Western Railroad Discussion > Nuke special almost at it's destination

Took this back in August of what we used to call an AEC Special, AEC for Atomic Energy Commission. Not sure what they are called now. This is on the Scoville branch just past Aberdeen Junction where the Aberdeen Branch heads to the south to Aberdeen. This used to be the Mackay branch that starts in Blackfoot ID and runs to Scoville MP 42 at the Idaho National Lab. Got the sun on the wrong side but it was going a different direction than we were. I worked these a couple of times in the late '80s, usually had multiple cars back then. Needless to say there was a lot of security on our arrival. One of the few branch lines laid with used 133lb CWR. Chased a fox once on the way out that was able to run at least 36 mph for about a quarter mile right between the rails. Finally took a right turn into the dark. 
 

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x6924w Wrote:
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> Took this back in August of what we used to call
> an AEC Special, AEC for Atomic Energy Commission.
> Not sure what they are called now.

It's likely called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

I Remember about twenty years ago the media got a hold of a story that one of these type trains was going to move through Fort Wayne on the old Nickel Plate, about three miles from my house.  Within a day or two, some bright eyed college kid showed up at our door with a clipboard wanting my wife and I to sign a petition to stop it.  I told the kid that if you're hearing about it now, there's a good chance it had already happened, there was no way him or anybody else was going to stop it, that these trains were quite safe and that I FULLY supported the movement.  After a couple of feeble attempts to change my mind, he left our front porch totally bewildered.

The AEC was eliminated in 1974.
It was was replaced by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 1977.

S_W

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