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.

Boats and NS Trains in Vermilion

If you like to watch boats, Vermilion is a good place to go. If you like to watch trains, Vermilion is a good place to be.

But it is not an either-or choice if you plan a visit to the city on the shore of Lake Erie that is also noted as being the home of a famous French restaurant.

If you hang out at the South Street boat launch on the Vermilion River you can see trains and boats at the same time.

The Akron Railroad Club recently had its annual day in Vermilion and we spent all morning and part of the afternoon at the boat launch.

Here is a look at some of the action involving boats and trains.

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.

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.

Mission Accomplished in Frozen Vermilion

An eastbound train of coal hoppers rattles the bridge over the Vermilion River in the river’s namesake city. Or is the city named for the river?

Zooming in on a westbound intermodal train. The river was frozen enough to walk on and snowmobilers and ATVs were racing along as can be seen by their tracks.

An R.J. Corman boxcar adds some bright red to the scene of white.

Several years ago Marty Surdyk showed a slide of a Norfolk Southern train crossing the frozen and snow-covered Vermilion River at the boat launch site in that community on the shore of Lake Erie. The image was made on a sunny day.

I was impressed with the scene and made a mental note to put creating my own winter scene at Vermilion on my “to do list.”

As I said, that was several years ago. My objective of photographing in Vermilion in the winter on a sunny day got put on a shelf and several winters passed by.

There were several reasons for that. More than likely, I would only be able to get to Vermilion on a weekend day and how many  of those would have the combination of sun, snow and ice that I needed?

Last Saturday all of the necessary components fell into place and I made my way to Vermilion. I parked in the upper parking lot, turned on my scanner and waited.

I missed the first train that got to the bridge much faster than I expected after calling the signal west of town where the connection to the former Nickel Plate Road mainline is located on the Chicago Line.

I  missed the second train because it took  longer than I expected to walk down the steps and trudge through deep snow to the river’s edge.

Finally I got smart and decided to park below next to the water even though the parking lot down there still had quite a bit of snow in it.

When the third train came along I was ready. Check another one off the list.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Veteran Tribute Locomotive in Vermilion

Norfolk Southern’s locomotive paying tribute to America’s veterans made a pass through Northeast Ohio on Saturday morning. It was on the lead of train 11V.

My friend Adam and I were headed for Vermilion to get some images of the bridge carrying the NS Chicago Line over the Vermilion River by the boat launch.

As we cruised westward on I-480, we saw NS 6920 on a train at CP Max.

The river was frozen enough to walk out on, but to photograph the 11V, we stood on one of the concrete piers at the boat launch.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders