NS to Leave Drawbridge Up Most of the Time

Norfolk Southern has agreed for now to keep its lift bridge over the Cuyahoga River in a raised position unless rail traffic is imminent.

The move comes after an incident in which the bridge was down for several hours, which effectively closed the river to almost all marine traffic.

The Goodtime IIII reportedly missed a trip out to Lake Erie and other boaters were reported to be furious.

Railroad officials said the bridge was in the down position on that day due to track maintenance.

Boaters have complained for years that having the bridge in the down position creates delays and safety issues.

Tom Werner, NS vice president of corporate communications, said the railroad has not decided if the new policy will be permanent.

A high-ranking NS manager who knows the bridge well is working with the operations department to come up with a permanent plan for operating the bridge.

Werner said dispatchers who know the intricacies of the bridge, including its quirks, left the company when dispatching operations were centralized in Atlanta last year.

When the bridge is down during warm weather for extended periods of times, flotillas of boats congregate on both sides of it.

Once the bridge is raised, those boats begin to move and, owners of businesses along the river say, crate dangerous wake.

Impatient boat operators tend to gun their engines in anticipation of being able to race out to the lake or back down the river from the lake.

Historically, control of the bridge was in the hands of an operator at Drawbridge Tower.

But three years ago that control was transferred to dispatchers along with control of the track crossovers near the bridge.

There are still bridge tenders at Drawbridge who raise or lower the bridge upon orders from the dispatcher. The bridge is manned around the clock seven days a week.

When the New York Central was still in existence, dispatchers had the option of leaving Drawbridge 1 in the up position and routing trains around the Lakefront Wye to the Big Four and across Drawbridge 2 to Linndale. But that route is no longer possible due to track abandonment.

Nautica Entertainment, which operates anther sightseeing boat, the Nautica Queen, said its captains are encouraged by the change in policy.

Laurie Dittoe of Great Lakes Water Sport, which rents kayaks, boats and jet skis,  told Cleveland.com that last Saturday was at least 50 percent better than the week before.

“Sunday was not as good as the curtain stayed closed for about 90 minutes at one point. BUT, to be fair there was a pretty steady dose of trains running throughout that time frame,” she said. “We did see much improvement.”

Seeing (CN) Red in Downtown Cleveland

Norfolk Southern train 145 had a consist of three Canadian National locomotives as it rolled through Cleveland on the Cleveland District of Norfolk Southern.

Yeah, I’d rather that the three CN units be heading toward me rather than going away, but it is still a good image anyway.

My friend Adam and I were hanging out at Old Broadway in Cleveland when we heard a westbound train calling signals.

That wasn’t what we had wanted to hear. I wanted to get an eastbound with the Cleveland skyline behind it in all of its glory.

But I wasn’t going to pass up any train. It had been more than an hour since we had arrived and I wanted to get something, anything.

The train was the 145, a westbound that originates in Buffalo, New York, and terminates in Kansas City.

I have an interesting history with the 145. In early February 2014 I bagged the 145 crossing the Painesville trestle over the Grand River on one of the best days for winter photography that I’ve ever experienced.

Ed Ribinskas won a photo contest for his image of the 145 that he made that day and received a free enlargement from Dodd Camera that prominently is displayed in his home.

More recently, I caught the 145 in Conneaut with a pair of Union Pacific locomotives and nothing else. Yes, it was running light as two UP units.

The 145 soon came into sight and as it did I could see the nose wasn’t black. We didn’t know of any Norfolk Southern  heritage units on the former Nickel Plate line.

The lead unit turned out to be a Canadian Pacific locomotive. And so was the trailing unit and so was the third unit. It was an all CN motive power consist.

Those are not necessarily rare, but not common in Cleveland, either. Not a bad way to start the day.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

NS Trains at Cleveland’s Old Broadway

NS train 206 passes Old Broadway as the Cleveland skyline looms behind it.

Old Broadway is a favorite go-to place of railfan photographers when a Norfolk Southern heritage unit is leading a train eastward on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline through Cleveland.

It features an open view of eastbound traffic with the Cleveland skyline in the background. I’ve seen a number of H units photographed here, but never done it myself.

Old Broadway is also a place where fellow Akron Railroad Club officer Marty Surdyk likes to photograph. His strategy is to hang out in Berea until the 22K or the 206 comes past and then barrel up Interstate 71 toward downtown to get into position.

He has been known to get his shot at Old Broadway and then hot foot it out to Willoughby and get the iconic Willoughby Coal Company building in an image.

Going back even father to the 1950s, photography Herbert Harwood photographed at Old Broadway, catching Nickel Plate steam and various passengers trains headed to Cleveland Union Terminal.

As for myself, I had never photographed at Old Broadway and it has long been on my “to do” list.

With the help of my friend Adam, I finally was able to cross it off the list.

It turns out that the term “Old Broadway” is something of misnomer. It is actually located off the end of Rockefeller Avenue.

The Old Broadway name dates to the time when, or so I am told, Broadway Avenue crossed the tracks here.

There is still a concrete foundation that appears to have once supported a bridge.

You park in a cul-de-sac that looks modern. I can’t tell you how many vehicles came down Rockefeller, saw the cul-de-sac and then turned around and went back toward where they came. Either these folks don’t have a GPS, have a faulty GPS or can’t read a map.

We were banking on the fact that the 22K and the 206 both seem to be reliably late morning trains through Cleveland.

Maybe so on most days, but not on this day. We arrived about 9 a.m. and sat for an hour-and-a-half before getting a train. It was a westbound, the 145.

Just over a half-hour passed before another train showed up. It, too was a westbound, the 205.

It was almost noon and we decided to give it just a little more time. Then we got lucky.

The scanner brought news that we not had one, but two eastbounds coming, the 206 and the 310.

As we expected, the 206 arrived first. The last containers of the 206 were still in sight when the head end of the 310 came around the curve.

By now the sky had turned to sun and clouds so we played dodge ball with the light and shadows, not always winning.

But the images turned out well enough. We might have to give Old Broadway another try some day. Maybe this one of those eastbounds will have a heritage unit on the lead.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Here comes NS train 206 as Terminal Tower looks on.

Getting the train and the buildings of downtown Cleveland both in sunlight provided elusive much of the time as the 206 passed by.

Here comes NS train 310 as the last containers of train 206 clear.

Train 310 is walking in sunshine, but much of downtown Cleveland is in shadows.

Tracks still lead into Cleveland Union Terminal, but they are the rails of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. Show is NS train 310 passing beneath Terminal Tower, which is partly shrouded in shadows.

Another perspective of NS 310 and Terminal Tower.

Getting a last look at the motive power of NS 310.

By the time that NS train 205 showed up in late morning the light was starting to look favorably on westbound trains.

A closer view of the motive power of NS train 205 shows that the number boards for NS 8166 have black backgrounds and white numerals rather than the other way around.

Looks like a white snake slinking its way under the gaze of Terminal Tower.

The tail end of NS train 205. For once the clouds weren’t casting any shadows over downtown Cleveland.

Getting the Circus Train was a Bit of a Circus

The circus train climbs Westinghouse hill. Note the tail end of that stacker alongside.

I knew the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus train was going to be coming west a couple of weeks ago on the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line and knew the spot I wanted to shoot it at.

I was in earshot all morning, listening to the CSX crew build the train near the Amtrak station in downtown Cleveland.

The plan was to have the CSX crew take the train to CP Max (near Rockport) for the new NS crew and its run to Toledo.

Once the train was together and got the OK to proceed west over Bridge 1, I headed for my perch.

The one thing that could happen to block the photo was another train and that almost happened. As the circus train was starting over the bridge, an eastbound stack train was calling signals on its way to the bridge.

The stacker showed up first and not only was it going slow it was long and had the Savannah & Atlanta heritage unit leading.

I guess if you are going to get skunked by another train it might as well be a good one. I shot the S&A (including a down on roster view) and then watched it slowly move east.

As the end of it got closer, the headlight of the circus train was showing. Just as the circus train got into shooting range, the stacker cleared allowing the photos I that wanted.

A long train in itself, the circus train was 61 cars and powered by two CSX units. I grabbed a few photos of some of the cars as well as the train.

Note the excavation for the new West 73rd Street bridge in several of the photos, and the “old” main. Trains will use this shoofly track until the new bridge is built, then will move back to the original line location.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

Not a Common Sight on NS

Somewhat rare in our neck of the woods, at least for now, are the Norfolk Southern rebuilt SD60Es. Train 961, a light engine move, had four of them on Wednesday, Aug. 22nd.

NS 6911 led three other SD60E units and three “normal” units seen climbing up Westinghouse Hill just west of Bridge 1 in downtown Cleveland.

The Key Bank building and Terminal tower form a backdrop in this photo.

The trailing three units would be set out at Rockport Yard. No. 6911 was rebuilt from NS SD60 6600.

Photographs by Roger Durfee

Sunday Exploring My Backyard

Norfolk Southern 2668, an SD70M-2, leads train 309 across the former Nickel Plate Road drawbridge over the Cuyahoga River and the Flats. The train had a rather short consist.

Sunday, July 8, 2012, was the kind of warm and sunny day that would have been just right for going to a ballgame, picnic or maybe even railfanning. Although the Cleveland Indians were in town taking on the Tampa Bay Rays, I elected to chase trains. In the process, I was able to see Progressive Field where the Tribe plays.

Friend Adam Barr and I decided to explore some new territory in our backyard in Cleveland. We left Adam’s house about 8:30 a.m. and made our way to the Tremont neighborhood. The parking lot for the University Inn on 7th Street has an expansive view of the former Nickel Plate Road drawbridge and trestle over the Cuyahoga River and the Flats.

As impressive as this view is, though, train traffic on the line is not heavy. You can sit for a long time and see nothing.

After setting up, we learned that we had just missed an eastbound, but could hear Norfolk Southern train 145 calling signals in the distance. The lighting was less than ideal, but I managed to snag a few decent images, particularly using the Inner Belt bridge and the NS trestle as framing devices.

One reason we came here was because construction of the first of two new Inner Belt bridges is well underway. Demolition of a giant warehouse that stood next to Interstate 90 for decades has opened new vistas. Once the Inner Belt bridges are completed, they will change the landscape here.

Neither Adam nor myself had been down here before, so it was time to do some exploring.

With nothing on the radio after the passage of the 145, we decided to check another new location, Battery Park. This upscale housing development sits next to the NS Chicago Line just west of downtown.

Rail traffic was at a standstill shortly after we arrived due to the drawbridge over the Cuyahoga being up. After the river traffic had cleared and the bridge was lowered, we had a flurry of trains, two westbounds and an eastbound.

We then heard the NS Cleveland District dispatcher talking to the 22K, which was on the Cloggsville Connection to the ex-NKP. We headed back toward where we had been, but decided to park on or near Abbey Road and walk in on that Abby Road bridge.

We weren’t sure if we had missed the 22K or not. We didn’t see it during the couple of times we crossed the NS tracks en route. Then we noticed the drawbridge was up and a lake freighter was heading down river.

After the American Courage passed, we waited for what seemed like an agonizingly long time, all the while  wondering if 22K had gotten past us somehow. That seemed unlikely. Besides, the home signal for the drawbridge displayed an approach indication for an eastbound move.

At last we spotted the 22K rounding a curve and heading toward our position on the Abbey Road bridge.

After lunch at the Flying Fig restaurant near the West Side Market, we returned to the parking lot next to the University Inn. After another long wait, I heard a distant and scratchy radio transmission that sounded like a train calling a signal.

It would turn out to be the 309. We would have a westbound in reasonably good light — or at least as good as it can be at 2:30 in the afternoon on a July day — for a shot with the Cleveland skyline in the background.

Like the 145, the 309 had a short consist. The dispatcher had indicated that the 309 would recrew at Rockport Yard. Perhaps it would pick up a few cars there, too.

Adam had some family obligations to take care of, so we prepared to leave. But I spotted a lake freighter heading up river. We stayed to photograph the Calumet. It easily dwarfed the pleasure craft that passed it.

Then again, the trains had been easily dwarded by the massive bridges over the Flats. It was like looking at a forest of steel and concrete.

It had been hot, but not unbearable. The breeze felt nice and the humidity was much lower than it had been on Saturday. We had photographed a lot of trains, but had recorded images in new territory for both of us. I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer Sunday afternoon.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

NS 145 lumbers across the trestle over the Flats on Sunday morning. In the lead is SD60 No. 6568.

Although Cleveland sits next to Lake Erie for several miles, there are few places in the city to photograph trains with the lack in the background. An opening in the trees opposite Battery Park provides such an opportunity if you don’t mind the wires in the background. The white dots on the lake are sail boats.

An eastbound NS manifest freight passes the community center at Battery Park on track No. 2. Leading is NS 9444, a dash 9 that is oh so common here.

NS 22K crosses a bridge over a city street as it approaches the Abbey Road overpass west of the drawbridge on the former Nickel Plate Road line. A passing lake freighter delayed the train, but in this view the double stack container train is on the move eastbound.

Bridges, bridges everywhere. The lead locomotive of NS 145 is dwarfed by a steel city of bridges. The locomotives have just passed beneath the Inner Belt bridge carrying I-90 over the Flats and Cuyahoga River. The pier to the right will support the new Inner Belt bridge that is now under construction. The bridge to the left is the ex-NKP drawbridge.

 

Lake freighter American Courage is about to clear the ex-NKP drawbridge over the Cuyahoga River as it slowly makes it way down river.

Calumet slowly goes up river as a sail boat under motor power has pulled to the side to led the much larger vessel pass. The Cuyahoga River makes a number of bends here, hence the Indian name meaning crooked river.

Looking Out the Office Window

Some of us are fortunate to have an office of our own at work. Still others are lucky to have an office with a window overlooking the outside world. And then there is Roger Durfee.

Shown above are a few views out of his window. But it wasn’t just another day at the office for him.

As he explains: “Here are a few shots ‘from my office window’ on a rare (for me) trip over the B-line to the former Nickel Plate Road East 55th Street yard.

“In the top shot we are approaching Bridge 2 over the Cuyahoga River. Note the new Innerbelt (I-90) bridge supports off to the right.

“In the second photo out on the viaduct several of the new supports can be seen as well as a crane being assembled down below and Progressive Field in the background.

“In the last photo we are about a half-mile from the 37th St interlocking and you can see the remains of the Cleveland Union Terminal electric supports. The dirt road off to the left was at one time the route of the Erie Lackawanna commuter train out of the Terminal Tower.”

Photographs by Roger Durfee