Milepost 549
A while back, I had written that the latest rumor at the new CSX Intermodal Yard in North Baltimore was that there would be a transfer track built to connect the east-west main line with the track that runs from Toledo to Columbus by way of Bowling Green, Findlay, Kenton & Marysville. Rumor is now fact; a recent trip to the area immediately behind the MdDonalds Restaurant at North Baltimore confirmed the construction and significant progress was noted. A special thanks to my friend Andrew for bringing this to my attention.
The aerial photo above (Google Maps) shows the approximate location of the transfer track.
This view is looking north along the Toledo line. The east-west line is just behind that little mound of dirt and is marked further by the small yellow diamond sign on the right side of the image. The road bed is shown curving off to the left.
This image is a little farther north and looking a little more to the northwest. The road bed can clearly be seen here as well. The east-west mainline is just in front of the trees.
The gem here will be the more efficient movement of freight from the Intermodal yard to the Honda plant at Marysville. Before this track is completed and open, the only way that containers can be moved to Marysville would be to either go back to Deshler (west) then go north to Toledo. There, the cars would be put into a train that would head south on the line that runs to Marysville. The other route would be to go farther east into Fostoria then go south to Columbus then come back north to the Honda plant. The Deshler option would necessitate some fancy maneuvering around the diamond to get the traffic to move north and the Fostoria route would add at least a full day to the trip from North Baltimore. With the new transfer track in place, trains will simply head east from the yard and transfer onto the line. In today's railroading, time is money; a rather small expenditure here will save considerable time in delivery to Honda.
By the way, for the locals who read this here in Findlay that will mean more rail traffic through town. I suspect that we will also see our share of traffic coming north from the plant and headed west.
dlm
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