Week of April 1, 1996
Rail News from Central Virginia
Week of April 1, 1996
By Vic Stone
Piedmont Report:
Mid-week report for 1st week of April, 1996:
NS - CP units were abound last week on trains 341/342.
Possibly a precursor to the potential route change of CP
555/556 that was rumored to take effect April 2. But, this
week, 341/342 has been running with normal NS power. Widecabs
are out up to #8970. Derailments have been prevalent between
Atlanta and New Orleans with 2 in the past half-week.
A work train (with an N&W caboose!) is down in the yard,
apparently still dropping stick rail along the right-of-way.
* The American Orient Express was somewhat disappointing: The
original P32's that were supposed to run through were taken off
at New Orleans, replaced by a P40 and F40. In addition to the
bad weather, a derailment near Tallapoosa, GA delayed the
train's schedule by 6 hours on Saturday. As a result, the
American Orient Express skipped its stop in Charlottesville.
Next run for the AOE - April 14th southbound out of DC at 9 AM;
arr Cville 1145; dep Cville 1630; crew change Lynchburg 1745
CSX - CP units were also on a coal train this week. A solid
set of two units were sighted on a wb coal train and some more
on the James River Subdivision. About a half and half split
has been the norm for the wb empties between the Mountain and
the River.
