Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Sub forum for Paper Railroads
User avatar
Y@
Ass. Janitor
Posts: 5588
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:37 pm

Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by Y@ »

Rather than selling the former Wabash Fifth District to Indiana Hi-Rail in 1990, Norfolk Southern opted to keep the line themselves. Despite deferred maintenance, the customer base remained strong and track maintenance was done in order to keep the track speed at 10 mph across the entire 51 miles of track.

From west to east, the line branches off from Norfolk Southern's Fostoria District east of New Haven, Indiana, and runs to Defiance, Ohio, the main base of operations on the branchline. Interchange with CSX also takes place here. Continuing east, the line runs to Napoleon where there are several online customers. The line then crosses the Indiana & Ohio Ry. west of Liberty Center, where there is an interchange track in the southwest quadrant of the diamond. The track continues into downtown Liberty Center, although there are no longer any online shippers in LC.

Below is a customer list in alphabetical order by company.

Advanced Drainage Systems - Napoleon, OH - Receives boxcars and plastic hoppers
AG Plus - Woodburn, IN - Receives covered hoppers and tank cars
BF Goodrich - Woodburn, IN - Receives boxcars and carbon black covered hoppers
Carson Industries - Napoleon, OH - Receives plastic hoppers
Cloverleaf Cold Storage - Napoleon, OH - Receives reefers and boxcars
CSX Interchange - Defiance, OH
Hudson Feed Mill - Okolona, OH - Receives covered hoppers
Interstate Cold Storage - Napoleon, OH - Receives reefers and boxcars
I&O Interchange - Liberty Center, OH
Jewell Grain Company - Jewell, OH - Receives covered hoppers
Johns Manville Plants 2 and 8 - Defiance, OH - Receive covered hoppers
LaFarge North America - Paulding, OH - Receives covered hoppers, gravel hoppers and tank cars
Mercer Landmark Elevator - Antwerp, OH - Receives covered hoppers
RailTech - Napoleon, OH - Receives boxcars
WB Warehousing - Defiance, OH - Receives boxcars

To work the line, NS bases two crews out of New Haven, two crews in Defiance and one crew in Napoleon. The jobs are as follows.

L91 - New Haven-Cecil-New Haven Turn
Runs east from New Haven on weekday mornings to Woodburn, where cars for the BF Goodrich plant and the Antwerp elevator are left in Woodburn Track 2. Cars for LaFarge are pulled to Cecil and shoved down the former CN to the plant. The local returns to Cecil with cars from LaFarge and pulls into the 1,580 ft. long Cecil siding, then crew runs around the cars and returns to Woodburn. The crew cuts the power away from the LaFarge cars and ties onto the cars for BF Goodrich and Antwerp, then reassembles the train with the BFG cars first in the cut. On their way west, the crew will drop any cars for Antwerp on the elevator track before continuing west. Once at the BFG spur, the crew again cuts the BFG cars away from the LFG cars and then shoves down to the plant. After working BFG, the crew returns to the main and reassembles the train before taking the cars in to New Haven. If there are any interchange cars for Defiance (which there usually are at least once a week), they are left on the single main east of Cecil.

L9N - New Haven-Cecil-New Haven Turn Re-crew
Same duties as above if a recrew is needed. Crew is also responsible for any "hot car" shipments to Cecil, such as cars for Defiance and points east, or hot LaFarge shipments.

L94 - Defiance-Okolona-Defiance Turn
Runs east from Defiance four or five times a week with cars to swap with L97, as well as cars for Johns Manville Plant 8, the Jewell elevator, and the Hudson Mill in Okolona. After building their train in Defiance and doing their work between Defiance and Okolona, the crew pulls their Napoleon bound cars into Okolona Track 2 (a 2,000 ft. siding east of town) and cuts away, then runs around the cut and waits west of the west switch. L97 will arrive and cut their power off their train, pull into Okolona 2, and then L94's power will shove back and tie onto the cars from L97. Once this is complete, L94 returns to Defiance to spot Johns Manville Plant 2 and work the CSX interchange.

L95 - Extra Defiance Crew
Same duties as above if a recrew is needed. This crew is also responsible for running west to swap cars with L91 in Cecil whenever needed, typically one or two times a week.

L97 - Napoleon-Okolona-Napoleon Turn
This job works all the industries in Napoleon, as well as the I&O interchange west of Liberty Center. When doing the I&O interchange, the crew shoves their cars east to Liberty Center, and ties on to the cars in the I&O interchange. The cars are pulled out on to the main, then shoved east across the diamond. The cars from the I&O are then cut off, and the power pulls ahead with the cars for interchange to the I&O. Those cars are shoved into the interchange, and the crew then takes the power back across the diamond to grab the cars left by the I&O. Those cars are then taken to Napoleon and left on the main east of the RailTech switch. The I&O interchange is always the first thing the L97 crew does on days when it is needed. Once back in Napoleon, the crew works the industrial park in Napoleon and assembles their train for swap with L94 in Okolona. If they aren't running to Okolona that day, the train will tie down at Hobson Street and take their train to Okolona the following day.

Typically, L91 will use whatever four-axle power is available in East Wayne. That job usually changes power every 7-10 days. There are two engines assigned to Defiance at any given time, and one engine based in Napoleon. GP38-2's, GP38AC's, and GP50's are the preferred power. As of 1/10/13, the NS 5555 is assigned to L91, NS 4148 and NS 5326 are in Defiance, and NS 4154 is in Napoleon.
Last edited by Y@ on Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bottom text.

User avatar
AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
Posts: 37905
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Re: Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by AARR »

I enjoy the realistic attention to detail 8)
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

conrailman75
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 1135
Joined: Mon May 23, 2011 6:39 pm

Re: Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by conrailman75 »

There is also a clothing distribution center that sits alongside the siding at New Haven Pass in town that gets a lot of 50 foot boxcars(can't remember its name right now) and a small industry over near Casad that has a siding that receives covered hoppers(not sure what it is either). These are industries you could consider adding to your line as well since NS serves them today.
Chris Howe
Fairborn, OH

User avatar
Y@
Ass. Janitor
Posts: 5588
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:37 pm

Re: Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by Y@ »

Thanks Chris, I didn't know if those were on the Maumee District or not.
Bottom text.

User avatar
Y@
Ass. Janitor
Posts: 5588
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:37 pm

Re: Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by Y@ »

1-16-13 on the East End

L94 crew went on duty at 07:30 (as usual) and started working the yard to build their train around 08:00. The train departed the yard eastbound shortly before 09:00 with NS 5326 leading a 22 car train. They picked up four loads in Jewell and spotted two empties before continuing to Okolona to swap cars with L97 around 12:00. After the swap, they went back to Defiance and spotted three cars at Johns Manville before taking their 13 cars from L97 to the CSX interchange. The crew tied up for the day a little after 17:00.

L97 crew went on duty at 07:30 (as usual) and taxied to Napoleon, arriving at their power (NS 4154) and working ADS and Cloverleaf. After doing their work in the industrial park they took 13 cars to Okolona to swap with L94, then returned to Napoleon and ran around their 20 cars before shoving back into the industrial park and tying down for the day around 14:00.
Bottom text.

User avatar
DT&I
Commodore Perry
Posts: 2972
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 4:26 pm

Re: Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by DT&I »

You do a good job with your lines, I really enjoy reading your reports.
I'm just here to put in time claims and complain

User avatar
AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
Posts: 37905
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Re: Norfolk Southern Maumee District

Unread post by AARR »

Lots of local switching means the jobs don't cover a lot of ground. Do the customers in Napoleon require the box cars spotted at specific docks? That could eat up a lot of time!
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

Post Reply