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By Vic Stone * News for Central VA* After the chase of 261 & the Saluda NRHS trip, the mid-week report is back after a brief annullment and has these trips detailed in a subsequent "second" section. But first, the local news: NS - The experimental crew-rest trial has caused some trains to run off-schedule, most notably the manifest freights which can run up to several hours later than the "normal" time in previous months. Intermodals/Roadrailers are only affected slightly. 341 has returned to its mid-afternoon appearance through town. CP power still predominates this train. 213 is now having regular stacks in its consist, and both it and its counterpart are seeing an increasing number over the past few months. NS ran an office car train from Manassas to Charlottesville, according to a local NS employee. It ran south and dropped off the passengers for lunch and later returned north. The equipment then headed south in the late afternoon from Manassas toward Lynchburg. The train was #O43 on Tuesday, June 25 with two NS office cars. Reason for the trip (and who it carried) is unknown at this point. NS is also replacing most of the N&W position lights on its Riverton-Hagerstown portion of the Valley Line. 211 continues to run via the Southern and makes its appearance between 7 and 8 PM here in Charlottesville. The combination of 204/212 south of Lynchburg appears to be short-lived as both train are again running separately out of Atlanta. CSX - Empties over the Mountain are back at a pace slightly less than that of earlier in the year. This now totals to about 5-8 trains now westbound during a 24-hour period, mostly led by widecabs (CW40-8's and AC's). No foreign power was sighted last week from the resident trackside observers. A rarety through town was X004 on Wednesday. Consisting of 8 light engines, the train went into the siding at Massie to meet Amtrak 50. It continued west through town, only to be stopped at Ivy due to a track patrol car ahead whose tires blew out while hi-railing through the switch at the east end of Afton. Previously that day, it met Doswell local H756 at Louisa on the Piedmont Sub also. Second Section - Tower Items & Trip Reports Towers - South Bend (HF) Tower will close in July as soon as track crews complete the project that will reconfigure the GTW-CR crossing. It will enable the Chicago East Dispr to cross 2 GTW trains over the Conrail plant on a reduced section of shared trackage. Currently, GTW train must run on over 2 miles of "joint" trackage and only 1 move can be made at once due to the GTW switches funneling into single track before combining with ex-NYC tracks. Bend operators have received their 15-day notice for tower closure. In other tower news, CTC work at CSX's Mexico Tower is almost complete, and the closure date is slated for July 15. CL Dispatcher will control the mainline switches, and it is yet to be determined if the yardmaster or the dispatcher will control the yard ladder switches. Next in line is Viaduct Jct, ND Tower at the west end of Cumberland. Trackwork reconfiguration is also to take place here, and the goal here is its closing by the end of 1996. Next year, CSX has slated its signal construction department to close two towers on the West End, D Tower in Grafton, and Hardman (Q) Tower. It is also planning to send one of its crews to close one of its Chicago towers (perhaps 75th Street?) Speaking of towers, a continuing debate on the existence of tower (or locally controlled interlocking) in Florence has people asking questions. Is there currently a locally-controlled interlocking (perhaps inside the yard office or something) that is at Florence, SC? Anyone, please let me know. Trip Reports - 1) 261 ran back west from Scranton-Minneapolis on June 13-June 25 with a stopover in Aurora, IL and Galesburg RR Days. It utilized a reverse route from when it came to Steamtown, except in Chicago where it ran via BNSF's Racetrack, etc. to get to Aurora & Galesburg. It returned via the Mississippi River Valley Line to get home via Savanna. On the first day, a delay was encountered in Binghamton due to a equilization problem which was welded & fixed at the D&H yard. It ran west through the Southern Tier with highlights included passing the semaphores in good afternoon light all the way into the Canisteo Valley. The next day in Buffalo, it moved over CR tracks through CP-Draw into the B&P yard. The private excursion on Sat, Jun 15 probably enabled the most shots of any of the days of chasing. Good weather was the rule on its way to New Castle (arriving about 4 AM due to being held in Butler for a coal train that night). Sunday's run over CSX was fast & a little difficult in chasing, especially west of Fostoria. A stopover in Willard for servicing allowed for some locals to view the train. Monday's run was mostly under clouds and stormy weather was the rule when the train was around. At State Line crossing, there was a complete downpour right before the train came across the diamond. While waiting for it at the East End of Cicero yard, another storm doused the area and made photography very hard to impossible, even rendering my video camera temporarily inoperable. 261 did get out onto the middle track of the racetrack after the commuter rush was mostly over (about 7:30 or so). It was somewhat chaseable from 22nd Street until La Grange when it picked up speed. 2) NRHS Excursion - With what could be the last excursion over NS in quite a while, Amtrak equipment played host to a trip down Saluda Grade on Sunday, June 23. The weather was hot, but mostly good for the day. The train ran from Charlotte (2 F40's, 8 heritage cars, 2 MARC, 1 VRE, 1 NCDOT, 4 PV's) to Salisbury and ran via the Loops to Asheville. Scheduling on this trip was the amazing part - the train arrived in Asheville almost an hour and a half earlier than planned. The 2 F40's had no problem with the grade on the Loops, and it was difficult to chase (due to the speed and the wrong-way lighting on the train). At Asheville, two NS Widecabs were added for the dynamic braking down Saluda. The show at Saluda was really good, and although it was crowded at the bottom of the hill at Melrose, it was mostly manageable. NS even had their W77 freight holding for their double at Melrose until the R20-symbolled excursion passed them. At Spartanburg, the two NS engines were removed and the 2 F40's completed the circle with the jaunt up the mainline back to Charlotte. A good couple of weeks on the RR scene. Not too bad for the beginning of summer. A reminder that the STB's decision on UP-SP is due out Wed, July 3. Keep cool and until next week ...- Vic Stone
