Finds on the Wheeling & Lake Erie

Last Saturday was a nice day weather wise but I didn’t have a specific plan for railfanning.

I went to Berea and then saw on social media that an eastbound Wheeling & Lake Erie train was powered by the Rio Grande tunnel motor pair.

I drove to Wellington in hopes of catching it. I then saw it was still waiting for a crew so I drove to Bellevue following the line just in case.

I got there about 11 a.m. and found them sitting outside of town where I took these photos.  I stayed at the railfan platform hoping they would get a crew and then chase them east.

Another Wheeling train from Norwalk showed up about 3:30 p.m. and went into the Norfolk Southern yard.

I took photos of that, also.  I waited until dark but, sadly, no crew ever showed up so I drove home.

Later I found out that the other Wheeling train combined the trains together on the return to Norwalk.

W&LE 5412 was formerly Rio Grande 5391 but was renumbered last winter.  Sister unit 5413 retains its original Rio Grande unit number.

I also can confirm that NS is indeed using the hump at Bellevue yard again.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Tags: Bellevue Ohio, Denver & Rio Grande Western motive power, Monroeville Ohio, Todd Dillon photography, W&LE in Monroeville, Wheeling & Lake Erie, Wheeling & Lake Erie locomotive power, Wheeling & Lake Erie locomotives, Wheeling & Lake Erie motive power, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway, Wheeling & Lake Erie trains