Eastern Railroad Discussion > Crane, IN

Can anyone enlighten on the current activity into / out of the Crane Naval Weapon depot in Crane, IN?

i.e. how often trains arrive/ depart and the routing of such trains?

I believe previous to the abandonment of the line as a through route, the trains would come off CSX from the east (B&O Connersville line or the Indy Conrail line?) at Terre Haute and head south on the Monon to Crane. What about now?

P Wrote:
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> Can anyone enlighten on the current activity into
> / out of the Crane Naval Weapon depot in Crane,
> IN?
>
> i.e. how often trains arrive/ depart and the
> routing of such trains?
>
> I believe previous to the abandonment of the line
> as a through route, the trains would come off CSX
> from the east (B&O Connersville line or the Indy
> Conrail line?) at Terre Haute and head south on
> the Monon to Crane. What about now?


I don't know how many trains are running in and out of Crane these days, but I can clarify a few things about the route.

The Hoosier Sub (ex-Monon) between Bedford, IN and someplace north of New Albany, IN, is out of service. This was used by (among other things) Crane trains traveling via Louisville.

Any Crane trains operating to/from Cincinnati via Terre Haute and Indianapolis would still be able to do so via the ex-Conrail St. Louis line west of Indianapolis and the ex-B&O Indianapolis Subdivision east of Indy, or via the route CSX seems to use with extra trains between Indy and Cincy, which is to run them all the way into Ohio on the Big Four and then down the B&O Toledo Sub from Sidney Junction.

The track between Terre Haute, Crane, and Bedford is not ex-Monon, it's ex-Milwaukee Road. I do not know if those tracks are still in east of Crane to Bedford, where the Milwaukee connected to the Monon. The Monon never went to Terre Haute; its main line ran via Greencastle and Bloomington, and except possibly for a stub in Bloomington it has been gone for at least a few decades between a quarry south of Greencastle and Bedford.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/14 18:24 by toledopatch.

The Former MILW is gone from Crane to Bedford, abandoned by the INRD in late 2009/early 2010. Service to Crane is done as needed by INRD - stub to Crane connects with the balance of INRD system at Linton IN. For most part, traffic is 20ft COFC loaded on a mix of TTX and DODX 89ft COFC flats. Bulk of traffic interchanges with CSXT at Indianapolis.

scraphauler Wrote:
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> The Former MILW is gone from Crane to Bedford,
> abandoned by the INRD in late 2009/early 2010.

Is the track still in on the ex-Monon between Bedford and Mitchell? INRD was its last user before they rerouted their traffic. Not that it would go anywhere without the INRD connection at Bedford, but it would be CSX's decision to remove it.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/14 18:59 by toledopatch.

scraphauler Wrote:
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> The Former MILW is gone from Crane to Bedford,
> abandoned by the INRD in late 2009/early 2010.
> Service to Crane is done as needed by INRD - stub
> to Crane connects with the balance of INRD system
> at Linton IN. For most part, traffic is 20ft COFC
> loaded on a mix of TTX and DODX 89ft COFC flats.
> Bulk of traffic interchanges with CSXT at
> Indianapolis.


So it runs up the INRD through Bloomington to Indy?

Monon is still in from Bedford to Mitchel (and on to Louisville), but CSXT was granted a Discontinuance of Service by the STB which relieved them of all common carrier obligation on the line. Trask remains in place and is property of CSX, but it s no longer a common carrier and may not be operated as one (no revenue movements allowed). Just south of Bedford, the bridge over the White River suffered some decking damage a couple years ago due to a fire. Since CSXT was using the line south of the bridge to store cars, they protect south end of burned bridge with a derail. Almost a year ago (9/8/13) vandals turned a cut of cars loose and the derail did it's job, piling up a covered hopper (that had been used as a "shoving platform") and a bunch of TTX spine cars. Not only hasn't CSXT repair the track from the derailment, they haven't even cleaned up the derailment - cars still lay in a pile and are visible on current satellite imagery such as: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.811137,-86.4997635,132m/data=!3m1!1e3

P Wrote:
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> So it runs up the INRD through Bloomington to
> Indy?

Correct