CSX OCS in Cleveland Today

The CSX executive train will reportedly operate from Cleveland to Indianapolis today.

The train, with F40 locomotives CSX 1 and CSX 2, is reportedly en route to Evansville, Indiana, and Waycross, Georgia, according to online reports whose accuracy could not be verified.

Reports on HeritageUnits.com said the train passed through Mentor at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday with CSX No. 3310 leading.

It was operating with train symbol P001-09. Both F40s were painted in a new livery inspired by the blue, gray and black Baltimore & Ohio locomotive livery of the 1940s and 1950s.

The train earlier this week was in Massachusetts and traveled the former Boston & Albany and Water Level routes to Cleveland.

It was reported on Wednesday in Buffalo at 8:27 p.m. and at North East, Pennsylvania, at 9:45 p.m.

An online report indicated the train is due to arrive in Waycross on Friday night.

UPDATE: Online reports indicated the executive train was spotted at Greenwich at 7:30 a.m. and the two F40 units were trailing.

New Horses for NS OCS Fleet

The Norfolk Southern Office Car Special went through Northeast Ohio on Monday. The train has new motive power, a pair of SD60E’s that have been re-geared for 79 mph running. They are its new power replacing the old F units.  I caught the train at Rootstown.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

NS OCS Makes Northern Ohio Appearance

The executive train of Norfolk Southern is no stranger to Northeast Ohio, but its visits and few and far between enough to make getting it still a treat when the opportunity arises.

Such was the case on Sunday afternoon when operating as symbol 955 the train of A-B-B-A F units and 12 cars can through on the Cleveland Line and then the Chicago Line.

It was en route to Chicago and reportedly stayed overnight in Elkhart, Indiana, before continuing to the Windy City on Monday morning.

I intercepted it in Oak Harbor along with fellow Akron Railroad Club members Marty and Robert Surdyk.

We had been in Fostoria for the annual ARRC longest day outing and decided about 5 p.m. to head up to Oak Harbor, where the 955 came through about 7:20 p.m.

The train did not appear to have anyone aboard other than the head end crew.

Chasing UP 1943 in Pennsylvania, Ohio

Here are a few images of Union Pacific No. 1943 leading the passenger special that recently ran on Norfolk Southern to and from New Jersey/New York.

I started off in Altoona. It was cloudy but that kind of helped since it would have been a harsh “noon in June” high sun when it first came through.

The first two images are from Altoona and include a train and roster grab. The third photo is from the Route 22 bridge in Cresson.

The fourth is from Leetsdale. The last one is a “in your face” type of shot. I went with that to highlight the nose as from what I can tell this is the only non Armour Yellow unit to wear the wings.  It was made at Smith Goshen Road just east of Sebring, Ohio.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

UP OCS to Pass Through NE Ohio Today

After much anticipation the Union Pacific office car special on the former Erie Railroad to Harriman, New York, and back on Sunday.

Akron Railroad Club member Jack Norris said the weather was crazy with rain and clouds, sun and rain. “None of the photo locations I wanted to do were really great for this due to the time of day and weather, so I ended up in WC Tower in Waldwick, New Jersey, for an operators view. Heck, anyone can shoot from a bridge.”

There was a big car show in Waldwick as the train came through. My girlfriend caught the train up near Tuxedo, New York, about a half hour later. Our wet winter and spring has made for some lush greenery.

The train is slated to leave New Jersey today. ARRC Vice President Todd Dillon said the tentative schedule is to leave New Jersey at 5 a.m. from Croxton Yard.

There is a crew called at Conway Yard near Pittsburgh for 4 p.m. and the estimated time at Berea is 8:45 p.m.

But this is the railroad so times are subject to change. If anyone wants to catch this in daylight for certain, you probably should head east to at least Pittsburgh and possibly even further east depending on the train’s progress.

As for why the train went east in the first place, there is speculation that it had to do with the bicentennial celebration of Brown Brothers Harriman Company Bank, which was established in 1818.

Henry Harriman was a UP President and his son, E. Roland Harriman, was a UP chairman years later, thus giving the family a connection to UP history.

The celebration may have been held at the Harriman Mansion in Arden, New York.

Photographs by Jack Norris

UP OCS Came Through at 0 Dark 30

That Union Pacific business train that we talked about at the May Akron Railroad Club meeting did, indeed, pass through Northeast Ohio on Norfolk Southern rails, but under the cover of darkness.

It was reported in Berea at 3:45 a.m. and in Macedonia at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday en route to New Jersey operating as NS symbol 066-30.

The train had originated in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Wednesday and arrived at UP’s Proviso Yard in Chicago about noon.

A report on the Trains magazine website indicated that the OCS had locomotives ES44AH No. 2752 and SD70AH’s Nos. 1943 and 9082 from Council Bluffs to Chicago. No. 2752 was removed at Chicago.

UP had equipped Nos. 1943 and 9082 in Council Bluffs with NS cab signal equipment so that No. 1943, which has a livery honoring the U.S. Armed Forces, could lead on NS rails.

No. 2752 led from Council Bluffs to Chicago because it had UP cab signals.

The OCS is expected to depart Croxton, New Jersey on June 4 to return to Council Bluffs.

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.

UP OCS Travels to North Baltimore Over CSX

It is rare enough when the CSX executive train makes an appearance in Ohio, but on Monday there was an even more unusual sighting.

The Union Pacific office car train ran to the Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal in North Baltimore.

It is not clear why the train was there, but speculation online is that it might have something to do with a possible UP-CSX joint venture. Reportedly, the move to North Baltimore was a deadhead move that originated in Chicago.

Lead by UP ES44AC No. 8154, the train then operated east to Fostoria to turn around. It is scheduled to leave North Baltimore to return to Chicago on Tuesday.

On Monday the UP train operated on CSX as symbol P940.