I was recently told that Dollywood is now under the FRA...is this true? Or, have they been all along?

I'd be shocked if they were, don't they have to in interchange to fall under FRA?

The old interchange rules were for the implementation of the safety appliances (air brakes, couplers, grad irons) years ago, even those RR's then were under the control of the FRA, they just had a time period to implement the new safety improvements.

Dollywood, Tweetsy, Six Flags, etc. have always been governed by the rules set forth by the FRA.

The only tourist RR's that do not fall under the control of the FRA are those that run "miniature" trains. If you run an ex-real locomotive, narrow gauge or not, all the way down to 1'+ 3" gauge, and also those "miniatures" that managed to get themselves classified as "common carrier" railroads, are subject to the rules of the FRA. The AAR's "Recommenced Practices" are the generally agreed upon standards that the railroads and the builders (Baldwin, G.E, ALCO GMD) all build equipment to, some of those practices were/are adopted by the FRA and made in to "RR law", basically.

My way of remembering it is if; a piece of equipment is designed after (and it full scale) or it was actually used by a "common carrier" RR, then it falls under the control of the FRA's giant thumb.

Does that also apply for Disney World and Cedar Point?

It sure does

Wanamaker Kempton & Southern is not FRA as far as I know. I believe they are classified as an amusement ride or something of the sort. Their equipment is standard gauge is it not?

I had heard somewhere that if a railroad has no interchange, is not connected to another railroad and does not cross public roads at grade than it does not fall under FRA. Anybody know what is needed in order to be under FRA or not?

I was always led to believe that crossing a public road (over or under or at grade) and being connected to the general system were the two main items that you could count on getting you FRA oversight.

I'm pretty sure the Disney roads are not involved. I know several things like a lack of locomotive air brakes at WDW that would be troublesome if they were to come under the Feds. Alot of the amusement parks come under state ride and boiler codes.

The insular Georgetown Loop JUST came under the FRA, Wanamaker Kempton & Southern is not under the feds (though they do cross over several at-grade crossings). Dan Markoff's Eureka can not operate over FRA covered trackage for the time being because the FRA has what some might call "unreasonable" inspection demands on en engine that steams about 7 days a year.

It can get tricky.

Back to Dollywood. I know the railroad is shut down for "repairs". Weather that's due to some new FRA involvement or not I can't say.

Dave Crosby

I think we need to have a FAQ on this topic. It is frequently asked and there are many assumptions floating around. This regulation, particularly where it improves safety for the general public, is really not such a bad thing.

If it were still running, I think the 18" gauge Anacortes Railway in Washington might have been the narrowest railroad under FRA. It had some major street crossings.

http://wasteam.railfan.net/ARR.html

I wonder if there is currently anything narrower than 2' that is under FRA jurisdiction.
O. Anderson

Raither than rely on all of our own opinions, here is what the FRA itself says (as cut and pasted from their web site):

FRA Jurisdiction

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-342, ("RSIA") amended the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, 45 U.S.C. §§ 421, 431 et seq., to provide the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) broader regulatory authority over the Nation’s railroads. The term "railroad" as used in the Act means all forms of non-highway ground transportation that run on rails or electro-magnetic guideways, including (1) commuter or other short-haul rail passenger service in a metropolitan or suburban area, as well as any commuter rail service that was operated by the Consolidated Rail Corporation as of January 1, 1979, and (2) high-speed ground transportation systems that connect metropolitan areas, without regard to whether they use new technologies not associated with traditional railroads. Such term does not include rapid transit operations within an urban area that are not connected to the general railroad system of transportation. For policy reasons, FRA does not exercise jurisdiction under all of its regulations to the full extent permitted by statute. See 49 CFR Part 209, App. A.

Tourist, Scenic, and Excursion Railroads

FRA exercises jurisdiction over tourist, scenic, and excursion railroad operations whether or not they are conducted on the general railroad system of transportation. There are two exceptions: (1) operations of less than 24-inch gage (which, historically, have never been considered railroads under the Federal railroad safety laws); and (2) operations that are off the general system and "insular."

Q. 2 - What does insular mean?

Answer: Insularity is an issue only regarding tourist operations over trackage outside of the general system used exclusively for such operations. FRA considers a tourist railroad to be insular if its operations are limited to a separate enclave in such a way that there is no reasonable expectation that the safety of any member of the public "except a business guest, a licensee of the tourist operation or an affiliated entity, or a trespasser" would be affected by the operation.

Q. 3 - When is a tourist railroad not considered insular?

Answer: A tourist operation will not be considered insular if one or more of the following exists on its line:

• A public highway-rail crossing that is in use;
• An at-grade rail crossing that is in use;
• A bridge over a public road or waters used for commercial navigation; or
• A common corridor with a railroad, i.e., its operations are within 30 feet of those of any railroad.

Q. 4 - Do any of FRA’s regulations apply to insular tourist railroads?

Answer: No. Many of FRA’s regulations do not currently apply to tourist railroads. However, FRA’s emergency order authority permits it to address a true safety emergency arising from conditions covered by those regulations or any other regulations that do not apply outside of the general railroad system. Thus, even off-the-general-system tourist railroads should understand that FRA has the jurisdiction to inspect their operations and to take emergency action if those operations pose an imminent hazard of death or injury.

Q. 5 - Do any of FRA’s regulations apply to non-insular railroads?

Answer: Yes. The following regulations and laws apply: Federal signal inspection laws, hazardous materials regulations, noise emission regulations, freight car safety standards, accident/incident reports regulations, hours of service restrictions on duty hours, steam locomotive inspection regulations, grade crossing signal system safety regulations, and all general power and enforcement provisions of the rail safety statutes (e.g., subpoena authority, civil penalty authority, disqualification authority, and emergency order authority).

Q. 6 - How would a tourist railroad sever its connection to the general system?

Answer: It depends on each particular railroad’s circumstances and operations. A railroad should contact FRA if it has questions about whether it is connected to the general system.

Generally, though, a tourist railroad would be considered to be operating off the general system if its operation is conducted only on track used exclusively for that purpose. That a tourist operation has a switch that connects to the general system does not make the tourist operation part of the general system if the tourist trains do not enter the general system and the general system does not use the tourist operation’s trackage for any purpose other than delivering or picking up shipments to or from the tourist operation itself.

Q. 7 - I operate a tourist railroad and have just been given permission to operate an excursion train on a freight railroad’s trackage as a separate business. How do I certify engineers for my operation?

Answer: You have several options. 1) You may have the freight railroad’s engineers operate your train; 2) You may have the freight railroad certify your engineers under its program and issue your employees its own certificates; or 3) You may submit a certification program to FRA and certify your own engineers. Of course, as the freight railroad is the host railroad in these operations, it has a responsibility to determine that your engineers are properly certified and qualified to operate on its railroad.

Look again at Answer 4

Many of FRA’s regulations do not currently apply to tourist railroads. However, FRA’s emergency order authority permits it to address a true safety emergency arising from conditions covered by those regulations or any other regulations that do not apply outside of the general railroad system. Thus, even off-the-general-system tourist railroads should understand that FRA has the jurisdiction to inspect their operations and to take emergency action if those operations pose an imminent hazard of death or injury.

So the answer to the original question is "yes they do, and no they don't".

As I understand the Dollywood situation it was a State Boiler inspector (not FRA) who stepped in and shut down the steam engine. TVRM has assisted with the fabrication of the door sheet and is currently swagging the flues for Dollywood. Hopefully they will be back in service before too long.

Tim Andrews
Chattanooga, TN

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Well, that sure clears things up! Or does it?

The term 'coming under FRA' can have several levels of meaning. My bet is that any fired pressure vessel (locomotive) will fall under FRA rules. But that does not mean all the remaining operations, speeds, trackage, equipment, signalling, etc fall under FRA inspection or classification.

So there are several areas of an insular railroad under the definitions that could [might] have only limited FRA presence, largely for the locomotives, and MAYBE not anything else.

But it would not take much more than one major incident to demonstrate that perhaps the preservation community cannot operate safely and responsibly on their own, and invite more sweeping rules. The good guys get penalized if that one marginal operator takes a short cut and does not win his bet that day.

All sorts of industries - including food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, airlines, trucking, were at one time largely self regulated. UNTIL it was determined that abuses were taking place that affected public safety.

Some businesses still work in a gray area - such as carnival amusements which suffer through a complex hit or miss variable web of largely state managed rules and irregular inspections. (My opinion only.)


Bob Kutella

They were down, but I read somewhere that they started running again sometime the last week of May. They have also updated their website with current operating dates, and removed the generic closure message. Evidently boiler issue on 192, and 70 is down for running gear work right now so she couldn't pinch hit.

Tyler

Bob said;


I agree completley with that.

The only exception now and historically are the "models" and/or "miniatures". The FRA clearly does not want to get involved with model and minatiures of either diesel or steamers, and they have never tried to enforce rules upon either.

It is interesting that the FRA) makes a distinction of "less than 24" in gauge", because there are both 24" and 30" gauge railraods with both diesel motored locomotives and steam locomotives that the FRA does not currently govern at all, not even their boilers. These locomotives are considered "miniatures" by their owners and the FRA accepts this. Both these specific examples are said to be "modeled after standard gauge locomotives" and they have scale appearing; cabs and fittings, couplers etc.

The most common "park" trains are the 24" gauge Chance Products; C.P Huntington, which is powered by a ford gas/propane motor that is the modern descendant of the Ford Pinto motor. It is 24" gauge and is modeled (roughly) after a 5/12 scale standard gauge locomotive. Again the FRA wants nothing to do with them, all 500 of them!

"Model" and "miniatures" are a description that the FRA uses to "not" get involved in this area, but like the description states above, they can get involved with basically anything that they choose two, if the situation warrants it.

The Dollywood Express was back in operation as of Memorial Day weekend, though I think they've missed a few more days since then. #192 was the engine running, #70 has boiler work being done.

Actually, Gary Bensman and Robert Franzen formed the doorsheet door hole opening patch.

No, not necessarily. If you don't interchange and don't cross any public roads, you are not subject to FRA regulations, as it says in the section of the law that was shown. (This is apparently the case at Dollywood). The FRA only has the right intervene in such operations in cases where it has been reported that there are grave safety concerns. Usually such places are in turn regulated by state authorities, at least as far as boilers are concerned.
Regards,
Trevor H.