NS Intermodal Trains Given New Symbols

Norfolk Southern last month made several changes in its train symbols for intermodal operations. The following information was posted on the Facebook page of a Chicago Line group.

All premium intermodal trains have 20-alpha series symbols with the exception of the two RoadRailers between Detroit and Kansas City

The alpha code correlates to a train’s destination. The codes are A: Atlanta Inman; B: Buffalo Bison; C: Chicago Calumet; E: Erail, New Jersey; F: Florida East Coast Bowden Yard; G: Chicago 47^th Street; H: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; J: Jacksonville, Florida; K: Meridian, Mississippi; L: Chicago Landers Yard; M: Morrisville, Pennsylvania; N: Charlotte, North Carolina; P: Chicago 63^rd Street; R: Rutherford, Pennsylvania; S: Union Pacific at Shreveport, Louisiana; U: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; V: Baltimore Bayview; and X: Croxton, New Jersey.

All standard intermodal trains that have the numerical 200-series symbol and are grouped by origin/destination.

•21* – Originate or terminate Kansas City (Exception Rutherford trains)

•23* – Originate or terminate Rickenbacker

•24* – Originate or terminate Atlanta (Exception Rossville/Memphis trains)

•25* – Originate or terminate Rutherford

•26* – Originate or terminate Chicago Area

•27* – Originate or terminate Norfolk

•28* – Originate or terminate Memphis/Rossville

•29* – Originate or terminate Georgia/South Carolina ports

The following are the new symbols for the Chicago Line. The old symbols are in parentheses. All trains operate daily.

20X (22W) Chicago 47th Street-Croxton

22X (20E) Chicago 47th Street-Croxton

23G (new) Croxton- Chicago 47th Street

25G (21Q) Harrisburg-Chicago 47th Street

26X (20W) Chicago Ashland Avenue (BNSF Z LACNYC)-Croxton

27G (21E) Morrisville-Chicago 47th Street

27P (new) Harrisburg-Chicago 63rd Street

28B (206) Chicago 63rd Street-Buffalo

28E (new) Chicago Ashland Avenue-Erail

28M (26E) Chicago 47th Street-Morrisville

28U (294) Chicago 47th Street-Bethlehem

28V (24M) Chicago 63rd Street-Baltimore

28X (20K) Chicago 47th Street-Croxton

29G (21M) Croxton- Chicago 47th Street

29P (205) Buffalo-Chicago 63rd Street

261 (23M) Port Newark-Chicago Corwith (BNSF)

263 (new) Bethlehem-Chicago 47th Street

264 (22K) Chicago 63rd Street-Mechanicville, New York

265 (23K) Mechanicville-Chicago 63rd Street

266 (26N) Chicago Ashland Avenue-Sandusky, Ohio

267 (25N) Sandusky-Chicago Global 2 (Union Pacific)

268 (20R) Chicago Landers-Port Newark

269 (25V) Port Newark-Chicago Landers

Using a portion of the Chicago are the following trains and their new symbols.

236 (20N) Columbus Rickenbacker-Detroit North Yard

258 (20T) Kansas City-Rutherford

259 (21T) Rutherford-Kansas City Voltz Yard 271 (21N) Detroit Livernois-Norfolk, Virginia

Cleared to Land

One of fringe benefits of railfanning in Olmsted Falls is that it can also be a great place to watch aircraft landing or departing from nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Depending on wind direction, some planes make their final approach right over the former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern station that is now owned by the Cuyahoga Valley & West Shore Model Railroad Club.

These two images were made on May 3, 2007. It just happened that the club was having an operating session that night and thus the depot lights were on. Both images are time exposure, hence the streak of light from the landing lights of the aircraft. Each image was scanned from a slide.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

Misny Made Then Pay

On Wednesday NS train 14N had the Katy, and Savannah & Atlanta heritage units, and the Union Pacific Pink Ribbon unit. It came through Cleveland in late evening and we had storms in the afternoon as well. I went west to Vermillion in order to catch it in daylight which I did but the photos were okay but not great.

I chased it to Brook Park across from Cleveland Hopkins Airport and caught it a second time just before sunset.  A Tim Misney “makes them pay” billboard was there and I framed it into the photo.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Westbound in Olmsted Falls

At times I have dabbled with night photography but haven’t done it enough to feel like I’ve mastered it..

One of those occasions was on May 1, 2007, in Olmsted Falls on the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern. I knew a westbound was coming so I set my camera on a tripod and pointed it at the crossing gates for Brookside Drive.

Soon the gates came down and the westbound went barreling through the crossing. This image was scanned from a slide.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

NS Executive Train Two for Tuesday

When Norfolk Southern acquired an A-B-B-A set of F units in 2006 to pull its executive train, it created a ripple of excitement among railfans. Painted in a striking black and white “tuxedo” scheme with gold trim and lettering that mimicked a former Southern Railway livery, the F units and their train were coveted catches among railfan photographers.

They didn’t come around all that often and many times when they did I was unable to get track side due to work or other obligations. So when I could get out to see and photograph them it was a treat.

My first sighting of the NS F units came on June 16, 2008, on the Cleveland Line at Brady Lake.

Shown above is the NS executive train heading westbound through Olmsted Falls on the Chicago Line on Oct. 16, 2010. It was a glorious sun-splashed day with some fall foliage starting to show its colors.

I don’t recall where the executive train was headed. It might have been Chicago.

Today the NS F units are gone. They were sold in late 2019 with one A-B set going to the Reading & Northern and another to the Aberdeen Carolina & Western.

NS still runs its executive train but it’s pulled by standard freight locomotives.

Like anythings else on the railroad I don’t have as many photographs of NS F units as I might like to have, but, overall, I’m satisfied with what I was able to get. That includes the images above, which are scanned from slides.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

It’s an Auto Rack Train

Auto rack trains used to be a common sight on busy Class 1 railroad mainlines. Then precision scheduled railroading happened and management decided why run two trains and pay two crews when you can run one train and pay just one crew.

So that meant auto racks and general freight began merging in consists. In some instances it was intermodal and auto racks that were merged.

Of late, auto rack traffic has been a bit scarce because auto production has taken a hit due to ongoing supply chain issues. That has meant the auto makers are producing fewer new vehicles and that in turn has reduced the demand for auto racks to carry them to distribution centers.

That has meant fewer auto rack cars to see, even in combined auto rack and manifest freights.

So it was a pleasant surprise to find this auto rack train on the NS Chicago Line in Goshen, Indiana, back on March 20. The 17N had another surprise with a pair of relatively clean Canadian Pacific units on the point.

Early Morning at CP 367

It is early on a Sunday morning in late March in Waterloo, Indiana, on the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern. An eastbound manifest freight has a clear signal on Track 2 at CP 367, which controls a set of crossover switches, one of which can be seen in this image.

I didn’t get the symbol for this freight but chances are it originated in the classification yard in Elkhart, Indiana, 55 miles to the west.

I made this image while standing on the Amtrak boarding platform. The Chicago Line was busy with eastbounds on this morning, In less than an hour’s time I caught four of them, including a coal train, two intermodal trains and the manifest freight shown above.

Not a bad way to begin a day of railfanning.

Pumpkin on NS Two for Tuesday

BNSF “pumpkins” leading trains on CSX or Norfolk Southern are not necessarily rare occurrences but they can still turn your head and lead you to press the shutter release button on your camera when you see one. I was in Goshen, Indiana, on the NS Chicago Line in early afternoon on Sunday when train 60E came east through CP 412 (top photograph) with a motive power consist of one BNSF unit on the point followed by two Union Pacific units trailing.

The train is handed over to NS in Chicago by Canadian National at Calumet Yard and then heads for Mingo Junction with a load of covered hoppers containing frac sand. It operates as needed. There is a another frac sand train that CN turns over to NS at Calumet Yard, the 60F, that interchanges in Radebaugh, Pennsylvania, to the Allegheny Valley Railroad.

In the bottom photograph, the 60E is passing Oak Ridge Cemetery, which is to the north of the tracks.

NS Changes Chicago Line Dispatching Assignments

Norfolk Southern has changed the dispatcher districts on its Chicago line, an online report said.

Effective at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, NS abolished the Toledo East desk and redistributed dispatching duties between the Cleveland East desk and the Toledo Terminal desk.

Cleveland East now controls the Chicago Line between CP 194 (Berea) and CP 242 (Sandusky).

West of CP 242 is now controlled by the Toledo Terminal dispatcher.

The Toledo Terminal controls the Chicago Line as far west as CP 352 (Edgerton) where the Elkhart desk takes over.

However, the online report indicated that Toledo Terminal control may change to end at CP 320 (Wauseon)

In another Northeast Ohio rail news development, Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited on Tuesday ferried a P42DC locomotive for CTrail, a commuter rail operation operated by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

It was placed behind the two Amtrak P42DC units assigned to pull No. 48. That same day the Lake Shore operated without its New York section baggage car.

On Monday No. 48 ran without its Boston section Viewliner sleeper.

Chicago Line Sunrise Two for Tuesday

I’m standing in the rear door of a coach on Amtrak’s westbound Capitol Limited watching the sun rise as the train charges along on Norfolk Southern’s Chicago Line. Sunrise occurred just before we reached Edgerton, Ohio.

It was the first leg of a circle trip I made out of Cleveland in May 2014 that involved No. 29; the westbound Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle; a Cascades Service Talgo train from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia; VIA Rail Canada’s The Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto; the Maple Leaf from Toronto to Syracuse, New York; and the Lake Shore Limited back to Cleveland.

I had never done a trip quite like it before and might not do another one again.

Both images above were made between Edgerton and Butler, Indiana.