Canton-Bucyrus PRR

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Notch 8
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Canton-Bucyrus PRR

Unread post by Notch 8 »

I changed jobs recently which takes me to the Canton OH area on a weekly basis.. The remains of the Pennsylvania RR is evident everywhere. The physical plant is big and the train are few.. Double track main and so few trains. What traffic passes thru Canton on the former PRR ? Was this a busier track before the CR split up ? How far does the CF&E run on the former PRR ? I went to CP Mace Tuesday evening doesn't look like much has changed in 50 years except for the lack of traffic. Was Mace an important interchange at one time ? Navarre looks to be a busy place for the W&LE.. Does NS also serve the Marathon Refinery at Canton ? Anyone have a map of this area ?

Mike

bdconrail29
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Re: Canton-Bucyrus PRR

Unread post by bdconrail29 »

Going back to CR from 1976-1982, of course as you know they ran their Chicago traffic via the Fort Wayne Line and could see anywhere from 30-40 trains per day all the way from Conway to Chicago. In 1981/82 they diverted traffic off the Fort Wayne line via Alliance to run to Chicago via the Chicago Line at Cleveland. Simultaneously, however, they took the Panhandle traffic off and routed it on the line as far west as Crestline, where it then turned south to join the Big 4 to reach Columbus and/or Indianapolis/St. Louis. West of Crestline there was very little traffic (only locals) until the roadrailers started running in 1993.

I railfanned the Canton-Bucyrus (Colsan) section quite heavily in the 80's and 90's (4 Amtraks per day ran until November 1990) and the last real CR timetable (prior to August 1998) combined with my logs showed the following from Canton to Crestline (excluding locals):

PICO, PIIN, PISW, PIIC, PIHO, LTCO, Mail-3, TV-55, TV-3, RR-261 for westbounds and eastbounds COPI, INPI, SWPI, ICPI, NLPI, COLT, Mail-4, Mail-44, and RR-262. PISW was changed to PIPB, PIHO was changed to PIEW, SWPI was changed to GCPI and for some reason ICPI disappeared. By May 31 of 1999 traffic was relatively light in comparison to previous years.

Today as you know it's all changed and NS at one time only had 2 each way running but that has slightly increased recently. The St. Louis traffic on June 1 1999 was split between CSX and NS and NS moved it to the NKP or the Chicago Line turning southwest on the Wabash at either Fort Wayne or Butler. For instance, NLPI became 10E and ran Wabash to Fort Wayne, thence east on the NKP to Bellevue, Vermilion, and down to Conway that way.

Interestingly, NS did run a van train each way until 2003 to Fort Wayne (21A/20T pair and then 21A/20A pair at the end) where they ran the Wabash to either St. Louis or Kansas City.

The connection at Crestline used to turn traffic off the line to the Indy line is abandoned.
Brett

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cbehr91
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Re: Canton-Bucyrus PRR

Unread post by cbehr91 »

The CF&E does not go east of Crestline. There's, what, 8-10 a day on the current Ft. Wayne Line? I know there are three tracks through Canton, but really there are only two main tracks. The north-most track is the Reed Runner, and it's a 10 MPH at best piece of track. At one time at Mace, the PRR got on the B&O there, and would run up to Warwick. At Mace, there was an interlocking tower up until about 35 years ago. In Wooster, the RJ Corman interchanges, and IIRC there is a public parking lot right next to the Ft. Wayne Line tracks in "downtown".

bdconrail29
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Re: Canton-Bucyrus PRR

Unread post by bdconrail29 »

Update:

As of 12/30, today, I have observed 15V, 12V, 169, 170, 776, 779, and 10E all running almost every day.

There are of course oil trains but the symbols aren't very consistent, and I did a 66X twice.
Brett

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