Now, I’m not nowhere near Gibbon Jct, Rochelle, Ill, Witten Place (Cinncinati), or any of these big time railroad cities. But I want to know:
What was the highest frequency (number) of trains have you ever seen in a railfan spot, how long were you at this spot to see these trains, and where is this spot located? I’m getting to point that I’m ready to travel to some of these railroad hotspots.
I’ve seen 19 within a 6 and a half hour window down here at Devine Jct in Columbia, SC. This is not common. It all depends how the coal traffic is going to determine if you’re going to have a good day of train watching down here. The best time to get here is at 5 AM. You will be guaranteed though to see 10 within a good 4 to 5 hours from 5AM
Just 4. Q463, Q464, Amtrak 91, and Amtrak 92. That’s not many, but, another purpose of this line (I guess) is as a alternate route. When the Silver Meteor derailed a couple of weeks back, the Amtrak Auto Train, a intermodal train, and the Tropicana Juice Train used this route while the line was closed. I seen these trains. No telling what came through during the night hours.
The CSX line that puts most train through Columbia is the CN&L Sub from Laurens. All coal and grain trains comes down this route, and also the F788, F789, Q210, and Q211.
I found another spot in Clinton, SC where you can see a nice number of trains. This place is called the Dover Connector. Here, CSX trains from the Monroe Sub (Hamlet, NC to Greenwood, SC) and the CN&L Sub (Laurens, SC to Columbia, SC) connects to run through the town of Clinton. I went there Friday for about 2 hours and saw 3 coal trains on the CN&L and Q675 and F761 on the Monroe Sub.
What time on friday.Between Bowater and Chester SC on the Monroe sub i did not see a dam thing.Wonder how many trains this line gets and the best time to see them.I like the area because nothing is around.I like to see trains in the country.
The thing is. I only saw 2 of them that was on the Monroe Sub. The other 3 took the diverging route onto the CN&L Sub heading to Columbia. Now, I usually railfan this spot in Clinton, SC usually in the early morning or late afternoon. I go to Clinton because not only you’re getting the action from the Monroe Sub, but also the coal train action coming down from Spartanburg on the Spartanburg Sub to Laurens, and then the CN&L from Laurens to Columbia. In the southwest corner of Clinton, the lines come together, and at the Dover Connector where I railfan, the lines splits again. But, you can have some down time here, and then you can have 3 trains in a hour. That’s usually in the early morning hours between 5AM and 10 AM and the mid to late afternoon between 3PM and 8PM
If you want to travel a bit, then Memphis TN would be a choice. This would be the nearest location to see all 4 major railroads in one location. We have a spot about a third of a mile east of the Mississippi River rail bridges in Memphis. The location on a curve is Kansas Ave. Do not go near the river bridges as they are checked all the time by rr police.
Over several hours you will see 3 trains per hour average. About 72 trains per 24 hours pass.
From Kansas Ave. you can see the NS and CSX interchange trains to BNSF and UP. To the east all four railroads have parallel main lines within sight, and the CN-IC has a line which crosses them all about a quarter of a mile away. So you have 5 railroad lines in sight.
Kansas Ave. is on the north side of the tracks in a curve just west of the Kentucky Street grade crossing. At this location, the railroad police will not ask you to leave. It is a safe location as the Memphis police dept. has a office within sight to the west. Do not go to other areas to the east or south as they are not secure.
I guarantee you will like it.
I live in Front Royal, Virginia and this place sees a good amount of train. Riverton Jct. where the Piedmont Division and Virginia Division meet, this is the Norfolk Southern by the way is a nice place to watch trains because it is on Public Property. One night a couple of months ago I heard 10 trains within about an hour to two hours only because intermodal train 227 stalled on the hill at Linden. There were 5 on the Virginia Division side and 5 on the Piedmont side. You can see up to 20 a day through here as explained in the Post on this site called Railfan Stories. Another great place to watch trains is from Bluefield, WV to Williamson,WV. This again is the Norfolk Southern. I went there a year ago and saw many many trains within a short amount of time. I think I saw 2 intermodals, 4 coal trains, 1 empty, a grain train, and an autorack train all within about 45 minutes. The best place to Railfan out there is between Welch and Farm. In all i seen 52 trains within about 24 hours. There is a lot of coal out there as well as grain and mixed freight. I think there is only like 4 intermodals 218,217,233, and 234. I was supposed to go back there this year but I didnt. Man I wish I could of gotten out there! One other good place I forgot to mention is Roanoke, Va. This is once again the Norfolk Southern. The yard is huge and this area can see up to 100 a day depending on if its a good day or not. Even on holidays you can see a whole bunch of them. I havent been down there for a while but I hope to go back soon. The best place to watch them by the way is at the VA Museum of Transportation which is right next to the yard. This place is a railroad museum and had a great model railroad display inside.
There is one place that you may find interesting. Have you ever thought of traveling to Amarillo Texas? Its all BNSF with UP having trackage right into town. There you will find everyting you could ask for. You have lines coming in from every direction. Amarillo averages around 100 trains a day. Most of them on the Transcon, but there is the all coal line that runs from the Powder River Basin going to Fort Worth and on south. UP has trackage rights on the two lines that run in from the north, from Dalhart and Stratford Texas. The line from Stratford really isn’t that busy, but the line from Dalhart usually runs around 20 coal a day. Amarillo is not that hard to get around, most of the good watching places are on the NE part of town where all the junctions are. Just west of the junctions is the yard for the line from Dalhart, but just SW of there is the big yard on the Transcon. They both are in an area about a mile around so you can get alot of action in a small place. I think it goes to five maybe even six tracks there at the junction so the line to Fort Worth needs to get over because the Transcon heads NE from the junction. Plus there is another line that runs out east from this junction also. They does this by crossing directly over or by switches. It can be a real mess sometimes. I have seen a total of 4 trains through here at one point. So if you want to see some action, just head to Amarillo Texas, sit back, relax, enjoy the action because it isn’t very long before something rolls through.
Well,there are some places here in Ohio that you can get you fill of trains.Do remember it depends on the day and time.Anyway,the NS yard at Bellevue rates high up there,followed by Fostoria also Attica Jct can be very busy or dead…Marion seems to be lacking it’s former glory that it once had back in the Conrail days.Still alot of trains can be seen.In a normal 8-10 hour day at these sites you can see 50-65 trains.
My highest frequency of traffic was 16 trains in an hour and a half at Gibbon NE.
If you’re heded to the East, be sure to spend a night or two at the Station Inn in Cresson, PA. It is on the western slope of the Allegehny(sp?) mountains so there’s plenty of pusher action, along with 4 Amtrak trains. There are alot of really fantastic spots to watch trains, all within a 15 mile drive. These include but are not limited to the iron bridge at Cassandra, the Gallitzen tunnels, the horseshoe curve, and downtown Altoona(which has a nice footbridge directly over the Amtrak station where westbound freights often pause before opening the throttles wide and climbing the grade to the curve). Most of the towns along the rails have parks or at least a bench for railfans to sit and take in the action.
Last thursday I saw 6-7 trains in a 2 hour period in Peru, IN. Most of the time it was 2 trains at a time going in opposite directions. Mostly trailers and containers. It was the NS lines there. It was around noon. Is it common to see UP trains on NS track?
Last thursday I saw 6-7 trains in a 2 hour period in Peru, IN. Most of the time it was 2 trains at a time going in opposite directions. Mostly trailers and containers. It was the NS lines there. It was around noon. Is it common to see UP trains on NS track?
Columbiarailfan you might try between Linwood NC and Salsburry NC every time i go there you see a lot.Spencer is in between you can go and see the steam also.
I used to live in La Grange Il. Along the BN (cbq TRIPLE TRACK RACEWAY…I sat down one Summer day and recorded every train movement 85 trains in a 12 hour period…from 7-8:30 and 4-6 these were commuter rush hour metras, but a train is a train.
That is an Average of 7 trains an hour from 6 am-6 pm
Check out CP La Grange as well…you add that into the mix and you could top 100 trains in a day…if you get into the Chicago area let me know.
I am in WA now but I know and remember the area well…especially the main yards for the CBQ…CNW and CP rail. my E-mail is bn9900@yahoo.com. Enjoy your trip.
Yes yes UP power is around i saw SD90’S and SD70’S.One SD70 looked a little strange at the back top.I railfan at a remote section of Belmont NC when i stay close to home.
OK. There have been talk about a railfan get together in Salisbury, NC on June 8th. Recently, people have been seeing UP power on 221 and 222 so I probably will go up there that weekend. One day they saw a SD70M and a SD90, and another day was 2 SD70Ms.
You will see train activity between 50 and 70 per 24 hr. period in Muncie, In. We have NS radiating out in 3 directions and the former Conrail line now operated by CSX through here in an east - west direction…All line activity can be watched from one location in down town as the lines cross in the Walnut St. area. Don’t know any specific time that has the most activity but these are the figures of activity I’ve seen printed several times. No Amtak.
Update on the Kansas Ave location in Memphis;
today we had 13 trains in 2 hours and 15 minutes from noon until 2;15 PM. The afternoons until dark are the best times here.