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By Vic Stone * News from Central VA* It was pretty boring around here, that is until Monday, November 11. CSX experienced two derailments on major arteries which caused multiple detours. There is an account of the detours over the N&W via Crewe at the end of this report. First, the other news ... NS - It's been pretty quiet on the ex-Southern mainline recently. The traffic pattern has been relatively normal recently. Every once in a while, one of the trains will run abnormally late, including a 341 and 154 recently, but no specific patterns have developed. CP power on 341 is getting less frequent as horsepower hours owed to CP is bringing the NS power north and having the CP power retreat back and/or turning at Van Dorn. 244 had a NS unit leading an apparently-ailing CR unit last week. 457 and 155 also appear to be back fairly dependably on a morning schedule. GP59 4610 was still in Southern paint (although sighters report it peeling) and came into Lynchburg on 154 on Wed, Nov. 6. It worked as PM-60, the local yard job all day, and then headed south on 155. Later it worked a Linwood-Memphis train. So, she still exists in green (at least for now) The N&W mainline east of Lynchburg is experiencing lots of work. C&S crews are working on the Old Line through Farmville while trackwork is concentrated on the Belt and ex-Virginian Lines. Rare eastbounds on the Old Line have been more abundant than "usual" recently as 428 has travelled the line at least twice in the last week. The west end of Appomattox plant trackage will be changing ... new switches are in place, potentially to replace the rare N&W equilateral switch that now exists. It is also possible that the signals might be replaced as well here. Train 214 appears to be under the gun ... with recently tardy running times, NS seems to have made a significant effort to get this train back on time. Trains are being held fairly far in advance of 214, including the Hagerstown-bound merchandise trains begin stopped south of Manassas for 214 to go ahead. CSX - As most of you have heard, CSX G370 derailed 20 cars at Shores (near Strathmore Yard) on #2 track on early Monday morning. Some cars fell into the James River and broke open. The local newspaper had an interesting quote: "One farmer asked if they could use the spilled soybean as feed for livestock ... a CSX track supervisor responded - They'll need to contact the Claims Dept." The accident occurred at nearly the same spot that a train had derailed about 14 months ago. Cars had accordioned onto the other tracks and blocked both mains. And with the Rivanna SD shut down, CSX began to detour loaded coal trains via the N&W at Lynchburg. See the attached report for details. Needless to say, the westbound traffic over the Mountain picked up with all the westbound coming via Charlottesville. Conflicting with trackwork and some slow orders, it was a beehive of activity for most of Tuesday and Wednesday morning. A flurry of leased units have been seen with HATX and EMD dominating the scene. While the cleanup was progressing on Monday at Shores, an L173 had departed Richmond for Jacksonville when it derailed near the diamond at Fayetteville, NC. It, too, blocked the main line, but this time, an Amtrak corridor was affected. With P053 was right behind the L173, plans were made to haul the train backwards (via CSX units cut off from a following train) back to Selma where they would detour to the S-Line and down to Hamlet and on into Savannah. P053 was plagued by delays on the detour route with lack of pilots, a defective defect detector (a "DDDT"), and lack of communication on where pilots would change. P053 made it into Sanford, 11 hours, 59 minutes behind scheduled (not 12 hours, mind you). P052, and P097 also followed the detour route. Wednesday's trains were run via the A-Line as the derailment had been cleared off the track. Locally, CSXT 2119 in Chessie has moved onto other assignments from its job as part of the Doswell power for the Piedmont local. ** Detour/Trip Report - Here's a recount of the detour trains I followed on Tuesday, November 12. Summary: 3 CSXT trains detoured over the N&W: - CSXT U724-07 became NS O24, led by CSXT CW44AC 158; departed Lynchburg at 0900 on the N&W; by Pamplin Jct. at 1104; by Burkeville at 1148 - CSXT W747-07 became NS Oxx (not sure of exact #'s), led by a CSXT SD50 8xxx; departed Lynchburg; by Pamplin Jct. at 1422 - Last detour train became NS O56, departed Lynchburg about 1615; met NS 159 with high & wide at Appomattox At this point CSXT has begun routing trains on the Rivanna Sub. AL Dispatcher says they will run on #1 track later tonight. The whole story: On a record-cold, but cloudless 18-degree day in Lynchburg, VA, CSXT finally began to detour trains via the NS. Early this morning (Tues, Nov. 12), U724-07 led by CW44AC 158 came back west from Gladstone, and ran around its train at Reusens siding at about 0001. At the same time, neither the NS yardmaster in Montview nor the NS South End Dispatcher were aware of any CSX detour trains. "They're not running on our railroad tonight ... Let them run on Conrail!" said one of them. CSX was, however, planning to run them as they began to gets crews in position. Then, a call from CSX in Huntington to NS came, and the wheels were set in motion. At 0200, a CSXT recrew arrived to take the train to Collier Yard. The crew discussed plans with the road foreman of engines, and was taking the train to Southern Crossing to await an NS pilot. At about 0300, CSX AM Dispatcher called the eastbound. "Recrew on the U724, that's your signal at the East End of Reusens, " he replied. The U724-07 did proceed onto the ex-Southern mainline at Southern Crossing, and awaited instructions. At 0330, the crew discussed further plans with the road foreman. However, nothing materialized as they still awaited a pilot.. At 0345, sitting next the abandoned X Tower in downtown Lynchburg, the crew is told by AM Dispatcher that they will be taxied to Richmond. The baffled crew agrees, and begins coordinating to get a taxi to pick them them up. The signal has gone to approach at the west end of Reusens, indicating AM has something lined into there. At 0430, the crew calls the Lynchburg yard office and discusses their updated plan of being picked up at Conner Produce next to X Tower. Lynchburg yardmaster concurs. At about 0445, the Lynchburg extra local, H944 heads east by NC Cabin led by CSXT 6000 with 17 cars. At 0500, the crew is getting restless; the taxi has arrived at the yard office (about 2 miles away), but is still searching for the train. At the same time, W747-07 heads west by NC Cabin. CSX AM Dispatcher tells asks the crew, "Will your train fit in at Reusens?" Then he instructs them that they will run around their train at Reusens and then proceed east to Southern Crossing to await a pilot. At 0515, the taxi for the U724 is at the wrong crossing (about a mile away). The crew is getting noticeably impatient. Produce workers begin to come in for the day's work. At 0530, the crew calls again for the taxi. This time, the taxi is back at the yard office to get more directions. Finally, at 0545, the taxi arrives to pick the crew. At about the same time, the W747-07 is ready to run around its train at Reusens. AM Dispatcher says, "Let me get this one eastbound by one, first". At 0540, H081 heads east with a Geep and three work cars filled by track panels on its way to the derailment. At 6:45 AM, the sun is rising over the hill, and a van has brought, the 4th crew for the U724 down to the train. Five crew people get onto the train. At the same time the crew is arriving, three light engines, symbolled H200, including a GATX 73xx and two CSX 2xxx head west. These will be the pushers to shove the train over the Old Main Line. At 7:15 AM, the H200 has tied onto the U724, and is doing a brake test. We're still waiting for a pilot. The helper crews tunes the radio to the Southern channel, and tones into the DS. Answering back, "NS North End Dispatcher, Greenville, answering the High Peak call-in over". The CSX trains says, "This is CSX U724-07 at Southern Crossing; do you know when our pilot is coming?" The NS North End Dispatcher is baffled (and righfully so, this is actually South End DS' territory). He responds, "NS North End Dispatcher Greenville to somebody ... all I got was this 724 something or other". The CSX train tries: "This is the detour CSX coal U724 at Southern crossing; we were wondering if our pilot was called". The North End Dispatcher repeats his confused state, "NS North End Dispatcher Greenville to somebody ... I'm not sure who you are or where you're at, over". At this point, a little of bit of friendly advice was in order ... I went to the engine and explained that they needed the South End DS, and to hit a "7" on their radio instead. I suggested that they mention they were on the Old Main Line. The crew was somewhat appreciative. And then, they tried again. "NS South End Dispatcher in Greenville answering the High Peak call-in, over". "This is CSX detour train U724 on the Old Main Line; is our pilot on his way?" A bit of silence. "Yes, he is," comes the reply. A familiar face enters the scene - Doug Koontz has arrived, and we discuss our plans for photos on the N&W. So, at 0745, the yardmaster and pilot engineer and conductor arrives. They discuss the plan, and then they board the CSX train. They accelerate slowly, as the pushers engage. Then, they open it up as they head past Washington St. on the grade up the hill toward the NS yard. At 0805, the lead units are by Durmid on a diverging approach onto #1. At 0810, the pushers are by. The pushers cut off and begin a brake test for the U724. The N&W pilots board, and they're ready to go at 0855. At 0900, the U724 accelerated out of Kinney yard, across Montview trestle. The two units have no problem bringing the train up to timetable speed. NS 811 goes into the siding for them at Appomattox, and they hardly slow down. They're roaring through town as they head east toward Pamplin Jct. They take the Belt Line down toward Abilene, and passes Burkeville. The Crewe DS tells them that they will be held at Blackstone for single track ahead. At Burkeville, another familiar face is evident. Nick Page, our Rivanna NRHS chapter editor is out & about, catching the action. We marvel at the abundance of traffic, and then V03 heads east about 1300. The rest of detours were pushed over the hill into Montview. The second train (W747) was of note since its trailing CW44AC (153?) had died. But, it was still moving as it came by Pamplin Jct. Following close on its heels was NS 158. Also of note, NS 428 travelled Old Line via Farmville today - an eastbound train on the Old Line (original main of the N&W) is rare now, as its ABS sees virtually only westbound and locals. In addition, making a special appearance, Crewe-based local V03, which should be running only at night. It made a special daylight appearance, switching at Burkeville today before heading west to Green Bay, and then back east to Crewe. That's it for this edition. -Vic Stone
