Saturday, September 9, 2017

North Vernon, IN: Junction Station: CSX/B&O vs. Aban/CR/Penn+CMPA/Penn

(Satellite, Street View)

Rick L Whetehead posted
North Vernon,Indiana 9-06-2017
Jim Kelling Junction station once used by the B&O and PRR. A good article on this one was printed a few years ago in the B&O RHS magazine.

Did CSX have Google blur their signs in a street view as a privacy issue??? The Facebook photo doesn't have enough resolution to read the finer print. Bing hasn't sent a street viewer vehicle to this area.

CSX has two tracks here because one of them is a siding. The mainline is single tracked. CSX has abandoned this B&O route in Ohio and has removed rail to isolate a large segment in Illinois. But they won't sell or lease the out-of-service segment in Illinois. According to a satellite image, CSX does have a small yard in this town that has cuts of cars. So maybe CSX won't screw the rail customers along this section of the former B&O.

Conrail abandoned the former Pennsy route. But the segment between here and North Madison, OH is now the City of Madison Port Authority RR. This whole railroad, and Madison, depends on the continued operation of the B&O route since that is its only connection to "the outside world."

The Big Four used to have a north/south route through this town, but it was abandoned back in the NYC and B&O days.

Update: J.A. Muscarella shared his photo showing a Madison Railroad locomotive with a red paint scheme. The official name of the railroad is City of Madison Port Authority (CMPA).
One of the last remaining B&O tilting target board signals sits in downtown North Vernon, IN. Three days per week, the Madison Railroad's North Vernon local runs past this signal as they come and go from the CSX Interchange just a short distance away. The railroad mainly serves a single customer in North Vernon, but they do have active storage in Madison as well. Here they are crossing over their own mainline as they pass the classic signal. Once past, they will shove back and run to Hilex Poly where the train will be tied down until their next service.


Colin Mueller posted three photos with the comment:
These pictures are at North Vernon, Indiana, Feb 2017. The semaphore protects the crossing of the CSX (ex B&O) St. Louis line and the City of Madison Port Authority RR. A manual interlocking, it appeared that the semaphore had a time lock interlocked with CSX signals, and a manual lever control. The red marker lights are lit! Not bad for 2017!
Jon Roma Nice pictures, but it's not an interlocking.
Matthew Lappin Because there is no interlocking protection. 
The tilt board doesn't know occupancy, it just conveys which road has the authority to move, nothing else.


The b&O route has ABS signals but they don't handle the diamond crossing.

Matthew Lappin Also not a semaphore, it's a tilt signal.
Jon Roma What he said (above).

The official definition of interlocking is: "An arrangement of signals and signal appliances so interconnected that their movements must succeed each other in proper sequence."


North Vernon fulfills none of those requirements. It is simply a non-interlocked crossing with a statutory stop requirement.

Jim Subler Wow, I've never seen an outdoor Armstrong lever.


John Roma commented on Colin's posting
The CSX special instructions governing North Vernon, from a recent operating timetable.
John Roma commented on Colin's posting
And the operating rule referred to in the timetable special instruction.


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Brad McClelland posted
In North Vernon, Indiana the City of Madison Port Authority Railroad crosses CSX's Indiana Subdivision. On August 13, 2007, CMPA 3634 picked up 5 covered hoppers from CSX and heading back to it's home rails. A tilt board signal protects the crossing with CSX and CMPA. The CMPA operates the former PRR line from North Vernon to Madison on the Ohio River.
When I was looking at satellite images, I was pleasantly surprised how much railroad activity there was.

A yellow switcher in the upper-right corner and a road switcher with caboose in the lower-left corner.
Satellite
And quite a few cuts of cars waiting in CSX's yard.
Satellite


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