Eastern Railroad Discussion > The return of the Baltimore Trailer Jet...

Back in the days where railroads were more a part of the American consciousness, a fair number of railroads worked to market their premiere services by naming their freight trains. Out west, Santa Fe had the "Super C", SP had the "Blue Streak Merchandise", MILW had the "Thunderhawk" and the competing CNW had the "Falcons", in the east the LV had the Apollos, and EL with the NY100s and then we had the B&O, which started with their "Timesavers" and eventually had a bevy of named trains such as the Empire State Special, East Coast 96, and the Southwest Steel Special. By the 70's, the priority trains were the "Trailer Jets" principally running between east coast points and Chicago and St Louis. When I was growing up in the 80's, the hottest of these trains was invariably the "Baltimore Trailer Jet" which was always a late afternoon run through town using Chessie's trackage rights on the P&LE. The Baltimore Trailer Jet was the hottest because it almost always had a big cut of premium UPS traffic that Chessie was no doubt eager to keep away from a hungry and improving Conrail. Eventually the Baltimore Trailer Jet became the BLTT, then under CSX, the old B&O train names and symbols went away completely in favor of various versions of symbology involving 138...first R138, then Q138, and finally and most recently I138. Somewhere along the way (in the last 90's IIRC), Conrail did eventually wrest the UPS business away from CSXT handling it on their TV-22, and the 138 train remained mostly to handle COFC ocean container traffic to and from Dundalk Marine Terminal. Eventually, even the I-138 train ceased when the bridge disaster in Baltimore cut off the seaport last summer, drying up the marine business. When the port was reopened, 138 and its companion 137 did not return to the B&O...potentially because of work windows tied to the massive Howard St Tunnel project. The Baltimore business was simply picked up by other trains and moved around the horn on the former NYC route to Chicago. For the first time in decades, no intermodal of any kind was moving the the Chicago-Baltimore corridor via Pittsburgh.

So a few months later, and to the suprise of many observers, a new train showed up here in Pittsburgh recently: The I-018. Trains profiled in this manner are hottest of the hot on CSXT, even hotter than regular 100 series intermodals. They almost always carry UPS traffic. For years, NS had handled this business on their 24M train...which had been notably absent after the latest intermodal restructuring rodeo from Atlanta. Field reports eventually indicated that yes indeed, this was a UPS train! In the intervening couple of months, I'd yet to get a look at this train in Pittsburgh, only in the dark up on Sand Patch. Today though, I was down in the Mon Valley late this afternoon hunting the Union Railroad and heard the CSX dispatcher telling a train working the yard at Demmler "I can't let you make that move yet, I've got the I-018 coming". I bee lined over to Mckeesport, positioned myself at the old P&LE bridge over the Yough River and waited.15 minutes later, I had to blink twice as reincarnated Baltimore Trailer Jet appeared, healing around the tight curve to follow the Yough toward Connellsville with UPS trailers on the head end, and not a container or stack car in sight! A true piggyback train owing to the clearance restrictions through the Howard Street tunnel. Someday in the next year, CSXT will finish the tunnel project, and very likely, the efficiencies found by double stacks and containers will convert this train to stacks like most others in we see today. But for the moment at least, the Baltimore Trailer Jet has made a triumphant return.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/24 07:38 by DJ-12.

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Excellent narrative and photo, thanks for sharing.

JG

Very nice photo and great narrative!

About what time did this train cross over the bridge?

RuleG Wrote:
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> Very nice photo and great narrative!
>
> About what time did this train cross over the
> bridge?

Thanks. Right about 4:20

Bravo !  TOFC Lives !

Superior scene!
Bob

Awesome little story, Mike.  And nice photo, too!

JUTower Wrote:
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> Awesome little story, Mike.  And nice photo, too!

Thanks gents, I just realized they even had 2 units running elephant style, just like Chessie used to do with 2 or 3 GP40-2's on their trains...

In around the 1968-1969 era on the joint CNJ-RDG-B&O freight train route from/to the NYC area...these fast trains ran every day...

St. Louis Trailer Jet/St. Louisian returned as Manhattan Trailer Jet
Potomac return as the Hudson
Chicago Trailer Jet/Chicagoan returned as the New York Trailer Jet

CNJ crews turned at Philly and came back with the eastbound train. These trains were handled on the CNJ between the morning commuter rush trains too!
These trains started running around the time the B&O got the new GP-30s and after all the track improvements were made on the B&O mainline.
They westbounds left Jersey City, Nj in late evening with a pickup at E'port and another at Candy siding in Bound Brook, NJ but all had to be off the CNJ at RK tower by 11:59pm to save the CNJ demurrage.
 
rr caboose