Grinding Along at Pawnee

I am standing on the rickety wood bridge carrying River Corners Road over the CSX New Castle Subdivision west of Lodi.

A westbound CSX coke train rumbles along past the venerable Baltimore & Ohio color position light signals at a location the crews call Pawnee when calling the signal indication over the radio.

You will notice the mast for the signal on Track 2 has a letter plate “G” which denotes grade. If an eastbound gets a red signal here the crew may continue at restricted speed prepared to stop until the next signal. That is because the train is on a grade.

A number of things have changed at this location since this image was made on May 23, 2008.

The CPLs have been replaced by newer signals that can be seen standing shortly to the east. Interestingly, those “newer” signals have themselves since been replaced.

In 2008 the bridge on which I am standing was still a one-lane wood structure. It has been placed by a modern concrete two-lane bridge.

However, that bridge has a high chain link fence that makes getting photographs here a challenge.

The signal is likely named for Pawnee Road, which once crossed over the tracks on a wood bridge to the east of here. That bridge was removed in conjunction with the project that led to the replacement of the River Corners Road bridge.

The highway to the right is U.S. Route 224 and it is still the two-lane road it was when this image was made.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

CSX 52 Leading in Barberton

CSX AC44CW No. 52 leads a container train on the single track segment of the New Castle Subdivision through Barberton on May 29, 2014. The unit was built by GE in February 1995. The cars on the left are on the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

CSX Action in Clinton

Veteran railroad photographer Bob Farkas often makes images of CSX trains in Clinton on the New Castle Subdivision. That’s not surprising given it is just a few miles down the road from his home in Canal Fulton.

In this series we get a perspective of CSX trains in various locations, including at the far west end of Warwick Yard. Other vantage points include Warwick Park, the east end of the yard and the area near Warwick Tower.

All of the images were made during 2021 and offer a snap shot of Class 1 railroad operations in the era of precision scheduled railroading of longer and fewer trains.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

CSX Two for Tuesday in Barberton

It’s Tuesday and we have a pair made in Barberton on the CSX New Castle Subdivision on July 19, 2021. In the top image, Union Pacific 5940 wheels train K593 is eastbound. In the bottom image CSX leads a westbound stack train.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Nova Tower Two for Tuesday

Nova Tower was razed in late 2013, but for many years it was a “must visit” site on any photo expedition on the western end of the CSX New Castle Subdivision.

Shown above are a pair of trains that I caught passing the “leaning tower of Nova” on Aug. 7, 2009. I must have spent some time there because both trains are eastbound on Track 2.

It was not my first visit to Nova. I was there a year earlier and perhaps even that had not been my first sighting of Nova Tower. I have a hazy recollection that my first visit to Nova Tower occurred on an outing with Marty Surdyk in which we drove past the tower but no train was coming so we continued on.

At one time Nova tower controlled signals and a crossover here when the rails were the Baltimore & Ohio. Going back even further the Lorain, Ashland & Southern crossed the B&O in Nova at grade.

Nova can still be a good place to photograph trains, but without a former interlocking tower as a photo prop.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

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

CSX Two For Tuesday With Some UP Style

Here is a pair made on Sept. 30, 2021, in Clinton. In the top image Union Pacific SD70M No. 4199 leads a westbound. In the bottom image, the Q137 is rolling past on its daily journey from Baltimore to 59^th Street Yard in Chicago. Now known as the I 137, this train usually passes through Northeast Ohio in daylight.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

A Cheese Head in Kent

The Wisconsin Central is only a memory now having been acquired by Canadian National in 2001. WC locomotives were not common visitors to Northeast Ohio, thus it was a surprise to find this SD45 trailing a CSX unit on a westbound in Kent on Aug. 5, 2005. The 7512 was built for Burlington Northern in July 1971.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

CSX Triple Play in Clinton Third Day of July

Here is a trio made on July 3, 2021, in Clinton on the CSX New Castle Subdivision. In the top image,  CSX 590 leads a westbound. In the middle is No. 6425 sitting on the track normally used for train D750’s power. The bottom image features Nos. 6415 and 6425 on D750’s power’s track.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Coming Out of the Dark

With a background of dark green leaves and shadows it appears that CSX road slug 2252 is coming from a dark place. The back story on this image is that train Q394 had motive power problems while traveling between Clinton and Akron. The motive power normally used on the D750, which is based at Warwick Yard in Clinton, was sent to tow the consist of the Q394 to Warwick. The image was made on July 2, 2015. The 2252 was originally built in December 1962 as a GP30 for the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio.

Photograph by Robert Farkas