Has there been much traffic on the old GMO/ICG line that was sold to Gateway Western/KCS before the recession that runs from Springfield,IL to Roodhouse, IL where the line splits going to Kansas City and St.Louis?
Thanks!!
Good topic, I hope we get more replies.
The last time I took a look at the track, it didn’t seem all that well maintained. About six years ago, I caught a pretty intresting train on it. There were two Gateway Western switch engines, short hoods facing one another, lumbering along with about 105 double box cars. Had to be one of the more unusual trains I have ever caught.
Gabe
I was trying to find the source and could not, but in a recent online discussion about the closing of the UP/C&IM tower in Springfield, someone wrote that there was little if any activity on the east end of the Gateway Western these days and that the line was being kept only for “strategic” purposes. By that, I imagine they meant in order to protect an interchange gateway or perhaps to use as a bargaining chip in the event of a merger. John Timm
Before the recession hit in 2008, the KCS was running into Springfield 3 times a week, usually late in the evening on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Now traffic is very light with seemingly little rhyme or reason as to when the local crew out of Roodhouse makes the trip over to Springfield. They usually make at least one or two trips a week sometime in the early afternoon. Here are a couple of photos of “typical” KCS trains heading back to Roodhouse: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ns145/sets/72157624291301395/
Hope this helps.
Matt Harrell