ODOT signs agreement to receive Tiger III funding
May 10, 2012 / Updated June 26, 2023
News
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation formally signed an agreement to receive $6.75 million from the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) III program to rehabilitate 49 miles of state-owned rail line between Elk City and Sayre, OK, in the Anadarko Basin, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The Federal Railroad Administration announced in December that ODOT was awarded the funding.
Farmrail, a short line that serves the region, will benefit from track improvements that are expected to reduce transportation costs in bringing crude oil and gas to market quicker. The railroad has made recent investments in equipment to keep up with more outbound crude and inbound frack sand trains coming from the Basin.
The track rehabilitation will allow for speeds up to 25 miles per hour with fewer restrictions on the number of cars per train.
North American railroads have hauled coal in quantity ever since the anthracite roads were built on the East Coast. Decades later and despite many changes that have diminished production, coal remains a top (but declining) commodity. While it has weathered shifts in power generation and other factors leading to its decline, coal still accounts for 28 percent of total rail tonnage and 12 percent of revenue. Watch a coal trains roll by and you’ll notice that most cars are painted a stripe or block of color on one end. The color doesn’t matter, but the painted end has a rotary coupler, the non-painted end a solid drawbar. Learn how this combination of couplers enable railroads to move coal efficiently.
Manufacturers roll out the red carpet at January's Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show in Springfield, MA. The show set an attendance record of 27,535 at what has become the big daddy of train shows. Several manufacturers came out in full dress to tout their latest products and announce new runs. At times it appeared to be a battle of the booths, something show chairman John Sacerdote anticipated leading up to the show. Lionel and Walthers did not disappoint.
After almost 20 years of top-line service, the Pennsylvania Railroad's St. Louisan and New Yorker were rechristened Spirit of St. Louis after the custom-built Ryan monoplane in which Charles Lindbergh made the first transatlantic flight. PRR’s advertising and publicity forces wasted no time capitalizing on transatlantic frenzy. The Spirit’s christening was celebrated June 15, 1927, less than a month after Lindbergh’s May 21 landing in Paris. Take a ride on the train in the Cowcatcher's ongoing series, "The Golden Age of Passenger Travel."
CN rolls out a medium horsepower hybrid locomotive that will be deployed this year across several of the railroads's yards and branch lines. Watching trains circle a layout adds a warm touch to modeling and relieves stress, say modelers. And more!
