kankakee belt...

[ValleyX]

Actually, Piqua Yard is the second Triple Crown facility in Fort Wayne. The original Triple Crown Yard when the service started was located at what is known as the New Yard, between Brooklyn Avenue and Nutman, near Hugo. Consisting of only three tracks and limited track space, it was a cramped facility and wasn't going to do as business increased.

The railroad wanted to build a new Triple Crown yard in the northwest corner of Hugo but the city and the residents of the area were up in arms. With Conrail's dwindling of their operations in Fort Wayne, space became available in Piqua Yard and NS was able to move the facility there. Short of moving out of the city, I don't know how much expansion they could do within the city.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ValleyX

Actually, Piqua Yard is the second Triple Crown facility in Fort Wayne. The original Triple Crown Yard when the service started was located at what is known as the New Yard, between Brooklyn Avenue and Nutman, near Hugo. Consisting of only three tracks and limited track space, it was a cramped facility and wasn't going to do as business increased.

The railroad wanted to build a new Triple Crown yard in the northwest corner of Hugo but the city and the residents of the area were up in arms. With Conrail's dwindling of their operations in Fort Wayne, space became available in Piqua Yard and NS was able to move the facility there. Short of moving out of the city, I don't know how much expansion they could do within the city.

Yeah, I live right across the river from the previous location, pretty amazing to think about that little siding next to G&L corporation one time being the central nucleus for Triple crown.. When I was a kid we used to walk out to the abandoned Hugo tower and play in it.

The Piqua facility seems to work well, for what TC needs from it, just the access from the mainline sux.

Evidently the people holding the purse strings don't think it sux bad enough to do anything serious about it. Because if they wanted to, they surely could. With all that abandoned ROW over near the old Passenger terminal, they could get really creative if they needed to. Especially with all that land left vacant when GE removed it's Fairfield Avenue facility from between the viaducts.

[XG01X]

Decatur is still a big problem on the NS; but I have also heard that NS is not fond of the IC trackage rights and is thinking about rebuilding the exNYC line.
There's a couple of trains that roll through Streator BNSF/NS Interchange trains(Gateway traffic)
The mill in Hennepin ships alot by barge.

[techguy57]

Dumb question but where does the KBS fit into all of this? I've driven by their small shops between Iriquois and Donovan, IL and seen an occasional train, usually on the overpass of 52. I know they have moved on to trucking somewhat but they used to be a bit more of a prevalent shortline. Do they play into any of this at all?

Mike

[MP173]

XG:

Help me out a bit...which ex NYC line would NS rebuild? Is it the old Egyptian line south to Southern Illinois? That is the only one I can think of. They could run south past Schneider to Danville area and interchange with the Wabash line. That is the only one I can think of to get Chicago freight to Decatur.

That would make a lot of sense. They could do a couple of things:
1. Run Elkhart - Decatur a bit smoother. I dont know how they currently run Elkhart -Decatur/St. Louis/Kansas City, but that would work. It would bypass Chicago...which I dont think they go thru now anyway and it would give them another option rather than going thru Goshen, Warsaw to the Wabash line and then west.
2. Run their Chicago - Decatur/St. Louis/Kansas City freight instead of the ex Illinois Central line.
3. Run their BNSF freight that way rather than to Streator. This would increase their line haul and revenue.

Also, XG...when you say a couple of trains thru Streator, is that 2 each way or 1 each way and what do you mean by "Gateway".

Techguy:

I believe, but dont take it to the bank, the KBS is primarily a grain hauler. I have seen their operations a few times...loved those Alco's, but it has been awhile.

I do know they had an intermodal fleet. But, that may have been an investor situation, similar to Vermont Railways intermodal fleet that is simply put out into the pool.

ed

[XG01X]

QUOTE: They could run south past Schneider to Danville area and interchange with the Wabash line. That is the only one I can think of to get Chicago freight to Decatur.

Exactly, I heard that was being studied closely. Don't remeber what the condition of the row was.
The gateway traffic is solid trains that avoid Chicago. I know of 3 with counterparts and I believe there can be as many as 10 daily I was once told.
I call it Gateway traffic because it was took from the Peoria Gateway(IL) after NS got the CR Streator line

There was also this in the conrail transaction papers:
Should CSX merge with BNSF and if
CSXT requests, then NS agrees to transfer
the Streator line from Osborne Crossing,
including dispatching control for a
fair value.
And no the KBS isn't a player in this, just ag shortline!

[Anonymous]

i didn't realize there was THAT much traffic via streator to the BNSF. i wouldn't mind if you elaborated some on the merger stipulation...belt line to csx...