Elimination of NS 256/255 in June?

[CSXBOY]

I know it's just rumor, but when I was attending Durand Railroad days, there was talk of the triple crown services ending sometime in June. They will be replaced by stack trains running from St Louis to Toledo and trucks will take them north to Detroit. I honestly dont get why NS could not have just kept the pair but as conventional stack trains to and from Detroit. Why are they having trucks ship these containers to Detroit? I 75 is already a mess with construction in Michigan and there is enough trucks that travel that road everyday. Plus isn't it way longer for them to do this routing rather than the straight shot from Detroit to Kansas City and back? The line has the capacity for it. I think this rumor is possibly very much true as 358/359 are already running via the Wabash compared to the Detroit line. Can someone please enlighten me?

[justalurker66]

NS Livernois and NS Delray are COFC only. NS Toledo can handle COFC and TOFC.
Depending where in the Detroit area each trailer/container is going Toledo may be the better place to make the transition from rail to road.

[Chip]

Something to consider too. The Moroun family owns the former McLouth steel land in Trenton and currently has a “railroad” company that recently reinstalled the crossing over W. Jefferson last summer. They’ve floated out the possibility of having some kind of intermodal terminal there, which NS would have access to via Conrail.

[LansingRailFan]

NS Livernois and NS Delray are COFC only. NS Toledo can handle COFC and TOFC.
Depending where in the Detroit area each trailer/container is going Toledo may be the better place to make the transition from rail to road.

The triple crown TOFC will go to Toledo unfortunately so we’ll have more wear and tear on I-75 now.

NS did route train 358/359 from Elkhart to Oakwood via the Wabash recently. It takes the turn at Butler. So we’re positive trains right now but we will be back to even once the road railer is done which will be in June.

[CSXBOY]

I can see why Norfolk Southern is doing this now. Michigan is already "off the beaten path" and these railroads like NS not wanting to expand their intermodal terminal for TOFC is reasonable. They just spent a good chunk of money on airline yard about a decade ago and if they wanna transfer those containers to truck I honestly don't blame them. What will suck is that I 75 is nearly complete with the construction they've been doing since 2015 and you'll see a heavy increase in truck traffic.

[NickThatRailfan]

What day in June are they stopping? And with them running to Toledo now does that mean the roadrailers will run the Chicago Line?

[GTWTD3]

Once they are gone, they are gone. You have until August

[RoyalKingoftheRails]

For those that want to catch the RoadRailers, a good spot to see them in southeastern Michigan is Romulus. They tend to both run through there around 1-2 am.

[David Collins]

They tend to both run through there around 1-2 am.

I shot the 256 at 5:30am a few werks ago and several other times in the daylight. Timing can vary by a lot.

[CSXBOY]

What day in June are they stopping? And with them running to Toledo now does that mean the roadrailers will run the Chicago Line?

No roadrailers will be replaced with regular stacks and your best bet to for sure catch them is west of Fort Wayne on the Lafayette district. This time of the year you are likely to get 256 right at sunset between Fort Wayne and Peru IN

[NickThatRailfan]

What day in June are they stopping? And with them running to Toledo now does that mean the roadrailers will run the Chicago Line?

No roadrailers will be replaced with regular stacks and your best bet to for sure catch them is west of Fort Wayne on the Lafayette district. This time of the year you are likely to get 256 right at sunset between Fort Wayne and Peru IN

I would but my mom dosent like railfanning Fort Wayne and she wont go ang farther to catch them

[CSXBOY]

Then idk what to tell you. They all run at night in Michigan and I only seen 256 and 255 four times since 2020. It's just how the schedule is.

[David Collins]

Allow me to enlighten y’all:

255 is always at night and runs during normal time span (between 1-3am) since it’s always fresh out of Oakwood Yard (which for those who don’t know, is 15 minutes east of Romulus).

256 is always very unpredictable because it is by no means a premium train and gets held along it’s way.

Because 256 is NOT a premium train, crews often run out of time and crews will tend to be deadheaded from Oakwood or Fort Wayne depending on where they are, which can take hours if they’re coming out of Oakwood.

I have shot 256 multiple times recently (within the last 3-4 months) during daylight.

If that isn’t enough proof, I’ve pulled 5 all nighters in Romulus over the last 4 months and of the 5 times, only once has 256 shown up before sunrise.

[RoyalKingoftheRails]

Allow me to enlighten y’all:

255 is always at night and runs during normal time span (between 1-3am) since it’s always fresh out of Oakwood Yard (which for those who don’t know, is 15 minutes east of Romulus).

256 is always very unpredictable because it is by no means a premium train and gets held along it’s way.

Because 256 is NOT a premium train, crews often run out of time and crews will tend to be deadheaded from Oakwood or Fort Wayne depending on where they are, which can take hours if they’re coming out of Oakwood.

I have shot 256 multiple times recently (within the last 3-4 months) during daylight.

If that isn’t enough proof, I’ve pulled 5 all nighters in Romulus over the last 4 months and of the 5 times, only once has 256 shown up before sunrise.

You're absolutely right, timing does vary. 255 is the best one to get over here on the eastside in Michigan considering they always leave around the same time. But it all depends, twice within the last year I have caught 255 in daylight and 256 a few times in daylight. The past 2 times I stayed out late in Romulus, I caught 256 both times around 2 am. So it all depends on where and when the crews are at and what train traffic looks like in regards to hold ups and other delays.