Green and Yellow on CSX in Akron

BNSF SD40-2 No. 7018, still in its Burlington Northern livery, and Union Pacific GP38-2 No. 746 are leading an eastbound CSX auto rack train through Akron on April 28, 2006.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Only in June or July

Here are three images made in Clinton in June 2022. CSX ES44DC No. 5255 is eastbound on June 11 with a load of auto racks. CSX AC44CW No. 330 is eastbound on June 18 with a container train. At this location, only during June and early July is it possible to get a good sunlit photo from the north side of the tracks. Finally, CSX ES44AC-H No. 775 is eastbound with auto racks on June 18, 2022.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

NEO Rail Operations on a July Day

Here are three images made in Northeast Ohio on July 10, 2022. Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2 No. 7002 is shown in the top image in Copley. Because I did not want to move the cone, this is the best angle I could get. The middle image is a nose shot of the 7002. In the bottom image, CSX AC44CW No. 412 leads a westbound auto rack train in Barberton.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Too Much to Ignore

I usually don’t make photographs of rail car with graffiti on them, but I made an exception for this auto rack car rumbling southbound in Hamilton, Ohio, on the CSX Toledo Subdivision. The train is Q205 and its crossing Walnut Street. In the distance can be seen the former Baltimore & Ohio passenger station, which lies at the junction of the Toledo and Indianapolis subdivisions.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

CSX in Sterling Two for Tuesday

CSX ES44DC No. 5386 leads a westbound rail train in Sterling on Oct. 28, 2021, in the top photograph. The unit was built in June 2006. In the bottom photograph, AC44CW No. 555 has an auto rack train rolling eastbound in Sterling on Oct. 28, 2021.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Westbound in Akron Near Voris Street

A pair of CSX locomotives power a westbound auto rack train through downtown Akron on July 16, 2015. The two units have contrasting liveries, which was common at the time this image was made. The photograph was made near the traditional railfan hangout spot near Voris Street.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Dashing Through the Snow in Ravenna

There is still some snow left on the tracks of the CSX New Castle Subdivision a day or two after a winter storm passed through the area in March 2008.

Shown is an eastbound auto rack train approaching the Diamond Street crossing in Ravenna.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

A Barberton Two for Tuesday

This week’s two for Tuesday finds us trackside in Barberton in two distinct eras in CSX history.

In the top image, Five CSX locomotives of varying liveries team up to pull a westbound auto rack train through Barberton on the New Castle Subdivision on Sept. 5, 2010. Lead unit 7589 is a GE C40-8 that was built in September 1989.

In the bottom image, we’ve gone back in time more than 22 years to March 11, 1988. This is a CSX train but the motive power all wears liveries of CSX predecessor railroads.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Early CSX Motive Power in Akron

CSX turns 40 this year although that anniversary date is several months away on Nov. 1.

Like Conrail the early years of CSX were marked by a rainbow of liveries of predecessor railroads.

Unlike Conrail, which decided on a livery of blue with white lettering and stood with it pretty much until the end, CSX has made a number of changes in how it has painted its locomotives.

One of its early liveries was known as blue stripe for a large blue stripe along the engine walkway.

It was a short-lived look that lasted a year but not before 178 units received it.

This CSX auto rack train is eastbound in Akron in mid-1989.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Pair of Westbounds in Clinton on the New Castle Sub

The top and middle images of CSX westbound trains were photographed on March 1 on the New Castle Subdivision in Clinton.

In the top image is auto rack train Q299 at the west end of the yard.

The middle image was made at the west end of Warwick Park.

The bottom image was also made by Warwick Park but on March 8.

Photographs by Robert Farkas