CVSR to Operate on Labor Day

The southbound Scenic train depart Peninsula station on Saturday. (Photograph by Craig Sanders)

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will be in operation on Monday, Sept. 1 on an abbreviated schedule as part of the Labor Day weekend.

Adult coach tickets will be reduced in price to $12 and the Bike Aboard! service will be available.

Trains will depart Rockside Station in Independence at 9:40 a.m. and 11:25 a.m., and from Northside Station in Akron at 10:40 a.m. The 2:40 p.m. departure from Akron will not carry originating passengers.

White River Acquires Railfan & Railroad

 

Railfan & Railroad Magazine isn’t dead just yet. White River Productions, which publishes various railroad historical society magazines, announced that it has acquired R&R plus Railroad Model Craftsman from Carstens Publications.

Carstens, which had published the magazines for decades, went out of business on Aug. 22. The agreement to purchase Railfan & Railroad and Railroad Model Craftsman will become effective on Sept. 1.

The June cover of the last issue of Railfan & Roadroad that was produced by Carstens Publications.

In a news release posted on its website, White River said staff assignments for Railfan and Railroad have yet to be determined.

Steve Barry had been the editor of the magazine at the time that Carstens suspended publication.

White River said it would finish production of the June issues of both magazines and mail them to subscribers.

Kevin EuDaly, president of White River, said that in order to get the cover dates current some issues might be combined. However, he said that subscribers will receive the number of issues still left on their subscription.

“If you have six issues left on your subscription, you will receive six issues,” he said.

The agreement with Carstens to purchase its assets, which was consummated on Aug. 28, also includes the acquisition of books division of Carstens. The agreement does not include another Carstens magazine, Flying Models.

“We are excited to welcome these two Carstens titles to our family of White River Productions publications,” EuDaly said. “These magazines are an important part of railroad publications and White River Productions looks forward to continuing their legacies.”

The mailing address for the magazines for subscriber, reader, and industry communication is the Bucklin, Mo., address for White River. (P.O. Box 48, Bucklin, MO 64631).

Advertisers should contact Mike Lindsay of White River Productions at 800-282-3291 or via email at ads@railfan.com, ads@modelcraftsman.com, or ads@ modelrailroadnews.com. Mike will be managimanaging advertising for the new titles.

Railroad Model Craftsman magazine was founded in 1933 by Emanuele Stieri as The Model Craftsman, aimed at all areas of scale modeling. Ownership of the publishing company passed in 1934 to Charles Penn.

In 1949 the name of the publication was changed to Railroad Model Craftsman, with a focus on the scale model train hobby exclusively.

Hal Carstens joined the publishing firm in 1952 and purchased the company in 1963, renaming it Carstens Publications.

Railfan & Railroad in concept goes back to 1968 when future Railroad Model Craftsman editor Tony Koester along with Jim Boyd pitched the idea to Carstens for a “railfan’s” magazine. By 1971 Jim Boyd had joined Carstens to work on Flying Models, and in 1974 Railfan was born as a quarterly publication.

It went to six times a year in 1977, and monthly in 1987. In 1979 it was merged with the defunct Railroad magazine (which began in 1906 as Railroad Man’s Magazine), becoming Railfan & Railroad.

The late Jim Boyd was editor of Railfan & Railroad  from its inception until his retirement in 1998.

White River Productions was founed by EuDaly in 1992.  It produces 22 historical society magazines plus calendars, books, and other peripheral items such as membership brochures,

advertising rate cards, annual meet announcements, and ballots. The company also publishes Model Railroad News, Railroads Illustrated, Passenger Train Journal and The Railroad Press magazine.

The company began when EuDaly decided to write and publish the book Missouri Pacific Diesel

Power. He produced The Eagle for the Missouri Pacific Historical Society from 1993 to 1996 and picked up the editor’s reins again for the MPHS in 2010. In between, he has edited and produced numerous historical society publications. His wife, Nadean, manages day-to-day operations at White River.

The White River website is http://www.whiteriverproductions.com

 

 

Bad Luck = Missing NS 8101 Yet Again

The 24W has completed its work at the Maple Heights intermodal facility and it heading eastbound in Bedford, Ohio, on Sunday, Aug. 25.

Before I left home on Sunday morning for the Akron Railroad Club outing to Alliance I saw online that the Central of Georgia heritage locomotive was leading an eastbound train that was sitting at the fuel pad in Elkhart, Ind.

I felt a surge of excitement. Of all the Norfolk Southern heritage units that I’ve yet to photograph, No. 8101 is the one I would most like to get.

The report did not say what train the 8101 was leading. Chances were good that it might be bound for Conway Yard near Pittsburgh or beyond. If so, I had a shot at capturing it during the Akron Railroad Club outing in Alliance.

Shortly after I arrived in Alliance, fellow ARRC member Paul Tait checked Heritage Units.com on his smart phone and determined that the Central of Georgia H unit was leading the 14N, a train that would pass through Alliance.

That got me even more excited. Today was going to be the day.

You see I have a history with the 8101. On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend 2012, the 8101 led a train westward through Cleveland during the afternoon.

I drove to Olmsted Falls to catch it, only to miss it by a few minutes. In early November last year I was in the Kent-Brady Lake area when the 8101 led a westbound grain train through the area around the noon hour.

I was less than a mile away from the NS tracks, but had no idea that the 8101 was in the area. Not long after that miss, I was driving home on Chester Avenue in Cleveland when I spotted the 8101 from a distance. It was a trailing unit and I didn’t have my camera with me, not that I could have gotten a photo of it given the situation.

The 8101 has been through Northeast Ohio a few other times, but I was either working, tied up with other commitments or it came past during the nighttime hours.

Paul continued to monitor the progress of the 14N as we watched trains pass through Alliance.

The 14N moved rather slowly. It was reported at Toledo at 12:44 p.m., but didn’t get out of there until nearly 2:30. The Chicago Line was congested and the 14N would not reach Berea until 5:39 p.m. It had to change crews and work at Rockport Yard.

Just before 4 p.m., fellow ARRC officer Marty Surdyk suggested that we would have a better chance of getting the 14N and the 8102 at Bedford.

Marty learned from a source that the new crew for the 14N had been called for 5 p.m.

So we trekked up to Bedford, ending up at the Willis Picnic Area of the Bedford Reservation because the “tot lot” was full when we got there.

We had no sooner parked when Marty got a text saying the 14N didn’t have a conductor. The next available crew for the 14N was called for 7:40 p.m.

Even in a best case scenario, the chances of the 14N passing our location during daylight were pretty slim. A few NS trains ran past us until we decided about 7:30 to go to dinner.

There was barely enough sunlight peeking over and between the trees to illuminate the power of the 24W, which turned out to be the last train that I photographed on this day.

It is a nice photograph but not of equal value to what I missed out on. I went home that night feeling sharply disappointed.

Marty and I had failed in the sense that we had not achieved our objective. That doesn’t mean, though, that we were failures.

We didn’t do anything wrong or in an incompetent manner. We had a good plan, but things just didn’t work out as we had hoped. Circumstances beyond our control were just not in our favor.

I’m still disappointed that I missed the 8101, but I also understand that there is an element of luck involved in photographing heritage units, including circumstances being in your favor.

I’ll keep watching for the 8101. I might even have another outing or two where I miss it. I’d like to think that I’ll get it someday but that is not guaranteed.

One thing is for sure, though. Catching up with this locomotive is higher on my wish list now than it was before Sunday.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

A Few From the ARRC’s Alliance Outing

A crude oil train approaches the Alliance Amtrak station area where Akron Railroad Club members spent much of their time in that city.

Akron Railroad Club members and guests ventured to Alliance and Sebring last Sunday to watch Norfolk Southern action and to visit the Sebring Model Railroad Club. No heritage units passed by during daylight hours under the watchful eyes of club members during our time in either city. Despite a slow start, train traffic was fairly steady throughout the day and typical of what can be seen on NS in this region. The traditional late summer outing is likely to be the club’s last railfan related activity for 2014.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

This Herzog work train was the most interesting sight of the day. We concluded that the locomotive is a cross between an Amtrak P42 and an F40.

An eastbound local arrives from Canton on the Fort Wayne Line. This train has locomotives on the end of the train to help facilitate switching moves.

A heavy manifest freight takes the Bayard Line south of out of Alliance.

Some colorful late summer foliage frames an eastbound in Alliance. The structure to the right is a monument to a visit here by Abraham Lincoln when he was en route to Washington, D.C., to be sworn in as president.

Eastbound and westbound trains execute a meet at Sebring. Note the reflection of the lead unit of the westbound train on the side of the UPS trailer of the eastbound.

NS Police Officer Hurt in Scuffle

 

A Norfolk Southern police officer in Cleveland was knocked unconscious on Wednesday afternoon after he and a burglary suspect fell from a bridge.

The officer, whose name was not given in media accounts, found a man trying to break into a rail car near Broadway and Harvard avenues at about 4 p.m. The men struggled and both fell about 14 feet off the bridge.

Paramedics took both men to MetroHealth Medical Center. The officer, 27, suffered head injuries and lost consciousness. The burglary suspect, 54, was in stable condition with multiple abrasions.

An NS spokesman confirmed that one of its police officers was involved in the incident, but said more details should come from Cleveland police. However, Cleveland police did not provide details of the incident.

 

 

 

Columbus Gets Amtrak Thruway Service

Amtrak has reinstated Thruway bus service between Pittsburgh and Columbus. The bus departs Columbus at 1:10 a.m. and connects with the eastbound Capitol Limited and Pennsylvanian. The bus is scheduled to arrive in Pittsburgh at 4:35 a.m.

The westbound bus departs Pittsburgh at 2 a.m. and offers connections from both the Pennsylvanian and the Capitol Limited. However, the connection from the Pennsylvanian is a long one of six hours.

Tickets can be purchased at amtrak.com, but the online timetables and maps do not yet include the new service.

Greyhound operates the bus, which will use the Columbus Greyhound Station. In Pittsburgh, passengers must walk across Liberty Avenue between the Pittsburgh Amtrak and Greyhound stations to make connections to their trains.

Fall Foliage Trips Set in Western New York

The Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad in conjunction  with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum will operate a series of fall foliage trips in western New York on what is usually freight-only trackage on former Erie Railroad tracks.

The trips will run on Oct. 18 and depart from Lakeville, N.Y., at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The station is the parking of the Conesus Lake Sportsmen’s club.

The trains will be pulled by Alco diesel locomotives owned by the railroad and will operate between Lakeville and Industry.

The rolling stock will be refurbished Budd stainless steel coaches built for New York Central’s Empire State Express in 1941.

Currently, volunteers are working to prepare the coaches, which are stored on a siding alongside the museum property and the LA&L main line, for use in October.

Tickets for the Fall Foliage can be purchased at Wegmans supermarket service counters.

“We’re really looking forward to operating these trips, and we are very grateful to the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville for their cooperation,” said museum President Mike Dow. “Our volunteers have been working round the clock, and we can’t wait to welcome the public aboard once again.”

For more information, visit www.rgvrrm.org/fallfoliage

Alliance, Sebring Outing Report Posted

Eleven Akron Railroad Club  members and guests turned out for the late summer outing, which this year was to Alliance and Sebring. To read an account of the day, view some photographs and see the list of trains seen, click on the following link:

https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/about/activities/2014-outing-to-alliance-sebring/

Black and Slow vs. Blue and Fast

I managed to catch the New York Central H unit negotiating the new bypass track at Battery Park near West 73rd Street in Cleveland on Thursday. It was leading a 553 empty hopper train. Main No. 1 is still in its original location and being used, but it, too, will get connected to the other bypass main. You can see both original mains off to the right. The lunchtime show was the Navy’s Blue Angels flying team, which is in town in for the Cleveland Air Show this weekend at Burke Lakefront Airport. I know this is a railroad blog, but I thought some might enjoy the jets.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

A BNSF Sampler of Old and New

BNSF motive power is not a rare sight in Northeast Ohio, but it is still a treat to see when it shows up on the point of a CSX or Norfolk Southern train.

One particular nice BNSF treat was leading the L138 on the east side of Ravenna recently on the CSX New Castle Subdivision. This is pure BNSF power and not some rent a wreck.

No. 1592 was ordered for the Colorado & Southern and spent many years working in Burlington Northern green before receiving its current “pumpkin” treatment.

Don’t remember if the BNSF 7119 was whistling as it passed this graveyard, but it is shown here on CSX in Middleburgh Heights. Another modern BNSF unit with the “Swoosh” logo leads the Q375 through Akron.

Finally, a westbound K train had empty tankers has a “Grinstein” unit trailing as it comes through Cuyahoga Falls. That’s the remnant of the former CA&C/PRR/CR line to Hudson off to the left.

Photographs by Roger Durfee