Double Stacks Coming to the Southern Tier?

[railmason357]

Anyone hear that double stacks are going to be running over the Tier to Croxton?

[Kaback9]

Huh? What? Where did you here this, that seems a bit out there, I know they can but why?

[jgallaway81]

They are building up for a massive track rehab on the Pittsburgh Line... They have rail down for replacing track One from Huntington to Harrisburg... PT 118 to PT 202.

Its possible they intend to reroute some of the truck traffic in order to minimize delays... but it seems like a pretty decent round-about.

[Kaback9]

Well I guess I'll have to keep a look out, but something tells me they may just shoot trains through in spurts on the PITL.

[lakeshoredave]

i could see ns running a detour or two, but not scheduled trains. the tier route is far too slow for intermodal trains going to north jersey.

[jgallaway81]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that is the intention... I just mentioned that there is enough ribbons of rail laid end to end to replace the entire track from Huntington to Harrisburg.

Its possible that it will be there a year or two to season anyways.

With the issues with the bridge over letchworth, it would be interesting to see what happens.

[poppyl]

IMO, double stacks east of Binghamton seem remote. A better option at some point in the future might be doubles coming off the Crescent at Harrisburg, moving north to Sunbury, running on the D&H through Binghamton to Albany and then running over the Pan Am to Boston.

Poppyl

[jgallaway81]

the problem with that is there is a clearance problem right at CP-Wye in Harrisburg.

[poppyl]

I understand the "current" limitation at the wye but it can be dealt with if the intent is there and resources are made available. I just don't see the Tier as the way into north Jersey given what's going on to the south in PA. Now getting into Boston or interchanging for Montreal is a different matter but I still don't see how the Tier can compete with CSX on east-west traffic. NS can compete on traffic coming from the south headed to either Boston or Montreal if they choose to but that's apart from the Tier. I'm a fan of the Tier so this is one time that I wouldn't mind being wrong.

Poppyl

[SecaucusJunction]

Anything is possible. NS is not happy with the running times from NJ Croxton to Harrisburg and considers the line over congested.

[2nd trick op]

With regard to the posts by Mssrs Poppyl and Galloway, a couple of other points;

A Harrisburg-Binghamton-New England hub routing via the former Wilkes-Barre line would involve a tunnel on the former DL&W main at Factoryville, north of Scranton. I still make regular visits to my former stomping grounds in Nescopeck (from which I'm posting this tonight), and have yet to see a double-stack move on that route.

It is worth noting that Gulf Summit doesn't seem as much of an obstacle when the eastbound ruling grade on the former PRR main between Johnstown and Gallitzin is factored into the mix, and NS has been paying less and less attention to this route as the Harrisburg-Roanoke-Memphis alternative is refined, even going so far as to downgrade the line to a short stretch of single track in the neighborhood of the Spruce Creek tunnels.

[malfunctjct]

The line between Binghamton and Scranton is double stack capable. The 164/165 were carrying double stacks on a regular basis.

On the topic of stacks trains east of Binghamton; I don't believe there are any NS crews still qualified between Bingo and Port (I could be wrong). The last train I remember seeing with an NS crew was a CSX EB stack train that was detouring. That was at least two years ago......

[2nd trick op]

If there's no obstacle betrween Scranton and Binghamton then I can vouch that there's none between Scranton and Harrisburg, and the former Pennsy Bald Eagle Branch (now Nittany and Bald Eagle) between Tyrone and the former Williamsport Divy at Lock Haven, is still intact as an alternative to the wye previously cited.

The entire route was double-tracked at one time with the exception of a stretch between a point about 5 miles north of Sunbury (forrmer RAVEN Tower) and Nescopeck. There might be a problem of a tunnel on the former D&H between Binghamton and Nineveh, however.

[malfunctjct]

That tunnel (Belden) was taken care of 15-20 years ago. The NS intermodal trains run with double stacks through the tunnel everyday.

EDIT: Actually over 20 years ago....It was the early to mid 80's. I guess its getting to late to do math.....

[poppyl]

Things happen for a reason. When NS worked the agreement with Pan AM and got more rights on the CP line between Binghamton and Albany, they had a purpose and, IMO, I don't think that the purpose was to compete with CSX on the Buffalo-Boston traffic using the Tier.

I think that another strategy drove those agreements -- probably one that meshes with their corridor strategies.

Now if someone can convince me that operating over the Tier is just as efficient in terms of cost and time as the CSX Water Level route in getting from Buffalo to Albany, I'll gladly change my opinion.

Poppyl