Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX Chicago-Evansville vs. Chicago-Louisville

I am curious whether Evansville or Louisville gets more of the traffic between Chicago and the Southeast.

I am guessing Evansville.

ts1457 Wrote:
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> I am curious whether Evansville or Louisville gets
> more of the traffic between Chicago and the
> Southeast.
>
> I am guessing Evansville.

I would say you're right. Much more direct routing between Chicago and Evansville.

Kim Heusel

Definitely right!
 

The former CE&I route that was split between MP and L&N in the 1960's gets the lion's share of the traffic now.  After the MILW/CP trackage rights over the old Monon were ended, it meant the end of the former Monon as the through route.  On the former CE&I, CSX also reaches the Decatur, IL area; allowing them to spin off their Decatur branch to a shortline.

zars Wrote:
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> On the former CE&I, CSX also reaches the Decatur, IL
> area; allowing them to spin off their Decatur
> branch to a shortline.

That branch was the sole CSX route to Decatur, IL. 

Thanks all for the information.

I probably could find this out quickly myself, but I will go ahead and ask since someone probably knows the answer right off of the bat.

On the joint part of the old C&EI, does UP own the railroad and CSX has trackage rights, or  is there some other arrangement?

According to the Wikipedia article; the line is jointly owned and operated between Chicago and Woodland Junction, IL.  The fork beween Woodland Junction, through Danville, IL to Evansville, IN became part of L&N, and is now owned by CSX, while the western fork toward Thebes and St. Louis became MoPac/UP.
 

zars Wrote:
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> According to the Wikipedia article; the line is
> jointly owned and operated between Chicago and
> Woodland Junction, IL.  The fork beween Woodland
> Junction, through Danville, IL to Evansville, IN
> became part of L&N, and is now owned by CSX, while
> the western fork toward Thebes and St. Louis
> became MoPac/UP.

I believe that operationally, however, it is maintained and dispatched north of Woodland Jct. by Union Pacific.

The C&EI doesn't just get "the lion's share" of CSX traffic between Chicago and the Southeast. It gets all of it, and Louisville gets none.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/19 09:06 by toledopatch.

kevink Wrote:
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> zars Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > On the former CE&I, CSX also reaches the
> Decatur, IL
> > area; allowing them to spin off their Decatur
> > branch to a shortline.
>
> That branch was the sole CSX route to Decatur,
> IL. 
That is correct. The CSX doesn't have any route to Decatur now since they sold the branch from Montezuma, IN to Decatur to the shortline.

I figured that.  When I worked for the B&O as a trackman, I started on the C&N Subdivision east of Columbus.  At the time, Conrail ran most of the trains on this B&O owned and maintained track.  I was told I was "85% Conrail" when I worked on that track.

I know the old Monon as the Chicago--Southeast route is either dying or gone; I thought there might be a little bit of traffic via Indy down the L&I that CSX bought a share of and fixed up.

zars Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> According to the Wikipedia article; the line is
> jointly owned and operated between Chicago and
> Woodland Junction, IL.  The fork beween Woodland
> Junction, through Danville, IL to Evansville, IN
> became part of L&N, and is now owned by CSX, while
> the western fork toward Thebes and St. Louis
> became MoPac/UP.

That's correct; in 1969 the ICC approved the purchase of C&EI by Missouri Pacific with the stipulation that they sell off the Evansville line and grant half ownership to that carrier north of Woodland.  The buyer was L&N.  So now it's UP and CSX, with the former dispatching and maintaining the joint ownership segment.  

The Monon main to Louisville was abandoned in the 1990s south of Cloverdale, IN (a few miles south of Greencastle) to Bedford.  I'm told that CSX has now received permission by the STB to abandon the Bedford to Louisville segment which has been dormant for many years.

However, CSX has upgraded the ex-PRR line between Louisville and Indy, now operated by the Louisville & Indiana shortline, and has been running trains on it mainly from eastern points.  It's possible that Chicago-Louisville trains could use this route and together with the ex-P&E and Monon north of Indy to Chicago.  But to this point, that has not happened.

For more on Woodland Jct, go here and scroll down:  http://dhke.com/CRJ/outlying.html

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/19 21:11 by calumet.

MONON was a builder, an infrastructure improver, a customer solicitor, a growth vision entity. Physical growth is a different world these days. The carrier did more with less before L&N.

calumet Wrote:

> However, CSX has upgraded the ex-PRR line between
> Louisville and Indy, now operated by the
> Louisville & Indiana shortline, and has been
> running trains on it mainly from eastern points. 
> It's possible that Chicago-Louisville trains could
> use this route and together with the ex-P&E and
> Monon north of Indy to Chicago.  But to this
> point, that has not happened.

Current CSXT operations over LIRC

Louisville to Indianapolis
Q206 - Louisville to St Louis
Q216 - Louisville to Philladelphia
Q254 - Louisville to Cleveland

Louisville to Seymour IN, then east on former B&O Indiana Sub to Cincinnati
Q256 - Louisville to Walbridge
Q574 - Nashville to Cincinnati
Q576 - Nashville to Cincinnati.

Louisville to Indianapolis often sees extra sections of 206/216/254, and occasion other rerouted rack trains,  Louisville to Seymour get occasional "extra train", like V166-05 that operated over line yesterday.  However, there are no southbound from Indy or Seymour to Louisville.

Only train that runs from Louisville to Chicago is Q244 to IHB Gibson,  This train runs west of the Texas Sub to Henderson KY, then north on C&EI, working Toyota Princeton.  There is no Chicago-Louisville counterpart.   Since 244 works Princeton IN in route, there simply is NO traffic currently moving between Louisville and Chicago that could utilize the available LIRC to Indianapolis, P&E to Crawfordsville, Monon to Chicago routing.  Only other scheduled Q series manifest traffic in Louisville to speak of is the couterparts of Q574 and Q576, plus the Louisville Cincinnati pair Q504/505, intermodal pair Q142/142.  Beside that, your have a plathora of Q200 series automotive trains that originate or terminate at Louisville, the automotive hub for CSX, and a fair selection of G,V,K,etc, and J series locals. . 


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/19 11:57 by scraphauler.

No direct line from CHI to LOU any longer, since the Chicago East (NYC) from Indy to Chicago has been parted out or abandoned. Now it's trackage rights from Chicago to the Monon then south to the P&E. At Indy you can hit the wye at IU to run south on the dark LIRC (PRR) to Louisville.