Ed’s Pennsylvania Adventure: Part 1

Last week Ursula and I did a six-day trip to Pennsylvania that focused on Altoona and Hershey.

Our first stop was Horseshoe Curve. During our time at the curve from 1:30  p.m. to 6:15 p.m. we saw 21 movements, including 18 trains and three helper movements. Several times there were two trains at the same time.

In the top photograph, the Penn Central heritage locomotive of Norfolk Southern paces from Track No. 2 another train on Track No. 3 in late afternoon.

In the top photo below, a stack train eastbound on Track 2 passes a train on track 1. In the next image an eastbound meets a westbound late in the day.

That’s the back of Ursula’s head in the next image of her making a video of the westbound Amtrak Pennsylvanian.

Most of the time the crews are friendly when Amtrak goes around the curve as was evident today from the Amdinette.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Taking Care of Unfinished Business

On Tuesday I had to take my car to Marty Surdyk’s garage in Parma for service. Prior to leaving in the morning I saw the potential of four Norfolk Southern heritage locomotive sightings if luck was with me.

They were the Lehigh Valley No. 8104, which I needed; Penn Central No. 1073

which I needed the engineer side; the Reading No. 1067, which I have never seen; and the First Responders 911 unit, which also I needed.

As the day went by I saw that the Reading turned south in Indiana and the 911 terminated in Bellevue.

This is what I got at 2:15 p.m. (PC), and 4:10 (LV). Two for four is a pretty good day.

 Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

1 Hour, 2 Heritage Units

I watched Penn Central No. 1073 this morning at 9:15 a.m. on the Horseshoe Curve rail cam. Also around that time I saw NS 8114 had been posted on Heritage Units as being in Chesterton, Indiana. What would be the chances for seeing two in one day?

I called fellow Akron Railroad Club member Jeff Troutman and he was attending a funeral but said he should be back home in the afternoon.

They were closing in so I figured if I drove we would have to be on the road by 3:30 p.m. I called Jeff and he was to be home a little after 3 p.m. I got him at 3:30 p.m.

We got to the Tot Lot in Bedford at about 4:50 p.m. The first two photos were made about a minute later.

A young railfan from Wisconsin with his father had no idea this was coming and was super excited. Then his excitement returned about 50 minutes later. It was a good day for everybody.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Another Penn Central Throwback Look

Here are a couple more photos from my trip last weekend. I caught Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian and then the 20W led by Penn Central heritage unit 1073 at Lily Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Railroad era signal bridge still stands for now but probably not for much longer.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

PC Heritage Unit in Altoona

Todd Dillon writes that he took a trip to Pennsylvania last weekend and managed to catch the Penn Central heritage locomotive leading Norfolk Southern train 20W at Alto tower in Altoona.

Yesterday on this site we had a PC train being led by New York Central locomotives. Today we feature an NS train with a PC lookalike unit.

One of these days we’ll feature an actual PC train with an actual PC locomotive.

Photograph by Todd Dillon

Sanders Photo Used on NRHS Facebook Page

A photo taken of a Norfolk Southern heritage locomotive by Akron Railroad Club President Craig Sanders is now the image posted at the top of the Facebook page of the National Railway Historical Society.

The image shows NS 1073 — the Penn Central heritage locomotive — leading a westbound crude oil train through Berea at dusk.

Sanders made the image on Saturday night before attending the banquet of the Forest City Division-Railroad Enthusiasts, which was also held in Berea.

Charles Williams, the editor of the NRHS News, saw the image, liked it and asked to use it.

The image has the NS 1073 against a backgound of a billowing cumulus cloud illuminated by the setting sun.

After the Conrail-Penn Central ‘Breakup’

A zoom in shot showing 8098 and the 195 signal bridge.

Due to work obligations I wasn’t able to get the Conrail/Penn Central heritage duo together when they returned to Cleveland on Wednesday, but I did manage to catch them both after they were separated.

First it was the 27N with the Conrail H unit now doing its solo gig at Lewis Road in Olmsted Falls passing under the 195 signal bridge.

Then it was back over to Rockport Yard in Cleveland to photograph the sitting duck PC unit. Prior to the 27N showing up, the 15N headed west with three BNSF units.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

Closer view of Big Blue.

Roster view of the 1073.

PC unit with 14N and the Rockport yard office in the background. Note CR coil car behind the 1073 that is still in a patched PC green.

It is one busy railroad at Lewis Road.

The 15N with the three BNSF units heads west.

 

 

Conrail, PC H Units Split up in Cleveland

The pairing of the Conrail and Penn Central heritage locomotives of Norfolk Southern came to an unceremonious end on Wednesday afternoon in Rockport Yard in Cleveland.

The duo came into town around 1 p.m. leading the 27N, an auto rack train bound for Fairlane Yard near Amherst.

At Rockport, the NS 1073 (Penn Central) and NS 1011 were removed and the 27N left town behind only the NS 8098 (Conrail).

Online reports indicate that a small number of fans were gathered in Berea to witness the second coming of the Conrail/Penn Central duo but had to settle for just Conrail.

The Conrail and PC pair had emerged last Sunday from Chicago leading the 24M, an intermodal train bound for Baltimore.

After arriving there on Monday, the pair along with NS 1011 were cut off and subsequently assigned to the 33A, which operated to Enola Yard near Harrisburg, Pa.

That brought them to their last assignment together, the 27N.

Black and Blue at Brady Lake 36 Years Apart

 

Once I got word that the Conrail/Penn Central heritage duo would be through my area in daylight (thanks to all for updates), the choice of location was a no brainer for me.

I have been photographing from this location since the 1970s, all through Conrail’s existence.

It’s been said “you can’t go home again,” but the Norfolk Southern heritage program provides a close stand-in for how the past might look like today.

The top photo is, of course, the 24M from Sunday and the second photo is from January 1979 of a Conrail eastbound with an earlier blue/black duo. Who’d a thunk it?

Overgrowth has hidden the former Lake Erie & Pittsburgh (New York Central) northern flyover track and the trough truss bridge came out in the clearance project of the mid 1990s.

The south connection is still in as the Hugo lead for about two miles but is currently out of service.

Also included in the sequence are two more earlier Conrail photos from Brady Lake that were created in February 1979.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

Double Bonus Sunday on NS Chicago Line; Conrail and Penn Central H Units Plus Something New

It was a family portrait at Olmsted Falls on Sunday with a Pennsy cabin car, New York Central station, the Penn Central heritage locomotive and the successor of all of them, the H unit honoring Conrail.

Early Sunday morning I got an email giving me a heads up that an unusual pairing of Norfolk Southern heritage locomotives had left Chicago in the predawn hours heading east.

The 24M had on the point the NS 8098 (Conrail) and NS 1073 (Penn Central) with the NS 1011 as the third unit. All three units were facing east.

The 24M is an afternoon train in Cleveland and I kept checking online sources to follow its progress. I really didn’t want to miss this train.

First, the Conrail H unit is the only one NS heritage locomotive that I’ve never seen and, second, because of the unique pairing of successor and predecessor.

I left home at about 12:15 p.m. and headed for Olmsted Falls. The 24M had been reported past Millbury 30 minutes earlier.

This is a hot train and it was making good time on a dreary day. The railfan cyberspace world was buzzing.

As I drove west on Interstate 480, I spotted the eastbound Canadian Pacific intermodal train that uses CSX rails between Chicago and Buffalo, N.Y. I took that to be a good sign.

Shortly after I arrived in Olmsted Falls I got another unexpected treat. The M8A called a signal on Track No. 2 at CP 197.

I got into position couldn’t believe my eyes. On the lead was the CREX 1324. It was the first time I’ve been in a position to photograph one of these Citirail ES44AC units leading a train.

Now I knew that it was going to be a special day.

About a half hour later I heard the 24M key up the Toledo East dispatcher to discuss a less than clear signal indication. She told the crew to keep coming, that the signal would come in shortly.

The headlight came into view and there it was. One of two NS heritage locomotives that I have yet to photograph was in my viewfinder.

I wasn’t necessarily thinking of it at the time, but one of my images was an “all in the family” portrait with a Pennsylvania Railroad cabin car (a.k.a. a caboose), a former New York Central station, the Penn Central heritage locomotive and the Conrail heritage locomotive.

Indeed a guy on an email list to which I belong said that all three railroads that he had worked for were represented in that image.

There was talk on Trainorders.com that this motive power consist was a setup. The units were clean and NS company photographer Casey Thomason was out photographing it.

Intentional of not, the pairing these two heritage locomotives together was a stroke of good fortune for those lucky enough to see it.

I had work to do at home so I left shortly after the 24M passed. I had seen two trains in less than two hours and each had something I had never photographed before. I’d call that a quite successful day.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

The 24M is motoring through Olmsted Falls just west of the depot.

A throwback to the early Conrail era. But I’ll bet the PC units were not as clean back then as the NS 1073 was on Sunday.

Before the main event, the warm up act was pretty special for me. The CREX 1324 leads the M8A. This train received an NS leader at CP Max.

The M8A had a BNSF unit trailing.