Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS bottle train and other traffic at Dolton, IL

Two weeks ago I was at Dolton, IL, and for the first time in many visits, I was able to catch NS's bottle train that runs between two ArcelorMittal steel mills. In these views at Dolton, it is headed away from the Riverdale mill and off the ex-PRR Panhandle main, and curving onto the the IHB main to head over to the mill at East Chicago, IL. I finally got video off it, too. I'm worried that this operation could fade away at any moment, as the steel industry is in a severe recession and layoffs have already occured at the East Chicago mill.

This post has a few more trains, then photos of the bottle cars, because I better get photos of them while I can.

In the video, the bottle train is shown a bit farther east under a signal bridge. It took me a minute to get the camera stable. The second clip is in Hammond, IN. I watched a CSX-led train head east on the NS Chicago district, at Diamonds that I think are either called State Line or Hohman. The clip just shows a pretty bouncy rail right off the diamond, but only a few seconds of it, because moments later an NS stack train appears.

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3. A bit earlier in the morning, an oil train notches up as it rounds the curve on the CSX Barr Sub.

4/5. I've been to Dolton several times, but I've never seen a train on the tight connecting track between the UP/CSX joint line and the IHB main. Oddly, on this morning I saw two; a UP rack train with about 80 empty autoracks, and a CSX coal train from Alabama headed also headed to the ArcelorMittal mill in East Chicago.

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6. Over in Hammond, IN, this oil or ethanol train was headed east on the NS Chicago sub with a nice change of pace for power.

7/8. East of Dolton, I noticed these two switches in place. Does anyone know what is planned? There is a create project to create a grade seperation at Cottage Grove Ave. somewhat near this, but I don't know if that has anything to do with the switches.

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Lastly, some bottle car photos, if they are of interest. The raised, clean numbers for each car are certainly noteworthy.

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The bottle train is a neat looking train set and just can't beat the high-nose geep.
Brian Stevens

Note the differences in truck arrangements on the bottle cars.  One type has 3 two axle trucks (per end) while the other has 1 three axle and 1 two axle trucks per end.

filmteknik Wrote:
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> Note the differences in truck arrangements on the
> bottle cars.  One type has 3 two axle trucks (per
> end) while the other has 1 three axle and 1 two
> axle trucks per end.

I'm also intrigued with what appear to be traditional journal bearings too.

Neat shots of a very unusual operation.

Dan

Posted from iPhone

I can feel the heat coming from the bottle trains in your photo's.  I have seen a few Autorack trains making the transition from the UP/CSX to the IHB, but never a coal train.  If you are sitting at the police department those trains are really close.

I wish Dolton would invest in a rail park like homewood and mattoon have done..  The police station is nice, but a nice viewing platform along the UP/IHB connection, or even in the Northwest corner near the baseball fields, would make this one of the top trainspotting places in the country.   I guess we should just be happy to have a safe and public parking sport with the police station.

kbmiflyer Wrote:
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> I can feel the heat coming from the bottle trains
> in your photo's.  

You'd feel it even more if the cars were loads, but this train is EB and hence running empty.  It will reload at the East Chicago blast furnaces. 

A couple of other points: 
The Hammond interlocking is Hohman Ave.  State Li;ne is a couple miles northwest along the ex-NKP.
The 12 axle bottle cars are relatively new, about six or eight years old.  The ten axles date back much further.

> I wish Dolton would invest in a rail park like
> homewood and mattoon have done..  The police
> station is nice, but a nice viewing platform along
> the UP/IHB connection, or even in the Northwest
> corner near the baseball fields, would make this
> one of the top trainspotting places in the
> country.   I guess we should just be happy to
> have a safe and public parking sport with the
> police station.

It takes a little effort but you can climb a manmade hill just west and south of the viewing area.  It gives you a great birdseye view of the interlocking.  I've always thought it would be a great place for a viewing platform.  Go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page:

http://dhke.com/CRJ/dolton.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/16 07:33 by calumet.

dschlegel Wrote:
>
> I'm also intrigued with what appear to be
> traditional journal bearings too.

Although the trucks retain their original bearing covers they have been converted to roller bearing axles. This was a common practice in the 1980's when a lot of solid bearing trucks were converted to roller bearings, using the existing sideframes. Sometimes the bearing covers were removed exposing the roller bearing cap, other times not. I would assume that the bearing covers were left in place on these cars as just an added layer of protection given the harsh environment in which they operate.

Scooter

The CSX-led train in pic 6 is at Hohman Avenue. That's the street the train is passing under. There are pics online somewhere of this area in the 60's and 70's, when it was still a grade crossing.