2012 versus 1996 - It ain't all that different!

agentadq has been posting video after video of CSX O721 in 1996. I must say I'm flattered and very appreciative to see this sudden inflow of videos on YouTube from that time period. Though, I am a little surprised it wasn't THAT impressive back then.

But seeing it all led me to this conclusion: 1996 was almost no different from 2012. Here are the following side by side differences:

• 1996: The job ran M-F, with MWF being half Homestead, half CSR Rinker (now Cemex), and TuTh being straight shot to Rinker. Slight deviations to the weekend... 2012: Su-Th, Cemex three to four times a week, and local runs to Orr, ProBuild, and AFEC mid week, usually M, Tu, or Wed (sometimes pick 2 days). Occasionally in 2012 they run Fridays. 
• 1996: Dominant carloadings were for 84 Lumber (became Stock Builder then just left the building), some AFEC, and Rinker, maybe Orr as well but I have yet to see a video. PB didn't exist and K&A lumber (short lived) not so much either. Combined in one job. 2012: Most frequent customers aside from CYDX are Orr and ProBuild. Seal-Tite is here-and-there, and AFEC is a little more frequent. 
• 1996: Strictly 4-axle power, no matter what day. 2012: 4-axle power on the manifest moves, 6-axle power to CYDX.
• 1996: Crappy track. 2012: refurbished track, sort of.
• 1996: Time on 9am, 2012: time on 4:00 PM. Oh well.

In 1996, it can be concluded ONLY O721 ran on the Homestead (Or was it O719?). In 1998 ish was when the job moved and O719 came in being the morning job. By 2001-2002, there were two rock drags per day and I remember in 2007 seeing O719 tied at Oleander with two dash 8s and loaded rock at 3pm. 2009 they cut O719 and unfortunately we're down to O721 now. However, cyclic trends can show that we can be seeing good faith in the line by 2015-2017 at this rate. Seeing this time period provides a study of the line that hasn't been available before. Yet I appreciate the offering so much. 

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