A month or two back Trains had an interesting map of BNSF's two lines from Chicago to Galesburg, Il. Are they both equally important or is one secondary to the other? Are they used in a directional running capacity or are both lines used for both directions?
They both are important main lines. Just east of Galesburg is a connection between both lines with a wye on each line. Amtrak trains leave on the ex-CBQ line out of Chicago, and switch over to the ex-ATSF line to LA at that point. Most of the high priority intermodal trains from LA stay on the ex-ATSF line all the way into Chicago. Coal trains out of the PRB arrive on the ex-CBQ line and usually stay on it for delivery to a connection in the Chicago area, but there are exceptions. The ex-ATSF line has a lot more traffic, but east of Aurora the Twin Cities line(ex-CBQ) joins the ex-CBQ line from Galesburg and there is a lot of traffic east to Chicago, BNSF is running at least 11 unit crude oil trains a day over that line.
Galesburg also is the junction for the ex-CBQ line to KC, and I think the branch to Peoria as well - Galesburg has a huge classification yard on the ex-CBQ side. Galesburg is a very busy place.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
jrbernier The ex-ATSF line has a lot more traffic, but east of Aurora the Twin Cities line(ex-CBQ) joins the ex-CBQ line from Galesburg and there is a lot of traffic east to Chicago,
The Twin cities ex-Q line joins the ex-Q line from Galesburg just west of Aurora.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
jrbernier They both are important main lines. Just east of Galesburg is a connection between both lines with a wye on each line. Amtrak trains leave on the ex-CBQ line out of Chicago, and switch over to the ex-ATSF line to LA at that point. Most of the high priority intermodal trains from LA stay on the ex-ATSF line all the way into Chicago. Coal trains out of the PRB arrive on the ex-CBQ line and usually stay on it for delivery to a connection in the Chicago area, but there are exceptions. The ex-ATSF line has a lot more traffic, but east of Aurora the Twin Cities line(ex-CBQ) joins the ex-CBQ line from Galesburg and there is a lot of traffic east to Chicago, BNSF is running at least 11 unit crude oil trains a day over that line. Galesburg also is the junction for the ex-CBQ line to KC, and I think the branch to Peoria as well - Galesburg has a huge classification yard on the ex-CBQ side. Galesburg is a very busy place. Jim
Actually Jim the connection -- Cameron -- is west of Galesburg. There is a rickety old connection downtown that they use in emergencies but is really not capable of heavy duty railroading.
East of Galesburg on the former Santa Fe is Edelstein which has a connection with the UP's ex CNW line from Nelson IL down to Peoria.
Galesburg is indeed quite a place. When you stand on the Amtrak platform the CB&Q/BN lines from Chicago and the Twin Cities (via Savannah) are to the north and the lines to Burlington Iowa and Quincy IL split off basically at the platform -- so the hub of the old "Chicago Burlington & Quincy" is right before your eyes. The line to Peoria splits off the Quincy main a block or two south of the depot platform. The line to Quincy splits in two at Bushnell several miles to the south.
The former Santa Fe basically cuts through town east/west and the Santa Fe goes under the former BN right where the line from Savannah joins the line from Chicago. Peck Park is located there and is a great railfanning location. The Santa Fe then goes over the line to Burlington at Cameron, a bit west of the Cameron connecting wye itself.
Dave Nelson
I grew up along the Santa Fe main line about halfway between Chicago and Galesburg, about 30 miles from the BN. At the time of the merger the Santa Fe was in better shape than the BN, and had quite a few more trains. The BN sort of seemed fossilized to me then, from neglect rather than overuse: old dried out switch ties in places, switch plates and frogs from the 1930s it seemed, etc. In the early nineties most of the traffic on the ATSF was piggybacked trailers, the hottest trains were 199/ 991, the UPS trains between Chicago and the SF Bay area, there was also an 891/189 from LA, and 981, a loaded perishables train, and many others, but mostly piggyback. The Santa Fe interchanged whole trains with Conrail at Streator (around 70 miles west of Chicago) including a piggyback train (CR TV-53, ATSF 288, a high priority to LA) and ELSF/SFEL/,201/102, a manifest to Elkhart. The last time I was back there a year and a half ago there was one stack train after another in both directions, some of which still interchange with the now NS at Streator. It seems to me that maintenance had slipped, several frogs on the crossovers were in the mud and had loose bolts and switch plates, the only frogs with good ties were movable point frogs that had only recently been installed (very quiet btw). The ex-BN I understand still has coal and low priority trains (including passenger, although BNSF is generally accommodating to Amtrak where they can be). When the merger happened I was afraid one or the other main between Chicago and Kansas City would be abandoned and taken up but thankfully that didn't happen.
P.S. Does anyone know if the hot UPS piggyback trains still run? I was there for a while a year and a half ago and never saw one.
BNSF's Chicago Operating Division map, with inset for the Galesburg area (not nearly as detailed as the one in Trains, though):
http://www.bnsf.com/customers/pdf/maps/div_ch.pdf (1 sheet, 11" x 17", approx. 2.5 MB electronic file size in this 'PDF' format)
Oddly, Galesburg is not labeled on the main map - it's about 180 miles southwest of Chicago, just northeast of Cameron (largest labeled town nearby), where the 6 red-shaded lines intersect.
- Paul North.
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