It is late afternoon on Jan. 10, 2015. I’m standing on the bridge carrying Old State Road over the CSX Willard Terminal Subdivision tracks west of Greenwich.
Cresting a grade and heading toward Willard is CSX manifest freight Q351. I had first spotted this train southeast of New London on the New Castle Subdivision but had been out of position to get a decent photograph. I was able to get ahead of it and catch it here.
The attraction of the train was is bright red and clean Canadian Pacific leader which gleams in the late afternoon sunlight while providing some contrast with the snow and drab colors of the slumbering foliage along the tracks.
The image is a reminder of the rewards of winter photography when low sun angles produce warm light on otherwise cold days.
On Thursday I saw on HeritageUnits.com that Canadian Pacific No. 8757, the Every Child Matters unit, was on CSX intermodal train I165. After it was reported at North East, Pennsylvania, I went out to Main Street in Perry about an hour later. It showed a little after 4:30 p.m..
Early in November I saw the Canadian Pacific ES44AC No. 8781 was going to be heading east on CSX. It had recently been given an orange Hapag-Lloyd Saint John Express scheme.
Ursula and I had stops to make in Willoughby. Around 12:30 p.m. it was reported near Cleveland so I decided to wait in Mentor at the parking lot of the restaurant in the former New York Central passenger station.
The sun was shining in the perfect spot for an eastbound. About 1 p.m. a headlight appeared. I did not have my camera but was going to use Ursula’s iPhone.
By not having it ready to shoot, I did not get a photo. The lighting was ideal and the locomotive was spotless. I think I was upset.
Just before Thanksgiving No. 8781 was leading a CSX train again and I saw a post that it was passing through Collinwood yard in Cleveland.
I immediately hopped in the car with my camera to head to Perry. The post on HU was not close to the actual time it was seen since the train passed me on the way. I think I was upset.
About 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday I saw a post that it had passed through LaGrange as the DPU on the I 166. However, its nose was facing west.
There was no sun, but I did not care. I went to Perry and waited. The only train I saw was the one I wanted. I was not upset.
RRE members watch I 166 pass through Berea. That is Marty Surdyk’s silver jeep behind them.Bob Todten takes shelter from the rain in his vehicle.Here comes the I 166 as NS train 20T passes nearby.An eastbound NS manifest freight with Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific motive power passes through Berea.
Despite the cool temperatures and steady rain, a few brave Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts members still made it to Berea for the 46th Annual Turkey Shoot on Thanksgiving Day, Nov 25, 2021.
Marty Surdyk and Bob Todten arrived first, followed by another five members.
Both CSX and Norfolk Southern ran a few trains, including the I 166, the Canadian Pacific run through train on CSX with a 1+1 pair of CP GE’s which looked like they had previously been in coal train service, given their coating of what looked like coal dust on their car bodies.
In the photographs above, that is Marty’s silver Jeep behind the group and Bob Todten, sitting in his SUV, avoiding the then-steady downpour.
Back in 1975, Bob and I started what has become this annual tradition.
On Friday Canadian Pacific ES44AC No. 8781, the Hapag-Lloyd unit – already nicknamed “Orange Crush” by railfans (for the REM song) – came through Cleveland leading the I166 which was formerly Q166. I caught it at Berea in late morning and at East 361st Street in Willoughby in early afternoon.
Railfans and their cameras were out in force on Saturday in Northeast Ohio as CSX train 166 came through the Canadian Pacific No. 6644 on the point.
The SD70ACU is adorned in a special livery paying tribute to World War II veterans.
It is shown above passing through Perry at 12:24 p.m. on the CSX Erie West Subdivision. On the rear of the train was a distributed power unit with its nose facing outward, a bonus for photographers.
Catching the 166 with something out of the ordinary was the highlight of the photographer’s first railfan photography trip of 2021
I ventured out to the Frankfort District of Norfolk Southern on Friday wanting to check out the street running in Elwood, Indiana, and the former passenger station in Tipton.
I only caught one moving train, but what a catch it was. This westbound auto rack train shown in Hobbs, Indiana, had a Canadian Pacific leader and a BNSF trailing unit.
It was delayed for a while east of town after a semi got stuck on a steep approach crossing, its load of large coiled tubing balancing over the tracks.
The truck was pulled off the crossing by a tow truck and the auto rack train was soon on its way.
The Frankfort District, was a former Nickel Plate Road line between Sandusky, Ohio, and Peoria, Illinois. Before the NKP took it over, it was part of the Lake Erie & Western.
Canadian Pacific owns no track in Ohio, but its motive power is a regular visitor thanks to intermodal trains Q165 and Q166.
Those are CP trains that operate on CSX between Chicago and Buffalo, New York.
They often make daytime appearances in Northeast Ohio and it is not unusual for them to have one of the carrier’s heritage units painted in maroon and gray.
Some of those units feature scrip lettering while others have block lettering.
You also might find one of the CP’s military veterans units in the motive power consist of the Q165 and Q166.
Show here are some recent images of the maroon and gray units cause in Lake County.
The first two images were made on Aug. 17 at Main Street in Perry. The third image was made on Aug. 23 east of Perry at Davis Road.
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