Getting Lucky (Twice) in Berea

I was able to witness Marty Surdyk’s completion of his Norfolk heritage units photo collection when he caught No. 20, the Central of Georgia No. 8101, in Berea on Sunday.

It was leading train 11N, which operates from Doremus, New Jersey, to Sterling Heights, Michigan, in the Detroit area.

The 11N came through shortly after 11 a.m.

We also were able to get DC to AC conversion unit 4000, one of the NS “Blues Brothers.”

It was the second unit of the motive power consist of the 13Q, a Conway to Elkhart manifest freight that operates via Bellevue and Fort Wayne.

The 13Q preceeded the 11N by about 20 minutes.

As Marty indicated in his article, we were in Berea on late Sunday morning before watching a Frontier League baseball game in Avon Lake.

The Crushers center fielder was Shawon Dunston Jr. You may remember his father played shortstop with the Chicago Cubs from 1985-1995. 

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

I Still Enjoyed Seeing NS 8101 Even in the Gloom

Maybe you’ve seen my photograph of the Central of Georgia No. 8101 of Norfolk Southern that I made on May 6, 2018, at west end of the old Nickel Plate Road trestle over the Grand River in Painesville.

I’m pretty sure No. 8101 was leading train 287 at 1:50 p.m. I always loved that photo because the lighting was absolutely perfect and it showed the new bridge under construction.

On Monday the 8101 showed up pulling Train 316 en route to Buffalo, New York, just after 6 p.m. on a gloomy Monday.

It wasn’t as clean as it was when I got it a couple years ago yet I still enjoyed seeing it.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Boats and an NS Heritage Unit

I thought on Sunday that I would intercept Norfolk Southern train 287 with the Central of Georgia Heritage unit at the Cuyahoga River Bridge.

While I was waiting, the Sam Laud, an ore boat, was heading upriver to the Mittal Steel mill.

As the Sam Laud was clearing a tugboat with a barge left just as the 287 came through.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

Worth the Wait

I saw on Sunday morning that Norfolk Southern train 287 would have the Central of Georgia No.  8101 leading.

Before I went to church in the morning I saw that it was in the Buffalo, New York, area so I was able to attend mass then come home for an update.

After I got home the next post was North East, Pennsylvania, at 9:56 a.m. I figured under normal circumstances it would show around 11:30 a.m. It obviously was held in Conneaut until 206 and 22K passed it.

Because of the delay, the lighting was perfect at 1:50 p.m. at the west end of the Painesville trestle over the Grand River.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinksas

Central of Ga. H. Unit on the Former NKP

Norfolk Southern No. 8101, the Central of Georgia heritage unit, passed through Cleveland around noon on Monday.

It was leading an 888 coal train en route to Buffalo, New York, and came through Painesville at 1:45 p.m., where Akron Railroad Club member Jeff Troutman caught it with his cell phone.

The train took the former Nickel Plate Road mainline all the way east from Bellevue after coming up the Sandusky District from Columbus. The train originated in West Virginia.

Photograph by Jeff Troutman

Georgian and Steeler in Cleveland Browns Land

Everything just fell into place for me to photograph my 20th Norfolk Southern heritage locomotive on Thursday.

I had some time off, the weather was great and NS 8101, the Central of Georgia unit, was in Northeast Ohio.

I’ve had more than a couple of near misses with this rascal and I had even seen it twice, but wasn’t in a position to photograph it.

But on Thursday morning I saw that it was leading a 20Q through western Ohio and I went out to Olmsted Falls after lunch.

This was the first place where I had missed the NS 8101. That was the Sunday before Labor Day in 2012. I missed it by about five or 10 minutes. That didn’t happen this time.

Some of the H units that I’ve photographed were trailing, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad unit behind Nickel Plate Road steamer No. 765. So there is still work to do to get a few H units on the lead.

Shortly after the passage of the 20Q, I stuck around to make some aircraft photos as planes were landing on runways 6R and 6L at nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and coming over the Olmsted Falls depot where I was hanging out.

A US Airways flight from Charlotte arrived with a livery honoring the nemesis of the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The air traffic controller made note of the black and gold livery on this plane after it landed and as he was giving it taxi instructions.

I have recently become aware that American Airlines is painting some planes in heritage liveries to honor the memory of some of the predecessors of US Airways, with which it is in the process of merging.

I don’t know how many of these special liveries that there are, but there are probably guys who seek to photograph all of them just as there are guys who seek to photograph all railroad heritage locomotives.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

 

Wasn’t Going to Miss This Heritage Unit

While most fans wait on the Norfolk Southern Heritage units in their autos, I found myself waiting on the Central of Georgia unit on Thursday on a GP38-3. My local had to wait until a 573 (empty hoppers to Shire Oaks, Pa.) with the NS 8101 passed before we could occupy track No. 1 and head up the hill. I grabbed a couple of photos before doing the GR9. It was not the best location in the nation for a photo, but I couldn’t stray too far. That’s my train in the shadows and the 10 job behind us in the top photo.

Photographs by Roger Durfee

When the Monogahela Met the Cuyahoga and Other Tales of Norfolk Southern Heritage Units

I landed photographs of two Norfolk Southern heritage locomotives over the weekend, both in Cleveland.

The top photograph of Bridge 2 is my photo of NS train 205 with the Monongalela heritage unit leading that I like to call “Where the Monongahela meets the Cuyahoga.”
The clouds had thickened by the time the train had refueled and recrewed at Rockport Yard, so there was no sun on the shot at Sheldon Road just east of Berea.
On Monday, in one of the more interesting consists I’ve seen in a while, the Central of Georgia heritage locomotive was paired with EMDX 2012 on the 11V.

Again, other commitments that morning found me heading for Lewis Road just west of Berea to intercept it.

The sun would be the best there and there was a signal bridge and milepost to add some interest to the photo, e.g., not just “engine shots.”

A cloud and NS 14N almost skunked me there, but luck was with me and both cleared just in time. Note the dark trees in the distance and the EOT of the 14N.

After a quick run on the Ohio Turnpike to Route 250, I headed for the Strecker Road crossing in hopes of one more photo of this interesting duo. The wait was short with the clouds clearing just in time once again.
After getting the above MGA photographs, I was off to the Cleveland Air Show at Burke Lakefront Airport.

A Canadian fighter jet put on a great show, seen here just shy of the sound barrier.

Later, I caught the nose of a westbound NS train passing in the distance behind a V22 Osprey (I think).

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

Labor Day Weekend Heritage Hunt Yields 2 Units

I went down to southern West Virginia on Labor Day weekend because a large concentration of Norfolk Southern 30^th anniversary heritage locomotives were reported to be in that area.

On Friday night, we drove to Ashland, Ky., and spent the night there. Saturday morning found us traveling to Kenova, W.Va., because a heitage unit had been spotted there. But we didn’t find anything.

We continued following the former Norfolk & Western main eastward. We found a giant mainline coal dock about 20 miles east and set up for a photo. Surely a train would pass, but after two hours of waiting nothing did.

The website Trainorders.com had a report of the Savannah & Atlanta engine going through Columbus, Ohio, about 7 a.m. with an empty coal train bound for Williamson W.Va. But we didn’t know exactly where it was.

Following the line further east we found a nice sun-lighted tunnel, No. 7 I believe. This would make a nice photo if we had a train, but the signals were solid red.

As we were about to leave the signal turned green. After a short wait, a train appeared with the S&A unit leading.

We chased it into Williamson, catching it several times.

We then moved on to Bluefield. However, we got completely lost – there was no cell phone or GPS reception in the mountains – and the Delorme atlas wasn’t much help either. We arrived  after dark.

In the meantime, we found out that had we stayed home we could have gotten the Monongahela heritage locomotive that was going through Cleveland on Saturday morning.

On Sunday morning, we talked to a couple of railfans who said that NS heritage unit 8114 (original Norfolk Southern) was working helper service on the other side of the yard.

Alas, we didn’t find it either. They also told us that the Lehigh Valley heritage locomotive had gone west during the night heading for Ohio.

Striking out again, we headed for Roanoke, Va., where some other heritage units had been reported to be.

Again, we found no heritage units; they were in the shops for repairs.

We did visit the Virginia Transportation Museum where the N&W 1776 Bicentennial and an Alco C630 high hood had been recently repainted. So the trip here was not a complete loss.

On the drive home, we heard more reports of 8114 at Bluefield, but we still missed it.

On Monday back in Cleveland, the Central of Georgia (NS 8101) came west on the 11V, which we did get at Olmsted Falls.

So I ended up with two heritage locomotives for the weekend although I had hoped for more. Nonetheless, while we were lost on Saturday, we did find some scenic coal branches that were not being used over the weekend. It was like being adrift in the ocean surrounded by water but with nothing to drink.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon