Another FEMA train headed south...

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

…On my way to church this morning I witnessed another FEMA train I assume headed to the south hurricane area…I sure hope they soon get them to a location people can use them…So much destruction still in the pictures and cries of no help in some areas…

2

Not familiar with this.

What type of equipment is this? Mixed freight and passenger? If passenger cars, are they Amtrak, DOT, or private cars?

Thanks.

3

…Whole trains of flat cars of FEMA large size travel trailer type units…{two on each flat car}…All painted white, and roughly 30’ in length. I’ve seen at least 6 trains of them in the past month…Perhaps some have traveled through that I did not see…

4

Model:

The empties are moving in a strange routing back to Elkhart. Up to Ft. Wayne, then west on the Chicago District to Osborn (Hammond) then north on the IHB to the ex Conrail mainline and back to Elkhart. I have never heard why they are doing that, instead of a straight shot north thru Marion and Goshen to Elkhart.

Two empties per day are running o42 and o44. Strange looking trains with empty flat cars.

ed

5

…That might mean they are coming back thru Muncie on the NS line that connects north from here to Ft. Wayne…That route comes right through our down town area and I don’t get to watch that activity unless I drive over town, etc…It would be the same route as the Triple Crown…
On the way south when they are loaded I did hear a DP one day mentioning the “FEMA Train” coming thru Marion…Don’t know where the DP was located. On that day about 2 hrs. or so later I saw it come through here on the Frankfort line…I believe they call it.

6

So, it comes down thru Marion to Alexandria and then goes to Muncie and then heads south.

Why doesnt it return that way?

By going to Ft. Wayne, then Osborn, then Elkhart it has to be over 150 more miles.

The only thing I can think of is crew utilization.

ed

7

…I wonder if it is routed that way so it doesn’t oppose the normal flow of traffic coming from the west on the Frankfort line…Seems to be quite a bit of traffic that direction on that line…Only a guess on my part…