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18-694: The Seaview Transportation Company , also known as the Seaview Railroad , is a terminal railroad in North Kingstown, Rhode Island that serves the port of Davisville and surrounding industries. The railroad began operations in 1978 on trackage that formerly served Quonset Point Air National Guard Station . Seaview is a sister company to the Newport and Narragansett Bay Railroad , a heritage railroad in Rhode Island. The location where

36-606: A union freight station , train ferry , car float , or bridge . Its purpose is to connect larger carriers to other modes of transport or other carriers. Those companies may be jointly owned by several major carriers, as are the Kansas City Terminal Railway , Belt Railway of Chicago , Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis , Galveston Railroad , and Conrail Shared Assets Operations . The Internal Revenue Service provides tax incentives for this type of company, which may also be created when

54-468: A larger railroad abandons an unprofitable line, and a shortline railroad later takes over operations to connect shippers to the larger company. Switching (railroad) Shunting , in railway operations, is the process of sorting items of rolling stock into complete trains , or the reverse. In the United States this activity is known as switching . Motive power is normally provided by

72-556: A locomotive known as a shunter locomotive (in the UK) or switcher locomotive (in the US). Most shunter/switchers are now diesel-powered but steam and even electric locomotives have been used. Where locomotives could not be used (e.g. because of weight restrictions) shunting operations have in the past been effected by horses or capstans . The terms "shunter" and "switcher" are not only applied to locomotives but also to employees engaged on

90-717: The MBTA . Seaview's owner Eric Moffett told a local newspaper in 2016, “If we’re able to help support the MBTA, we maybe, in the future, help increase service in the Northeast corridor.” Switching and terminal railroad Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard . It generally consists of making up and breaking up trains, storing and classifying cars, serving industries within yard limits, and other related purposes. Those movements are made at slow speed under special yard rules. A terminal facility may include

108-681: The 20,964 staff accidents in the UK that were investigated by the Railway Inspectorate between 1900 and 1939 (around 3% of all staff accidents), 6701 have been classified as involving shunting. Of those 6701 cases, 1033 were fatalities. All of the 20,964 Railway Inspectorate accident investigations have been transcribed and made freely available by the Railway Work, Life & Death project, along with around 28,000 other cases. The main tool of shunters working with hook-and-chain couplings

126-929: The Quonset Business Park, which was established in the area formerly occupied by the Naval Air Station. The railroad's two biggest customers are automobile importer North American Distribution and Toray Plastics. Other customers include companies in the lumber, food, steel products, and granite industries. As of 2016, Seaview had a total of nine customers. The railroad is connected to the Northeast Corridor , where it interchanges freight with Providence and Worcester Railroad . Seaview's headquarters and offices are located in North Kingstown's Davisville neighborhood. The company's locomotives are based here as well. As of January 2024,

144-537: The Quonset Point ANG Station. This service, named "Trains to Planes," continued in 2017, when it transported a total of 4,200 passengers to and from the air show. The company has expressed interest in partnering with Rhode Island Fast Ferry to transport passengers to the ferry terminal in Quonset on special occasions and weekends. Seaview Railroad provides repair services and equipment storage for

162-538: The ground with shunting/switching operations. The task of such personnel is particularly dangerous because not only is there the risk of being run over, but on some railway systems—particularly ones that use buffer-and-chain/screw coupling systems—the shunters have to get between the wagons/carriages in order to complete coupling and uncoupling. This was particularly so in the past. The Midland Railway company, for example, kept an ambulance wagon permanently stationed at Toton Yard to give treatment to injured shunters. Of

180-402: The pole to push the car on the adjacent track. Before poling pockets or poles were common on switching locomotives, some US railroads built specialized poling cars which could be coupled to locomotives that lacked poling pockets. The practice was most prevalent in rail yard operations circa 1900. Poling was the cause of some accidents and in later years was discouraged before the practice

198-528: The port by both rail from the Midwestern United States and cargo ships. In 2012, Eric Moffett purchased Seaview from its previous owner. Moffett prioritized expanding the railroad's services and rebuilding disused trackage. In the early 2010s, the state of Rhode Island invested $ 5.5 million to repair all of Seaview's 14 miles (23 km) of track. By 2015, Seaview was handling over 6,800 cars per year, an increase from 5,000 in 2012. In 2017,

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216-466: The railroad has three operational locomotives and a fourth under restoration. The railroad typically operates five days a week, as needed by the industries it serves. While primarily a freight railroad, Seaview first started offering limited passenger service in 2016, bringing passengers between Providence and T. F. Green Airport stations and the Quonset Air Show, an annual event held at

234-574: The railroad operates today was formerly a United States military installation, known as Naval Air Station Quonset Point. An extensive military railroad with 45 miles (72 km) of track served the facility, run by the United States Navy. The base was significantly downsized in 1974, leaving only Quonset Point Air National Guard Station on the site. With the departure of the navy, the Seaview Transportation Company

252-731: The railroad surpassed 7,000 carloads, triple the number it was carrying in the early 1990s. The railroad reported 7,513 carloads hauled in 2023, for an average of approximately 60 arriving and leaving per day. Citing a need for more storage capacity for railcars, Seaview began constructing a new railyard in October 2021 with funding from the United States Department of Transportation and the Quonset Development Corporation. Mill Creek yard, which includes two new tracks for storage of up to 58 railcars,

270-471: Was a shunting pole, which allowed the shunter to reach between wagons to fasten and unfasten couplings without having physically to go between the vehicles. This type of shunting pole was of an entirely different design than objects of the same name in North American practice (see below). In some countries, a pole was sometimes used to move cars on adjacent tracks. In the United States this procedure

288-510: Was completed in July 2022. Ground was broken on a new $ 4.3 million engine house for the railroad in September 2022, and a new $ 1.15 million track directly connecting Mill Creek yard to the Northeast Corridor was opened near the end of 2023. The new engine house opened in July 2024 and provided additional facilities for railcar maintenance and storage. Seaview serves a number of customers within

306-591: Was formed between 1978 and 1979 to continue rail service for civilian customers in the area. In the company's first year, it had just two customers and handled 400 carloads. In the late 1990s, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation provided funding and support for Seaview's infrastructure, helping the company rebuild tracks and expand operations. As a result of RIDOT's support, the railroad greatly increased service. The railroad imported 41,797 automobiles by rail in 2011. Automobiles arrive at

324-413: Was known as "pole switching" or "poling" for short. In the UK it was known as "propping." In these instances, the locomotive or another car was moved to be near the car that needed to be moved. The on-ground railwayman would then position a wooden pole, which was sometimes permanently attached to the locomotive, and engage it in the poling pocket of the car that needed to be moved. The engineer would then use

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