I am modeling the Buffalo area of NY and have heard that CSX's Frontier Yard is in trouble and might close. Is this true , and can anyone update me on the situation?
My Layout Photos- http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/ajwarshal/library/
You can't be sure with CSX. First they were going to close the Selkirk NY yard, then they weren't, then they were, then they weren't, then they were, then they weren't.....
And at one point they were going to close Richmond's Acca Yard, then they were, then they weren't, well, you get the picture.
So if you want to model Frontier Yard, do the research and go for it! You may just turn into the resident expert!
I could never understand CR. Buffalo is on Lake Erie smack dab in the face of the ornery weather brought over from Lake Michigan and along over the hills of Ontario. CR had the Erie along the Southern Tier into Erie and Cleveland via the mid Ohio-Pennsylvania border. While snowy and out of the way it was far better than snow clogged ancient yards of Buffalo, a good route to use to ease the gridlock and avoid the problems of Buffalo. I should I could never understand CR on this as CR was Red and Green believing only in the Water Level and the Broadway routs and hell bent to continue the PC parcels in perpetuity instead of thinking outside the gauge. The benefits of the Erie route would have worked in thier favor if they looked at everything except the past.
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weather is not everything Henry. ON-line industry is important also.
Geography also matters. The former Erie main may have avoided Buffalo but the Water Level Route has much better grades and capacity.
George Hilton was right about the Erie, it ran between New York and Chicago and managed to miss almost all of the major traffic sources.
My point is that the Erie line was discarded instead of used. There have been many times over the years when Buffalo was closed down by snow or otherwise unable to handle traffic, and the Erie line would have been available. The Erie line, too, was, and is, still a high and wide clearance route. And as traffic east-west and west-east continues to grow, the Erie route is intact from New Jersey at least to Meadville, PA and could be viable whether Buffalo is closed or not. I understand corporate and investor mentality of short time return instead of long term and service to customers and gaining income from long hauls. But efficiencies and service to customers are being overlooked. The other fly in the ointment, of course is, CSX owns and operates the former New York Central's Water Level Route and NS and CP the former Erie route across the Southern Tier and down the Delaware Valley. I am just saying that this is where Conrail failed the railroad industry, some shippers (don't automatically say they are happy when they are forced to buy what PC and CR assembled by dismantling and either NS or CSX carved out for themselves) in its climb to success. Additionally many towns and cities were demoted by lack of mainline rail services for many now disappeared industries.
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