Track work on the former Boston & Albany line of CSX in Massachusetts will result in the cancellation of some trips of the Boston section of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited between June 4 and 29.
On most weekdays during the maintenance of way window period the Boston section will not operate between Boston and Albany-Rensselaer, New York.
In a service advisory, Amtrak said Train 448 would not operate Sunday through Thursday, while Train 449 will not run Monday through Thursday.
No. 448 will run as normal on Fridays and Saturdays. No. 449 will operate normally on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Alternative transportation on the days when 448/449 are cancelled between Boston and Albany will be provided to Pittsfield, Springfield, Worcester and Boston South Station. No alternate transportation will be provided to the missed stops of Framingham and Back Bay.
The New York section of the Lake Shore Limited, Nos. 48 and 49, will operate as scheduled on all days.
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
My first railfan photography outing of 2023 occurred on Jan. 19 in Clinton. In a rare occurrence, there were three trains in about 20 minutes. Here are four images from the outing.
In sequence they are CSX 861 leading a westbound. CSX 521 in on the point of an eastbound passing the westbound home signal.
CSX 521 is shown in a roster shot and CSX 6415 with train L20 is pushing two cars east perhaps on their way to Jones Chemical near Barberton.
CSX said this week it has reached a tentative agreement with another labor union on paid sick leave benefits.
The latest pact is with the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division CSRA, which represents trainmen, conductors and yardmen on territories of the former A&WP, WSSP, L&N, NC&STL and SCL railroads, to provide paid sick leave benefits.
The Class 1 railroad said the agreement is the 10th sick leave agreement it has reached with its labor unions.
The SMART-TD CSRA pact is subject to ratification by members of that union.
In a statement, CSX said most of its unionized workers now have paid sick leave benefits.
The Ohio Public Utilities Commission has directed CSX to install flashing lights and gates at the Stout Road crossing in Oxford Township in Butler County. The project must be completed by May 17, 2024. Federal funds totaling $303,821 will help pay for the project, PUCO officials said in a press release.
Here are two from Jan. 31, 2015. In the top image CSX 918 leads a westbound in Clinton. This sunny view is generally unphotographable at any other time of year because of the shadows from the trees and brush when they have leaves on them.
In the bottom image, CSX 385 is on the point of a westbound in Clinton that will soon pass Warwick Park, the site of many Akron Railroad Club picnics over the years.
CSX has indicated that it will place several heritage locomotives on the rails in the coming months.
Last week the first of those, which pays tribute to the Baltimore & Ohio, entered revenue service.
The B&O tribute unit is a hybrid with the nose having the traditional CSX locomotive scheme but the long hood resembling a B&O locomotive from years past.
The locomotive was painted at a CSX shop in Waycross, Georgia.
An email sent to CSX employees revealed plans to create additional heritage locomotives honoring CSX predecessor railroads.
A CSX spokesperson told Trains magazine it will be “quite a few.”
The email did not name the processor railroads that will be celebrated or say how many tribute locomotives there will be.
The B&O tribute locomotive carries a B&O capitol dome herald on its rear. The unit also was renumbered 1827 in honor of the year the B&O was chartered.
CSX has paid homage to its predecessor companies with stickers of their heralds on the sides of locomotive noses. Otherwise, those locomotives retain the CSX livery.
The Florida-based Class 1 carrier also has repainted its F40PH locomotives used in executive train serviced in a B&O-inspired livery.
The colorful autumn leaves have fallen, but there is still color on the rails. CSX 6387, CSX 6661, and Baltimore & Ohio 4125 are in Clinton in January 1987. None of these units, though, are wearing a CSX locomotive livery just yet.
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