Like Southern Minnesota in the 1960s

After going to the Fostoria Trainfest last Saturday we found ourselves at the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum in Bellevue. The museum was closing for the day so we toured the outdoor displays. The afternoon light was just perfect where the subject was well lit including the truck detail.

 In the past, the equipment displayed at the west end of the museum has featured a mixture of bright sun and dark shadows cast by a nearby grain elevator. This usually left part of the subjects well lighted but the other parts in practical darkness. This grain elevator has been torn down in the past year or so, which opens up new photography vistas as everything is now in bright sunlight.

 Also, some of the displays, such as Chicago & North Western No. 1689, were usually blocked by other display items. This has changed and it is now out in the open.

 I took advantage of this situation by photographing everything in sight from a variety of angles.  One photo in particular struck my fancy. It is a wide-angle, back lighted shot that created the feel of a branch line station in the 1960s.

The equipment has rusted and weathered, so a color photo still looks like it was taken in 2013. I got to thinking “what if I converted it to black and white?”

That did the trick and the museum’s Alco locomotive now looks like something on a C&NW line in southern Minnesota in the mid-1960s, not Ohio in 2013.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

UP 1995 Spends Sunday in Cleveland

Q364 passing the former Big Four depot in Berea at about 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Here is my take on the visit to Northeast Ohio of CSX train Q364, which had as its leader the Union Pacific 1995, the Chicago & North Western heritage unit.

It was a bitter, windy, crappy weather day to be out, but this neat unit was going to get my attention no matter what.

I wanted to show it in locations that identified it as being in the Cleveland area with Berea being the first of course.

After Berea it was off to Parma to catch it pulling up to work the small yard there. After a lot of work and a wait for some traffic, the 1995 continued east, allowing the third location to be the first bridge east of CP 14.

Then it was straight to Collinwood where the radio chatter indicated a move right into the yard via the south lead.

This final location for us resulted in a classic Collinwood photo with the signals and coaling tower in the shot. A down on roster grab would be my last photo.

The last time I photographed the 1995 it was actually on ex-C&NW rails a few years ago over near Missouri Valley, Iowa.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

Pulling up to Parma yard.

At Parma.

Passing through CP 14.

Passing through CP 14, less telephoto.

Entering Collinwood yard.

Down on roster photo.