My version of Penn Central

[conrailman75]

Trains on Penn Central at 2:30pm

Amtrak #7 is at Englewood, IL(Wabash Cannonball)
Amtrak #3 is at Selby, IN west of Warsaw(Lake Cities Limited)
FWPC-43 is at Fairhope, OH
PIIN-3 is at Upper Sandusky, OH
PIFW-3A is at Lima, OH
FWBR-3 is at Warsaw, IN
FWIH-3 is departing Piqua yard Ft. Wayne, IN
PIFW-3B is at Conway yard in Conway, PA ready for its 2:45pm departure time
CSX Q357 is at Forest, OH with CSXT 5435 and 5322 for power
CSX Q524 is at Valporaiso, IN with CSXT 7533 and 8321 for power
NS 421 is at Upper Sandusky, OH with NS 9551 and 9063 for power
CSX Q317 is at Hamlet, IN with CSXT 4768 and 463 for power
ELDMH-96 crew is switching industries in Huntington, IN
TV8 is at Beaver Falls, PA
CHPI-3 is at Nevada, OH
IHPI-3 is at Junction Tower Fort Wayne, IN
GRPI-3 is at Upper Sandusky, OH
FWPI-3B is at Ada, OH
UBN-163 is departing Mexico, IN with BNSF 9945 and 8812 for power(AEPX empties)
NDFW-3 is at North Manchester, IN
JAPI-3 is at Lucas, OH
UWC-693 is at Plymouth, IN with CN 8912 and 8873 for power
FWIN-3X is departing Piqua yard Ft. Wayne, IN at the east end of the yard, known as Linker
INFW-3X is at Berne, IN
DRFW-4882 is at Decatur, IN
TOJA-3 is at Ney, OH
INTO-3X is at Celina, OH
No. 697 is at Burr Oak, MI
JAEL-3 is at Homer, MI
No. 900, the transfer train, arrived at 55th Street yard Chicago, IL
NSCH-3 is at Demotte, IN
FWGR-3 is at Wasepi, MI meeting TV10
TV10 is at Wasepi, MI meeting FWGR-3
GRTO-3 is at Wolcottville, IN
FWJA-3X is at Auburn Jct, IN
CSX Q841 is passing Mike Tower Ft. Wayne, IN with CSXT 6943 and 2272 for power
UWC-492 is at Hoffman, IN north of Kendallville with CN 5643 and IC 1031 for power
TV211 is at Plain City, OH
COSL-3 is at Fletcher, OH
TV21 is at Milford Centre, OH
Mail-44 is at Steubenville, OH
PICO-3 is near Hopedale, OH
PICI-3 is at London, OH
CODA-3 is at Fairborn, OH
WLCO-1 is at West Jefferson, OH
INCO-1 is at Alton, OH
INVI-3 is at Edwardsport, IN
INSL-3 is at Vermillion, IL
SLCO-3 is at Ashmore, IL
EVIN-3 is at Martinsville, IN
CSIN-3 is at Austin, IN
CHIN-3 is at Dunreith, IN
TOIN-3 arrived at Hawthorne yard Indianapolis, IN
INEL-3 is at Treaty, IN
CHCO-3 is at Red Key, IN
PICY-3 is at Meeker, OH
COCH-3 is in the siding at Ridgeville, IN to meet CHCO-3

[DT&I]

COLCHITR-9 is waiting to go west at Lima when you're read for it, DT&C 4400 and 4402 are leading with 54 cars.

[conrailman75]

Crew is on its way to Lima now to pick it up and take it west to Chicago.

[DT&I]

Crew is on its way to Lima now to pick it up and take it west to Chicago.

We now also have COCH-1 waiting with CSX 3 and TSCR 512 leading 64 loaded coal hoppers.

[conrailman75]

Since it was a coal train, I ran it as UCH-501 since I already use COCH as a symbol for a general freight that runs the Columbus to Chicago mainline.

[conrailman75]

Thought I'd try something different just to show the difference in traffic patterns on my railroad from daytime to night time. So here is a glance at my railroad at midnight:

Trains on Penn Central 12:00am
TV7 is at Vandale near Columbia City, IN
PICH-4 is at Valporaiso, IN
PICJ-4 is at Dunkirk, OH
PIIH-4 is at Plymouth, IN
PIGR-4 is departing Piqua yard Ft. Wayne, IN
Amtrak #2 is at Rochester, PA(Broadway Limited)
Amtrak #8 arrived at Baker Street Station Ft. Wayne, IN(Wabash Cannonball)
Amtrak #4 is at Warsaw, IN(Lake Cities Limited)
UCH-486 is at Hamlet, IN
NS 31E is at Wanatah, IN with NS 9808 and 9255 for power
NS 422 is passing Adams Tower east of Ft. Wayne, IN with NS 2665 and 2585 for power
NS 382 is at Plymouth, IN with NS 6650 and 6558 for power
INGR-4 is at Hoagland, IN
TV3 is at Howe, IN
GRFW-4 is at Vicksburg, MI
CIGR-4 is arriving at Hughart yard Grand Rapids, MI
Mail-91 is at Royal Center, IN
CYPI-4 is near Mingo Jct, OH
Mail-45 is at Morgan Run, OH
TOCI-4 is at Clement, OH near Dayton
COSL-4 is at Lenox, IL

[conrailman75]

Poet has anounced plans to build a brand new ethanol plant at Churubusco, IN. To serve the new plant, Penn Central will relay tracks on the abandoned portion of the Vandale Secondary from LaOtto west to Churubusco, a distance of 8 miles. This portion has been abandoned since 1973, so PC will have to buy back the right of way from local property owners before track laying can begin. Poet hopes to have its new plant finished by April 2013, so the railroad has some time to get that portion of the line rebuilt.

[conrailman75]

Eastern Branch construction update: The track laying gang has put down 4 more miles of track, reaching Carey, OH today. The rest of this week will be spent getting the tracks laid inside Carey city limits and installing some of the new road crossings in town. The new diamonds with the CSX and W&LE will be installed this Sunday, May 20th. CSX will have a curfew on their ex C&O line during the day and the Wheeling normally doesn't run out of Carey on Sundays, which helped make it the perfect day to do this major project. CSX and Wheeling will be providing track workers to assist us that day during the project. Since PC isn't anywhere close to running anything except the required work trains, signals will be installed at a later date. For the temporary time being, PC will install some temporary swing arm "smash boards" that will be set to stop on the Eastern Branch as their normal position and swung out across the CSX and Wheeling only when a train needs to cross.

PC has acquired more right of way east of Carey, but a few stubborn hold outs are still preventing anymore track to be relaid east of Carey at this time. The railroad hopes to get those last few parcels of right of way taken care of so that tracks can begin to be laid toward Berwick, OH by the end of June.

[conrailman75]

Trains on Penn Central at 7:30am:

Amtrak #1 is at Adams Tower near Ft. Wayne, IN(Broadway Limited)
Amtrak #7 is making its station stop in Pittsburgh, PA(Wabash Cannonball)
UCH-481 is near Enon, PA
INCH-5 is at Warsaw, IN
PIJA-5 is at Upper Sandusky, OH on track 1
FWCP-44 is at Bart near Hobart, IN looping CSX Q523
CJPI-5 is at Arcola, IN
FWPI-5A is at Forest, OH
IHFW-5 is at Vandale near Columbia City, IN
CJFW-5 is at Hamlet, IN
PRFW-5 is departing 55th Street yard Chicago, IL
TOPI-5 is at Dunkirk, OH
UWC-493 crew is onboard at 55th Street yard getting ready to depart at 7:50am. Power is CN 5743 and 2322
NS 40T is at Upper Sandusky, OH on track 2 with NS 2712 and 2698 for power
CSX Q523 is at Bart near Hobart, IN with CSXT 323 and 808 for power getting looped by FWCP-44
CSX Q517 is at Bourbon, IN with CSXT 8143 and 8058 for power
FWDR-4884 is at Monroe, IN
JAFW-5 is arriving at Jackson yard in Jackson, MI
TV9 is at Mendon, MI
FWKA-5 is departing Piqua yard Ft. Wayne, IN
TV210 is at Anoka, IN
Mail-92 is at Crown Point, IN
CIPI-5 is at Florence, OH
JACI-5 is at West Manchester, OH
INSP-5 is at Kessler, OH
VIIN-5 is at Minich, IN
TV17 is at Crothersville, IN
TV21 is at Herr, IN

[conrailman75]

PC hosted the detour moves of Amtrak 29/30 and 49/48 due to the derailment at Porter today. A pair of intermodal trains from MQT detoured across railroad as well, running Chicago to Ft. Wayne and then up the GR&I Branch to Grand Rapids. NS has also been using PC to detour traffic to Ft. Wayne where it gets back on the NS to head up to Butler, IN and get back on the Chicago Line again.

DET-500: MQT intermodal
DET-501: MQT intermodal
DET-502: NS 24M
DET-503: NS 205
DET-504: NS 20K
DET-505: NS 23M
DET-506: NS 22K
DET-507: NS 21Z

The two Amtrak trains(Capital Limited and Lakeshore Limited) will continue using PC until the derailment site is put back in service. NS plans to limit the reroutes to 6 trains a day as they are also using their parallel ex NKP Chicago District line to reroute trains as well. NS has curtailed their trackage right trains except intermodal 40T/41T to free up qualified crews to run these detour movements.

[conrailman75]

Even though track 3 is now open, NS is going to continue to run some of its hot priority intermodal stuff on the PC detour route to get it around wreck scene until all the mains up there are reopened and the signals put back in service. Amtrak is going to return to its normal routing for trains 48/49 and 29/30 now that at least one track is open up there.

[conrailman75]

Today would be a good day to be railfanning the GR&I Branch as the Amtrak Pere Marquette's(370/371) are running down the branch to Ft. Wayne where they will turn and head to Chicago on the mainline as an extremely rare detour move while MQT starts to get back to normal after the Porter derailment. This is the first scheduled passenger train to run this line since 1961!

[conrailman75]

Eastern Branch update: The track laying gang has gotten all the track installed inside Carey city limits and the road crossing gangs have gotten all of the new road crossings cut in and fully installed(i.e. lights and gates up to protect them) and all the closed roads have been reopened as of 4:00pm today. Tomorrow the track laying gang gets the day off, but Sunday they are going to be out in full force as the diamonds are installed across the CSX and Wheeling in Carey. A new siding has been installed just outside of Carey on the branch, its one mile long and will hold a 185 car train within its limits. The battle with property owners along the right of way from Carey to Berwick continues and the company hopes to settle with the last holdouts before Memorial Day weekend and then hopefully continue construction of the branch in early June.

[MQT3001]

Today would be a good day to be railfanning the GR&I Branch as the Amtrak Pere Marquette's(370/371) are running down the branch to Ft. Wayne where they will turn and head to Chicago on the mainline as an extremely rare detour move while MQT starts to get back to normal after the Porter derailment. This is the first scheduled passenger train to run this line since 1961!

The Pere Marquette tonight aren't 370/371. The new schedule is:

P370--Departs Chicago for GR at 8:00 EDT (7:00 CDT)
P371--Peparts GR for Chicago at 7:00 EDT (6:00 CDT)
P372--Departs Chicago for GR at 18:00 EDT (17:00 CDT)
P373--Departs GR For Chicago at 18:00 EDT (17:00 CDT)

Times are still accurate, just different routings. Just GR-Chicago traffic, no intermediate stop obviously...other stops are being bused. Consists are 2 cars instead of the usual 5 (superliners). This has been a great opprotunity to get the other cars their early bi-annual inspection.

[conrailman75]

Eastern Branch update:

The installation of the diamonds across the CSX ex C&O and the Wheeling's ex AC&Y trackage in Carey, OH is done. The track crews finished their work by 5:00pm today. A special thanks to the CSX and Wheeling crews who helped our track guys get this major project completed today. The Eastern Branch is now completely relaid from Forest, OH all the way thru Carey, OH now. The temporary swing arm stop boards have been installed on the PC side at the diamonds to protect the CSX and Wheeling trains until the branch is completed and signals can be installed. Wheeling installed their signals for the diamond and the arrangement will be an automatic interlocking over their railroad since they don't run past Carey and mainly just originate and terminate trains on their side. The CSX signal crews got the new home signals erected, but they won't be put into service until closer to when PC is ready to start running regular trains over the line, as their diamond will be controlled by their dispatcher in Calumet City, IN when its officially in service.

As for the property owner issue, we are down to only two last holdouts as the rest settled up this weekend and hopefully those two will take our offer on Monday so that construction can begin on the portion from Carey to Berwick after Memorial Day next week. As for reacquiring the right of way north of Berwick, we have been a little more successful, but there are some stubborn holdouts along that route as well between Berwick and Fostoria that will need to be dealt with before the line can be built north out of Berwick. The right of way from Fostoria to Lime City has been secured, so once the track crews reach Fostoria and get thru there, it should be fast and smooth sailing to finish the rest of the line as the targeted completion date is the end of September as of right now.

[conrailman75]

Trains on Penn Central at 7:00pm:

FWPC-43 is at Plymouth, IN with PC 6337, 6302, 6310
TV7 is at Salem, OH with PC 6198 and 6345
PICH-0 is at Crestline, OH with PC 6010, 6089, 6102
PIIH-0 is at CP MACE in McKinley, OH with PC 6873 and 6960
PIGR-0 is at Alliance, OH with PC 6444 and 6475
FWPR-0 is at Gary, IN with UP 8694 and 7925 for power
PIFW-0B is at Dunkirk, OH with PC 6618, 6225, 6099
CSX Q357 is at Bart near Hobart, IN with CSXT 7794 and 7838 for power
NS 381 is at Bourbon, IN with NS 9467, 9722, 9911, and 8735 for power
Amtrak #2 is at Hamlet, IN(Broadway Limited) with AMTK 77 and 43 for power
IHPI-0 is at North Lawrence, OH with PC 6627, 6588, 6908
INPI-0 is at Dunkirk, OH with PC 6724, 6709
FWPI-0B is arriving at Conway yard in Conway, PA with PC 6118, 6033, 6199
FWJY-0 is MP 14.5, which is about 5 miles south of Auburn, IN with PC 3026, 3136, 7744, 1115
ELJA-0 is departing Elkhart yard and going thru CP 421 on the NS mainline with PC 6721, 6744
TOGR-0 is at Howe, IN with PC 6515, 6342
GRIN-0 is in the siding at Sturgis, MI to meet TOGR-0 with PC 5012, 6166, 6339
COCH-0 just arrived at 59th Street yard Chicago, IL with PC 2056, 6640, 6285
TV211 is at North Judson, IN with PC 6933, 6927
COIN-0 just departed Columbus, OH with PC 6673, 6666
CICO-0X is at Springfield, OH with PC 3019, 3033, 9572
SPIN-0 is at Mohawk, IN with PC 3110, 3149
TV18 is at Southport, IN with PC 6401, 6466
PIIN-0 is arriving at Hawthorne yard Indianapolis, IN with PC 7977, 7720, 3030, 2058
COSL-0 is at Clermont, IN with PC 6342, 6338
SLCO-0 is at Van near Logansport, IN with PC 6766, 6794
CYPI-0 is at Bradford, OH with PC 6585, 6592, 6410, 6303

[conrailman75]

With the wreck site at Porter fixed and completely back in service, signals and all, NS has stopped detouring trains over PC now and reinstated all the trackage rights trains they annulled during the detour period since they now have crews to run them.

[conrailman75]

Eastern Branch update:

We finally got the last two holdouts to take our offer and Penn Central now has secured all the land from Carey to Berwick to relay the tracks. The track laying crews have been given the week off and will begin working on putting track down from Carey to Berwick starting next Tuesday 5/29.

[conrailman75]

With the news of another major derailment on NS near Porter again, Penn Central is going to host six detour movements a day from NS until the wreck site is cleaned up and the tracks restored to operation again.

[MQT3001]

With the news of another major derailment on NS near Porter again, Penn Central is going to host six detour movements a day from NS until the wreck site is cleaned up and the tracks restored to operation again.

Must've been an issue with the panel track...crews were going to go out tomorrow and weld them together