I’m curious about the traffic volume on the NS through the Detroit area and then south and west through Ohio and Indiana, passing through Elkhart, Goshen and on over the Chicago area. I have an opportunity to spend some time along the line just west of the Detroit area next week and I’m just wondering what I could expect in terms of the number of trains. I have the TRAINS Conrail Chicago Gateway tape that seems to suggest it’s pretty busy, at least through Indiana, but that tape is many years old. Any advice is appreciated!
if you follow the wabash down to Butler Indiana you will see CP trains as well as ns trains.Cp has trackage rights into Chicago on ns.On the Ns main you will also see amtraks capitol and lake shore limited.If you get the chance stop by the nyc museum in Elkhart Indiana.Matt says say hi to their cat"century".
I’m kind of confused at what line your asking about. NS’s main line through Elkhart doesn’t exactly go through Detroit, but rather Toledo. There are trains that originate in Detroit then get onto the Chicago line in Toledo, or could take the line through Kalamazoo that gets onto the Chicago line at Elkhart. The Kalamazoo line doesn’t have much freight traffic, but the line from Detroit to Toledo does have more, though I don’t know much about this line. There’s also NS’s line from Detroit to Fort Wayne that crosses the ex-Conrail line at Butler, but no trains get onto the Chicago line here except for CP trains.
If you really want to see the trains, head south to Toledo and watch trains on the Chicago line. This is the line that the Chicago Gateway tape was filmed on, and I’ve stayed 24 hours along it many times to know what you’ll see. West of Toledo you’ll see 70ish trains a day and go to Butler and you’ll see 90. If you want more info let me know.
Thanks for the info; maybe I’m confusing myself. There’s a line that runs west from the Detroit area trhough the Ford Rouge complex and skirts along the property of the Detroit Metro Airport and then turns southwest. I’ve seen NS trains on that line but maybe that’s not the same as the Chicago line. Where west of Toledo would be the best place?
follow NS west from toledo by getting on airport highway of off 475 on the west side of toledo.Follow rt 2 to Bryan Ohio.Then you can follow US rt 6 to Butler Indiana.There are plenty of small town places to eat and pull off if you want to stop.There are also depots in wauseon,stryker and bryan to look at.