Eastern Railroad Discussion > 20 CN trains at Griffith, Indiana diamonds

A few weeks ago my Dad visited Chicago to spend a week watching trains with me in celebration of his birthday. A highlight was Griffith, IN, which was busier and more interesting than expected. What follows here are photos of 20 trains that passed in two afternoons/evenings at and nearby the diamonds. This is an all-CN location, where the ex-GTW crosses the ex-EJ&E. I don't have symbols for these trains, but will at least note where they are routed. There are also some photos of interesting freight cars. I've got video of many trains, which will be posted in the future.

1. A light NS engine headed west into the small yard just west of the diamond on the Matteson Sub (ex-EJ&E)

2. A CN manifest on the Matteson sub about to take the wye to turn east on the Elsdon Sub (ex-GTW)

3. Westbound racks on the Elsdon Sub; one of the few trains that used the portion from Griffith into Chicago. Many trains now use the Matteson Sub instead.

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4. A CN local heads west on the Matteson Sub

5. Looking east down the Elsdon Sub, where a train is tied down in the distance.

6. As an earlier photograph noted, since the EJ&E was acquired a lot of trains here from points east on the Elsdon Sub leave it at Griffith; this one is headed west onto the Matteson Sub

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7. This was a surprise, an IC SW14 leads a local of about 20 tank cars out of the Griffith Yard east onto the Matteson Sub. I saw some of these being scrapped a while back at Homewood, and didn't know any were still in service.

8. These SD60F's seemed to be a on a Kirk Yard-Homewood turn; we saw them both days in the afternoon headed east to Kirk

9. A somewhat rare ex-ATSF hopper

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10. A local heads west on the Elsdon Sub

11. Crude oil heads off the Matteson and onto the Elsdon Sub. We oil trains in both directions on both days - does anyone know what their destinations are?

12. A CN unit leads more BNSF off of the Elsdon Sub west onto the Matteson sub, with the Griffith rail park props in the background

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13. A stack train headed west on the Elsdon Sub, presumably to Homewood Yard

14. A manifest heads south on the Matteson, and will turn east using the wye onto the Elsdon Sub

15. The Homewood-Kirk train on another day, with SD60F's again

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16. In the train was this IC scale test car

17. A westbound local on the Matteson slowly pulled across the diamond to stop and change crews with eastbound.

18. Traffic on Broad Street, which crosses 7 CN tracks, is pretty heavy for a two lane road. The crew change really tied things up as it blocked the crossing.

In the train were these brand-new RCRX tank cars, with a sticker that says "remove sticker before first load."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/14 16:40 by inCHI.

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19. CSX now has (ownership?) of the Elsdon Sub west of here, using it as a way to ease congestion on other routes (correct me if I'm wrong.) As I understand it, not many CSX trains operate this far east, though. This one headed off the Matteson Sub and onto the Elsdon Sub is the only one we saw.

20. A CN train does the opposite, heading past the equipment at the Griffith rail park

21. As the sun gets low, a massive Eastbound from Kirk Yard is about to use the wye to get onto the Elsdon Sub and go east.

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22. Same train, with an interesting consist

23/24. I think we saw this train both days, as it had a substantial cut of high cubes on both occasions. The old IC ones are neat to see, and it is a bit surprising to see fresh UP repaints on such old cars.

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25. An unusual load on a Matteson eastbound

26. A westbound leaving the Elsdon sub and heading onto the Matteson Sub

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27/28/29 - and finally, some more freight car shots.

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The rumors of Griffith's demise are clearly exaggerated. It has been a long time since I last visited, and I obviously need to get there once again. Thanks for the report and the images.

MC
Columbia, Missouri

CSXT 397 came through Baldwin ,Fl a week or so ago on a Military train, they sure do get around

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

Nice collection of images. I like the pictures of the freight cars.

inCHI Wrote:
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> 19. CSX now has (ownership?) of the Elsdon Sub
> west of here, using it as a way to ease congestion
> on other routes (correct me if I'm wrong.)

CSXT has an "exclusive, perpetual, non-assignable railroad operating easement" (this is STB-speak for assuming all the responsibilities of ownership without actually buying the property) over the Elsdon Sub from Munster, IN to Elsdon, IL, MP 31.07 to MP 8.7. Basic idea is to take CSX traffic off the UP (ex-C&EI) north of Thornton Jct. as well as removing some trains from congested areas of the BRC and IHB.

In a complementary transaction, GTW (CN) was given a similar easement over 2.1 miles of CSXT trackage on their Memphis Terminal Subdivision (the "Leewood - Aulon Line"). Supposedly, this was a straight-up exchange for the 21-mile Elsdon Sub easement and no money had to change hands.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/14 21:09 by illini73.

GOOD stuff...!!! Thanks for sharing.

Nice to see Griffith still busy. I've only been to Griffith once since the death of the EL. My memories are still fresh and vivid from the watching trains there in the late 60's early 70's. When the place was EJ&E/GTW/EL/C&O/PC branch I still consider it one of the top five Chicagoland railroad spots back then.

Agree, an early seventies visit will never be fogotten. A visit ten years ago was quite a letdown but looks like things have picked up with CN's takeover which usually means the opposite.
JB