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CONRAIL ENGINES ALLOCATED TO CSXT

The December 1998 issue of Railpace magazine listed specific Conrail locomotive numbers that were to be allocated to CSXT under the terms of the merger. Model wise, here is how CSXT should fare. Models marked with an asterisk are models that CSXT presently does not have. Conrail's locomotive fleet will be divided 58 and 42 percent, respectively, between NS and CSXT. All IS of Conrail's recently acquired SD70MACs, however, will go to CSXT.

DIVIDING THE ASSETS

Thoroughbred Paces, Sept./Oct. 1998

NS and CSX spent the past year inventorying, categorizing and apportioning the Conrail fleet. It was a task so comprehensive it required the creation of three NS implementation teams: the Rolling Stock team, Locomotive team, and Non-revenue Equipment team. Classified as NS Allocation teams, the three are part of more than 130 teams and sub-teams charged with the successful implementation of the Conrail transaction. The teams are responsible for ensuring that the right to operate all Conrail equipment, everything from locomotives to rolling stock, freight cars to non-revenue equipment, is divided 58 and 42 percent, respectively, between NS and CSX.

The equipment will be allocated between two wholly owned subsidiaries of Conrail, to be known as Pennsylvania Lines LLC (PRR) and New York Central Lines LLC (NYC), with PRR getting 58 percent of the equipment and NYC getting 42 percent. The equipment allocated to PRR will be leased to Norfolk Southern Railway (NSR): the NYC equipment will be leased to CSXT.

Under the first charge to allocate Conrail freight cars, team members have followed an elaborate process. Some of the major steps included:

All cars in the Conrail fleet were identified and entered into a database.

Each car assigned to a specific cell. These cells identify freight cars by one of more than 90 types, by age and whether owned or leased. Cars identified for retirement by Conrail were also separated from all other cars.

Once the car was assigned a cell, it received a random number. The numbers were then sorted by a computer program that assigned 42 percent of the numbers within each cell to NYC, the balance, 58 percent, to PRR.

To minimize disruptions for customers and field operating personnel, Conrail, CSX and NS developed plans to paint new marks on 16,000 cars allocated to NYC with a unique "NYC" reporting mark, to be assigned to CSXT after Closing Date.

In conjunction with Conrail, CSX, and the Association of American Railroads (AAR), plans were developed to transfer freight car assignments from one road to another on the Closing Date to minimize disruptions in operations. On the Closing Date, each Conrail car will be assigned to a new pool under the control of either CSXT or NSR.

Locomotive Allocation Team leader Don Grabb, assistant director-Locomotive Maintenance, Roanoke, and the other eight members are charged with dividing the Conrail locomotive fleet and related equipment between PRR and NYC 58 percent and 42 percent, respectively.

To accomplish this intricate task, the team moved in a step-by-step process. First, they sorted the 2,000 locomotives alphabetically by model, arriving at a total of 27 model groups. Second, within each model group, units were separated into leased and owned locomotives. Third, to account for varying conditions of different locomotives within these groups, the unit numbers were sorted by the date of the last engine overhaul. Next, following the flip of a coin, this list of locomotives was allocated by the following pattern: NYC-PRR-NYC-PRR-NYC-PRR-PRR. This pattern of four locomotives for PRR and three for NYC approximates the 58/42 ratio. Slight adjustments at the end of the sort assured an equitable division.

TOXIC WASTE REVIVES OLD CHICAGO DIV.

The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 31, 1998 submitted by E. Donald Smith

When Department of Energy (DOE) officials say they will ship one million tons of low-level radioactive waste from the former Fernald, Ohio, uranium processing plant beginning in March 1999, it's hard to understand just what they mean. In this case, imagine a locomotive pulling 45 rail cars filled with the toxic stuff leaving the Fernald site in northwestern Hamilton County once every two weeks for nearly six years.

With the recent dismissal of a lawsuit that had threatened to jam up the works, the DOE and site manager Fluor Daniel Fernald say they are ready to proceed with plans to empty seven underground waste pits. In July construction began on a massive, on-site dryer plant where the waste material will be prepared for shipping.

The waste must begin leaving Fernald no later than March 1, according to performance deadlines imposed on DOE by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But before that can happen, officials must award a $100 million-plus contract to a commercial dump site-- most likely Clive, Utah-based Enviro-care, which receives more than 95 percent of the government's low-- level nuclear waste--and negotiate a $100 million transportation deal with the CSX and Union Pacific railroads. Editor's Note: Fernald is located on an orphaned segment of the Miami Subdivision 25.8 miles east of Cottage Grove, Indiana.

COAL NEWS

A. T. Massey Coal Co. recently published a new fact-- filled promotional brochure entitled Focusing On The Future that is sure to interest coal historians and railfans as well as industry circles.

It contains a chronology of the development of the company which began in 1916. A large fold-out map shows mine locations, rail lines and rate districts of CSXT, NS and Conrail. Nine of Massey's 15 active operations are on CSXT. Each is featured on a two-page fact sheet that includes an aerial photo, site map and vital statistics. Write to: A. T. Massey Coal Co., P.O. Box 26765, Richmond; VA 23261.

Copyright Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. Apr 1999
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