Trackside Guides

Hello everybody. This count started on Thursday Jan. 10, 2008 and finished Fri. the 11th. The SB/NB trains are taking the branch here in Goshen and heading down to Marion and beyond.

• 1. 1:40 pm EB 14Q Elkhart - Bellevue
• 2. 2:20 WB 23K Buffalo - Chi 47th 30+ trailers, many ups
• 3. 2:54 WB 205 Ayer MA - Chi 47th dom. stacks and trailers
• 4. 2:57 NB 144 Birmingham - Elkhart
• 5. 3:11 WB Coal deex
• 6. 3:49 SB 19K Elkhart - Decatur
• 7. 3:57 EB Stack ie short
• 8. 4:40 SB 143 Elkhart - Chattanooga
• 9. 4:52 EB 38E Elkhart - Detroit
• 10. 5:02 EB 60Q potash from CN
• 11. 5:03 WB CP 23T ie stacks
• 12. 5:13 WB 31M Detroit - Gibson autos
• 13. 5:31 EB CP 24T ie stacks
• 14. 6:23 WB 21Z Rutherford - Chi 63^rd 97 trailers
• 15. 6:46 EB 10M Elkhart - Columbus
• 16. 7:25 NB 18K Mitchell IL - Elkhart
• 17. 8:36 EB 681 Coal from BNSF
• 18. 8:51 WB 25K?? stack mix
• 19. 8:53 EB CP stack/auto
• 20. 9:30 WB 19A Conway - Chi Clearing
• 21. 9:58 SB Freight
• 22. 10:09 WB 15N??
• 23. 10:20 EB Capitol Limited
• 24. 10:24 WB 21N Detroit - Chi Cicero short ie stacks
• 25. 10:33 EB 22W 47^th - Rutherford 79 trailers, lots ups
• 26. 10:39 WB 21Q Morrisville - 47^th 25 trailers all dom, big.
• 27. 10:41 EB 18A Proviso - Conway short
• 28. 11:26 WB 13Q Bellevue - Elkhart very big
• 29. 11:29 WB 25Z Croxton - 47^th 10 trailers, all dom.
• 30. 12:23 WB M1K Allentown - Elkhart extra
• 31. 12:52 EB 24V 47^th - Dockside NJ ie mix
• 32. 1:19 WB CP 29T autos
• 33. 1:36 EB 20Q 47^th - Morrisville big all dom stacks, trailers.
• 34. 1:49 EB Lake Shore Limited
• 35. 2:01 WB B38 Local
• 36. 2:04 EB 20R 47^th - Elizabethport dom. stacks
• 37. 2:18 WB Freight 69Q???
• 38. 2:22 EB B38 Local
• 39. 2:41 WB 21J Morrisville - 47th lots pigs, ups
• 40. 3:55 EB 20W Chicago BNSF - Croxton dom. stack, pig
• 41. 4:07 EB Freight
• 42. 4:09 WB CP Freight
• 43. 4:31 WB 21E Morrisville - Willow Springs pigs, ups
• 44. 5:27 EB dom. stack, pig
• 45. 6:01 WB Pig, lots ie stacks on end, very big
• 46. 6:11 WB 23M Elizabethport - Global II
• 47. 6:47 WB 21M Croxton - Corwith? Pigs
• 48. 6:47 NB 311 Marion - Elkhart
• 49. 7:15 EB 206 47^th - Ayer dom. stacks
• 50. 7:25 EB 24Z?? Chi Ashland - Croxton some pigs
• 51. 7:25 WB 23Z Harrisburg - Corwith stacks
• 52. 7:34 WB 11K Allentown - Elkhart
• 53. 7:41 EB 10R?? Streator IL - Conway
• 54. 7:44 WB 63A mty ottx flats
• 55. 8:18 WB Capitol
• 56. 8:55 WB Lake Shore
• 57. 9:02 EB CP 22T ie stacks
• 58. 9:10 EB 22/24K? 47^th - Buffalo pigs, ups
• 59. 9:13 WB CP 25T Freight
• 60. 9:17 EB 24M 63^rd - Baltimore pigs, ups
• 61. 9:26 EB 20E 47^th - Morrisville pigs, ups
• 62. 10:02 EB 660 bnsf coal
• 63. 10:21 NB 18K
• 64. 11:00 EB 17R??
• 65. 11:10 WB 11M Columbus - Elkhart
• 66. 11:20 EB CP 32T freight
• 67. 11:40 WB 17M Linwood NC - Elkhart
• 68. 11:59 EB CP 36T
• 69. 12:15 EB 16E Clearing - Conway
• 70. 12:15 WB 21G Croxton - Ashland Ave BNSF nearly all dom. stacks
• 71. 12:43 WB 17N Conway - Elkhart
• 72. 1:08 SB 19K
• 73. 1:25 EB local
• 74. 1:40 WB 23N Columbus - Corwith

In total, that is 27 Intermodal (15 WB, 12 EB), 30 Freight (4 NB, 4 SB, 11 EB, 11 WB), 3 Coal (2 EB, 1 WB), 1 WB Auto, and 4 Amtrak. For CP I caught 5 Intermodal/Auto (3 EB, 2 WB) and 2 Freights in each direction. Last year in March on a Wednesday I caught 84, including 74 NS trains compared to this years 61. I know there are more scheduled, but I was there at the wrong time I guess. I heard the dispatcher say he had a fleet of WB's coming when I left, but cousin Phil wanted to keep movin. Compared to last year I saw 4 fewer coal trains, 4 less intermodal, 1 less auto, 1 less baretable, and 1 less freight. This year however, I caught 2 more on the branch, though I saw 18K and 19K twice, and 3 more CP trains.

I was pretty tired through the night so I got pretty messed up. I remember recording an WB train as an EB (the 6:01am) and so I am not sure if I messed up a few before that also, but I tried to adjust it based on previous experiences. SoRRY! This was my 3rd night in a row in the car!

I will be back here again sometime in the summer. The UP in Nebraska and the joint BNSF/NS in MO is next come MAY!!

Here is some video I took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3lynLByF5M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORXRLi7YMaE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edjOsF8VyZM

Or for simplified higher quaility vid check this out: http://www.rail-videos.net/video/view.php?id=1859

Hope you liked, and let me know what you think!

Hey Tyler...great report. 

To help add to the info you already have listed, the 143 runs from Elkhart to Chattanooga with the 144 taking the reverse route.  You may in the future see the 17M/18M rerouted down the Marion Branch as the Heartland Corridor causes reroutes from time to time depending on which phase of the construction they are in.  We ran both those trains for a few weeks last fall but lost them due to lack of available crews.

144/143 used to terminate/originate in Chicago when they went through Fort Wayne via the NKP line.