10 ARRC Members Make Trek to Vermilion, Amherst

Don Woods places the first burgers on the grill at the Amherst depot Saturday afternoon as Marty Surdyk watches. (Photograph by Todd Dillon)

Ten Akron Railroad Club members participated in the outing on Saturday to Vermilion and Amherst.

The day began in Vermilion at the South Street boat launch where various birds, boats and even some Norfolk Southern trains occupied our attention.

We had plenty of opportunities to photograph NS trains crossing the Vermilion River on the Chicago Line.

Although the day was sunny throughout, the wind off Lake Erie had a chill to it that was particularly noticeable when you were in the shade.

During our time at the boat launch, NS sent one eastbound through town on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline, a manifest freight on what is now called the Cleveland District.

Around mid afternoon, our host Todd Vander Sluis took a couple ARRC members in his Dodge Ram pickup truck to inspect the new connection being built from the Chicago Line to the Cleveland  District west of Vermilion near the Vermilion Country Club.

The connection will enable eastbound trains on the Chicago Line to eastward on the Cleveland District.

Progress on the project has been slow and the site looked much as it did a year ago.

The path of the connection has been graded and some panel track has been placed along it, but otherwise work seems to have stalled.

The ARRC NS heritage units curse continued. Our hopes had been raised by an online report that the Leigh Valley H unit was leading train 18A eastbound and its progression would have put it through Vermilion in early to mid afternoon.

But it turned out the 18A was headed for Bellevue. Another H unit, the Central of New Jersey, was also reported heading east on the Chicago Line in Indiana, but it was bound for Detroit.

Wouldn’t you know it that if we had been in Vermilion the next day we would have seen the Wabash H unit leading the 21G in mid to late afternoon.

Just one train had foreign power leading. An eastbound grain train was led by a pair of BNSF units.

We did spot two Kansas City Southern “Belles” trailing in the motive power consist of an eastbound manifest freight.

As the afternoon wore on, ARRC members began migrating to the restored former New York Central freight station in Amherst where Chef Martè was manning the grill for the annual summer picnic of the Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts.

The RRE had invited the ARRC to attend its picnic and partake of some burgers and hot dogs.

Alas, NS pretty much died during the picnic. By the time things picked up again, it was nearly 9 p.m. and just about everyone had gone home, was about to head home, or was on his way home.

ARRC Vermilion Outing Set for Saturday

An eastbound Norfolk Southern train crosses the bridge over the Vermilion River near the boat launchy during a previous Akron Railroad Club outing there.

The Akron Railroad Club will return to Vermilion on Saturday for another day along the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line. But this outing will feature something different.

In late afternoon we’ll travel to nearby Amherst for a picnic at the restored former New York Central depot.

Vermilion features two NS lines, the busiest of which is the ex-NYC route. Also passing through is the former Nickel Plate Road line that is now the NS Cleveland District.

The Cleveland District through Vermilion isn’t much at present as far as railroad traffic, but that is expected to change once NS completes installation of a new connection from the eastbound Chicago Line to the Cleveland District a couple of miles west of Vermilion.

Intermodal trains 205, 206, 22K and 23K are expected to be regular users of the connection.

But all of that is in the future. The Chicago Line hosts 40 to 50 trains with a traffic mix of intermodal, mixed freights, tanker trains, coal trains and even Amtrak.

We will begin our day at the boat launch located on West River Road between the two railroad bridges over the Vermilion River.

Being summer there should be ample boat traffic on the river to watch between trains.

Photographs of an eastbound on the bridge is the prized shot for this location.

Shooting a westbound these days is tough. You will need your wide-angle lens.

But don’t let that deter you from enjoying some time at the boat launch. It is an enjoyable experience.

After lunch, when the light shifts to a more westerly direction, we will move to the railfan pavilion in town.

This spot sets up well for westbounds with the city’s water tank as your backdrop.

Eastbounds can be shot with the Vermilion station that sits just to the east of the pavilion. This is also a wide-angle shot due to some pine trees along the tracks.

Still, it is a nice place to hang out and watch trains. The crossings in town are quiet zones, so there is no horn blowing.

Train crews know that the crossing protection is working if the “X” at the top of the poles at each crossing is flashing.

In late afternoon ARRC members are invited to head to the depot in Amherst, about 10 miles east of Vermilion, for dinner.

The Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts is having its annual picnic there that evening and Chef Martè, a.k.a. as Marty Surdyk, would love to grill up some burgers and dogs for you.

ARRC President Craig Sanders, who is also an RRE member, will present a program titled When the IC had a G featuring images taken on the Illinois Central Gulf in the 1970s and early 1980s.

A highlight of the program will be a cab ride aboard an ICG intermodal train from Champaign to Centralia, Illinois.

As with most ARRC activities, the event begins when the first person arrives and ends when the last one leaves. Spent a few hours or the entire day, just plan to spend Saturday, Aug. 26, in Vermilion and Amherst.

To get to the boat launch go into Vermilion on Ohio Route 60. As you enter town and after crossing the single-tracked former NKP tracks, Route 60 will make a right turn at a flashing light.

About a block to the east, Route 60 will turn left but continue straight ahead on South Street to the stop sign at West River Road.

The entrance to the boat launch is a little left of straight across from that intersection. Park at the far end of the lot near the picnic table. You will have both railroad bridges over the Vermilion River in sight.

The Railfan pavilion, known as Vermilion Mainline Rail, is on Route 60 where it crosses the NS Chicago Line at the north end of Victory Park.

From the boat launch, go back west on South Street to Route 60 north at Main Street and make a right. The pavilion is on the right just before crossing the tracks.

Forgotten Photograph, Not Forgotten Man

I ran across this photograph recently while clearing out an electronic file folder on my computer.

The image was made in August 2014 in Amherst during a picnic of the Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts, a Cleveland-based group.

You probably recognize the man making a photo as the late Tim Krogg, who served as secretary of the ARRC between 1989 and his death in March 2015.

This westbound Norfolk Southern train was among the last that he photographed. I don’t know how active Tim was in photographing while trackside, but I get the impression he didn’t make photographs very often.

Maybe this is the last train he photographed. It is likely the last image made of him photographing a train.

We’ve never had a practice in the ARRC of paying tribute to our deceased members aside from the annual Dave McKay Day outing in Berea in April.

Memorial Day is approaching and it’s a time to remember those who have gone before us.

Late Day Blessings on NS at Amherst

The nose of NS No. 2515 glistens in the late day light just after 8 p.m. in Amherst. It would be a pleasing end to a day that had not quite worked out as we had hoped that it would.

The day had not gotten off to the best of starts. As we left Marty’s house there was light rain and overcast conditions.

It was a Saturday afternoon in early August and Marty Surdyk, Tim Krogg and myself were headed for a picnic in Amherst at the former New York Central depot. It is now owned by Nordson Corporation and used as a community center.

But we also had reason to be optimistic. Somewhere to the east the Norfolk Southern executive train was coming our way. The Penn Central heritage unit was also leading a train westward as well. And behind that was another westbound that was reported to have the original Norfolk Southern heritage locomotive on the point.

It just might turn out to be one of those days where you walk away feeling like it was Christmas morning with so many gifts having been passed your way.

But it didn’t quite turn out that way and the lousy weather was the first clue that our results would not match our optimism. But more often than not railfanning is like that.

It did stop raining and we did see the NS executive train, although under cloudier skies than we would have liked. It was the first time that Marty had ever photographed the NS OCS with its classy-looking F units in their “tuxedo” livery.

But the Penn Central H unit never showed while we were there and the NS H unit was too far east into Pennsylvania to get to our location during daylight hours.

Around 7 p.m., after everyone had had their fill of burgers and dogs, Marty and I ventured up to the nearby Jackson Street overpass of the NS Chicago Line.

Nearly all of the clouds had moved out and late day sunlight illuminated the tracks. We might not have been lucky in getting those heritage units that we coveted, but NS did send a fairly steady stream of westbound traffic into that golden light.

After more than an hour of train watching, photography and conversation, it was time to go. It had turned out to be a good day and we had been blessed after all.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Saturday Afternoon on the NS Chicago Line

A westbound Norfolk Southern stack train passes through the interlocking at CP 212 in Amherst, Ohio, on Saturday, Aug. 3.

I was at a picnic last Saturday afternoon in Amherst, Ohio, at a restored former New York Central freight station that is now used for community events. The Chicago Line of the Norfolk Southern runs past the depot. After having a burger and a brat I walked up to the Jackson Street overpass to photograph the action at CP 212, the east end of a siding that extends westward for seven miles and passes Fairlane Yard. Nothing out of the ordinary came by during my time in Amherst. No heritage units, no foreign power. It was just work-a-day NS activity. But there was quite a bit of it.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

Another westbound stacker passes through CP 212. The track to the left is the siding that goes past Fairlane Yard a few miles to the west.

The eastbound signal at CP 212 shows a clear indication for a train coming on Track No. 2. Fortunately for me, the westbound manifest freight got to the Jackson Street overpass before the eastbound did.

The eastbound that had the clear signal shown in the image above was an empty hopper train. Because of a fence on the west side of the bridge, photographing oncoming eastbounds is a challenge. Hence, the going away shots.

An eastbound stone train and the trailing unit of the power set have just cleared Jackson Street.

Stone, stone and more stone as far as the eye can see.

The first train that I photographed at Amherst. I’m standing on the observation deck of the depot overlooking the Chicago Line. The rail car to the right is a former Chesapeake & Ohio sleeper, the “City of Waynesburg.”

The last train that I photographed at Amherst. The last rays of the setting sun play about the nose of this westbound manifest freight.