Two of this trio of locomotives pulling a stone train in Akron on Aug. 1, 2015, wear liveries that suggest they once worked for BNSF. SD40-2 No. 6388 wears Burlington Northern colors while the middle unit has a BNSF scheme. The train is shown on the CSX New Castle Subdivision.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
W&Lake Erie SD40-3 4001 is leading an eastbound stone train over the R.J. Corman diamond east of Brewster Yard in Brewster on May 2, 2018. Those stone hoppers are a pretty baby blue.
On Sunday morning I was made aware that the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit of Norfolk Southern would be taking a train up the Crown Secondary to Twinsburg. I always enjoy the opportunity to chase trains on this branch.
The branch diverges from the former C&P mainline at Highland Road in Macedonia and then climbs a tough 2 percent grade crossing Valley View Road and Highland Road again before reaching the summit in Twinsburg.
I arrived at Highland Road just as the NKP unit was returning light for the rest of its train, it having already hauled the first half up the hill.
I was able to get some pictures as the crew retrieved the rest of the train off the new Highland Road overpass. At this point the train sat for well over an hour as the second engine was having issues with its air lines.
Finally, these problems were resolved and the train continued up the hill to deliver the rest of the train.
The first Shelly Materials stone train of the season off CSX arrived in Kent early Wednesday morning and was unloaded the same day. The west-facing unit was a nice surprise, a Kansas City Southern AC44CW.
Once the train was empty and put back together it sat waiting on a CSX crew to back it onto the CSX main in Kent and return to Carey for another load of rocks. I arrived just as “Flash” was cutting away from the train as seen in the top photo.
Waiting on the connection for the CSX crew.
For the number crunchers, KCS 4591 was delivered as KCS 2016 in November 1999. It was renumbered sometime in late 2005 or early 2006.
KCS 4591 basks in the sun while stacks roll west on the CSX former B&O main. That’s the former Erie main to the right of the train.
A sure sign of spring is when the railroads begin running stone trains. Roger Durfee spotted this empty stone train at Motor Yard in Macedonia with a former Conrail unit and BNSF locomotive. Durfee reported seeing this same motive power lashup later in the day departing Chrysler Yard on NS train 65Z. No. 3437 is former Conrail 6982, an SD40-2R rebuilt from SD40 No. 6300. At one point in the Conrail era, this unit was the railroad's "savings bonds" locomotive. (Photograph by Roger Durfee)
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