell you that those 3 units do not and
did not play well together. By the time that train was going through Glendale
the 9935 was throwing ALOT of white smoke because the wheels were just spinning
and burning. This continued almost all the way to the top of the Hill at the
Glendale middle OHB even though a crew member went back and feathered the
independent trying to lessen the spinning but that unit was beat up bad on that
trip. It doesn't end there - A day or 2 later the 9935 was being used in Canaan
to switch spem. A middle level supervisor was at the throttle coming down the
south leg of the wye way to fast and derailed it right around the McDonald's
switch, and kept going, totally oblivious to anything as his conductor was
telling him "Stop, we're on the ground stop". Instead of fessing up to jay that
it was his fault he blamed the scenic for misusing the engine and causing a
sharp flange that was responsible for that derailment. He didn't know his
engine was on the ground, causing more damage, digging into the dirt and digging
himself into a hole if the truth surfaced. My point being that those familiar
with the BSMR know that the 9935 was probably never in better hands then when it
lived in lenox!! This was the information Jay was given and chose to believe. I
don't think it's a secret that the crews hated that engine but it still is and
will always be Jays baby, making for a very bad situation

[Noel Weaver]

I wonder if the individual mentioned here is the same individual whom screwed up with Amtrak a few years ago with much more serious consequences. With these kind of folks on the Housatonic maybe BSMR would just be better off untl things change on the Housatonic, I hope they eventually will for the better.
Noel Weaver

[steamer69]

I know who that mid level supervisor was, and was always curious about the rest of the story. What I was told happened just never really added up. Now it just makes a whole lot more sense, and solidifies my opinion that not only is the HHRC playing very dirty, they are just plain in the dark. Noel, if you and I are thinking of the same person, then yes....same people involved. As much as I really hate to say this (because the BSRM was doing so well) I agree with Noel. This may be a blessing in disguise, but I do hope that BSRM goes after the HHRC for not telling the truth. Because from what I have heard, and seen, BSRM has nothing to worry about in terms of it's reputation.

[Noel Weaver]

What really needs to happen here is a complete change of ownership in the line between Pittsfield and Danbury or I should say the Connecticut/Massachusetts line at Canaan. All of the officials at Housatonic should be given their "walking papers" the sooner the better, they are nothing more than classic failures from elsehwere all together here. One failure plus one failure plus more failures will never equal anything but failure. I would not be the least bit surprised if something bad were to happen here sometime in the future considering the people calling the shots on this outfit.
Noel Weaver

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

What really needs to happen here is a complete change of ownership in the line between Pittsfield and Danbury or I should say the Connecticut/Massachusetts line at Canaan. All of the officials at Housatonic should be given their "walking papers" the sooner the better, they are nothing more than classic failures from elsehwere all together here. One failure plus one failure plus more failures will never equal anything but failure. I would not be the least bit surprised if something bad were to happen here sometime in the future considering the people calling the shots on this outfit.
Noel Weaver

With the P&W cold war over Maybrook track conditions it may come to that if the lawsuits start flying. First up I think would be state of CT intervening and trying to make a buy-low offer on the Maybrook + Danbury-New Milford trackage in exchange for resolving the P&W dispute and some repair collateral to keep the worst sections of track in operating shape and the whole thing under public ownership. That doesn't help Berkshire Scenic on the MA side since state of MA's interest in buying out the track is probably a bit lower, but stabilizing freight has got to be Priority #1 if they ever want to get a more competent operator in there.

These guys have got to be pretty close to insolvent right now with the transload operation/expansion plans collapsing, so the self-destructive behavior may be the beginning of the death throes.