What impact will Hurricane Irene have on Northern Railroads??

[troy12n]

They dont get them up there too often. The last major one which affected the Railroads I believe was Hurricane Agnes in the early 70's. Entire rail lines were washed out. I believe the EL and PC lost lines and did not rebuild lines due to this.

I wonder if this will happen this time. Granted, then these were likely branch lines or there were alternates.

[Joe the Photog]

I hope the levees hold.

[jnohallman]

I hope the levees hold.

Levees? What levees? :D

I would imagine the most immediate concern for NE lines is the loss of power to the catenary for the NEC and various local commuter agencies. There could also, I suppose, be flooding issues for subway lines. I don't know if the Hudson River tunnels are liable to flood or not. Among other issues to deal with in the aftermath of the storm will be downed trees across rights of way and so on. Given the projected track of the storm, I doubt washouts due to major flooding are a likelihood. It doesn't look like it will be dumping a lot of rain inland to raise rivers that significantly as Agnes did - the bigger flooding danger seems to be tidal storm surge flooding, which may affect some lines in low-lying coastal areas, but I can't imagine will lead to permanent washouts. Of course, this is all speculation on my part.

Jon
(who grew up in Southeastern PA and never saw a levee as a child)

[troy12n]

I think you all underestimated the impact flooding is having on the area, especially Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine... Looks like the shortlines are gonna take the worst of it though

[JRMDC]

I think you all underestimated the impact flooding is having on the area, especially Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine... Looks like the shortlines are gonna take the worst of it though

The inland areas didn't get much press as far as being vulnerable. In general projections are reported more often for where more people live, which in the NE is along the coast.

Some shots: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/frightening-hurricane-irene-destruction-photos

[jnohallman]

I think you all underestimated the impact flooding is having on the area, especially Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine...

You're right there - I did underestimate the flooding impact inland. Of course, the forecast I was looking at when I wrote my post didn't show Irene heading due north over Vermont and into Canada. I aslo didn't realize just how wet the already was before the storm. Here in VA, we've not had a particularly wet summer, and I just assumed that points north hadn't had that much more rain. Oops!

Jon

[trainmaster_1]

For those that would like to know, Norfolk Southern ran 3 detour trains via Canada on CN taking the Fort Erie to Montreal route, 2 westbounds and 1 eastbound ran yesterday on account of flooding/hurricane damage along the east coast.

F32931 31 Ft Erie to Montreal CN8021-NS9064-NS9393-NS9935 (pictured below)
F32821 31 Montreal to Ft Erie CN8894-NS8791-NS8863-NS9173
F3282101 Montreal to Ft Erie BCOL4654-NS7533-NS6698-NS8869

[photoid=373818]

Above link is CN F32931 31 by Oshawa en route to Montreal on the Kingston Subdivision. I stumbled upon those three detour trains by luck on the lineup the night before and figured I'd take a chance and head out to shoot at least one of them.