Although the CF&E runs thru my hometown, I have lost track of their operations into and out of Chicago.
The last two days I have seen two westbounds, both around 9am running with lengthy trains. Today's train was followed and observed - 2 ex CSX locomotives stencilled CFE with 93 cars. The majority of the cars were general freight - tanks, covered hoppers, etc. but there were about 20 flat cars with steel beams, no doubt out of SDI in Columbia City. Also at the end of the train were about 30 auto racks, I believe these are out of Roanoke, In for movement to IHB in Chicago. These at one time were a daily NS move from Ft. Wayne to IHB.
Does CFE run daily trains into and out of Chicago? A few years ago it was every other day...westbound one day and return the following day. Both of these trains were quite impressive...didnt get a car count yesterday but it had probably 30 auto racks on head end.
Appears that CFE has grown the business into quite a diverse mix over the past 10-15 years.
Any comments on their operations would be appreciated.
ed
GM got butt-hurt about something NS did about 3 years ago. (may or may not have been PSR implementation) So, GM bought/leased some property over by the former IH plant in Fort Wayne and built a 7? track auto-loading facility North of the former PRR main. Instead of driving new pick-ups off the assembly line in Roanoke across a parking lot and into auto-racks at the plant which they still do, they take a sizable chunk of them and load them onto trucks and drive them 20 some miles across town to load them at the CF&E site.
GM was leasing the former IH parking lots and test-track to store trucks waiting for chips, so the operation appears to be much larger than it probably is. I'm not privy to their shipment patterns, but I have noticed NS train 197 that heads South, and not toward Chicago (goes by my house) has a much smaller block of auto-racks on the rear than it used to have. I would assume this change had an even larger impact on trains West to Chicago and Eastward.
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Ah...that solves the issue of how Roanokes got to the CFE in Ft. Wayne. I was curious about that. The only methods were to transport over the road or to pay NS to handle from Roanoke to Ft. Wayne...which wouldnt make sense.
Any idea of CFE is running daily to Chicago or not?Ed
Looking at the Ft. Wayne area, NS has a control point East and West Dawkins, just east of the I 869 expressway. From the aerial photos, it appears to be a loading or mixing center of some sort, quite a few sidings and vehicles parked.
What exactly is that area used for?Ed
MP173 Ah...that solves the issue of how Roanokes got to the CFE in Ft. Wayne. I was curious about that. The only methods were to transport over the road or to pay NS to handle from Roanoke to Ft. Wayne...which wouldnt make sense. Any idea of CFE is running daily to Chicago or not?Ed
Pretty much, yes. The have a job that goes on duty at 8:00, takes a train to the IHB, then returns. I am not sure where they go on duty.
An "expensive model collector"
MP173 Looking at the Ft. Wayne area, NS has a control point East and West Dawkins, just east of the I 869 expressway. From the aerial photos, it appears to be a loading or mixing center of some sort, quite a few sidings and vehicles parked. What exactly is that area used for?Ed What you are looking at is the "old Casad Depot" which is now mainly local industry and the FWHRS. That aerial photo is probably a couple of years old when GM had pickup trucks stored all over town waiting for computer chips.
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