Eastern Railroad Discussion > Bucyrus to Canton Ohio question

Just kind of curious about how much traffic is NS running across the Ft. Wayne line segment between Canton and Buckyrus?

Not very well, there isn\'t anything special down there anymore, it\'s really hit and miss minus the 12V and 13V dailys.

Now, for the rumor.

Apparently the lease for Ohio Central is up on the Panhandle line, and I\'ve heard NS is trying to buy it as a quicker way from Columbus to Conway, rather than going Bucyrus to Crestline, thru Canton, to Conway.

Any truth to that rumor? If so, and they get it, Ft Wayne Line is going to be in some serious trouble.

Ster 2

I don\'t know if that\'s true, but it makes sense. Perhaps NS could negotiate a swap with the Ohio Central, and let them run the Fort Wayne Line between Alliance and Crestline. But OC would certainly want to maintain access over the Panhandle to operate its coal trains and the steel train.

This is all speculative, of course. But I agree, besides 12V/13V and the C37 turnaround that runs between Mansfield and Bellevue via Bucyrus, there\'s not a whole lot moving with any predictability on that part of the old Pennsy main.

Interesting. But that brings a few questions.

1. Is there enough local traffic for the OC to be interested in Crestline to Alliance AND how much better would that fit into the route system and traffic structure.

2. On the NS side. How much potential traffic is there between Columbus/Cincinnati and points east of Pittsburgh to justify taking that line and upgrading it to move the traffic that much faster than via Bellevue.

3. Who owns the Panhandle. If NS owns the lease inherited from Conrail, then they don\'t have to give OC squat. If a third party owns it, then NS could simply outbid OC and then OC don\'t get nuttn\' anyhow.

Doesn\'t the state of Ohio own most of the remaining Panhandle track east from Columbus?

The Panhandle is owned by CAPRAIL, which the State of Ohio owns. Selling the Panhandle has been discussed at length by the the Ohio Rail Development Commission. See there site at:

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/Minutes/ORDC%202002%20Retreat%20Attachments.pdf

Currently there are three options:

Open Access
Highest Bidder
Ohio Central

Caprail does own the Panhandle, as they are investors laying around in Florida, and the State in turn leases it from THEM. The State then contracted the operation of it to the OC. It will be 3 more years before the 3rd 5 year segment is up, but the OC may own it outright by then. So contrary to a previous message, the lease is not almost up. Also, with the reduced traffic that the NS currently runs down through Massillon and Canton, why would they want to mess with buying another mainline? Especially a route that they already have traffic and haulage rights over. The traffic that they run now would not overly burden the Panhandle or the OC and the operations of it.