24 Hours On NS's Chicago Line in Goshen IN

t.winx

Member since
July 2006
175 posts

Posted by t.winx on Friday, February 8, 2008 6:46 PM

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!

Tyler

Reply

Big Ed

Member since
July 2006
31 posts

Posted by Big Ed on Saturday, February 9, 2008 9:38 PM

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.