This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
railfan.com/railnews


D&H Bridge Line Survivors


Just three months after the south half of the old Delaware & Hudson was sold to Norfolk Southern, it seems as though the “Bridge Line to New England and Canada” is alive and well on the railroad’s north end which still owned by Canadian Pacific. Of course, the old D&H image gradually faded out over time as CP red replaced D&H blue and gray. Just about the only reminders are D&H GP38-2s No. 7303 and 7304 (originally built for the Lehigh Valley) that still wear the famous lightning stripe paint scheme, reapplied by CP in 1991. The two battle-scarred warriors break a late morning silence on the southern tip of Lake Champlain with Whitehall, N.Y., local DA-13 heading north to the International Paper mill in Ticonderoga on December 8, 2015. PHOTO BY TIM HAIRSTON


NORFOLK SOUTHERN SCOTT LINDSEY


and Chicago Access Canadian Pacific’s


Canadian Pacific proposed


acquisition of Norfolk Southern was taking new twists on almost a daily basis going into December. Since CP first went public with its plans this past November, NS officially rejected the initial bid, along with second and third proposals the next month. If that was not enough drama, now BNSF Railway leadership has stated that if CP’s bid for NS progresses, then it too would be open to making a competitive offer. BNSF’s Chairman Matt Rose noted that the company is not in favor of such industry consolidation, but it could find itself forced to participate. Canadian Pacific has made a number


of comments about how a merger would deliver a more efficient railroad. This includes claims that NS’ locomotive roster could be significantly reduced in


size through better fleet management. Another claim is that consolidation would allow congestion in Chicago to be reduced or avoided by diverting CP-NS interchange to other gateways, such as Buffalo and Albany, N.Y. CP notes that it currently interchanges around 1,900 cars daily with other carriers in Chicago, of which nearly 600 are with NS. NS answered the latter claim by


noting that its interchange with CP via Chicago represents the smallest of any large railroad through that gateway. The spokesman estimated that CP traffic is only about five percent of NS’ Chicago interchange business. NS chairman Jim Squires added that any rerouting of such traffic away from Chicago would have a “miniscule” effect on improving fluidity through the region. To provide readers with a better understanding of such interchange volume, we are providing a brief summary of these operations. Much of the current volume handed off between CP and NS is in unit train quantities, primarily crude oil destined to the east


coast, but also in the form of ethanol, sulfur, and other commodities. Traffic totals several trains in each direction weekly. Intermodal traffic interchanged between CP and NS is not significant, with most all of it rubber-tired over the road between NS’ several area terminals and CP’s Bensenville facility. Carload interchange is primarily handled on one set of trains in each direction daily. Eastbound traffic moves on Train 12N, which is received from the CP at Chicago in the morning. Its CP connection, Train 280 from St. Paul, Minn., makes delivery to NS as transfer job G52 from Bensenville. Once out of Chicago, Train 12N usually arrives in Elkhart by noon, where it sets off part of its train before continuing eastward to the Bellevue, Ohio, hump yard. Westbound traffic moves on Train 17V, which departs Elkhart at night and delivers to the CP in Bensenville in the morning. This train is blocked for both Bensenville and St. Paul. The merchandise traffic that does not interchange on these two trains


9


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74