college student hit by train

[F40PH Fan]

This line through BG is getting to be a liability for CSX. One good law suit and it may be all over as a through route.[/quote]


CSX is not going to shut a line down because of their tracks going through a collage town. I don't think anyone would have a valid lawsuit if you got hit by a train because what were they doing on the tracks in the first place? That lines not going to be shut down because of people getting hit. Some of the collage students need to act safer around the tracks though.

[Y@]

CSX is not going to shut a line down because of their tracks going through a collage town. I don't think anyone would have a valid lawsuit if you got hit by a train because what were they doing on the tracks in the first place? That lines not going to be shut down because of people getting hit. Some of the collage students need to act safer around the tracks though.

No, but in all honesty the north end of the Toledo Branch is near worthless to CSX, and with the pending changes at North Baltimore and Galatea coming up, it's not completely out of the question to see CSX do away with the Toledo Branch north of Galatea as a through route. I'm sure they would still keep a local on it to go down to Bowling Green, but there is very little local traffic on the line so who knows.

[CSX_CO]

No, but in all honesty the north end of the Toledo Branch is near worthless to CSX, and with the pending changes at North Baltimore and Galatea coming up, it's not completely out of the question to see CSX do away with the Toledo Branch north of Galatea as a through route. I'm sure they would still keep a local on it to go down to Bowling Green, but there is very little local traffic on the line so who knows.

How do you figure its worthless?

Its a 'back door' entrance onto the Toledo Terminal for trains coming from Columbus and Indianapolis. It avoids the congestion of Marion, the C&O, Fostoria, Walbridge, etc. Its unfortunate that Walbridge/automotive group wants additional traffic on the Q234 and Q233, otherwise you'd have 3 paired trains a day on the Toledo Branch. Its under utilized if anything, but hardly a liability or worthless.

Practice Safe CSX

[Y@]

No, but in all honesty the north end of the Toledo Branch is near worthless to CSX, and with the pending changes at North Baltimore and Galatea coming up, it's not completely out of the question to see CSX do away with the Toledo Branch north of Galatea as a through route. I'm sure they would still keep a local on it to go down to Bowling Green, but there is very little local traffic on the line so who knows.

How do you figure its worthless?

Its a 'back door' entrance onto the Toledo Terminal for trains coming from Columbus and Indianapolis. It avoids the congestion of Marion, the C&O, Fostoria, Walbridge, etc. Its unfortunate that Walbridge/automotive group wants additional traffic on the Q234 and Q233, otherwise you'd have 3 paired trains a day on the Toledo Branch. Its under utilized if anything, but hardly a liability or worthless.

I get the 'back door' thing, but I don't see how the C&O is "congested" outside of Fostoria. I guess I'm just going off what other people (railroaders included) have mentioned about the Toledo Branch.

[redside20]

No customers on the Toledo Branch? i beg to differ. In the past year or so i know of two customers who have come online on the Toledo Branch and they are Mid Wood and Keystone Foods. With the exception of the Thomas and Betts facility closing, local traffic on the branch appears to be quite healthy. There are at least five or six customers in the Bowling Green area alone that get rail service and there are a dozen more in the Findlay area. Just how vital is the railroad to some of these companies? Go ask Southeastern Container or Dow Plastics in Findlay about the worth of rail service.

[Y@]

No customers on the Toledo Branch? i beg to differ. In the past year or so i know of two customers who have come online on the Toledo Branch and they are Mid Wood and Keystone Foods. With the exception of the Thomas and Betts facility closing, local traffic on the branch appears to be quite healthy. There are at least five or six customers in the Bowling Green area alone that get rail service and there are a dozen more in the Findlay area. Just how vital is the railroad to some of these companies? Go ask Southeastern Container or Dow Plastics in Findlay about the worth of rail service.

Ah, you and your selective reading. I never said there was "no" local traffic on the Branch, I said there was little. Yes, there are several customers in the BG area, but all you're saying is that they ship by rail, not how much or how often they ship, which isn't a lot. Geography lesson: Findlay is south of the Galatea diamond. If you would have payed attention, I was talking about the line NORTH of Galatea. I know Findlay has a rather strong local traffic base along with NS interchange. I'm sure the railroad is vital to those companies, hence the reason CSX would keep a local on the north end along with the current traffic on the south end.

[CSX_CO]

I get the 'back door' thing, but I don't see how the C&O is "congested" outside of Fostoria. I guess I'm just going off what other people (railroaders included) have mentioned about the Toledo Branch.

Try being over there when the Dock's are open and the coal (and return empties) are moving. Single track railroad, with sidings, but Upper Sandusky is pretty much worthless as a meeting point unless its a rolling meet.

Not to mention congestion to get into, around, through, etc Walbridge, let alone trying to get around to Stanley.

If it was worthless, CSX would have divested itself of the line by now, either by routing traffic off of it, or putting it in mothballs.

Practice Safe CSX

[Y@]

Try being over there when the Dock's are open and the coal (and return empties) are moving. Single track railroad, with sidings, but Upper Sandusky is pretty much worthless as a meeting point unless its a rolling meet.

I know you probably think I've never been to the C&O before, but I have been over there when the docks are open and unit trains are moving in both directions, along with the other trains. The C&O is double track from Walbridge to Springs, and quite honestly, I never got the impression of it being a congested route.

[redside20]

Ok i refuse to get in trouble for trolling nor am i going to get caught up in your little game of oneupmanship. but here is what i am going to do. I will name the industries out there between Stanley Yard and Galatea and we will see if anybody who is familiar with Toledo Branch north ops can pinpoint how many times a week these industries get switched. Personally i have no idea myself because i am not familiar with the operation but here is what i do know.

Rossford Ampoint Park-Precision Strip, Chrysler?
Dunbridge-Blako Industries. receives plastic from centerflow hoppers
Sugar Ridge-Luckey Farmers. grain shipments
Bowling Green-Southeastern Container. plastic pellets, Lubrizol. tank cars of something. Pinnacle Plastics, pellets
Mid Wood on Gypsy Lane, Grain shipments
Portage-Mid Wood Fertilizer facility
Cygnet-Elevator?
Galatea-Keystone Foods, hauls renderings in boxcars? the gas place just north of there, BOC gas?

[Y@]

It's not about one-upping anyway, it's about getting the info right and the facts straight. Fact is, most of those industries don't ship much or frequently from what I have observed.

[CG Tower]

Ah the Toledo Branch..

I look at it this way, the line is now one of THREE CSX lines to Toledo, if there was not room in the line during the initial years after the CR split, it would have become short-line/regional fodder long ago (think RA/IORY/CF&E). CSX learned some tough lessons in the past by ripping out supposed redundant lines and not keeping them viable.

The trouble with these discussions is that we are not privy to the big picture. There is much more to this then just a perceive redundancy of a line. In fact, by comparison, the Toledo Subdivision has far less in terms of local traffic variety north of Deshler, then the Toledo Branch does north of Galatea. And let us not forget, the Toledo Subdivision was even mothballed at one time north of Custar for years as all traffic went via the C&O...there was talk of ripping the line out at one time...in fact, I have track charts showing its possible demise.

CSX is spending money on the entire line...not just from Galatea south. The redesign of the Stanley tower interlocking and resignalling of sidings is not a cheap proposition. In addition, there are MORE changes to come at Ridgeway and additional discussions are still on going about Galatea's final arrangements.

Either way the scene is changing...but not in a sense of a LOSS of lines.

CG Tower

[CG Tower]

Actually, there are two new distribution centers/bulk industries just north of Bowling Green that both had sizable cuts of cars...we flew over them two weekends ago when we revisited North Baltimore from the air.

CG Tower

It's not about one-upping anyway, it's about getting the info right and the facts straight. Fact is, most of those industries don't ship much or frequently from what I have observed.

[MSchwiebert]

Not that it matters but Ampoint is down to one customer (Ohio Michigan Paper I think) at the most, and other than the eastern most trackage all the other Rossford Ordnance dépôt trackage has been disconnected or removed. Luckey Farmers loads out grain @ Perrysburg, and I'd have to drive back there to confirm but I think Sugar Ridge no longer has rail access. Mid Wood loads grain in Weston and gets Fertlizer at their new facility between BG and Cygnet. There's the new food related company just north of Galatea, but Air Products has been just a distribution facility for years now.
I agree with the previous posts, the Toledo Branch does serve a valid purpose as a route into Stanley as well as a single crew route to from Indy (can't do it via Marion & the C&O)

[redside20]

Mike and Eric...thank you.

I wasn't sure about both of the grain elevators in Sugar Ridge and on Gypsy Lane as i was under the assumption that they got rail traffic because i saw that both facilities had spur when i researched them on bing. So that leaves 4 out of 6 in the BG area and 4 out of 6 ain't bad.

[CSX_CO]

I know you probably think I've never been to the C&O before, but I have been over there when the docks are open and unit trains are moving in both directions, along with the other trains. The C&O is double track from Walbridge to Springs, and quite honestly, I never got the impression of it being a congested route.

And viewing a railroad from the ground, for only a slice of time, will give you the expertise to make that decision?

The problem isn't always necessarily from Turnpike to Louden (Springs is where the double track starts between Springs and Crawford). The problem is getting through Fostoria (which you mentioned) and getting into the Toledo Terminal. Also, you're limited at Fostoria and Marion because of the connection tracks. While you can come up either track to get to the SE connection, you're limited when Q634 is doing their work in town, which usually takes a few hours. So, in effect, you're single track from E. Fostoria all the way to Springs if you have to try and go east towards Willard and someone else is in the picture. Even thru EB/WB traffic on the C&O that needs to go through Fostoria is now down to 1 route through town.

At the other end, at Marion, you're single track from Marion to CP 120 on the Indy Line. If the train coming down the C&O has to go down the Scottslawn (like Q146/Q147, Q246), you're single track from Marion all the way until the train gets south of Honda switch. So, for a train to come from Marion and head west onto the Indy Line, you need to have nothing coming west on the Indy Line and C&O, no one coming east on the C&O to go West on the Indy Line (in the case of an EB), and no one leaving Honda if you need to go down the Scottslawn. If the train can't make it that far, it usually sits at Harpster until they get a clear shot around the connection. You're talking about a run of almost 40 miles because of the way the physical plant is set up.

I agree with the previous posts, the Toledo Branch does serve a valid purpose as a route into Stanley as well as a single crew route to from Indy (can't do it via Marion & the C&O)

Well...not at the moment anyway. I'd heard there were talks with the Locals in Indy to get the I2 pool qualified to Toledo via the C&O and T&OC. I wish they'd put the Avon-Willard job back on, but with a manageable train size. I did that run in 8.5 hrs total on duty time, with 2 shoppers kicked out at Willard. We didn't horse around on the C&O, so they were more than willing to keep us moving. Going via the C&O would be do-able in 12 hrs, only because you can flat out run on the Indy Line west of Ridgeway. It would probably be tight to make it the entire way, but its probably feasible enough to make it worth the effort to get people qualified. Especially if Q234 and Q233 will continue to run that way. Plus, gives you flexibility if Findlay floods, and Q218 needs to take the long way.

Practice Safe CSX

[redside20]

per a pair of posters on the western ohio yahoo group indicate that the local is operating five days a week and is now operating during the day. Since the local is based out of kenton, they indeed go as far as Dunbridge to switch Blako or run around there train if there is no work there. There is supposed to be a division post at MP 8 and local from Stanley only switches the industries north of US 20. Is there more than one local on the line and how many were there in the past?

[MSchwiebert]

Milepost 8 (until the Stanley Tower closure/resignaling project there was a full fledged Control Point there that served as the holdout for Northbounds going to Stanley yard) is immediately south of the US20 crossing in Lime City (the HBD/DED there still calls out the town name Conrail style). The industries north of there are worked by the Y*25 yard job (first digit is the shift that its called) when it's not working the Rossford bids terminal or the Toledo Sub side. There's nothing between Lime City and Dunbridge to work so it's a sensible break point between the Toledo based yard job and the Kenton based local.

[StupidFlee​t]

The local in question (last I knew unless something changed) was the H719. H919 is used as the recrew symbol for H719 which can be heard occasionally.

[redside20]

The local in question (last I knew unless something changed) was the H719. H919 is used as the recrew symbol for H719 which can be heard occasionally.

caught this from several posters in the know on WOYG. H719 is the Kenton Local that works Mo-fri and goes on duty about 08:00. H717 will also bring traffic from Marion and will also do work around Kenton. H708 has been relegated to the Scottslawn Local that works industries from Ridgeway to Columbus. And we can include H919 in there as well as Zoll pointed out the Local recrew