Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS 744, 742 Train symbol question

Both of these trains go to Lamberts Point, Virginia for export. I was just wondering if anyone knows where they load at? With a 700 series number it should be an old NS loadout not ex-Conrail. Just curious the whole route it takes as it travels across the Ohio Central from Mingo Jct. to Columbus then handed back to the NS to go south.
Thanks in advance
SD40T-2_fan

744 and 742 don't go to Lambert's Point. They are coal trains bound for either Belmont, NC or Plant Marshall, NC (near Catawba). I believe all of the trains going to Lambert's are 800 series (811, 813, 812 etc...)

I live in Asheville, NC and NS 744's and 742's have been coming through here for about 3 months....usually with DKPX cars for PLant Marshall (Coal Power Plant) near Catawba, NC.

Grady McKinley
Asheville, NC

Here are some photos from Railpictures.net of the train on various routes (NS through Frisco, TN to Bulls Gap, Asheville and onto the Plant).

Unless of course NS is running 744's at two different locations.

They may not all go to Lamberts Point but I know some do. I work for the Ohio Central and have run some 744's and had a meet with a 742 once. I know the 742 had some of those DKPX cars that you spoke of. We also run 576's, 578's, 688's that go to Lamberts Point as well but all of those load at ex-Conrail loadouts in Pennsylvania. Just wondering where the 744's load because it seems weird that they load them down south and bring them all they way up to Ohio just to go back south again.

Come to think of it they may not of gone to Lamberst Point but either way we ran them across our railroad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/11 18:24 by SD40T-2_fan.

744 does not go to Norfolk. A 744 actually went south from Roanoke on Monday and as far as I know, was headed to Belew's Creek (according to a conversation between the crew and dispatcher). It is also possible that the train went on south past Belew's Creek to Winston-Salem and then to Asheville as mentioned in a previous post but unlikely. Final destination is unclear , but definitely is not a tidewater train.

Hank
Roanoke, VA

SD40T-2_fan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They may not all go to Lamberts Point but I know
> some do. I work for the Ohio Central and have run
> some 744's and had a meet with a 742 once. I know
> the 742 had some of those DKPX cars that you spoke
> of. We also run 576's, 578's, 688's that go to
> Lamberts Point as well but all of those load at
> ex-Conrail loadouts in Pennsylvania. Just
> wondering where the 744's load because it seems
> weird that they load them down south and bring
> them all they way up to Ohio just to go back south
> again.
>
> Come to think of it they may not of gone to
> Lamberst Point but either way we ran them across
> our railroad.

NS #742 and #744 are utility trains. NS 742 loads out out of Williamson, WV and goes to CSX in Alexandria, VA and empties at Potomac Power. There is no return ID#. NS 744 (745 empty) also loads out of Williamson and is Catawba, NC train (Duke Power) and can empty at Marshall, Cowans Ford or River Bend plants. The way the coal contracts work is that the train returns empty to Williamson as 745 from the power plant, runs to any one of several contracted mines as U?? and returns to Williamson as the same mine run ID. Once back in Williamson it will change to 744. The farthest north mine served by Williamson is East Lynn, just south of Kenova. 800 series trains are water-bound trains, Lambert's Point, Sandusky, Kenova, etc. Mine run trains keep the same ID #, i.e. U69 is a mine run from Weller Yard (Va) to Buchanan #1 Flood Loader at Page, VA. U69 runs only that run regardless of who the end consumer is.

576 is a Shire Oaks, PA to Lambert Point loaded train
577 is the returned empties of 576
578 is a Shire Oaks to Brown, KY (KY Power)
579 is the returned empties of 578
688 is a Clairton PA to South Lorain, OH loaded train
689 is the returned empties of 688

If the cars are brand new, as in first reveneue run, they may have been built in either Ill or OH and loaded on former CR trackage and then headed to Duke Power. OR DP could have a new contract with an ex-CR loadout and since there was no CR loads to NS power plants traffic pre- or post merger, they may be using some excess train ID's in that capacity. NS has Williamson / Catawba ID's as 744/745, 746/747 and 748/749. If there were multiple trains running from actual different loadouts they would get different ID's. Without actually following trains in the field on mine runs, I don't think there are very many folks who can actually list where the loadout contracts fully lie.

Hope this helps.

NSTopHat

I've heard OC hand these off to NS in Columbus numerous times over the last 6 weeks or so. CSX was running quite a bit of coal out of the MGA served fields for Duke Power but these seem to have dried up in 2011 or at least they are not routed over CSX through Columbus like they were. Perhaps NS won this contract now???