Csx

Freight traffic resumed yesterday, a day after the derailment of a dozen CSX cars downtown, and MARC trains are expected to run on schedule today as nearly 30,000 rail commuters return to work. Federal rail authorities are investigating the accident, in which 12 train cars tumbled off the tracks in the 300 block of Stockholm St. near M&T Bank Stadium. Three of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, but no leaks or injuries were reported. A final report could take several months. Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday that she would urge CSX to limit rail traffic during events at M&T Bank Stadium and Camden Yards.

When my colleague Peter Hermann oversaw The Sun's Watchdog feature, he reported on the hazard created by gaps in the fence around the railroad tracks at the south end of Charles Street in South Baltimore. With most Watchdog complaints, Hermann would end up calling government bureaucrats to report some incidence of broken or malfunctioning infrastructure. In most cases, he was able to rouse them to take quick action rather than deal with unfavorable publicity. But when he took on the South Baltimore fence problem two years ago, Hermann faced a much more formidable obstacle: the giant freight railroad CSX, which owned the crumbling fence that posed no significant barrier to those who thought the rail yard was a wonderful place to drink, ingest drugs or practice the world's oldest profession.

Hampstead completed a $320,000 purchase of 17 undeveloped acres yesterday for a community park. Town Manager Kenneth C. Decker said officials have not determined what amenities will be developed at the park west of the CSX rail line and bisected by old Rinaman Avenue. Town officials envision a mix of recreational uses, including ball fields. "It's something that we're still thinking about," Decker said. "We're probably going to spend the rest of this year deciding. We want input from residents.

A 78-year-old man was struck and killed by a train yesterday morning while walking along tracks on the outskirts of Aberdeen, state police said. William Thomas Hobbs of the 700 block of W. Bel Air Ave. in Aberdeen was walking in the center of the tracks near U.S. 40 and Mitchell Lane, 3 miles west of Aberdeen, about 10 a.m. when he was hit by a westbound CSX freight train, said Maj. Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman. The train was hauling trash from Philadelphia to South Carolina, Shipley said.

Joseph Lawrence "Larry" Bohlen Jr., who had been director of risk management for CSX, died Friday of multiple organ failure at his Rossville home. He was 76. Mr. Bohlen, whose father was superintendent at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. in Middle River and whose mother was a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on his family's farm in Rosedale. Mr. Bohlen — who did not use his first name — was a 1953 graduate of Kenwood High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park and a law degree from the University of Baltimore.

The owners of nearly 1,000 wooded acres on the industry-ringed Marley Neck Peninsula unveiled last night their joint plan to turn their property into 3,000 homes, a shopping center and a business park.About 40 people turned out for a meeting at Solley United Methodist Church to hear property owners Jane Nes and the CSX Corp. of Baltimore discuss their vision for Tanyard Springs and Tanyard Cove. The audience was a mix of supporters and doubters.After working for years on separate proposals, the two property owners decided last spring to collaborate.

Authorities hope new soil and groundwater tests will show whether the flammable chemical that exploded Saturday under downtown streets leaked into city storm drains from the Howard Street Tunnel, site of last month's train derailment and fire. City officials think some tripropylene entered a separate pipe network - the sanitary sewer system - after the July 18 wreck. The next day, fumes identified as the chemical were reported at the Eastern Avenue pumping station on President Street, more than a dozen blocks away.

CSX Corp., the largest railroad east of the Mississippi, is closing its engineer school in Cumberland and consolidating its training operations in Atlanta as the company prepares to hire thousands of new workers to meet demand for rail transportation. The loss will fall heaviest on Cumberland's hospitality industry, which benefited by selling rooms and meals to the roughly 300 trainees that filtered through the school annually, economic development officials said. It also will affect nine staff members, consisting of one administrator and eight contract trainers.

A decade after North County communities fought a battle with Chessie Railroad's corporate parent to keep heavy industry off Marley Neck peninsula, local residents are gladly accepting what the company has to give.Yesterday, CSX Corp. offered North County citizens no smokestacks or coal-barge piers, only park land, undisturbed, forested and green.CSX, owner of 6,000 undeveloped acres on the peninsula, had clinched the deal with community associations and state and county officials several years ago. During last year's county comprehensive rezoning, the company's development arm, CSX Realty, got the go-ahead for a community of 2,272 single-family homes and condominiums on 600 acres north and south of Tanyard Cove.

PHILADELPHIA -- As elections go, this one might have been devised in the old Kremlin.Conrail shareholders are scheduled to vote Dec. 23 on a proposal that will likely decide the Philadelphia railroad's future. If they approve the management-endorsed proposal, Conrail's planned $8.5 billion merger with CSX Corp. will move forward.If the shareholders don't approve they won't vote.In proxy materials mailed out last week, Conrail first invites shareholders to attend the special meeting and then says plainly, "It is expected that the special meeting will not be convened if Conrail has not received sufficient proxies to assure approval of the Proposal."