Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern Railroad - Trains Magazine

Here is some info I know about the west end.  I live in Valparaiso, In. and have watched/listened to the CF&E casually.  

The line accesses Chicago thru the Blue Island (IHB) Yard.  Going east it uses the IHB and CSX to access the CFE tracks at Tolleston (Gary,In).  From there it is a straight shot on their track to Ft Wayne.  The line is however, dispatched by the NS Ft Wayne Dispatcher who also dispatches the parallel NS (former NKP line) between Chicago and Ft Wayne.  

NS has trackage rights on the CFE and there are big plans to run a number of trains between East Hobart and Ft Wayne.  There is a connection track at East Hobart between the CFE to the NS (Westbound) and the CFE/NS are basically ran as double track to Spriggsboro, about 10 miles east where there is a connection track.  Google map this area and you will be able to follow this.  

NS announced their intentions to run up to 6 trains daily on the CFE, due to congestion on the Elkhart line (up to 100 trains daily) and the expansion of Bellevue, Ohio yard (on the former NKP).  Primarily this was to be oil trains...but this hasnt really occurred.

I do not have inside info, but my guess is that the line on the west end (Hobart to Ft Wayne) is not being used due to poor track conditions.  I recently saw an EB CFE with 100 cars moving about 10mph.  NS tried running a few trains on the line, including the 13J (daily auto rack from Ft Wayne to Gibson yard) but that seems to have ended, at least for now.

Problems on the line include:

1.  Slow track speed.

2.  Very few passing sidings.

3.  No signals.

4.  CFE trains often park at Martin Luther King Dr. in Gary as they cannot access the IHB yard and thus park...which will tie up the track.

CFE will run locals out of Warsaw west to serve a few industries in Plymouth, Hamlet, Hanna, and Valparaiso.  Plus there are unit grain trains which load out of Hamlet about 3x month.

There is room for passing sidings as the former PRR was double tracked (one track removed in 1980s).  How much will NS invest in this line?  Time will tell.

Ed