A few people in Northeast Ohio might find this interesting, but at the end of the October, two new trains have been added to the NS Youngstown Line which now run between Youngstown and Ashtabula. They are CSX eastbound intermodal Q354 & westbound Q355. Yes, I do know the symbols go with west and east but the YL is north and south, but that's the only part of where these 2 trains run that go north and south, the rest of the trip is west and east. These 2 intermodals replace the original Q135 & Q136. As for Q354 & 355, 354 originates in Ashtabula Ohio and ends in Portsmouth Virginia and 355 is visa versa. Anyway, here's a qoute from Trains Magazine about these trains - "The westbound Q355 sets off its Louisville and Chicago traffic at Connellsville, Pa., to be picked up by another intermodal train. It also makes a setout at the new Pittsburgh intermodal terminal.
Everything else — container blocks for Cleveland, Columbus, and Detroit — goes to Ashtabula, where it is picked up by Q391, a Buffalo, N.Y., to Columbus, Ohio, merchandise train. At Cleveland, the Q391 drops Cleveland and Detroit blocks. At Willard, Ohio, it picks up Columbus containers left by other trains and sets out everything not destined for the Columbus intermodal ramp. It then heads for Columbus.
Although the containers lay over in Ashtabula for up to 20 hours, overall transit time remains the same as the old schedule via North Baltimore. Cutoff in Portsmouth is 5 p.m. on Monday, for example, with availability in Columbus at 7 a.m. on Friday."
You can find more info here - http://trn.trains.com/news/new...x-and-block-swapping
I wanted to mention this in case someone has lately been seeing 2 CSX container trains on the Youngstown Line.
