Fine Day Railfanning in Wine Country

An eastbound CSX strack train passes a sitting westbound manifest freight outside North East, Ohio.

Ed Ribinskas and I got together last Thursday to do some railfanning in the wine country around North East, Pennsylvania, and in Conneaut, Ohio.

Our primary objective was to spend time at Bort Road just outside of North East.

The one lane wood deck bridge remains in place despite efforts by highway department officials over the years to remove it and replace it with a new bridge closer to North East.

I don’t know where those plans stand or even if they are active.

Bort Road long has been a favorite railfan hangout location where you can photograph trains on the CSX Erie West Subdivision from the bridge and on the Lake Erie District of Norfolk Southern. The lines are of New York Central and Nickel Plate Road vintage respectively.

We arrived around 9:45 a.m. to find the rear of a westbound CSX manifest freight sitting to the west of the bridge.

Although we never learned the details, it appeared that CSX was single tracking west of North East.

Shortly thereafter a relatively short eastbound CSX strack train came rushing through. The westbound manifest then moved on and to our displeasure CSX then went into a siesta that lasted for more than two hours.

CSX is by far the busier of the two railroads here so that was not good news.

However, NS came to life around 10:30 a.m. when a four-car eastbound local came by.

The crew of the local talked with the dispatcher about working in Ripley, New York. That conversation yielded the news that two westbounds were coming on NS.

The first of those showed up in relatively short order and appeared to be calling the symbol 18N, which we believed to be the Buffalo, New York, to Conway Yard near Pittsburgh train.

However, in looking at online listings of NS train symbols the 18N is shown as originating in Conway and operating to New Jersey. The Buffalo to Conway train is 15M so maybe we misheard the symbol. It sure sounded like 18 and not 15.

Behind that train was the 309 but the train that operates from East Binghamton, New York, to Elkhart, Indiana, was held while the local did its work in and near Ripley.

Whatever the case, we endured a lull that lasted until about 12:30 p.m. when the 309 came past led by a lone BNSF unit.

The CSX lull finally began to break at 12:45 p.m. the same time I had been planning to leave to go to the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East to check out what was new before heading to Conneaut.

But CSX came back to life right around the time I planned to leave, sending the I002 eastward.

Shortly thereafter came a third NS westbound that caught us by surprise. We never got the symbol of that train.

Then came a long westbound CSX stack train that stopped west of the bridge. As I suspected, it was waiting for an eastbound which turned out to be the empty trash train for the East Coast.

As we arrived at the museum in North East, a westbound CSX manifest freight was passing by.

New to the collection since was my last visit was GEAC60CW No. 6002 in a GE livery.

We were dismayed to see how badly faded the paint was on the former Chesapeake & Ohio B30-7 No. 8272, which arrived at the museum in 2017 freshly repainted in a Chessie System livery.

Also looking the worse for wear was New York Central U25b No. 2800.

I suppose that locomotive that sit out in the elements all year long are going to lose some of their luster in time.

From the museum we made our way to Conneaut to check out the progress of the new bridge NS is building over Conneaut Creek.

During our time there we saw one eastbound leave town on NS. CSX sent an eastbound and westbound past us as we sat next to the Conneaut Historical Society across the tracks from the Conneaut railroad museum.

It was time for us to call it a day and head to Geneva where we met up with our respective spouses for dinner at the Old Mill Winery. While there we saw though the windows of the restaurant one of those NS westbound that we had photographed earlier in the day at Bort Road.

It’s always nice to get “one more” to conclude the day.

Article by Craig Sanders, Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Winter at the Painesville Depot

An eastbound CSX container train passes the former New York Central passenger station in Painesville on Feb. 2, 2014. The depot has been restored and now houses a railroad museum.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

What It Would Have Looked Like

Friday and Saturday were the type of days I will not venture out anymore except to the mailbox and to feed the birds.

Why I didn’t really need to go trackside is because I am more than satisfied with the results I got in Perry in March 2013 in similar conditions. However, things were worse on Friday than they were in March 2013 when there was heavy lake effect snow but not the extreme cold.

Of course I wouldn’t have been able to see Amtrak No. 48 anyway if I had gone out since it was cancelled. Stay warm everyone.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

One Morning at Lake City

About a mile or two west of Lake City, Pennsylvania, State Route 5 curves over the CSX Erie West Subdivision on a bridge that the last time I was there had no fences. It is or at least was a good place to photograph although you had to park a short distance away and walk up.

I’ve probably been over that bridge a dozen or more times over the years but only photographed from it a couple of times that I remember. One of those was early on the morning of April 27, 2008.

Peter Bowler and I had stopped there to catch Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited and stayed a while to photograph some eastbound CSX intermodal trains.

I don’t recall the symbol of this train, but in looking at this image more than a decade later I’m struck by how the consist includes a string of trailers on flat cars. Those can still be found on intermodal trains, but like so many other things in railroading are fading away in favor of double-stacked containers.

And yet the motive power looks pretty much the way it has for more than 20 years. Or so it seems.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

CP 8757 at Perry

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..

Photograph by Edward Ribinskas

Productive Afternoon in Perry

I was out photographing CSX and Norfolk Southern trains in Perry on May 10. It was a good day and I logged 11 trains, all but two of them on CSX.

I later realized that date was the 153rd anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike. Last year I learned that a director of the Union Pacific back then was John Casement.

He was present at the ceremony at Promontory. He also is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery just down the road which I passed on the way to Perry.

Someday I’ll remember to see if I can find his grave site since it is so close. 

Here are three favorites from that May 10 outing. The top image has three trains in it including the NS local from Grand River and two CSX trains. Even though I was on the wrong side for middle photo of a westbound NS manifest freight, I still like it. In the bottom photo the lighting is ideal for this westbound CSX stack train.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Getting a Lucky Catch on CSX

On Thursday April 21, Ursula and myself had planned a visit to Rosabella Winery in Austinburg on Route 307. Since last Fall we have been sampling the numerous wineries in Lake and Ashtabula counties, which have more than 30 wineries.

Our routine is to pick a different one each week when there is good weather, pick a wine, have a glass and lunch, if food is available, and check it off the list. Our visits are usually on a Wednesday or Thursday when patronage is very light.

Before we leave in the morning, I always check Heritage Units.com just in case.

I saw that Canadian National (BC Rail) No, 3115 was leading an eastbound CSX general freight with a destination of, I think it was, Buffalo.

I can’t remember the train symbol, but it turned out to be a long, long general CSX manifest freight. The report on HU.com was at Lagrange about 10 a.m. 

We got to the winery at noon. Again, I checked HU and a new report showed it in Cleveland at noon.

A little after 2 p.m. we left Rosabella and figured we would stop at a coffee house in Geneva on Route 534 on the north side of the Norfolk Southern (ex-Nickel Plate) tracks. It has become a favorite stop for us when we are out that way because with the right table you can see NS trains.

Prior to crossing the NS tracks I heard a locomotive horn. When we crossed the tracks nothing was in sight, so the horn had to be from a CSX train, which is about a half-mile north.

I figured that was the BCRail locomotive but I would be out of luck on this day.

Arriving at the coffee house, we found it closed. We then started on our way toward home on Route 84.

Approaching Perry, I turned down Main Street and told Ursula that I wanted to see if any headlights were visible. It was now about 3:10 p.m.

As we approached the NS and CSX crossings, the CSX flashers lit up. An eastbound was approaching slowly. It did not look like CSX colors.

Ursula saw my excitement, so she put her iPhone on the camera app and handed it to me. Bingo.

Article and Photograph by Edward Ribinskas

Catching up With the NKP Heritage Unit

I saw Wednesday night that CSX train Q567 with the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit of Norfolk Southern was coming up the Hudson River. I was hoping I would have some good luck on Thursday for my first photographs of 2022. I waited a little over an hour and it did arrive about 1 p.m. Despite being a cold 27 degrees, it was sunny in the perfect spot and I came away very happy with the results. The train was captured at milepost 153 in Painesville on the Erie West Subdivision.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Genset Two for Tuesday

I recently saw on Railpictures.net a photograph made on Jan. 12, 2022, of two now Sierra Railroad Genset locomotives with the first being former Union Pacific No. 2627. I saw the latter being delivered at Lane Road near Perry on March 13, 2007, on a CSX train. Here are my images from that day.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

During a Transitional Era in Ashtabula

It is a late November day in 2008, a Sunday to be exact. A few days earlier a snowstorm had swept through Northeast Ohio but on the CSX Erie West Subdivision the passing trains have blown the snow off the tracks.

Peter Bowler and I got together on a photo outing that covered CSX between Perry and Ashtabula. We made a stop at North Bend Road, which crosses the CSX tracks west of the entrance to the yard.

I had photographed this signal bridge a year earlier when it had signal heads for Tracks 1 and 2. But now a track configuration within the past year has resulted in the removal of the Type G signal heads for Track 1 eastbound.

Shown is a westbound approaching North Bend Road that appears to be coming out of the yard.

A decade later on Jan. 14, 2018, Peter and I would visit this location again. By then modern signals had been installed and were in operation further to the east to control movements at the west end of the yard.

The signal bridge shown in the image above was still standing but sans all signal heads. I haven’t been back to this location since then but a check of Google Maps streetview showed the signal bridge has since been removed.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders