Norfolk Southern 1065, the Savannah & Atlanta heritage locomotive, splits Nickel Plate Road vintage signals at Parrish on the west side of Conneaut.
On our recent venture to Conneaut, Ed Ribinskas and I were sitting in my car when a fellow railfan approached and told us that the Savannah & Atlanta heritage locomotive of Norfolk Southern was leading an auto rack train westward.
That was news to us. Ed had seen online that NS 1065 had reached Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday night, but it was thought that it would go back eastward.
Instead, it wound up on the point of the 287. The local railfan later came back to let us know that the 287, which by now had the symbol I87, was parked at Thompson Drive waiting for eastbound traffic to clear.
The Bessemer & Lake Erie train that we were waiting on was still working in the yard so off we went to get the stationary H unit.
The I87 ended up waiting for about an hour and a half while the 14T, the 206 and 22K passed by.
As the 22K was still crossing the trestle over Conneaut Creek, the Youngstown Line dispatcher came on to tell the I87 that as soon as the 22K cleared Woodworth – the signal at the end of double track east of the trestle – to look for a light.
We had given up chasing the B&LE train because we wanted to get the S&A H unit crossing the trestle.
After getting it there, we headed west to intercept it again. Our plan was to get it passing the ex-Nickel Plate Road station at North Kingsville, which is now used by a building supply company. The train had to move rather slowly through Conneaut, which worked to our advantage.
Despite having to travel city streets, we were able to beat it to Parrish Road, which goes over the NS tracks on a bridge built in recent years. The NKP vintage signals at Parrish still stand.
The I87 beat us to North Kingsville, so we didn’t get any photos at that location. That was OK because I liked the scene at Parrish.
We then intercepted the I87 in Perry before heading for the Akron Railroad Club member’s night event.
Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders
Waiting at Thompson Drive for eastbound traffic. It would be a long wait.
Soaring over Conneaut Creek.
Alas, the B&LE road freight had already left town so there was no chance of an over and under shot today.
Into the afternoon sunshine at Parrish.
The going away shot at Parrish. Note the track above the locomotives. It once connected the NS and Conrail Cleveland-Buffalo mainlines. Ed once photographed Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited using this track to make a detour move on the ex-NKP.
Tags: Conneaut Ohio, Norfolk Southern, NS auto rack trains, NS Heritage locomotives, NS Savannah & Atlanta heritage locomotive, NS Savannah & Atlanta heritage unit, Railfanning in Conneaut Ohio
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 
Leave a Reply