Maryland & Delaware Chestertown Line Job Description

Welcome to the M&D Chestertown Line Job Description Page!!
Below is a line description of the Chestertown Line, as well as a description of it's local operations.

To preface this information, let's first establish what constitutes the Chestertown Line. Generally, anything on the main that is WEST of the switch for Centreville is considered the Chestertown Line. Anything east of the switch would be considered the Centreville Line. Operations on the Chestertown Line begin around 7AM at the engine house in Massey. One of a few things can happen. If on a Wednesday or Friday, the crew is probably heading for the NS Interchange in Townsend, De., to pick up freight dropped off by NS on Tuesday and Thursday. When doing this, they may take empties that weren't taken to interchange earlier in the week. The second possibility is that the cars are already online at the MP 8 Runaround just east of town (technically on the Centreville Line), and they'll just go to the Runaround and get the train and head west. The third, and very unlikely possibility, is that the train has no cars to take to Chestertown and is heading west lite to simply bring empties out of or switch cars around at Velsicol. A fourth, and more unlikely possibility, is that the crew will first run the Centreville Line, and then come back into town and head west on the Chestertown Line. This is not typically done, as it makes for one extra long day, even if everything goes according to plan.

Heading west, the train may stop at Kennedyville to work the Southern States Co-op in town. This stop is prevalent during the many fertilizer seasons during the year, but not at any other time. Moving further west is the busy siding in Lynch. Off of just the one track there work Perdue, Willard Agri-Service and Southern States. Though this is most often worked going back east, the general idea is that Perdue loads cars of corn and wheat at the mill and the other two customers unload fertilizer-related commodities. The train crew may be here a while sorting out the mess, but this is usually an eastbound switch.

Arriving at the end of the line in Worton, the first switch may be for CPS Worton, which is yet another fertilizer-related customer that will receive fertilizer cars during the appropriate times of year. The mainstay in Worton is located just west of CPS; Velsicol. A typically Velsicol switch will see a few in and a few out, though much switching and position swapping of tanks may go on during the course of the crew's work there. Once complete, the crew will run around the train and head back east, possibly stopping to do the aforementioned work in Lynch before arriving back in Massey. Once back at Massey, any cars that need to be weighed (Velsicol and Perdue weigh) will be weighed, and the decision whether or not to go to interchange will be determined.

Local work around Massey is subject to crew preference and customer demand. If there are cars to go into Wenger Feeds in Massey (technically on the Centreville Line), they may be placed before the train leaves or after the train returns. There is usually a sufficient amount of cars in the mill that they don't desire anything sitting in the Runaround first thing in the morning. The same can be true of Royster Clark, who unloads just off the west side of the road in downtown Massey by the engine house.

Grain Season Operations

Core operations during the course of grain season can vary significantly from other times of the year. This time generally lasts from September through late October. To begin with, peak days during grain season will see two MDDE trains working simultaneously on the northern lines, with one crew working the Centreville Line and one crew working the Chestertown Line. While one crew goes to interchange and picks up cars from NS, the other crew may do local work around town, or simply wait in a holding pattern until their cars are ready upon return from interchange.

Either way, the crews are kept busy getting empties into the mills at Lynch (C-town Line) and Roberts (C-ville) line. Storage of empties waiting to go into the mills is also the responsibility of the crews working each line. Lynch empties may be stored in Massey, or at the end of the line in Worton. Likewise, Roberts empties may be stored in Sudlersville, Roberts, or even at the end of the line in Carville. It is a generally fun time if you like logistics, as cars will be moving everywhere to keep the railroad fluid. Throw in the fact that you have one of the fertilizer rushes occurring during this time and you have a really fun situation.

Most days, however, see one crew laboring for what will likely be near or equal to twelve hours to get Roberts and Lynch taken care of in addition to their usual local duties. A day where the crew must go to interchange, then Roberts, then back to Massey and out to Chestertown and back (working Lynch on the way) will be a normal, and taxing, day for the crews during this time. Generally speaking, this is the time of year to see trains out there doing odd things at odd times of the day.

Current engine assignments on the Centreville Line are RS3M 1202 and SW900 801. There will normally only be one unit operating unless there are two trains running, one working each line. Standard power is the 1202.