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

Afternoon of Sun and Snow on CSX in Kent

It is a view in Kent that I’ve photographed in many seasons, but not with snow covering the ground.

I had not been in Kent yet this winter and with a sunny day in store it was time to get down there.

My primary objective was to make the top image shown here. I’ve photographed this view of a westbound on the CSX New Castle Subdivision coming past the dam on the Cuyahoga River many times in good weather, but I couldn’t remember doing it with a snow cover on the ground.

I didn’t have to wait long for a westbound. I did, though, have to trudge through rather deep snow along the fence to get to the vantage needed to make the image.

Not long after the passage of the westbound auto rack train, I heard the IO dispatcher tell it that he would see two eastbounds.

I don’t know if that meant while waiting at Lambert or en route to Lambert in the far southwest corner of Akron.

The first of those was an eastbound auto rack train while the second was a Q372 that I was later told was a rerouted train.

As it was getting to be late afternoon, I was hoping for one more westbound. Yet what I heard on the radio was an eastbound that turned out to be a light power move. I wondered if it was the power from the D750 headed back home.

I also heard a K train call the signal at Ravenna. The light power move passed the K train somewhere in the eastern reaches of Kent.

The K train turned out to be an ethanol train with a CEFX unit leading and a Canadian Pacific unit trailing.

By now the Cuyahoga River covered in shadows and only small slivers of light were making their way to the CSX tracks.

That turned out to be a good thing because it illuminated the nose of the CEFX 1044. That image turned out to be my favorite one of the day and I went home feeling satisfied.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

The second of two auto rack trains that I would see on this day. Wonder how cold that water is in the Cuyahoga River.

An HLCX rent a write led the detouring Q372.

A light power move passes beneath the former Erie passenger station.

The going away shot of the light power move. Can’t you tell?

I’ve seen these CEFX wide cab units here and there but don’t recall getting one on the lead before.

My favorite image of the day.

A parting shot of the ethanol train rounding the curve as it heads for Akron and then I headed for home.

 

 

My First NS Heritage Unit Since Last September

I was home from work on Tuesday night and went onto the computer to look at some websites. I was looking over Heritageunits.com and saw that the Penn Central H unit was heading west on the former Nickel Plate Road.

I went up to Park Road and Madison Avenue and waited 20 minutes before I got the PC heritage locomotive working solo on the lead of Norfolk Southern 287, an auto rack train, at 10:45 p.m.

It was the first NS heritage unit that I’ve seen since having my surgery last September.

Article and Photograph by Edward Ribinskas

 

 

Miss Liberty Dodging Snowflakes in Vermilion

The snow is flying as the NS 65V with the Central of New Jersey heritage unit in the lead passes through Vermilion. The former New York Central station is the right.

The wind-angle perspective of NS 1071. The Vermilion railfan platform is the far right.

My friend Adam and I were doing to get in some railfanning before attending a banquet Saturday night in Berea.

As we drove out that way we saw an online report that the Central of New Jersey heritage locomotive was leading a westbound 65V and getting a new crew at CP Ram in Cleveland.

Our plan was to intercept this train in Olmsted Falls. It was snowing steadily and traffic on I-480 was slow. As we were passing by Cleveland Hopkins Airport Adam saw an online report that the NS 1071 had just passed trough Berea.

We would never make it to Olmsted Falls in time. Plan B was to drive to Vermilion. We easily got ahead of hit despite the snowy conditions.

Much to my delight the snow continued to fall as we waited beneath the overhang of a shop on the north side of the NS Chicago Line.

After waiting longer than expected, the headlight of the NS 1071 came into view to the east. That gal looked good in the snow.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

The Drama of Winter Photography

 

 

 

Take a close look at the two photographs posted above. Each features the same train and was taken at the same location. Both are good photographs. Yet what does one have that the other does not?

And while you are thinking about this, would a photograph taken at any other time of the year other than winter show as much as these photos?

Veteran photographer and Akron Railroad Club member Roger Durfee discusses these questions and more in an essay about why he loves winter photography. In fact it is his favorite season of the year. To read Roger’s essay, click on the link below.

https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/photography-pages/why-i-love-the-drama-of-winter-photography/

Photographs by Roger Durfee