NS/NYC/LSMS Burns Harbor Railyard

(Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2023

 Mark Anthony DeLeon, Apr 2018

railroad_journal posted

NS Burns Harbor Yard

NS Burns Harbor Yard is located on the north side of the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line, between CP 485 and CP 487.  The yard is surrounded by US Steel Midwest Plant finishing facility, Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, and Cleveland-Cliffs integrated steel mill.

The industrial development here began in conjunction with the opening of the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada, that connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, allowing ships to bypass Niagara Falls. It is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a deep waterway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

The New York Central mainline was moved 1,000’ south to accommodate the industrial construction. A temporary yard was built in 1959 to support the immense construction activity. After 20 months of construction, the NYC Burns Harbor Yard initially served plants of Midwest and Bethlehem steel companies. The new yard’s capacity was 680 freight cars with seven classification tracks and two outbound and receiving tracks. As the Bethlehem Steel plant expanded, so did the yard.  Today, Burns Harbor Yard is operated by Norfolk Southern.

Evan Jones: The numbering actually goes:

1-2 (no 3)

4-13 (no 14)

15-22 (no 23)

Then track 24 is the RIP

railroad_journal posted two photos with the comment:

Burns Harbor Block Swap

NS Manifest 317 Elkhart, IN to Kankakee, IL stopping Burns Harbor Yard pick up and drop off cars. The return is 318 Kankakee to Elkhart.

The lone power on the train is NS 7616 GE ES40DC.  The ES40DC (Evolution Series, 4,000 hp, DC traction) replaced the Dash 9-40CW model in the General Electric catalogue and, like the former model, was delivered exclusively to Norfolk Southern Railway.

This is steel country, with the large Cliffs integrated steel mill at Burn Harbor churning many tons of steel each day. The plant operates two blast furnaces that can produce nearly 5 million net tons of raw steel annually. The train is largely coil steel cars and gondolas, with flat cars of plate steel mixed in.

1

2

railroad_journal posted

Burns Harbor Yard 

Coal unit train doubled on adjacent track at Norfolk Southern Burns Harbor Yard bound for steel mill.

NS Burns Harbor Yard is located on the north side of the NS main line, between CP 485 and CP 487. This yard services US Steel’s Midwest works, the former Bethlehem Steel mill and other facilities along the Burns Harbor of Lake Michigan. The Burns Harbor fully-integrated steelmaking facility, is Cleveland-Cliffs’ second-largest U.S. facility, , located on Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, 50 miles southeast of Chicago.

Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor is an active maritime port owned by the State of Indiana. The port is served by the Burns Harbor Railroad, which interchanges cars with the adjacent Norfolk Southern Yard. The major traffic from the facility is steel coils with covered hoppers and tank cars also being used by multiple customers and one warehouse listed as using boxcars.