Can someone give me a profile of the NS St. Louis - Louisville line that runs across Southern Illinois?
Single track? CTC? Track warrents? etc.
Number of trains per day, including turning south at Centralia on the CN (if any).
Types of trains (manifest, intermodal, auto, grain, coal).
thanks,
ed
anybody out there in Southern Illinois?
ed
i cant prove it and it dont matter if it was you or not who laughed and said the police blowed out of porpotion about a bomb that was found on this line you question about now. ill give you the answers just not all of them. the line is track warrent control and single track. lots of talk and went as far as serveying for double track . type of trains run here all of the above. how many i wont say. how do i know all of this info this is the line i run on…
Ed,
NS trains head the other way at Centralia. NS has rights on BNSF from Centralia NW through Sorento (connecting with a piece of NKP) to the KC line at Jacksonville, IL.
During 1988 Southern (or NS if you prefer) bought the ICG line from Fulton, KY 202 miles to Haleyville, AL. They also got 154 miles of trackage rights from Fulton to Centralia. Traffic did not pan out, and the southern end from Corinth, MS to Haleyville went to the Redmont Railway.
The section from Fulton to Corinth was leased to the West Tennessee during 2001 (August 1 ?). These sites are before the lease-
http://members.aol.com/wtnnrr/wtnn1.html
http://alcoworld.railfan.net/wtnn.htm
I believe the rights between Centralia and Fulton were dropped during 2001, but had probably not been used for some time. This was the second Southern mistake in southern Illinois. The previous one involved the purchase of a Conrail line from Mount Carmel SW about 120 miles almost to Cairo. They only had that for about 5 years before it was abandoned.
Perhaps I can provide you with assistance; (Hint: I Live within 1 mile of this line.)
The track is track warrant control with automated block signals. There are about 5 - 15 trains a day through here. Most of the locomotives seen are NS and former BIG BLUE CR units. There’s a local train that usually has a former CR or NS unit(s) pulling it. At Browns Illinois, a new track is being installed to run from the NS line to Grayville IL and Poseyville IN (I think it might eventually connect with CSX). Near Maud IL, a new track is being installed to service a coal mine. This Main line through here is fairly quiet with an approximate interval of 30 min to 4 hours between Trains. Princeton IN is the place to be to see trains. There, this line and the very very Busy CSX Chicago to Nashville (old C&EI line) share the same roadbed running side by side through town. CSX recently installed a passing siding with automatic remote turnouts just south of the diamond. Though this line through here is a quiet line, you can still have a lot of fun watching trains on it. A lot of times, I take a book and go and park beside the tracks and read between trains; this helps to pass the time.
Wabash1, you might see me down by the tracks sometime between Boyleston IL and Sims IL. Part of my relatives own farm ground down there. The exact spot I go to watch trains is at the west end of moon (Boyleston) siding.
The line to Louisville actually goes further east to a place called North Wye. North Wye is just North of Danville, KY.
wabash1:
It wasnt me. I tend to take law enforcement seriously.
My interest in the line is that I grew up “down there” and am just curious.
NS Railfan:
Thanks for the info. There isnt much more business now than there was back in the day (1970’s). I made a couple of day trips back then to Mt. Carmel and Centralia and have a few photos.
I obviously wasnt aware of the discontinuation of the trackage rights on the IC. Nor was I aware they use the BNSF up to Jacksonville. It would make sense, to avoid St. Louis. Anything running on those rights?
If memory serves me, there were 7 scheduled trains each way back in the 70’s.
ed
I have one other small event to mention. Back in 1997 and 1998 we lived in a house about 400 feet from the tracks. I had heard from TRAINS magazine that NS and CSX were pursuing a merger with Conrail. Back then, I didn’t know or completely understand all the details to this as I was only about 10 years old.
One day, I remember seeing Conrail’s Officer Car Special train through here. I found that to be a very Odd occurance. I suppose they were inspecting the line here because of the upcoming merger. I did some research and found out that Conrail’s Officer Car Special also traveled down south on the CSX to inspect their system before the merger. I suppose I was one of the few people who witnessed this, as most people have no recollection of this.
Just figured you all would want to know this.
You probably dont remember if it was pulled by the E units do you?
Back in about 1980 I was able to photograph a similar train of Southern Railway cars and E units as they inspected the NW. Quite a sight.
ed
I definetely remember seeing a black Conrail Observation Car, but I’m not 100% sure about the E8(A) that could have been on the front. What might have been on the front could have been a NS locomotive pulling the Conrail car. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of this.
Also, recently a Union Pacific Passenger Car came through here pulled by a single NS GP50, GP38-2, or a GP40-2 going west towards St. Louis.
Sou Illinois Guys:
A couple ofg months back we had a pretty lengthy discusion on lines in Souther Illinois from St. Louis to Centralia. BNSF was running and upgrading their line from NW Ill. into the area, and it seemed like BNSF was poised to make some traffic increases. Did that ever happen? The NS South down thru the area towards Jackson, Tn., and to Corintn, Ms is now a regional [West Tenn. RR ?] .
In another thread by railfanespee 4449 he had a photo posted of CO&E # 17
" Chinese Steam-Check this out"
What is the status of the CO&E, are they doing anything at all? at one time they were doing some ‘bridge-line’ business, but by that time had parked their active steam and gone to diesel? I have heard nothing about them in some time? THe way the railroad map has changed in the last ten years and with railroads making all kinds of trackage deals, Southern Ill is a prime area, what with the North-South CN and all the other lines present there.
Thanks,
Sam
This appears to be wrong. The map in the February 2004 Trains shows the rights extend north to Jacksonville. The map in the October 2005 Trains show the rights ending at Litchfield, on the St. Louis to Decatur route.
The NS website shows the rights as being Centralia to Litchfield as well.
NS has coal trains going to the generating station in Coffeen which use these rights between Litchfield and Sorento.
I grew up about 8 miles from the NS/BNSF diamond in Litchfield where the cross over occurs. I have seen well over 200 coal trains go from the NS to BNSF line–however every one of them was the same train on the way to Coffeen. I have never seen another train use these traffic rights.
Also, NS often parks the Coffeen coal train right one the switch over, so I don’t think it is in use for other trians.
Finally, what is the connection between this line (the ex Wabash) main and the Southern Illinois line (ex Southern line).
Gabe
Gabe: Good to see you back…hope things are well for you.
I am not sure what you mean by the connection betwene the Wabash (is it the Decatur to St. Louis line?) and the Southern line.
According to St. Loius Regional Railfan Timetable 1 (published by Soft Rails) and well worth the $13.00 I paid for it, the Wabash line enters the East St. Louis area and runs down to Brooklyn Yard. There is also an NS line which runs from Brooklyn to Coapman Yard which is the “Southern Yard”.
It would seem that they would use the BNSF line from Centralia to Litchfield, if they would have movements.
Where does the coal for Coffeen originate? Isnt it over by Carlinville? If so, then that is a pretty short run, Carlinville to Coffeen.
ed
Dave was mentioning NS’ right of way at Litchfiled, and I was trying to see if he was still talking about NS’ ex Southern RR line, as the Litchield line was the ex Wabash line and goes through central Illinois rather than Southern.
Yes, the coal for Coffeen is delivered from just a little south of Carlinville. I remember you asking me about what a particular track was on route four. The track you were asking about runs to the mine about a mile away from where you crossed it.
It is a fairly short haul. My guess is about 60 miles. I am told the power station is no looking to get Powder River Basin Coal from the UP. I can’t see how that would be cheaper than what they are getting now. But, maybe that is why I do not run a power plant.
Gabe
Is the southern tip of Illinois really hilly, like southern Indiana? Or, does the line we’re talking about follow the Ohio river, on a fairly flat grade?
been in tolono ill. cn and ns cross here. ns up to 50 trains a day and cn up to 30 a day.
tolono is only 2000 people but has all the comforts except a hotel.
Call it kind of hilly. The CN’s (ex-IC) Edgewood cut-off is flat and almost tangent from Edgewood to the Ohio River, but everything south of Carbondale, Marion and Harrisburg is in low hill country. Actually foot hills of the Ozarks, I believe. ` Don’t know what grades are involved, but the CN (IC) to Cairo (pronounce that Caaro) does curve around a bit.
Jay
Yep, we got the Cobden Hill. Usually a southbound will leave a cut of cars at South Carbondale (if it doesn’t feel it’s going to make the hill) that another southbound (a shorter one or one with more power) will pick up and take back down south. This happened just last week.
It does get pretty curvy south of Carbondale, from there to Anna (as far south as I have been) especially. Makanda most notably.