Due to very weak registrations, we regret to say that the May 8-11 convention in Perris, California is CANCELED. If you registered, you will receive a refund. Please cancel any hotel or travel reservations you have made.
In its place we plan to hold a one-day on-line convention this summer, date and registration details yet to be determined and to be announced later. Hopefully, all or nearly all of the clinic presentations we had planned for the Perris convention will be included in the on-line event.
Tentative Line-Up of Presentations
Keynote Presentation
Presenters: Mike Hemmer and Tom Haley
Title: “Houston, We Have a Problem.” The UP/SP Service Crisis of 1997-98, and How America’s Largest Railroad Was Rescued
Summary: In 1997-98, Union Pacific struggled to combine with Southern Pacific, resulting in the most significant rail service meltdown since at least World War I. The crisis was initially centered in the Texas Gulf area, but quickly spread. It was eventually felt across the combined UP-SP network and even the national rail network. The heroic efforts of the UP-SP team, combined with UP’s exceptional resources, overcame the Service Crisis, enabling post-merger UP to deliver best-ever service, to grow, and to prosper. Mike Hemmer and Tom Haley, each with a unique perspective on the crisis from inside and out, share their thoughts on the magnitude of the crisis, its causes, and how UP/SP ultimately conquered one of the greatest operational challenges in American railroad history.
Presenter Biosketches:
Michael “Mike” Hemmer began his railroad career as a Yard Clerk for CRI&P and AT&SF in Oklahoma and SP in California during breaks from undergraduate studies at Stanford University. He subsequently earned a law degree at the University of California at Berkeley and then became a partner at a major D.C. law firm, where he represented railroads and airlines, especially UP. He was a key participant in the legal proceedings leading to Surface Transportation Board approval of the UP-SP merger. He focused on the legal aspects of rail operations — an unusual specialty. After the merger, in 1997 UP asked him to investigate the UP-SP Service Crisis independently and prepare reports to the STB. His work helped educate regulators about the crisis and its solutions, dissuade them from dismantling the merger, and support giving UP time to heal its network. From 2002 to his retirement in 2012, Mike was UP’s Senior Vice President-Law and General Counsel in Omaha.
Tom Haley’s railroad career spanned 36 years, beginning in 1983 as an operating intern with Chessie and concluding as Vice President – Network Planning & Operation at Union Pacific when he retired in 2019. Tom spent more than 30 years at UP. As VP – NPO, Tom and his team were responsible for designing UP’s service, for planning and analyzing UP’s critical operating resources (workforce, locomotives, and infrastructure capacity), for UP’s Joint Facilities with other railroads, and for Network Development through public-private partnerships. During the period that included the UP-SP merger, the subsequent Service Crisis, and its resolution, Tom and his team were deeply involved in analyzing the operating problems and in helping develop the solutions that overcame them.
Other Presentations:
Stuart Forsyth: Cajon at War
The all-time traffic peak on Cajon Pass was reached in the waning days of World War II. Santa Fe dispatchers and both UP and Santa Fe train and engine crews struggled to cope with the onslaught of troop and war material movements up and down the steep grades. Using Santa Fe Train Dispatcher Sheets, Stuart Forsyth will help us relive those epic days.
Gordon Glattenberg, Photography of the LA&SL in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s
Gordon is a noted rail photographer who will share with us his excellent vintage coverage of the UP in Southern California. Gordon is co-author of Southland, a pictorial of Southern California railroading.
Tom Gildersleeve, Outstanding Photography of UP Steam
Tom is a noted rail photographer, especially for his work on the Rio Grande narrow gauge and other steam subjects. Tom is co-author of Southland, a pictorial of Southern California railroading. For many years Tom sold highest-quality duplicate slide sets of fine railroad photographs taken by many noted photographers. Tom has put together for us a wonderful show of outstanding UP steam photography including images by Richard Kindig, Clayton Tinkham, Donald Duke and others.
Dick Dorn and Kevin Dorn, Photography of the LA&SL from the 1980s to the Present
Dick and Kevin Dorn are a father-son-team of excellent railroad photographers. We will see Dick’s 1985 photography of Meadow Valley Wash, Kevin’s 2005-2006 photography of Meadow Valley Wash, and their joint photography of Afton Canyon in 2006.
Rob Leachman, Conception and Development of the Alameda Corridor, Part 1
Opened in 2002, the 25-mile Alameda Corridor is a grade-separated, multi-track railroad connecting the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with main-line railroads near downtown Los Angeles. Rob’s 1984 report for Southern California Association of Governments was the first proposal for the Corridor. Working for SCAG and later for the Ports, Rob secured stakeholder support and prepared the Environmental Impact Report leading to the Corridor’s construction. Part 1 will provide a photographic tour of the rail operations in the area before the Corridor and discuss the alternatives considered for improving rail access to the Ports.
Rob Leachman, Conception and Development of the Alameda Corridor, Part 2
In Part 2 Rob will explain the analysis of impacts on street traffic from forecasted rail traffic to and from the Ports, the economics justifying the Corridor, the development of stakeholder support, and the completion of the Corridor. Rob will then explain how and why Corridor traffic has not reached levels needed to retire its bonds, and what can be done to shift imports off the freeways and into the Corridor, thereby realizing its promise.
Updated: 14 March 2024