does the CN have a timetable for the traffic in this subdivision. I see an ethanol train every day or so, and wondering how it is scheduled, and ultimately, where does it originate. I was told it ends up at Hawthorne Yard in Cicero, where the CN picks up the empties for the return trip back.
Living near the Munger interchange with the former EJ&E, I’ve also wondered about how to find out the schedule. I posted an inquiry on the Yahoo IC Group and asked an old friend (a retired IC dispatcher) with no luck.
Getting a schedule for frieght trains is hard. The railroads are not allowed to give out that info on trains anymore do to new FRA regulations. The only thing you can really do is look to see what time of day it rolls by. But I can tell you that the train starts out of Iowa somewhere.
Working in the industry it is frustrating not telling rail fans the info cause most (99%) of rail fans just want to take some pics.
CN has many online ethonal plants including one in Dyersville, IA one in Lena, IL, a biodiesel plant in Farley, IA and I believe there may be more in western Iowa. Ethanal has definitely brought this line back to life within the past couple of years.
Jeff
How frequent do ethanol trains run on the line? Living in Northwest Indiana, there seems to be a constant parade of ethanol trains on the CSX line. My guess is both the IC line and the DME line are seeing frequent moves…but how often/how many (in a week)?
Ed
The ethanol traffic on the CN Freeport Sub must get interchanged to some eastern connection in Chicago, as I don’t know what they’d do with 75 loads of grain alcohol once it got there…
As for scheduled traffic on the line, there are only two scheduled freights–one a day each way. Eastbound M338 is supposed to be out of Dubuque, IA with a fresh crew in the middle of the night and should be close to Munger about sunrise. A recent operating plan said that the train would be backed through the connection at Munger onto the old EJ&E and the train would run down through Joliet and ultimately terminate at Kirk Yard in Gary, IND. I heard from another that the CN was going to quit doing this, since the backup move onto the EJ&E was causing highway traffic back ups in the area. If that is the case, the train would run through Hawthorne and terminate at the old IC Markham Yard in Homewood.
Westbound M337 is usually out of Hawthorne about 10 PM to Midnight most evenings, so he would be meeting counterpart M338 somewhere between Freeport and Galena, IL in the pre-dawn hours.
I know that there are ethanol trains, but I don’t think that they are running everyday–at most I thought you might see two loads and emptys per week. But they have been known to run X337/X338-type trains if they have the traffic. So maybe an X337 would look like an ethanol train since there would likely be a number of tank cars in it. The unit ethanol trains have the symbol U704 (eastbound loads) and U703 (westbound empties). The ethanol trains aren’t scheduled, as they load as the empty tank cars are returned to the plant.
Lance
Obviously you seem to be right on top of that. I am working on a bridge in south Elgin that is going to be replaced and I am trying to gage how much traffic is on that line. I see the ethanol trains quite a bit now, and occasionally the ethanol train with 40 or 50 grain cars lashed in for good measure. How many big sidings are there between Munger and Rockford, would you know? What kind of circuitous path is it from Hawthorne to Homewood. does that train go downtown on the Airline. Or does it end up on the Beltway?
The next siding west from Munger would be Burlington. Next up would be Colvin Park there used to be a little town there, but basically it is about five miles west of Genoa, IL. On the east side of Rockford you have Buckbee Siding and then you have Seward. After that you’ll be into Freeport. Back in the 1970s there were a few more options. Just west of the Rockford depot there was a siding called Case and then another out west of Rockford called Alworth.
Approx. siding lengths: Munger, 6100; Burlington, 6300; Colvin Park, 6600; Buckbee, 6700 and Seward, 7700. The siding at Freeport is about 8700 but there are yard tracks there too.
These trains may still use the Airline, but the CN has been running the eastbound M338 onto the old EJ&E at Munger by backing it up the connection track and then down to Joliet. They were supposed to build a connection in the south-west quadrant at Munger so they don’t have to make the backup move, but it borders a forest preserve and they wouldn’t sell the CN the needed land–so welcome to 130 car trains making slow backup moves and blocking crossings for longer than necessary!
Lance
Any space available in the NE corner for a jug handle type connection?. I am assuming there is already a connection track in the SE corner?.
Right now there is only a connection in the NE quadrant, so only trains going SB on the EJ&E can connect directly if it is going inbound (east) toward chicago. I have been stuck many times at the Stearns Road crossing waiting for those trains to clear, and I ahve never seen a train backup. That would be painfully slow.
that is the only switch on that interconnect!
that is great information. Thanks much.
I don’t know how much room would be available in the NE quadrant. The present connection is there in the NE quadrant–the standard ‘ramp’ going west off the CN/IC up to the old EJ&E going north (timetable westward). The present connection is pretty tight–it sort of follows the IC line and then makes the bend northward to follow along the old EJ&E. It was built as an interchange track to handle cuts of loose cars–it certainly wasn’t designed for 130-car trains.
The planned future operations call for Freeport Sub. trains to originate and terminate in the old EJ&E yard at Joliet (or maybe they’ll go over to Kirk yard in Gary, IN). For that to be efficient they wanted to make the connection in the SW quadrant. That way an eastbound train from Freeport, IL could take the switch and end up facing south on the EJ&E and vice versa–a westbound train made up in Joliet would be able to directly run west onto the Freeport Sub. To be able to do this connection any other direct way would call for a full loop (or jug handle) so an eastbound Freeport Sub train would duck under the old EJ&E, curve to the left and loop around itself as it climbs up to the EJ&E–just like a Tollway cloverleaf interchange. That will certainly eat up a bunch of land in the NE quadrant and I’m not sure of ownership issues in that area.
The CN has installed two new CTC switches at “North Iowa” (at the north end of the current ramp where it joins the EJ&E) and ‘East J’ (where the bottom end of the ramp joins the CN/IC Freeport Sub), so it seems like the CN is happy to make the backup move with the trains at present. Again, I think that only eastbound M338 regularly makes the backup move (although plenty of other CN traffic uses the ramp–southbound CN trains come down from Wisconsin, onto the EJ&E at Leithton and then use the east end of the Freeport Sub to head to Hawthorne Yard). so the present arrangement may be acceptable for one train a
You have got a little engineer blood in you, LWales. Or you have a lot of time on your hands. But thanks for the information. Again-- there is a lot of stuff being moved these days, and even a sleepy little place like at Munger Road ,there is a lot of hidden stuff happening.
I’ve seen M337 depart Hawthorne in the late afternoon/early evening before, I’m not sure if they still leave aound that time or if the schedule was changed, this was a year ago. CN also runs a couple locals out of Hawthorne but I’m not sure what time they run. Coincidently, they’ve been using EJ&E power for these locals at times recently!
Hello-
I apologize for bringing a very old thread back to life, but I’m considering purchasing a home that is directly adjacent to the CN tracks through Elmhurst. The realtor has said that 2-4 trains per day pass. Can any of you either confirm or refute that estimate? Additionally, at least when this thread was active, it looks like the majority of trains passing through Elmhurst were at night, is that still the case?
Thanks so much for any assistance!
(1) you did not say exactly where. Bracket your location with the DOT # on the ENS signs at the crossing on either side of where you are.
(2) You may possibly be in a quiet zone (QZ) depending where you are.
(3) Using West Avenue as an example, DOT# 289-856G at MP 20.6 on the Freeport Sub., last updated by IL-DOT on 1/29/18 you are looking at 2 daytime trains and 2 nighttime trains in a QZ per the FRA record* (40 MPH track) with no normal switching movements.
(*) Filled out and maintained by an IL-DOT employee of dubvious reliability, who may or may not know what he or she is doing. Data integrity of late is not good, the quiet zone is not on any federal list for CN QZ’s in Illinois.
(**) Freight trains are not scheduled, frequency can change in a heartbeat and can be effected by any number of variables.
Comments Carl (Mr Lombard)?
This is great info, I had no idea that FRA had crossing reports you could download. York St is the nearest Grade crossing, I was able to get the ENS number of Google Street View, and now I am looking at the FRA report that says 2 daytime and 2 nighttime trains per day and that’s it’s a 24 hour quiet zone. Thanks so much for sending me in the right direction.
Well, there’s your answer, before I got a chance to get in here. I knew that it was a quiet zone (and remember the days when it wasn’t). I didn’t know about the two trains per day in either direction, but that is certainly a reasonable guess.
My older stepson and his family live about 100 yards from this line and it appears that 2-4 trains daily is about right. It is a quiet zone through Elmhurst, including the crossing of the Illinois Prairie Path.
Having grown up not far from the IC/ICG/CC/CN Iowa Division mainline in northeast Iowa, I am curious as to how many ethanol trains originate out of the ethanol plant just west of Dyersville these days. I haven’t been back there as of late but when I am, it seems as if I’m lucky just to be able to catch mainstays 337 and 338.