A pair of Wheeling & Lake Erie GP35-3 locomotives, Nos.100 and 102 are at the east end of the yard in Brewster on Nov. 10, 2016. Both units were once owned by the Southern Railway with the 102 once having served the Central of Georgia. The Wheeling rebuilt the 100 in July 2000 while the 102 was rebuilt in December 2000. The 100 carries the name Lynn R. Shook under its cab.
hotograph by Robert Farkas
The Wheeling & Lake Erie provides our two for Tuesday this week. It is Oct. 1, 2021, and we are in Brewster. GP35-3 No. 103 and GP9R No. 4602 are leaving eastbound for the Gambrinus, Yard near Canton. These view show the duo coming and going.
Photographs by Robert Farkas.
Wheeling & Lake Erie GP35-3 No. 108 has been around a long time. It was built for the Southern in December 1964 and came to the Wheeling in 1990 when the modern iteration of the company began operations.
A motive power roster online maintained by Chris Toth shows No. 108 still looks the way it does in the photograph above.
It is capable of remote control operation and has Alco-type B trucks.
No. 108 is shown here working in Navarre on Aug. 21, 2013.
Former Penn Central GP35 and two running mates still wear their PC liveries as they roll a Conrail train westbound through Akron in June 1976. Of course Conrail had only been around for just over a couple of months so few locomotives in Conrail blue had shown up yet.
There is something about this scene that bring to mind the word “lonesome.”
Maybe that’s because we see a lone Wheeling & Lake Erie GP35-3 pulling a lone tank car.
At least I thought it was a lone tank car until I enlarged the photo and determined that there are actually two tank cars.
But the compression from the lens makes the train look quite shot.
The train is westbound on the CSX New Castle Subdivision tracks in Akron on March 27, 2012.
Wheeling & Lake Erie GP35-3 No. 2662 is one of the most sought after Wheeling units by railroad photographs because of its bright red and gold scheme.
It is shown working in Brewster on Sept. 2, 2009. The W&LE once had two units painted in these colors.
Wheeling & Lake Erie GP35-3 No. 102 is headed westbound in Brewster on Nov. 5, 2019.
While the image was shot in color, the front of the train was in shadow and the back in sun. It made an OK color photo but a much better black and white.
Ohio celebrated its bicentennial in 2003. As part of the festivities, the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway painted GP35-3 No. 200 into a black and white livery with a red, white and blue bicentennial logo, and an Ohio flag painted on its sides. White stripes adorned the nose.
I’ve seen and photographed this unit before, including a time when it was leading a train on CSX when the W&LE still used its trackage rights on the New Castle Subdivision through Kent.
Although this livery is approaching 12 years of age, the unit itself is much older. It was built by EMD in December 1964 for the Southern Railway, where it carried roster number 2706.
The “new” Wheeling acquired the unit in 1990. It was rebuilt in October 1995. Along the way it acquired Alco trucks.
My latest encounter with W&LE 200 was near New London earlier this month. It was sitting in the siding just east of Chenango Road waiting for the approval of the IG dispatcher to get onto the CSX Greenwich Subdivision.
With fellow unit 4016 (an SD40-3), the 200 was cooling its heels with a Willard-bound manifest freight.
The original plan was to photograph this train at GN Tower in Greenwich after it got on the CSX Willard Terminal Subdivision.
But with time running short — it was getting to be late afternoon — we decided to look for it in New London.
And there is was, looking rather splendid. Maybe the railfan gods were looking out for us because some late day sunlight poked through a crevice in the clouds and No. 200 looked even more spectacular taking a bow for the cameras.
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