It’s early June in Clinton. On this Sunday we catch BNSF 6630 and a couple of fellow stablemates pulling a westbound on the CSX New Castle Subdivision. In the bottom image, CSX 371 leads a westbound in the sunlight of summer.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
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
Running elephant style, four CSX locomotives wheel an eastbound double-stacked container train through Clinton (Warwick) on March 16, 1996. Note the variations in the CSX livery of the four units.
I didn’t journey to North East, Ohio, last spring for the express purpose of photographing the signal bridge at CP 73, which is located east of the Lake Shore Railway Museum.
But since I was there and I noticed that the CSX signal department was out in force putting in new signals, I decided I better get an image of the old signals.
The top and middle images were made on May 23. Note the new signals at the far left of both images are ready to be placed into service.
The bottom image was made eight days later and features Q020 charging eastbound on Track No. 2 of the Erie West Subdivision.
It was a good thing I made this photo because the following week these signals fell. There are only a handful of the old-style Type G signal heads mounted on their original masts or signal bridges left on CSX between Cleveland and Buffalo, New York.
As I looked through the viewfinder of my camera, I had a clear view of the approaching CSX stack train Q016.
Or so I thought. When I looked at the image on the screen on the back of my camera I saw that a tree limb was blocking the nose of the locomotive.
The train is rolling through Clinton and about to pass Warwick Park.
I had time to get in some afternoon railfanning before the May Akron Railroad Club meeting so I took my camera with me during a hike on the Portage Hike and Bike Trail near Kent.
I also took my scanner and sat on bench on the trail next to the CSX New Castle Subdivison and waited for a train to show up.
In my experience, afternoons can be slow on the New Castle Sub. and today was no exception.
There was a track gang at work somewhere nearby and approaching trains had to call the foreman on the radio to get authority through the work zone.
I thought I heard a train identifying itself as Q015, a stack train, calling the foreman. That was good news because I really wanted to get a westbound coming around a curve and into some good later afternoon light.
I got up and got into position. Soon I heard the rumbling of prime movers of an approaching train.
But it seemed to be coming from behind me. It got louder and finally I looked around to discover that I had actually heard the Q016 approaching.
The good news was that on the point was a beautiful Southern Belle of Kansas City Southern. Such units are not unheard of in Northeast Ohio, but not common either.
The bad news was the the lighting was unfavorable. I made the photograph anyway even though I didn’t have much time to get a better composition.
Some days are like that. Not far behind the Q016 was an eastbound auto rack and stack train. I never did see a westbound during my time on the trail that afternoon.
I took my camera with me during a recent walk on the Portage County Hike & Bike Trail near Kent.
The trail runs parallel to the CSX New Castle Subdivision and passes through where the Erie Yard and shops used to be.
There are a couple of benches along the trail, one of which faces the tracks. There are even some open areas to make photographs.
Unfortunately, the area right in front of the bench facing the tracks is not one of those.
I didn’t have my radio with me so I was counting on hearing an approaching train.
How much in advance you hear it depends on conditions. I heard an approaching train all right but saw it at the same time that I heard it.
I scrambled toward an open area, which was not the one that where I wanted to be.
The top image was far as I could get to get an open view of the lead engine of what I believe is the Q015.
The bottom image was made in the clearing where I’d prefer to photograph a westbound train.
Although it didn’t quite work this time, there is always another day and another train. Next time I’ll make sure to take my scanner.
I’d never photographed a CSX train in Conneaut from this particular angle until last fall.
The crew of westbound Q145 probably paid little attention to the former New York Central depot, which is now a museum. They’ve passed it dozens of times.
As I looked through my lens, I also noted the two-story red brick building to the right of the station.
I suspect that at one time it might have been a hotel. It was common back in the day for hotels to be placed next to or near railroad stations.
If this was a hotel at one time, it has been decades since the last guest signed the register. The NYC last picked up passengers in Conneaut on Oct. 25, 1962.
That building probably had ceased being a hotel well before that. I’m not sure what use is made of that building today. It might be an apartment building.
Q363 passes beneath the venerable Bort Road bridge over the CSX Eries West Subdivision tracks near North East, Pennsylvania.
One of my favorite places to railfan is the one-lane rickety bridge carrying Bort Road over the CSX tracks near North East, Pennsylvania.
The bridge has stood there for decades and probably dates well into the steam era.
Such ancient bridges are fast being removed and the Bort Road bridge is not likely to be standing too much longer.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is studying how to replace it. One idea is to build a new bridge at the site of the existing one. Another idea is to build the new bridge further west of the current bridge.
The bridge project will also change the roads in the area, which has aroused some opposition.
One way or another, though, I can’t imagine Bort Road bridge standing too much longer.
I don’t get there often, but last July I made a couple of visits. Most of the action was on CSX, which was to be expected.
Although not shown in this gallery of photographs, Bort Road is one of my “go to” places to photograph Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited. But that’s a morning occurrence and I was here in July in the late afternoon to early evening hours.
Getting a little glint on the Q008. It followed the Q010 by 10 minutes and got the sunlight that eluded the Q010.
Here comes the Q010.
Westbound manifest freight Q389 has a Guilford locomotive tucked away in its motive power consist.
Grain train G309 comes lumbering along.
An Uncle Pete is spliced between two NS units in the motive power consist of the 216. We were hoping to get a westbound on NS but got shut out both times.
NS train 216 passes beneath Interstate 90. A short distance to the left I-90 crosses into New York state.
The classic westbound train shot at Bort Road shows it splitting the milepost 70 markers. Shown is the Q007.
An endless line of auto rack cars on the rear of the Q363. These cars used to move in a dedicated auto rack train.
I was driving along U.S. Route 20 east of North East, Pennsylvania, when it occurred to me that this area might make for a nice across-the-vineyards photograph of a CSX train.
I didn’t attempt that on this trip, but kept the idea in mind for the next time I got over to North East.
That turned out to be about two weeks later when the Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts held an outing to the depot museums in Conneaut and North East.
As it got to be late afternoon, our small but dedicated band, which also included Akron Railroad Club members Marty Surdyk, Bill Kubas and Tom Kendra, decided to relocate to Bort Road.
We caught a few trains there on both CSX and Norfolk Southern. Bill and Tom had to get going toward home, but Marty and I stuck it out a while longer.
Marty had agreed that the across-the-vineyard shot had possibilities. The shot works best in the late evening light of mid summer.
We heard CSX stack train Q008 calling signals on the radio and knew this was our opportunity.
We had scouted for a location earlier in the day as we drove from North East to Bort Road. We sought an area that was open and slightly higher than the tracks.
The challenge was to find a place where the tracks could be seen rather than being blocked by the grape vines.
We had found it and made out way back there in plenty of time to catch the Q008, which had the usual consist of a CSX stack train of two wide-cab locomotives and a rainbow of colors in its containers.
I tried different angles and zoomed in and out for varying compositions. You can see the results in this galley of images.
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