Eastern Railroad Discussion > Missing those CSX Monon Sub Ore Trains

It was too good to last.  After only two short years, the ore trains that ran on CSX's former Monon Railroad between Chicago and Kentucky are gone. The plant in Reynolds, IN was closed in October, with the last trains between Chicago and Reynolds ending in mid October.  The trains, symboled K500 for the southbound loads and K501 for the northbound empties, ran just about daily.  The ore was processed in the new plant in Reynolds and the finished product sent south to steel plants in Kentucky, I believe.  Any correction to that would be welcome.  I don't know the symbols for the traffic south of Reynolds;  they might have been K505 and K506.  The traffic meant more crew starts and jobs for the railroad and also for the people in Indiana.  The trains would come off the BNSF and interchange usually at 59th St in Chicago, where a CSX Monon Sub crew would take the train down to Reynolds.  The power would lay over and come back on the empties, usually the next day.  The BNSF supplied the power, but you could see some surprises.  That's what made the trains so interesting.  I thought I'd post some shots of what I saw during that time.  It's kind of sad not to see these money-makers anymore, but even sadder for those folks who thought they had a good future, only to lose it way too soon.

1.  The first ore train that I saw was an empty K501 coming up to Route 30 in Dyer, led by a NS SD70ACe, the 1031.  August 18, 2014

2.  Occasionally, you'd see Canadian Pacific GE's leading, such as the 8602 on a K500 at South Dyer.  Sept 16, 2014  

3.  Sometimes even the BNSF units were worth looking at.  Here's a SD70MAC crossing Sheffield Ave in Dyer with a southbound K500
 

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7.  This southbound K500, with the 9056 leading, was right on Amtrak's heels, holding just north of Sheffield Ave, waiting patiently while Amtrak did station time at Dyer.

8.  The 4423, looking good, has K500 in tow, as it rolls past South Dyer on April 14, 2016.

9.  The last ore train I would see was this northbound crossing 45th St in Munster, about to get on the Elsdon Sub and head for Chicago and the BNSF.  I believe the final train ran less than a week later.  Oct 5, 2016

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Great photos!

There is a silver lining to this story - CSX spent a lot of money on the Monon subdivision, building two huge new sidings complete with dispatcher controlled power switches/signals - one at Shelby IN just south of St. John in NW Indiana and one about 7 miles south of Lafayette.  They also just recently powered the switch between the old Monon and Peoria and Eastern at Ames (Crawfordsville), so I suspect that more business will be headed Monon's way...

AK Steel was the consumer of the processed ore. I know the Middletown, Ohio plant was a destination. I don't think any went to Ashland, Ky., before that mill's blast furnace was shut down, but I could be wrong about that.
 

The TP&W from Peoria, IL is handing CSX unit ethanol trains at Reynolds, IN to head south.  This business has just started, but should be somewhat regular. 

dispr Wrote:
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> There is a silver lining to this story - CSX spent
> a lot of money on the Monon subdivision, building
> two huge new sidings complete with dispatcher
> controlled power switches/signals - one at Shelby
> IN just south of St. John in NW Indiana and
> one about 7 miles south of Lafayette.  They also
> just recently powered the switch between the old
> Monon and Peoria and Eastern at Ames
> (Crawfordsville), so I suspect that more business
> will be headed Monon's way...

That's probably because of CSX's upgrading of the Louisville & Indiana.  There's a lot of talk that they will be running Louisville-Chicago trains using the L&I to Indy and the Monon from there to Chicago.

Yes, the pellet trains running south from Reynolds were destined for AK Steel in Middletown.  Below are a couple of shots of one of them.  Note the difference in hopper cars from the Minnesota-to-Reynolds trains.

When the Reynolds plant closed, after only two years of operation, 160 employees lost their jobs.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/16 07:30 by calumet.

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where was that shot taken please? Excellent track, and photo

The pellets did go to Ashland before that furnace shut down. Only after Ashland shutdown did Middletown get pellets.

Posted from iPhone

JLinDE Wrote:
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> where was that shot taken please? Excellent
> track, and photo

If you're referring to one of the last two shots, it was taken at the Lafayette, IN boarding platform.

howeld Wrote:
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> The pellets did go to Ashland before that furnace
> shut down. Only after Ashland shutdown did
> Middletown get pellets.
>
> Posted from iPhone

All those cars are now stored in AK's yards in Ashland, both the old coke plant yard & the main AShland Works yards.