Williamstown, MA looking more like a Christmas card thanHalloween this weekend. AP Photo
Much of the northeast and mid-Atlantic region was socked by an unusually early snowstorm this weekend, knocking down tree branches, shutting down schools, airports or highways and leaving millions without electricity. Some officials say that it could be up to a week before electricity is fully restored in some areas.
From West Virginia to Maine, residents were digging themselves out from as many as 32 inches of snow in some places. Governors throughout the region declared a state of emergency as utility crews and personell worked to restore power, open up roadways and remove falled tree limbs.
In Connecticut, Governor Malloy ordered 900 cots and food brought to Hartford's stranded travellers at Bradley International Airport. Travellers on a Jet Blue flight that was diverted from Newark to Bradley International were stranded on the tarmac for nearly 7 hours with no food, water or functioning bathrooms. Firefighters and paramedics came on board to treat a parapalegic who had trouble with the circulation in his legs before the remaining passengers were eventually bussed to the terminal.
In New York City, Central Park was closed after a woman was injured from being hit by a falling tree limb. Crews have been working to chip the fallen trees and reopen the park in time for the New York City marathon, despite as little as one inch falling on Manhattan. However, the snow was wet and heavy and many of the trees were thought to have been weakened from Tropical Storm Irene passing through in late August.
New England Central detour freight MFMO (Millers Falls, MA- MOhawk Yard, Schenectady NY) preparing to head west at Pan Am's former Boston & Maine yard in East Deerfield, MA on September 8, 2011. Only a stone's throw away from the NECR interchange at Millers Falls, the train will then continue north to Whitehall, NY where it will traverse over the Vermont Railway system via Rutland and north to 'home' rails at Burlington, VT- Photo, Matt Baj
As cleanup from Irene continued throughout the Green Mountain state and elsewhere, Class 1 and regional rail carriers were scrambling to accommodate an array of detour traffic over the regions intact lines throughout the month of September.
Canadian Pacific ES44AC GEVO #8780 and a pair of former BNSF SD40-2s blast out of the East Portal of the Hoosac Tunnel in Florida, MA with loaded unit ethanol train MOPW (MOhawk Yard to Providence & Worcester interchange at Gardner, MA)on September 10, 2011. The first car is actually a spacer, while the ethanol tak cars are obscured by the shadows. Photo, Matt Rooks
The flurry of activity breathed new life into obscure and long-forgotten junctions and spawned an alphabet soup of new and improvised train symbols on one railway.
Rail America's New England Central got the ball rolling on September 9th with a southbound detour train from Essex Jct, VT that consisted primarily of empty welded rail cars from the track improvement project on NECR's Roxbury and Palmer subdivisions and backlogged freight cars. The detour train (NECR gave it the symbol 323X) would traverse the western end of the Green Mountain state between Burlington and Rutland before heading west to the Canadian Pacific interchange at Whitehall, NY on the Vermont Railway's former Delaware & Hudson's Rutland branch.
Once on CP rails, the detour freight would be handed off to the Pan Am railway at Mohawk Yard just outside of Schenectady, NY. From there, the NECR detour would continue east over the former Boston & Maine Fitchburg Main to the NECR interchange at Millers Falls, MA.
At least one unit ethanol train was rerouted off VRS's Green Mountain Gateway in the wake of Irene. On September 10, Canadian Pacific handed off a 50 car loaded ethanol train to Pan Am at Mohawk Yard. From there, the train would travel as far east as Gardner, MA on the former Boston & Maine line where it was handed off to the Providence & Worcester.
Vermont Railway GP38-2 #303 leads a solid set of red EMDs north out of Crescent, NY after having just swapped cars with Pan Am freight EDSR (East Deerfield, MA to Canadian Pacific's yard at SaRatoga, NY) on September 11, 2011. The Pan Am freight picked up carloads of limestone slurry and handed over ballast cars and empties. Normally, the interchange would take place in Hoosac Falls, NY. Photo, Gary R. Schermerhorn
The B&R line between Rutland and North Bennington, VT was also damaged in the aftermath of Irene. In addition to local lumber and grain traffic, this portion of the Vermont Railway System also hosts a weekly unit limestone slurry train that is handed off to Pan Am in Hoosac Jct, NY and on to Maine from there. Interestingly, the original routing for the slurry train when it first started was over the Green Mountain gateway where it was interchanged with the Pan Am at Bellows Falls before continuing to Maine. The south end of the B&R branch was reopened in recent years to accommodate the slurry train and give the VRS and Pan Am a second interchange point.
Like the NECR detours, the VRS slurry train reached the Pan Am via Canadian Pacific at the Whitehall, NY interchange and used Vermont Railway motive power- although instead of travelling to Mohawk Yard, they apparently met with a Pan Am freight just outside of Saratoga, NY on Canadian Pacific's former D&H Bridge Line.
New England Central GP38-2 #3857 leads a mixed bag of power from other Rail America roads and leasers across the Hudson River on the former Boston & Maine west end in Mechanicsville, NY at dusk on September 16th, 2011 with symbol freight MFMO. This would be the last NECR detour train using the Pan Am routing as the Green Mountain Railway line would reopen to through traffic less than 24 hours later. Photo, John Bazan
On September 16, the Vermont Railway's Green Mountain Line re-opened to through traffic between Rutland and Bellows Falls, VT. Not only did this mean that through trains could resume on the former Green Mountain Railway, but that the NECR could utilize a less circuitous detour than the Pan Am and Canadian Pacific lines through Western Massachusetts and Upstate New York while work was continuing on reopening their Roxbury Subdivision north of White River Jct, VT. Instead, NECR trains could travel from New London, CT or Palmer, MA as far north as Bellows Falls, VT before detouring over the Vermont Railway System.
Former Goderich & Exeter GP38 #3843 leads a NECR GP38-2 and Connectictut Southern B39-8 as they lean into the curve at Royalton, VT with New England Central train 323-21 on September 21, 2011. This is the first northbound through train on the former Central Vermont Roxbury Subdivision since Tropical Storm Irene struck. Photo, Kevin Burkholder
After weeks of clearing fallen trees and moving in train loads of ballast, rip rap and gravel, the NECR line north of White River Jct and south of Essex Jct, VT had been reopened to through traffic on September 21st.
Crews had been working around the clock to reopen both the VRS and NECR lines since late August. The final NECR work train reportedly ran north out of White River Jct. on September 25 with a Florida East Coast GP40-2 (ironically, with the 'Hurricane' logo on the hood) and a NECR GP38-2 followed by 9 cars of rip rap to shore up repairs made along the line.
While most of VRS's Washington County Railway line between Newport, VT and White River Jct survived Irene, the trestle across the White River itself was undercut when floodwaters twisted one of the stone piers supporting it, causing the deck to drop almost 6 feet our of alignment. Crews have erected a temporary support system and will replace the damaged piers with a concrete pillar. The bridge might be carrying trains as early as this week. Since the warped trestle isolated the WACR's Connecticut River Division from the rest of the Vermont Railway system, the WACR has been borrowing a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic B39-8 to service the line south of the MM&A interchange in Newport.
A 57 year old yoga instructor and former Miss Iceland is reportedly the tipster who notified the FBI of fugitive Boston mobster Whitey Bulger's whereabouts, according to an article in the Boston Globe. The FBI captured the 81 year old former Winter Hill Gang leader with his 60 year old girlfriend Catherine Greig at their Santa Monica, CA condo in June of this year after 16 years on the run.
Bulger is facing prosecution on multiple counts of drug trafficking, extortion and his role in at least 19 homicides in Massachusetts, Florida and Oklahoma. Bulger operated the south Boston Winter Hill Gang throughout the 1970s and 80s while enjoying protection from the FBI thanks in large part to Agent John Connolly who was a childhood friend of Bulger's. Bulger also used his status as a confidential informant for the FBI to undercut operations of the rival Patriarcha crime family, only to step into the vacuum left behind when their leaders were incarcerated, under surveillance or in hiding.
Recent photos of Bulger (R) and Bjornsdottir (L)- AP
Greig and Bjornsdottir reportedly met while caring for the same stray cat on the grounds of their Santa Monica condo. The former model and Miss Iceland did not recognize the couple until a recent trip back to Iceland when she saw a televised bulletin put out by the FBI regarding the couple.
For 15 years, the FBI investigation into Bulger's whereabouts went almost nowhere. There were miscellaneous reports circulating that Bulger was hiding out in British Columbia or Costa Rica, but the last reputable sighting of him was at a London, England hotel in 2002. However, by shifting the focus to Bulger's travelling companion Greig and broadcasting bulletins during daytime TV shows, an arrest was made in less than a month.
Now, however, there's some concern over both Mrs. Bjornsdottir's safety and the integrity of the FBI's tipline for those who wish to remain anonymous. The former Icelandic beauty queen did not come forward on her how volition- details about her identity and personal life were leaked and then published in the Boston Globe.
While there are those in the media and law-enforcement who feel that Bjornsdottir is in no imminent danger owing to the fact that Bulger's few remaining friends and allies are dead or incarcerated, law enforcement can no longer guarantee her safety now that the Globe has published her personal information.
“They can’t guarantee her 100 percent safety going forward,” said former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. “It’s unnecessary publicity and unnecessary harassment.
“There is a huge risk to the (tipster) program, generally, to be able to cultivate informants if their identification is at risk,” added Sullivan, a partner in the Ashcroft Law Firm. “It has a chilling effect.”
When I first heard this story earlier today, I initially thought that Anna revealed herself as the tipster that broke the case on her own volition.
Now that it's becoming apparent this information was leaked by somebody other than Bjornsdottir, aside from the obvious questionable judgement the Globe had demonstrated in publishing her photo, most recent whereabouts and amount received from the reward money, there's also some serious questions regarding the FBI's ability to protect the identity of anonymous tipsters. Think about it- how many witnesses would be willing to come forward with information that could break a particularly difficult case wide open will have second thoughts now?
