Here are some other trains we got on Sunday in the snow while railfanning along the former Pennsylvania Railroad’s Fort Wayne Line.
In the top image is CSX train I132 at Dunkirk. This is a run-through train that CSX gets from Union Pacific. It terminates on CSX in Detroit and usually operates with UP motive power.
The next two photographs were made at North Robinson. This was the second of three 171s running on this day.
Due to crew shortages three of these trains had been tied down at various locations on the Ft Wayne line one for almost a week. On Sunday they found crews to run them.
The last image is the 55K at Mansfield. This was an extra grain train for the big elevator in town.
It was just coincidence that the first two Canadian National trains I saw while railfanning the Champaign Subdivision on Nov. 7 were led by Union Pacific motive power. UP units are, in my experience, not unusual on this stretch of CN although I don’t see them during every visit to the former Illinois Central mainline.
In train in the top image was following Amtrak’s southbound Saluki. The train in the bottom image was the first train I photographed on this outing. In both instance a tree next to the tracks made a handy way to work some fall color into the images.
The top image was made on the west side of the tracks and the bottom photograph on the east side in Pesotum, Illinois.
This past Wednesday was a Union Pacific kind of day. It began with catching a former Union Pacific 10-6 sleeping car on the rear of Amtrak’s westbound Lake Shore Limited in Chesterton, Indiana.
The car, now owned by Webb Rail, was built in June 1950 by Budd. In its current reiteration, it read “Pullman” in the letterboard and “Pacific Union” in the car name space.
A few hours later I had ventured further east to Otis, Indiana, where I caught Norfolk Southern train 39E coming around a curve with a pair of UP motors.
The train originates in Elkhart and goes to the UP at Proviso Yard in Chicago.
Over the years I’ve seen excellent photos at this location on Erie Street in Willoughby. It appears in one of the Morning Sun books featuring the photography of the late Dave McKay. I’m sure he had several shots at this spot.
I’m pretty sure others have had good luck here as did Roger Durfee. I’m hoping this entree will allow me entry into the club of great photos. My entree is of the Denver & Rio Grande Western heritage unit of Union Pacific on Norfolk Southern eastbound intermodal train 206 on Monday at 11:22 a.m.
I had planned a visit to Colorado last summer that would have been to Denver & Rio Grande Western territory. That got scrubbed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I still felt uneasy this year about making that trip.
Then on Tuesday the D&RGW heritage unit of Union Pacific passed through Painesville on the point of Norfolk Southern train 206.
Here is my catch passing over the Grand River at 11:45 a.m.
The same locomotive came back west Friday morning on the point of NS 205. A week earlier, the UP’s Missouri Pacific heritage unit led NS trains 22K and 23K through Northeast Ohio.
This week’s two for Tuesday features a Union Pacific visitor on the CSX New Castle Subdivision in Clinton. Here are two photos of AC45CCTE No. 5473 with train E808 eastbound on May 18, 2021. No. 5473 was built in May 2005 as an ES44AC.
Norfolk Southern train 200 originates in Danville, Kentucky, and is goes to the Global 2 facility on the Union Pacific in Chicago.
At first glance it might appear to be a stack train. But in an era of precision scheduled railroading you might find intermodal trains carrying a variety of freight. Behind the containers was a long string of mixed freight.
The westbound train is shown running parallel to Indiana Avenue in New Castle, Indiana, on the New Castle District.
I’ve always enjoyed using signal bridges as photo props in railfan photography.
One of my favorites was the former New York Central signal bridge at the west end of the Ashtabula yard near the grade crossing with North Bend Road.
It was easily accessible without any trespassing on railroad property. The signals shown in these images were for eastbound traffic so the best photos were westbounds.
The top photo shows a Conrail train on April 16, 1989.
The remaining photos were made on May 4 2007. In the last photo behind the BNSF units another road crossing can be seen.
Past that crossing and closer to the entrance of the yard is where a relocated signal bridge is now in use, obviously without NYC style signals.
These are another example of what I’m glad I got when I got it.
Union Pacific C30-7 No.2460 sits in Brewster at the locomotive service facility on March 12, 1981. This was an unusual sighting because because UP units were rarely seen in Brewster.
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