RailRoadFan.com

Needing a little information from Hoosier railfans. For the past 2-3 years, Saturdays in Terre Haute made for great train watching if you liked CSX and the Indiana Railroad. I live about an hour away so I don't get to Terre Haute too often. Last year, I saw 25 trains in 6 hours at Haley and 10th and...

Signal crews were refilling batteries and making other repairs on some of the crossing signals (at least east of St. Louis) on CSX's Illinois Subdivision. It looks like IDOT is going to force CSX to get the crossing signals working on the line if the railroad intends to use a good portion of the tra...

Pioneer plans to continue operating the southern line from Decatur to Assumption. They have changed operations in that the locomotives are now usually stored just south of Elwin at the old Illinois Valley Paving plant instead of Assumption. They used to keep 4 engines in the area but with the change...

With the ND&W officially opening the route from Defiance to Woodburn (IND) on October 15, I guess they are adding emphasis now to the "Western" part of their name. Has there been any definite word on new industrial development on this section of the route? I would guess something is in the works to ...

14 mph after only 4 months of work is a (nearly) unbelievable improvement. Any indications if there are issues with rail breakage? When Pioneer took over the remaining parts of the IC's Clinton District, there were some issues with the older and brittle 85# and 90# rail snapping when the bolts were ...

If I might add, I think CN wants the haulage to the Gulf and to its Canadian ports. I think CN is really planning on growth at its Gulf ports and that's where the Indy ramp comes into play from what I have read. As has already been noted, CN does a bunch of business at Vancouver. As far as St. Louis...

Pioneer will likely go after state or federal funds for rehab if such funds are available. IIRC, the 5th District was built fairly early in the railroad era, maybe 1850's, and was of rather light construction. It took years of neglect to get the line into its infamous shape; it will take a few years...

Brent, First of all, you, Y@, and alittlevanty(sp?) are taking some great pictures over there in Ohio. Keep up the great work you guys! If ND&W has that type of traffic base, Pioneer will do fine and the line will have some money reinvested into it. Pioneer took over operations of a couple of segmen...

Thanks for some of the answers AARR. Wow, 15 cars trains?!? Was the MAW running those 4-5 days each week? If that was the case, you are conservatively looking at 4000 carloads per year on the East End alone. No wonder Pioneer wanted to buy the line. That is a great traffic base for 20 or so miles of...

Being a fan of the MAW, I was sad to hear of its demise but am happy to see that Pioneer took over operations. I am familiar with some of the Pioneer operations in Illinois and think that the on-line shippers served by the ND&W will benefit from the new ownership. PREX 3054 aside, Pioneer isn't too ...