CSX Charlotte Runner

This morning I had a front row spot at the Dewey crossing, waiting for the MOW equipment to scoot across, so after the gates went up I pulled over and took a few shots. Apparently, they had some operational problems because a maintenance crew showed up and started working on the alignment mechanism underneath the center part. At the same time, at the McCall crossing, I saw a section of panel track being assembled just south of the crossing. CSX must be on the cusp of finally replacing those two crossings due to public concerns.

I find it interesting that this amount of track work is being done, based on the rail traffic now. I saw similar work done with Conrail back in the 80's when a decision was made to bring unit coal trains directly to RG&E and Kodak. The speed was even increased after the work was done, so I could see some justification, but what could be driving all this upkeep now with such a down grade in rail service on this line? Not long ago I saw comments in this forum predicting abandonment of this right of way. Obviously, CSX sees the value.

"Obviously, CSX sees the value."

Not necessarily.

I have NO idea what CSX thinks and why they are doing this work. But historically speaking, there are many examples of railroads sinking money into "lame duck" operations.

I used to know a guy who was the clerk at Wayneport. A man came around and painted the office. A few weeks later, the place was shut down. He bumped into Lyons. X months went by, a guy came around and painted the office, a few weeks later the job was abolished and the office closed down. (It was later re-opened). He used to say whenever he saw someone with a paint brush, he grabbed the seniority roster to see where he could bump next.

In about 1968, the B&O put considerable money into upgrading the Charlotte Docks operation, including track work on the Belt Line, a second shaker, new conveyor, etc. In November 1970 it was shut down for good.

Reasons may vary. In some cases maybe it's a last-ditch effort to improve operations. Other times maybe the department overseeing maintenance may not know another segment of the company is pondering an elimination. In many cases it's to inflate costs, so an operation can be shown to be a money loser and make approval for abandonment more likely.

Again, I am not saying any of these do or don't apply to CSX's situation. I'm just making the point that doing work on a line does not necessarily mean there is a bright future planned for it.

Upgrading the track increases the costs spent on the line in a year, which can help justify abandonment. Conrail did that a lot in the 70s and 80s - do a bunch of overdue maintenance, then abandon the track.

lvrr325 wrote:Upgrading the track increases the costs spent on the line in a year, which can help justify abandonment. Conrail did that a lot in the 70s and 80s - do a bunch of overdue maintenance, then abandon the track.

That is true... but I also saw Conrail kill off a couple branches by deferring the maintenance. I think it's premature to foreceast the future of this line (or lack thereof).

It could be that with the anticipated decomissioning of the power plant at the end of the line and subsequent removal of industrial waste, CSX thought best to ensure the track was sufficient to carry that weight safely without derailing in a residential area.

A car weighs what a car weighs. I doubt there would be any exceptional wear and tear on the track from carrying debris out, any more than there would be if coal was still going in. If improvement was deemed necessary for that purpose I'd expect a bare-bones tie project in selected locations would be more likely than a complete rehab of grade crossings. But that's just my opinion, CSX may see it differently.

As I have said numerous times before. Maintainance projects such as these are planned and scheduled 2 or more years in advance. Including the projected life and complaints regarding crossing installations. This means nothing to the current or future operating plans for this track. You guys are putting way too much into a routine scheduled maintainance project.

By the way.......the equipment in the photos that Hojack One put up on the 20th was sitting at the west end
of the West Yard not too far from the Greenleaf Rd crossing a couple days ago.

Also, there is lots of fresh ballast dumped on the runner between 104 and north of Dewey Ave road crossing.

Charlie

Well - back in the pre-Staggers act days - it took an act of god to abandon trackage. These days it's just a matter of demonstrating it hasn't generated any revenue in 2 years amongst other things. Right now they're still using the Charlotte Runner to facilitate switching and engine runarounds for Kodak Park and Box Shop traffic in the West Yard up near Greenleaf Road... so in effect, it's generating revenue. An abandonment petition at this point may draw opposition from Iberdrola USA (the owners of Russell Station) until demolition and cleanup is complete given issues with trucking potentially contaminated debris out through a residential neighborhood.

These days, common sense would dictate that one does not invest time/money into maintaining facilities that are slated for abandonment just to show how expensive it is to maintain and expedite the petition. Once Russell Station is nothing more than a grassy field, north of the Box Shop there's no customers and by that time - who knows whether or not Kodak Park will still be receiving coal given the EPA issues with their coal plants and the costs to retrofit them to meet pollution standards... along with whatever inbound goods they will still receive at KP.

So I guess for now it's business as usual until conditions dictate otherwise.

Having been stopped numerous times at both the Dewey Ave and McCall Road crossings since the ballast work has been done, I have noticed the speed of passing trains has increased. Not by much and I don't have a radar gun, but they are not going 5 to 10 mph like they have been. A person would have to run pretty fast along side to even keep up with it now. Even then it would only be a short energy burst on the part of the runner. That is an impressive improvement for this secondary line with reduced traffic.

I just went over the Dewey Ave crossing and orange signs were being posted that the crossing is going to be closed during next week. Looks like CSX is finaly getting around to repairing the crossing.

Put another nail in the Charlotte Runner's coffin....Kodak announced today the sale of their remaining power plant to a a company that plans on converting it to natural gas. See any of the local Rochester news websites for details.

MP366 wrote:Put another nail in the Charlotte Runner's coffin....Kodak announced today the sale of their remaining power plant to a a company that plans on converting it to natural gas. See any of the local Rochester news websites for details.

It would seem unlikely that Kodak will support two parallel lines to its plant, especially if the coal leaves. If I had to guess which line continued I'd say R&S but that's just a guess based on the fact they switch the plant railroad now, they have access to both NS and CSX traffic, and being a shortline rather than a Class I, would possibly have more interest in serving a small customer.

It's possible CSX would sell them the segment from Ridge Road to Folding box, which could be served by going through existing track in Kodak.

Not to mention that I understand that the R&S has been doing the switching inside Kodak, and some Roch. CSX crews I know have said the R&S is rumored to be building a crossover between their tackage and the runner North of Ridge rd.. I wouldn't expect CSX to be running the Charlotte Branch in a couple years

Figured this was inevitable. Not sure how long it will take to convert to natural gas though - they still need to secure financing (from the taxpayers of course). But that coal traffic was the bulk of the traffic on the Runner.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/art ... evelopment

Recycled Energy Development LLC, whose principals have a long history of operating similar facilities, will invest $40 million to $80 million in the project.

Kodak, which must obtain approval for the sale from U.S. Bankruptcy Court and others, would be paid about $10 million in cash for the plant and the other utility infrastructure in the business park, the companies said in a news release Friday.

Included in the sale is Kodak’s Kings Landing industrial wastewater treatment plant on the Genesee River and the company’s water-intake plant on Lake Ontario.