manifest train running from Conway, Pa., to the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard at Bedford Park, Ill. It has traditionally oper- ated via the Dearborn Division main through Toledo and Elkhart. Under the new schedule, it is due out of Conway at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), Mansfield, Ohio, at 3:45 a.m., Colsan (Bucyrus) at 6:00 a.m., Fort Wayne at 3:30 p.m., Van Loon at 9:00 p.m., and into Clear- ing by 10:00 p.m. (Central Time). As of late December, it was operating over the CF&E into Fort Wayne, but over the NS route west of Fort Wayne. To enter Chicago using the CF&E west of Fort Wayne, NS currently has two options. As when NS used its trackage rights over the CF&E in years past, westward trains can cross over to the Lake Division mainline at Hobart, Ind. They can also now continue west on CF&E to Tolleston, Ind., and then use CSX’s former Michigan Central route to reach Indiana Harbor Belt at Gibson, Ind. This was how the initial 13J was routed during Decem- ber. A third route is now being developed that will utilize a new connection to the Dearborn Division’s mainline near the former Clark Junction. This will involve reinstalling the diamond to cross the CSX at Tolleston, and then utilizing a portion of NS’s former Wa- bash trackage west of Tolleston toward the Chicago main.
With few passing sidings on the CF&E, look for NS to primarily operate trains in one direction once trackwork and crew qualifica- tions are completed in early 2015. NS is also limited to only operating several trains per day on the route, due to agreements with CSX that were developed as part of the Conrail ac- quisition. The expanded Bellevue operations will also influence what trains NS elects to reroute to the CF&E in 2015.
Peavine STB Filing
NS has filed with the Surface Transporta- tion Board to discontinue service over 31.5 miles of its former Norfolk & Western route between Portsmouth and Cincinnati, Ohio. Nicknamed the “Peavine,” this route lost its through traffic in February 2003, and the western end of the line was leased to the Cin- cinnati East Terminal Railway in April 2014. The portion covered by the STB filing extends from milepost CT-73.5 at Plum Run east to CT-105.0 at Vera (West Portsmouth), where the route junctions with the Portsmouth- Columbus, Ohio, main. NS has stopped short of seeking abandonment, in case new local traffic develops or the need arises to reopen the line as a through route. Reportedly, the cost of necessary pier repairs on the Scioto River bridge at Vera was a major factor in the original decision to downgrade the route years ago. Provided that the STB does not object, the discontinuance is to be effective January 2, 2015.
Operations
A number of schedule changes were made during December 2014, a direct result of the Bellevue, yard expansion discussed above. One of the new manifests is Train 326, oper-
10 MARCH 2015 •
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ating daily from Pullman Junction, Ill., via Fort Wayne. It is due out of Chicago in the early morning and terminates in Bellevue by 10:00 p.m. Train 36G has also been added from Pullman Junction to Elkhart, Ind. Train 178 (Oakwood Yard/Detroit-Bellevue)
has
been renumbered as Train 331. It remains a morning departure from Detroit and late-af- ternoon arrival in Bellevue, utilizing the Oak Harbor, Ohio, connection. From Bellevue into the South, the schedule frequency of Train 179 (Bellevue-Birmingham) has been increased from four trains weekly to daily. However, Train 17D (Bellevue-Macon, Ga., via Linwood, N.C.) has been abolished. Train 199 from Columbus’s Watkins Yard to Sharonville, Ohio, has been abolished with its traffic now moving on other trains, such as 169 (Conway-Sharonville). Manifest Train 123 (Frankfort, Ind.-Chat- tanooga, Tenn.) was abolished in December after only a few weeks of operation. Also elim- inated was Train 13K (Elkhart-Peru, Ind.). In their place, Train 143 (Elkhart-Chattanooga, Tenn.) has been reconfigured to operate over their old routing. It follows the old route as far as Wabash, Ind., and then turns west to Peru and Lafayette. It then turns east to Frankfort, rejoining its traditional route to Cincinnati at Alexandria, Ind.
It departs
Elkhart each evening with traffic blocked for Lafayette, Frankfort, and Chattanooga, and has time in its schedule for setoff/pickup work at Lafayette and Frankfort.
Manifest Train 10K (Chattanooga-Gary, Ind./CN) has been abolished and replaced by Train 17W, an afternoon departure from Elkhart destined for CN’s Kirk Yard in Gary. Train 16G (BRC/Clearing, Ill.-Allentown, Pa.) has been abolished and replaced by Train 16N (Conway-Allentown). It is due out of Conway daily at 10:00 p.m. and into Allentown by 3:00 the next afternoon. Train 317 from Chicago to Decatur, Ill., via CN into Gibson City, Ill., was also eliminated.
Ohio Central Routing
Norfolk Southern is once again using the Ohio Central from Mingo Junction to Co- lumbus, Ohio, for coal trains originating in Pennsylvania destined for utilities in the Southeast. NS had been routing these trains from Pittsburgh to Columbus via Alliance and Bucyrus, Ohio. This includes coal destined for Duke Power’s Belews Creek, N.C., generating plant. These loaded trains are usually num- bered Train 746.
Shorts
NS continues to see strong container traffic growth at the South Carolina Ports Au- thority’s Inland Port in Greer. Opening just more than a year ago, the site handled 3972 rail moves in November 2014, and with 21,686 lifts completed in the fiscal year to date, the inland port is 47 percent ahead of forecast. This traffic rides NS from Greer to the Port of Charleston… New York State has awarded $17.8 million in Rail Assistance Program funding to support 12 projects, in- cluding $3.3 million to NS for the construc-
tion of new connections and double track to improve operations at Bison Yard in Buffalo … Tosaf USA, a subsidiary of Israel-based Tosaf Compounds Ltd., will build a plastic resin compounding and production facility in Bessemer City, N.C., to serve U.S. processors in the automotive, medical, and other indus- tries. Gaston County economic development officials are working with the state and NS to bring a rail spur to the site.
UNION PACIFIC KEVIN SNYDER
Locomotive Briefs
In November 2014, Union Pacific received 29 new SD70AH locomotives built at Bom- bardier’s Sahagun, Mexico, plant on behalf of Electro-Motive. The November deliveries included UP 8913, 8916-8939, and 8942-8945. The railroad’s ongoing SD40-2 modern- ization campaign continued in earnest as evidenced by the redesignation of some mod- els and renumbering of other locomotives. Throughout November 2014, five SD40-2s had their model designation changed to SD40N, including UP 1907, 1914, 1916, 1919, and 1924. Also, SD40N 1843, was renum- bered from UP 3156 on November 21, 2014, and two SD40-2s, UP 1924 (ex-UP 3412) and 1938 (ex-UP 3278) were renumbered in No- vember, although the work to convert them to SD40Ns had not been completed as of press time.
Also in November, UP 2234 had its model designation changed from SD60 to SD62. UP 2236 underwent a similar change, although this conversion technically occurred in Oc- tober 2014. Just one GP15-1, UPY 563, was converted to a GP15N in November. As part of the sale of 100 SD9043AC lo- comotives from UP to Norfolk Southern, 17 SD9043ACs were retired in November 2014, including UP 3471, 3472, 3477, 3490, 3492, 3497, 3508, 3515, 3524, 3534, 3537, 3544, 3579, 3627, 3695, 3697, and WP 8193. On November 11, ten GG20GE locomo- tives, UPY 2310-2319, were summarily re- tired from the roster. The group of ten retirees represents nearly half of the 21 GG20GEs on UP’s roster. Essentially GG20Bs, the GG20G- Es are low-emissions diesel hybrid switchers built by Railpower Technologies Corp. The lo- comotives use a single Caterpillar C9 six-cyl- inder, 300 h.p. inline engine which feeds a generator and large battery bank to create a combined output of 2000 horsepower. Nine GP38-2s were renumbered in Novem- ber, including GMTX 2326 (ex-LLPX 2260), GMTX 2330 (ex-LLPX 2265), HLCX 1805 (ex-UP 304), HLCX 1811 (ex-UP 310), HLCX 1812 (ex-UP 312), HLCX 1817 (ex-UP 317), HLCX 1818 (ex-UP 318), HLCX 1826 (ex-UP 326), and HLCX 1828 (ex-UP 328). In advance of future SD40N renumber-
ings, three GP60s received new numbers in November 2014, including UP 1121 (ex-UP 2090), 1122 (ex-UP 2084), and 1123 (ex-UP 1930).
Three SD59MX ECO rebuilds (EMD model SD59M-2s) were renumbered in November, including UP 9925 (ex-2453), 9926 (ex-2445), and 9927 (ex-2467).
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