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Someone asked a while back about train frequency through Waterloo IN, I went yesterday from 8am-2pm and caught 16 trains in six hours which is not bad for a holiday. I used to tell people that Waterloo saw about 80 trains per day, but I think that is high. 60-65 more like it? I did not catch a single CP train.

Waterloo is the mainline between New York and Chicago of the New York Central/PennCentral/Conrail/NS. It has always been a train watchers hot bed. They fly thru Waterloo full speed. We used to train watch at the Waterloo station in the late 60's. Shot some film then on 8mm.
Since there were crossovers nearby and down the ways and it was dispatcher controlled, any kind of setup could happen, normal left right trains, reverse direction, or a train chase either way. Number of trains isnt quite the only kind of action there. Watch the signals you might guess what the next action setup might be. We would run over to Bud's and get a malt or something, he ran trailer food stop nearby, he was a little bit speech impared, but no dummy, running a business like that. Wonder what around there now. Haven't been there a long while, and the depot has been moved around and its back in action as the station stop. The station had its bay window busted off in an accident it had, but someone has restored the bay window.

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I stopped in Waterloo in April, on the way back from Florida. The station is now an Amtrak station. They have done a nice job restoring it. Lots of trains through there, just minutes apart, then, maybe a half hour wait. Mostly intermodels. Kinda boring. Trains still blow the horn, but I noticed the crossing gates just come down silently. No bells. Never saw that before. I might take a road trip down there and Butler if we get some decent weather before winter.

Saw a post by Notch 8 that this was coming down.

jrgerber wrote:Someone asked a while back about train frequency through Waterloo IN, I went yesterday from 8am-2pm and caught 16 trains in six hours which is not bad for a holiday. I used to tell people that Waterloo saw about 80 trains per day, but I think that is high. 60-65 more like it? I did not catch a single CP train.

Waterloo is upwards of 80 on busy days; probably around 70-75 during weekdays. It'll max out at around 85-86 with CP traffic.

jrgerber wrote:Saw a post by Notch 8 that this was coming down.

Yep. The replacements have been in place for a few years. It is just a matter of NS getting that far down the line from where signals have already been replaced (407 to Chicago is done and NS has been working across Ohio as well).

justalurker66 wrote:

jrgerber wrote:Saw a post by Notch 8 that this was coming down.

Yep. The replacements have been in place for a few years. It is just a matter of NS getting that far down the line from where signals have already been replaced (407 to Chicago is done and NS has been working across Ohio as well).

Yeah they're up to 344 as of 3/28

I'm seeing several CPs every night on the Chesterton Railcam and they have to come through Waterloo to get on the Wabash. Probably stop there for a while in a couple weeks on the way home from Florida.

Signal is now gone and also a piece of NYC history.

http://www.fwarailfan.net/community/vie ... f=2&t=4123

jrgerber wrote: ↑

Tue May 30, 2017 3:24 am

Someone asked a while back about train frequency through Waterloo IN, I went yesterday from 8am-2pm and caught 16 trains in six hours which is not bad for a holiday. I used to tell people that Waterloo saw about 80 trains per day, but I think that is high. 60-65 more like it? I did not catch a single CP train.

I have a list of train symbols through Waterloo I counted 90 daily NS ones around 10 CP Trains and about 4 NS trains from Detroit so about 100 trains daily

Waterloo is not seeing 100 per day, nor is Elkhart for that matter. Please remember Nick that not all symbols run every day, along with ensuring your list is current and up to date. Symbols can change often, which renders the old symbol changed to something else or discontinued.

As few as around 50, and as many as 70-ish is what Elkhart sees. Between Goshen and Waterloo, the number (I think) will be less due to trains traversing up and down the branch at Goshen - trains that are not seen in Waterloo.

I used to spend A LOT of time last year and early this year on the Elkhart railcam, actually counting the number of trains in a 24-hour period. I think the most I counted on a given day was around 75, but the average number of trains by the Elkhart railcam was typically in the 60s, and again, the number in Waterloo "should be" less due to the branch.

Now what I do not know exactly is how many trains per day continue through Waterloo that do not come onto the mainline. Even "if" that number is say 10 trains per day that you are gaining in Waterloo that you won't see in Elkhart, you are loosing a similar number of trains that run up and down the branch at Elkhart that you will not see in Waterloo, so Waterloo by my estimate will see a similar number of trains per day as in Elkhart, but definitely not 100.

There were a few times I'm told in the last 25 years or so that Elkhart was approaching 100 per day, but I do not know when that was.

If anyone wants to correct me on these generalizations, please do so for all of our benefit.

Everything passing Waterloo should also go past Elkhart. Butler would have a few additional trains headed down to Fort Wayne, but there isn't a destination between Elkhart and Waterloo that would decrease the train count. As you mention, Elkhart gets a fair number of additional trains from the Marion Branch, with trains from Fort Wayne and Illinois added to the Chicago Line count. I am surprised how many trains run on the Marion Branch.

"Now what I do not know exactly is how many trains per day continue through Waterloo that do not come onto the mainline. Even "if" that number is say 10 trains per day that you are gaining in Waterloo that you won't see in Elkhart, you are loosing a similar number of trains that run up and down the branch at Elkhart that you will not see in Waterloo, so Waterloo by my estimate will see a similar number of trains per day as in Elkhart, but definitely not 100."

In the paragraph above, I meant to say Butler, not Waterloo! Sorry about that. For some reason I was getting Butler and Waterloo mixed up. I'm 47, so I'm not senile yet!