Motive Power: Chicago, Ft. Wayne, & Eastern

[Anonymous]

After reading the little blurb in the November issue about C,F,&E, I decided to drive by their little "hub" here, and see if I could spy a few of those old CNW units, in their original colors. And, indeed I did. Saw several of the newly painted red CF&E engines too, which look remarkably better first hand than in photo's.

What surprised me a bit was seeing an old gray and red Sou Pacific loco lashed up with one of the old CNW's and a spankiing new CF&E...quite a sight all together, little something for everyone

[Anonymous]

Aunty-

It takes a little while to get the paintbrush out...

LC

[MP173]

AG:

Can you summarize their operations?

I live in Valparaiso and hear/see them occasionally. Dont think they are operating on a daily basis, but could be wrong.

I got pictures of their CFE units going east the first time in August. Nice colors.

ed

[Junctionfan]

What kind of units does this railroad have? I couldn't find it and feel kind of silly to not know since my pretend railroad bought it.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173

AG:

Can you summarize their operations?

I live in Valparaiso and hear/see them occasionally. Dont think they are operating on a daily basis, but could be wrong.

I got pictures of their CFE units going east the first time in August. Nice colors.

ed

Well, just like the CSX traffic that they replaced, they sit around alot, and watch NS roll by....[:D]

I know that sounds mean, but it's largely the truth... During the past several months, I've found some comedy in CSX's "presence" in Ft Wayne, because it largely (for the most part) consisted of idling locos in atrophy. Their area just east of Triple Crowns yard looked like a parking lot for the blue and gray...

But, all that's changed now!! (nyuk nyuk) There's a new operator in town! with freshly painted locos now idling in near atrophy.....still,.. it is now one pretty parking lot [8]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

What kind of units does this railroad have? I couldn't find it and feel kind of silly to not know since my pretend railroad bought it.

GP38's I believe

[Junctionfan]

I use this line to get my intermodals to Chicago. You wouldn't see a Great Lakes and Atlantic intermodal crawl if it existed.

[eolafan]

Pardon my ignorance, but is the line you are speaking of the old line that paralells Rt. 30 almost all the way to Ft. Wayne? (it would be on the south side of Rt. 30 and you can see it very well for most of that trip from Valpo to Ft. Wayne)? Thanks

[joseph2]

Yes it is the line that goes by US 30.The units I have seen have sight glasses on the long hood,so I wonder if they are GP38-2's. Joe G.

[Anonymous]

There was a seeming peculiarity in the Trains magazine account of this lines ownership..

As part of the old Pennsey/Penn Central system, The line got rolled into Conrail....

The item in the Nov issue states that NS bought the line outright from Conrail, to serve as expanded capacity, in suppliment of it's former Nickle Plate route to Chicago. (I'm fine with the story, up to this point)

Then the article states the line was "assigned" to CSX as part of the Conrail split up..

Perhaps I'm interpreting the wrong meaning of the word "assigned", but the meaning I normally interpret that to mean is:"given to"

How the line becomes part of the Conrail assets to be divided between CSX and NS , having already been purchased by NS ,...doesn't seem to make any sense..

Unless, of course, there is a portion of the story remaining untold,...as in (possibly) some trade off, elswhere in the division of the Conrail pie.......Anyone?

[wcfan4ever]

I saw one of the freshly painted CF&E units at NRE Dixmoor a while back. It was GP38-2 3802 I think. Sharp looking...although it does resemble many other units, it was the first time I have seen any painted like that.

[Junctionfan]

Sorry to alter the topic of course but I figured if I had a question about the C,F&E to ask here and avoid starting another thread.

What kind of traffic do they see? Where do they have diamonds and who else runs on the line? What kind of speeds does this line allow or could allow with some upgrading?

[Anonymous]

JF: If you look here http://www.trainweb.org/fwarailfan/fortwayne_loc.htm in focus with the blue line labled "CSX Fort Wayne line" You'll see some of it....

[MP173]

Anti:

As far as I can recall (history of the PRR line), you are pretty much correct. NS purchased the line frm Conrail back in the mid 90's to relieve pressure off of the Nickle Plate line. There was an excellent article on the NKP line in Trains back around 96 or 97, which was title Hot Times on the Nickle Plate...it was a cover story and outlined the operations.

The Nickle Plate at that time was really busy, with about 35 trains a day on single track CTC. During evenings each siding would seem to have a train. But, the NS can move trains...and the traffic flowed.

The PRR line gave them a Ft Wayne to Valparaiso safety valve. Although it was not signalled, they could run directionally with track warrents.

With the Conrail split, NS now had 3 routes across Northern Illinois and CSX only had its mainline. So, I dont know if NS said (YOURS!) or whether CSX said (OURS!), but to even the score, the PRR went to CSX.

At first they ran a Buffalo - Chicago train daily then it just kept getting reduced. At the end it was one train each way every other day.

Havent got a handle yet on the CFE, they only come out at night, as Edgar Winter once howled.

Any info would be appreciated.

ed

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MP173

Anti:





With the Conrail split, NS now had 3 routes across Northern Illinois and CSX only had its mainline. So, I dont know if NS said (YOURS!) or whether CSX said (OURS!), but to even the score, the PRR went to CSX.


ed

Yeah,....My bet is that there was some "bargaining table" trade off made, as Buying something then giving it away never makes sense. Perhaps a concession to the regulators to lube the rest of the deal?

Tell me if you think this map of the Conrail split looks right or wrong to you.....Pay close attention to the colors

http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Conrail/Breakup/main_lg.gif