Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS Enola Yard being downgraded?

Looks like there's a handful of upcoming changes for NS, nearly all of them involving Enola Yard.  Just by looking at these changes, it appears that Enola Yard might be the next in line for downgrading?  Has (or will) the hump been closed in favor for flat switching?  There was a recent article (paywall) on TrainsMag newswire on 9/17 stating that NS may idle additional hump yards.

•new  
12Z Roanoke, VA - East Binghamton, NY daily

•terminal changes 
15T Allentown, PA - Birmingham, AL daily
(previously originated at Enola)
16T Birmingham, AL - Allentown, PA daily
(previously terminated at Roanoke)
23W Baltimore, MD - Harrisburg, PA Mo-Sa
(previously terminated at Enola)
36A Conway, PA - Edgemoor, DE daily
(previously originated at Enola)
37A Edgemoor, DE - Conway, PA daily
(previously terminated at Enola)

•to be abolished 
10G Conway, PA - Enola, PA
(replaced by 36A)
14R Enola, PA - East Binghamton, NY
(replaced by 12Z)
18T Roanoke, VA - Enola, PA
(replaced by 16T)
35A Enola, PA - Conway, PA
(replaced by 37A)
35Q Allentown, PA - Hagerstown, MD
(replaced by 15T)
36Q Hagerstown, MD - Allentown, PA
(replaced by 16T)

Andrew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 11:35 by florida581.

These train plan changes certainly suggest that something's afoot with operations at Enola. Any idea how many trains currently originate and terminate at the yard?

MP403 Wrote:
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> These train plan changes certainly suggest that
> something's afoot with operations at Enola. Any
> idea how many trains currently originate and
> terminate at the yard?

After said changes, the following should be the remaining Enola trains:

11V Enola, PA - Conway, PA daily
12G Conway, PA - Enola, PA daily
12R Columbia, SC - Enola, PA daily
13R Enola, PA - Columbia, SC daily
14G Enola, PA - Morrisville, PA daily
17G Morrisville, PA - Enola, PA daily
19G Croxton, NJ - Enola, PA daily
30A Enola, PA - Allentown, PA daily 
H18 Enola, PA switcher daily
H19 Enola, PA - Lancaster, PA turn daily
H32 Enola, PA switcher Tu 
H38 Enola, PA - Annville, PA turn Tu-Sa
H48 Enola, PA switcher Tu-Sa
H51 Shiremanstown, PA - Enola, PA turn daily 
H53 Northumberland, PA - Enola, PA turn daily
H95 Enola, PA - York, PA turn daily

Andrew

I sometimes assume some of these articulated “musings” from CEO’s at analyst and investor meetings are nothing more than a bit of BS spread upon the water to keep the money changers foaming.

Enola may be closed but, I rather suspect it would end up the same as when the hump was closed at DeButts and later reopened.

All the algorithms and spreadsheets in the world don’t necessarily correlate well to the reality out on the railroad.

Posted from iPhone

Take the locals out of the equation and it looks like they are taking just over half of the origins and terminations out of Enola, right?

Pick up and drop off "Enola blocks" along the way of an existing train.

Posted from Android

Juniata Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I sometimes assume some of these articulated
> “musings” from CEO’s at analyst and investor
> meetings are nothing more than a bit of BS spread
> upon the water to keep the money changers
> foaming.
>
> Enola may be closed but, I rather suspect it would
> end up the same as when the hump was closed at
> DeButts and later reopened.
>
> All the algorithms and spreadsheets in the world
> don’t necessarily correlate well to the reality
> out on the railroad.


NS has taken a very different approach determining the remains of closed hump yards than CSX, CP, and CN.  Since NS existed as a railroad, it has closed 8 different hump yards (9 if you include Conway's East hump):

Inman Yard Atlanta, GA in 1993
Buckeye Yard Columbus, OH in 2009
Shaffers Crossing Yard Roanoke, VA in 2013
Sevier Yard Knoxville, TN in 2016
Sheffield Yard Sheffield, AL in 2019
Allentown Yard Allentown, PA in 2019
Spencer Yard Linwood, NC in 2019
Moorman Yard Bellevue, OH in 2020

However, all of these yards are still mostly, if not all, intact.

After CP closed Toronto and Calgary, they ripped out all, most, or at least reconfigured most of the bowl tracks.  Same for CN at Montreal and Edmonton and for CSX at Atlanta, Birmingham, Hamlet, and I'm not 100% sure of the others.  Their management evidently stood firm with their decisions to close the humps and left no doubt or chance of reopening.

Andrew 

 

Was just going to ask about 11Z. He is at Stuarts Draft Va on Roanoke dist waiting on 747

Gary

Posted from iPhone

mully Wrote:
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> Was just going to ask about 11Z. He is at
> Stuarts Draft Va on Roanoke dist waiting on 747
>

No change for 11Z.  It remains East Binghamton, NY - Roanoke, VA daily.

Andrew

Andrew
When did it start running ? Today was first time I have saw it

Gary

Posted from iPhone

mully Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Andrew
> When did it start running ? Today was first time
> I have saw it
>
> Gary

It was extended from Enola to Roanoke on 8/7.

Andrew

I need to get out more. Lol

Posted from iPhone

Could the listed changes have any effect on loosening the bottleneck that is the Lurgan Line?
-E

Posted from Android

sd40blue Wrote:
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> Could the listed changes have any effect on
> loosening the bottleneck that is the Lurgan Line?
> -E

After these changes take place, the Lurgan Branch will only lose the amount of 1 scheduled train a day.

•before the changes (manifest traffic)
11Z, 12R, 13R, 15T, 18T, 35Q, 36Q

•after the changes (manifest traffic)
11Z, 12R, 12Z, 13R, 15T, 16T

There are no changes to the intermodals.

Andrew

Any idea on how, if at all, this will affect 18N? Would it still be dropping a cut at Enola for 36A to grab before heading to Delaware?

florida581 Wrote:
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> However, all of these yards are still mostly, if
> not all, intact.
>  
That's true to an extent, at least for now. However, the retarders at deButts Yard were torn out when that yard was closed. When it was unclosed, the retarders at Sevier Yard were removed and carried to Chattanooga. Power switches on the trim end at Sevier have been demotored. I heard plans for some track removal in Linwood to rebuild part of the old Spencer Yard to the south for block swaps. I wouldn't be surprised to see this sort of cannibalism happen at the other yards. Of course, all can be replaced, as long as the property is still in RR hands. Enola has, IIRC, been downsized and then upsized in the past. CSX certainly has taken some major removal steps at Tilford, Boyles, Hamlet, etc., in comparison to what NS has done so far. I see slim chance of those yards returning to hump service. But, time will tell.

All of these seem like NS is trying to spread Enola's work elsewhere. I assume that all or most of the new through symbols now will work Enola. Preblocking and long-distance symbols with intemediate work are core tenets of the new North American operations model.
These changes might have been on the radar since closing Allentown; simply putting all of Allentown's work on Enola always seemed crazy.
 

I wonder if 11Z and 12Z will still be going into and out of Enola.

sscannella Wrote:
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> I wonder if 11Z and 12Z will still be going into
> and out of Enola.

It looks like they'll bypass Enola.  They're not profiled to work there and they'll change crews at Stoney on the Buffalo Line.

Andrew

florida581 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sscannella Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder if 11Z and 12Z will still be going
> into
> > and out of Enola.
>
> It looks like they'll bypass Enola.  They're not
> profiled to work there and they'll change crews at
> Stoney on the Buffalo Line.
>
> Andrew

That's interesting - I thought early in 2020, 11Z acquired the remains of Southern Tier/Canada generated traffic headed for Allentown/NJ that used to run on 36T? I was under the impression that a Allentown/NJ-bound block was set out at Enola/Harrisburg area for another symbol to take east?