Winter at the Painesville Depot

An eastbound CSX container train passes the former New York Central passenger station in Painesville on Feb. 2, 2014. The depot has been restored and now houses a railroad museum.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

Something Special on Amtrak No. 48

I saw online that Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited had P42DC No. 108, the Phase VI livery leading on Tuesday morning.

This scheme has been described by Amtrak as “transitional” as well as a celebration of the passenger carrier’s 50^th anniversary.

I got up early and went down to the Painesville station. No. 48 was reported to have left Cleveland on time at 5:50 a.m.

My camera showed a time stamp of 6:12 a.m. on my images.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

A Very Productive Sunday Morning

We were up early on Sunday for a pancake breakfast at the Willoughby Hills Community Center, a visit to Lake Metroparks Farmpark, grocery shopping at Heinen’s in Chardon, but also, of course, a great catch of a two-and-a-half late eastbound Lake Shore Limited with Midnight Blue P42DC No. 100 on the point and Downeaster F40 cab car No. 90213 in the consist. It was ideal weather of sunny and 62 degrees but very windy. We accomplished all this by noon.

It is not clear why the F40 cab car was on No. 48. It had gone west on Saturday morning on No. 49 only to turn around in Chicago and go back east that same night.

In the photographs above, No. 48 is shown passing the former New York Central passenger station in Painesville.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

My Collection of 50th Anniversary Units Has Begun

Model trains, railroad collectibles, print photos, slides, slides, movies and video tapes all take up space in rooms, on walls, and in closets.

With the digital age a flash drive has no issues with taking up space.

I’m happy with digital images and I, like several others, have completed my collection of Norfolk Southern heritage units, Amtrak 40th Anniversary heritage units, and half of Union Pacific heritage units.

The new kids on the block are Amtrak’s 50^th anniversary units. I how have No. 108, the Phase VI unit; and No. 100, the Midnight Blue unit.

Recently in order to photograph any of the 50^th anniversary locomotives on train 48 close to home it train needs to be running at least an hour behind schedule.

Here are two occasions when that worked out. In the top image, No. 108 leads the eastbound Lake Shore Limited through Perry at 7:37 a.m. on July 29.

In the bottom image, No. 100 is on the point as No. 48 cruises past the former New York Central passenger station in Painesville on Sept. 10 at 7:53 a.m.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Paying Tribute to Amtrak P42DC 66 and 156

With Amtrak’s 50th anniversary approaching and the upcoming paint schemes to be applied to six locomotives, I looked back to remember P42DC No. 66, which was lost to the scrappers in 2016 due to a bent frame suffered in the last accident it was involved in.

That locomotive was painted in the Phase II scheme to commemorate the 40th anniversary in 2011.

P42DC No. 190 has since had the Phase II livery applied to it to replace No. 66.

I first saw both Nos. 66 and 156 (Phase I livery) on an early outing with a private car excursion to the Rock Island (Illinois) train festival in July 2011.

At the festival it was on many of the excursions with No. 156 and one of the visiting steam locomotives.

No. 156 is also sidelined after being in a collision. With  another P42DC getting the Phase 1 scheme for the 50^th anniversary it’s possible that Nickel Plate No. 765 will be the survivor of the three locomotives highlighted in these photos.

The 66 and 156 are shown together at Moline, Illinois, on July 21, 2011, and at Colona, Illinois, on July 22.

No. 66 is shown on the point of the eastbound Lake Shore Limited at Bort Road in North East, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 2011.

Finally, we see No. 66 leading the eastbound Lake Shore at 7:52 a.m. in Painesville on July 11, 2013.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

20th Century, Whoops, I Mean Lake Shore Limited

Penny always gets me up between 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. On Friday morning I checked to see if Amtrak P42DC No. 145, a Phase III heritage unit, was on Train 48. Since it was I figured I would get it at 6:20 a.m. at the Painesville station. With this pandemic 48 is very consistent on being on time.

It reminds me of stories from adults from the past telling stories of the New York Central’s 20th Century Limited. Many said you could set your clocks to its passing their homes. Just about every morning I hear 48 at exactly 6:20 a.m.

Note that the eastbound Lake Shore Limited on this day had two Phase III heritage units in the motive power consist.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Winter Arrives Early, LSL Arrives Late

Akron Railroad Club member Ed Ribinskas write that he did his first winter photography earlier this week. He landed the new Amtrak Phase II heritage unit at about 10:40 a.m. as a trailing unit in a 4-hour late eastbound Lake Shore Limited.

In the top image, not the Painesville sign on the former New York Central station, which has been undergoing restoration.

Ed also reported that the old Nickel Plate Road trestle over the Grand River is now completely gone.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Painesville Depot Marks 125th Anniversary

The former New York Central passenger station in Painesville will mark its 125^th anniversary with an open house an Aug. 4.

The station at 474 Railroad Street, was built by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and opened on Feb. 1, 1893.

It is now the home of the Painesville Railroad Museum.

The depot served NYC and later Penn Central passenger trains until the coming of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.

Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited passes the station twice a day but does not stop there for passengers.

For a time the depot also served Greyhound buses. But that ended in June 1988 and the station became derelict.

The station was eventually purchased by Ed Dunlap who planned to convert it to a restaurant. But that didn’t happen and the Western Reserve Railroad Association was formed in 1997 and became owner of the depot.

The City of Painesville made Railroad Street and the Depot a Historic District in 2015.

In the past two to three years, restoration work at the depot has included adding two ADA-compliant restrooms, renovating the walls and ceiling and adding period appropriate chandeliers.

Also being renovated was the express room, which received a new coat of paint, new trim and refinished wood floors. The express room can be used as a meeting room.

In the works is development of a 6,000-square-foot Lionel Experience and Event Center.

The open house will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and feature complimentary birthday cake and ice cream.

Hamburgers and hot dogs with soft drinks will be available for a small donation. There will also be live music, face painting, a balloon artist, games, a Chinese Auction and a 50/50 raffle.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

Late 48 at 12:35 p.m. on Consecutive Fridays

I photographed Amtrak No. 48 at the Painesville station of the former New York Central  running more than six hours late at the same time – 12:35 p.m. – on consecutive Fridays. The top image shows the eastbound Lake Shore Limited on Friday, Dec. 29. The bottom photo shows the train on Friday, Jan. 5 when the air temperature was 7 degrees.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

3 Ohio RR Museums Get Dailey Foundation Grants

Three Ohio railroad museums have been awarded railroad heritage grants by the Tom E. Dailey Foundation.

They were among seven grants totaling $16,000 that were awarded in the first quarter of 2016.

The Painesville Railroad Museum will receive $2,500 to restore and remodel its 1893 depot and museum. Built by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the station will receive running water, restrooms and heat.

The grant will also help pay for installing insulation in the roof, a project expected to take three months.

The Massillon Museum will receive $3,000 to develop a rail history exhibit on railroad moniker art.

The grant will be used to fund research for the exhibit. In its application, the 83-year museum noted that moniker art is a little studied and ephemeral art form of creating unique visual signatures, or monikers, on the sides of rail cars.

It has been perpetuated by a group of largely anonymous artists since the late 1800s.

The museum also plans to create an archive of oral histories and research.

The Bradford Railroad Museum was awarded $1,000 to help fund a permanent exhibit and video titled “Railway Y.M.C.A.”

Bradford was home to a 75-room YMCA that served railroaders and travelers in the early 1900s. It provided meals, lectures, entertainment and religious education for railroaders.

The exhibit will include sketches of the YMCA drawn by Columbus Dispatch cartoonist Billy Ireland. The exhibit also will feature illustrations, paintings, photographs, period newspapers, ephemera and artifacts.

The Dailey Foundation also awarded a grant of $7,500 to the Franklin County Historical Society in Columbus and a grant of $5,000 to the Jubilee Museum and Catholic Cultural Center of Columbus.

Those grants were not part of the railroad heritage grant program.