Railroad Forums 

  • Morrisville Line

  • Discussion relating to the NS operations. Official web site can be found here: NSCORP.COM.
Discussion relating to the NS operations. Official web site can be found here: NSCORP.COM.
 #255510  by msernak
 
There is a Yahoo group for the CSX Trenton Line which is very useful to me because I can see it from my bedroom. I can also see the NS Morrisville Line from my living room. Is there any such group for the Morrisvillie Line?

 #269908  by CP Wood
 
I don't think there is one for the Morrisville Line. Probably just because there isn't a great deal of traffic. So from seeing the description of where you are. I take it you live near Woodbourne?

 #269910  by msernak
 
Yes I live right near CP Wood. In the winter and fall when there is no foliage, I can see the eastbound (or is it northbound) signals of CP Wood from my home.

 #271377  by riffian
 
What is the traffic like on this line? I was up there for the first time last week, but didn't know the layout. Do NS freights terminate here?

 #272145  by msernak
 
From what I have seen and heard from others there are only approximately six trains per day - eight if you include the two CSX double stackers that run daily. The eastern terminal on this line is Morrisville PA. This was once a major yard and engine terminal for the mighty PRR and was electrified. There are now usually anywhere from five to 10 engines there at any given time. The yard is still used and there is also a container terminal from rail to truck and vice versa. I don't know much about the west end.

 #314857  by RDGAndrew
 
PennDOT's rebuilding the 309 expressway thru Fort Washington, part of which involved building a shoo-fly to carry the Morrisville Line over the highway while they took out the old bridge and build a new one with wider clearances for the highway below. From the width of the new abutments, it appears NS is planning for the possibility of a restored second track at some future point. Does anyone know anything about this? Seems hard to imagine with only 6 trains/day at present. BTW, the west end of the Morrisville Line, past Plymouth Meeting, sees only 1 train per day, which goes to a steel plant, I think. All other trains go to or come off the ex Reading mainline via a short stretch of the old Pennsy Schuylkill Division that connects with SEPTA's R6 at Ford St. in Norristown, and from there over the river to Abrams Yard and west to Reading and beyond.

 #315986  by jfrey40535
 
I frequently see NS trains passing through Norristown Station in the evening, and hear them almost daily in Southampton between 4pm and Midnight. The line seems to be busy mostly at night, but occasionally you'll hear a train during mid-afternoon. I'm still trying to pin down the schedule so I can railfan it, but if anyone knows any more about what trains run along the line, it'd make it alot easier : )

 #316017  by glennk419
 
I'll go along with the 6-8 trains per day. There is an eastbound CSX stack train which comes through Willow Grove around 1:40 each afternoon. I have seen an eastbound unit gon train around the same spot around 4:00-4:15 on many days. I can also often hear a westbound blowing for the County Line Rd crossing around 6:15 each morning, not sure what that is as I live a couple miles from that spot.

 #318114  by RDGAndrew
 
I believe there's also an eastbound mail train that would hit County Line Rd around 8am.

 #318520  by NorfolkSouthernSean
 
msernak wrote:Yes I live right near CP Wood. In the winter and fall when there is no foliage, I can see the eastbound (or is it northbound) signals of CP Wood from my home.
CP WOOD is on the CSXT Trenton Line. There are two signals on the Morrisville Line near Woodbourne. CP WEST LANG is almost directly above the tunnel on Woodbourne Road. CP LANG is located just before the line crosses under Route 1.
glennk419 wrote:I'll go along with the 6-8 trains per day. There is an eastbound CSX stack train which comes through Willow Grove around 1:40 each afternoon. I have seen an eastbound unit gon train around the same spot around 4:00-4:15 on many days. I can also often hear a westbound blowing for the County Line Rd crossing around 6:15 each morning, not sure what that is as I live a couple miles from that spot.
There are a few trains that run the Morrisville Line. The 66Z/67Z is a gondola train 66Z brings empties east to the USS mill in Fairless, while 67Z takes loads west. 20E/21Q are Intermodal. 14G/17G are mixed freights. CSX runs the Q190/Q191 almost daily from South Philadelphia to South Kearny. It's schedule can be very unpredictable. It has to take the Morrisville Line due to height restrictions on double-stacks south of Woodbourne in several places.[/quote]

 #319492  by kevikens
 
Question for you guys who know the Morrisville Line well. I could never figure out just where all that freight activity in Morrisville goes to and from. The yard seems to be in an odd location. Though close to NJ and only 50 miles or so from NYC does any of this traffic go across the Delaware into Jersey or NY ? Does the traffic serve Phila. to the south ? Do trains pass through the yard on their way to somewhere else ? There always seems to be a good deal of activity in the yard but I could never out its origin or destination. Thanks

 #319504  by glennk419
 
The CSX double stack trains utilize the line between Woodbourne and Norristown due to some clearance issues on the Trenton Line. These trains run between North Jersey and South Philly. The NS gon trains run between USS Fairless works and Lukens Steel in Coatesville. I believe there are also some other industries in the old works that use rail service. There is also an intermodal facility along that is located between US 1 and the yard, just north of Oxford Valley which is accessed from the line.
 #336659  by amtrakhogger
 
The Morrisville line is single track from CP-Lang to CP-King near
Norristown. It is signalled territory under rule 562, cab signals with
no fixed wayside signals except at interlockings. Max speed I believe
is 50 mph (old CR TT.)

Between CP King and Glen (on Amtrak) it is called the Dale Secondary.
DCS (dark terr.) rules in effect. Single track.

 #338913  by Off Pending
 
kevikens wrote:Question for you guys who know the Morrisville Line well. I could never figure out just where all that freight activity in Morrisville goes to and from. The yard seems to be in an odd location. Though close to NJ and only 50 miles or so from NYC does any of this traffic go across the Delaware into Jersey or NY ? Does the traffic serve Phila. to the south ? Do trains pass through the yard on their way to somewhere else ? There always seems to be a good deal of activity in the yard but I could never out its origin or destination. Thanks
Besides the steel plant and intermodal yard, there are a number of industries in the immediate area, including a warehouse park. There were one or two customers down by the west end of the yard (one was an appliance warehouse), and Toll Brothers used to get regular shipments of building products. There were also a few customers down on the "old line" that ran through town, but I'm not sure who is active there. ADM also built a transloading facility (corn syrup) in Morrisville.

Everything else either went out to Woodburne, or out along the NEC. We used to handle a lot of stuff for Rohm and Haas ... and other industries in the Bristol, Trenton, and Frankford Junction areas, but it's been so long that I've worked Morrisville, that I'm not sure who's still there, and who isn't.

 #374706  by glennk419
 
RDGAndrew wrote:PennDOT's rebuilding the 309 expressway thru Fort Washington, part of which involved building a shoo-fly to carry the Morrisville Line over the highway while they took out the old bridge and build a new one with wider clearances for the highway below. From the width of the new abutments, it appears NS is planning for the possibility of a restored second track at some future point. Does anyone know anything about this? Seems hard to imagine with only 6 trains/day at present. BTW, the west end of the Morrisville Line, past Plymouth Meeting, sees only 1 train per day, which goes to a steel plant, I think. All other trains go to or come off the ex Reading mainline via a short stretch of the old Pennsy Schuylkill Division that connects with SEPTA's R6 at Ford St. in Norristown, and from there over the river to Abrams Yard and west to Reading and beyond.
I went by Fort Washington today and the new bridge is in service and the temporary bridge is already in the process of being dismantled. This all occured with the last week as the shoe-fly was still in place on 3/6. I assume the speed restriction has also been lifted.