Butler Indiana diamond NS

Anything pertaining to railfanning in Indiana.
Mike MP 473.9
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Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by Mike MP 473.9 »

Live in Michigan wanting to sit by the diamond in butler. Do's Donts and i dont trespass is it a low crime town ? small country town from google earth. Worth the trip? Tanks for any response !!!
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Saturnalia
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by Saturnalia »

I’ve typically parked at the corner of Railroad and Beech Streets. The first crossing north, west and east of the diamonds are fair game.

Erie St may or may not be a public road, and the guy who lives right next to the crossing south of the Diamond has been known to shew railfans away while claiming the road is his. So don’t go down Erie much past the crossing west of the diamonds.

Nobody else should bother you and it’s just an average Midwest town.
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Raildudes dad
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

Some of us used to occasionally railfan there Sat overnight to Sun. PatC would contact the PD Dept and they were ok with those that wanted to sleep the night in their car in the DPW parking lot next to the tracks.

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trainjunkie47
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by trainjunkie47 »

Saturnalia wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 4:07 am
I’ve typically parked at the corner of Railroad and Beech Streets. The first crossing north, west and east of the diamonds are fair game.

Erie St may or may not be a public road, and the guy who lives right next to the crossing south of the Diamond has been known to shew railfans away while claiming the road is his. So don’t go down Erie much past the crossing west of the diamonds.

Nobody else should bother you and it’s just an average Midwest town.

That is indeed a public street, as his is not the only residence on that small spur of a street. However, I know what you mean. I had my car hit by a large rock many years back at that very spot, and I was even on the west side of the crossing, not the east. Glad it didn't hit glass and it was a junky car (1995 Regal), or I might have found out what the inside of the Butler Jail looked like that day?

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justalurker66
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by justalurker66 »

Both of the crossings are in the FRA database as "public". There are three separate property owners southeast of the diamond. The "street" is on NS (Norfolk & Western) ROW on that side of the tracks. NS also owns the wooded area to the south of Erie St southwest of the diamond.
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Mike MP 473.9
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by Mike MP 473.9 »

Big time thanks to all who responded ref Butler you info valuable and MUCH appreciated !!!!
Mike from Michigan. Mike MP 473.9
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Mike MP 473.9
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by Mike MP 473.9 »

Generally what volume of rail traffic should i expect at Butler post covid?
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jrgerber
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by jrgerber »

I like to do train photography and Butler isn't the greatest place to do that. Its great though if you just want to watch trains. So I can't tell you the volume of traffic through Butler. I tend to go to Waterloo. On Memorial Day which may be lighter than normal we caught 12 NS trains and 2 CP trains between 9am-4pm or about one each half hour. Yesterday I was at Bryan and caught 14 NS trains in the same time frame. Some will tell you that the traffic picks up at night after 6. I recall the first time I was in Waterloo in 1999 and 2000 and being told it was more like 70 or more trains per day under Conrail. I was at Garrett on July 4 this year again a holiday and caught 12 CSX trains in the 9am-4pm timeframe. You will see more trains at Butler because some head south to Fort Wayne and you would not see them in Waterloo. An interesting fact is that CP actually ran more trains when they used the old PM to get from Windsor to Chicago than they do on the NS.

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SD80MAC
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by SD80MAC »

jrgerber wrote:
Sun Aug 15, 2021 7:36 am
I like to do train photography and Butler isn't the greatest place to do that. Its great though if you just want to watch trains. So I can't tell you the volume of traffic through Butler. I tend to go to Waterloo. On Memorial Day which may be lighter than normal we caught 12 NS trains and 2 CP trains between 9am-4pm or about one each half hour. Yesterday I was at Bryan and caught 14 NS trains in the same time frame. Some will tell you that the traffic picks up at night after 6. I recall the first time I was in Waterloo in 1999 and 2000 and being told it was more like 70 or more trains per day under Conrail. I was at Garrett on July 4 this year again a holiday and caught 12 CSX trains in the 9am-4pm timeframe. You will see more trains at Butler because some head south to Fort Wayne and you would not see them in Waterloo. An interesting fact is that CP actually ran more trains when they used the old PM to get from Windsor to Chicago than they do on the NS.
That is mostly because the trains CP runs today are much longer and heavier than the trains they ran back in the CSX days.
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Saturnalia
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by Saturnalia »

SD80MAC wrote:
Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:01 pm
That is mostly because the trains CP runs today are much longer and heavier than the trains they ran back in the CSX days.
No doubt there is probably a 2:1 ratio between trains that used the PM and those that use the Waterlevel/Wabash, with a similar tonnage ratio. What used to be two 5000-7000 tonners are now a single massive 10000-14000 ton train. With more or less the same horsepower, too, since the Waterlevel/Wabash is flat and the Pere Marquette isn't.
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jrgerber
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by jrgerber »

Yes I forgot the length of the sidings on the PM tend to constrict the size of the trains and the fact it is single tracked for most its way through Michigan.

NickThatRailfan
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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by NickThatRailfan »

Saturnalia wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 4:07 am
I’ve typically parked at the corner of Railroad and Beech Streets. The first crossing north, west and east of the diamonds are fair game.

Erie St may or may not be a public road, and the guy who lives right next to the crossing south of the Diamond has been known to shew railfans away while claiming the road is his. So don’t go down Erie much past the crossing west of the diamonds.

Nobody else should bother you and it’s just an average Midwest town.

Ive been to Butler multiple times and went down Erie street past the crossing and went down next to the diamond itself I have not had a problem with anyone

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Re: Butler Indiana diamond NS

Unread post by NickThatRailfan »

The Chicago line West of Butler averages about 90 trains daily Butler will be busier as you have trains that will go North or South on the diamond Butler can see about 115-125 trains the Wabash (North South) can be really hit or miss the Chicago Line (East West) is busy from early morning to about 11am and dies down until about 5ish in-between 11am and 5 on the Chicago Line you might see 2 or 3 trains and when 6 comes you will get a parade of trains morning tends to be the best time as I caught about 9 trains on the Chicago Line in about 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours we spent a total of about 9 hours track side amd saw 23 trains as for the Wabash in Butler ive spent 7ish hours on the Wabash and only saw 2 trains

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