That Eric is so very true, and relating to some of your other inquiries about railfans, if people bought stock on the advise of a railfan the poor man would go broke. Railfans are fickle, no doubt…but not all fall in that catagory. A railfan should be a fan of trains and the variety available to them, CSX included, he favors a specific road or topic, but a true railfan simply loves trains and accepts the product brought to him.
Here in Ohio we got caught up in the NS hype with its heritage fleet, my quest was to get all 20 in the wild. I too am a former “ground pounder”…mission accomplished. This period also seen some steam activity on NS tracks as well. During this frenzy I decided to railfan CSX one day and hiked to some vantage points for unique video and photo’s. The CSX crews put on quite a show, I think they were surprised a railfan was trackside. They probably hadn’t seen one in quite a while and all were waiving and blowing the horn for me.
Critics of CSX of late are those wishful thinkers who want to see a CSX heritage program. CSX said they are not going to such. Its their railroad, live with it…but some railfans whine about it and start throwing slanderous remarks about CSX. I think in the overall scheme of things CSX freight traffic is still ahead of NS. These critical railfans who desire to work for a railroad, would they decline an employment opportunity with CSX? I doubt it.
As a former UP and CNW employee, I watched a CSX predecessor go into the abyss. I was enough of a C&O fan and supporter to edit the C&O Historical Society’s monthly newsletter from 1971 to 1978. In 1972 I rode the C&O main line on Amtrak, and was impressed with the smoothness of the track, the way trains kept moving on a two-main-track-CTC main line, and looked at it all in glowing terms when compared to the track of my financially-beleagured employer.
1974: I rode over portions of the same line, hoping to impress my wife with a real railroad. What I got instead was mainline trackage being ripped out, signals turned sideways, trains waiting for us to clear, us waiting for other trains to clear, and so on.
Two more years, and another trip on the C&O. The track was noticeably rougher, and there were points where sudden jolts from the roadbed would be enough to startle one. This was also the point when the C&O was one of the railroads on which Amtrak’s SDP40Fs were developing a bad reputation. And this is when the chairman was making statements that Chessie had “no deferred maintenance.” Right.
A trip, in the late 1970s, to Raceland Shops. Refurbished cars looked very bad coming out of there–no preparation whatsoever before slapping a new coat of paint on them–the paint blistered and rusted in no time. This practice was defended by the people in charge, but I could compare it to the CNW shops in Clinton, Iowa, which were doing things properly.
But I will say that I of the remaining seven Class I’s, I think the least of CSX out of any of them. Why? Well, I’m in New England, and CSX can’t seem to get out of here fast enough to suit them. Already, they’ve retrenched from Boston to Worcester. How much longer before they retreat to Springfield or even Albany? It’s kinda hard to like a railroad that doesn’t invest much into your area.
I personally dislike the track condition that I see. When CSX took over CR, the one story I heard was that when the new CSX track maintenance boss came to Massachusetts, he was heard to say to the former CR (now CSX) employees, “You guys really over-maintain your track around here.” Sad to say, this less than auspicious start has proven itself out with barely passable track in the area. I once saw a track joint that I could stick my thumb into…and both rail joiner plates were broken at the same spot. There was nothing holding the rails together other than the spikes in the ties and the bond wire. And this wasn’t just a freight siding, this was a CSX-owned main line that hosts passenger trains. On NH/PC/CR, this was 30mph track. On CSX, it’s 10mph. It’s kinda hard to like a railroad that puts passengers at risk due to a lack of track maintenance (see also: Amtrak Auto Train & Capital Limited derailments in 2002).
Then there’s the customer experience. I have a friend who works for a large shipper of loads out and he has since the mid-1990’s. He’s explained to me that back in the CR days, about once a year, they’d get a car back to them still loaded. When CSX took over, they were doing it every month. It’s hard to like a railroad that can’t manage to consistantly ship lo
With regard to the beancounters running the railroad, one may shudder to consider what might have been if “The Children’s Fund” had been able to exert influence on CSX. The looting of the treasury that many expected would come to pass may well have signalled the death knell of CSX.
Larry, that was my thought. As I recall, it was known that the powers that were at the Children’s Fund thought that no money should be spent on maintaining the property but that all profits should be shared by the stockholders. How stupid can people in finance be?
I have seen evidence of this hatred for CSX, primarily among railfan types who have no idea what they are talking about.
In all of my years of shooting train photos, the most annoying thing to put up with is listening to someone go off on CSX, citing most of all, the lack of a “steam program”. It’s annoying to listen to, especially when CSX is jokingly referred to as “Crash, Stop, eXplode”. In reference to rail fan forums and the vitriol toward CSX, my son belongs to several, and there is a fair amount of CSX bashing that goes on. I find it annoying, mainly because very little is based in fact, or if it is based in fact, it is loosely based, and twisted beyond recognition.
The only exposure we get to CSX, is if we catch the through freight on the BNSF, other than that, I don’t see much of anything CSX, unless I happen to be down along the IHB.
I guess what bothers me the most, is people finding a nugget of information on the internet, and turning it into a whole story, and then it gets passed around, and the truth being a secondary consideration.
I am not sure where you got your information I spent this morning weaving UPS trains around MOW between Willow Creek In, and Deshler Oh. There is all of two slow ordesr on the entire subdivision, one of which is in an area that was tamped and just needed tonnage run over it.
A little bit of my life trivia involving the OP. Eric hired me as a dispatcher quite a few years ago, and is a great boss to work for.
I’m glad to hear that the MOW crews are out there. I do know that CSX practice is to hold off on maintenance until a “blitz” can be done to restore the line, usually routing most of the traffic off said line until the work is accomplished. I hope the line remains in good repair for a long time to come.
I’m glad to hear accurate information from anyone with firsthand knowledge, and especially appreciated hearing that most CSX employees seem friendly toward railfans. That wouldn’t hold true if they didn’t at least enjoy some aspect of their work (I know that when railfans could break through the defenses and come visit me, they were always welcomed!)
CSX has been putting substantial resources into both the “Chicago Line” through central NY, and the St. Lawrence Sub (Conrail’s Montreal Secondary). I would presume the work on the Chicago Line is mostly ongoing maintenance, however the St Lawrence Sub work is directly in response to the new intermodal facility in the Montreal area. We’re seeing a lot of stacks running up and down the line these days.
Speeds on the St Lawrence Sub had dropped to 25 MPH, resulting in the run between Syracuse and Massena becoming a two-crew trip. The work they’re doing will bring the line back to 40, and one conversation I had indicated that they may shoot for 50, although that’s probably a ways off. Apparently the line was, at one time, good for 50 MPH.
Let us hold off an analysis until some poster can give us a complete picture of CSX’s financial and operating pictures vs other RRs. Such as
operating ratio
Average train speed
Dwell time
Price earning raatio
Retained earnings
capital spending requirements next few years
derailments per 1000 miles
train re crews
Delayed capital sepnding such a Virginia ave tunnel expansion ??
10… etc.
These type figures would enable a better understanding of CSX’s need to concentrate on fixing up their RR ? Wonder if CSX could even consider reopening Saluda if it was their’s ?
Those kinds of factors might determine whether or not an investor would purchase CSX stock; however I have difficulty envisioning a railfan deciding to “hate” CSX because of factors such as retained earnings. But anyone who is interested in CSX’s corporate financial information can obtain it very directly by searching through the “investors” section on the company Web site.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. CSX is a fine company with a good reputation. Online posters who complain have too much time on their hands and should probably get a life. CSX is not in the rail fan entertainment business.
Northwest Indiana checking in here. The CSX mainline running from Chicago to Ohio is a fine piece of railroad in my non railroading eyes and ears. Other than the pile up of 3 trains near Westville in January 2012, things seem pretty fluid. The railroad is investing heavily in their ROW and it is 60mph property for intermodals, auto racks, and apple trains with 50mph for everything else.
I monitor operations on the scanner and their trains, particularly those UPS mail trains are run very tightly.
I am impressed and as an investor have an entry point, if the stock drops.
From a business perspective CSX is doing what it can to survive. But even some members of its management team have admitted to making decisions that yielded unwanted results. But that happens with all businesses.
From a southeastern railfan’s point of view:
The Seaboard Coast Line was not in bad financial shape before the CSX merger. One thing a number of us miss is the parade of trains we used to get in Florida back in the 70s-early 80s…and I do mean parade; especially in comparison to today. The “A-LIne” was still double tracked in many stretches between south Georgia and Tampa, Florida. Amtrak trains were run by SCL crews that took pride in delivering the trains on time (as best possible). Crews were generally friendly towards rail fans, sometimes even violating rules and welcoming them inside of locomotive cabs.
After the CSX merger many lines in the Florida and Georgia regions were abandoned and removed. Understandably this was done since SCL was being taxed for every mile of track it owned and the low or non-existent revenues were hurting the bottom line.
The impressive locomotive service shop in Tampa was converted to a freight car repair shop and, if IIRC, all major locomotive service in the southeast was transferred to Waycross, Georgia. Rail fan passenger specials became rare (I participated in the 1981 Chessie 614 run as an NRHS member). The new management made it clear that non-CSX movements (including Amtrak) were considered to be profit hurting annoyances.
But, imho, a good number of rail fans understand the reasons…and more…for the above. So instead of “hating”, perhaps a more realistic thought would be that a number of the complainers simply miss the way things were and in reality are simply “lamenting” and don’t really wish ill-will against CSX. Hopefully things will continue to improve f
The CSX track around here is in great shape,Bostic NC,Charlotte NC,Florence SC, Chester SC,Camden SC,Hamlet NC,Spruce Pines NC,Marion NC, the areas I go train watching and others CSX employees and NS are some of the best.
Quick question for the railfans in the New York State area.
I remember that CSX did have some issues with bad track or road bed, I think, on one of the east-west mainlines as well as some frequently used branch lines. There were some derailments that made the news. It may have been from Buffalo and westward.
From what I’ve seen, CSX has been quite busy on the “Chicago Line,” maintenance wise - ties, even new signals.
And they just put in a huge number of ties on the St Lawrence Sub (with the usual associated work), although that’s more to get the speeds up than anything else.
Consider that many fans’ attitudes toward NS were not too favorable during the period between the end of the steam program and the unveiling of the NS Heritage Fleet.