Quest for Keystone Fall Foliage: 1

Eastbound stack train 20A would be the first train that I photographed at Summerhill, Pennsylvania, but actually the second train that I saw there.

First of Three Parts

My quest for color began in pitch black. It was just before 4:30 a.m. as I backed down the driveway of my home for a one-day trip to central Pennsylvania in a quest to photograph trains and fall foliage.

The VisitPA.com website reported that foliage in the area around Cassandra was at 80 to 90 percent peak.

The weather forecast for Oct. 22 was promising with high temperatures in the region expected to reach the low 70s. The following days would see clouds and rain moving in.

I needed an early start in order to catch Amtrak’s eastbound Pennsylvanian.

No. 42 is due out of Pittsburgh at 7:30 a.m. and I figured it would take about four hours to get to my first photo location in Summherhill.

The trip down the Ohio Turnpike was uneventful. Ditto for my journey on the Pennsylvania Turnpike other than a highway robbery incident at the state line.

No, it was robbery in a legal sense. I was shocked that nowadays it costs $7 to get into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

When we traveled through here last summer I thought the toll was about $2 less, but the toll booth attendant insisted it has been $7 at least since he began working there last April.

So I entered the Keystone State $11 lighter, counting the $4 toll I had paid to get out of Ohio. I got off at the U.S. 22 exit east of Pittsburgh. Dawn’s early light had yet to break and I already had paid $15.75 in tolls.

I had stopped at the turnpike service plaza at Oakmont, Pennsylvania, to stretch my legs. I needed to refuel but the price of gas there was sky high so I ended up getting gas at a Sheetz in Murraysville shortly after exiting the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

It wasn’t cheap there either, some 30 cents a gallon more than what I last paid in Ohio.

Aside from high tolls, no trip on the Pennsylvania Turnpike is complete without construction zones. I was not disappointed, but at least I was able to cruise at 70 mph for most of my time on the self-described “America’s First Super Highway” which is perpetually under construction.

The sun began rising somewhere east of Blairsville and I pulled over to get a photograph of a better than average sunrise.

I tried to judge how much fall color was on the adjacent hills, but that was tough to do in the dark.

As the sky got brighter I got a better feel for the autumn leaves and they looked promising.

Few people were out and about in Summerhill as I arrived, parked and walked up the bridge that spans the Pittsburgh Line of Norfolk Southern.

This is former Pennsylvania Railroad territory and the PRR-style position light signals in Summerhill just east of the bridge are still standing.

But probably not for much longer. Just behind the U.S. 219 overpass to the west an NS crew was at work putting in new signals. Another signal crew was working in Cresson.

I had not come to Summerhill to get the PRR signals, but it occurred to me this might be the last time I see them.

It was quite cooler in Summerhill than it had been at home when I left. The foliage was nice, although not quite as colorful as I would have liked. Many trees had already lost their leaves.

I chose Summerhill rather than Cassandra to photograph the Pennsylvanian because at the latter the train would be coming through a narrow cut that was likely to be in shadows. Besides, I’ve already photographed Amtrak at Cassandra.

As it turned out, the cut in Summerhill west of the bridge was also in shadows due to the low sun angle. Gradually the sunlight began creeping over the trees.

A westbound stack train was going through town as I arrived and it had helpers on the rear. It would be the only intermodal train I saw all day with rear-end helpers.

I had arrived in Summerhill shortly after 8 a.m. and other than the stack train, NS was as sleepy as the town.

I thought there might be some early morning fog, but that wasn’t the case other than a thin layer to the east. There was in the air the scent of wood smoke and maybe that was what I was seeing.

The signal heads on the east side of the bridge were lined clear for Track 1 and displayed a stop indication for Track 2. There is no eastbound signal for Track 3. I didn’t see it, but as I waited on the bridge the signal for Track 2 went to clear.

I heard a horn to the west and a headlight came around the curve belonging to intermodal train 20A.

About 10 minutes later a set of helpers went west and 10 minutes after that eastbound manifest freight 38Q came grinding past.

Amtrak No. 42 is due out of Johnstown at 9 a.m. and a couple of railfans from New Jersey said it usually comes through Summerhill about 9:30.

Another set of helpers went west on Track 3 at 9:28 and No. 42 showed up two minutes later barreling along on Track 2, having left Johnstown six minutes off schedule.

With Amtrak gone, I strolled down to ground level to get an image of a train passing beneath the PRR signal bridge.

It was not a long wait. Twelve minutes after Amtrak went shooting past came an eastbound loaded coal train on Track 1.

I got the images I wanted and decided it was time to head for Cassandra.

But not before stopping at the Sheetz in Portage to get a tuna salad wrap, potato chips and a set of Tastykake cupcakes to have for lunch.

No visit to Pennsylvania is complete without Tastykake, which traces its heritage to the Tasty Baking Company that was founded in Pittsburgh in 1914. Today, though, Tastykake is based in Philadelphia.

I also bought a copy of the Altoona Mirror and learned that Penn State had defeated Michigan the night before in Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley.

I had watched part of that game on TV and listened to some of it on the radio after going to bed. But I turned it off in order to get more sleep.

I had bought a copy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the Sheetz in Murraysville, but it was the early edition and didn’t’ have the Saturday college football scores.

I was most pleased to learn the Nittany Lions had bested the Wolverines 42-13.

A closer view of the eastbound 20A.

Helper sets coming (above) and going (below)

Here comes the 38Q in the first of a two-shot sequence.

Another set of NS helpers and the PRR signal bridge.

This could be the last time I see, let along photograph, this PRR signal bridge in Summerhill. Is that fog or smoke clinging to the hillside in the background.

An SD80MAC leads a coal train past the PRR position light signals in Summerhill.

 

‘Science of Trains’ Exhibit to Open at Friday at Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland

The Great Lakes Science Center will open an exhibit on Nov. 3 devoted to the science of railroads.

Titled All Aboard! The Science of Trains, the exhibit will run at the Cleveland museum through Feb. 19.

The exhibit is being held in cooperation with the Midwest Railway Preservation Society and Division 4 of the National Model Railroad Association

Admission to the exhibit is free with a paid general admission.

According to the museum’s website, the exhibit “allows rail fans of all ages to get a closer look at the world of the railroads from locomotives to cabooses, through hands-on exhibits and the rail history of Cleveland.”

The programming covers such topics as the technical wonder of locomotives, the science and engineering of rail transportation,local artifacts, and Cleveland railroad history.

An area for children will have a selection of wooden train sets. There will also be a display of HO scale model train bridges and a Plymouth switcher locomotive located outside the museum’s main entrance.

Interactive carts explaining everything from MagLev trains, to superconductors and levitation, as well as energy and fuel will be interspersed throughout the exhibition.

The website said that a ride-on Dominion Energy Train is being custom built by Cleveland-based Christopher Machine Shop for the Science Center that will be available to visitors of all ages and chug around the exhibition area.

Division 4 is bringing a modular HO scale train set  and its member will demonstrate how model railroading brings creative play and the imagination to life.

A Community build area will have a supply of wooden tracks, trains, and landscape pieces to allow visitors to build a community-constructed railroad layout.

There will be other hands-on exhibits focusing on such things as how railroads reduce friction with their rolling stock, how trains are powered, couplers and air hoses, rail safety, and artifacts from Cleveland.

Among the artifacts on display will be an original brass schedule board from Terminal Tower; and maps, photos, posters and other artifacts on loan from MRPS.

Trump Might Support 7-cent Gas Tax Hike

The Trump administration might seek an increase in the federal gasoline tax as a way of paying for a proposed $1 trillion infrastructure program.

That point was made by Trump’s economic adviser Gary Cohn during a private meeting with House lawmakers last week.

The proposed 7-cent increase would be used to fund public work projects, such as railways, roads, waterways and bridges.

Trump had said earlier this year during an interview with Bloomberg News that he was open to a gas tax increase. The last gasoline tax increase came in 1993.

Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania), the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said there is little interest in a gas tax hike now, but that committee members might support one if the White House gets involved and supports the increase.

Although the Trump infrastructure plan has received widespread attention, the administration has yet to reveal any hard details about it.

Where Have You Been CVSR 365?

CVSR Alco C420 No. 365 leads the National Park Scenic at Brecksville station on Oct. 21.

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad locomotive No. 365 was the railroad’s first locomotive that I ever photographed.

The date was June 19, 2004, and the location was at the Lincoln Highway station in Canton. It would be the southern-facing unit on a trip I made to Akron, which was the second time that I rode the CVSR.

I would encounter No. 365 a few times in subsequent years, but I wasn’t making many images of the CVSR then.

No. 365 was on the north end of an Akron Railroad Club CVSR excursion of Sept. 22, 2007, behind Ohio Central steam locomotive No. 1293. The 365 pulled us back to Rockside Road station from Botzum.

The C420 would perform the same duties a year later on Sept. 27 on another ARRC outing on the CVSR behind OC 1293, this time returning us to Rockside from Indigo Lake.

The 365 began life in June 1965 when it was built by American Locomotive Company for the Seaboard Air Line.

It would later work for Seaboard Coast Line, the Louisville & Nashville and a handful of short-line railroads before being acquired by the CVSR in 2001.

No. 365 was a CVSR mainstay until 2010 when it was sidelined with a bad generator.

The 2012 CVSR annual report said the 365 was awaiting being sent out to be rebuilt with “green technology.”

But it didn’t move until June 2013 when CVSR interchanged it to the Wheeling & Lake Erie in Akron en route to Ohio Locomotive Works in Lorain.

The W&LE handed the 365 off to Norfolk Southern in Bellevue, which took it to Lorain.

For the rest of 2013, the 365 underwent a thorough rebuilding. That work continued through September 2014 when the unit began getting a new paint job in the current CVSR livery.

Photographs made by Fred Stuckmann and posted at rrpicturearchives.net documented the rebuilding of the 365. It was displayed at an open house held in late September 2014 at OLW.

Among those on hand to view the 365 on that day was Siegfried Buerling, one of the men who incorporated the Cuyahoga Valley Preservation and Scenic Railway Association in February 1972.

And then it is was though the 365 vanished into thin air. No more photographs of it were posted online and the unit apparently still needed more work.

In the intervening years, the CVSR leased motive power from LTEX and Horizon Rail but no word emerged on the 365.

A couple of weeks ago I heard a report that the 365 was back in the Valley. I don’t know how long it has been there.

I didn’t see it when a CVSR train I rode in mid September went past the Fitzwater yard and shops. Maybe it was inside getting prepared for revenue service.

I finally caught up with the 365 in Brecksville on Saturday, Oct. 21. Fellow ARRC member Todd Dillon had caught the 365 the previous day.

On the north end of the Scenic was B&O No. 800. Gotta say that it’s good to see you again 365.

 

 

Reflections on a Reflection

Many of my favorite photographs have been created by happenstance. Such was the case with this image of a reflection of the former Erie Railroad passenger station in Kent in a pool of the decorative dam on the Cuyahoga River.

The story behind this image begins with a walk down to the observation platform that can be seen toward the right middle of the image.

My intent was to get a close-up view of the late day sun hitting the station, which is now an Italian restaurant named Treno, which is Italian for train.

The dam used to be functional, but several years ago the river was channeled away from it and into the remnants of the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal. What had been the river became dry land that was transformed into a park while the dam was renovated to become, in essence, a giant water fountain.

The top of the dam is quite high, about at the level of my eyes. I happened to notice the station reflecting in the pool at the top of the dam and thought it would make a nice photograph.

I made it but all you could see was the reflection in the water. I then lifted my camera above my head and held it over the railing in the foreground.

A Canon 60D has a foldout screen that can be angled up or down. That came in handy in being able to see what the lens was seeing. I then used the live view feature of the camera to make the image.

The result was, perhaps, my best image of the day. What appears to be a reflection from a flash toward the right end of the station is actually the sun reflecting off a window.

Sanders to do Book Signing in Westlake

Akron Railroad Club President Craig Sanders will be signing his new book Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad on Sunday between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble book store at Crocker Park in Westlake, Ohio.

The book store is located at 198 Crocker Park Boulevard

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad was released earlier this month by Fonthill Media and is being marketed by Arcadia Publishing.

It features 175 photographs of which all but three are in color. Most of the images were contributed by Akron Railroad Club.

The book uses text and photographs to tell the story of the CVSR from its launch in June 1975 as the Cuyahoga Valley Line.

Sanders is also scheduled to do a book signing on Nov. 18 at the Akron Barnes & Noble store between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Leaf Peepers Special at Deep Lock Quarry

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad has been running an autumn foliage special on weekends during October.

Known as the Fall Flyer, it is scheduled to depart Rockside Road station in Independence 45 minutes behind the National Park Scenic in the morning and 40 minutes behind it in the afternoon.

The Fall Flyer operates non-stop to Indigo Lake before returning to Rockside.

Presumably, it was created to take pressure off the National Park Scenic, which often ran well behind schedule during October due to the large number of bikers and sight seers riding the train.

The Fall Flyer will make its last trips on Oct. 29. It is shown above on Oct. 21 coming and going near Deep Lock Quarry south of Peninsula.

New Indiana Tourist Railroad Being Planned

A new Indiana tourist train operation is making plans to commence operations in spring 2018.

Known as the Nickel Plate Express, the trains will be operated by the Nickel Plate Heritage Railroad and use a former NKP branch line between Atlanta and Noblesville, Indiana.

The line once ran between Indianapolis and Michigan City, Indiana, but several portions of it have been abandoned.

The line in Hamilton and Marion counties has been inactive in the past year but had previously been used by the Indiana Transportation Museum.

The cities of Fishers and Noblesville want to abandon the tracks between the latter city and Indianapolis in order to create a hike and bike trail. That matter is now pending before the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

Nickel Plate Express will be headquartered at the Arcadia Heritage Depot.

Although the tourist train operator has created a website, it has not listed any schedules, fare information or a service inauguration date.

However, the site said the trains will operate regular excursions Fridays through Sundays along the 12-mile track between Noblesville and Atlanta.

Departures will take place from Noblesville arriving in Cicero, Arcadia and Atlanta; to Noblesville from Atlanta; from Atlanta to Arcadia and the old spur or “Davon Y” between 216th & 221st Streets.

The website can be found at https://www.nickelplateexpress.net/

GE May Get Out of Locomotive Business

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that General Electric is considering getting out of the business of building locomotives.

The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying GE is considering a move to “partner, spin off, or possibly sell” GE Transportation.

GE has declined to comment on the report. Aside from building locomotives, GE Transportation also makes heavy-duty diesel engines and mining equipment.

Headquartered in Chicago, GE Transportation has locomotive assembly plants in Fort Worth, Texas; and Erie, Pennsylvania, the latter of which has been making locomotives and parts since 1911. GE also has an engine plant in Grove City, Pennsylvania.

The discussion about GE selling its transportation division comes amid disappointing third quarter earnings and a plan to cut $20 billion in businesses over the next two years.

Sanders’ CVSR Book Released by Fonthill Media

A book featuring the history of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad that was written by Akron Railroad Club President Craig Sanders has been released.

Although the book was published by Fonthill Media, it is being marketed by Arcadia Publishing.

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad features 175 photographs of which all but three are in color.

Photographs for the book were contributed by Akron Railroad Club members Peter Bowler, Marty Surdyk, Robert Farkas, Paul Woodring, Mark Demaline, Edward Ribinskas, Jim Mastromatteo and Tom Fritch.

Other photographs were contributed by Jim Semon, Robert Todten and Jerry Jordak.

The book uses text and photographs to tell the story of the CVSR from its launch in June 1975 as the Cuyahoga Valley Line operating with former Grand Trunk Western steam locomotive No. 4070.

Virtually every locomotive used by the railroad during its 42-year history is shown in the book.

There is also a history of the line and an overview of its operations by the Baltimore & Ohio before it was purchased by the National Park Service in 1987.