What’s New at Berea?

The Front Street bridge project is getting ahead of schedule. The north portion over the Norfolk Southern mainline has the concrete deck near completion and is coming along nicely.  A worker checking on things Sunday (July 18, 2010) said they are pleased with the timeline and the “nice but hot” weather.  The fence on some portions of the bridge is not as tall or made like the fence directly over the tracks so you can get pictures of the area, but it will be at an angle north or south of the two mainline tracks.

One of my fears of the Bagley Road and Front Street projects was the elimination of the crossings, thus giving CSX a rather long area to stop trains and not cause roadway problems.  Now when there’s work at Parma or congestion due to the tunnel near CP 8 or CP 9 trains are already stopping at the Berea interlocking, blocking the view of other CSX or NS action.  This is similar to the “CSX wall” that appears in Willard.  This morning an eastbound blocked the view for over an hour. Later in the day, another train stopped but, fortunately, was east of the area.

I noted that several people then went to the west end of the interlock and parked at the Baldwin- Wallace College lot. Railfans have been asked not to park there and leave the area. Trash thrown about in the area is not going to help matters, either, so we’ll see what happens.

Article by Dan Davidson

Tags: Berea, railfanning