Railway Track & Structures - May 2008 - (Page 18)

NRCChairman’s Column NRC Equipment Auction becoming major industry event Manny Ramirez Chairman The National Railroad Construction & Maintenance Association, Inc. 500 New Jersey Ave., N. W. Suite 400 Washington D. C. 20009 Tel: 202-715-2920 Fax: 202-318-0867 www.nrcma.org info@nrcma.org I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read this column, and also the entire NRC Membership Directory which is included as an insert into this month’s RT&S magazine. The Directory is a valuable reference tool, which railroaders, contractors and suppliers all tell me they use frequently throughout the year. And I’d like to thank the staff at RT&S for the tremendous job they do working with the NRC staff to pull this project together. The most recent NRC event was the NRC Railroad Contracting Equipment Auction, held on April 15, in Little Rock, Ark. This was the fifth annual NRC auction and it is really becoming a major industry event. This year, more than $750,000 of machines and equipment were purchased during the event. Dozens of consignors participated, selling more than 200 pieces of equipment to an eager pool of more than 75 registered bidders. The auction was run by Blackmon Auctions at their main facility, just east of Little Rock, which is a very impressive property. Equipment that sold included cranes, excavators, rotary scarifiers, tie inserters and removers, ballast regulators, brush cutters, speed swings, double brooms, spike drivers, spike pullers, rotary dumps, car movers, skid steers, lowboy trailers, trip machines, air compressors and tampers. The auction is now firmly entrenched as an annual NRC event, with locations varying throughout the country every spring. Past hosts have included Herzog Contracting Corp. in Missouri, Progress Rail Services in 18 Railway Track & Structures May 2008 Illinois, and Delta Railroad Construction in Ohio. The site for the spring 2009 auction will most likely be the JER Overhaul facility in Arcola, Ill. It’s not too early to start making plans to consign or donate equipment. Contact the NRC office or NRC Auction Committee members Danny Brown (FCM Rail, 810-397-3533, danny@fcm rail.com) for more information. In addition to Danny, we’d like to publicly thank the other key members of the auction team for their work in spreading the word about this event and making sure there is always a good supply of quality equipment at the NRC auction: • Thomas Blackmon, Jr., of Blackmon Auctions • Joel Frank of Progress Rail Services • Bill Glenn of Menard’s Railroad Materials • Paul Laurello of Delta Railroad Construction • Dan Samford of Herzog Contracting Corp. • Greg Spilker of Nordco • Eddie and Barbara Stokes of Railway Equipment Services Most of the equipment at the auction every year is consigned, meaning that the seller receives the full value of the equipment, with a two-percent commission going to the NRC to fund our Safety and Education Training program. However, a few pieces of equipment are sometimes donated to the NRC, allowing the association to collect the full sale value of the goods. This provides a major funding infusion to our safety training program. This year, Nordco and Balfour Beatty Rail were the two companies that donated equipment to the auction. Nordco contributed a rebuilt spike puller, a hydraulic control valve and multiple sets of axles with rail wheels. Balfour Beatty contributed a spike driver and a cribber. To Nordco, especially Vice President Greg Spilker and CEO Bruce Boczkiewicz, and Balfour Beatty Rail, especially Vice President Mark Snailham, Safety Director (and NRC Safety Committee chairman) Stanley Beaver, and Mark Meyer, a big thank you from the entire NRC membership. As I mentioned, the proceeds from the auction go to fund our safety training program, including the Roadway Worker Protection program, the safety manuals, and the ongoing series of safety training DVDs being produced under the leadership of John Zuspan of Track Guy Consultants. The four DVDs already produced and available complimentary to NRC members are: 1) Safety with Railroad Hand Tools 2) Safety with Railroad Power Tools 3) Safety on Freight and Industrial Track 4) Safety Around Railway Maintenance Equipment, Part 1 And the next two DVDs being produced, for release at the NRC Conference at the Sanibel Harbor Resort in Florida in January 2009, are 1) Safety Around Railway Maintenance Equipment, Part 2 2) Safety Around Transit Track In the past, major railroads such as the BNSF, CN and DM&E have also generously donated major pieces of rail equipment to the NRC auction, which has allowed us to continually strengthen our efforts to make the industry safer for everyone. I congratulate those railroads for recognizing the value of this opportunity and making a true investment in railroad contractor safety. We hope that partnership will continue in the future. Also, I’d like to end by noting that the NRC was asked to testify to Congress on April 23 for a Hearing on Rail Capacity in front of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Jim Daloisio, president of the Railroad Construction Company of South Jersey and a former chairman of the NRC, delivered the testimony. Jim, who testified along with the president of the AAR, the president of Amtrak and the president of the Virginia Railway Express commuter rail system, did an excellent job of urging Congress to expand their investment into rail infrastructure for the good of our economy, environment, safety and security. And Jim assured them that railroad contractors are able and prepared to do the necessary work. The hearing was the perfect opportunity to present the NRC legislative agenda to Congress, and we will be following up on that agenda aggressively over the next few months. Lastly, as always, I ask that you keep the men and women in uniform in your hearts and prayers. www.rtands.com http://www.nrcma.org http://www.nrcma.org http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - May 2008

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