CSXT To Convert To Alpha Symbols
The Conrail Technical Society has circulated information to the effect that
CSXT will be changing to an alpha system for their road train symbols.
See Rumor Central for more information.
CSX Symbol Notes
Q-trains
Nearly all CSX merchandise freights, intermodals, and auto group:
- Q100 -- Intermodals (ex-TVs and Mails)
- Q200 -- Automotive Group (ex-MLs and autoparts symbols TOMT & STBN)
- Q300 -- Northern east-west corridors (e.g., ex-SEIN)
- Q400 -- Eastern north-south corridors (e.g., ex-OPSE)
- Q500 -- Western north-south corridors (no ex-Conrail through Selkirk)
- Q600 -- Cross corridors (e.g., ex-CNSE)
- Q800 -- Shared Asset and other symbols not inherited after the acquisition
- Q900 -- Temporary and "transition" trains related to the merger
L-trains: Alternate schedule of Q-trains
S-trains: Second sections of Q-trains
K-trains: other merchandise freight
B-trains: }
C-trains: } locals (e.g., B757 is Selkirk-based WASE-08)
H-trains: } (Bs are Albany Div.; most are B & C)
J-trains: }
Y-trains: yard jobs
G-trains: grain
K-trains: ore, rock, stone
N - trains: } coal
T - trains: }
E - trains: } other unit trains/special unit trains
V - trains: }
Z-trains: foreign trains operating on CSX
odd #s -- southbounds & westbounds
even #s -- northbounds & eastbounds
CSX/Conrail crosswalk
The Bull Sheet has what is probably the
most comprehensive listing of CSX numbers, including references to the ex-Conrail symbols.
Comprehensive List of Locals
- Various ex-YASE/ex-WASE locals out of Selkirk, ex-WAWA West Albany locals, and ex-WASS locals out of South Schnectady
- B751, ex-WAPO-10, Poughkeepsie local (N. to Selkirk, S. to DV (Spuyten Duvyil)
- B756, ex-WASS-70, Selkirk/South Schnectady turn
- B757, ex-WASE-08, Hudson local (out of Selkirk), also listed as WASE-15
- B758, ex-WAWA-01, West Albany local: Albany/Schnectady
- B759, ex-WASS-10, South Schnectady/Little Falls
- B760, ex-WASS-10, South Schnectady/Amsterdam
- B761, ex-WASS-11, South Schnectady/Albany/Troy
- B762, ex-WASS-11, South Schnectady/Rensselear
- B763, ex-WASS-13, Selkirk/Guilderland Center; also run as YASE-17
- C710, ex-WPKI-50, Kingston local (Kingston/Selkirk), may be KI-90, which switchs Newburgh and/or the plants to the north of Kingston; sometimes ventures into Selkirk, usually late in the evening (9:30 - 10:00 -ish).
- C711, ex-WPKI-50, Kingston local (Kingston/Selkirk)
- C712, ex-WPKI-80, Kingston local (Kingston south)
- C713, ex-WPKI-82, Kingston local (Kingston south)
- Various other ex-YASE/ex-WASE Selkirk yard jobs and local freights, ex-WAWA West Albany locals, and ex-WASS South Schnectady locals:
- ??, ex-YASE-18, Selkirk yard job
- ??, ex-YASE-31, Selkirk yard job
- ??, ex-WPNB-## trains, of North Bergen handling the Northern Running Track, the Northern Branch, industry around Haverstraw, and might venture up to Newburgh, but not as far north as Selkirk.
Legacy Systems: How Conrail Identified Symbol & Local Freights
Symbol & Local Freights
Conrail numbered its symbol freights by the following syntax:
oodd-ns
where
- oo represents the Origin
- dd represents the Destination
- n is the last number of the date of the month on which the train began its run
- s is the optional suffix X representing an extra section of a train
We all know that ML stood for Multi-Level and TV stood for TrailVan -- I have
no idea where they got the numbers from anymore than where CSX gets its train
numbers from (although those at least have some reason to them).
Conrail numbered its locals by the following syntax:
zdoonn
where
- z indicated Way Freight or Yard Job
- d represented the Division (A=Albany, P=Philladelphia, D=Dearborn, I=Pittsburg, S=Indianapolis; extinct since before the mergers were H=Harrisburg, E=Southern Tier, and J=New Jersey)
- oo represented the Origin (SS=South Schnectady, SE=Selkirk, PO=Poughkeepsie, etc.)
- nn was the train number
Examples of Origin and Desitnation Codes:
These were the codes that were most often heard on Selkirk movements and in
and around New York State and North Jersey.
- AL -- Allentown
- BO -- Boston
- BR -- Belt Railway (Chicago)
- BU -- Buffalo
- CC -- Chemical Coast (Port Reading, N.J.)
- CN -- Canadian National (Montreal)
- CO -- Columbus, Ohio
- CS -- CSXT run-through (SECS: Jacksonville, Fla.; CSSE: Waycross, Georgia)
- EL -- Elkhart
- FR -- Framingham, Mass.
- IH -- Indiana Harbor Belt (Chicago)
- IN -- Indianapolis
- LA -- Lawrance, Mass (GTI)
- LI -- Fresh Pond, Long Island (New York & Atlantic)
- MS -- Massena, N.Y.
- MT -- Metuchen, N.J.
- NE -- New England (GTI/Portland, Maine)
- NF -- Niagara Falls
- NP -- North Platte, Nebraska (U.P.)
- NS -- Norfolk Southern run-through (SENS: Linwood, N.C.; NSSE: Roanoke, Va.; NSOP/OPNS: Hagerstown, Md.)
- OI -- Oak Island (Newark, N.J.)
- OP -- Oak Point (New York City [Bronx County])
- PI -- Pittsburg (Conway Yard)
- SA -- South Amboy, N.J.
- SE -- Selkirk
- SF -- BNSF (Streator, Ill.)
- SK -- South Karney, N.J.
- SL -- East St. Louis, Ill.
- SP -- West Springfield, Mass.
- SY -- Syracuse
- TR -- Terminal Railroad Association (East St. Louis)
- Intermodal Trains also use Croxton, Dockside, Elizabethport, Kearney, North Bergen, and Port Newark, N.J.
- Multi-Levels use Doremus Avenue (Newark) and Metuchon, N.J.
- Conrail Roadrailers used to go into Rochester, N.Y. and Elizabethport, N.J., but with the split NS no longer sent roadrailers onto CSX territory, so the Rochester terminal was closed, and that traffic instead now goes to Torronto. NS still sends roadrailers into the shared assets area of Elizabethport (Amtrak Roadrailers go into Albany/Rensselear).