Greenbrier Express In Holding Pattern

According to "Trains" restoration work has been stopped on the pax cars that were to be used for the Greenbrier Express. Ross Rowland said that Jim Justice (who, after I did a Google search, I've come to appreciate likes to say wild and fanciful things) told him to put the train project on hold pending the analysis of pax car "crashworthiness regulations." Rowland went on to say that it was overregulation, and not the current economic climate, that caused Justice to take this action.

First of all, is it just me or does "Jim Justice" sound like a 1940s pulp hero?

As to the cars, I can believe both explanations: They were restoring some old Heritage cars, presumably a (somewhat) matching set from the 40s: Same car body style, etc. With that said, I'm guessing that since (unlike Amtrak, which has had its Heritage stuff in service more or less continually since '71, 5 Hi-Levels aside) he was completely restoring a set of cars, he might have gotten tangled up in regulations on everything from crashworthiness to trouble with replacing dump toilets.

Of course, it's possible for both explanations to be true: The regulations cost more to comply with than they expected, and as a result the project went over-budget and the current environment wouldn't tolerate setting more money aside for it at the moment.

Pottstown auction marks the end of Greenbrier's luxury rail line dream

POTTSTOWN — The dream of establishing luxury rail service between the nation’s capital and the storied Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia — and of building that train in Pottstown — died on the auction block Thursday.

Ross Rowland, president and CEO of the Greenbrier Express, said the auction of the nine passenger cars, equipment, tools and railroad ephemera marked “the end of the Greenbrier project.”

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