Western Railroad Discussion > NWP Reconstruction

Here are a few pix of work on the NWP. I drove up to Penn Grove just out of curiosity. The first two pix show the end of active track at Ely Road. The first is looking north showing new rail and concrete ties. The second is looking south showing a covered hopper in the feed plant, which right now is the most northerly industry being served. The third picture is looking south from Main Street in Penn Grove.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/12 15:45 by jbwest.

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I then drove north from Penn Grove to Railroad Avenue and look this picture of the more or less finished work.

JBWX

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This is all nice but me thinks it's going to lead to freight trains at night ala the Escondido.

Is any rail service plan pass PENN GROVE & the near future?

Rehunn...You are right...we won't see any day light freight service on the NWP once Smart gets rolling...

The SMART rolling stock is to be "compliant" so freights do not have to be time-separated.
That does not answer the question as to whether there will be time for freight between passenger moves.

The DMU's from Sumitomo are FRA compliant anf NWP freights will not be banished to night time hours or have to be time separated. One early operating plan from SMART had the Petaluma Hauler going northbound after the last southbound morning run. Mike Pechner

What is the timing between DMU's? From a planning standpoint I can't see there being a huge demand for this service as there doesn't appear to be the urban densities to support a mass transit rail system here. I could see this service being utilized in the morning and evening during commute hours, but mid day I would expect it to be quiet.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Thank you for the update.

Speaking of the NWP, could some one with a speeder, and with tools to clear the brush, plenty of gas, camping gear, make the run from the current location to Willits, and possibly beyond?

Also, what are the 2 cars in a fenced yard in Santa Rosa along the ROW, and are the daylight cars still at Asti Vineyards?

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> The SMART rolling stock is to be "compliant" so
> freights do not have to be time-separated.
>
What does "compliant" mean in this context?

Glad things are actually improving on the NWP itself! Any chance they're gonna go all the way back to Eureka and restore the branch to Arcata?

No...too many massive rock slides in the Eel River Canyon...Willits is the planned northern terminus

There is, however, a movement to establish an East-West line from Eureka to Redbluff...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/12 22:39 by WP707.

CPRR Wrote:
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> Thank you for the update.
>
> Speaking of the NWP, could some one with a
> speeder, and with tools to clear the brush, plenty
> of gas, camping gear, make the run from the
> current location to Willits, and possibly beyond?
>
> Also, what are the 2 cars in a fenced yard in
> Santa Rosa along the ROW, and are the daylight
> cars still at Asti Vineyards?

No...first: you'd be trespassing, second: the line is way overgrown with trees in the middle of the tracks, third: rock slides might exist as they do further up the line...

The irony is the Cloverdale rail station, build when the freeway bypass went it...it has a nice clock and parking lot, but, no trains since they built it in the 1990's...

Much of the NWP's revenue came from lumber mills that no longer exist...