PC: Conrail's Lincoln branch

[Mark & Cynthia <mc@xxxxxxxx>]

Mark & Cynthia wrote:
> 
> For those of you who are intrested in the former PRR mainline to
> Detroit, I have good news for you.  Currently Conrail is operating this
> line as basically a stub ended spur that is 20 miles long.  On this
> line, Conrail serves a Ford parts distribution warehouse, a junk yard
> and a Guardian Glass plant.  There might be more industries on this
> line, but not many.  The original line streches from Detroit where the
> PRR reached Fort Street Station.  The line proceeded south on the Union
> Belt RR which was jointly owned by the Pere Marquette, PRR, and the
> Wabash.  Continuing south, the line passed through Delray interlocking,
> where ever major railroad in Detroit crossed except for the Grand
> Trunk.  After Delray, but before the  line crosses the Rouge River, the
> Pennsy line's Foreman Wye came into the Union Belt.  Foreman Wye is
> still a major link and I'll explain later. Once the line crosses the
> Rouge River, now on Wabash trackage, it crosses the ex-NYC YD branch.
> The line continues south to the east side of Wabash's Oakwood yard where
> the PRR heads due south from there.  This spot is where their "major"
> yard was in the Detroit area.  It really was never a major yard at all
> compared to the other railroads around Detroit.  After Lincon yard, the
> line went through the communities of Lincoln Park, Southgate, Taylor,
> Brownstown, and finally Carleton where the line connected to the C&O.
> The line then took the C&O to Toledo and connected with the AA to get to
> home rails again.  Currently the line does not see traffic on the
> southern part of the line.  The glasss plant in the as far south as it
> goes but the line was still intact to the C&O but the interlocking had
> been pulled.  I think maybe when the Staggers Act was passed and traffic
> was no longer required to run on this line.
>          So anyways, currently there are two jobs that run this line, a Ford
> turn and the glass plant turn which also serves the Ford plant and the
> junk yard.  To get to this line,  Conrail takes the YD branch from River
> Rouge yard to where it crosses the ex-Prr and then switches over to the
> branch.  Now for the good news, with the recent merger plans, CSX has
> decided that this line will help cut the transit times from Detroit to
> Toledo by atleast two hours or more. Currently the Forman Wye is used as
> an interchange track between the CSX and NS,  but it will soon be used
> as the CSX's main to Toledo.  So for the past two monthes, crews have
> been working along this line at a steady pace to get it ready for the
> load of traffic that will traverse this line.  South of the glass plant,
> they have used a Jordan Spreader to clear the many years of vegatation.
> They have put down new ballast and have panel track next to the C&O in
> Carleton.  They are ready to put new ties in on the whole line and soon
> will reinstall the interlock in on the C&O.  Over the past weekend they
> even had a SD-50 deliver more ballast.  This line probably has not seen
> a six axle unit since the early eighties.  Current power assigned is the
> aray of four axle power with the main units being GP-15's.  Under my
> examination, I would say that CSX will be running mainline trains on the
> Lincoln Branch by May. For a detailed look at the way it used to be
> before the interlock was pulled, there is an unoffical track diagram of
> it on the PC web page under MAPS.  Sorry for the long story but I wanted
> everybody to get the picture.
> 
> Mark