Buckeye is mostly Intermodal? and Parsons is general freight? What ever happened to the big 4 route? Cleveland Columbus Indy Stloius?
CSX has a intermodal facility at Buckeye Yard but NS has the rest of the operation. Parsons has always been a coal and freight yard. CSX would like to get away from the NS congestion at Buckeye Yard and have their own facility.
For CSX to access the Indy line from Columbus, they have to go north to either Marion, OH, or Ridgeway, OH, Marion being about 50 miles, roughly, and Ridgeway about 40.
Okay, a follow up question to this.
What part does NS Watkins yard play in all this?
Is it just an intermodal yard? [?]
Buckeye as you may know has a large humpyard.
Watkins has 9 light side tracks and 6 heavy side tracks all at around 60-80 car lengths.It has the ramp yard with 4 tracks.And has a small diesel track for parking units.And has 2 shop tracks on the entrance end of the shop and 1 long one to kick the cars out in.
Also the Industial parkway is off the mainline beside the ramp,which when I last worked up there serviced Georgia Pacific,Sherwin Williams Paints,and Coke at the end.
Also off the main is the old LS2 steel facility with 2 tracks,and the cement plant before you reach the ramp.
To my understanding Watkins still does some local switching,and acts as a pickup yard for mainline tracffic.See it was designed by the N&W as a connection yard,and Joyce Ave. as the switch yard.
Parsons I have little info. on.I do know that they have mostly wiped out the engine service facility there.
http://skedz.com/scripts/view_terminal.asp?carrier=NS&terminal=WAT
Parsons sends trains to Russell and North to Willards and Indy…
Where my confusion comes in that the Columbus-Springfield OH line according to "Delormes " Ohio Gazeteer shows the line being abandoned but my “Deskmap” shows the line owned and operated by NS and the I&O shows the line operated by them…