RailRoadFan.com

Indiana – The Elkhart Preservation and Improvement for the Community Project (EPIC)
(Up to $2,618,173)
Elkhart & Western Railroad
The proposed project will relocate interchange track, upgrade the 9-mile Elkhart Branch line to Class 1 track safety
standards, expand rail siding capacity, and replace three grade crossing surfaces on the Elkhart and Western
Railroad (EWR) in Elkhart, IN. This project will relocate the interchange used by EWR and Norfolk Southern (NS) by
moving it out of the city center and into an industrial area. Currently, EWR and NS track intersect two roadways,
and when a train is more than nine railcars long, it blocks the roadway for approximately 15 minutes while trains
interchange. The proposed track relocation would eliminate the blocked crossing and improve grade crossings with
deteriorating conditions. The Class III EWR, Indiana DOT, the City of Elkhart, and the St. Joseph County
Redevelopment Commission will provide a 50 percent match

So the plan is to move it west to by the Ozinga concrete plant.
https://epiccrisi.com/
I wondered how the interchange went. Apparently not too well

Edit: IIRC, hazmat can't be moved over excepted track, has to be a minimum of class 1.

Hazmat cars can be moved, but only up to 5.

Besides the cement terminal are there any other customers? This is what Wiki shows:

Customer Location Company Description Type of Railcar Notes
Ozinga Elkhart Concrete Products Covered Hoppers Coming online in 2021.
Barnhart Elkhart Warehousing & Logistics Boxcars/Centerbeam Flatcars/Covered Hoppers
Huttig Building Products Elkhart Building Products Boxcars
Buzzi Unicem Elkhart Cement Plant Covered Hoppers
Bronx Transload Mishawaka Transload Facility Covered Hoppers

DaveO wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 7:24 am

So the plan is to move it west to by the Ozinga concrete plant.
https://epiccrisi.com/
I wondered how the interchange went. Apparently not too well

Thanks for the link. It has been a while since I have seen the interchange train. It is good to see improvements along the line. This should make the interchange more efficient for Norfolk Southern as well since there should be less switching involved.

Pioneer Lines (former Railcorp) has done a nice job under the new ownership slowly rebuilding the ND&W. Besides the Elkhart and Western they snagged a nice grant for their Gettysburg and Northern line in PA.

It looks like the 50% match for Pioneer's work on the ND&W came from the same Federal program that they have asked to fund the work in Elkhart (CRISI). The award list for 2021 lists Elkhart under "other applicants".

Is there any place where Pioneer operates their engines on other railroad's tracks or are all of their interchanges done by having another railroad operate on Pioneer's tracks to exchange cars?

B19 is the NS interchange job to the Elkhart &Western. You can view their weekday passage on the Elkhart Virtual Railfan camera. Typical consist includes shortie covered hoppers for the cement place, longer covered hoppers, and 63’ hi cube boxcars.

Great to see this investment! Sounds like NS will make a longer run over E&W track to get to the new interchange point?

Sort of confused here. Does this mean NS trains will run all the way west down the E&W line to near the Ozinga plant to interchange cars?

Also what is the best time to catch the E&W in action? Do they run on a certain schedule?

Thanks

That is the way it sounds to me too that NS will run on E&W to a new siding by Ozinga

SecondCreek wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 17, 2022 5:54 pm

Sort of confused here. Does this mean NS trains will run all the way west down the E&W line to near the Ozinga plant to interchange cars?

I went though Elkhart tonight and noticed one of the E&W geeps has disappeared and was replaced with something blue, maybe some kind of genset? Anyone know what power is currently assigned to the E&W in Elkhart?

GP30M4216 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 17, 2022 11:15 pm

I went though Elkhart tonight and noticed one of the E&W geeps has disappeared and was replaced with something blue, maybe some kind of genset? Anyone know what power is currently assigned to the E&W in Elkhart?

It’s a CEFX GP20D.

GP30M4216 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 17, 2022 11:15 pm

I went though Elkhart tonight and noticed one of the E&W geeps has disappeared and was replaced with something blue, maybe some kind of genset? Anyone know what power is currently assigned to the E&W in Elkhart?

Which one disappeared? 911 or 912?

911 is gone - 912 remains and CEFX 1508 is in its place.

1508 is a GP15D

Not sure if its related but there was a string of about 12 LSRC hoppers in town yesterday. Maybe loaded with ballast?

I can't speak to the interchange or anything like that, but I saw the EWR, sort of, last weekend. Never saw any power move, but talked to a female employee who was very polite and said she really likes her job on this railroad, compared with her previous employer (a Class 1).

I did notice both the blue unit and 912 on the engine track near the yard office (caboose). There were several (5 or 6 cars), on the siding between Jackson and Prairie St.

So has the project started?

I drove through Elkhart at the end of September and passed the Jackson Crossing/E&W area twice. I didn't notice any construction or other work prep in that area, at least south of Jackson to the Kalamazoo Branch.

Thanks for the update.