It’s a collage of Penn Central locomotives and rolling stock in Motor Yard in Macedonia in suburban Cleveland in early 1973. In the center of the image is PC GP40 No. 3154, which had been built for the railroad in September 1968. Also on hand are a caboose and some boxcars.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The ballast that supports the ties and rails may not get “dirty” in a traditional sense, but it does need to be cleaned.
The equipment used to clean ballast isn’t photographed often, but it is interesting in its own right.
Here are two views of the LRV-12 on Norfolk Southern property in Macedonia. It’s a type of ballast cleaner that is used by NS.
Here are a few images of interest of Norfolk Southern action on the Cleveland Line near Motor Yard in Macedonia.
In the top image, the NS “Go Rail” locomotive leads a manifest freight in the vicinity of the yard.
In the bottom image, NS 8302 leads another manifest freight through Macedonia. It is one of the few remaining standard cab GEs that you can see leading on the Cleveland Line.
Here is some Erie Lackawanna heritage that is generations apart. The top photo of the Lackawanna heritage unit of Norfolk Southern was made in July 2016 at Macedonia while the bottom photo is from April 1976 in Akron. As luck would have it, both are leading two black painted units and both are EMDs. All the units in the 1976 photo are gone as are the ex EL tracks they are on.
Norfolk Southern train 54K had the Wabash heritage unit leading earlier in the week on Monday. It is seen here passing the BF12 at Motor Yard. It led the train into Pennsylvania and as of Wednesday morning was reported heading west on the point of another NS train.
A lawsuit filed by the city of Macedonia against Norfolk Southern over a deteriorating bridge has been dismissed after the railroad agreed to make repairs.
NS has agreed to remove and place stones in the bridge carrying the Cleveland Line over Ledge Road with precast concrete. The railroad will also pay the city $6,000.
The work is expected to be completed next year. In the meantime, NS inspectors will conduct two safety inspections per week on the bridge.
Macedonia’s lawsuit was dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning that it can be refilled at any time.
A frustrated city of Macedona plans to sue Norfolk Southern in an effort to force it take additional action to repair a bridge that has rained chunks of concrete down on unsuspecting motorists.
The 109-year-old bridge, which carries the NS Cleveland Line over Ledge Road, has been the subject of a dispute between the city and the railroad for weeks.
Macedonia officials also want NS to order its trains to slow down as they cross the bridge, which city officials believe will lessen the likelihood of falling debris.
NS has installed safety fencing to help catch debris falling from the bridge, but city officials say that isn’t enough. The city ordered Ledge Road closed near the bridge last week “until further notice due to loose fencing.”
Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta said he decided to move ahead with the lawsuit after NS said it could not fulfill his request to negotiate assurances for the city.
Kuchta indicated that the city remains open to negotiations with NS over the city’s demands for structural information concerning the integrity of the bridge and a desire for more than just fencing to protect the public.
In a statement, a Norfolk Souther representative said:
NS will respond at the appropriate time in the appropriate place. Otherwise, we don’t comment on matters involving litigation.
Aside from fencing, NS has apparently also agreed to pay for flashing warning lights at the bridge. It also suggested that it would use spray form to shore up the crumbling sandstone.
But Kuchta said that using spray foam is not enough.
“We want it fixed so that people can be safe,” said Kuchta. “Are you kidding me, spray foam, are you kidding me? Look there’s stones all over the place. This sucks, we can’t risk it.”
Two cars have been hit by falling debris from the bridge in less than a year.
Macedonia Service Director Jim DeGaetano told WEWS-TV in Cleveland that debris continues to fall through the fencing installed in front of the sandstone walls of the bridge.
“We picked up almost three yards of material that fell on the street,” said DeGaetano. “We have picture of that. We filled up a little one ton pick-up truck.”
NS spokesman Dave Pidgeon said the company could not comment on anything that involved potential litigation.
“We will continue to voluntarily seek constructive dialog and real world solutions with local officials across our network, including Macedonia,” Pidgeon said.
Kuchta told WEWS that he won’t sit down to discuss a solution until the railroad provides an adequate temporary solution that will allow Ledge Road to reopen with a good degree of safety.
NS caboose 24040 basks in the early morning sun outside the car shops at Motor Yard in Macedonia on April 10, 2010. (Photographs by Roger Durfee)
NS shop forces recently renovated a caboose used by locals based out of Motor Yard in Macedonia. In the process, the caboose received a coat of shiny red pain.
Formerly Conrail 24040, the caboose was built by Penn Central in Altoona in April 1969. That makes this caboose 41 years old. A class N10 car on Conrail, the caboose was repaired over the winter in the NS Macedonia Shop as time allowed.
The most visible improvement is of course that new paint job that covered a faded and tagged Conrail blue. To keep things simple paperwork wise for the UMLER the CR 24040 number was retained.
Internal fixes include a new floor, interior paint, and the heater was cleaned out. It is sub-lettered for the Dearborn Division/Cleveland, and can usually be found on job BF12 out of Motor yard in Macedonia.
Before getting its new look, this is what caboose 24040 looked like in its faded Conrail livery.
NS 24040 brings up the rear of BF12 at it waits at Wheelock in Motor Yard in Macedonia to get out onto the mainline and go to work on April 15, 2010.
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