Backing up to End of Track in Orrville

Norfolk Southern GP38-2 5060 is backing up to the end of the track in the industrial park in Orrville on Aug. 5, 2015. The crew will leave one or more cars and switch the rest.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Waiting on Switch Repairs in Orrville

Norfolk Southern local CO6 is shown above with GP38-2 Nos. 5208 and 5321 sitting on the far east end of the industrial park trackage in Orrville on Oct. 9.

A maintainer had been called to fix the switch at the other end of this trackage so the CO6 could enter the mainline, reverse, and head east.

This industrial park trackage is the last remaining part of the now-removed line that ran from Warwick to Orrville and was once known as the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus.

After the maintainer had fixed the switch, the CO6 backed onto the main, reversed directions, and left Orrville to return to Canton.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

 

 

 

What was THAT Doing There?

I had photographed a Norfolk Southern intermodal train taking the connection in Bellevue from the Fostoria District to go east on the Sandusky District toward Columbus.

As soon as it cleared I started to walk across a grade crossing when I noticed a train waiting for a signal on the New Haven connection.

The lone locomotive on the point of the L11 was a GP38-2, a high-hood GP38-2.

It caught me by surprise because although high-hood locomotives used to be commonplace in Bellevue, I had not seen one there in more than a year.

I also though NS had sold off all or nearly all of those units during a garage sale that it held last year.

But there it was with its remote control apparatus on top of the short hood.

With the intermodal train out of the way the L11 got a signal to proceed west and rolled out of town carrying a trace of the past with it.

Massively Overshadowed

One in a series of posts of photographs that I made last summer.

The driver of this Norfolk Southern track car had authority on the Sandusky District as far as the mini plant in Bellevue.

That wasn’t the driver’s final destination. As I recall, the track car needed to get into the yard, but the dispatcher had traffic to run so the truck sat and sat and sat.

One of those trains was an outbound move with a pair of Union Pacific units in the motive power consist.

Those UP engines also overshadowed an NS high-nose GP38-2 that was trailing them.

I wondered what it would be like to be sitting behind the wheel of a track car and seeing this massive train coming at you.

It must have made for an interesting site provided, of course, that it was on another track and stayed on that track.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

NS To Hold Locomotive Auction on Aug. 18

Always wanted to own a 1:1 scale locomotive? Your chance awaits as Norfolk Southern plans to auction off 50 of its high-hood EMD GP38-2 units and 27 EMD MP 15 locomotives.

Wouldn’t one of those look good in your back yard or driveway? Of course you’d have to figure out how to get it there.

The auction will be conducted on Aug. 18 beginning at 9 a.m. in Roanoke, Virginia.

Blackmon Auctions, which is overseeing the sale, said the locomotives will be lined up in the Roanoke Yard for evaluation and inspection on Aug. 15 and 17.

The units are being stored in Roanoke; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and other yards on the NS system.

More than likely the bidders will include short line and tourist railroads, companies that lease locomotives, and perhaps some museums.

The GP38-2 units were purchased by the Southern Railway and carry NS roster numbers in the 5000 series.

High Hood and Special Cargo in Bellevue

The high hood was the first thing that got my attention. Norfolk Southern still has some high-hood GP38 locomotives and Bellevue is about as good a place as any to hang out to see them.

But then the consist behind GP38-2 No. 5057 got my attention. It was a series of flat cars carrying large objects wrapped in gray tarps. Boxcars separated the flatcars.

The train came out of the yard and headed up the Toledo District. I posted these images on Trainsorders.com and asked if anyone knew what this cargo was.

But no one did. One guy said the train was headed for Michigan, but didn’t say where. So the mystery continues. What was riding on those flatcars?

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders