THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407060145
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 113 lines
THE AVERAGE SPEED is 10 miles per hour.
Bicycle? No - train.
``We only have 16 1/2 miles of track, so what's the rush? You go faster, it means more wear and tear on equipment,'' said William A. Jasper.
He is the 37-year-old general manager of Transportation & Administration for Rail Link Inc. in Midlothian, the company that owns Commonwealth Railway Inc.
Their little trains are the ones you see when you're not seeing the larger Norfolk Southern or Chessie freights.
Commonwealth is to railroading what Perry Como was to pop music - relaxed, laid back, in no particular hurry.
Is that any way to run a railroad?
Commonwealth customers in Suffolk - all three of them - have no complaints.
The little engine that could does deliver the goods to Virginia Packaging Co. Inc. in the Wilroy Industrial Park, and Allied Colloids.
Then the train clatters and creaks its way into Portsmouth for deliveries to Hoechst Celanese Chemical.
``Trucks are faster, trains are cheaper,'' Jasper said.
It is a fact of life that has made short-line railroads across the country work so well.
Rail Link also works tracks between Pinetown and Belhaven, and Hickory and Lenoir, both in North Carolina.
In this area, Commonwealth owns four miles of track and leases 12 1/2 miles, which it also maintains, from Norfolk Southern.
A decade ago, Norfolk Southern was riding most of its own tracks.
``They had union labor and larger crews - three or four men. It was more costly to operate,'' Jasper said. ``We felt we could operate more economically, more profitably.''
Rail Link, which became operative in April 1987, formed Commonwealth in August 1989.
Since then the company has been making its daily runs, now handled by 27-year-old Jeff Moore and 41-year-old Kandell Hollingsworth.
Each week, they alternate as engineer and assistant, the latter handling the switching and making sure the tracks are cleared.
``We usually use hand signals,'' Hollingsworth said. ``It saves the communications system for when we really need it.''
Both men went through the Federal Railroad Administration's certification program for railroad engineers.
``You gotta have your driver's license,'' Hollingsworth said.
He and Moore and Commonwealth's lone diesel electric engine begin their day at the Norfolk Southern freight yard on East Washington Street. They pick up the freight from that company's cars to deliver to their trio of customers on tracks that are 75 to 80 years old.
Said tracks, over the years, have been used by Atlantic-Danville, then Norfolk-Franklin & Danville, then Norfolk & Western, which changed to Norfolk Southern.
Commonwealth is one of the few mainline operations that makes its runs during the day.
``Most run at night - better visibility, reduced traffic and reduced risk factors,'' Hollingsworth said.
``There's less chance of traffic on the road at midnight than noon,'' Moore said.
Traffic - cars running gates - ``is no problem in Suffolk,'' Hollingsworth said, ``but a bit of a problem in Portsmouth.''
He had more than a bit of a problem finding a way to work on the railroad.
``I worked at a variety of odd jobs,'' Hollingsworth said. ``I put in 17 applications before I got my first railroad job.''
He remembers his first day on the job in 1988.
``I began work at 8 o'clock,'' Hollingsworth said. ``My daddy died five hours later.''
Moore was not looking for a railroad job at first, even though his father clerked for Norfolk Southern.
``I went to college, but I had little direction,'' he said. ``I took this route, and I've loved it ever since.''
One thing both men love is the daytime work, Hollingsworth proclaiming it ``better for family life.''
Moore likes the steadiness of the work.
``When I was with Norfolk Southern - no work, no pay. I don't have that with Commonwealth,'' he said.
``I literally waited for the phone to ring,'' Hollingsworth said. ``If I wasn't home to answer, that was a day's pay lost.''
Each day, there are the pickup and deliveries, each day there is the slow trip down the mostly straight tracks.
Each day the blast of the horn can be heard throughout the land - this part of it, anyway - as the little Commonwealth train approaches the multitudinous crossings on its way to its customers - all three of them. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo on cover by MICHAEL KESTNER
The Commonwealth Railway engine begins its delivery rounds on a
short line between Suffolk and Portsmouth.
Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
Bill Jasper, general manager of transportation and administration
for Rail Link, the parent of Commonwealth Railway, climbs aboard the
diesel engine.
Kandell Hollingsworth checks the tracks as No. 517 pulls some tanks
onto a rail siding for transfer to Norfolk Southern. In this area,
Commonwealth owns four miles of track and leases 12 1/2 miles, which
it also maintains, from Norfolk Southern.
Engineer Jeff Moore talks with the crew as the train picks up
freight from Norfolk Southern to deliver to their trio of customers
on tracks that are 75 to 80 years old.
by CNB