How to Read a Trackchart

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: History Railroads:
LebanonSub

Thanks to my friend Bob Zoellner I recently acquired this track chart scan of the Lebanon Branch. It was published by the in 1964. This was about a decade after the Lebanon-Lytle segment of the was torn up. The rest of the to Court Street was still one continuous track, but by this point it wasn’t used as a through route. Instead Lebanon and Mason were served with trains originating in Undercliff Yard routed up the Little Miami to Hageman.

A track chart provides a wealth of information about the physical plant of a railroad’s route. The first line at the very top has the milepost markers. These are the miles from Court Street, before the I&O renumbered the Mason Sub. Between these markers are the number of “feet” in that particular mile. Often because of the inaccuracy of survey techniques in the late 19th century and improvements to the route itself, the number of feet in each mile is not 5,280. Instead it can vary 5,246 all the way to 5,288. This could be an important fact for a hypothetical maintenance guy attempting to buy replacement rail by the foot.

Speaking of rail, the second line shows when the rail was last replaced on that segment of track. No, the ’09 does not mean rail was replaced this year, but instead signifies the rail as last being replaced in 1909.

The only other line on the top is when the line segment was last reconditioned. This can include new ties or ballast. This varies from 1935 near Mason to 1955 in the short section just north of Turtlecreek Bridge.

The lines below start to describe the physical layout of the track itself. The upper half describes the grade of the line and also lists elevation above sea level. For the curious the highest grade on the line near Lebanon is 1.45% near Hageman. However, compared to the rest of the CL&N this is pretty light. The track up the Deer Creek Valley had grades of 3.5%!

Finally we see the track itself. All grade crossings (public and private) are listed as well as bridges and culverts. Active spurs are shown in the chart including the old M&C line that crosses at Hageman. At the very bottom the curvature of the line is listed in degrees of curvature and speed restrictions are also listed (the maximum speed on the entire) subdivision was 20 mph.

So hopefully you now have a basic idea of how to read a track chart. Next week, I’ll be comparing this 1964 chart with one I have from the Conrail years. I’ll end this post with a hint, not as much changes as you might expect.

Penn Central Charts

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: History Railroads: , ,
pc_chart

Last week I posted my review of the The Wreck of the Penn Central but before I completely move on I wanted to post a couple scans from it. The book included a number of interesting pull-out charts.

The first chart, pictured above, was the organization chart for merger day (February 1, 1968). It includes every position from chairman (Stuart T. Saunders, ex-) through the President (Alfred E. Perlman, ex-) down to the managers and assistants of the various railway companies.

This chart is interesting because it shows the integration between the ex-PRR and ex-NYC people. The former Pennsy employees were known as “Red’s” while the former New York Central people were known as “Green’s”. These nicknames came from the common color of their company boxcars, and is represented in the chart. The two corporate cultures never truly became one and this was one of the well-known problems with the merger.

pc_chart2

The second chart was prepared by the US Congress to map out all the various holdings and investments of the Penn Central Company. Included are everything from trucking companies to a pipeline company to other non-railroad related investments.

The organization of the Penn Central was made even more complicated by all the acquisitions the PRR and NYC made over the years that were never fully merged into their systems but instead existed separately on paper.

For instance, the Little Miami Railroad Co. is still listed on the chart as being owned 74% by the Pennsylvania Company (an investment company for the ). The Little Miami was a railroad originally incorporated in 1836 and bought by the PRR in 1870. However, as was the typical railroad way of doing things, it wasn’t outright bought but instead leased in perpetuity by the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad (a PRR subsidiary). This is why the Little Miami and many other smaller railroads like it still existed as a separate corporate entity on the chart, even though their lines were part of the massive Penn Central System. Many were not completely merged out of existance until the formation of Conrail in 1976.

These scans aren’t perfect and are a little blurry in the middle, but you get the idea. If you need a detailed study I would recommend purchasing the book or borrowing it from your local library.

I only have a couple of pieces of rail news for the past week. There is an article in the Dayton Daily News about local towns competing for a stop on the 3C Corridor. There’s also an article about highlights form the past week’s hobo festival in Bucyrus, and the is running their Civil War train this weekend in Mason.

Also, don’t expect a post tomorrow. Instead I’ll be devoting my time to a post Friday featuring an old PRR Lebanon Branch track chart.

The Wreck of the Penn Central

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Book Reviews Railroads: , ,

After researching the history of Buckeye Yard the other week I’ve been on a bit of a Penn Central kick. There’s not a lot of people out there who model the Penn Central, but it has a certain mystic. There’s something morbidly fascinating about the great railroad that managed to implode in only 867 days.

The The Wreck of the Penn Central by Joseph R. Daughen and Peter Binzen provides an interesting look at that railroad monolith created back on February 1st, 1968. The book starts out with a brief history of the respective companies. The and the are compared and contrast while the reader begins to understand how their respective ideologies developed. This becomes important later when you witness some of the well-known corporate culture clashes that developed in the railroad at all levels.

Eventually the book transitions in the actual merger and some of the reasons it failed. The Penn Central’s problems were many and varied. They ranged to everything from railroad operation problems (the non-compatible computer systems are a famous example), to high labor costs, to factors beyond the railroad’s control (the ICC, the state of the industry, ect).

While the first few chapters kept me on the edge of me seat reading, the book drags a bit in the middle. Too much time is spent describing every point of the Penn Central’s “Diversification Program” and every investment or perceived conflict of interest within the management is emphasized. There comes a point when you realize there is no way this railroad will stay in business and that it will all fail spectacularly. The book overemphasizes just how bad things were and for a while you have to trudge through it in order to see the fireworks at the end.

When the house of cards finally collapses however, it does so with great interest. Even though history tells you all you need to know about the end, there is a while when it seems as if the government would step in with a bailout to save the day and you almost think they will pull it off. Yet as everyone knows it was not to be and the Penn Central would fail as the largest bankruptcy to that point in American history.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the book is not the manuscript itself but the time it was written. The book was published in 1971, just one year after the Penn Central bankruptcy. Conrail wasn’t formed for 5 more years. People still viewed the nationalization of the railroads as a possible doomsday option. The Staggers Act and many of the things today’s modern railroad takes for granted all happened after this book was written. As a result a very bleak picture is painted for the future of the railroad industry.

It’s interesting to look back with hindsight and compare their predictions of the future with today’s modern efficient railroad system of today. Now only 2 companies compete East of the Mississippi and much of the Penn Central’s track is long-gone. However, after reading this book I think the collapse of the Penn Central may have been necessary. The abandonments and deferred maintenance hurt in the short term, but in the long run the fallout from the Penn Central (deregulation of the railroads, Conrail, , ect) may have saved the entire industry.

At its core, The Wreck of the Penn Central is written as a warning that this is no way to merge and business, and certainly no way to run a railroad. Its message of bailouts and “too-big-to-fail” companies is surprisingly relevant in today’s political and economic climate. Railroad buffs and business majors alike can find something to learn in this book, and overall I think it was worth the read.

If you would like to purchase a copy of The Wreck of the Penn Central you can support this site by using the link here.

In other news I have an article on the 3-C Corridor in Middletown, an old stock for sale on ebay, and some rail stimulus projects being considered for Toledo.

Consider Your Switches

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Model Railroad

It’s no secret that today’s economy is very poor (to say the least). The fall of 2008 was a scary time for pretty much anybody who had a retirement account. As a poor college student, it was an especially bad time to be planning a new model train layout. I had to seriously consider the enjoyment of a new layout versus planned expenses for the future. There are a number of things that help when building new layouts in a recession.

Building a new model railroad doesn’t even pretend to be a cheap. Between wood and wire, track and trains, scenery and switches…the cost quickly adds up. Often choosing quality materials costs more. To help keep costs down it helps to take a page out of the book of the 1:1 railroads.

The movable point switch was first patented by Charles Fox in 1832. Before they became common trains were commonly routed using the stub switch. This switch involved no points, instead the rails were literally bent into the desired path. However this design limited trains to slow speeds as the rails were easily bent out of gauge.

Photo: Here’s an example of a 3-way stub switch. The rails in the foreground are bent to match up with one of the 3 paths leading to the engine house.

The movable point switch solved this problem at a cost of increased complexity and maintenance. The basic switch has not changed much since it was originally invented and they still present some of the most mechanically complicated pieces of equipment on the ROW. They cost money to install and continue to cost money to maintain. As such, railroads seek to eliminate unnecessary switches whenever they can.

Yet many modelers plan layouts that are seemingly designed to cram as many switches into a small a place as possible. Often the diverging track only holds one or two cars. Real railroads would never pay the cost of a switch for a 1-car spur. And at $20 a piece for a quality switch this strategy isn’t cheap for the modeler either.

When designing a layout it helps to use switches sparingly. Not only does this save money purchasing track but you will likely end up with a more accurate and simpler design. By cutting out short and superfluous spurs I was able to bring my new layout’s costs down to a more manageable level, one of a couple of decisions that allowed me to start on my new layout with a clear conscience.

That’s it for this week’s modeling post. This Friday I’ll be featuring a book review of The Wreck of the Penn Central, a book that chronicles the mismanagement that took place in the 867 days from the merger to the bankruptcy. If that sounds like something you might be interested in be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.

The DL&C Along Nutt Road

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: From the RPO Railroads:

In our new series “Mail by Rail” I’ll be answering e-mail questions that have recently been sent to me. If you have a question about railroad history or model railroads e-mail me and you might see your question on the main blog.

Julian from Florida writes:

First off, thank you for such a great website! I for some reason tonight remembered about a railroad (abandoned) that ran through Washington Township close to the house I was grew up in.

From what I remember (1998-2000ish), there were still a few rails intact (I think). I pulled a Google maps image to show the area, and put a red box around the exact area. Next to that red box was a horse farm (other side of the trees on that map).

I would love to know more information about which railroad this was, and also would love to know what the state of that section is today. Unfortunately I no longer know anyone that lives in that area, and I now live in Florida.

As long-time readers might recognize, the area circled is the ex- line. This link shows the area with the railroad lines superimposed on it.

Today there is nothing there but the abandoned Right-of-Way. The DL&C was never very well constructed (the track was barely raised from the surrounding ground) and the roadbed isn’t very obvious if you don’t know it is already there. The only active ex-DL&C track today is a Norfolk Southern owned line that runs south to the Delphi Plant. However, that plant has seen tough times lately so even this small segment may not last much longer. The track there is a remnant of the original alignment that ran to Lebanon Junction, before the track was built into downtown Dayton.

Service on this segment didn’t survive the formation of Conrail in 1976. It was provided for a time to Centerville as a light density line but no farther south. The rail between Lytle and Centerville was torn up in 1979, but it is possible rails survived longer in the pavement at grade crossings.

While I have driven down Nutt Road to take a look, I haven’t actually explored the segment you circled in person. However, I did take some photos of the line nearby in Big Bend Park.

Hopefully this answers Julian’s question. If you have a question you want to see answered in Mail By Rail don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail.

Blue Box Upgrades

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Model Railroad

Lately I’ve been spending my time working on some Athearn Blue Box kits. These are older kits designed many years before highly detailed ready-to-run cars were available. For this Wednesdays Model Railroading post I thought I would offer up five short suggestions on how to improve these older kits. These are basic tips, like most of my modeling articles, and would also be applicable to other plastic rolling stock kits in addition to Atheran.

Couplers & Trucks

Athearn couplers hail from a different time and feature the “classic” hook-horn couplers. Today one of the first thing you will want to do is replace this with more prototypical knuckle couplers. Many people swear by Kadee couplers, including the classic #5. The #5 and its semi-scale relative the #158 can both be dropped as is into the Atheran coupler boxes.

In addition to new couplers, replacing the plastic wheels with metal will improve the rolling characters as well as tracking less dirt around the track.

Added Weight

Blue Box kits are often known for their long steel weights running along the underframe of the car. However, often they are underweight compared to NMRA standards. A simple postal scale
can help you get your cars weighed to NMRA Recommended Practice 20.1. Anything from coins to washers and nuts can be glued inside the car to add weight. Just make sure the weights are well secured. Nothing is more annoying then dealing with loose weights bouncing around the inside of your car.

Painting

Most kits these days come factory painted in basic colors and roadnames. However, don’t underestimate the improvements that can be made with a little paint. Many railings and grab-irons will be molded onto the body. Taking a small brush or even a toothpick and painting these a different color will really help basic appearances. On my recent caboose project I painted the railings “Safety Yellow”. I also painted the red battery box near the undercarriage black.

Windows & Details

The caboose kit I was building did not include windows, instead it left empty frames in place of them. However, a kit containing window parts is available separately. You may want to consider adding additional detail parts to the basic kit.

Weathering

Atheran’s Blue Box kits offer the perfect canvas to practice weathering techniques. The cars are cheap so you can experiment without the worry of ruining a fifty dollar model. It doesn’t matter if your preferred method is paint, chalk, or something else entirely. Even if they don’t match your era these kits are a great opportunity to refine your techniques.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with a basement full of unbuilt Blue Box kits. I hope these tips, basic as they are, provide you with the encouragement to dig out some of those kits and give them new life. You may end up an adequate piece of rolling stock for your layout, or you may end up with a failure in the trash. Either way your skills will improve and all those kits under the layout may see some use after all.

If you have an Athearn model that you turned from trash to treasure, email me and I’ll post it on the site.

Back in the real world, I have a couple of news tidbits and articles to share. Bucyrus is currently hosting their annual Hobo Day Celebration at the restored T&OC depot. A Cincinnati area entrepreneur is seeking funding for hybrid trains. And lastly the city of Franklin is planning a new rail hub called Franklin Yards.

Lastly, if you like railroad history with a weekly modeling article on the side, be sure to subscribe!

A Brief History of Buckeye Yard

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: History Railroads: , ,
Photo: Entrance to Buckeye Yard (Source)

With the announcement earlier this week about the mothballing of Buckeye Yard I thought it would be appropriate to take a closer look back on the yard that the Penn Central built.

Planning and Construction

Buckeye Yard was originally planned by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the middle of the century. By this point Columbus was a town, with 4 lines running through the city.2 Each of these lines were formerly independent companies with their own terminals and facilities. The PRR was forced to use a number of yards all across town. The largest yards were located on the east side of Columbus and were known as Yard A and Yard B.

Buckeye Yard, known in planning as simply Columbus Yard3, was designed as a modern classification yard that would eliminate the expense of operating these yards separately as well as simplifying operations around Columbus. In 1968 the PRR merged with its arch-rival and competitor the New York Central System. The new company, known as the Penn Central Transportation Company, was designed to increase profitability by reducing duplicate routes and their associated costs. With planning of Buckeye Yard already completed, the new company decided to continue with its construction as well as folding the ‘s former yards into it as well.

Construction of Buckeye Yard began in 1968 under Penn Central. It was completed in December the following year. Columbus Railroads has a great photo (with labels) of the yard in 1970. About a year after its opening the Penn Central formally renamed Columbus Yard wit the name is has been known by since.3

Operation

Photo: A look down at the classification tracks (Source)

Buckeye Yard was built on the west side of suburban Columbus between two major PRR lines. It was oriented perpendicular so that traffic could flow most efficiently through the yard and out the mainlines. The ex-C&I Bradford line that ran west to Indianapolis was located on the north end of the yard while the ex-Little Miami line ran by on the south end of the yard.1

The classification yard itself involved 1 track going over a hump and 40 classification tracks in the “bowl”. There was also an (undersized) yard for locals, a car repair shop, and a locomotive shop. During the Conrail era the locomotive shop was converted to a signal training facility for crewmen.

Mergers and Changes

Throughout the Penn Central years Buckeye Yard was a model of what the railroad could do when it had money to invest in capital improvements. However, the efficiency of one yard could not save a decrepit system, and Buckeye Yard was absorbed by Conrail on April 1st, 1976.

Under Conrail Buckeye Yard served as the busy hub of Conrail’s Columbus operations. Traffic flowing east-west and north-south was able to use the yard for classification. However, the abandonment of both the Little Miami through Cincinnati and the Bradford Line through Indianapolis left the yard isolated. Only short stretches of the former mainlines were left in order to allow access to the yard.

After Norfolk’s Southern purchased Buckeye as part of the Conrail split in 1999 the future became more murky. It was clear that the yard played a less crucial part of Norfolk Southern’s route map, with large yards in nearby Bellevue and Cincinnati. Trains in Columbus had to travel out of their way to get to Buckeye, and over time more and more trains were cut from the yard.

Still, it came as a shock when Norfolk Southern announced the temporary shutdown of Buckeye Yard in May 2009. While an end to the recession and an increase in traffic could bring the yard back online, it is not guaranteed. For now the once busy classification yard will be used for locomotive and car storage. CSX’s nearby Intermodal Yard (also acquired as part of the Conrail split) has not been affected, so abandonment of more trackage seems unlikely in the near future.

Photo: A quiet Buckeye Yard in May 2009 (Source)

Today, subdivisions have sprouted on the farmland that the Pennsylvania once surveyed for their “Columbus Yard” and the tracks sit empty as a ghost town. Could this be the end of Buckeye Yard’s story, or will there be more to tell? It’s hard to say. From troubled beginnings Buckeye has served a prosperous life, but the legacy of the Penn Central hasn’t completely disappeared yet.

References:

  1. Alex Campbell. “Photo of the Month January 2009“, Columbus Railroads, January 2009, Accessed 8 May 2009.
  2. “PRR Terms“
  3. Jerry Taylor. A Sampling of the Penn Central. Indiana University Press, 2000.

In other news, I found an interesting story about the last Pullman Porter reunion that will be happening in Philadelphia.

Also, this Sunday is Mothers Day. I’d like to thank all the mom’s out there and let everyone know that the Toledo, Lake Erie, & Western Railway Museum is letting mom’s ride for free Sunday with a child’s ticket.

Amtrak at the Boathouse?

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: News Railroads:
Photo: Could Cincinnati’s first railroad line get a new lease on life from ?

If it were up to you, where would you put Cincinnati’s main passenger station? According to this article, if you were Amtrak, you might put it at the Montgomery Inn Boat House.

While Cincinnati already has a (very famous) passenger station, the issues that plagued it have never really gone away. Ever since it was built Union Terminal has been stuck with the fact that its quite a distance between it and downtown. Walking is not possible, and it is stuck in the middle of the very industrial Mill Creek Valley. Amtrak currently runs the Cardinal through Union Terminal, using the only availible platfrom. However its continued use of the terminal for the 3C Service remains in doubt.

The real issue is, unlike many cities, Cincinnati has never had a rail station within its central business district. The hills around the city forced railroads to either come down the Mill Creek Valley or make the long detour east and up the Little Miami river valley. The one railroad that tried, the CL&N, had to deal with a 3.5% decent down the Deer Creek Valley into Cincinnati. Although they were rewarded with probably one of the most centrally located of the stations at Court Street.

Photo: at Pearl and Butler Streets (Source).

In fact, building a new Amtrak station at the Boathouse would be coming full circle. The PRR‘s famous Pearl Street Station was located just west of the site. The nearby yard would eventually become Sawyer Point.

The station, constructed in 1881, was not the first constructed on the site but the most well remembered. It was shared between the PRR and the L&N with the L&N coming in on a sharp curve from their nearby bridge. The building was modernized and expanded a number of times with its final demise coming with the construction of Union Terminal in 1933.

Building a station at the end of the Oasis branch is not without its drawbacks, however. The line would need to be modernized to allow a higher track speed, and connections to the rest of the city’s rail system are limited. Any train going to Columbus would have to take Oasis to the ex-PRR Richmond line and then to Norfolk Southern’s Dayton District. Additionally, the train would have to back down the entire Oasis line with nowhere to turn until the wye at Oakley. While this might not be a problem for the 3C train which terminates in Cincinnati, it may be a problem for the Cardinal, which comes into and leaves the city on different routes.

Yet there are not that many better options for a new rail station in Cincinnati. The grades down the ex- have not changed, the new Riverfront Transit Center would need still need a new ROW constructed just to get to it, and Union Terminal is just as far from downtown as ever. So what would you suggest? Where’s the best place for rail in the Queen City?

Update 1: Here’s a story discussing more about the route and also mentions a similar station problem in Columbus.

Mason-Montgomery Then & Now

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Then and Now Railroads: ,

While browsing the ’s Facebook page I saw this photo that was taken of Engine #55 crossing Mason-Montgomery Road heading north during the past Easterbunny Excursion (click for map). I was immediately struck by how similar it was to a shot I had seen taken the a hundred years or so earlier.
The above photo is from the Harry Palmer Collection and scanned from John W. Hauck’s Narrow Gauge in Ohio. It was taken in the early 1900s. CL&N number 6 is leading a passenger train timetable south over “North Section Bridge” in Mason. Number 6 was an ex-M&C 4-4-0 and this was about the average passenger train length for the time.

North Section Road was eventually renamed Mason-Montgomery Road. You can see the embankment is similar to the later photo, taken from the opposite side. This was (still is) one of the few grade separated crossings on the CL&N and one of the only on the northern segments. At one point a couple of streets near Eden Park were grade separated and there was one similar bridge over Washington Street on the .

The original bridge in the photo is a simple deck bridge sitting on concrete abundments. It’s hard to tell but it probably had a ballasted deck. The road intersects the railroad grade on an angle, but the original bridge was built parallel with the railroad. A passing motorist would have had to turn to the right and then back to the left to go under the bridge. There’s a small sign on the bridge that is too blurry to make out. It is probably either a clearance warning or a “CL&N” sign advertising the owner of the rail line.

Today the bridge over Mason-Montgomery Road has been rebuilt as a longer and more modern span similar in style to modern highway bridges. This was probably done when the roadway was widened to its current width. The tree in the old photo was most likely cut down at this time. Additionally the road was rebuilt to pass under the rail line on its original angled alignment and was probably lowered to provide additional clearance under the bridge. Today the passing motorists gets a little over 13 feet of clearance between the road surface and the bottom of the bridge.

In the past Mason was nothing but a small Warren County farming village Today this is not the case, and a housing development lies just to the right of the second photo. However, one thing that has been a constant is the passing trains. For over one hundred years passengers have crossed that bridge. Hopefully they still will be for at least a hundred more.

Buckeye Yard to Close

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: News Railroads:
Photo: The last car over the Buckeye Hump. (Source)

The latest news making the rounds tonight is the imminent closure of Norfolk Southern’s Buckeye Yard . The last train out of the yard is scheduled to be this coming Sunday night (May 3rd). It will be closing officially May 4th. Recently the classification yard had been reduced to only 1 shift during the day. The past couple of weeks there had been rumors swirling about possibly closing the yard, but I’m sure this comes as a shock to many people.

It’s unclear at this time how permanent the closure is to be. There’s always a possibility of reopening the yard in the future. However with the current economy and the related decline in rail traffic this looks to be unlikely (at least in the near term). All locals and other originating and terminating trains will be moved to the ex-N&W‘s Watkins Yard on the other side of Columbus. The classification load is expected to be picked up by Bellevue and Sharon (Cincinnati) yards. However there is also the possibility of many trains being outright dropped. Right now it is too early to tell.

The yard, located on the west side of Columbus Ohio, was planned by the Pennsylvania and built by the Penn Central in 1968. An unfortunate victim of circumstance, the yard made sense for Conrail but is located far from Norfolk Southern’s mainlines. Buckeye Yard is notable as one of the few capital improvements the Penn Central made to its system. It was also one of the first classification yards to use computers and automated retarders in its hump operations.


View Larger Map


Update 1: The Columbus Dispatch has now picked up the story.

Update 2: Here is a flickr gallery of the now empty yard.

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