I just wanted to let everybody know that a new Class III Railroad, the Evansville Western railway could possibly begin operating the old CSX (L&N) line from Evansville Indiana to Okawville Illinois. The line is 124.5 miles. From the research I’ve done, it appears as if the STB will make their final decision on whether or not EVWR’s parent company Paducah and Louisville will be able to buy the line and operate their subsidiary, the Evansville Western, on the line from Evansville to Okawville by December 30, 2005. So, come 2006 Southern Illinois might see a new railroad. I found out about this from somebody on here that found out about it from the STB’s website sometime early August. The information has changed a lot since then and more details of the acquisition have been listed. This CSX line currently sees almost no traffic at all with just a few grain trains a week. It used to be a very busy L&N main line. The Evansville Western has plans on increasing the number of customers this line will serve and plans on running more traffic on this line.
I know we have discussed this line in the recent past, but what exactly is the nature of the coal traffic on the line? I would assume the coal unloads at Mt. Vernon, but where does it originate, and what is the frequency. It appears this could be a fairly busy segment, particularly if the frequency of service allows the shippers on the line to convert back to rail.
MP173, I’m not for sure about the nature of the coal traffic on that line, if I ever do see anything on it, it’s usually just a grain train with 30 or less cars. I think that the EVWR will transform this line from an almost dead track to a very prosperous Class III main line by the year 2010.
The SBT decision that was referenced by NS Railfan indicated that CSX owns 35% (I think) of P&L. This is interesting as CSX seems to be spinning off these raillines, but holding on to some equity. I wonder how that is done? No doubt in the terms of the sale agreement.
That gives them a good opportunity to get the line back, if necessary and get out from under the cost of running the lines.
Is the Paducah and Louisville the old Illinois Central line that ran to L’ville? My guess is that it is.
Yes, the P&L, that I know of operates an old IC line that was sold back in the 1980s I think. >>CSX wants to spin off this old line (L&N) to the P&L because the P&L is “friendly” to CSX since CSX owns part of P&L and from what I can tell CSX is tired of that line and they want to make some profit off of it but they don’t want to mess with it much, so the solution is to let a CSX “Friendly” company buy it and operate it. CSX still has a hold on it though, probably to keep the P&L from pulling a trick on CSX and maybe selling the line to NS who would definetely have reason to want the line. That’s probably one of the reasons why they ordered a protection order on this acquisition.
The coal is loaded from a mine at Epworth, IL. I live in Mt. Vernon, IN and have heard about CSX selling out the St. Louis sub from a buddy who is an engineer in Evansville.
I work at GE in Mt. Vernon and we ship a lot of tank and product cars across this line back through Evansville. We also have a refinery, roofing and a lot of agriculture shipments across this line. I’m not sure about the businesses situated in IL much, not much but agriculture services over to Mt. Vernon, IL. I haven’t been much further than that following the rails.
My grandfather used to be an engineer for L&N and mostly ran across the St. Louis Division, at that time they still had passenger service into St. Louis, he always told me that he backed many a train under the shed at St. Louis Union station, beautiful building. I also rode with him in hte cab on the last passenger train out of St. Louis to Evansville, picked me up at the Mt. Vernon depot (now gone - fire) and backed into the then Evansville Depot (gone - torn down, stupid people). I can still remember that day like its the back of my hand… and I believe that was in '70-'71. He retired in '79, fired steamers for L&N when he first started.
I would like to see this line get more attention and traffic, we have enough abandoned lines in this area…
Ziggy, thanks for the good info. that you posted. It seems as if most of the customers on this line are at Mount Vernon IN on east to Evansville. In the STB report it said that EVWR plans on bringing several customers back to rail service along this line. At Mount Vernon IL there is a big Walgreens distribution center that sits right by this main line, I would imagine that they are probably going to try and get Walgreens to ship by rail. There are also several other potential customers in and around Mount Vernon Illinois. Back in the 1980s, World Color Press used to be in the factory building that Budweiser owns now for storage. My Dad worked at World Color Press back then and he remembers the L&N bringing in lots of box cars of Huge sheets of printing paper. This summer, we drove over to Mount Vernon and drove back in there where World Color used to be and parts of those old service tracks are still there. It seems as if this line is just waiting for somebody to come along and take it and Use it the way it was meant to be used. >>Also, I want to mention that on Saturday I was at Mount Vernon IL and I noticed that a lot of the weeds along this old line were gone and two additional crossbucks had been put up at the grade crossing out in the country just east of Mount Vernon IL. They might have already been there but I don’t remember seeing them before.
Anyways, I am really looking forward to seeing this old line come back to life.
Same here. That line was one of the heavist passenger lines that L&N owned. This is another reason that CSX has not been that great of a railroad. They do not serve that many businesses on this line. They need to start dealing with more small businesses so they can be a better railroad.
Yep, ICMR you are exactly correct 100%! NS has done very good on serving local customers. That is why they are doing so well financially. Now, I’m not bashing CSX, but I do think that they could improve a lot.
I grew up about 45 miles north of that line (Olney) and there is quite a bit of farming up there. But, as a kid, I dont remember heading south too often, so I dont have a clue.
waltersrails, I’m not 100% sure of what you’re talking about when you mention “IC”. If you’re talking about what I said earlier about the P&L line being a former IC line then here’s the proof straight from the P&L’s website:>> The line was originally purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad in August of 1986 by CG&T Industries, Inc., a corporation formed by two prominent businessmen from Livingston County in Western Kentucky. These businessmen were vitally interested in the rail line because it served their businesses—Reed Crushed Stone and BRT Transfer Terminals at Jessup, KY—both greatly dependent upon rail for the operation. After assuring themselves that the railroad would be a profitable stand-alone company, in late 1988, these businessmen sold their interests in CG&T to an affiliate of First Chicago Corporation. The sale provided the additional capital needed for the PAL’s continued growth. In July 1995, ownership of the railroad was transferred to Four Rivers Transportation, Inc., a holding company owned by PAL management and CSX Transportation, Inc.