Allegheny Foundation grant will aid East Broad Top rehab of picnic area
Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to the East Broad Top Foundation to support rehabilitation of the Colgate Picnic Grove, the turnaround point for EBT steam excursions since 1961. The wye at Colgate Grove originated as a spur serving a clay pit near Shirleysburg, with an additional leg added in 1961 to create a wye to turn trains. East Broad Top general manager said the grant will help the railroad make better use of Colgate Grove, where it hopes to schedule musical performances, food tastings, and other events. A new platform will be constructed, and plans are being developed for a new pavilion. “This grant is unusual because the Allegheny Foundation concentrates its giving in southwestern Pennsylvania,” Jane Sheffield, a member of the EBT Foundation’s board of directors and chair of its development committee, said in a press release. “That they were willing to stretch into central Pennsylvania to support this National Historic Landmark railroad in Huntingdon County is a terrific vote of confidence in the EBT Foundation and its plans for reopening the East Broad Top.”
MARTA to hold budget hearings May 10-11, seeks public comment on railcar features
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has scheduled online hearings on its fiscal 2022 operating and capital budgets, and is also seeking public comment on plans for new railcars. The budget hearings will be held Monday, May 10, at 11 a.m., and Tuesday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m. Information on participating, in the hearing, where to watch, and how to submit public comments is available here. A link to information on the budget will be available at the same location beginning May 10 at 9 a.m. EDT. The agency is also inviting the public to help determine many of the interior features for the new railcars currently on order [see “Stadler, MARTA sign $600 million deal …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 15, 2019]. Participants can vote on options for seating, luggage storage, bike areas, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility, and other features here, or at MARTA’s social media sites.
CN sets Canadian grain-movement record for 14th consecutive month
Canadian National announced a 14th consecutive month of record Canadian grain movement, moving 2.9 million metric tons in April to better the mark of 2.82 million metric tons set in April 2020. The railroad has now moved more than 25.6 million metric tons of Canadian grain during the 2020-21 crop year, 17% ahead of the previous year-to-date figure of 21.9 million metric tons set in the 2018-19 crop year. The 890,000 metric tons of containerized crop shipments also represent a record pace. “We believe that our long-term investment strategy was important in setting these 14 consecutive records,” James Cairns, senior vice president, rail centric supply chain, said in a press release, “but none of this would have been possible without everyone’s dedication.”
