n012944 Jim611 I wonder if NS complains about the Deshler and Fostoria crossings being tied up for long periods. Sure they do. They are then reminded that the average delay for a CSX train to get across the NS controlled Vickers diamond in Toledo is a hour and a half. That shuts up their complaints really quick.
Jim611 I wonder if NS complains about the Deshler and Fostoria crossings being tied up for long periods.
I wonder if NS complains about the Deshler and Fostoria crossings being tied up for long periods.
Sure they do. They are then reminded that the average delay for a CSX train to get across the NS controlled Vickers diamond in Toledo is a hour and a half. That shuts up their complaints really quick.
If the NS complains about Deshler - they are looking for a freebie. They don't operate there. There are numerous locations where each carrier can screw the other.
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BaltACD n012944 Jim611 I wonder if NS complains about the Deshler and Fostoria crossings being tied up for long periods. Sure they do. They are then reminded that the average delay for a CSX train to get across the NS controlled Vickers diamond in Toledo is a hour and a half. That shuts up their complaints really quick. If the NS complains about Deshler - they are looking for a freebie. They don't operate there. There are numerous locations where each carrier can screw the other.
I was speaking of Fostoria. I am well aware of the ownership of railroad crossing at grade at Deshler.
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SALfanI've often amused myself by trying to figure out the best way to combine the Bainbridge-to-Waycross and Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville lines. They aren't that far apart, at least between Thomasville and Tallahassee. I assume a lot of the traffic on the Florida panhandle line is destined for Florida, but seems like it would be handy to run it all thru Waycross. I assume Waycross is used to build trains for various destinations in FL (not that I have any real knowledge, that's just how I'd do it).
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D.Carleton SALfan I've often amused myself by trying to figure out the best way to combine the Bainbridge-to-Waycross and Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville lines. They aren't that far apart, at least between Thomasville and Tallahassee. I assume a lot of the traffic on the Florida panhandle line is destined for Florida, but seems like it would be handy to run it all thru Waycross. I assume Waycross is used to build trains for various destinations in FL (not that I have any real knowledge, that's just how I'd do it). The line from Dupont south was built at the very end of the Civil War and was the first to cross the FL-GA line. The line from Climax to Chattahoochee was built in 1883, seven years before the line from Bainbridge to Montgomery. This provided a friendly connection to the L&N and became ACL's route from Richmond to New Orleans. The nexus of the ACL/SCL/FLS/SBD/CSX in the southeast of the Southeast was, is and will always be Waycross. As that is the case was abandoning the line from Chattahoochee to Climax really a good idea?
SALfan I've often amused myself by trying to figure out the best way to combine the Bainbridge-to-Waycross and Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville lines. They aren't that far apart, at least between Thomasville and Tallahassee. I assume a lot of the traffic on the Florida panhandle line is destined for Florida, but seems like it would be handy to run it all thru Waycross. I assume Waycross is used to build trains for various destinations in FL (not that I have any real knowledge, that's just how I'd do it).
The line from Dupont south was built at the very end of the Civil War and was the first to cross the FL-GA line. The line from Climax to Chattahoochee was built in 1883, seven years before the line from Bainbridge to Montgomery. This provided a friendly connection to the L&N and became ACL's route from Richmond to New Orleans. The nexus of the ACL/SCL/FLS/SBD/CSX in the southeast of the Southeast was, is and will always be Waycross. As that is the case was abandoning the line from Chattahoochee to Climax really a good idea?
Thanks for the info; I didn't know any of the history of those lines. If the line from Climax to Chattahoochee were still in place, CSX could abandon the old SAL from Chattahoochee to Baldwin without much impact. AFAIK there aren't any significant traffic sources on the whole stretch. The "Bow Line" (Bainbridge to Waycross) could use the traffic, from what I've seen. Don't know if the Bow Line is a maintenance headache; it does cross some pretty marshy territory from west of Homerville to Waycross. If you know something I don't, please share the information, I'd like to know more.
SALfanThanks for the info; I didn't know any of the history of those lines. If the line from Climax to Chattahoochee were still in place, CSX could abandon the old SAL from Chattahoochee to Baldwin without much impact. AFAIK there aren't any significant traffic sources on the whole stretch. The "Bow Line" (Bainbridge to Waycross) could use the traffic, from what I've seen. Don't know if the Bow Line is a maintenance headache; it does cross some pretty marshy territory from west of Homerville to Waycross. If you know something I don't, please share the information, I'd like to know more.
D.Carleton SALfan Thanks for the info; I didn't know any of the history of those lines. If the line from Climax to Chattahoochee were still in place, CSX could abandon the old SAL from Chattahoochee to Baldwin without much impact. AFAIK there aren't any significant traffic sources on the whole stretch. The "Bow Line" (Bainbridge to Waycross) could use the traffic, from what I've seen. Don't know if the Bow Line is a maintenance headache; it does cross some pretty marshy territory from west of Homerville to Waycross. If you know something I don't, please share the information, I'd like to know more. I’m not aware of any specific problems with the Bow Line except being frozen in amber circa 1960 with stick rail. It’s just busy enough to hang onto. A good resource for railroad history in this neck of the woods is “The Plant System Of Railroads, Steamships And Hotels: The South's First Great Industrial Enterprise.“
SALfan Thanks for the info; I didn't know any of the history of those lines. If the line from Climax to Chattahoochee were still in place, CSX could abandon the old SAL from Chattahoochee to Baldwin without much impact. AFAIK there aren't any significant traffic sources on the whole stretch. The "Bow Line" (Bainbridge to Waycross) could use the traffic, from what I've seen. Don't know if the Bow Line is a maintenance headache; it does cross some pretty marshy territory from west of Homerville to Waycross. If you know something I don't, please share the information, I'd like to know more.
I’m not aware of any specific problems with the Bow Line except being frozen in amber circa 1960 with stick rail. It’s just busy enough to hang onto. A good resource for railroad history in this neck of the woods is “The Plant System Of Railroads, Steamships And Hotels: The South's First Great Industrial Enterprise.“
When I was ACD on the Atlanta Division, a operating plan was implemented that took all through trains off the Bow Line between Birmingham and Waycross and had them all operate on the Lineville and Fitzgerald Subs.
A Senior Operating Officers inspection train was called out of Birmingham at 6 AM on a Friday morning. The train arrived Manchester at Noon (On Time) and made it's turn on the the Fitzgerald Sub with a crew that went on duty at Noon. Inspection train had to follow 5 full sized (9000 feet at the time) Southbound freights destined Waycross and Jacksonville. Inspection train COULD NOT pass the Southbound freights account ALL the passing sidings on the Fitzgerald Sub were occupied by Northbound trains.
The reality of operating 9000 foot trains says one or more of them will have issues. A UDE here, a Defect Detector activation there, a track occupancy light staying on requiring trains to operate on Permission by the Stop Signal at Restricted Speed until they recieve the next signal more favorable than Restricted Proceed, Stop & Flag a road crossing or two because of malfunctioning crossing protection - all the run of the mill stuff. The Manchester crew was intended to take the train to Waycross, however account HOS it was changed at Fitzgerald. Some of the preceeding 5 freights had their own HOS issues and were handled as necessary with the recrews standing by waiting on the trains.
As the trains arrived Waycross at about 5 AM on Saturday morning, all the operating officials left the train like rats departing a sinking ship - at least that is what the Terminal Trainmaster at Waycross reported - taking highway transportation back to Jacksonville.
Monday moring a change was made to the Operating Plan - two through merchandise schedules in each directionwere removed from the Fitzgerald/Lineville Sub routing and placed back on the Bow Line.
I guess 'something' was learned from the inspection trip.
BaltACDMonday moring a change was made to the Operating Plan - two through merchandise schedules in each directionwere removed from the Fitzgerald/Lineville Sub routing and placed back on the Bow Line. I guess 'something' was learned from the inspection trip.
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