History

Norfolk Southern's North End territory covers roughly 165 miles of trackage between Cincinnati's Gest Street Yard and Cedar Grove, KY (just south of Somerset at CP-Grove). Construction started on the line at Kings Mountain, KY in 1873 and was completed six years later. The CNO&TP is actually owned by the city of Cincinnati, but is leased to Norfolk Southern.

Traffic

Traffic on the CNO&TP can be very heavy with and average of 45-50 trains per day. Traffic includes several manifest trains (111/112, 116/117, 123/124, 143/144, 160/161, 167/168, 170, 174/175, 177, 179/180, 196, and 375/376), auto parts (132/133), Intermodal (215/216, 223/224, 229/230, 235/236, 22A/23G), autoracks (239, 275, 282, 283, 284, 285, 287, 294, 25A, and 29N), and roadrailers (246, 251, and 264). A pair of steel coil trains (60A/61A) will also be seen daily. Train 70K, which arrives from the CSX in Lexington runs 2-3 times a week and will serves the Kentucky Utilities power plant near Brown. Recently, NS has been running trains with housing units for FEMA (041/042, 043/044) Locals are located near Cincinnati (T15, T20), Georgetown (T60, T63), Lexington (T66/T67), and Somerset (T01/T45). The Danville east and west side yard jobs will also come out on the main sometimes. Finally, bulk commodities and extras will run as needed.

Operations

The CNO&TP North End is CTC, operated by the North End Dispatcher in Knoxville, TN. The majority of the territory is double tracked, but several sections of single track can be choke points. Also, several trains will work Delaplain and Lexington. It's not uncommon for trains waiting to work these areas to be held out for an hour or two. Some trains will also have to work Somerset. Danville is the crew change point, and several trains will work there as well. Other trains will exit at Danville and then re-enter later.

The Sim

This North End sim was created by Gene Hardy and is an accurate representation of current day operations on the CNO&TP. To simulate the re-fuel points at Perryville Street and Stewarts Lane, local work areas have been added. Trains can be fueled at Perryville on both tracks, but only on the #2 track at Stewarts Lane.