RailRoadFan.com

So how busy is the Norfolk Southern Sandusky line north of Bellevue always wondered that. I might take a railfanning trip to Sandusky next summer depending on how busy the line is. I know alot of the trains start or end their shifts in the massive Bellevue yard. So what is a day count of trains on the Sandusky district north of Bellevue

thanks Graeme Case

From what I've seen I'd say 1 or 2 trains per hour use the line from Sandusky to Bellevue, on average.

The NS Chicago Line between Vermillion OH and Sandusky OH is probably the least busy part of the line due to the fact that many of the trains go south to Bellevue. Trains from the Chicago Line can go to Bellevue by going onto the Toledo Line in Oak Harbor, the Sandusky District in Sandusky, or by the Cleveland district in Vermillion.

Here's a diagram of the NS Chicago Line and its connections in the area. CP 242 is Sandusky, where trains can move to the Sandusky District.

CSXBOY wrote:So how busy is the Norfolk Southern Sandusky line north of Bellevue always wondered that. I might take a railfanning trip to Sandusky next summer depending on how busy the line is. I know alot of the trains start or end their shifts in the massive Bellevue yard. So what is a day count of trains on the Sandusky district north of Bellevue

thanks Graeme Case

It's tough to gauge sometimes. Right now NS has 2 routes from Bellevue to Oak Harbor and two from Bellevue to Vermilion. From my observations, the new connection at CP 242 seems to have most of the WB traffic that used to run from Bellevue to Oak Harbor but a lot of the EB's still use the Oak Harbor connection routing. But, SOME EB's do go to Sandusky and then south to Bellevue. You can usually catch 12-15 between CP 242 and Bellevue per day, however, on the high end. Some days it's lower.