NS Peavine talk

[heypal6878]

Have a guy who lives on the Peavine up past Plum Road and there was no hi railer up there last week. Now I don't doubt NS will scrap the rail up there by the end of the year if not sold off.

[midland sub]

I don't think there's much of a reason to hi-rail Plum Run to that wash out.

[heypal6878]

Don't think they made it up the Peavine last week pal.

[midland sub]

And from NS's press release this morning -

o Halt or reduce operations in several hump or secondary yards in 2016, reducing manpower needs and locomotive fleet requirements and consolidating traffic on fewer, larger trains.

o Dispose of or downgrade 1,500 miles of secondary lines by 2020, including 1,000 miles in 2016, as traffic is rerouted onto higher-density lines and some parts of the system are more economically operated in collaboration with short-line rail carriers.

Now if you think for a second that means reopening the east end just stop.

[OSRR]

Now if you think for a second that means reopening the east end just stop.

Unfortunately the Peavine is gone. I've talked to guys that ran the line, it was a tough piece of railroad but, right now the biggest issue outside of Vera is that the line has no industry on the east end.

The west end may hold on if the CCET can attract some more business back but, in this economy I wouldn't hold my breath on much of anything.

[h2466]

Don't think they made it up the Peavine last week pal.

heypal6878, The only advice I can give you is to go out and take as many pictures of the Peavine as you can. I witnessed the EL, Panhandle, The single tracking of the PRR to Chicago, My favorite NYC/PC line to Carey Oh, The AC&Y west end, Etc, Etc disappear. It just happens. My biggest regret to this day was not recording it more. I kept my fingers crossed that trains would once again roll over these lines again, but this is just the way it goes. Ken

[ssnk79]

And from NS's press release this morning -

o Halt or reduce operations in several hump or secondary yards in 2016, reducing manpower needs and locomotive fleet requirements and consolidating traffic on fewer, larger trains.

o Dispose of or downgrade 1,500 miles of secondary lines by 2020, including 1,000 miles in 2016, as traffic is rerouted onto higher-density lines and some parts of the system are more economically operated in collaboration with short-line rail carriers.

Now if you think for a second that means reopening the east end just stop.

But DAD said that Conrail would had opened it back up.......

(FB Joke)

[midland sub]

Lol you're killing me..... True form is all caps on DAD AND CONRAIL

[heypal6878]

I remember a year ago you said that the Peavine is dead, no more trackage would be opened up on the Peavine what they have now is it. Well now NS granted the CCET more trackage in the last year and the CET did manage to get some more business on the line. So I don't see the west side of the Peavine getting closed down this year. You may be right that the east side is gone but the west side is still pretty active.

I don't agree with everything NS is doing to cut back expenses reduce secondary lines, cut back crews, and consolidate as this will affect service and their customers. I think some of this may come back and bit them in the butt down the road. I'm sure CP, CSX, UP and others are watching very closely the radical moves NS is now making. NS think Belleview is the answer well until they get the wait times up there reduced more and more customers are waiting for their goods. I can see a few moving to a different rail transport or even trucks. NS was always about the customer now it appears they are all about survival and the bottom line. Drastic moves can spell loss of revenue if they lose any contracts.

[Muleskinner]

It's sad to see the Peavine go. I missed the days when NW ran on the line.

If the railroads where funded by the government, we wouldn't see all these lines closing, BUT it is what it is. Eventually the railroad will chock themselves out & everything will be RAILS-TO-TRAILS in 50 years. All you will have is train rides and train excursions on what rails are left on the ground.

[Railfan9]

It's sad to see the Peavine go. I missed the days when NW ran on the line.

If the railroads where funded by the government, we wouldn't see all these lines closing, BUT it is what it is. Eventually the railroad will chock themselves out & everything will be RAILS-TO-TRAILS in 50 years. All you will have is train rides and train excursions on what rails are left on the ground.

What about when British Rail which was ran by the government had the Beeching Axe?

[heypal6878]

What about NS on storing cars. I rarely see NS storing any out of service cars. Do they in fact store cars like the small short line railroads?

[CSX_CO]

What about NS on storing cars. I rarely see NS storing any out of service cars. Do they in fact store cars like the small short line railroads?

Of course they do. They may store other owners cars, but they have to look out for their own storage needs first. So they keep room to store system cars, before they'll take on storing another companies cars.

Plus, the nature of storage cars means that when the owner wants them returned to service, they tend to cherry pick the ones they want. Eat up a lot of labor (which is expensive on a class one) switching out what's wanted.

So, highly unlikely the Peavine would be used by NS for storage.

[northstar16]

Reading the posts this morning I can see where Ken and Heypal are coming from. It appears that the east side of the Peavine is done. Yet it has been done for many years. Now it just appears that the CCET may get an additional few more miles of tract to Plum Road if they can secure a contract there and maybe some additional car storage if need be. I did see that there was a runaway tanker on the Peavine out west of Seaman this week. That is another issue as surely that was a vandal issue somebody disconnected that car from the rest and it took off down hill. Could have been a major issue if that tanker hit a car or truck at a crossing area. Thankfully it just derailed and didn't tip over as the tanker was only a year old.

Food for thought for the CCET they may want to reconsider storing cars out there for that reason. Since there isn't that much foot or car traffic out that way there is always a possibility that vandals can and will damage tracks and the cars in storage. They have already pretty much taken many of the parts out of the boxes out that way took cooper wires and who knows what else.

Many people hate to see the Peavine go away well maybe expect Mariemont. They always hated Clare Yard and all the noise down there. Yet much tradition down that way.

Getting back to storage NS has many coal and oil cars of their own that most likely are out of service. Couldn't the CCET take some of these cars and store them? Same goes for CSX can't the CET get some of their cars and store them. I would think with oil and coal shipments down there are many cars that need to sit until things pick up.

[midland sub]

Where did I say the west end was done? As I've told you for a year now east of the quarry at Plum Run will never see another train other than the rail removal.

[Paw95]

I film lots of videos of the pevine east end. Mostly because I live very close being in scioto county. I try to film many new places of the track before the day comes they remove it. I also revisit some places of the rails to do updates. N.S. Still does trim the trees off the main line. I'm guessing it's so they can hightail the line. Theirs many signals and switches that have been stripped out completely. Their is a big rail bed slip at MP 99 that I have filmed in McDermott Ohio by where 104 crosses the tracks.

[midland sub]

NS has plenty of places to store their own cars, same with CSX. The I&O rejected 3 or 4 empty grain trains last month that shippers had canceled. All of them ended up deep down in the hollars of eastern Kentucky stored. What you see stored on lines like the CCET are privately owned cars- cars that reporting marks usually end in ???X.

Supposedly it's already done. Storage cars are not a long term viable source of income. All of the LP tank cars stored between Winchester and Seaman have been taken out of storage by their owners. There's no doubt something else will show up to take their place.

[northstar16]

"As for whole Plum Run potential. If it actually happens it's not going to be your typical stone move. There's way too much competition, along with a new underground quarry to just haul stone all the way there to sell it on the open market. The cost to move it by rail the 40 or so miles is going to make it more expensive than all the local quarries that mine it and pile it up for sale. If Evans decides to bring stone in from Plum Run it's going to need to be packaged into something else they offer or do. So maybe they really do plan on hauling construction debris to Plum Run and back haul some stone. Supposedly it will be landscaping stone for what that's worth. If they get it going great, if not I can understand why. For example Melvin Stone uses rail into the Cincy market via the I&O."

There is always potential!

[northstar16]

There is a potential for the Martin Marietta blasting mine operation may use the CCET to haul their material out to points south and west of Cincinnati. This has been an ongoing fight with Newtown, Indian Hill, Terrace Park and Mariemont for the past three years. These communities don't want blasting and they surely don't want any more truck traffic. The State wants MM to if possible contract with the CCET to move their product from the mine operation by rail. The mine operation will be by the CCET staging area off Broadwell Road. So for the CCET it will be a perfect opportunity if they can land the contract.

The State may use this a leverage to get the neighboring communities to go along with the plan so dump trucks won't be on the roads, and keeping the dust down. Currently MM won their suit and Anderson wants them to start blasting. Yet I hear it is still tied up in courts and another decision is coming soon.

[OSRR]

There is a potential for the Martin Marietta blasting mine operation may use the CCET to haul their material out to points south and west of Cincinnati. This has been an ongoing fight with Newtown, Indian Hill, Terrace Park and Mariemont for the past three years. These communities don't want blasting and they surely don't want any more truck traffic. The State wants MM to if possible contract with the CCET to move their product from the mine operation by rail. The mine operation will be by the CCET staging area off Broadwell Road. So for the CCET it will be a perfect opportunity if they can land the contract.

The State may use this a leverage to get the neighboring communities to go along with the plan so dump trucks won't be on the roads, and keeping the dust down. Currently MM won their suit and Anderson wants them to start blasting. Yet I hear it is still tied up in courts and another decision is coming soon.

What and where do they blast?