Place for good Interchange Info?


K

kz9

Member
I have been google'n for about 2 hrs now on interchange yards with CSX.

BNSF brings Intermodal units up to Chicago. Does CSX then take them to the southern and eastern states? Or does NS take over? Also does CP get in on this action? I always see lots of Intermodal coming thru the Detroit/Windsor heading north......etc, etc , etc......:D


As you can see I have lots of questions, and not getting any good answers. Is there a site or a book that covers all the interchanges, type of goods, and what companies have track rights?
 
I can tell you aliitle about what I know what goes on here in NC with intermodal trains. CSX brings them from the SW from Atlanta to Monroe,NC and from there they either go back west to Charlotte up the Charlotte Subdivision for interchange with NS. I think interchange is done via truck to the NS yard in Charlotte or its large Linwood,NC yard 40 mi NE or go out for delivery bc the CSX Charlotte Sub crosses over the NS Piedmont Sub in downtown Charlotte with no turnouts between the two that I have seen. The NS Piedmont Division runs thru both Charlotte and Linwood. They also come from Atlanta to Hamlet,NC where CSX has a large yard. Trains come from the North and south from the mainline that runs from Newark to Miami to the yard in Hamlet,NC. I dont think there is much interchange of containers between the two railroads from this yard. There is also the WSSB line that connects the two lines, but its not largely intermodal. I could be totally wrong, but I believe most of the interchange between the two roads occurs in Atlanta or via truck in Charlotte (their two yards are only about 8 miles apart) or Linwood,NC 40 miles NE.
 
Thats some good info, thanks! Now are these containers coming into port on the west or east coast? I would really like to know where the BNSF trains interchange with the CSX as now you have shed some light on how CSX interchanges with NS.
 
kz9 said:
Thats some good info, thanks! Now are these containers coming into port on the west or east coast? I would really like to know where the BNSF trains interchange with the CSX as now you have shed some light on how CSX interchanges with NS.
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Largely a guess by me, but probably most comes from the east coast, mainly Savannah, Charleston, Newark/Jersey City, Jacksonville for CSX. I cant say Ive seen alot of BNSF on either CSX or NS in NC. Most of it on both roads is CSX containers, Hub, Pacerstack, EMF, Schneider. I would bet that alot of NS/BNSF/UP interchange is done at the NS Piedmont Sub terminus in New Orleans, and in Chicago and St.Louis via their Heartland Corridor and that the CSX/BNSF exchanges in Chicago, Atlanta, and maybe Jacksonville. Again, just a guess on living here for years and what I know of CSX and NS.

BTW, it is not uncommon to see UP and BNSF locos as foreign power on the NS on the Piedmont Sub, particularly UP power. CSX around here (i live far from the CSX north/south mainline A-line to the east so I can't testify for that line) is almost exclusively CSX GE widecabs with the occasional EMD SD50/SD40-2 and the ever-rarer C40-8/8CW in Conrail blue. I have not personally witnessed any foreign power on the CSX Charlotte Sub or Monroe Sub.
 
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bigB said:
Largely a guess by me, but probably most comes from the east coast, mainly Savannah, Charleston, Newark/Jersey City, Jacksonville for CSX. I cant say Ive seen alot of BNSF on either CSX or NS in NC. Most of it on both roads is CSX containers, Hub, Pacerstack, EMF, Schneider.
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That would pretty much all be domestic traffic, not overseas import/export. For port traffic you're looking for international containers from Europe or Asia.
 
As a general rule 20', 40' & 45' cans are probably foreign shipments and 48' & 53 ' cans are always for domestic shipments.
 
More great info!!!

Thanks guys, Keep it coming. I would like to find a book that has info on various interchange yards but can't seem to locate any.
 
Other info sources are on the Yahoo Group forums about the different RRs. They are usually free to join & once on you can search the archives on any variety of subject matters. You can search here: http://groups.yahoo.com/
 
kz9 said:
More great info!!!

Thanks guys, Keep it coming. I would like to find a book that has info on various interchange yards but can't seem to locate any.
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You won't find one. It would probably be inaccurate by the time it was published and certainly within a year.

You also have to realize that many "interchange yards" that build or recieve interchange trains may be hundreds of miles from the actual interchange point. For example North Platte, NE and Selkirk, NY are the yards that switch the cars for some traffic between the UP and CSX that is interchanged at Chicago.
 
Ok thats good to know. I would figure that most trains for interchange would be built in yards closer to the industires, then moved to other yards to add more frieght, then sent off to another roads yard for interchange?

What I am mostly looking for is the yard, if one exisits, that interchanges CSX/BNSF intermodal. I know that its not just one BIG yard where all different roads power meet for coffee, but a series of yards one the roads mainlines that then have a interchange track between another roads yard. Sometimes this does happen in the same area with one roads mains on one side and the other roads mains on the other side and seperate yards in the middle. I seen this in a picture in the Kacmbach book of frieght yards iirc.


Or am I totally wrong?
 
kz9 said:
What I am mostly looking for is the yard, if one exisits, that interchanges CSX/BNSF intermodal.
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It probably doesn't exist, because you wouldn't necessarily interchange intermodal in a yard. That kinda defeats the whole purpose of intermodal.

Its is probably done on a mainline between the two roads. No yards required

I know that its not just one BIG yard where all different roads power meet for coffee, but a series of yards one the roads mainlines that then have a interchange track between another roads yard. Sometimes this does happen in the same area with one roads mains on one side and the other roads mains on the other side and seperate yards in the middle. I seen this in a picture in the Kacmbach book of frieght yards iirc.
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You are thinking about general freight traffic. The whole idea of intermodal is to NOT put it in a switching yard.

A lot of domestic intermodal product is "switched" and "interchanged" rubber tire, especially in big cities. The UP drives a stack train into its intermodal ramp, all the containers are grounded and drayed (moved by truck) to the various road's ramps where they are reloaded on cars that road in the blocking pattern of that road.
 
I know intermodal doesn't switch the loads, but they don't classify the unit train down into other trains that would go to other parts of the country?

But what you are saying is that in a Intermodal hub, the containers would be unloaded and moved by truck to another Hub of a different road?

I see on the CP line lots of intermodal, but its not all in same spot on the train. They might have 15units in 3 or more different spots. Doesn't this mean the wells were classified and going to different destinations?
 
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