Redstone Arsenal back in rail business

Excerpt:

A major upgrade related to the Redstone Gateway business development project near Gate 9 is bringing the sound of train whistles back to Redstone Arsenal.

The recently completed $900,000 upgrade to the Arsenal’s train track spur makes rail transportation to the installation once again a viable transportation option for Arsenal organizations.

Full story:

http://www.theredstonerocket.com/conten ... l-business

Who has been crewing the trains? Any chance it's wage grade DA civilians?

There are no longer any train crews here. The new construction consists of only a half mile of track, so it's unlikely there will be any Army locomotives or train crews coming to the post. Instead, rail service will come from the connecting carrier.

More on the post's former operation, which included 75 miles of track, can be found here:

http://theredstonerocket.com/node/86

http://digitalarchives.hmcpl.org/cdm4/i ... OX=1&REC=2

The post's website once featured an article on rail operations from decades ago, but currently it's down for redesigning. According to that article, "By June 1973, the Army made the decision to liquidate its remaining rail assets, which included a 10-car Army train. The decision was made that trucks would take over the hauling tasks. Only three miles of track to the switching yard would remain." A survey of Army rail assets in 1990 only listed about one-fifth of a mile of track remaining.