I had no clue that the UP was in the municipal public utility biz. It sounds as if they aren’t very good at it either. Does anyone know how many municipalities that Union Pacific provides utilties for? Here is a link to the article… http://www.turnto23.com/news/14305012/detail.html
I’d never heard about a rail carrier being in the water utility business before.
Since that’s in the Tehachapi area, it must be a little mess which UP bought along with the rest of SP.
For the sake of all concerned, let’s hope that there’s some solution besides 1) scarce, rusty water and 2) $800/month utility bills!
I am not familiar with the circumstances at Keene, however many small towns had their origin at isolated RR locations where it was necessary to have facilities and employees to: maintain a water pump and tank for steam locomotives, man the station to provide train orders, have a section crew to maintain the track and perhaps other duties. As a result the RR built housing for their employees in some cases and as the RR progressed into the modern era these facilities were no longer needed by the RR so they were sold and moved from the property, or the extra width property upon which the improvements were situated was sold with them on it.
Sometimes small towns developed at these locations and since the RR already had water facilities they allowed the towns to ‘hook up’ and charged a small fee for the water. It appears that the SP continued to own and operate the water facilities at Keene and UP inherited them and any problems which may develope. Perhaps there is another explanation but this one seems likely.
Keene is on the Tehachapi line not too far below the loop. Back in the day it was THE major water stop, where multiple AC’s would fill up from, IIRC, at least four large water tanks.
Since diesels don’t top off with coolant, only God and the former SP management knows why the railroad didn’t get out of Keene’s water business decades ago.
Right now, the entire area is experiencing a severe drought, and the water quality is suffering. Plus, I don’t doubt that some essential maintenance has been deferred since the last AC-12 stomped off upgrade. I can understand that the locals feel very put-upon. I can also understand that any sane railroad management would bail out of this unprofitable left-from-the-past sideline just as quickly as the legal department could file the necessary papers.
Chuck (desert dweller)
That is more or less what my assumption was as to how UP ended up providing water to an entire town. I still think it odd that they haven’t gotten out of that business already. If I interpreted the article correctly, the UP will have to petition for abandonment of that water plant as they would with railroad ROWs.
There’s another example of this sort of thing. Years ago the SP sold off “Southern Pacific Railroad Information NeTwork.” You guessed it. “Sprint”
SP sold its communications division (SPC) to GTE before the onset of cellular technology. The Sprint name was coined by GTE. This was at a time when conglomerates composed of unrelated businesses were looked on with disfavor by Wall Street.
It’s possible that SP was stuck with the water business because they couldn’t find a buyer.
The water system for Lamy, New Mexico, on the Santa Fe (now, of course, BNSF) belongs to, is operated by, and is serviced by the railway. Not that Lamy is exactly a metropolis, nonetheless, the railway is in the water utility business there.
(As an aside, a compliment from the past to the safety department of what was then the Santa Fe: We (my volunteer fire department, complete with its fire chief, namely me), was called to Lamy one day for a chlorine leak at the water system. By the time we got there, one very well-trained and safety-conscious employee of the railway had taken care of the problem for us. All we needed to do was ascertain that no one needed medical attention, etc. before we left.
I sent a fire department letter to the employee’s boss, praising the employee.
Oh, yes, one other item: As I departed, I stopped to chat with the only competent state policeman in our area, and inform him that another officer had admitted to me that he had responded at a speed of over one hundred miles per hour, thereby endangering others and himself. Given that the speeding officer would have been totally incapable of handling the incicdent–were it not for the railway employee having done so–I told the “good cop” that I felt this was improper; the “good cop” agreed with me and reported the “bad cop” to a supervisor. )