Shorty

The precision scheduled railroading era has ushered in super sized trains that are a mile or longer and contain blocks of freight that used to move in separate trains. Therefore, you might find a long cut of double-stacked containers in the consist of a manifest freight or manifest freight in the consist of a train carrying an intermodal symbol.

It has meant fewer and longer trains, which management likes because that means fewer crews to pay, hence lower expenses and an improved operating ratio.

The longer is better trend, though, has yet to be applied to locals although in some instances through freights have been assigned switching responsibilities once performed by locals that have since been abolished.

Shown above is Norfolk Southern train L82 sitting just south of Cowan, Indiana, on the New Castle District. Based out of East Yard in Muncie, it works as far south as New Castle Monday through Friday before returning.

When I ran across the L82 on a recent Friday afternoon, the give-car train was sitting short of a control point known as York Point, where a four mile passing siding ends on its south (railroad east) end.

The dispatcher had informed the L82 crew that it would be waiting on a 122, a daily manifest freight operating from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Decatur, Illinois.

Those plans later changed and the L82 was allow to do some work at Oakville.

But at the time I photographed the L82 it was doing was trains have always spent part of their time doing: waiting.

Tags: Cowan Indiana, Norfolk Southern, NS locals, NS New Castle District