Vermilion From Trainside

There were no railfans at the railfan platform on this late June morning when Amtrak No. 48 sped past.

The boat launch as seen from the bridge carrying the NS Chicago Line over the Vermilion River.

The new connection that NS built from the Chicago Line to the former Nickel Plate mainline. The connection was built so eastbound trains on the Chicago Line could easily access the former Nickel Plate route.

In recent years the Akron Railroad Club has held an annual outing in Vermilion in late August.

Typically, the event begins on a Saturday morning at the city boat launch on the Vermilion River, which lies between the bridges of two Norfolk Southern rail lines spanning the river.

After spending the morning and part of the afternoon catching trains primarily on the bridge carrying the NS Chicago Line, the group then moves on to the railfan platform downtown along the aforementioned NS route.

Some of us would head west of town for a while and hang out at one of the grade crossings on the Chicago Line including the one just west of the connection to the former Nickel Plate Road mainline.

Over the years I’ve made dozens of photographs of NS trains at both locations in Vermilion, but last June I had the opportunity to photograph from the train side.

I was aboard the eastbound Lake Shore Limited, which was running nearly three hours late.

That put No. 48 through Vermilion in daylight hours. As we flew through town I didn’t notice any railfans having turned out to watch us go by.

ARRC to Meet Aug. 23, Railfan in Vermilion Aug. 24

The Akron Railroad Club will hold its August meeting on Friday, Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. at the New Horizons Christian Church at 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

Three presenters will team up to give the program.

Long-time ARRC member Richard Antibus will show slides made in and around Orrville, Ohio, in the 1980s

The program will feature events that were sponsored in part by the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society and are no longer held.

Those include Orrville Depot Days, the Medina Loop excursion train, the Santa train and the Spirit of Charleston. Rich will also show many personalities of the day.

ARRC member Tom Goughnour will show photographs he made during a visit to the Whitewater Valley Railroad tourist railroad in Indiana.

Tom made a trip on the railroad from Metamora to Connersville that followed the Whitewater Canal.

He also visited a car museum in Connersville where manufactured Aburns, Duesenbergs and Cords were once built. He got a ride in one of the cars from Richmond to Cambridge City.

Brian Szemon will round out the programs with images of the Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steam locomotive during its trip last May from Evanston, Wyoming, to Ogden, Utah.

The program will offer images made at Promontory Point, Utah, after the official celebration of the 150^th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

Brian may also have images shots of the UP Big Boy’s trip from Chicago to Iowa in July.

The ARRC also will be holding its annual railfan outing to Vermilion on Aug. 24 to watch and photograph Norfolk Southern operations.

The NS Chicago Line and Cleveland District pass through Vermilion.

The outing will begin at the city’s boat launch on the Vermilion River, which features a view of the Chicago Line crossing the river.

Later in the day participants will hang out at the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion next to the Chicago Line.

Those still there in the evening will have dinner at the Quaker Steak and Lube restaurant on Liberty Street east of downtown Vermilion.

Trying to Stay Dry on Vermilion Day

An eastbound coal train crosses the Vermilion River on the Chicago Line at about 4:30 p.m. during the Akron Railroad Club outing in Vermilion. Where was a boat on the river when we needed it?

It started with rain and ended with rain. In between we managed to see some Norfolk Southern action interspersed with long periods of waiting.

And that in a nutshell summarizes the 2018 Akron Railroad Club day in Vermilion that was attended by eight members.

As we expected, most of the action was on the Chicago Line, which boasted its usual assortment of manifests, intermodals and single commodity trains.

But the iffy weather meant that few boats were plying the Vermilion River by the boat launch that was our base of operations for much of the day.

No NS heritage units came through but the 9-1-1 unit made an appearance late in the afternoon trailing in the motive power consist of a coal train.

Two ARRC members saw it from the rail platform in downtown Vermilion, but three of us missed it because we were in Huron seeking photographs of trains passing beneath the old signal bridge with its Type G signal heads that NS is about to replace.

It took a long wait before an eastbound and westbound came through Huron.

In the meantime, we heard the Toledo East dispatcher talking to trains east of us and multiple trains coming onto the Chicago Line and turning west in Sandusky from the Sandusky District.

Those of us in Huron missed the 9-1-1 unit because its train diverged from the Chicago Line west of Vermilion and went to the Cleveland District en route to Bellevue.

The Cleveland District, which is the former Nickel Plate Road mainline, was largely quiet during the day.

As I arrived in the Vermilion area I spotted an eastbound stack train east of town on the Cleveland District.

Presumably it was either the 206 or the 22K and had taken the new connection west of Vermilion that allows eastbound trains on the Chicago Line to move onto the Cleveland District.

Otherwise, the only other train on the Cleveland District was eastbound manifest freight 210, which had one locomotive on each end, something we’d never seen on this train.

One eastbound coal train came past with BNSF motive power and a few trains had former CSX units still wearing their CSX colors.

The rain stopped around mid day and gradually the clouds moved out to afford us alternating sunny skies and conditions of sun and clouds.

But as the five of us who had dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube came out of the restaurant about 9:45 p.m. light rain was falling and continued to fall throughout my drive home. Maybe that was a fitting way to end our day.

ARRC member Todd Vander Sluis (blue shirt) watches the L13 as it passes the former passenger station in Vermilion.

ARRC member Alan Nagy gets video of westbound NS stack train 25V as it races through Vermilion. It was the last train we saw before going to dinner and then calling it a day.

ARRC Vermilion Day Outing is Saturday

The early hours of the Akron Railroad Club outing to Vermilion this week will find us getting images such as this one from the 2017 outing. An eastbound Norfolk Southern train crosses the Vermilion River by the boat launch.

The Akron Railroad Club will return to Vermilion on Saturday, Aug. 25 for a day of railfanning Norfolk Southern.

Vermilion features two NS lines, the busiest of which is the Chicago Line, an ex-New York Central route. Also passing through is the former Nickel Plate Road line that is now the Cleveland District.

The Cleveland District through Vermilion traditionally has host far less railroad traffic than the Chicago Line, but traffic has risen with the completion 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.

The Chicago Line hosts 40 to 50 trains daily with a traffic mix of intermodal, mixed freights, tanker trains, coal trains and 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.

An eastbound on the bridge is the prized shot for this location. Shooting a westbound these days is tough. You will need a 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 downtown.

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

Once evening arrives, those of us still there will head to Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner.

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

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.

Late Summer in Vermilion

NS train L13 passes the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion on the Chicago Line.

The Akron Railroad Club has in recent years held an all-day outing in Vermilion. Most of the action is focused on the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern.

The NS Cleveland District also passes through Vermilion, but has little traffic through town. Most trains that use the Cleveland District diverge west of town to a connection to the Chicago Line.

The Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts also held a day in Vermilion this past September, but it was poorly attended.

It’s not that the ARRC Vermilion day gets great attendance, either, but it does attract a core of regulars.

The typical modus operandi for ARRC outings in Vermilion is to begin the morning at the boat launch along the Vermilion River.

The attraction here is the Chicago Line bridge over the river. The Cleveland District bridge over the river is nearby in case there is any traffic there.

In the afternoon, we then move to the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion although some of us have a tradition of heading west of town to photograph trains.

Many of the images in this gallery were made west of the city at the Joppa Road grade crossing on the Chicago Line. The crossing is located toward the middle of a curve, which adds a little interest to your images.

Back in town at the railfan platform the classic images feature either the water tower or the former New York Central passenger station.

The latter is now privately owned, by a church I believe, but can be worked into photographs in late day light once the sun has crossed the tracks.

NS68D and the Vermilion water tower in a classic Vermilion pose.

NS westbound 25T chases the setting sun as it passes the former Vermilion passenger station.

The late day light illuminates the interior of the cab of the lead unit pulling NS westbound M1K.

It’s the M1K again, this time passing the Vermilion station.

Rails have been removed and cut off for disposal near Joppa Road.

Westbound stack train 21Q approaches the Joppa Road crossing in a two-shot sequence.

The rear of eastbound train 16E leans into the curve. The train is carrying sand used in fracking operations.

Boats and NS Trains in Vermilion

If you like to watch boats, Vermilion is a good place to go. If you like to watch trains, Vermilion is a good place to be.

But it is not an either-or choice if you plan a visit to the city on the shore of Lake Erie that is also noted as being the home of a famous French restaurant.

If you hang out at the South Street boat launch on the Vermilion River you can see trains and boats at the same time.

The Akron Railroad Club recently had its annual day in Vermilion and we spent all morning and part of the afternoon at the boat launch.

Here is a look at some of the action involving boats and trains.

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.

NS Put on Its Usual Show in Vermilion

The classic eastbound crossing the Vermilion River on the Chicago Line image.

Before anyone had left home we missed the Conrail and Monongahela heritage locomotives of Norfolk Southern and the GoRail commemorative unit.

All three had passed through Vermilion before dawn.

But there was plenty of other NS traffic to watch during the Akron Railroad Club’s fourth annual day in Vermilion hosted by ARRC member and Vermilion resident Todd Vander Sluis.

Six ARRC members and guests made the trek to the Vermilion on Aug. 27.

ARRC President Craig Sanders was the first to arrive at 10:30 a.m. and was joined by the day’s host not long after that.

The group soon included Rick Houck and Todd Dillon. We set up folding chairs on the grassy strip near the boat launch along the Vermilion River.

It was a warm, sunny day and there was a steady parade of boats in both directions during the time we hung out by the river.

The NS Chicago Line was its usual self with an array of intermodal and manifest traffic with a few unit commodity trains added to the mix.

We saw just two trains slip through town on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline, both of them eastbounds.

At about 2 p.m. someone noticed on his smart phone that a heavy band of rain and thunderstorms was about to slam Toledo.

It looked like it was headed our way and Todd wanted to go to the barn where he and his sister keep their horses and bring them in.

The four of us piled into Todd’s Dodge Ram truck and off we went.

That gave us a chance to meet Todd’s horse Fancy (registered name: I’m a Fancy Chip) whose stall includes a nameplate on the door.

After Todd took care of business at the barn, we headed west of town to check the status of the connection NS is building between the Chicago Line and the Cleveland District.

When finished, it will enable eastbound trains to diverge from the Chicago Line west of Vermilion and go either east or west on the Cleveland District.

Reportedly, such intermodal trains as 22K and 206 will use this connection rather than the Cloggsville connection in Cleveland to access the former NKP mainline.

The right of way for the connection appears to be finished and track panels were stacked up nearby. But no ballast has yet been laid and it had yet to be brought in.

We had ideas of catching a train on the Chicago Line and started scouting for photo locations.

As we did Marty Surdyk sent Todd a text asking “where are you guys hiding?”

Todd’s truck can link to his cell phone and read out loud a text to him.

Marty’s text triggered a round of joking and laughter about us being underwater in nearby Lake Erie.

I sent Marty a reply text reading, “glub, glub,” which he didn’t get because he wasn’t in (yet) on the inside joke.

With nothing apparently moving on the Chicago Line we headed back into town. Of course that was when something finally moved on the Chicago Line.

We joined Marty at the railfan platform at Victory Park in downtown Vermilion.

That storm that passed through Toledo was approaching Vermilion and Todd and I went to Sherod Park west of town to see in coming in off the lake.

But other than gale force winds and dark clouds, the storm skirted Vermilion.

Back we went to the railfan platform where we hung out until about 6:30 p.m.

There was another storm coming from the southwest that had passed over Dayton and that one did hit Vermilion.

We decided that would be a good time to head over to Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner.

It was dark when we finished, but Marty, Todd and myself spent some more time at the railfan platform where we saw five trains pass by in about an hour’s time.

We had heard a 20E calling signals west of town. Or so we thought. But 20E wasn’t showing up.

It turned out the 20E was stopped near CP 222 where the connection from the Cleveland District joins the Chicago Line.

We were amazed to learn that NS had held the 20E, which carries trailers for UPS and thus is a higher priority train, for the L13, the daily Bellevue to Rockport Yard turn.

The L13 was a very long train for a local and we speculated it had been combined with another manifest freight that goes to Bellevue.

The L13 had been sent west on Track 2, the same track the 20E was using.

Other westbound traffic was running on Track 1 and the 20E was the train that got stabbed.

About 10 p.m. things got quiet on NS and it was time to head for home.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

The only set of all foreign power that we saw was pulling train 23K.

The first of two trains that passed through Vermilion on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline. If there were others we missed them.

We saw plenty of boats during our day in Vermilion.

An NS tanker train probably had barely gained the attention of the boater on the Vermilion River returning to the dock.

An eastbound auto rack train crosses the Vermilion River on the Cleveland District.

The L13 noses by the railfan platform in Vermilion.

We never did learn the symbol of this one unit wonder that was pulling stacks and racks past the railfan platform in Victory Park.

Work is well along on the new connection west of Vermilion from the Chicago Line to the Cleveland District.

The storm over Lake Erie ended up passing by Vermilion.

Fancy does some fancy stepping as she heads for the barn.