These are notes I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Friday, March 24, 2017
North Baltimore, OH: Largest CSX Intermodal Yard
As part of its "gateway" project, CSX has built its largest intermodal yard along its former B&O mainline just west of North Baltimore, OH.
This video tells us the yard was opened in 2011 and services 25-30 intermodal trains a day.
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CSX's video spends quite a bit of time bragging about the cranes. But it does not mention that they were made in Europe. This video starts with an explanation of Malcom McLean inventing the concept of container shipping.
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When I looked at a satellite image, I noticed that this yard is not designed like a typical intermodal yard. If you look at a typical yard such as CSX's Bedford Park, you will notice that they have one or two tracks separated by a lot of paving. The wide paving allows trucks to deliver or pickup container trailers next to container platforms. Furthermore, the cranes or side loaders can reach just one or two tracks. In this yard, each crane can reach eight tracks, a staging area, and a storage area. It struck me that this is a classification yard for containers rather than a traditional container terminal yard. Even though the above video talks about towns within 200 miles, it also talks about "blocking" and "different destinations." The yard would also could convert double-stack to single-stack and vice-versa for interworking between western and eastern destinations. Reclassifying would explain why I saw a lot of container movement activity, but no arriving or departing trucks, while I was there. Serving container trains in all directions would explain why this yard has such a big car repair facility.
Now for the pictures that I took when I visited the yard.
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I started by going over the bridge on the east side of the yard and parking on a farmer's access road. This view is looking south towards the bridge and tracks from where I parked.
I then walked up the bridge briskly because the containers I could see behind the parked mixed freight were moving.
It turns out the container train was shoving a cut of cars into the yard.
Note the piles of 39' rail next to the track. Most railfans are really locomotive fans. I really am a rail fan.
When I got to the other side of the bridge, it became obvious that #8425 (probably a SD40 rebuild) was shoving the cut of containers onto one of the tracks under the cranes. I can see seven other locos in the photo, but I can't read their numbers.
The two locos on the mixed freight were 3049 (ES44AH, built 4-06/2012) and 8406 (probably another SD40 rebuild).
I had never seen a Pan Am car before. It is a little railroad in New England. The owner was going to use the earnings to build an airline or something. He did not put any money into track maintenance, and it did not take too many years before his customers had very poor service because the track allowed only slow speeds.
A wide angle shot to provide context and to note the mix of cars in the mixed freight train.
Whatever Georgia Pacifics "TourghRock" is, it is heavy because this lumber car is not completely full and they are careful to put more weight over the wheels then the center. Lumber cars normally cube-out before they tare-out. That is, they normally fill the available clearances before they exceed their weight limit.
In the overview above we see a trailer in the north end of a parking lot. This is what was in the south end of that lot. Note the lineup of snow removal equipment on this side of the parking lot.
Wisconsin Central is a Fallen Flag that I have shared on Facebook.
We can see that the cut we saw earlier has almost cleared the arrival/departure tracks. I see there are men with a forklift truck working on the car in the middle foreground. These would be RIP (Repair in Place) tracks.
Now I'm heading back across the bridge to my van. So I took a 3/4 view of the cranes. Note the salt dome. More evidence that dealing with snow is an important aspect of this operation.
This is the view looking east from the bridge. We can see the town of North Baltimore in the background.
There was a lot of lumber products in the mixed train. I see some of the other lumber cars were at their weight limits.
The other side of that Pan Am car.
Even out here in the boonies, they have a sign indicating the rail piles are under video surveillance. The entire time I was on this bridge, I did not see another car on the road.
This is a view from the north side close to where I had parked.
A westbound container train arrived.
#851 is not in The Diesel Shop. 700-950 were built in 2007 or 2008. 952-999 were built in 2011. A note indicates that CSX classifies these ES44AH models as CW44AH.
The second engine of the westbound train, #7689, is a C40-8W built in 1991.
I've never seen this brand before. Since it is a 40' container in a 53' well, it is an international container. Domestic containers are 53' long.
This train was not very long. And it looks to be 100% international containers so it could be a run-through to a western railroad. It did run past this yard.
The end cars remind me that some routes in the east cannot handle double-stacks. Three containers are riding on flatcars instead of deep-well platforms. Tacked on the end are a couple of UPS trailers.
Then I went back south to OH-18 and headed west along the south side of the yard.
Three out of the five gantries have a container in the air.
Some engine storage tracks.
Below we see there were seven gantry cranes in total.
Another view of the engine pool.
Then I turned north on OH-43, and I was able to park near the road crossing. I put on the telephoto lens for this picture. It was taken at 105mm.
Back to 55mm. I have no idea now why I didn't keep the telephoto lens on for a tighter shot.
An eastbound ethanol train came through.
2:21:14pm
7869 is a C40-8W built in 1993.
7630 is a C40-8 built in 1990.
The 7630 is a "standard cab." Since they are now rare because they have been replaced by the wide or "safety" cabs, I include my other picture of it.
I took quite a few tank car pictures, but this one made it easiest to figure out that it was in an ethanol train.
Finally, the end of that train.
2:22:40pm
I took a slightly different view as I walked back to the van.
As I headed West to Deshler, I noticed an eastbound container train was on the mainline (2:29:12). So I pulled off the road and took pictures as it rolled by. It was pulled by a couple of Canadian Pacific locos. This train was a lot longer than the westbound container train I saw when I arrived. Note there is a big cut of autoracks at the end. The last picture was taken at 2:30:28pm.
Update:
Aaron Bryant posted
Concrete and wooden ties, rails, spikes and other track related materials are scattered on the ground in Bluefield, W.Va. yard, as a westbound with a UP leader, waits on a crew. Date: 11/29/18.
[A fellow rail and coaling tower fan. (Facebooked)]
This Trains article confirms that this yard was built to reclassify containers so that they could support smaller markets like Detroit and Louisville. Harrison killed a lot of CSX hump yards. He is now killing the purpose for which this $175 million yard was built --- reclassificaiton of containers. It may still be used for flat switching.
Another Trains article (source) indicates that the Columbus intermodal terminal is also going to loose some destinations.
A joc.com article indicates that more than a dozen domestic destinations and four international destinations for the Detroit and Columbus intermodal yards will be eliminated. CSX will avoid using its North Baltimore Yard by adding intermodal cars to merchandise trains.
A Trains article includes a 2011 CSX Video bragging about the yard. At 2:41, it says "a public/private partnership," so taxpayers are getting screwed by Harrison's gutting of the purpose of the yard. He has also backed out on the Howard Tunnel in Baltimore that was to allow double-stack trains to serve the Baltimore harbor that is already deep enough to handle Super Panamax Ships. But the tunnel forcing single-stack trains does not allow the port to be competitive with other east-coast ports. Hunter also pulled the plug on a container yard in North Carolina, but at least taxpayer money had not yet been spent on that yard. I also read that companies had built warehouses near this yard to take advantage of low trucking cost to an intermodal yard. But Hunter is closing the gates to local container traffic as well as stopping its use of the gantry cranes to reclassify containers among trains. So those warehouse companies, and their employees, are being screwed.
The Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal opened to much fanfare in 2011 as the $175-million centerpiece of a new intermodal strategy that included sorting containers for Chicago interchange, as well as smaller markets such as Louisville, Ky.; Columbus, Ohio; and Detroit. As recently as July, CSX executives said North Baltimore was a proven concept that would be extended to the Carolina Connector. Executives also had discussed the potential for adding a third intermodal sorting hub near Atlanta. [Trains]
Catherine Knowles commented on her post Luther K BrefoCatherine, that's North Baltimore. I spent a lot of time in that facility back in its early days. Was sad to hear the EHH had it shuttered but was very happy to hear that it is back open. I wonder if they finally figured out that that middle double ladder is an anomaly that just wasn't ideal and that mainline refueling ties up way more than they ever imagined. Dennis DeBrulerLuther K Brefo Is North Baltimore back to its original function of switching containers among trains so that it can be a hub for shorter intermodal trains or is it just dumping containers onto trucks and the local highways? Jim SankDennis DeBruler more like block swapping container trains any more. They still do loading and unloading of containers under the cranes for local traffic
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