Eastern Railroad Discussion > RoadRailers still running

I happened to come up on a crossing mid afternoon Friday on the NS near Homer, IL on the mainline between Decatur and Danville, IL and catch this eastbound  RoadRailer. They used to be a big enterprise but as new equipment was needed the service was cut back and I think this is the only line still running. He can move right along crossing the Illinois farmland with very modest grades. I am fairly sure this is for auto parts for GM from Detroit to Wentzville, MO- just west of St. Louis.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph,IL

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I caught this eastbound in Tolono IL 10-1-2020  Quite impressive indeed!

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The parts are for Ford's Claycomo plant in Kansas City.

Andrew

There are just two RRailers {one each direction} still operating on the NS ex-Wabash main.  The RRailer facility in Fr.Wayne was closed a couple of years ago.  .

BruceStikkers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I happened to come up on a crossing mid afternoon
> Friday on the NS near Homer, IL on the mainline
> between Decatur and Danville, IL and catch this
> eastbound  RoadRailer. They used to be a big
> enterprise but as new equipment was needed the
> service was cut back and I think this is the only
> line still running. He can move right along
> crossing the Illinois farmland with very modest
> grades. I am fairly sure this is for auto parts
> for GM from Detroit to Wentzville, MO- just west
> of St. Louis.
>
> Bruce Stikkers
> St. Joseph,IL


The Roadrailers stay on the Hannibal Sub with a final destination of Kansas City. I saw the WB yesterday (Friday) in Jacksonville, IL while my son was playing baseball

Posted from iPhone

Quite the worm in rrartist's shot.  What kind of car count do these trains have?  Just one unit, so NS has faith in the reliability of these units.

mapboy

Thanks Florida581 for correcting the train origin/destination. I am fairly sure that decades ago when more of these were running that some went to Wentzville. I think the trains were limited to 100 trailers when first started and then that was changed to 125 trailers. I didn't count these becasue I was taking the pictures. They seem amazing although things like extra tare weight on the trailers doomed them. They seem to make more sense that each trailer needing a driver.

Bruce Stikkers
St. Joseph, IL

Spoony81 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BruceStikkers Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I happened to come up on a crossing mid
> afternoon
> > Friday on the NS near Homer, IL on the mainline
> > between Decatur and Danville, IL and catch this
> > eastbound  RoadRailer. They used to be a big
> > enterprise but as new equipment was needed the
> > service was cut back and I think this is the
> only
> > line still running. He can move right along
> > crossing the Illinois farmland with very modest
> > grades. I am fairly sure this is for auto parts
> > for GM from Detroit to Wentzville, MO- just
> west
> > of St. Louis.
> >
> > Bruce Stikkers
> > St. Joseph,IL
>
>
> The Roadrailers stay on the Hannibal Sub with a
> final destination of Kansas City. I saw the WB
> yesterday (Friday) in Jacksonville, IL while my
> son was playing baseball
>
> Posted from iPhone

Saw the WB Roadrailer again today in Jacksonville. Not much else seems to be moving during judging by the hours were we at the baseball complex next to the tracks. Maybe the weekends are just a dead time on the NS Hannibal Sub. There’s been a EB mixed manifest sitting in the siding at New Berlin since Friday. It consisted of autoracks, box cars with covered hoppers, tanks and gondolas mixed in.

I didn't realize they were still running ANY of them!!  When I was workingin Oklahoma back in '08 I caught a few Roadrailers heading towards Dallas area.
MIke

Get your photos while you can. Don't take anything for granted. I suppose when the trailers wear out, they will be replaced with more conventional equipment? I saw one in the recent past and counted about 134 trailers, IIRC.

A side point: when I worked as a controller for a automotive parts supplier near Fort Wayne (until 2009), I came to work one day and saw a Triple Crown Roadrailer at our dock. I talked to our guy that handles the shipping and he said that GM dictated it. (We machined parts for our customer, American Axle, who supplied GM in Mexico.) Anyway, eventually, I started to notice we weren't using that service anymore. The explanation was that our customer now dictated the use of Mexican truck drivers that would drive all the way up here and back.  When I worked part-time at Walmart, I noticed that Walmart was using them on some of our Lawn-and-Garden shipments.

Victor B.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/22 21:02 by wabash2800.

I saw a couple Triple Crown trailers at the Ford engine plant in Brook Park (Cleveland suburb), Ohio today, and I see them often  I also see them on the Ohio Turnpike heading eastbound and westbound apparently heading to/from Detroit.

Shawn