@NSCorp to pay $4 million in federal fines for Graniteville #SC accident

NS to pay $4 million in federal fines for Graniteville accident

Norfolk Southern Railway has agreed to pay $4 million in federal fines to resolve alleged Clean Water Act and hazardous-material law violations associated with a 2005 train accident and chlorine spill in Graniteville, S.C., the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yesterday.

On Jan. 6, 2005, a NS train derailed in Graniteville, puncturing tank cars that released chlorine gas. Nine people died as a result of chlorine exposure, hundreds more sought medical care because of respiratory distress and more than 5,000 residents evacuated an area within one mile of the derailment, according to the EPA. In addition, two locomotives involved in the accident leaked diesel fuel, a portion of which flowed into Horse Creek, the agency said.

(Read the rest here)

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CSX at Waxhaw, North Carolina

CSX at Waxhaw, North Carolina

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Restored Waiting Room in Hamlet, North Carolina

The restored Seaboard Air Line depot in Hamlet, North

Carolina is one of my favorite places to watch trains.

The depot is especially magical at night when the lights make it feel like it must of when it was the center of activity in the community.

Restored Waiting Room
Originally uploaded by Gene Bowker

CSX in Folkston, GA 2008

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BOOK REVIEW: 'Blood, Iron, and Gold' (Article Link)

Reviewed By David M. Kinchen

Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic

Putting down my copy of Christian Wolmar's "Blood, Iron, and Gold: How the Railroads Transformed the World" (PublicAffairs, 416 pages, illustrations, notes, maps, index, $28.95), I marveled at how -- once again -- the French are beating the pants off the U.S.A.

 Not only do the French have, by many measures, the best health care delivery system in the world, they probably have the best railroads of any country, with dedicated Trains a Grande Vitesse -- high speed passenger trains -- spanning the nearly Texas-sized nation, Wolmar writes in this very readable and engrossing history of railroads.
Read more here