SFX Whistle Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, a Mexican restaurant serving the Phoenix area since 1990.

Raildreams, a designer and builder of custom model railroads since 1994.

The Minnesota Commercial Railroad, providing industrial rail service trucking and warehousing in the Twin Cities.

Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we'll head to Zanesville, Ohio, for a look at a club layout.

We'll meet a man who was in the middle of each major crisis of the railroad industry, and we'll head to the Garden State, where a tourist and freight railroad keeps history alive.

Most of us are familiar with the Panama Canal.

It's one of the wonders of modern engineering.

It's a transcontinental masterpiece connecting the Atlantic and Pacific.

But, did you know that there's a Panama Canal Railway that runs alongside the canal?

It's helping turn Panama into the trade and transportation powerhouse of Latin America.

Annc: Nearly fifteen-thousand ships a year pass through the Panama Canal, carrying millions of containers of freight, and hundreds of millions of tons of cargo.

Often, shipping companies are able to save the tremendous time and expense of having to go through the canal, by having the cargo removed from the ships, and then taken by the cars of The Panama Canal Railway from one side of Panama to the other.

There, it can be loaded back onto other ships, or trucks, bound for the multiple locations where the cargo is destined.

In the shipping industry, the Panama Canal really is the gateway to the world.

It is a quick and efficient trip, more than one-hundred-and fifty years in the making.

The original railroad, built in the 1850's, was a single track operation, 47 miles long, which pre-dated the canal.

It was the first transcontinental railroad in the Americas.

Business was good, until competition later that century from a new transcontinental railroad in the United States.

The Panama Canal itself opened for business in 1914.

But freight business on the rickety old railroad continued to decline, hurt even more by a highway across Panama that opened in the 1940's.

The United States had rebuilt the railroad, and operated it until the late 1970's when, under terms of the Panama Canal Treaty, it was turned over to the country of Panama.

It continued to decline until the country decided to privatize the railroad in 1998, and selected an American company to give it a new life.

With a 50-year-agreement to run the railroad, the new Panama Canal Railway Company was born.

The partnership included the historic Kansas City Southern Railroad, and Midwest based Mi-Jack, one of the worlds leading intermodal terminal and port operators.

Two hundred eighty thousand-tons of granite ballast, and mile after mile of tough steel-welded rail was brought in from Canada.

One hundred fifty thousand concrete cross-ties were made in Columbia, to withstand the tropical heat and humidity that could disintegrate the old wooden ties.

The nearly $100 million dollar revitalization investment, included a complete rebuilding of the railroad into something that now compliments the transportation infrastructure.

In the first year of the 21st century the new railroad, flanking the scenic canal, began to roll through the lush jungles of Panama.

Business is booming.

Tom: The Panama Canal inaugurated in 1914, became a magnet for shipping and trade routes, bringing a lot of shipping lines into this area and currently moves about 4% of the world commerce through the canal.

There's 14,000 ships that use the canal on a yearly basis, and this creates a critical mass that me sense to connect both oceans not only with the water canal, but also with a link which is the railroad.

The government of Panama in 1995 began privatizing the ports of Panama and got world class players to come in here and invest in the port systems.

The ports of Panama quickly surpassed many of the ports in the world, and in 1998 when the government of Panama decided to privatize the railroad, Kansas City Southern and Mi-Jack decided that it was the right time to take advantage of the critical mass that was generated with a distribution center here in Panama to connect these ports.

We inaugurated in the year 2000 and we basically serve parallel to the canal moving containers from ocean to ocean.

Shipping lines have identified in the Panama Canal Railway a way to extend their services to dual oceans, two oceans, without having to move their ships across the canal.

They use us as a tool to move containers from the Pacific to the Atlantic or the Atlantic to the Pacific where they connect to other vessels.

Basically what the shipping lines have identified in the Panama Canal Railway is we've taken the major ports on the Pacific of Panama and the Atlantic of Panama and we've molded them into just one port.

Shipping lines can now come and call at Panama, discharge cargo, load cargo at any port and we make them ocean indifferent.

We move the containers to the ocean they need them to move later on.

Annc: Trains operate continuously between the terminals on the Atlantic side, and those on the Pacific side.

One of the most interesting things about this modern railroad can be found at the dispatch center where a high-tech composite processor based train control system uses Global Positioning Systems to help monitor the location, movement, and even speed of the trains.

Tom: The system really doesn't control the train, the crew does.

But the system oversees the train and makes sure the crew doesn't put themselves into a hazardous situation or something that could cause an accident or a mishap.

The system works by having knowledge of the train, the territory, the speeds that are allowed in the territory, and what the dispatchers instructions are in terms of where the train should go, how fast it can go, and what's called the train handling, the characteristics of the train, how heavy it is, how long it is, and the territory in terms of the grade, are you going up hill or downhill.

It uses GPS initially to ascertain a position for the train, and then with that knowledge it goes back and looks at a map of the territory.

And it derives the characteristics.

And then it decides what a safe speed would be and whether or not the crew is putting themselves in danger.

The problem with a train is that it's normal for a train to take anywhere from one and a half to three miles to stop.

So if the crew is late or does something that puts them selves into a hazardous situation, they may not be able to recover.

And we try to make sure that the crew never puts themselves in that situation.

Annc: And it's not just freight that's carried by this railroad.

Luxury passenger service has proven to be incredibly popular for commuters who live near the line, and visitors.

Jay: Our commuter operation is generally for the executives in the Free Zone.

We run a commuter train northbound and southbound Monday through Friday and it pretty much fills up these days.

During the cruise season in the Carribean, basically from October through May we have the cruise season.

And it works out well for us.

The cruisers come in on the Carribean side and that is where the commuter train rests during the day.

And we have about a 120 calls per year and we will take the cruisers on board on the Atlantic side, run them over for the day, and return to Colon and continue with our commuter service.

Annc: The Panama Canal and the railway right next door, are both testament to the engineering brilliance and extreme ingenuity of mankind.

The fact that they are both efficient, complimentary to one another, and economically successful are proof that they are also well run businesses.

Think of the railway as a bridge between oceans, helping to keep a constant flow of containerized goods.

When does model railroading become an aebic activity?

There's a club in Ohio that took the hobby to a new level of physical endurance.

Annc: In the small city of Zanesville Ohio stands a very large landmark.

A "Y"-shaped bridge spans the junction of two rivers.

It's said to be the only bridge of its type in the world.

Just beyond the river stands another local landmark, a site marked only by the small initials on the door.

Inside, the Zane Trace and National Trail Model Railroad Club has built a freelanced railroad inspired by the cities, the industries and the rolling hills of southern Ohio.

B&0 63 you have permission to leave Jackson Siding.

Annc: The club's twenty-five members have deep roots in the area and applied their knowledge of its history and landscape to the design of the railroad.

Greg Short, who works fulltime as a local fireman, has been a member of the Zanesville club for 25 years.

Greg: I had a great uncle who was a member of another club, got me involved in model railroading, my dad helped me get started with four by eight model railroading and over time I came to join here and helped build this layout and other things.

Annc: Zanesville is located 50 miles east of Columbus, Ohio.

The club takes its name from an early frontier path through the Ohio Valley built by pioneer Ebenezer Zane.

A segment of the trail became part of the National Road,a major route for settlers heading west in the 1800's.

1633, permission to go into Nitro Annc: While much is known about the namesake of the club, its own early days remain a mystery.

It was formed sometime around 1950 but no one knows where.

They've been here at this site for the past 30 years.

Greg: The club has been located here since the 1970's.

We are currently on the third layout done at this location.

Annc: The layout is designed as a series of loops but operates as a point to point railroad covering 12 scale miles between Zanesville and Charleston, West Virginia.

Nearby cities are also represented including Vienna, where a major bridge crosses the Ohio River.

South of Vienna, the scenic hills become the rugged terrain of the Appalachian Mountains.

Greg: The highpoint of this layout is definitely the scenery.

We've used several techniques.

We have a member who has access to cardboard so we have a lot of cardboard based shell, we also use a lot of foam board that we have stacked, carved and then covered either in plaster or painted it or just used ground foam, things like that to cover it.

Annc: The railroad is dominated by large industries including a stamping company, and The National Republic Steel Plant which serves as the railroad's largest customer.

Many of the structures were built to represent area landmarks.

Greg: Structures were either straight out of the box and built that way or kitbashed.

Rolling stock mostly belongs to individual club members.

The club itself owns about 25 or 30 cars, and we do things like weather them, put metal wheels on, Kadee couplers, pretty much what you'd do on any model railroad.

Annc: The club started work on this current layout back in 1992 but the project was nearly derailed by a steep and very long stairway.

Greg: Some of the biggest challenges we've faced have been the building itself, being on the third floor, being able to move everything up here to accomplish what we've done.

Annc: The club's location on a top floor of a building with no air conditioning and no elevator made the demolition and rebuild a major challenge but one that, in the end, was well worth the effort.

Greg: We went from being able to operate two trains in the yard to having three operational main yards, we can operate four mainline cabs now as well as we have five industries that all have their own power and can be run during a session.

Annc: Club members decided on a maximum grade of 2.3 percent to make it challenging but still allow for long trains.

The design also called for most of the track to be built near eye level to give a more realistic viewing experience.

Numerous small details add to the effect.

Greg: We have a few areas on here where we have little animated scenes.

We have a bulldozer that's operational, we have what looks like a man welding on a pipeline in another area, and we have a lot of the buildings on the layout lighted.

We do it to give a more realistic effect to the layout, make the action look like you're in a real scene.

Annc: While the club is happy with the current layout, major improvements continue.

Greg: Right now our biggest challenge is we're going through and signaling the whole layout as well as installing switch machines on all the mainline switches which are already installed so adding that we have to come in from underneath to install these things makes it a challenge.

Annc: After 30 years of stair-climbing their way through three different layouts, members of the Zane Trace and National Trail Model Railroad Club are ready to take on any challenges, and continue to be inspired by what they know best: the landmarks, the history, and the beauty of southern Ohio.

The club may keep a low profile but it's very popular in Zanesville and crowds of people attend their two-day open house held once a year in November.

Years ago, the railroad industry suffered through major upheavals.

In a moment, we'll meet a man who was at each stage of the crisis, and who seemed to reappear in the middle of the action, just like Forrest Gump.

First though, we're off to New Jersey.

The Garden State has long been home to some of the nation's oldest railroads.

While most have passed into history, there is still one which has combined passenger and freight operations to keep making money in the 21st century.

Let's take a visit.

Annc: The history and heritage of railroading is one of the most treasured aspects of Americana.

And thanks to the tireless efforts of a special group of New Jersey volunteers, the Black River Railroad System is a living legacy of early to mid twentieth century transportation technology.

With stations in Flemington, Ringoes, and Phillipsburg in central New Jersey, the operation services over 30,000 passengers a year.

Kean: In 1961 a group of railroad enthusiasts got together with an old steam locomotive and some cars, with the idea of preserving the equipment, and started running a tourist passenger operation.

After having a couple of other homes around the state, they came to Flemington in 1964 and the operation began out of Ringoes in 1965.

We started off by leasing the line from the Pennsylvania RR.

Jumping ahead a little bit, in 1995 we purchased Conrail's Delaware secondary, which was the other part of this railroad.

In 1999 we bought a couple more miles of RR across the river to Easton, PA, and in 2004 we started our passenger operation on the Belvedere & Delaware railroad.

So today we have 2 short line RRs, both with passenger excursions and also serving local freight customers with a short line RR.

On the BR&W you roll through the rolling hills of Hunterin County.

Some of it is still very rural, though there are places where development has encroached on the line a little bit.

But you still see farmland and animals and tractors and rivers.

It's still very scenic out here in Hunterin County.

The Belvedere & Delaware RR runs along the Delaware river through some sections of the Delaware river valley that you cannot get to on the Jersey side from any place other than being on our train ride, and we go through.

we go past some, uh.

historic, uh.

lime kilns, uh.

ruins, which are kind of unique and go through some of the small villages that are off the beaten path there in Warren County.

The station here in Ringoes was built in 1872.

It had a couple of modifications to it early on, but it has always been a RR station.

It has never been converted to anything else and converted back, and we're pretty lucky to have that here.

Annc: But it's not just the buildings and the scenery that make the Black River Railroad System an interesting visit.

For the true rail fan, the historic railroading technology is the foremost attraction.

Kean: The Delaware Turtle is a 1930 rail car which we bought from the Edward Motor Car Co. in Florida.

We've had it here for a couple of seasons.

It's kind of unique in that it's a gas car.

It seats about 40 people.

It's bid-directional.

It has a mechanical transmission.

It was originally used as a Sperry motor car.

as an all baggage car with the rail detection equipment in it.

Primarily used on the New Haven RR.

We bought the #60 in 1965 from the Great Western RR.

It's a 1937 Alco 2-8-0 type consolidation.

Being built in 1937, it's got all the modern appliances.

It's super-heated.

It's a great steaming locomotive, coal fired, and it's perfect for our RR here.

We're doing the 15 year inspection.

Of course that included the re-engineering of the boiler for the form 4.

The project is in its 2nd or 3rd year.

We expect to spend about $100,000 on the project.

On the Belvedere & Delaware we operate the NY Susquehanna & Western 142, a Mikado built in 1989 in China.

Whistle I think one of the things that makes the operation unique is longevity.

We've been running passenger trains on the same schedule since 1965 continuously.

The other thing I think that makes this operation unique is the passenger trains are all operated by volunteer crews.

We have probably close to 100 volunteers here at the BR&W and Belvedere & Delaware River railways.

On the BR&W the group is the Black River RR Historical Trust.

On the Belvedere & Delaware we are partners with the NY Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society, which is a group of 700 or more members, of which about 50 are active in the RR operation.

I think the thing that makes the train ride so great for people of all ages is that it's a slowdown from our fast paced world.

You get on the train in Flemington and Ringoes and people are always amazed it's going to take 25 minutes to get to the destination only 5 miles away.

And I think it gives people the chance to kind of reflect on a simpler time.

And I think people like that, and it's something you cannot get from a computer screen or a TV screen, and the experience, especially with the steam engines, is very real.

Annc: In a world where so much of our reality is becoming virtual, it's certainly refreshing to experience America's railroading history so vividly.

up close and personal.

knowing that one day, it just might disappear.

Music Annc: Jim McClellan knows how to paint trains.

He also knows how to run them, how to manage them and, how to save them.

Looking back on his career today, Jim McClellan calls himself the Forrest Gump of Railroading.

Jim: Well, if you remember the movie, Forest Gump kept showing up at a lot of the major events of the sixties and seventies and as it turned out I just happened to be at Penn Central when it went bankrupt, I was at the creation of Amtrak, the creation of Conrail, the breakup of Conrail, and so all the major events of the eastern railroads, I was there.

Annc: But Jim was more than a bystander at these events.

He played a pivotal role in saving an ailing industry.

Jim: Railroading was a business that desperately needed change, it was, it had to change and what we did was slim it down, a painful process, turn it into a very efficient business.

Very very difficult to do.

Annc: Jim got interested in railroads as a young boy in Texas.

He started painting trains and later taking photographs of them, both hobbies he's continued to this day.

In 1962 he took a job at Southern Railway and from there headed to New York for what he thought would be his dream job.

But two years after his arrival, New York Central merged with its archrival, the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The merger would lead to the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Jim: They were fairly desperate, they were losing money, worse than that their properties were in bad shape and so they were forced into a marriage of convenience, a merger between two cultures that basically hated each other.

Annc: After witnessing the downward spiral of two major railroads, Jim fled New York for Washington to join the Federal Railroad Administration, struggling to get the new Amtrak system approved by Congress.

Jim: The office of management and budget and this was the Nixon era, didn't want to spend a nickel on the railroads, fearing that if they spent the first nickel there'd be a lot to follow and frankly to get it done those of us including me bent the numbers a bit to get the concept by Congress.

There you go.

Annc: Once the legislation passed, Amtrak was given just six months to start operations.

Jim went from crunching the numbers to planning the actual operation of the trains.

Jim: When I got to Amtrak there were very few people of any railroad experience so we had to make a lot of decisions right then right now about how to transform that system for example I originated, the hourly metro service is one of my creations I had schedules and train consists, that's the makeup of the trains and pricing so I had a lot of authority and we just did things.

Annc: With Amtrak underway, Jim moved on to his next challenge, forming Conrail out of several bankrupt railroads.

Jim: So what we did was restructure the business, slimmed it down as far as people, mileage, collapsed it into one company and then put a lot of money into investing to make it work.

Annc: After twelve years in Washington, Jim returned to Southern Railway which was now Norfolk Southern.

In 1994, Conrail was put up for sale and Jim once again found himself embroiled in a crisis, this time, a takeover fight with archrival CSX.

Four years later a compromise was reached and Conrail was divided, giving Norfolk Southern a gateway to major markets.

But for Jim, who was about to retire, this long-fought victory would trigger a personal crisis.

At home, friends were gathering to help him celebrate, but Jim was in no mood to party.

Jim: We had acquired just days earlier our portion of Conrail, something I'd worked off and on for 20 years, and it was a miserable failure, trains were stopped and there were a lot of operational problems, it wasn't working, so I was fairly depressed and all these people were here to have a party and my wife had worked so long to make that happen that I was really fairly grumpy.

Annc: After all he'd been through in the railroad business, Jim was not about to end his career on a low note.

Retirement would simply have to wait.

Jim: I stayed for three more years, that was the choice I made, and the railroad did turn around, so I left on a very high note and Norfolk Southern was when I left it three years ago and is still today a very successful company.

Annc: Since his retirement, Jim is still chasing trains and traveling the world.

His son Michael, who shares his father's passion, is now a Vice President at Norfolk Southern.

And despite his turbulent career in railroading, Jim McClellan, like Forrest Gump, continues to paint an optimistic view of the future.

Jim: This country's going to turn toward efficiency we're seeing it in passenger service to California, gonna be slow but it's one of these things, the industry's lasted long enough its time is come again.

I'm pretty optimistic about it.

Jim McClellan still has a constant presence at the Norfolk Southern.

The chairman of the company has one of Jim's railroad paintings hanging on his wall.

Well, that's it for this episode.

Be sure to join us next time for more, Tracks Ahead.

Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, a Mexican restaurant serving the Phoenix area since 1990.

Walthers, manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products; serving the hobby since 1932.

The Minnesota Commercial Railroad, providing industrial rail service trucking and warehousing in the Twin Cities.

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