Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS Trackage Question NJ to Chicago

Good Evening:

How much single track is left on the NS mainline between North Jersey and Chicago? Also, is there any ABS or 251 territory left or has all trackage been updated with CTC?

Thank you in advance.

IIRC, NS NJ-Chicago route is comprised of the single tracked Lehigh Line between Manville, NJ area (Port Reading Jct) and Reading, PA area (Wyomissing Jct), although there appears to be double track between Easton, PA and Blandon, PA. Note that this single track stretch of line also handles NS intermodal traffic to/from the south via Hagerstown. I believe west of Reading the route to Chicago is all double track. I'm sure someone can provide a more authoritative response.

Here's a URL to NS Harrisburg Division Employee Timetable: http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/NS/NS%20ETTs/NS%20Harrisburg%20Div%20ETT%20%231%208-4-2008.pdf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/17 01:38 by JPB.

To my knowledge the only single track section of the North Jersey-Chicago route on NS is from CP EASTON at Easton, PA, east to Port Reading Junction.

While the trackage from CP BETHLEHEM to CP BURN in Allentown on the former LV is also single track, the route is not; across the Lehigh River and parallel to the former LV is the route through Allentown Yard, the former CNJ facility.

From CP ALLEN at the west end of Allentown Yard west, the route is two tracks minimum. The former Reading trackage from CP ALLEN to Wyomissing is two tracks and to my knowledge is still Rule 251, although a cutover to 261 is coming soon. Most of the signals are in place for that as I type.

~RGDave

RGDave Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To my knowledge the only single track section of
> the North Jersey-Chicago route on NS is from CP
> EASTON at Easton, PA, east to Port Reading
> Junction.
>
> While the trackage from CP BETHLEHEM to CP BURN in
> Allentown on the former LV is also single track,
> the route is not; across the Lehigh River and
> parallel to the former LV is the route through
> Allentown Yard, the former CNJ facility.
>
> From CP ALLEN at the west end of Allentown Yard
> west, the route is two tracks minimum. The former
> Reading trackage from CP ALLEN to Wyomissing is
> two tracks and to my knowledge is still Rule 251,
> although a cutover to 261 is coming soon. Most of
> the signals are in place for that as I type.
>
> ~RGDave


The 3-track portion of the PRR Main Line between CP-ALTOONA and CP-SO is 251 on the two outer tracks. There is also a short single track bottleneck between CP-BLANDON and CP-WEST LAUREL

Single track from Port Reading Junction near Manville, NJ to Easton, Pa. then double track to Blandon, PA (when accounting for Allentown Yard as second track from Bethlehem to Burn).

From Blandon, PA to just outside Reading at West Laurel it is single track, about 4 miles or so.

For the rest of the line to Harrisburg there are 2 tracks at least (when accounting for Reading yard as second track from Belt to Wyomissing Junction).

As of today 251 is still in use from Burn to Blandon on the Reading line with the exception of an island of CTC at Alburtis. That said new signals have been installed on the entire line and a new crossover is almost complete at Lyons, PA. I have no clue when the new signals will be put into service though.

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Thank you for all of the information. Any plans to add double track on the sections that have one main? Any plans to add CTC to the trackage between CP Altoona and CP SO?

Thank you again.

CSXT_8437 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you for all of the information. Any plans
> to add double track on the sections that have one
> main? Any plans to add CTC to the trackage
> between CP Altoona and CP SO?

I would see no significant advantage to doing either of these things. Traffic is sparse enough east of Reading that I doubt a second main all the way could be justified; if NS had congestion problems it would probably be cheaper for them to simply reclaim the ex-Erie Delaware Division from the Susquehanna and run more trains via Binghamton. In the Altoona area, the only times NS might be desirous of running trains "the other way" on Tracks 1 or 3 is when one of the mains is out-of-service for maintenance. Otherwise, the bidirectional signalling on Track 2 serves the need for overtake movements either up or down the Hill.