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Welcome to the NEW Chessies Road Information on the Plymouth <> Diamond and connecting Michigan Subdivisions. "Make SAFETY first, and make it last"
Here you will now find accurate railfanning information for the immediate and surrounding area of Plymouth, MI, home of the primary CSX diamond in the state. This home page provides basic and general information about the movements and trackage in Plymouth, as well as detailed rail maps of the immediate area. Photos of these areas have been included showing the different numbered photo locations as indicated on the maps, and can be found at Plymouth Points, highlighting 10 good public photo locations: 5 near the diamond and 5 in the greater Plymouth area. A number of other photos of trains in action around Plymouth are now on a sub-page called Diamond Photos, which showcases various typical trains moving through the region. The updates and reports section from Chessies Road have now been moved to Plymouth News. We have updated Chessies Road with the latest Subdivision changes which went into effect by CSX on April 9, 2006. If you have any questions or corrections, drop a message to the editors at chessiechapter@hotmail.com.
THE BASIC LAYOUT Plymouth is perhaps the busiest point on the CSX system in the state of Michigan, as it is the location where its two in-state mainlines cross, and its proxemity to Detroit require that several yards be spread around the diamond area. CSXT acquired these lines from the Chessie System in 1986, who in turn inherited these lines from the C&O in 1972, who absorbed the owner of this trackage, the Pere Marquette, in 1947. All of this Michigan mainline trackage today is part of the CSX Detroit Service Lane. The two mainlines here are the SAGINAW SUBDIVISION, and the DETROIT and PLYMOUTH SUBDIVISIONS. The Saginaw Subdivision is the north-south line extending from milepost CC26.2 at the north end of the Mt. Morris Siding in Flint south to CC104.7 at the Carleton Diamond. North of Flint, the track is leased to Saginaw Bay Southern. The line also continues south of Carleton approximately 30 more miles from Carleton to Walbridge Yard at Toledo, OH as the Toledo Terminal Subdivision. Effective April 9, 2006, the portion of the Saginaw Subdivision which is between CC80.8 Middle River and 87.2 John Hix is now part of the Plymouth Subdivision. We will continue to refer to this as the Saginaw Line to avoid confusion. The Detroit Subdivision is a doubletrack mainline stretching from milepost CH1.0 at the Boatyard in Detroit through CSX's main Detroit yard at Rougemere (CH6.6) west to the Hines Park signal (just east of the Plymouth Diamond) at CH24.1. Extending west of the signal across the diamond and beyond is the Plymouth Subdivision, which goes all the way to CH148.1 at Seymour on the east side of Grand Rapids. The Plymouth Diamond is located at CH24.5 on the Detroit-Grand Rapids line and CC82.0 on the Saginaw-Toledo line. MAPS OF THE REGION 
This is the general layout of trackage in the immediate Plymouth Diamond area. The area within the four wye tracks surrounding the diamond is CSX property and not a welcome place for railfans. The diamond itself is INACCESSABLE, so please respect railroad property and utilize the public locations listed on the map to view the trains around Plymouth. An additional map covering a larger range is below. We recommend you save this .JPG file to your computer and print it for your use. It is wise to bring a good, detailed street map along if you are unfamiliar with the area. This map is not to scale.
This is the general layout of trackage in the larger Plymouth area. This map clearly shows the four CSX mainlines radiating away from the diamond area, and the various passing sidings and running tracks. Also indicated are the three yards around Plymouth which comprise the Plymouth Yard. North Yard is centrally located north the Diamond, while East Yard (sometimes referred to as Haggerty Yard) is east along the Detroit Sub., and the Ford Heater Yard (serving the Ford Climate Control plant) is west along the Plymouth Sub. With so many yard and local jobs based out of Plymouth, this helps clear up where they may be going when headed in a particular direction. The numbered locations represent some good public photo points around the greater Plymouth area, which we encourage you to use. It works best to save this .JPG image to your computer and print it out for use. It is wise to bring a good, detailed street map along if you are unfamiliar with the area. This map is not to scale. Click over to PLYMOUTH POINTS to match the numbered photo locations with photos and specific railfan information. IN GENERAL The early morning at and after dawn tends to be busy with many symboled road trains passing through town. As the morning progresses, the first set of locals will begin to work Plymouth area industries and yards, and transfer jobs will head out to pick up and set off cars from other yards. MOW crews will also start around this time, setting work limits which require all trains to get special permission to pass through. Some road freights frequently appear around the lunch hour, among them often CP Rail X500, and perhaps a special commodities train or two. The afternoon tends to bring longer periods of down time, although some locals will return and a second set will depart, and a switching crew will be working cars at North Yard. Q327 comes west from Detroit bound for Grand Rapids during the mid-afternoon, as does Q216 from Rougemere which is Toledo-bound. The afternoon may also bring a late Q train, or special commodity trains. As MOW crews wrap up work shortly before dinner, the transfer and local jobs will all begin to return, and road traffic will slowly pick back up through the evening. CP Rail's lone remaining run-through train, X500, usually comes through Plymouth during the hours around 12noon. With the double track Detroit Subdivision extending east, and lengthy passing tracks west and south of town, a number of meets are arranged here. Frequently, more then one local job will be moving on each line, particularly south and east of town, although at least one local job works in every direction from the diamond weekdays. The Detroit Subdivision, and Saginaw Subdivision funnel south-of-town are the busiest two lines here, and consequentially, the SE Toledo wye is the busiest of the four wyes which connect the mainlines at the diamond. Congestion tends to be particularly heavy south of town, as the diamonds at Wayne, Romulus, and Carleton can create bottlenecks, as well as the few single track sections between Plymouth and Romulus. South of the NS diamond at Romulus, the CSX becomes doubletrack all the way to Toledo, with track 1 as the NB main and track 2 for SB traffic. Road traffic (Q trains and all other through freights) volumes tend to build through the weekdays and peak on Friday, and will compliment the daily local and transfer jobs. Most road trains will run during the weekend, but schedules will vary because the number of locals is reduced and no MOW crews will be out. Monday morning is clean up from the weekend and sometimes will see a few additional trains in the area. All road trains will generally use CSX Road Channel 1 160.230 and RN Dispatcher channel 160.320, with dispatcher/working channel 161.370 as a secondary. The Plymouth Yard channels are 160.905 and 161.070. Additional CSX frequencies can be found under The Junction at TUNE IN. While a scanner may be helpful, railfanning can be done just as easily by being observant of signal indications (virtually all signals are "constant lit" and will show "stop" unless a train is coming) and switch positions. THE TRAINS & SUBDIVISIONS CSX's Detroit Subdivision is a doubletrack mainline with a number of smaller yards and quite a few daily moves, up to about 25 total. While about 8-10 of this number used to be CP Rail through trains which have trackage rights over the CSX from Detroit to Grand Rapids and on to Chicago, X500 is now the only train which makes the entire journey. Occassionally, additional CP Rail traffic will turn south at Plymouth for Toledo. The CSX portion of the total is broken down into 8-10 manifest/mixed freights, and an assortment of Coke Express/autorack/grain/or container trains, with the remainder as shifters and transfer jobs switching industries and bringing cars to and from the various yards along the line. CSX's RN dispatcher governs this Sub. The Plymouth Subdivision west of town is a single track mainline with many passing sidings, the first extending from just west of the diamond to the Beck Road crossing, including the Ford Heater Yard. This line will see 4 CSX manifest freights (Q326/327 and Q334/335), plus the same CP Rail run-through (X500) as on the Detroit Sub. Special commodity trains on the section of line include various grain/coal/lime/stone trains (or empties of those), most of which come up from Toledo on the Saginaw Sub. and turn west at Plymouth. Local jobs from North Yard will switch as far as the Ford Heater Yard (usually Y205); farther west toward South Lyon and Lansing, the industries are served by an Ensel-based local symboled D709. The RN desk controls the entire line between Plymouth and Porter.
The Saginaw Subdivision will look completely different whether you are north or south of the diamond. South of the diamond, it is a very busy mainline that is single track with passing sidings south to Romulus, and from there south a double track main. About 30-35 moves total use this line south, as it is the funnel for most CSX traffic into eastern Michigan. This includes up to 12 total manifests, up to another 10 special commodity trains (coal/grain/stone/Coke Express/lime or empties), about 4 autorack trains to and from Detroit, and a remainder transfer and local jobs. North of the diamond, generally no more than 8 trains polish the single track main rails, broken down into 2 manifests (Q321 southbound and Q322 northbound), up to 4 coal, stone, or grain trains, autoracks to or from Wixom's Lincoln Yard, and a local job or two (D739 works from Plymouth to Wixom and return, D737 works south from Flint plus the Wixom Switcher). The entire Subdivision is controlled by the RN desk in Calumet City, IL.
Additional extra, local, and lite power moves may be called throughout the day on all three subdivisions. On the rare occasion, you may also see a helper unit or two hook on to a westbound train departing Plymouth for Grand Rapids to assist up Salem Hill (also known as Dehoco Hill). The information provided above includes approximate maximum train counts in the Plymouth area. Additional locations along the various subdivisions (such as Wayne Assembly or the New Boston Auto Ramp) will warrant additional trains which do not pass through Plymouth itself.
CHESSIE CHAPTER'S Plymouth Subdivision page has more information about the Plymouth SD west of town. Additional Information about Plymouth including specific train symbols, radio frequencies, and many more photos can be found at The Plymouth Diamond
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