There Was Lots of Dihydrogen Monoxide on Hand at the ARRC Outing in Vermilion Last Saturday

We needed some angry beavers to clear those trees blocking our view of the east end of the bridge carrying the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern over the Vermilion River.

Four Akron Railroad Club members found nice weather and plenty of rocks, angry beavers, cranes and dihydrogen monoxide to occupy their time during the rescheduled outing in Vermilion last Saturday.

Oh, and we also spotted 24 Norfolk Southern trains on the carrier’s busy Chicago Line to watch and photograph.

Say what? What is all this about rocks, angry beavers, cranes and dihydrogen monoxide? You had to be there, but we’ll try and explain it.

Rick Houck was the first on the scene, setting down his chair at the edge of the Vermilion River in the marina at about 9:30 a.m.

President Craig Sanders joined him at about 11:30, just missing by 10 minutes an eastbound on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline.

That keeps alive his streak of “just missing” something significant during the Vermilion outing.

He blamed the delay on a long line of vehicles stacked up at the exit from the Ohio Turnpike onto Baumhart Road.

If you don’t have an EZ pass you need to go through the single-lane with a machine that takes your ticket and money.

There was an turnpike attendant on duty, but instead of taking tolls she was giving instructions about how to use the ticket machine. Traffic would have moved much faster and smoother had she just taken tolls and handed out change.

Event host Todd Vander Sluis arrived shortly after Craig. As the three of them chatted, they agreed that there were too many trees blocking the view of the east end of the bridge carrying the Chicago Line over the river.

What was needed was a crew of angry beavers to paddle over there and gnaw those trees down. That would open the view immensely.

The beavers might also keep going to remove all of the trees between the river bank and the tracks. That would really provide an open view.

Traffic was fairly steady on the Chicago Line into the early afternoon. Among the highlights was a pair of Union Pacific locomotives leading a westbound crude oil tankers train.

A high hood former Southern Railway GP38-2 led the L-13 on its return trip to Bellevue from Rockport Yard in Cleveland. You seldom see today a high hood leading a train on the main.

Not long after Todd Dillon showed up during the afternoon, a westbound came through town on the former NKP.

At that point, traffic died for a while. We kept busy by watching a crane in the water in front of us fishing for lunch.

However, it turned out that the crane was actually a great egret. It was still entertaining to watch.

About 4 p.m. we relocated to the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion. By then traffic had picked up on the Chicago Line.

At the platform we met a guy and his grandson from Cedar Hill, Ohio, a small town near Dayton.

He makes annual trips to Vermilion to railfan and while there he buys a box of chocolates from a downtown candy store.

He asked if anyone knew how late the chocolate shop was open. No one knew. Although he lives in Vermilion, Todd has never been there.

We joked later that even if the store was closed, you could still get your chocolate fix by throwing rocks through the window to “open” the store.

We later learned that the chocolate shop is open until 7 and the Cedar Hill man returned with his box of candy.

The sunlight was starting to get low when the long awaited westbound coke train that Todd said he’d seen that morning near CP Max finally arrived.

Behind it was a westbound crude oil tanker train with Canadian Pacific motive power. Crude oil trains on the NS Chicago line with CP power are not common sights.

Alas, no heritage units made an appearance and, in fact, none were even in the region.

With the sun sinking, we made a visit to the Vermilion lighthouse on the shore of Lake Erie and then adjourned to Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner.

As for dihydrogen monoxide, you’ll have to come to the October ARRC meeting and watch Todd’s program to get a complete explanation of what it is.

But here is a hint. All four of us enjoyed a glass of it spiked with some alcohol while at Quaker Steak.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

There was a hint of color in the trees lining the bank of the river opposite of the Vermilion marina. Our crew of angry beavers will make short work of those trees once they show up.

A pair of Uncle Petes lead a crude oil train westward.

Mostly sunny skies greeted us during the Vermilion outing. It was a little cool, but still quite pleasant conditions for watching trains on the Chicago Line. We even saw a few boats and some waterfowl.

I missed the eastbound, but not the westbound crossing the Vermilion River on the former Nickel Plate Road bridge. It was the first train I’ve ever photographed crossing this bridge.

A high-hood geep leading a manifest freight caught us by surprise. These units are not common sights on the Chicago Line.

A westbound stone train was something a little out of the ordinary. The dispatcher told the crew to take it easy down to CP 234 for there was traffic ahead that needed to get into Sandusky.

Your next photograph of an NS RoadRailer might be your last. NS will end the service except on one route next month. That route will not pass through Vermilion or anywhere else in Northeast Ohio.

The long-awaited coke train finally showed late in the afternoon.

A candy apple red Canadian Pacific unit put the cherry on a day of railfanning in Vermilion along the Chicago Line of NS.

The setting sun catches the sides of the tank cars of a westbound tanker train.

Tags: Akron Railroad club outings, Canadian Pacific motive power, Norfolk Southern, NS Chicago Line, Railfanning in Vermilion Ohio, Union Pacific locomotives, Union Pacific motive power, Vermilion Mainline Rail, Vermilion railfan platform, vermilion river