Re: (erielack) Marion and environs(2)

[Kevin DeGroff <kadegroff_@_xtn.net>]

> Rich Behrendt wrote:

> The diamond at the NYC/T&OC crossing at KN was probably removed during this 
> time period (along with the tower at HN, 1 mile west of KN), and replaced with 
> simple w/b & e/b connecting tracks off the T&OC, which is still in service 
> today by CSX.  

 > there's also some steel fabricator here that
> received coil cars from time to time as well.  


I thought there was a set of NE and SW quadrant connecting tracks at KN all along?
The steel fabricator probably was located in the old International Car Company
"caboose plant" which was along the T&OC just north of the EL diamond.  There had
to have been some connection which allowed new cabooses produced there to be
interchanged with the EL.





> The NYC Big Four secondary from Bellefontaine to Toledo which crossed at HN 
> was, based on the amount of overgrowth of nature today, probably an early 
> victim of CR consolidation during the 1980's also...


This could have been an eariler consolidation, since a northwest quadrant connector track at
Ridgeway OH between the Big 4 main and the T&OC would have made HN-Bellefontaine unnecessary
long before CR came on the scene. IIRC, the Toledo-Ridgeway-Bellefontaine-Springfield corridor
was upgraded by Conrail in the early 1990s to handle ore trains from the Toledo docks to the
steel plant in Middletown OH, and shortly after the track upgrade was completed, the ore
contract was lost to CSX.  Today, the I&O owns the Bellefontaine-Springfield segment.

It is possible that HN tower outlived any physical diamond crossing at HN, since that tower
also controlled KN diamond as well.


Kevin
ex-ELHS Subscriber #3075 (undoubtedly an SD40-2, or 16 cyl re-engined SD45 on a current-day EL)

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