On Tuesday I caught the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway local to Ravenna. Wheeling & Lake Erie No. 302, a former Denver & Rio Grande Western GP40 still lettered for that railroad powered the train.
In the photos above the train is shown switching at Kent, heading to Ravenna and on the turn trip at Ravenna
Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon
Last Saturday was a nice day weather wise but I didn’t have a specific plan for railfanning.
I went to Berea and then saw on social media that an eastbound Wheeling & Lake Erie train was powered by the Rio Grande tunnel motor pair.
I drove to Wellington in hopes of catching it. I then saw it was still waiting for a crew so I drove to Bellevue following the line just in case.
I got there about 11 a.m. and found them sitting outside of town where I took these photos. I stayed at the railfan platform hoping they would get a crew and then chase them east.
Another Wheeling train from Norwalk showed up about 3:30 p.m. and went into the Norfolk Southern yard.
I took photos of that, also. I waited until dark but, sadly, no crew ever showed up so I drove home.
Later I found out that the other Wheeling train combined the trains together on the return to Norwalk.
W&LE 5412 was formerly Rio Grande 5391 but was renumbered last winter. Sister unit 5413 retains its original Rio Grande unit number.
I also can confirm that NS is indeed using the hump at Bellevue yard again.
Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon
Here is a pair of images of Wheeling & Lake Erie action from 2013.
In the top image, W&LE No. 106 is eastbound on CSX after passing the eastbound signal for CP Lambert on the Akron-Barberton border June 6, 2013.
As for the bottom image, no this is not a W&LE Heritage paint job. It is WE No. 5413 Notice the small letters on the cab.
This unit was formerly Denver & Rio Grande Western 5413. The second unit is a W&LE locomotive while the third unit is another former D&RGW locomotive. The train is eastbound in Creston on June 15, 2013.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
I always remember Marty Surdyk using the fisherman’s term of “trolling” when hoping for a good catch.
On May 23, 2008, I had a good day of trolling during the afternoon before an Akron Railroad Club meeting. Craig Sanders and I caught a few unexpected prizes.
In Grafton as in photos one through three we caught CSX (ex Baltimore & Ohio) on the former Cleveland, Lorain & West Virginia) crossing the Big Four. Conrail units were still around but the surprise was the B&O caboose restored to excellent condition.
I also got a railfan (Craig) in the first photo. Often I did that on purpose to document who was on the scene.
Afterwards we were working our way to Spencer and we had a catch by surprise on the W&LE. Photos four and five show former Nickel Plate coaches 62 and 90 of the Midwest Railway Preservation Society being shipped to Wellington for short excursions on the Lorain & Wheeling.
Finally in photos six and seven on the former Akron, Canton & Youngstown we caught an empty Wheeling & Lake Erie stone hopper train headed back west to Carey.
Photo six was made west of Spencer while photo seven was at New London about to get on CSX (ex Big Four) on trackage rights to Greenwich.
Today I consider those heritage unit catches: Wisconsin Central, and Denver & Rio Grande Western.
I always wonder since we had good catches, did I have fish for dinner?
At one point The Wheeling & Lake Erie had seven former Denver & Rio Grande Western engines on its roster and all still were painted for their former owner.
This included one GP35, four GP40s and two SD40T-2s. The GP35 has since been rebuilt and repainted as have two of the GP40s, one of which was destroyed in a wreck. That leaves just four engines still in Rio Grande paint.
Here are some photos of the former Rio Grande units from when they were still painted and lettered for the Rio Grande.
The top photograph was made in Glenwillow, the middle photograph in Parma and the bottom photograph in Carey.
The 5413 has a pair of mismatched number boards as it leads its train out of Moorman Yard on Norfolk Southern.
Whenever I go to Bellevue I figure that if I get any Wheeling & Lake Erie trains it’s a bonus.
I go to Bellevue to see Norfolk Southern and if the W&LE comes into or leaves town that is value added to my day.
Such was the case during a recent visit in which my W&LE bonus time began in Monroeville when I spotted the railroad’s business car sitting on a siding.
A few more miles down the road revealed a WE train sitting at Yeomans with its locomotives pointed eastward.
I wasn’t there when this train showed up and when I left town about 9 p.m, that night this train was still sitting where I had last seen it.
There would be yet one more W&LE bonus to be had in Bellevue. The job that interchanges with NS in Moorman Yard came out on the Brewster connection with a former Denver & Rio Grande Western SD40T-2 leading.
I doubt that anyone ever tires of seeing the Rio Grande on the Wheeling, particularly when one is leading or if two of them are paired together.
A closer view of the 5413 and its mismatched number boards as it rumbles onto the Brewster connection.
Stripes on the noses of W&LE 4000 and 6997.
A tunnel motor and a corn field.
Near Ohio Route 4 and sitting beside the trail built on the former New York Central right of way.
Although last Saturday started off cloudy, by afternoon the skies had cleared and the sun came out.
I heard that Norfolk Southern train 12V had the Southern heritage unit leading. I went to Canton to catch it. I caught it twice, once at Wandle and again at Fairhope, where it was switching the yard.
Unfortunately, I had to shoot directly into the sun so the results weren’t very good. I ran into fellow railfan Matt Arnold and he told me of a Wheeling & Lake Erie train returning on the branch from Fairhope.
We didn’t have long to wait and this train, the 271, with a blue engine leading was perfectly lit.
I then ran by Gambrinus Yard and got a former Denver & Rio Grande Western GP40 out front. If you didn’t know better this looked like a Rio Grande yard instead of the Wheeling & Lake Erie.
By this time the 12V was finished switching and I got it a third time at Maximo just west of Alliance. The track turns north here and I had excellent side light. This ended my day.
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