Texas State RR shuts down

hotbox · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:35 pm **Posts:** 102

Termite7 wrote:

So...why Iowa Pacific should show up here as a topic from time to time amazes me. They are NOT (I repeat) a museum of any description. They never have been. T7

Well the website is called Railway Preservation News, not museum news. The purpose of this site as stated by RYPN

Quote:

1) report on items and issues of interest to the railroad preservation community; and educate the public to the past and current impact of railroading on the history of this country.

&

Quote:

4) identify and document railroad infrastructure, including structures, bridges, rail yards, complexes, factories, right-of-ways, corridors, areas & districts, etc.; and encourage their preservation, including stabilization, maintenance, and restoration, in a manner consistent with the original and/or in service usage of the item, or where more practical and feasible, adaptive reuse; and encourage assimilation of these items into appropriate groups, societies, foundations, museums, etc., and the formation of these organizations, when this will facilitate the above goals.

This would indicate the need to keep track (no pun intended) of any railroad operation using historical equipment, of which Iowa Pacific has plenty.

Additionally, there seems to be a lot of arm chair quarterbacking about what they should, could or didn't do. This is not helpful. Many seasoned veterans know that if you are looking for a know-it-all in the railroad industry, you don't have to look far or hard, however, success might not be as easy to find.

I'm not here to defend IPH or Ellis (we all know they have a history of not paying bills) but, can we please stick to actual information a ease up on the critiquing and pipe dreams?

QJdriver · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:08 pm

I'm sure sorry to hear about all this, TSRR was a great place to work 20 years ago. While I supported allowing volunteers because the park was supposed to provide RECREATION for the public, I and my fellow employees (14 or so full time for the shop/train crew), were anything but enthusiastic about the idea of getting them to replace us full time paid professional railroaders. (Some of the money thus saved could go into raises, bonuses, and perks for certain state park officials.) There was a meeting to explain how it would work to us, when the presenter (no names...) asked if we had any comment, I suggested that I had some buddies with Colorado tourist railroad management experience that would be interested in volunteering for HIS job... it was obvious that I had no future there, at that time.

One thing I managed was to get some free advertising for us in La Opinion, the Spanish language newspaper, even though we were state controlled. They not only ran a nice story on us because they were able to interview me in Spanish, but they also created and ran a free ad for us all summer long. I presume this was legal because we weren't purchasing or initiating the ad cycle.

Frank J. DeStefano · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:17 pm

The Newswire just covered this, finds no massive layoff or indefinite shutdown:
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... exas-state

Tom Stamey · **Joined:** Tue Jan 03, 2017 2:57 pm **Posts:** 1

I don't know that Trains Magazine has done much or maybe any, investigation before writing that story, rather they quoted a IPH officer who apparently indicated that Janet's statement applied only to TSR. They should have noticed "this is not a local issue" in her statement. That is really the crux of her statement. It has already been reported in this forum the financial problems of IPH being very late paying their vendors . That does not mean that IPH could not work itself out of financial problems. But, this has been public knowledge for some time. Janet's statement appears to indicate the number of layoffs are more than normal and system wide.

Prior workers on the Texas State Railroad stated that many employees are needed during the non-running months for equipment maintenance that cannot possibly be done with the small amount of employees remaining (2) and 5 others doing grant work. That should be a concern on TSR. Track work, engine inspections, car inspections and repair are time consuming even having a full crew in the winter.

For TSR everyone will know more come March .

Zak Lybrand · **Joined:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:57 am **Posts:** 210

Txhighballer wrote:

Very true, the TSRR under state control could not advertise. However, where was the advertising for them when AHR had it? I have not seen any from IP either. The only press I've seen from either one was local news coverage, and that coverage was not in the Houston or Dallas area.

I personally saw advertisements for their Polar Express in two different malls in Dallas. Just because they're not on the television or radio doesn't mean they're not there.

eze240 · **Joined:** Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:29 am **Posts:** 319

I would not take an article in Trains as being the gospel truth...
my sources say better than 200 personnel total from across the various lines they operate have been let go...that is not "normal" for any operation...unless bankruptcy and liquidation are very close...
I also wonder about the ownership of the equipment as mentioned in the "changes at iowa pacific" post....does anyone have a good list of what equipment they have? and who owns it?

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:22 pm

Gentlemen (and Ladies):

I Move for the following:

1) We refrain from turning this thread, or any other thread here, into a round robin of IPH/Ellis/TSRR/whoever bashing, naysaying, ridicule, and name-calling akin to the foolish looking individuals who have made doing the same about the UP steam program a full-time obsession on other forums; while:

2) Serious, sincere rescue-planning, "vulture-perching," speculation on worthy preservation/rescue candidates, etc. shall be considered appropriate, as long as it is done respectfully and sincerely, seeking out the future welfare of worthy historic rail equipment that may need to be "rescued" or sources of parts, equipment, etc. for other operations as appropriate, and NOT denigrating the current custodians of said equipment, rolling stock, etc.

Do I Have A Second?

Rainier Rails · **Posted:** Tue Jan 03, 2017 11:25 pm

I'll post a summary of the Iowa Pacific fleet, including leased cars, later this evening or if not, then sometime tomorrow.

_________________
Have a Merry Tenth Day of Christmas and a Happy New Year!

hotbox · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:35 pm **Posts:** 102

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Gentlemen (and Ladies):

2) Serious, sincere rescue-planning, "vulture-perching," speculation on worthy preservation/rescue candidates, etc. shall be considered appropriate, as long as it is done respectfully and sincerely, seeking out the future welfare of worthy historic rail equipment that may need to be "rescued" or sources of parts, equipment, etc. for other operations as appropriate, and NOT denigrating the current custodians of said equipment, rolling stock, etc.

Do I Have A Second?

I'll Second!!

That was my goal with the Changes at Iowa Pacific post. The point was to keep from "beating up" on people and getting off on tangents unrelated to preservation and respectfully and factually do so in a manner that might be helpful to the members.

QJdriver · **Posted:** Wed Jan 04, 2017 4:57 pm

I'll second you as well, Mr. ADMIV.

But I WILL say I saw it coming a long time ago, and, "Ain't it a shame".

One problem is that the TSRR hasn't had enough friends in Austin over the years. Don't know how it helps to point that out, though.

Txhighballer · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 10:49 am **Posts:** 773

More fuel for the firebox......

http://www.palestineherald.com/news/tex ... 9db64.html

Crescent-Zephyr · **Joined:** Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm **Posts:** 1799

Another interesting article -

http://www.palestineherald.com/news/texas-state-railroad-board-wants-answers/article_bb3e9d10-d2e3-11e6-90c8-4b8c7029db64.html

"The board asked the Iowa Pacific to reinstate all the laid-off full-time employees, and if not, explain to the board how this is going to play out, Presley said."

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3010

Crescent-Zephyr wrote:

Another interesting article -

http://www.palestineherald.com/news/texas-state-railroad-board-wants-answers/article_bb3e9d10-d2e3-11e6-90c8-4b8c7029db64.html

"The board asked the Iowa Pacific to reinstate all the laid-off full-time employees, and if not, explain to the board how this is going to play out, Presley said."

Looks to be the same article that TXHighballer linked to?

Rainier Rails · **Posted:** Tue Jan 17, 2017 8:36 am

Rainier Rails wrote:

I'll post a summary of the Iowa Pacific fleet, including leased cars, later this evening or if not, then sometime tomorrow.

My apologies for the delay in posting a further response.

I've posted info on most, if not all, the cars used by Iowa Pacific in that particular roster thread found at the following link, and it's up-to-date as of June 2016: http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36455

If I find any info in that thread which needs to be corrected or updated, I'll get to that sometime soon. Stay tuned.

_________________
Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

elueck · **Posted:** Tue Jan 17, 2017 11:24 pm

Article on Texas State Railroad Authority meeting today in the Palestine, TX newspaper.

http://www.palestineherald.com/news/ter ... 92e0f.html