RSS - Posts
Filed under: Humboldt, Marin, Napa Valley, North Coast Railroad, Railroad, Samoa
THA finishes lower boiler shop roof!
Lower boiler shop roof finished Nov 2009, Samoa, CA
Various retired teachers volunteering their time.
Some retired teachers rack up an incredible number of hours focused mainly on one special interest. A good example of that kind of dedication is Mike Kellogg, retired social science teacher at Eureka High School. A man of many talents, he has given most of his 1,150 reported volunteer hours this past year for the Timber Heritage Association.
SF Gate: Bill Provines – fireman on novel train – dies
Bill Provines, the last surviving employee of the famous “crookedest railroad in the world” that once climbed Mount Tamalpais, died Friday at his home in Novato of heart failure. He was 101.
Vacaville The Reporter: Rail cars arrive for refurbishment
Drivers crossing the Wichels Causeway on and off Mare Island on Wednesday were privy to a recent rarity on the island: A train chugging across, whistle blowing.
Wednesday marked the first installment of Mare Island newcomer business Alstom’s plans to refurbish 66 Amtrak Capitol Corridor trains. The initial three passenger cars to grace newly aligned track leading into Alstom’s Building 599 warehouse were towed by Alstom venture partner, San Francisco Bay Railroad.
I’m pretty sure it was a horn, not a whistle blowing. Thanks to Shawn for providing this one.
Link to video, embedded didn’t seem to work for me.
Here is a quick timelapse video of the recent joining of the P&SR Caboose #1 onto it’s newly rebuilt trucks. More video of the event coming soon.
NVR: Devlin extension gets rolling
For the next several weeks, trucks will build a section of a bridge over railroad tracks north of Green Island Road, using soil from a hill near Napa County Airport.
Green Island road is south of, and runs along the tracks leading to NWP/NCRA. Should provide another vantage point for railfans.
1948 U.S. Railroad Atlas Thanks to those who have posted this online.
Filed under: NCRA, Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Railroad, SMART, Sonoma, bicycle, trails, transit
Marinscope Newspapers > Novato Advance > News > NCRA, SMART release timeline for trains.
Construction work is finished on the railroad tracks that will carry freight trains through Novato. Now the tracks need to be inspected, and then freight trains are expected to start rolling by March 2010.
Meanwhile, planning and design work is under way for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter train, and construction work should start in 2011.
The Harbor District is the main one with no results until after the pools close at 8pm. The Marina Center I guess is a forgone conclusion by the opposition, Democracy Now and Humboldt Paykeeper( Baykeeper) haven’t even twittered the event. Not even a live blogging by Heraldo and sidekicks.
Thanks to the Marina Center for keeping the community informed on this one.
Dear Marina Center Supporters,
Thank you for your continued support of the Marina Center project. Tonight at 6 pm the Eureka City Council will consider the approval of the Coast Development Permit, which would allow environmental clean up on the Balloon Track to move forward. Hopefully this will be the last time for a while that this matter before them.
It is more important than ever to have our supporters attend the City Council meeting and let them know, without a doubt, that you want this property cleaned up.
The worst case scenario for Eureka, if this is passed, is that the property will be cleaner. Debris and garbage will be removed, storm water will no longer run into the bay and we get 11 acres of restored wetlands as well as provide 40 badly needed, good paying jobs.
We have been sued for not cleaning up this property and now are being threatened with a lawsuit by the same people because we want to clean it up.
Please come show your support for the clean up of the Balloon Track for the Marina Center Project.
We hope to see you tonight.
Thank you,
I hate waiting for results.
9:23pm: Well elections website has crashed. Hank got results. Wilson, and Marks so far.
10:19pm: ok elections website is back up
Measure A in Mendocino looks to be rejected. That was the former Masonite plant in Ukiah redevelopment. Maybe it can be now developed with industry that will use the railroad.
Final election night results:
MIKE WILSON 2,680
DAN HAUSER 1,023RICHARD MARKS 1,268
JOHN ASH 957
SUSAN PENN 447
TS article on election results. While I’m disappointed on Wilson winning, I’m happy that Marks won, just because he has an open mind on things, and Heraldo’s pick in that race was last.
TS article, Eureka approves Marina Center costal development permit 4-1. Amazing it wasn’t 3-2.
Other news, is Maine rejected gay marriage. Not one time has the issue of gay marriage come up to a vote, has it been allowed. Thirty one times to zip. Every time it was because of courts, or legislators.
I support both Dan Hauser and Richard Marks for harbor commissioners.
Here are a few of my reasons: Dan Hauser has an extensive and productive history of hard work and dedication to his community. Dan participated in the creation of the Arcata marsh project, which won a Rockefeller award and is now copied and admired all over the world as an example of innovative green conservation.
Dan is for a green port, and has the knowledge and connections in Sacramento to help realized that goal. Dan Hauser is a board member of the Timber Heritage Association (THA) and has actively participated in the THA’s goals of creating a tourist train between Eureka and Arcata, restoring historic North Coast logging equipment, and the visioning a “rails with trails” solution along the rail right-of-way.
The Timber Heritage Association has been offering rides on its restored 1937 railroad speeder, a small rail car that was originally used to move crews from one job to another. Both Richard Marks and Dan Hauser have given generously of their time in facilitating THA’s vision of a world-class museum to convey the history of the Redwood Coast and attract visitors to our area.
Both candidates support rails with trails, the creation of a tourist train, and believe that it is possible to be a “green port” that can attract good-paying jobs without sacrificing the conservation and recreation within Humboldt Bay.
Both Richard Marks and Dan Hauser have earned my support for Harbor Commissioner.
Lawrence LaBranche
Timber Heritage Association and RAPIT member
Eureka
After years of delay, a state-funded rail agency has finished repairing the Northwestern Pacific freight line in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties, paving the way for a return of cargo service early next year.
…
Meanwhile, three environmental groups are threatening legal action to stop the freight service, arguing the rail authority hasn’t weighed all the impacts.
…
The groups — the Environmental Protection Information Center, Friends of the Eel River and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics — also said the authority has taken no action to clean up polluted rail yards.
Note: NCRA has started clean up, but has been delayed due to lack of funds. Governor vetoed last funding to clean up these sites.
…
Freight service could start by next March, according to NCRA.
The railroad’s private operator, NWP Co., will be ready when it gets the go-ahead, said John Williams, the company’s president. But the timing remains uncertain, he said.
“I’m reluctant to tell anybody — including the shipping community — that we’re going to start on a specific date,” Williams said. “They’re not going to shift from trucking if they’re not sure we’re going to be there.”
via Ready to haul freight again | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA.
Filed under: Uncategorized
YouTube – Pumpkin Chemistry – Halloween Special.
Happy Halloween!
Filed under: Arcata, Blue Lake, Humboldt, NCRA, Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Railroad, bicycle, trails
Engineers are racing to survey possibilities for a trail between Arcata and Bracut while state money remains available.
Geotechnical work began this week to examine bridges, levees and other structures in an effort to determine several options for where a trail, or a trail-with-rail, may go. The city of Arcata was granted $1.07 million from the California Coastal Conservancy a year ago, but those funds were later frozen.
…
In other developments on the trail front, the Humboldt County Association of Governments last week directed its staff to spend
Advertisement
$15,000 on initial moves to prepare the Annie and Mary Trail between Blue Lake and Arcata for development.
You will be happy to know will be reusing a tower on top of the courthouse to provide better celluar service. This will provide income to the county. Just think, such a high vantage point will be able to provide coverage to a wide area.
Filed under: Humboldt
These are the parks that are staying open, but will have a reduction in open hours/days, and or services.
Filed under: Mendocino, NCRA, Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Railroad, SMART, Willits, bicycle, trails
Some sad news this week.
Willits news: Ruth Rockefeller: Community loses a venerable citizen
After her retirement from teaching, she took on the failing Northwestern Pacific Railroad; preserving the railroad became her passion. She was the first woman to be elected chairman for the North Coast Railroad Authority in 1998 when she was 80 years old. The plaque she received for this honor was presented to her by the board of directors chairman, who said: “Whoever thought an 80 year old school teacher would be actively managing the NCRA, but there’s nothing like this little old schoolmarm.”
Ruth was very proud of that award and worked diligently to the end of her life to save the railroad.
Former Tiburon mayor and rail backer Ellman dies
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit booster George Ellman died last month, but he is not done with the rail project just yet.
His ashes will be on the first SMART train scheduled to roll down the tracks in 2014, a request made by Mr. Ellman before his death.
NorCal History Blog: Getting to work at Falk
I talked to Bill Rich yesterday, and the folks at HSU are getting ready to start digging at the historic town site of Falk.
Cloverdale seeks to link downtown to the train station
Cloverdale is considering building a bike and pedestrian path to its rail station in anticipation of eventual commuter train service.
The path is being proposed as a way to link the downtown to the station on the opposite side of the freeway.
The bike/pedestrian path, dubbed the Cloverdale Greenway project, could replace two of the four vehicle lanes on Citrus Fair Drive that run under Highway 101 and connect the west of town to the station on the east.
Not local related, but still a little fun. World’s smallest model train.
Thanks, all for your support. It was one of those things that was hard to get, was good info on the railroad. Every monthly meeting they have a presentation with photos of progress on the railroad. However, they haven’t posted a single 2009 presentation yet. I keep saying, they need to show what they have done, it is a pr thing.
