Plenty of Action on NS Sandusky District on Longest Day

While Marty was out on Sunday morning chasing trains on the Sandusky District, Norfolk Southern ran a steady stream of trains through the mini plant back in Bellevue. Shown is a manifest freight going to the Sandusky District with helpers on the rear. Reportedly, this train will separate into two sections further down the road.

The 2017 ARRC longest day outing took us to the Norfolk Southern capital of Ohio, Bellevue.

My day began about 10 minutes late at 7:10 a.m. I had hoped to be on the road by 7, but not to worry, Bellevue is less than an hour if I use the Ohio Turnpike.

I got to Bellevue just minutes before 8 a.m. I made a pit stop at McDonald’s on the way into town, passing the Kemper Railfan Pavilion at 8:05 a.m. No one else had arrived yet.

Train 12V was heading south on the Sandusky District, so I gave chase.

The first spot I got it was at Frank, which is the second wide spot in the road south of Bellevue. Flat Rock is the first.

It was easy to get ahead this morning as there was no traffic to speak of and the 12V was not going at any breakneck speed.

I was heading for the northerly road crossing at Caroline. This is south of Attica. I saw a shot on Railpictures.net of a morning southbound from this crossing.

It features the train in the dip crossing Honey Creek with the Attica water tower and grain elevator in the distance.

The 12V got hung up waiting to cross CSX at Attica Junction for a few minutes, so I had plenty of time to set up my shot. Alas, 300 mm of telephoto doesn’t quite make the shot; I needed more. I shot the 12V here anyway, just to record the scene.

NS had plenty more action in the works for this morning. The 188 was on the heels of 12V, a 51V grain train and the two hot eastbound van trains, 234 and 218, were coming south.

And if that’s not enough, I got 217 and a 604 coal train going north. A seven train morning in great light on a line with multiple good photo opportunities, what more could you want? I know, eight trains.

By 11:15 a.m. the last of the seven trains was heading off to it destination and I hadn’t been back to Bellevue to see if anyone else had shown up.

I rolled into town about 11:30 to find about a dozen ARRC people gathered in the parking lot across from Wheeling Tower.

The light was still on this side of the tracks for photography. Craig’s car was there but he wasn’t. I found out a few minutes later that he and Todd Vander Sluis had walked down the street looking for the Wheeling & Lake Erie.

As noon approached, lunch sounded like a good idea. So we were off to Subway for its foot-long sub of the day, a meatball sub. As I told the gal making my sandwich, “We are what we eat.”

Alas, I was only able to eat half of the sandwich. I had placed part of it on my Jeep Patriot, but the wind blew it off and onto the ground.

Traffic past the ARRC assembled faithful in Bellevue had been steady all day so far. The longest lull was just 15 minutes, plus they got the W&LE going into the yard.

The afternoon began much like the morning ended, busy.

Another coal train came north off the Sandusky District. Two trains came in off the Toledo District. A nauto rack train came off the Toledo District and headed out on the Fostoria District. Its destination was the Mixing Center just outside Fostoria.

The L11 bound for Blair Yard in Fostoria went past behind two SD 40s.

Craig and Todd wanted to spend some time south on the Sandusky District in the afternoon. I told them to be patient and we’d pick out the right train at the right time.

About 1:30 p.m. a 194 went south. It was a little too early for this one; the sun was still too high. We’ll wait for 175 in about another 45 minutes to an hour.

Besides we might see the 194 again. CSX was doing track work on its No. 2 main around Attica Junction and the 194 might get delayed there.

The 175 left about 2:30 p.m. and Craig, Todd and I were in hot pursuit. Our first shot was at Schriver, although the corn was getting a little high. In another week this shot won’t be doable.

We went Omar for the 175, shooting it framed between two barn-like structures on the farm near the Ohio Route 162 crossing.

We continued south to find the 194 cooling its heels at West Attica. CSX had the diamonds and wasn’t giving them back. The 194 was delayed an hour and 25 minutes waiting to get across Attica Junction.

The 194 finally was let loose and  we headed toward the old reservoir at Attica. Normally the calm water makes for a nice reflection, but it was so windy today that there were white caps on the water.

We heard a northbound train as we were going to shoot the 194. It was train 25G, a one-unit wonder and a very short stack train.

The CSX dispatcher let the 25G across, because it was short, but the 175 with its almost 9,000 feet of train would have to wait.

We went north of Omar for the 25G, shooting the train while watching one of the locals cutting his grass on a riding mower.

Paul Woodring OSed to me another southbound, a potash train with symbol 60U. We shot the 175 again at the old reservoir and waited there for the 60U.

It was time to head back to Bellevue, where we arrived about 6 p.m. In our absence the rest of the gang that had stayed there had seen one of the NS green “echo” units come by, albeit trailing, off the Fostoria District.

We decided that 7 p.m. would be our curfew. Dinner would be at the Bob Evans on the north side of Norwalk.

NS had two trains for us in the 6 o’clock hour, the last being the 12Q. It passed just minutes before 7 p.m.

When it passed, we wrapped things up and headed for dinner. It had been a fantastic day in one the busiest places for NS action around. We did not see any heritage units, but if we had stayed until after dark, we would have seen the Interstate H unit pass through.

That is the only H Unit I have not SEEN. Hopefully that changes sometime soon.

Article by Marty Surdyk

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.

2013 McKay Day Photos, Train List Posted

A gallery of photographs taken by Richard Thompson along with the list of trains that Akron Railroad Club members saw during the 2013 Dave McKay Day has now been posted. The annual outing to Berea is held on the first Saturday or April in honor of the late David McKay, who served as president of the ARRC for 12 years before stepping down in late 2004. This year’s outing was held on April 6. To view the gallery and see the train list, click on the link below.

https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/about/activities/2013-dave-mckay-day-at-berea/

ARRC Members Ride the CVSR

The northbound Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad excursion train pauses at Peninsula during its stop. Four Akron Railroad Club members rode the CVSR on Sunday.

Four Akron Railroad Club members turned out at the Rockside Road depot of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad on Sunday morning, March 25, and spent a day traveling in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Marty Surdyk, Rick Houck, Todd Vander Sluis and Craig Sanders boarded the 10 a.m. departure. We had plenty of company. Hundreds more boarded as part of two special excursions that were also offered on Sunday. The most popular of those was an Easter bunny trip. The other was a maple syrup festival. All of the passengers for the specials rode the same train.

ARRC members rode the scenic train to Botzum, the train’s temporary southern terminus while a bridge is replaced south of Smith Road near Akron. Reportedly, the bridge will be finished by Easter.

After a nearly 30 minute layover in Botzum, we reboarded the train and disembarked in Peninsula where we were met by member Paul Woodring.

After photographing the departure of the train we had just ridden, the ARRC contingent adjourned to the Winking Lizard for lunch and plenty of rail tales.

At 2 p.m., the southbound excursion train arrived and we members boarded to go to Botzum again. Paul did not join us, but instead paced the train for a short distance along Riverview Road. We rode from Botzum back to Rockside Road.

Along the we were treated to a variety of bird activity, even spotting an eagle’s nest and an eagle sitting atop a nearby tree. But there were no deer or beaver to be scene. A park service volunteer, though, did come through the train with pelts from a beaver and coyote.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was the story told by the trainman about how Indigo Lake got its name. We can’t give the story away just yet, but it gave us an idea for a new initiation rite for new members. Hint: “In they go.”

Motive power for the train was FPA-4 No. 6771 northbound and RS-18 No. 1822 southbound. Our coach, No. 169, was originally a 12 roomette sleeper built for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was later rebuilt into a commuter coach and saw service for MARC commuter trains in Maryland before being purchased by Akron Metro.

It formerly operated on the CVSR as the Spirit of Summit. Yes, Marty, it’s true. You rode in a former Pennsy car.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

ARRC member Todd Vander Sluis (left) looks at his photos while relaxing aboard a CVSR excursion train Sunday during a club outing. To the left of Todd is Marty Surdyk and behind him is Rick Houck.