Here's a fairly current map from rrpicturearchives.net showing the traffic levels in Michigan.
I remember seeing this map 7-8 years ago and..what a difference. In that time frame, the CSX line from Grand Rapids to Detroit was blue, so according to this map, had more than 4x the gross tonnage. The CN main from Battle Creek to Flint was purple. As you can see, the NS Wabash has more weight moving on it than the CSX lines. Even the NS line from Toledo to Elkhart used to be all red, but now downgraded to purple. Of course that one could be less coal but more intermodal, with the weight difference being seen.
Also remeber that NS has two ways to get across Ohio and Indiana so well the Chicago line may have went down, the NKP has went up. A lot of Eastern Coal goes via the NKP.
I would've thought that the NS Wabash Line line would have been busier than the CN Port Huron, Flint, and South bend subs. Didn't know that it was the other way around.
Remember this is not necessarily busier but more tonnage. Very little heavy haul commodities run on the Wabash.
Also I am almost positive that there are more trains a day on the NS Chicago Line than the parallel CSX Garrett and Willard Subs but I think there are more commodity trains on the CSX Line.
I'm wondering why the NKP is different colors on either side of Fostoria.
My first thought was that it had something to do with more trains from the autorack facility going to and from the east than to and from the west. Though when I zoom in on Fostoria on the actual rrpicturearchives.net map, I see that the blue color continues all the way to Town St where the CSX interchange track comes in. So apparently the difference comes from CSX/NS interchange traffic?
Diffrence comes from train that work east of Fostoria, and not west. Dont forget the stone pit at Narlo, just to the east, and a local that work between Bellevue and Fostoria that turns at Fostoria.
sd70accsxt700 wrote:Diffrence comes from train that work east of Fostoria, and not west. Dont forget the stone pit at Narlo, just to the east, and a local that work between Bellevue and Fostoria that turns at Fostoria.
That is correct TTAM..Also don't forget about traffic for the Lima District, The Ethanol Plant, Fostoria Agri traffic, NOW interchange traffic and the oil depot and baking soda factory at Old Fort.
MagnumForce wrote:Also remeber that NS has two ways to get across Ohio and Indiana so well the Chicago line may have went down, the NKP has went up. A lot of Eastern Coal goes via the NKP.
I wouldn't say traffic on the NKP has gone up. Maybe gross tonnage wise, but if you're talking trains per day (I know this map isn't counting trains, but still.) then the NKP has gone down from the pre-Conrail days.
redside20 wrote:
That is correct TTAM..Also don't forget about traffic for the Lima District, The Ethanol Plant, Fostoria Agri traffic, NOW interchange traffic and the oil depot and baking soda factory at Old Fort.
Though none of those things would explain why the line changes from green to blue right at Town St in Fostoria.
Bellevue_Guy wrote:Though none of those things would explain why the line changes from green to blue right at Town St in Fostoria.
My guess? The map isn't super accurate to the exact location to where traffic originates/terminates. It's just supposed to give a good outline of which lines have the highest tonnage.
MagnumForce wrote:Also remeber that NS has two ways to get across Ohio and Indiana so well the Chicago line may have went down, the NKP has went up. A lot of Eastern Coal goes via the NKP.
I wouldn't say traffic on the NKP has gone up. Maybe gross tonnage wise, but if you're talking trains per day (I know this map isn't counting trains, but still.) then the NKP has gone down from the pre-Conrail days.
Who ever said anything about pre-Conrail? The OP stated 7-8 years ago and the question was specifically why the colors had changed, since the colors are tonnage and not number of trains I am not sure why you would think I was referring to number of trains.
One anomaly I notice is that the Toledo Sub south of Deshler is the same color as the Chicago Line, that really doesn't seem right to me.
Last edited by MagnumForce on Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Prior to 1999, on the NKP traffic on the line amounted to about 53-55 million gross tons across the Chicago/Ft Wayne/Fostoria/Cleveland and Buffalo sides total respectively
MagnumForce wrote:
One anomaly I notice is that the Toledo Sub south of Deshler is the same color as the Chicago Line, that really doesn't seem right to me.
Consider the range of tonnage that purple color represents though. 60-99.9. The Toledo Sub could have 61MGT/mi and the Chicago Line 98MGT/mi and still be represented with the same color. Just a thought.
