CSX Backed up before Easter?

Been alot of activity here in the Detroit Metro Area, a train an hour. It is kinda amazing. I saw some ex-SOO, behind a CP and CSX mixed power train the other day.... most amazing thing.

Saline Hill has been pretty busy too.

Somehow, I don;t think the loss of the ACL owing to a bridge "out' somewhat North of Selma, NC is going to help the cause. Until that bridge is restored (Sat Apr 15, maybe?), no reasonable and practical CSX detour routes for traffic come to mind.

I wonder where the bonehead who finalized the decision to truncate the SAL in Southern Virginia is today?

the real reason the line was abandoned is due to the need to replace the bridge over lake gaston, which would have cost millions to replace, as it was an all-wood timber bridge dating back to the early 1900's

Nip, be sure to note Ms. Bly's related topic here at the Forum:

Nellie Bly wrote:3) Petersburg to Raleigh. This abandonment of a fast piece of the former Seaboard main line left CSX without a relief route for north/south traffic. So now, anytime trackwork must be done on the former ACL main, service goes to hell. The supposed reason for the abandonment was the need to replace a long timber trestle over Lake Gaston. But with train delay costs running on the order of $500 per hour, maybe they'd like to think again about that?

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24098

he doesnt have his facts straight

Ha. I bet CSX wishes the old Seaboard Air Line were in better shape right about now. North of Raleigh, that line's been neglected for decades, and even abandoned north of Norlina. This was the nearest parallel route that they have. Is the cut-off from Norlina to Weldon via Roanoke Rapids still in service? Even if it is, I doubt it's in any shape to take even 10 percent of the traffic on the ACL main. The juice on the Juice Train would spoil in transit!

Folks, it's really easy to look back with 20/20 hindsight and criticize the railroads for decisions made many years ago. No one foresaw the explosion in international trade and the growth in intermodal traffic, and a railroad capacity crunch was unthinkable. I'll bet a lot of folks wish Conrail had kept that Erie Lackawanna mainline west of Hornell.

The situation between the Washington, DC area and Florida is quite
different than the situation in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
There are still a number of alternate routes between New York State and
the midwest, the B. & O. is still intact all the way to Chicago, the C. & O.
going west isintact too. Conrail ran a very efficient operation between the
northeast and the midwest without the Erie west of Hornell.
On the other hand between Washington and especially Richmond and
Florida, all we have today over much of this territory is the former Atlantic
Coast Line which was at one time double track but today is CTC and single
track. Much of the old Seaboard line is either gone or reduced in scope
and not in a position to act as a detour or substitute route.
I am not so sure that the line reduction in Florida was all that bad as they
still have two ways from Jacksonville to Tampa but the abandonments
in Virginia and Georgia have affected things in a big way and will continue
to do so.
Noel Weaver