ASLRRA hands out annual marketing awards at history-making San Antonio event

Home of The Alamo, San Antonio is a historic city. What better a place for the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) to make attendance history for its annual conference and set a historical mile marker for its annual marketing awards.

During the general session for this year’s conference held yesterday at the Marriott RiverCenter, ASLRRA Chairman Tom Schlosser said a record 1,500 people had registered for the San Antonio event vs. 1,128 registrants at last year's Baltimore conference. In addition, the association set high-water marks for railroad attendees (more than 400), supplier representatives and Class I participation, he said.

“This is now the largest rail convention ever held in North America,” said Schlosser, who also is vice president of government affairs for the San Pedro & Southwestern Railroad and chief executive officer of Global Rail Systems Inc.

ASLRRA officials also announced three winners of the “toughest marketing awards contest to date,” as they put it. Chosen from a record number of entries, the winners are Montana Rail Link, Pioneer Valley Railroad Co. Inc. and R.J. Corman Railroad Co./Central Kentucky Lines, which “embody ingenuity and commitment, both to success and a cleaner environment,” according to the ASLRRA.

Montana Rail Link installed 5,810 feet of track and 8,513 feet of lake bed to facilitate a contaminated sediment move from Milltown to Anaconda, Mont. The regional also obtained trackage rights to a 30-mile BNSF Railway Co. line and leased 90 new 100-ton gondolas to move the sediment in 45-car unit trains. To complete the move in a required timeline of about 800 days, Montana Rail Link will need to move 30,000 loaded cars.

Meanwhile, Pioneer Valley Railroad found ways to move sensitive candle wax for the Yankee Candle Co. of Whatley, Mass. The wax can easily burn if overheated and harden quickly if cooled. The short line previously lost the traffic after a CSX Transportation Transflo facility closed. To reclaim it, Pioneer Valley officials built a new transload facility, upgraded track and leased land from the city of Holyoke to cool superheated steam produced by the city’s utility and use it to warm wax without burning it.

Finally, R.J. Corman’s Central Kentucky Lines last year convinced Nugent Sand to move their sand via rail from Louisville to Lexington, Ky. The sand previously had been backhauled by trucks to barges along the Ohio River. Now, the sand moves in 45-car unit trains. The short line moved 550,000 tons last year and expects to handled 650,000 tons in 2008 — enough to eliminate 29,500 truck trips on Kentucky’s highways, ASLRRA said.

— Jeff Stagl