


Of the thousands of photographs that have been made of the Erie heritage locomotive of Norfolk Southern, the three appearing on this page will not rank among the best.
In fact, they are likely to rank in the bottom quartile because they violate the cardinal rule of photographing NS H units: Trail Equals Fail.
Not only is NS 1068 trailing it is the middle of three units. That is about as desirable as sitting in middle seat on a long flight between two burly men on each side of you.
No way would I post these images on Trainorders.com.
About the only thing these images have going for them is that they are sharp, exposed well, feature nice composition and were made on a sunny day.
But these images having something that no other images of NS 1068 have. They are mine. They are the first images I’ve ever made of the Erie heritage unit.
Until this past Monday, NS 1068 was one of three NS heritage units I had not photographed and one of two that I had not seen.
The closest I’ve come to seeing the Erie H unit was an HO model pulling a train on a layout at the Berea train show this past October.
I don’t know how many times the Erie H unit has been through Northeast Ohio, but it is several. On none of those occasions was I able to get out to photograph or even watch it.
I never lost hope that someday I’d be in the right place at the right time and/or be able to get there.
But having hope and seeing what you wish for come to fruition are not the same thing.
My breakthrough came in an email message this past Monday saying that the NS 1068 was at Toledo at 7:30 a.m. on the 206, an intermodal train that takes the ex-Nickel Plate route east of Cleveland to Buffalo, N.Y.
It was a rare sunny day and I had time to get out. So off to Olmsted Falls I went.
It took the 206 a while to show up. Around 11 a.m. I thought I heard a radio transmission that said in part “NS 206.”
I made my way to the other side of the tracks and waited.
Until I actually saw it I couldn’t know for sure that I hadn’t missed it.
Like so many things in life, you want something for a long time and it seems as though it will never come or is out of reach.
Then one day when you are not expecting it the opportunity comes along.
I kept glancing down the tracks until finally a headlight appeared. Minutes later I could see green between the two black NS units. I was not going to be denied.
Months of frustration vanished into thin air. I saw and photographed the Erie heritage unit.
I wasn’t expecting to get a great shot. There is a reason for the “trail equals fail” bromide and there wasn’t anything I could do in Olmsted Falls to transform an average photo into a stellar one short of taking extraordinary methods that would require resources that I don’t have.
The 206 was really moving so my glimpse of the NS 1068 was brief. I only saw it through my camera’s viewfinder.
Of course, I now want to get this thing leading a train. But who knows when that opportunity will come if it comes at all.
But I now have the NS 1068 in my collection. That leaves just the Central of Georgia and Conrail H units on my list of “yet to photograph.” I’ve seen the former, but not the latter.
Five of the 18 H units that I’ve photographed were trailing so I only sort of have them.
There will be more missed opportunities and frustration in the pursuit of the final two and getting all of the “trailing 5” onto the lead.
But that is for another day. I want to savor the sweet taste of success at finally corralling the Erie H unit.
Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders