Porter Junction

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David Collins
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Porter Junction

Unread post by David Collins »

I’m going to be stopping by Porter Junction on my spring break trip for an entire day and then spending the night at Riley’s, just wanna know why CSX has one connection onto the chicagoline and then has one back off, why couldn’t they just have a diamond to go back to the Barr Sub?
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Talk
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Re: Porter Junction

Unread post by Talk »

money

There used to be a diamond in Porter between the Porter Branch & The Amtrak Michigan Line (obv under different ownership). I believe it was removed under Conrail as they could run all the Michigan-bound trains via the waterlevel route...

Iirc, CSX considered it on paper, but it would prove too expensive, I think they would have to relay a decent amount of track and destroy some homes
SD80MAC wrote:
Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:57 am
At one point, I believe shortly after the Conrail merger, CSX had looked at connecting the GR Sub and Porter Branch seriously enough that they had engineering draw up plans for it. The plan required the GR Sub to curve more to the south starting at Locust St, tying in to the Chicago Line right at 8th St. A set of crossovers would have been installed/moved to facilitate trains crossing all the way over between the two. The plan would've required the demolition and or relocation of a few homes and businesses. Obviously, that never went beyond the blueprint phase.
Last edited by Talk on Mon Mar 07, 2022 8:37 am, edited 2 times in total.

Dan Cluley
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Re: Porter Junction

Unread post by Dan Cluley »

Way back in the olden times there was a diamond there, but it connected the Amtrak line to the Porter branch. Those lines were both Michigan Central (part of the New York Central) and the East/West main was LS&MS ( a different part of the NYC).

The PM/C&O/CSX always just had trackage rights from Porter west on the NYC to get to Chicago.

After all the NYC parts ended up in Conrail, & they sold the Michigan line to Amtrak, most freights stopped using it, so they didn't need the maintenance & dispatch hassle of the diamond and removed it (1970s or '80s)

At this point I'm sure NS doesn't really want to put it back, and CSX doest run enough there to be worth whatever it would cost to convince NS otherwise.

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DaveO
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Re: Porter Junction

Unread post by DaveO »

There used to be a diamond.
It was a NYC crossing NYC, later Conrail, diamond.

C&O line, later CSXT, ended at Porter Junction, that's why there's no CSXT diamond.

You keep framing things based on what you currently see and assuming that's the way it always was.
With regards to railroads it usually wasn't the way things were.

You're quite capable of going online. Why don't you put that capability to good use?
For example a search for "Porter Junction diamond removed" returns this link as the first result for me https://www.dhke.com/CRJ/porter.html

edit to add this pure editorial comment: a mobile phone with it's tiny screen isn't a suitable device to be doing research of the type you should be doing.

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Standard Railfan
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Re: Porter Junction

Unread post by Standard Railfan »

The linked article has some great information and illustrations.

https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com ... nycmc.html

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SD80MAC
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Re: Porter Junction

Unread post by SD80MAC »

David Collins wrote:
Mon Mar 07, 2022 7:19 am
I’m going to be stopping by Porter Junction on my spring break trip for an entire day and then spending the night at Riley’s, just wanna know why CSX has one connection onto the chicagoline and then has one back off, why couldn’t they just have a diamond to go back to the Barr Sub?
Until 1999, the line on the south side (the Porter Branch) was owned by Conrail, not CSX.
"Remember, 4 mph is a couple, 5's a collision!"
http://flickriver.com/photos/conrail680 ... teresting/
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