What It Would Have Looked Like

Friday and Saturday were the type of days I will not venture out anymore except to the mailbox and to feed the birds.

Why I didn’t really need to go trackside is because I am more than satisfied with the results I got in Perry in March 2013 in similar conditions. However, things were worse on Friday than they were in March 2013 when there was heavy lake effect snow but not the extreme cold.

Of course I wouldn’t have been able to see Amtrak No. 48 anyway if I had gone out since it was cancelled. Stay warm everyone.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Saturday Morning Surprise

I saw on HeritageUnits.com on Saturday morning that NS Train 265 (23K) was through North East, Pennsylvania, at 8:03a.m. with the NS Penn Central heritage unit leading. I looked at

the North East webcam to verify. About 9:20 a.m. I was set up at Riverside Drive in Painesville. About 9:30 I heard horns but they were coming from the west. I crossed the street and shot Train 316 with superb lighting.

I now had time to go to Perry and set up at Maple Street to get NS No. 1073. I got it at 10 a.m. Take note of the engineer’s side number board.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

CP 8757 at Perry

On Thursday I saw on HeritageUnits.com that Canadian Pacific No. 8757, the Every Child Matters unit, was on CSX intermodal train I165. After it was reported at North East, Pennsylvania, I went out to Main Street in Perry about an hour later. It showed a little after 4:30 p.m..

Photograph by Edward Ribinskas

Productive Afternoon in Perry

I was out photographing CSX and Norfolk Southern trains in Perry on May 10. It was a good day and I logged 11 trains, all but two of them on CSX.

I later realized that date was the 153rd anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike. Last year I learned that a director of the Union Pacific back then was John Casement.

He was present at the ceremony at Promontory. He also is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery just down the road which I passed on the way to Perry.

Someday I’ll remember to see if I can find his grave site since it is so close. 

Here are three favorites from that May 10 outing. The top image has three trains in it including the NS local from Grand River and two CSX trains. Even though I was on the wrong side for middle photo of a westbound NS manifest freight, I still like it. In the bottom photo the lighting is ideal for this westbound CSX stack train.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Genset Two for Tuesday

I recently saw on Railpictures.net a photograph made on Jan. 12, 2022, of two now Sierra Railroad Genset locomotives with the first being former Union Pacific No. 2627. I saw the latter being delivered at Lane Road near Perry on March 13, 2007, on a CSX train. Here are my images from that day.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

This Time I Was Not Upset

Early in November I saw the Canadian Pacific ES44AC No. 8781 was going to be heading east on CSX. It had recently been given an orange Hapag-Lloyd  Saint John Express scheme.

Ursula and I had stops to make in Willoughby. Around 12:30 p.m. it was reported near Cleveland so I decided to wait in Mentor at the parking lot of the restaurant in the former New York Central passenger station.

The sun was shining in the perfect spot for an eastbound. About 1 p.m. a headlight appeared. I did not have my camera but was going to use Ursula’s iPhone.

By not having it ready to shoot, I did not get a photo. The lighting was ideal and the locomotive was spotless. I think I was upset.

Just before Thanksgiving No. 8781 was leading a CSX train again and I saw a post that it was passing through Collinwood yard in Cleveland.

I immediately hopped in the car with my camera to head to Perry. The post on HU was not close to the actual time it was seen since the train passed me on the way. I think I was upset.

About 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday I saw a post that it had passed through LaGrange as the DPU on the I 166. However, its nose was facing west.

There was no sun, but I did not care. I went to Perry and waited. The only train I saw was the one I wanted. I was not upset.

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

Catching it on the Rebound With a Little Luck

Back on July 25 Jeff Troutman and I photographed Canadian National 8952, the Grand Trunk Western heritage unit, leading eastbound CSX train K614.

We caught it in Perry just after 7 p.m. The sun angles at that time of the early evening were not ideal. 

Last Sunday, Marty Surdyk and I drove to the Mahoning Valley to visit the Cornerfield Model Railroad in Huntsburg, and watch a Mahoning Valley Scrappers ballgame in Niles.

We also did some railfanning, but the only train we photographed was the local sitting in Perry (bottom photo above) that was probably getting its crew the next day.

We were hoping that we might get lucky and the GTW heritage unit would be returning. But it turned out to be not that day.

Two days later Heritage Units.com showed that westbound CSX train K615 had the GTW heritage unit leading.

What would be the chance it would get into my neighborhood in time before dark? With tons of luck it showed up near the same time as it had on July 25.

It was about 6:30 p.m. and the sun was nearly at the same angle as it had been on July 25^th making it absolutely perfect for westbounds. I’m happy.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

GTW Heritage Unit Visits Northeast Ohio

I met Jeff Troutman in Perry on Sunday evening to catch CSX ethanol train K614. There were three other railfans there as well. What was special about his train is that it was led by Canadian National 8952, the Grand Trunk Western heritage unit. It passed through just after 7 p.m.

Photograph by Edward Ribinskas

Looks More Like January Than March

On March 16, 2013, which was a day of the train show at Lake Land College in Kirtland, Craig Sanders and I started  out in Perry in extreme winter conditions as a lake effect squall dumped heavy snow on the area.

We were fortunate to get great photos in a 24-minute span, which included a late Amtrak No. 48. The top image of a Norfolk Southern train illustrates the fierce elements.

Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Shore Limited showed up at 8:42 a.m. and a CSX eastbound came along at 8:51 a.m.

We then retreated to the warm car. Later we would catch a train Painesville before heading to the rain show to work the Akron Railroad Club’s table. By then the snow had stopped.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas