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Figured it was time to start a new one.

Sunday the I&O had 5003, 5001, 4030 and 4071 trying their best to move what they can...

Domtar had over 60 loads of paper waiting to be spotted and unloaded. Back in the good old days 60 cars was a normal week for Domtar/Weyerhauser.

Trupointe in South Chuck received another loaded phosphate train. 76 cars last week. 4030 shoved the empty train out of Haynes on Monday night. Trupointe or Heritage Co-op received another 90 car empty grain train to load. It should also be going back Tuesday night.

The I&O will be moving a special loco back to Cincy some time this week. The Cincinnati Railway bought from US Rail former Great Miami GP30 #30. It's been in storage for the past 6 to 7 years in Hamden with either a bad traction motor or turbo. CNRY plans on using it in Cincy on the Dinner Train on the Oasis Sub according to a post at the B&O Southwest Yahoo group. It will be renumbered to it's original NKP #902 number and at some point into NKP paint.

midland sub wrote:Sunday the I&O had 5003, 5001, 4030 and 4071 trying their best to move what they can...

How many units would you say it takes to keep the old DT&I lines fluid and moving? One unit apparently can keep traffic moving north of Lima. Maybe a 2nd one for pig iron or grain extras. How about south of Lima and overall.

RA figures the I&O and CIND as basically one operation, but with different crews and budgets. Using that RA figures they need 20 units, 16 for the I&O and 4 for the CIND. So basically 16 for the I&O system. From that take 2 off for the Logan Sub, which leaves us with 14 units to base from Cincy to Delta. 14 is probably a bit too low, but the sad part is that between the CIND and I&O, I don't think there's actually more than 12 to 13 locos running at any give time. I'm thinking the plan back during the recession in early 2009 was to actually cut back to 12 for the I&O and 2 for the CIND. I'll have to look to see if I can find what the unit split up was from Delta south.

If one goes back to 2005 when the I&O and CFE were basically sharing and swapping power all of the time, there was a crazy amount of locos floating back and forth between the two. Just looking at IORY fan's database @ the I&O yahoo group he shows something like 38 active locos for both. 13 of which belong to the CFE. There was well over 50 units back in 2005. The 3 NYSW SD70Ms, 4 WC SD45s, 5 NREX SD40-2s, 4 LLPX GP38-2s, 2 SW1500s and 2 MP15ACs have all left the roster. At least 3 of the GP50s are now out of service or working on the Indiana Southern.

midland sub wrote:RA figures the I&O and CIND as basically one operation, but with different crews and budgets. Using that RA figures they need 20 units, 16 for the I&O and 4 for the CIND. So basically 16 for the I&O system. From that take 2 off for the Logan Sub, which leaves us with 14 units to base from Cincy to Delta.

Do you recall how many units were assigned to the Ford and GM traffic back in the days when IORY was operating daily auto trains between Flat Rock and Cinncy?

Before the I&O acquired the Midland Sub the only lines that had units assigned to them were the Greenfield, Logan and the Mason Subs (which I believe was an on and off thing after they acquired trackage rights over the Dayton Dist from the Conrail split). Otherwise it was whatever ran was thrown on a train. Plenty of railfans in northern Ohio remember seeing the NYSW SD70Ms dragging 8000 to 10,000 ft trains on the DT&I north of Lima. I really didn't pay much attention to the I&O north of Springfield before they acquired the Midland.

How often does the plastics place in WCH just east of Lowes get switched out Mark? How are Lowes, Mars, Stark Truss and Fiber Tech faring? and 60 cars for Domtar? I guess each party has kissed and made up again..

midland sub wrote:Before the I&O acquired the Midland Sub the only lines that had units assigned to them were the Greenfield, Logan and the Mason Subs (which I believe was an on and off thing after they acquired trackage rights over the Dayton Dist from the Conrail split). Otherwise it was whatever ran was thrown on a train. Plenty of railfans in northern Ohio remember seeing the NYSW SD70Ms dragging 8000 to 10,000 ft trains on the DT&I north of Lima. I really didn't pay much attention to the I&O north of Springfield before they acquired the Midland.

I understand that the power for the Mason Sub was kept in "downtown" Mason before relocating out to Stokes. And where was the power kept for the Greenfield Sub back when it was known as the Indiana and Ohio Central or was it Eastern? boy that sure was a long time ago..

Stark Truss ver seldon gets a car. Last car I heard about was back the first week of May. Depends on how much business they have and if they can buy the lumber cheaper local.

Mars gets switched just about 5 days a week, maybe a car or two a day they unload of a variety of inbound products to make dog food and sometimes a car load of corn or two.

Fiber-Tech also is very hit or miss. Depends on how the commercial building market is going.

WCH Molding gets switched maybe once or twice a week.

redside20 wrote:How often does the plastics place in WCH just east of Lowes get switched out Mark? How are Lowes, Mars, Stark Truss and Fiber Tech faring? and 60 cars for Domtar? I guess each party has kissed and made up again..

I assume Stokes is referring to the engine house they had out by RT 747 and the bulk fuel dealer? I believe a McCullough crew heads up there and back via the Dayton Dist on the days they work the line- or at least thats the plan.

They always kept the Greenfield Sub power in Leesburg. First unit was GP7 #55 which sat on the Candle-Lite spur plugged in when not in use. That lasted about a year or so before they made a few minor improvements to the depot in Leesburg. Added an electrical connection to plug in the unit and a crude sand tower thing to the old Bobb Bros grain track across from the depot.

The I&O Central was considered the Greenfield, DT&I South, Urbana and Logan Subs pre DT&I purchase. I&O Eastern is the current US Rail city of Jackson lines. March 1987(?) to Dec 31, 1993. Great Miami took over Jan 1st.

midland sub wrote:I assume Stokes is referring to the engine house they had out by RT 747 and the bulk fuel dealer? I believe a McCullough crew heads up there and back via the Dayton Dist on the days they work the line- or at least thats the plan.

They always kept the Greenfield Sub power in Leesburg. First unit was GP7 #55 which sat on the Candle-Lite spur plugged in when not in use. That lasted about a year or so before they made a few minor improvements to the depot in Leesburg. Added an electrical connection to plug in the unit and a crude sand tower thing to the old Bobb Bros grain track across from the depot.

The I&O Central was considered the Greenfield, DT&I South, Urbana and Logan Subs pre DT&I purchase. I&O Eastern is the current US Rail city of Jackson lines. March 1987(?) to Dec 31, 1993. Great Miami took over Jan 1st.

That is an affirmative as the enginehouse is/was located at the corner of Bethany Road and Route 741 with a railroad served customer, Suburban Oil right next to it...

You can now go to Bing and see the new Blue Grass Yard at Jeffersonville and Konrad Yard, must have just updated.

Thanks for sharing that info! Just don't do the bird's eye for it, it's only updated for the aerial view. Pics are from last October. You can actually see which ties were replaced on the Midland main up heading towards Bloomingburg.

Didn't realize they built three tracks @ BGF. They were just supposed to build the two.

Spent a couple of more minutes checking out the updated views from Bing. Melvin Stone has 17 loads waiting to be picked up. You can see the next expansion for Melvin Stone in the view. Lots and lots of stone left to be mined there. Johnson Controls in Greenfield has 3 tank cars spotted and maybe another sitting at the old interchange @ Thrifton.

Caught the L1 switching Anchor on the Logan Sub on Tuesday morning. They pulled and spotted 3 loads of sand and 2 loads of soda ash. All were empty and ready to be pulled by 6 pm. CBNS 5004 did the honors. Caught the 5004 heading into Parsons on Monday evening. Didn't see how many cars they had.

I was surprise by how much more was built then what was orginally planned, quite complexe

Couldn't post this until now because of a technical issue with my account, but here goes:

Monday on my way home from work I seen the local working the ex EL branch up near Glen Echo. Could see the unit from the Hwy 41 bridge in Springfield.

Wasted most of the afternoon at work today checking out the new views @ Bing. Heritage Coop @ Thackery actually has cars spotted for loading. The writer of the DT&I book said that Thackery never stopped using rail, but no one that we knows remembers the last time they used rail until recently.

You can tell Heritage also finished the work @ West Liberty as there looks to be a 65 car train spotted just north of the elevator. For those that don't know, the grain elevator is on the original right of the NYC line. Back in the 1930s for some reason NYC built a bypass a mile or so west of town. Looks like maybe mile or two of trackage was actually abandoned.

Heading north to Bellefontaine you can see the NOKL autoracks that were stored there. They've been replaced by the former Cargill salt cars- almost 200 last I heard.

The beatings continue on the dwindling I&O loco fleet. 4071 bit the dust sometime last week with a blown traction motor. Was sitting dead in Wash CH all weekend...

Postive news, Domtar in Wash CH has worked out a deal with the I&O to be switched 7 days a week. They are supposed to unload 8 boxcars of paper each day, we'll have to see how long that lasts.

There's a track project set to begin on the Midland main down by Cincy. Ties and ballast are spread around Loveland to Maderia. The hill @ Maderia is supposed to be getting quite a few ties to finally get rid of the 10 mph slow orders on the grade.

midland sub wrote:Postive news, Domtar in Wash CH has worked out a deal with the I&O to be switched 7 days a week. They are supposed to unload 8 boxcars of paper each day, we'll have to see how long that lasts.

If I&O has enough engines left to work 7x per week Does all the paper arrive from the same mill? (I know midland will know

Last I knew it was coming by rail from a mill in Tennesse.

Very true about if there's any units running.....

Checking out the Mason Sub on Bing earlier today and it looks like it's down to just three customers located at the very end of the line in Mason. Maybe IORY_fan can update us on it's that's true.