Trestle Tales: Heritage on Steel

In the past decade, Ed Ribinskas has considered tracking Norfolk Southern heritage locomotives to be one of his many everyday chores.

If an H unit was leading a train that would pass through Painesville, he would grab his camera and head over to the Riverside Drive grade crossing if he could.

The Nickel Plate heritage locomotive made an appearance on March 30, 2013. Others that have passed by included the Southern H unit on April 26, 2014, the New York Central H unit on May 27, 2015, and the Erie H unit on April 10, 2016.

After construction of the new bridge over the Grand River got underway in March 2017, Ed sought to be a little creative in his photo composition by working the construction activities into his image as can seen above.

Some examples included catching the Erie heritage unit on July 15, 2017, the Savannah & Atlanta H unit on June 2, 2018 and the Central of New Jersey H unit on Nov. 25, 2018.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Double Heritage Unit Friday in Northeast Ohio

On Friday Norfolk Southern sent two heritage units through Northeast Ohio.

Todd Dillon caught the New York Central H unit passing the former NYC depot in Olmsted Falls.

It was on the point of the 21Q headed for 47^th Street in Chicago after originating in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Next he caught the Interstate H unit going through Hudson leading the 25V. The train originates in Elizabethport, New Jersey, and terminates at Landers Yard in Chicago.

Both units came through during the afternoon.

Ordinarily, Friday night would have been Akron Railroad Club meeting night for September. But that meeting was canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

However, there was an impromptu ARRC meeting in Hudson with club president Dillon, Vice President Bill Kubas (shown on the ladder) and Tom Kendrick on hand in Hudson to get some photographs and video.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

Mighty Oval on the Mighty Keystone

Some railroad photographers relish making images of Norfolk Southern heritage locomotives on the former home rails of the company that the engine commemorates.

For example, I recently saw online a photo of the Erie heritage unit on a former Erie Railroad route going over a concrete bridge that still bears the “Erie” name.

I’ve had had few opportunities to get NS heritage locomotives on their home roads and it has only occurred three times. In all of those instances the situation involved a Conrail family member, e.g., Conrail on ex-CR, Penn Central on ex-PC.

Last Saturday I was in Pittsburgh when we got word that NS 1066 was leading a 65R across Pennsylvania and would arrive in the steel city in late afternoon.

No. 1066 wears New York Central markings and the 65R was traversing former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks.

I wanted to get it amid a scene that said PRR and what better way to do that than with PRR-style position light signals.

We waited in Leetsdale for the 65R to come trundling down the Fort Wayne Line.

We later had another opportunity to photograph NS 1066 waiting at another generation of signals, this time the Safetran signals installed by NS just east of the entrance to Conway Yard.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

 

Double Capture of the NYC H Unit on ex-NKP

Last Monday (Memorial Day) evening, I saw on HeritageUnits.com that Norfolk Southern 1066 – the New York Central heritage locomotive – was heading west on the former Nickel Plate Road line to Cleveland. It left Conneaut just after 10 p.m.

The 1066 had led a train eastward over the ex-NKP early Saturday morning.

Since many times H units make just one round trip on the ex-NKP, I figured I’d better try to get it. I was working on Saturday when it went east.

I got it at about 10:40 p.m. in Painesville.

On Tuesday night, there was speculation on Trainordrs.com that the NYC H unit would be leading NS train 206 on Wednesday 206.

Here are the results at the Painesville trestle over the Grand River where Ursula, myself and five other railfans were waiting at just before noon Wednesday when the 206 came by.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

2 Out of 3 H Units on Snowy Monday Morning

On Monday, Jan.5, Cleveland was graced with three Norfolk Southern heritage units leading trains through town. The Erie H unit took an all ex-Nickel Plate Road routing through town on train 287 so I wasn’t able to see that one. I did catch the other two, the Interstate and the New York Central, both seen negotiating the temporary shoo fly track at Battery Park, MP CD 184 on the Chicago Line in a couple of typical winter scenes.

Photographs by Roger Durfee

Black and Slow vs. Blue and Fast

I managed to catch the New York Central H unit negotiating the new bypass track at Battery Park near West 73rd Street in Cleveland on Thursday. It was leading a 553 empty hopper train. Main No. 1 is still in its original location and being used, but it, too, will get connected to the other bypass main. You can see both original mains off to the right. The lunchtime show was the Navy’s Blue Angels flying team, which is in town in for the Cleveland Air Show this weekend at Burke Lakefront Airport. I know this is a railroad blog, but I thought some might enjoy the jets.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee