Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Your welcome Dan. I used to spend a lot of time in that area and really loved it. If I could have had the choice to live there, I would, but life had other plans for me. Now I try to get back there at least once a year for a few days. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to be helpful.

Thanks so much for the great information Jim. It never did dawn on me that the coal train i saw could have been heading to the steel mills in Northwestern Indiana. Ive always liked watching trains just havent gotten into them like i have with the boats. That area up there appears to always be busy with train traffic whenever we are up there. My wife and i usually go up to Cedar Point 2 or 3 times a summer and Bellview is always our last rest stop before finishing the trip into Milan where we have been staying at the Motel 6 now for the last 4yrs. Since i have blood clots in my legs that stop we make in Bellview is at a gas station/convince store where i can walk around for 15min or so. Anyways seems like everytime we stop we see 2 or 3 trains in just a shortb15-20min time frame. Then at the hotel it seems like theres trains going buy 3 or 4 a hour.
After thinking about it the boat traffic does appear to be down at the Coal dock in Sandusky. The Boland was the only boat i saw loading there this summer when we made our trips up there. In the past each time we went there was a different boat loading each time. Alot of Canada Steamship boats in the past. Could also be a sign of the times with maney of the power plants shutting down.
Maybe I'll start to follow the trains more like i do the boats. Once again thanks again for the great information.
Dan

Dan,
Sandusky is used exclusively to load boats. No transfers to other rail cars there. When I used to go to Bellevue regularly, the Sandusky coal trains ran big, close to 200 cars. With the new connections installed with the old Conrail at Sandusky, it is possible that the train you saw could have been destined for some place else. NS ships met coal to the the steel mills in Indiana. The Sandusky dock has the ability to load into storage silos so they may not be directly dumping when the boat is there. Conversely, the can be dumping cars when there are no boats present.

As with the railroad and the boat business, all is subject to change with little notice. I recently read on another forum that the Sandusky dock was having a hard time absorbing the business from the now closed dock in Ashtabula. Perhaps shorter trains are a result of that.

At any rate, I hope that you get to see the Boland and have a good time at Cedar Point.

- Jim

Thanks very much for the information gentleman i greatly appreciate it. Seems like alot of diffrent type of train traffic going threw that area. My Wife and I stayed at the Days Inn right off US 250 in Milan Ohio Friday night and Saturday night then came back home to Indianapolis Indiana and we were right next to the train tracks and i must have saw 10 or more trains Fridays and Saturday night each and that's not counting the one's i heard while in bed falling asleep. Most were Northfolk Southern trains but i also saw a few Union Pacific trains. Kinda suprised i didn't see any CSX trains since those seem to be everywhere. One train i saw was a grain train. 5 Northfolk Southern engines with 137 grain cars behind them. Seems the fall season grain rush is well underway for both our beloved Boats and the trains. The highlight of my unplanned train watching was just after sunrise Saturday morning a train with 4 engines both Northfolk Southern and Union Pacific, one of the Northfolk Southern engines was the front engine and behind the engines were a mix of diffrent type of train cars. I counted 77 cars, but at the very end of the train was a Caboose. Now I'm 34yrs old and I haven't seen a Caboose at the end of a train since i was around 9 or 10yrs old. Sure wish i knew i was going to see one at the end of that train as i would have had my camera with me. My apologies for rambling on and and getting off topic here.
Dan McNeil

I believe she would be filled to full capacity before she would be down to her marks.

A typical railroad coal car will hold around 120 net tons, so your 110-car train would have in the neighborhood of 13200 tons of coal. I found a stat where the Boland's capacity is 34000 tons which would then be around 2.5 trainloads.

Saw a Northfolk Southern train this afternoon in Bellview Ohio which is just outside of Sandusky Ohio and it had about 110 cars loaded with coal. My question is does the NS coal dock in Sandusky only receive coal by train then ships it out on the boats or does it also load trains with coal there and moves the coal elsewhere by train?. Kinda a confusing question and im sorry but it had me wondering. According to the Sandusky Register the John J. Boland is due in at 1am Saturday Morning to load coal. Im hopeing to see her while my wife and i are at Cedar Point Saturday. If that coal train i saw was in fact heading to the NS Coal dock in Sandusky how maney coal cars would it take to load a boat like the Boland's size? Thanks so much for any information and once again sorry for such a confusing question and you would think after being a Boatnerd going on 21yrs now that I'd know this information and how maney coal cars it takes to load a Boat the Boland's size.
Dan McNeil