Everything/Anything CF&E thread...Part 3

[alittlevanwerty]

19A on the CF&E NS 8303 Monroeville by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr
19A on the CF&E NS 8303 Maples Indiana by alittlevanwerty, on Flickr

[MagnumForce]

Almost all of them are left. When the line was made dark they were simply turned and we're supposed to still be serviceable if need be, but that was 30 years ago and time has really taken it's toll on a lot of them. Others like that one in Monroeville look very fresh.

Nice of that cop to illegally park on railroad property right next to them too!

There is never cop in that vehicle, they park the car there to get people to slow down. They installed the paved area there for that purpose with the blessing of the railroad.

[JoJames]

Short article in Saturday Lima News about the former Pennsy line coming back to life. Also mentions the hope of getting passenger service back on the line.

[ELOpr]

How many trains per day is the NS running over the CF&E? Which route do they take at Ft Wayne, CF&E or ex-NKP?

[Y@]

19A is the only one regularly running between Bucyrus and Fort Wayne. They get on the NKP in Fort Wayne.

[cumbres]

Read the Lima News story here

http://www.limaohio.com/news/news/50967 ... up-in-area

[bdconrail29]

Not trying to be pessimistic here, but why in the world would passenger traffic be viable on this line? It doesn't even work on the Chicago Line and imagine the funding required to get the track up to a speed that would even give it a chance.

To that, I say:

[heartlandguy]

Not trying to be pessimistic here, but why in the world would passenger traffic be viable on this line? It doesn't even work on the Chicago Line and imagine the funding required to get the track up to a speed that would even give it a chance.

To that, I say:

Amtrak or some other passenger service starting up again in the near future is about as likely as the reactivation of the PRR signals. Would it be great to ride the train from Lima to Chicago? Yes. Is it going to happen within the next 3-5 years (or heck, 10 years)? Likely, no. I guess I don't understand the connection in the article that states increased freight=passenger rail. Regardless, its great to see the Pennsy getting a revival...

[bnsf8000]

1/4/15. WB LIFW through Van Wert at 12:38PM. Leading were IORY 4032/CFE 3880 with 45 cars. Train consisted of 10 empty steel flats bringing up the rear including bulkheads; 19 grain hoppers: FMLX, BNGX, CP, TILX among others; 4 tank cars. 10 gons including 5 high sided: CDEX, CVTX-exSultran, CSX among others and 2 plastics hoppers.

PW

[Notch 8]

How is NS charged for running trains over this route ? Axle count ? How is that rate calculated ? Does G&W receive the payment or CSX ? Does NS perform maintenance on any of this trackage ? Who dispatches this route ? It's good seeing trains on this route ! Passenger trains I don't think will materialize anytime soon and besides they are shooting them up the 5th district...

[railohio]

Does Watco receive the payment or CSX ?

You mean Genesee & Wyoming.

[bdconrail29]

NS does maintenance and NS dispatches it. I'm not sure why NS needs to pay anyone since at merger time they were granted trackage rights for so many trains.

[heartlandguy]

For the longest time it went like this: CSX owned, CF&E operated & maintained, NS dispatched (Pittsburgh West desk) with trackage rights for 6-8 trains a day.

Now, since NS has decided to use these rights, they have picked up some of the maintenance in order to make it a decent 40mph route. CF&E/G&W still does day-to-day maintenance, though.

[Notch 8]

NS does maintenance and NS dispatches it. I'm not sure why NS needs to pay anyone since at merger time they were granted trackage rights for so many trains.

So if a Company has passage rights they occur no cost to exercise them ? Why has the NS been running trains the whole time ?

[heartlandguy]

NS does maintenance and NS dispatches it. I'm not sure why NS needs to pay anyone since at merger time they were granted trackage rights for so many trains.

So if a Company has passage rights they occur no cost to exercise them ? Why has the NS been running trains the whole time ?

Traffic levels have never warranted trackage rights trains on this line since the early 2000s. Now, since the oil boom and a rise in intermodal traffic (among other things), a new route is needed for heavy tonnage or low priority trains that gum up the works elsewhere.

[bdconrail29]

NS does maintenance and NS dispatches it. I'm not sure why NS needs to pay anyone since at merger time they were granted trackage rights for so many trains.

So if a Company has passage rights they occur no cost to exercise them ? Why has the NS been running trains the whole time ?

They dispatch the whole line. Every CSX grainer, local, WLE train, CFE train, NS train, all gets dispatched by NS Pittsburgh West.

[bnsf8000]

1/4/15. Another train on the CF&E with NS power just before midnite through Van Wert. Had NS 7596/8091/IORY 4032/CFE 3880 hauling 25 Bunge grain hoppers. Just before 10PM another train went through Van Wert. Didn't see train just heard it. Around 5:30PM the return LIFW went EB back to Lima per my friend. Plus, the LIFW went WB early in the afternoon. They're getting the crews qualified on some of the trains through VW. Just a matter of time now.

PW

[alittlevanwerty]

[/quote]

They dispatch the whole line. Every CSX grainer, local, WLE train, CFE train, NS train, all gets dispatched by NS Pittsburgh West.[/quote]
Except inside Cole st yard limits and Ft Wayne yard yard limits. Now trains, including the NS 19A, have to dial up G&W St Albains for permission into these. Previously that was done by Pitt west.

BNSF8000, I did see the return LIFW, mostly Bunge with 3 tanks and a Procor hopper. The train around 10 was a 19A. Standard cab NS leading (could have been SD40E/SD60/SD70, couldn't tell in the dark when they snuck up on me!) leading a pair of NS GEs and a pair of UP. 40-50 cars.

4 trains in 6 hours, that's the busiest in a while!

[CG Tower]

Read the Lima News story here

http://www.limaohio.com/news/news/50967 ... up-in-area

It has been the dreams of the Mayor of Lima (and Ft. Wayne and Marysville, Ohio) to create a Columbus to Chicago passenger corridor using the former NYC from Columbus to Marysville to Dunkirk, then swing west toward Lima, Ft. Wayne and Chicago. This all really started soon after Amtrak pulled up shop here in Lima in 1992.

I am a part of these meetings with my work and, while I admire the optimism, there is a distinct reality they seem to overlook...that being the one of viability. They keep talking "high speed rail" which then prompts people to think TGV or the bullet trains of Japan, this certainly will not happen. I'm not even sure a 110 mph Amtrak corridor would be viable. (I can drive to Chicago in 5 hours, rail time would not be much better).

I have to be careful, politically, with my thoughts, but, there correlation between higher freight traffic and the likelihood of passenger rail coming back to the region is inverse at best.

CG Tower

[Typhoon]

NS does maintenance and NS dispatches it. I'm not sure why NS needs to pay anyone since at merger time they were granted trackage rights for so many trains.

Trackage rights are not free. The NS pays someone to run those trains.