Fort Wayne Line Memories

An eastbound Conrail RoadRailer train approaches the diamonds with the Indianapolis Line in Crestline on Sept. 12, 1998.

The news that Norfolk Southern plans to reduce the infrastructure of its Fort Wayne Line between Alliance and Crestline brought back a lot of memories of the trains I over the years on that route.

That sent me into my photo collection where I discovered I had a surprisingly wide variety of trains and types of motive power.

I say surprising because the Fort Wayne Line has not often been a place where I’ve spent a lot of time, particularly west of Alliance.

East of Alliance the Fort Wayne Line is a busy railroad hosting a extensive assortment of NS traffic operating between the Midwest and East Coast.

But west of Alliance is another story. It was a moderately busy place in the Conrail era because traffic coming east from Columbus, Indianapolis and St. Louis joined the Fort Wayne Line at Crestline.

But after NS and CSX split Conrail, traffic on the Fort Wayne line plummeted.

It wasn’t always that way. The Fort Wayne Line was a principal freight and passenger artery to Chicago for the Pennsylvania Railroad, hosting many of the railroad’s Blue Ribbon fleet passenger trains.

Conrail downgraded the Fort Wayne Line west of Crestline in the late 1980s, a move that sent Amtrak’s Broadway Limited and Capitol Limited onto other routes in November 1990.

I first experienced the Fort Wayne Line on June 12, 1995, during the Orrville Railroad Days festival.

Conrail would send a locomotive to display and you could visit the cab.

The Orrville Railroad Heritage Society would operate track cars and a passenger train on a siding that was the original Wheeling & Erie mainline before the Orrville bypass was constructed.

You could count on seeing a few Conrail freights pass during the late morning hours.

I got lucky during the June 1998 festival and caught the rear head end of an eastbound W&LE train passing over the top of the rear of an eastbound Conrail manifest freight on the west side of Orrville.

I got even luckier by scoring cab rides twice in the battered F unit the ORHS used to pull the excursion train during that era.

During the final years of Conrail I got out with Dan Davidson to railfan the Fort Wayne Line and we nabbed some good photographs of Big Blue in Crestline and Orrville.

The railroad days festival later moved to August and one year the Akron Railroad Club had a table at a train show held in a pole barn owned by a lumber company.

By then NS owned the Fort Wayne Line and trains were far fewer in number so my forays there were limited to outings when I knew something out of the ordinary was coming.

The Fort Wayne Line was among the favorites of the late ARRC member Richard Jacobs, who lived not far from in Apple Creek.

Jake was active in the ORHS and spent a lot of time in Orrville. He therefore knew when the locals could be expected to arrive.

Jake and I twice photographed the NS locals in Orrville and caught an R.J. Corman train on the Fort Wayne Line once.

Corman uses the Fort Wayne Line to reach its isolated operation in Wooster, a remnant of a former Baltimore & Ohio secondary line, where it serves a Frito Lay plant.

Fellow ARRC member Paul Woodring and I also caught the NS local in Orrville in June 2008 when it had a caboose. Or should I say it had a shoving platform?

Paul and I would railfan the Fort Wayne Line four years later when we chased a ferry move of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765.

We picked up the chase in Massillon where I recreated a scene that the late ARRC member Robert Redmond had made decades earlier of a westbound PRR steam train coming off the fabled curved bridge over the Tuscarawas River.

Getting the NKP 765 in the same location was tough because by the time it arrived I was photographing right into the sun. But I got the shot.

We later captured the 765 east of Mansfield and at North Robinson passing a pair of classic Pennsy position light signals.

I photographed a number of noteworthy visitors to the Fort Wayne Line over the years.

There was the NS executive train on April 30, 2011, as it made its way to the Kentucky Derby with the F units that have since been sold.

I chased it with Roger Durfee, getting it at Maximo and Orrville.

Then there was Bennett Levin’s Pennsylvania Railroad E8A Nos. 5711 and 5809, which were headed back to Philadelphia after pulling a private car special during the Dennison railroad festival on the Ohio Central in August 2004.

And there was the time during the 2016 ARRC picnic in Warwick Park in Clinton when we learned that the NS Pennsylvania Railroad heritage locomotive was leading eastbound manifest freight 12V.

We followed its progress on social media throughout the day and several of us headed for Massillon in late afternoon to get it.

I chose to catch NS 8102 splitting the PRR position light signals at CP Mace. It just might be my favorite Fort Wayne Line photograph made west of Alliance.

NS increased its use of the Fort Wayne Line around 2014 by diverting some crude oil and ethanol trains that had been using the Chicago Line.

Thinking there might be enough increased traffic to make a day outing worthwhile I drove to Orrville one Saturday morning on a photo safari.

The day got off to a promising start when an eastbound crude oil train with helpers on the rear came through shortly after I arrived.

I heard the crew of that train talking on the radio to another train, which I presumed was in Massillon meeting the tanker train at CP Mace, where the Fort Wayne Line becomes single track to Orrville.

However, it would be an hour before that westbound, a coal train, showed up.

Once it passed through it would be four hours before another train came along, an eastbound crude oil train.

It was a good thing I brought plenty of magazines to read.

None of the four regular manifest freights that use the Fort Wayne Line through Orrville showed up during my time there on this day.

My last photo outing to the Fort Wayne Line was more productive. On Sept. 3, 2016, Adam Barr and I had gone to Alliance to railfan but got word that the Southern heritage unit was leading a westbound coal train over the Fort Wayne Line and would meet the 64T at Mace.

The 64T was being led by a Union Pacific unit and had the Erie heritage unit trailing.

We drove over there and caught both trains as planned. A bonus was a northbound R.J. Corman train waiting to cross at Mace.

It couldn’t get much better than that.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

You could always count on seeing some Conrail action in late morning in June during the Orrville Railroad Days festival. In a view made from Orr Tower a westbound RoadRailer comes through town.

The late Richard Jacobs and I caught the NS local working in Orrville on a couple of occasions including November 2010 when it was backing off the Fort Wayne Line and onto a remnant of the former Cleveland, Akron & Columbus line.

En route to see the thoroughbreds run in the Kentucky Derby, another thoroughbred strikes a classic pose in Maximo on April 30, 2011.

A touch of the Pennsy passes a former PRR passenger station in Orrville as Bennett Levin’s E8A locomotives return to Philadelphia.

It may be trailing but at least I caught the Erie Railroad heritage locomotive at CP Mace.

This just might be my favorite photograph that I’ve made on the Fort Wayne Line. The Pennsylvania Railroad heritage unit leads the 12V at CP Mace in Massillon.

The lighting was tough but I managed to recreate with Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 an image similar to one made of a Pennsy steam locomotive by Bob Redmond leading a train west from the curved bridge in Massillon.

NS Executive Train Passes Through NE Ohio

This past Tuesday the Norfolk Southern office car special came through northeast Ohio on its way to the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. The railfan community was out in force to document this move.

The top photograph was made in Alliance. The weather wasn’t great so I did mine in black and white. Next is the special at Canton in a photograph made by Michael Punzalan.

The final photograph was made at Lucas by Matt Arnold.

Article by Todd Dillon

It Was Dark But I Got the OCS

 

I didn’t take long for word to get out at the Great Berea Train show on Saturday that the Norfolk Southern executive train was coming. Reportedly, it was headed for St. Louis.

It departed its base in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in late morning, which meant it was likely to pass through Cleveland in late afternoon.

My fellow Akron Railroad Club member Todd Dillon decided to intercept it at Hudson, which it passed through just before 5 p.m.

I left the train show just after 4:30 p.m. and headed for Olmsted Falls. Eastbound manifest freight 34N or 34M (I don’t remember which letter it was) was passing through as I arrived. It would be the only eastbound I would see over the next two hours.

Operating under symbol 955, the OCS was following manifest freight 11V. L13, the Bellevue-Rockport Yard turn, and a coal train, the 552, would also depart westbound ahead of it.

About 5:30 p.m., ARRC Bulletin Editor Marty Surdyk arrived. He had planned to run home to grab his camera, but traffic leaving the train show was heavy.

He reckoned that it would be cloudy when the OCS came through and his chances of getting a good image on slide film were slim. So he just came out to watch and didn’t bother to get his camera.

Marty’s hunch proved to be correct. There was some nice sunlight just before the L13 led the late afternoon westbound parade, but by the time 955 showed up at 6:53 p.m., it was cloudy and dark.

Even with a digital camera, it was a tough image to make. But I got it and saw something I don’t see often.

It also means that the last two times that I’ve seen the NS OCS I’ve been trackside with Marty.  We had caught the OCS last month at Salem on the Fort Wayne Line.

The consist of the train was NS F9A 4270, F9B 4275, F9B 4276, F9A 4271, and passengers cars 23, Buena Vista; 24, Delaware; 19, Kentucky; 18, New Orleans; 2, Carolina; 4, Michigan; 14, Missouri; 13, Georgia; 11, Illinois; 9, Alabama; 20, Ohio; 3, Claytor Lake; 7, Pennsylvania; and 39 (a power car).

Even in the near dark it was an impressive looking consist. It was not a bad way to begin October.

Tracking Down NS Varnish in NE Ohio

The Norfolk Southern executive train rushes through Salem late on Sunday afternoon.

Norfolk Southern doesn’t operate passenger trains in the traditional sense. It doesn’t offer scheduled trains for which the traveling public can buy a ticket.

But like other major railroads, it has a fleet of passenger equipment for use in its executive train fleet and for other purposes involving track inspection.

When the word got out on Sunday that the NS office car special was traveling through northern Ohio en route to its home base in Altoona, Pennsylvania, it seemed that everyone and their brother went trackside to get it.

The OCS had been in the St. Louis area and traveled on the former Wabash mainline to Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Saturday night.

It had F9A 4271, F7B 4275 and F9A 4270, and passengers cars NS 23 (Buena Vista), NS 24 (Delaware), NS 7 (Pennsylvania) and NS 21 (West Virginia).

I first heard about the move of the OCS, which operated under symbol 956, from Marty Surdyk, who joined me in Sebring for an afternoon of railfanning on Sunday afternoon on the Fort Wayne Line east of Alliance.

Marty’s nephew Henry was chasing the train around Cleveland and sent us OS updates.

We elected to photograph the executive train as it passed through Salem because the tracks here are on a northwest-southeast alignment and the lighting would be better.

Train 956 was following intermodal train 20E and both were crossed over from Track 1 to Track 2 at CP Murph to run around grain train 52T, which was stopped ahead on Track 1 at CP Lum near Columbiana.

The intermodal train and OCS went back to Track 1 at Lum to continue their journey toward Pittsburgh. A report on HeritageUnits.com indicated that train 956 reached Altoona around 10:30 p.m.

My other sighting of NS varnish came late Friday afternoon in Olmsted Falls. It was a track geometry train with NS 38, a track test unit that railfans have nicknamed “the brick” because of its rectangular shape.

No. 38 was behind NS GP40-2 No. 3035 and was accompanied by NS 36, an open platform passenger car that carries the name “Research 36” on its flanks.

I could see NS personnel wearing safety vests sitting in the rear-facing seats and watching the tracks unfold behind them. It may be a research train, but it carries passengers and wears the same Tuscan red that adorns the NS executive fleet.

Traveling under NS symbol 906, the track geometry train tied up for the weekend at Rockport Yard. It left Cleveland on Monday morning headed for Pittsburgh.

A report on HU indicated that “the brick” would be inspecting Track 1 from Pittsburgh to Altoona.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Aboard the NS Executive Train

The Norfolk Southern executive train awaits its depature from Cleveland on October 16, 2010. The train carried "Miracle Kids" on a roundtrip to Toledo.

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it sure gets attention. We’re speaking about an appearance by the Norfolk Southern executive train in Northeast Ohio. NS may be known for black locomotives, but the black, white and gold livery of the F units that lead the executive train are head turners. The passenger cars that accompany the train are painted Tuscan red, a livery similiar to that used by NS predecessor Norfolk & Western for its passenger trains.

Few ever get a chance to ride on the NS executive train. It is, after all, a business tool used to ferry high-ranking executives and to entertain shippers, key government officials and other VIPs.

Sometimes, though, the exec train is used for public relations and charity purposes. Such was the case on October 16, 2010, when the train journeyed to Cleveland from its home base in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to carry several “Miracle Kids” on a roundtrip journey between Cleveland and Toledo on behalf of the Children’s Miracle Network.

Akron Railroad Club member Roger Durfee, who is an NS conductor, was among several NS employees who volunteered to work aboard the Miracle Express. Serving as the “official” photographer, Durfee provides us an onboard-view of what it is like to ride the NS executive train.

Photographs by Roger Durfee

The full-width dome car provides a spectacular panaromic view.

The view from the theater car of Lakefront line between downtown and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The Greater Clevelant RTA Red Line is visible to the left.

The lift bridge over the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland recedes in the distance as does Cleveland Browns Stadium.

An NS local (right) sports the caboose assigned to Motor Yard in Macedonia. At left is the theater car of the NS executive train.

The full-width dome car used on the Norfolk Southern executive train. This car was formerly part of the Conrail executive train fleet. It was originally built for the Santa Fe as a dormitory-dome-lounge.