Vermilion From Trainside

There were no railfans at the railfan platform on this late June morning when Amtrak No. 48 sped past.

The boat launch as seen from the bridge carrying the NS Chicago Line over the Vermilion River.

The new connection that NS built from the Chicago Line to the former Nickel Plate mainline. The connection was built so eastbound trains on the Chicago Line could easily access the former Nickel Plate route.

In recent years the Akron Railroad Club has held an annual outing in Vermilion in late August.

Typically, the event begins on a Saturday morning at the city boat launch on the Vermilion River, which lies between the bridges of two Norfolk Southern rail lines spanning the river.

After spending the morning and part of the afternoon catching trains primarily on the bridge carrying the NS Chicago Line, the group then moves on to the railfan platform downtown along the aforementioned NS route.

Some of us would head west of town for a while and hang out at one of the grade crossings on the Chicago Line including the one just west of the connection to the former Nickel Plate Road mainline.

Over the years I’ve made dozens of photographs of NS trains at both locations in Vermilion, but last June I had the opportunity to photograph from the train side.

I was aboard the eastbound Lake Shore Limited, which was running nearly three hours late.

That put No. 48 through Vermilion in daylight hours. As we flew through town I didn’t notice any railfans having turned out to watch us go by.

Late Summer in Vermilion

NS train L13 passes the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion on the Chicago Line.

The Akron Railroad Club has in recent years held an all-day outing in Vermilion. Most of the action is focused on the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern.

The NS Cleveland District also passes through Vermilion, but has little traffic through town. Most trains that use the Cleveland District diverge west of town to a connection to the Chicago Line.

The Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts also held a day in Vermilion this past September, but it was poorly attended.

It’s not that the ARRC Vermilion day gets great attendance, either, but it does attract a core of regulars.

The typical modus operandi for ARRC outings in Vermilion is to begin the morning at the boat launch along the Vermilion River.

The attraction here is the Chicago Line bridge over the river. The Cleveland District bridge over the river is nearby in case there is any traffic there.

In the afternoon, we then move to the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion although some of us have a tradition of heading west of town to photograph trains.

Many of the images in this gallery were made west of the city at the Joppa Road grade crossing on the Chicago Line. The crossing is located toward the middle of a curve, which adds a little interest to your images.

Back in town at the railfan platform the classic images feature either the water tower or the former New York Central passenger station.

The latter is now privately owned, by a church I believe, but can be worked into photographs in late day light once the sun has crossed the tracks.

NS68D and the Vermilion water tower in a classic Vermilion pose.

NS westbound 25T chases the setting sun as it passes the former Vermilion passenger station.

The late day light illuminates the interior of the cab of the lead unit pulling NS westbound M1K.

It’s the M1K again, this time passing the Vermilion station.

Rails have been removed and cut off for disposal near Joppa Road.

Westbound stack train 21Q approaches the Joppa Road crossing in a two-shot sequence.

The rear of eastbound train 16E leans into the curve. The train is carrying sand used in fracking operations.

NS Put on Its Usual Show in Vermilion

The classic eastbound crossing the Vermilion River on the Chicago Line image.

Before anyone had left home we missed the Conrail and Monongahela heritage locomotives of Norfolk Southern and the GoRail commemorative unit.

All three had passed through Vermilion before dawn.

But there was plenty of other NS traffic to watch during the Akron Railroad Club’s fourth annual day in Vermilion hosted by ARRC member and Vermilion resident Todd Vander Sluis.

Six ARRC members and guests made the trek to the Vermilion on Aug. 27.

ARRC President Craig Sanders was the first to arrive at 10:30 a.m. and was joined by the day’s host not long after that.

The group soon included Rick Houck and Todd Dillon. We set up folding chairs on the grassy strip near the boat launch along the Vermilion River.

It was a warm, sunny day and there was a steady parade of boats in both directions during the time we hung out by the river.

The NS Chicago Line was its usual self with an array of intermodal and manifest traffic with a few unit commodity trains added to the mix.

We saw just two trains slip through town on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline, both of them eastbounds.

At about 2 p.m. someone noticed on his smart phone that a heavy band of rain and thunderstorms was about to slam Toledo.

It looked like it was headed our way and Todd wanted to go to the barn where he and his sister keep their horses and bring them in.

The four of us piled into Todd’s Dodge Ram truck and off we went.

That gave us a chance to meet Todd’s horse Fancy (registered name: I’m a Fancy Chip) whose stall includes a nameplate on the door.

After Todd took care of business at the barn, we headed west of town to check the status of the connection NS is building between the Chicago Line and the Cleveland District.

When finished, it will enable eastbound trains to diverge from the Chicago Line west of Vermilion and go either east or west on the Cleveland District.

Reportedly, such intermodal trains as 22K and 206 will use this connection rather than the Cloggsville connection in Cleveland to access the former NKP mainline.

The right of way for the connection appears to be finished and track panels were stacked up nearby. But no ballast has yet been laid and it had yet to be brought in.

We had ideas of catching a train on the Chicago Line and started scouting for photo locations.

As we did Marty Surdyk sent Todd a text asking “where are you guys hiding?”

Todd’s truck can link to his cell phone and read out loud a text to him.

Marty’s text triggered a round of joking and laughter about us being underwater in nearby Lake Erie.

I sent Marty a reply text reading, “glub, glub,” which he didn’t get because he wasn’t in (yet) on the inside joke.

With nothing apparently moving on the Chicago Line we headed back into town. Of course that was when something finally moved on the Chicago Line.

We joined Marty at the railfan platform at Victory Park in downtown Vermilion.

That storm that passed through Toledo was approaching Vermilion and Todd and I went to Sherod Park west of town to see in coming in off the lake.

But other than gale force winds and dark clouds, the storm skirted Vermilion.

Back we went to the railfan platform where we hung out until about 6:30 p.m.

There was another storm coming from the southwest that had passed over Dayton and that one did hit Vermilion.

We decided that would be a good time to head over to Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner.

It was dark when we finished, but Marty, Todd and myself spent some more time at the railfan platform where we saw five trains pass by in about an hour’s time.

We had heard a 20E calling signals west of town. Or so we thought. But 20E wasn’t showing up.

It turned out the 20E was stopped near CP 222 where the connection from the Cleveland District joins the Chicago Line.

We were amazed to learn that NS had held the 20E, which carries trailers for UPS and thus is a higher priority train, for the L13, the daily Bellevue to Rockport Yard turn.

The L13 was a very long train for a local and we speculated it had been combined with another manifest freight that goes to Bellevue.

The L13 had been sent west on Track 2, the same track the 20E was using.

Other westbound traffic was running on Track 1 and the 20E was the train that got stabbed.

About 10 p.m. things got quiet on NS and it was time to head for home.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

The only set of all foreign power that we saw was pulling train 23K.

The first of two trains that passed through Vermilion on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline. If there were others we missed them.

We saw plenty of boats during our day in Vermilion.

An NS tanker train probably had barely gained the attention of the boater on the Vermilion River returning to the dock.

An eastbound auto rack train crosses the Vermilion River on the Cleveland District.

The L13 noses by the railfan platform in Vermilion.

We never did learn the symbol of this one unit wonder that was pulling stacks and racks past the railfan platform in Victory Park.

Work is well along on the new connection west of Vermilion from the Chicago Line to the Cleveland District.

The storm over Lake Erie ended up passing by Vermilion.

Fancy does some fancy stepping as she heads for the barn.

4th Vermilion Outing Set for Aug. 27

The Akron Railroad Club’s fourth annual outing to Vermilion to watch Norfolk Southern trains on the Chicago Line has been set for Saturday, Aug. 27.

The host for the day is ARRC member and Vermilion resident Todd Vander Sluis. As at past gatherings, we’ll initially assemble by the public boat launch on the Vermilion River just south of the Chicago Line.

The boat launch is located just off West River Road. There is ample parking in the lot above the launch site, although there are usually spaces available along the river to the east of the boat launch ramp.

We might get lucky and get a train or two on the NS Cleveland District, which is the former Nickel Plate Road mainline located south of the boat launch.

Sometime during the afternoon, we’ll move over to the Vermilion Mainline Rail viewing platform in downtown Vermilion in Victory Park between Main and Exchange streets.

As the shadows get long in early evening we’ll then go have dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube on Liberty Avenue (U.S. Route 6) just east of the river.

We can expect to see a wide range of traffic on the Chicago Line, including intermodal trains, manifest freights and unit trains.

With any luck at all, we might even catch an NS heritage locomotive during the day. During the 2013 outing, we spotted the Central of New Jersey heritage unit, but had to go to Avon Lake to photograph it during daylight.

After having dinner that night, we saw Miss Liberty going west on the Chicago Line in darkness.

In 2014, the NS GoRail unit came through in late morning.

In the event of inclement weather, the Vermilion outing will be rescheduled to a later date as occurred last year when it wound up being held in October.

There Was Lots of Dihydrogen Monoxide on Hand at the ARRC Outing in Vermilion Last Saturday

We needed some angry beavers to clear those trees blocking our view of the east end of the bridge carrying the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern over the Vermilion River.

Four Akron Railroad Club members found nice weather and plenty of rocks, angry beavers, cranes and dihydrogen monoxide to occupy their time during the rescheduled outing in Vermilion last Saturday.

Oh, and we also spotted 24 Norfolk Southern trains on the carrier’s busy Chicago Line to watch and photograph.

Say what? What is all this about rocks, angry beavers, cranes and dihydrogen monoxide? You had to be there, but we’ll try and explain it.

Rick Houck was the first on the scene, setting down his chair at the edge of the Vermilion River in the marina at about 9:30 a.m.

President Craig Sanders joined him at about 11:30, just missing by 10 minutes an eastbound on the former Nickel Plate Road mainline.

That keeps alive his streak of “just missing” something significant during the Vermilion outing.

He blamed the delay on a long line of vehicles stacked up at the exit from the Ohio Turnpike onto Baumhart Road.

If you don’t have an EZ pass you need to go through the single-lane with a machine that takes your ticket and money.

There was an turnpike attendant on duty, but instead of taking tolls she was giving instructions about how to use the ticket machine. Traffic would have moved much faster and smoother had she just taken tolls and handed out change.

Event host Todd Vander Sluis arrived shortly after Craig. As the three of them chatted, they agreed that there were too many trees blocking the view of the east end of the bridge carrying the Chicago Line over the river.

What was needed was a crew of angry beavers to paddle over there and gnaw those trees down. That would open the view immensely.

The beavers might also keep going to remove all of the trees between the river bank and the tracks. That would really provide an open view.

Traffic was fairly steady on the Chicago Line into the early afternoon. Among the highlights was a pair of Union Pacific locomotives leading a westbound crude oil tankers train.

A high hood former Southern Railway GP38-2 led the L-13 on its return trip to Bellevue from Rockport Yard in Cleveland. You seldom see today a high hood leading a train on the main.

Not long after Todd Dillon showed up during the afternoon, a westbound came through town on the former NKP.

At that point, traffic died for a while. We kept busy by watching a crane in the water in front of us fishing for lunch.

However, it turned out that the crane was actually a great egret. It was still entertaining to watch.

About 4 p.m. we relocated to the railfan platform in downtown Vermilion. By then traffic had picked up on the Chicago Line.

At the platform we met a guy and his grandson from Cedar Hill, Ohio, a small town near Dayton.

He makes annual trips to Vermilion to railfan and while there he buys a box of chocolates from a downtown candy store.

He asked if anyone knew how late the chocolate shop was open. No one knew. Although he lives in Vermilion, Todd has never been there.

We joked later that even if the store was closed, you could still get your chocolate fix by throwing rocks through the window to “open” the store.

We later learned that the chocolate shop is open until 7 and the Cedar Hill man returned with his box of candy.

The sunlight was starting to get low when the long awaited westbound coke train that Todd said he’d seen that morning near CP Max finally arrived.

Behind it was a westbound crude oil tanker train with Canadian Pacific motive power. Crude oil trains on the NS Chicago line with CP power are not common sights.

Alas, no heritage units made an appearance and, in fact, none were even in the region.

With the sun sinking, we made a visit to the Vermilion lighthouse on the shore of Lake Erie and then adjourned to Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner.

As for dihydrogen monoxide, you’ll have to come to the October ARRC meeting and watch Todd’s program to get a complete explanation of what it is.

But here is a hint. All four of us enjoyed a glass of it spiked with some alcohol while at Quaker Steak.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

There was a hint of color in the trees lining the bank of the river opposite of the Vermilion marina. Our crew of angry beavers will make short work of those trees once they show up.

A pair of Uncle Petes lead a crude oil train westward.

Mostly sunny skies greeted us during the Vermilion outing. It was a little cool, but still quite pleasant conditions for watching trains on the Chicago Line. We even saw a few boats and some waterfowl.

I missed the eastbound, but not the westbound crossing the Vermilion River on the former Nickel Plate Road bridge. It was the first train I’ve ever photographed crossing this bridge.

A high-hood geep leading a manifest freight caught us by surprise. These units are not common sights on the Chicago Line.

A westbound stone train was something a little out of the ordinary. The dispatcher told the crew to take it easy down to CP 234 for there was traffic ahead that needed to get into Sandusky.

Your next photograph of an NS RoadRailer might be your last. NS will end the service except on one route next month. That route will not pass through Vermilion or anywhere else in Northeast Ohio.

The long-awaited coke train finally showed late in the afternoon.

A candy apple red Canadian Pacific unit put the cherry on a day of railfanning in Vermilion along the Chicago Line of NS.

The setting sun catches the sides of the tank cars of a westbound tanker train.