Paducah Chapter

National Railway Historical Society

September 2013

Thomas Edison and the

Railroad Thomas Edison, when you

hear that name you think of the

light bulb and the phonograph. Did

you know that he also made contri-

butions to railroads. Thomas Edi-

son ran his first test of the electric

railway in Menlo Park, NJ, on

May 13, 1880. This was located on

his vast laboratory property.

The track was about a third

of a mile in length, There were

three cars: a flat freight-car, an

open awning-car, and a box-car

called the "Pullman," with which

Edison illustrated a system of elec-

tromagnetic braking.

Edison reportedly moved away

from this rail in 1881 after local

officials and businessmen per-

suaded him to build a longer road

at Menlo Park, equipped with

more powerful locomotives that

could demonstrate the feasibility

of putting electric railroads in

other regions.

A year later, work was completed

and two locomotives, one for

freight and the other for passenger

service, were on the electric rail-

way.

Railroads played an important part

in Edison’s life. Edison sold candy

and newspapers on trains. His

Deafness later in life was attrib-

uted to a railroad worker picking

him up by the ears to help him

board a moving train.

Edison obtained the exclusive

right to sell newspapers on the

railroad. He found four assistants

and started up his own newspaper,

the Grand Trunk Herald, which he

sold with his other papers.

Edison later became a telegraph

operator. IN looking for ways to

improve things he came up with

device

that

would

automati-

cally an-

swer his

station

call on the

telegraph.

Working

nights he

would get

tired and want to sleep. The fore-

man would send a call out to see if

the agents were sleeping. Edison’s

device would pick up the call for

his station and send a reply that he

was there. One night this backfired

and caused him to fail to stop a

train, he was released from duty as

an operator.

Edison’s love of trains stayed with

him until his death. Just months

before he passed away, Lacka-

wanna Railroad inaugurated subur-

ban DC-based electric train service

from Hoboken to Montclair, Do-

ver, and Gladstone in New Jersey.

Edison was at the throttle of the

first electric multiple-unit train to

depart Lackawanna Terminal in

Hoboken in September 1930, driv-

ing the train the first mile through

Hoboken yard on its way to South

Orange. This Month’s Program

will feature some rare footage of

trains shot by Edison in the

1890’s /Early 20th Century.

Right: Edison’s Electric railway at his

Menlo Park NJ laboratory.

Photo Dept of Interior Edison National Historic site.

Above: Edison as a teenager during

his years working as a telegraph

operator.

RICK CORMAN PASSES: R. J.

“Rick” Corman died on August

23rd, at his home in Nicholasville,

KY at age 58. Corman was a na-

tionally known railroader who par-

layed a backhoe rented while he

was a high school student, into a

company with $ 300 million dol-

lars in annual revenue and $ 50

million in annual profits and in-

cluded short lines, construction

and derailment services, material

sales, two dinner trains, a genset

company, a Chinese steam engine,

and much more. Diagnosed with

multiple myeloma in 2001 and

given three years to live, he beat

those odds by nine years, staying

active until almost the end. Some

members of the Paducah Chapter,

NRHS, may remember traveling as

a group to Bardstown several years

ago to ride his “My Old Kentucky

Dinner Train,” and, ironically, on

August 14th, days before his death,

a second dinner train began service

from Lexington to Versailles,

originating from behind Rupp

Arena. In addition to his successful

business career, profiled in For-

tune Magazine, Corman was noted

for his philanthropies to his com-

munity and employees, and his

penchant for his specifying the

color red for everything represent-

ing his compny from locomotives

and cars, to his helicopter, dump

trucks, and even his cap and

blazer. His rerail company was in

Southeast Missouri, earlier this

year, working on the UP-BNSF

wreck.

P&L: P&L’s bad luck in the Lou-

isville area surfaced again on Au-

gust 15th when an 88 car coal train

derailed 15 cars in Hardin County

near Vine Grove. There were no

injuries and no hazardous materi-

als involved. The line was cleared

the next day by R.J. Corman (see

above).On August 23, WPSD Lo-

cal 6, announced that a 28 car train

of debris consisting of low level

radioactive waste from demolition

of the C-340 Metals Plant at the

Paducah site was safely delivered

to a commercial waste disposal

facility 80 miles west of Salt Lake

City. The exact date and the route

to Utah from the P&L was not an-

nounced. On August 25tt, the Padu-

cah SUN ran a story speculating

on the effect of the Panama Canal

expansion on Paducah and possi-

bly the P&L. The expansion to be

completed in 2016 will enable

large container ships to reach the

port of Mobile and thus move the

containers by barge up the Tom-

bigbee waterway to Paducah. The

Paducah Port Authority has in-

stalled a new 48 ton crane that

would make possible the unload-

ing of cargo to the P&L if there

was a demand. In spite of all the

locomotives P&L has with their

handsome new paint scheme, the

photo of the city job in the above

news article was of an old GP-40

in faded blue.

VMV: CORRECTION: In last

month’s NEWS & VIEWS I short-

changed VMV on their Safety and

Health Award announcement.

They actually worked 500,000

hours without injury. Otherwise

not much of interest known to me

to report about VMV for August.

BOYS ON THE MOVE: Union

Pacific has announced that their

decision to restore a Big Boy into

operating condition was made two

years ago, and they settled on 4014

which is on static display in

Pomona, CA, because the dry cli-

mate there has maintained its

boiler barrel in very good condi-

tion; also the air brake system is in

mostly good condition, making the

1200 mile tow to Cheyenne easier.

The move from the fairgrounds to

a live Metro line will be across a

parking lot on panel track. The

move across country will be en-

tirely in daylight via Las Vegas

and Salt Lake City and then on to

UP’s transcontinental at Ogden.

There will be stops along the way

for public display. The Southern

California Chapter of the Railway

& Locomotive Historical Society

will receive an operating SD-40 in

new paint (former MP), and a for-

mer Rock Island bay window ca-

boose in return for 4014, plus the

proceeds of an excursion in South-

ern California after it is restored.

Meanwhile, sister 4018 has been

moved from its previous location

in Dallas to its new location at the

Museum of American Railroad in

Frisco, near Irving. The museum’s

collection, which was also moved

from Dallas, includes a Frisco 4-8-

0 and 2-10-0, and a UP DD40X

“Centennial.” All moved via Dal-

las, Garland & Northeastern, Trin-

ity Railway Express, and BNSF in

“hospital trains.”

AMTRAK TRIP: On August

17th, seven other men and I jour-

neyed to Chicago by Amtrak to see

the Cardinals play the Cubs at

Bob Johnston

Published monthly by the Paducah Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. Send your news, photos to:

Editor — Charles Gibbons

oldradiorepair@bellsouth.net

President…........…......Logan Blewett Vice President…….......John Deming

Secretary…..…......Charles Gibbons

Historian…........……Jack Johnston

Treasurer..................Glen Pollender

Program…....…...….…..Dick Kastas National Director.…..Bob Johnston

Directors…………..……...Dick Kastas, Charles Gibbons, Logan Blewett

Membership — Charles Gibbons 3409 Central Avenue, Paducah 42001

Roundhouse Notes

iconic Wrigley Field. We left Car-

bondale at 7:30 on #391, the Sa-

luki, arriving Chicago on time at

1:00 p.m. After a false start and

over a mile of walking, we found

the “Red Line” subway/El to the

ball park. After the game we took

cabs back to Union Station and

caught #59, the City of New Or-

leans at 8:00 p.m., arriving Car-

bondale on time at 1:21 a.m. for

the drive back to Paducah. We

planned to eat dinner on the diner,

but forgot they serve the sleeping

car passengers first, so we did not

get served until almost 10:00. Be-

cause of the late hour, the menu

was limited but the food was O.K.

It was a long but satisfying

day……..Amtrak is again setting

records. In August they announced

that July was the best month in the

company’s 42 year history with a

4.2% increase to more than 2.9

million passengers, an all- time

record for one month.

FREIGHT TRAFFIC MIXED:

The Association of American Rail-

roads reports lower carload traffic

for July, but higher intermodal,

which, in fact, set a new record.

Traffic was up significantly in

many commodities, especially pe-

troleum and petroleum products,

but down in two major groups,

coal and grain.

RAILCAMP: The NRHS’s popu-

lar RailCamp program which gives

hands on railroad experience to

high school age participants will

return in 2014. The program was

suspended this year because of un-

expected difficulties in arranging

university housing for attendees.

These difficulties have been solved

and both RailCamp East in Stras-

burg, PA, and RailCamp North-

west operating out of Seattle, WA

will resume. If you know of a high

school student with a real interest

in railroads, perhaps our chapter

should consider sponsoring them

next year.

R.R. HELP WANTED: Paducah

SUN Classified want ads in the

August 24th, and other editions ad-

vertised for Track Foremen experi-

enced in supervising track con-

struction, FRA regulations, and

other MOW items; and also for

Operators of railroad construction

machinery such as Tampers, Bal-

last Plows, Tie Inserters, and High

Rail equipment. Salary is

“commensurate with experience.”

Those interested could apply to

Box BB578 or Box BB579 c/o The

Paducah Sun, P.O. Box 2300, Pa-

ducah, KY 42002.

MUSEUM: Although the atten-

dance book at the museum was

somewhat jumbled in August, I

counted 347 visitors. We also have

a computer count, but is difficult

for the computer to pick up those

from the “American Queen,” and

other groups who do not pay indi-

vidually. This was down from 557

in August of 2012. However, we

had five scheduled boats that

month and only two this month.

On the September 1, 2013, Chan-

nel Six 10:00 p.m. NEWS, there

was a somewhat confusing story

about the Paducah Model Train

Club leaving the railroad museum

as of that week-end. This has been

in process for a number of weeks.

The Model Train Club has been

offered the use of a large building

off of South 28th St., owned by

Bobby Abell. Since they will have

more room and this will enable

them to work on their layout

whenever they want with no obli-

gation to be there at specific times

for visitors, they have decided to

take the offer and plan to begin

dismantling the layout at the mu-

seum this month. Although admit-

tedly, there has been friction at

times between their organization

and the Paducah Chapter NRHS,

during their years at the museum,

this seemed to be resolved at a

joint meeting held earlier this year.

Despite some reports, i.e. rumors,

the Railroad Museum DID NOT

ask them to leave. This was their

decision, based on the above offer.

For the record, this will be at least

their fifth location. They have pre-

viously been at the old Off Price

Mall on the South Beltline, a

building in Noble Park, and the

Executive Inn, before coming to

the railroad museum, and at one

time an off- shoot of their group

was at a hobby shop on North 13th

St. We appreciate all of their hard

work and their contribution to our

success during the years they have

been a part of the museum and

wish them well in their new ven-

ture.

DON’T FORGET member John

Rogers’s program on September

26th on the History of the IC/ICG

Paducah Shops, which he will pre-

sent at Upstairs at the Library at

7:00 p.m. that day.

Roundhouse Notes

% Charles Gibbons

3409 Central Ave

Paducah KY 42001

Gosh! Its almost time for

the meeting! We sure

don’t want to miss it.

TUESDAY

Sept 10th

7 PM

MCCRACKEN

COUNTY

LIBRARY

SECOND FLOOR

Edison in his New Jersey Labs