NS 175

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

NS 175 has shown up the last few days on the Chicago - Ft Wayne line. At one time it was a Chicago to Knoxville train. I believe it was rerouted to Elkhart after the Conrail merger.

Does anyone know if this is a permanent move to the old Nickel Plate? Does this train still run between Chicago and Knoxville?

Thanks for your info.

ed

2

I haven’t heard anything about a permanent reroute. It was on the NKP again tonight. I saw it around Mentone. It was only 52 cars and about 40 of them were loaded sulpher tanks. 60N went to Chicago this evening with 83 empty sulpher cars. I figure they must have met West of you.

3

I heard the 60N friday night and then was gone all weekend…went to Muncie to see the oldest son at BSU.

Tonight another 175 was thru at 7pm.

ed

4

[:O] My oldest daughter is at BSU, too. Did you have any time to get down to watch the NS wait on CSX downtown?

5

He is solid Macons out of Clearing. Runs via Ft. Wayne. Picks up block swaps for Macon at Danville KY and Harriman Jct along the way.

Used to be an Elkhart to Macon train. For a while this year, was a Buckeye to Macon train.

Macons that used to go to 175 at Elkhart now move on 143 to Harriman Jct. then on 175 to Macon.

Looks like this change was made on Oct 10th.

6

Don:

Thanks again for your help. I need to run down to the tracks next time 175 runs to get an idea of what kind of cars it carries.

The NKP line thru Ft. Wayne continues to add trains. I am hearing quite a bit of congestion tho. Last night several Chicago trains were being held as there was no room at the inn.

NS continues to constantly refine their system. Now this runs from Clearing, bypassing the Elkhart yard and the terminal costs involved. Of course the Belt charges for this service, but the interesting thing is the discipline that NS seems to have regarding the scheduling and building of these trains. A year ago the NKP line had but three scheduled general freights … 306/307 and 177. Of course there were a ton of intermodals. Now, 324/365 have been added (south Bend - Fort Wayne), 17R is a massive train off the CN out of Fond du lac and now the 175. Plus the 282 was recently added.

The line should continue to see increases in traffic.

ed

7

Unless the contents of the train has changed along with it’s routing, it usually has a bunch of empty kaolin tanks and hoppers bound for reloading at Sandersville, plus whatever else they can find to slap on the rear of it. It’s usually a pretty hefty train lengthwise by the time it reaches Macon. Too bad the days of it running with WC power are gone!

anb740

8

I remember those WC units on the NKP line a decade ago. Today that train out of WC’s Fond du Lac (CN) is the 17R. It typically has CN units and as I stated on the previous post, is a massive train.

It has Kaolin cars for return, plus a lot of lumber. Quite a few covered hoppers and tank cars. I have seen the 17R with over 150 cars and over 14000 tons. 17R is destined for Columbus, Ohio.

Great to see more trains on the NKP line. At this rate, they will have to do a bit of investment in the line as most of the sidings are a bit on the short side.

ed

9

Got a chance to run down to the tracks and take a look at today’s 175:

NS8661
NS8320 (conrail blue)
87 cars
consisting of lots of Thiele tank cars, several Huber tank cars and hoppers, 14 tank cars of Molten Sulpher and a pretty good sized block of CP/Soo covered hoppers. Also about 10-15 cars of scrap metal for good measure.

Any idea where the moltan sulpher goes?

All in all an impressive looking consist.

OS Valparaiso 225pm

ed

10

Don:

Has 175 been rescheduled?

Thanks,

ed

11

On the FWA railfan site it was reported that 175 has been rerouted again out of Columbus.

12

Mike:

You should be in luck today with 177.

It just cleared Valpo at 945am (Central time) with units 9190 and 9966. It had 87 cars as follows:
49 cars of box cars, ADM tank cars, a few gons, etc.
38 cars of empty auto racks at the end

Pretty healthy train as far as size is concerned, but I dont know how much revenue…those empty auto racks are emtpy dollars, I am sure.

ed

13

Yup. Buckeye to Macon, now.

14

Don’t know where the sulphur is going, but it could be headed to someplace in Florida. When my in-laws lived next to CSX’s ex-SAL and L&N line from Jacksonville to New Orleans, I used to see a good many cars of sulphur headed toward Jacksonville. They could have turned north from there, but it sounds like something going on in Florida requires substantial quantities of sulphur. Phosphate extraction in the Bone Valley, perhaps?