Sights at Toledo National Train Day

The NS 9-1-1 and Watco No. 3879 sit on display at Toledo Central Union Terminal.

Honing in on the Ann Arbor heritage GP38, which is now operated by Watco.

Getting “nosey” with NS 9-1-1, an SD60E that honors the nation’s first responders.

Amtrak No. 156, the Phase I heritage locomotive, led a train of a Viewliner baggage car, an Amfleet II coach, an Amfleet cafe car and a Viewliner sleeper.

Toledo held its annual National Train Day festival on Saturday (May 7) at Central Union Terminal. Among the exhibits were Norfolk Southern Southern 9-1-1, the first responders tribute locomotive; Watco GP38 No. 3879, which is painted in an Ann Arbor Railroad heritage livery; Amtrak P42DC No. 156, which is painted in the Phase I heritage livery; and an Amtrak display train that was a miniature version of the Lake Shore Limited.

There also were speeder rides; model train layouts; vendors selling videos, books and other railroad related items; and informational displays by various organizations.

Several Akron Railroad club members were on hand as either visitors or vendors.

Here is look at the major prototypes that were on display.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

CSX Executive Train Visits Northeast Ohio

Thursday morning was a good time to be in Berea. In about a half-hour’s time, the CSX executive train went east while just before that Amtrak’s late westbound Lake Shore Limited went past with Phase I heritage locomotive No. 156 on the point.

The Amtrak train went through about 8:35 a.m. with the CSX executive train showing up at 8:43 a.m.

Operating as train P902, the CSX train had left the St. Louis area on Wednesday and spent the night in Crestline. It left for, reportedly, Rochester, New York, on Thursday morning. Its eventual destination is Selkirk, New York.

Online reports had it passing Lagrange at 8:26 a.m., Willoughby at 9:30 a.m. and Fairview, Pennsylvania, at 10:25 a.m.

Leading the train was F40PH No. 9998 with the 9998 and 9999 trailing.  The train had eight cars with a theater car trailing.

Amtrak No. 156 had left Chicago on Tuesday as the trailing unit on the eastbound Lake Shore Limited.

No. 49 on Thursday did not arrive in Chicago until 3:11 p.m., making it nearly 5.5 hours late. It had arrived in Cleveland at 8:03 a.m., 4 hours, 36 minutes late.

No. 156 returned to Northeast Ohio on Friday, this time leading the eastbound Lake Shore Limited.  No. 48 was reported past Berea at 6 a.m. The Amtrak website reported that the train arrived in Cleveland at 6:16 a.m., 41 minutes late.

NS Heritage Units Pose in North Carolina

A Cessna eye view of all 20 NS heritage locomotives lines up for display at the roundhouse of the North Carolina Transportation Museum.

Here is a sample of what I shot in Spencer. N.C., over this past week. The “on high” photos were taken as I flew over in a Cessna. It was way cool. Amtrak sent its 40^th anniversary heritage locomotive No. 156, which wears the Phase I livery,  and some passenger cars to the event, a nice extra bonus for sure. The full moon shining over the roundhouse was a nice touch in the night photos. Note the 1982 and 2012 number boards on the No. 1030 in the one night photo.

Photographs by Roger Durfee