CSX Action in Clinton

Veteran railroad photographer Bob Farkas often makes images of CSX trains in Clinton on the New Castle Subdivision. That’s not surprising given it is just a few miles down the road from his home in Canal Fulton.

In this series we get a perspective of CSX trains in various locations, including at the far west end of Warwick Yard. Other vantage points include Warwick Park, the east end of the yard and the area near Warwick Tower.

All of the images were made during 2021 and offer a snap shot of Class 1 railroad operations in the era of precision scheduled railroading of longer and fewer trains.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Classic Clinton Auto Rack Train Photo

CSX 7211 was built as a U30C but rebuilt later into a model CM44AC. It shown leading an  eastbound in Clinton on the single track of the New Castle Subdivision on Sept. 6, 2021.

The photo was made in Warwick Park and sports a classic look of eastbound rounding the curve before passing the park.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Pair of Westbounds in Clinton on the New Castle Sub

The top and middle images of CSX westbound trains were photographed on March 1 on the New Castle Subdivision in Clinton.

In the top image is auto rack train Q299 at the west end of the yard.

The middle image was made at the west end of Warwick Park.

The bottom image was also made by Warwick Park but on March 8.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Rising From a Weed Field

CSX intermodal train Q137 appears to be rising from a field of weeds as it makes its way through Clinton on the New Castle Subdivision.

It was one of the 10 trains that passed Warwick Park during the 2018 Akron Railroad Club picnic.

The Q137 typically is a daylight train through Akron. It originates in Baltimore and terminates at the 59th Street intermodal facility in Chicago.

Street Running

It was mid afternoon and those still at the Akron Railroad Club picnic in Warwick Park were sitting around talking and contemplating whether to have another burger or hot dog.

The scanner finally came alive after a long silence with the Q292 calling a signal at Warwick.

That sent me scrambling with my camera to get into position to photograph it.

Of late the Q292 has sometimes had Kansas City Southern motive power and maybe I would get lucky today and bag a Southern Belle.

The auto rack train originates at Rose Lake Yard near East St. Louis, Illinois, and terminates in Connellsville, Pennsylvania.

It is a rather reliable train to catch in the Akron area in mid to late afternoon.

On this day, though, luck was not with me. The Q292 had run of the mill CSX motive power.

It also was moving father than I was. I wasn’t able to get to my preferred spot to photograph and to settle for a bit of street running.

In this case, I was running down the street trying to get into position.

Where Did that Tree Come From?

As I looked through the viewfinder of my camera, I had a clear view of the approaching CSX stack train Q016.

Or so I thought. When I looked at the image on the screen on the back of my camera I saw that a tree limb was blocking the nose of the locomotive.

The train is rolling through Clinton and about to pass Warwick Park.

Photo Line is in Place

Four Akron Railroad Club members watch CSX auto rack train Q276 pass Warwick Park in Clinton during the annual picnic.

The group was train watching next to the tracks before the picnic got underway.

The group is (from left) Tom Reder, Dave Shepherd, Don Woods and Todd Dillon.

Almost Setting a Dubious Record

Chef Martè, a.k.a. Marty Surdyk, places the first burger on the grill at the Akron Railroad Club’s 2018 picnic.

It was nearly a record-setting day for the Akron Railroad Club’s annual July picnic on Sunday and that was a good thing and a bad thing.

It was a good thing because the 10 trains we saw kept us from tying a dubious record of least trains seen during an ARRC picnic at Warwick Park in Clinton.

It was a bad thing because it was just one over the record for the lowest train count.

The record for least number of trains seen at Warwick Park during a picnic is nine, posted several years ago on what Bulletin editor Marty Surdyk described as “just one of those days.”

It also was a hot and humid day, Surdyk recalled.

The train count began at 8:45 a.m. when ARRC President Craig Sanders arrived and ended about 8:40 p.m. when he and Surdyk departed for home.

The first train, a westbound auto rack, was logged at 9:08 a.m. and the last one, an eastbound stack train, passing through at 7:52 p.m.

Between those were numerous long lulls, one of which lasted two hours and 22 minutes.

Auto rack traffic dominated the action with five of the 10 trains being predominantly auto racks and one of the two manifest freights that passed through having a cut of auto racks in its consist.

There were two purely intermodal trains, the Q137 and the Q016, but trains Q276, Q292 and Q216 all had blocks of stacked containers.

The pure auto rack trains were the Q299 and Q277. We also spotted manifest freights Q348 and Q369, both of which passed through within 22 minutes of each other.

The detector at Easton to the west counted 690 axles on the Q348. The crew of that train told the IO dispatcher that it would be dropping off its first 49 cars of stone at Ohio Junction and taking the rest of the train to New Castle, Pennsylvania.

Breaking the monotony of stacks and racks was the K182 coke train.

All of the trains featured CSX motive power with the lone except being a Norfolk Southern unit trailing on the Q137.

There have been reports of Southern Belles of Kansas City Southern making regular appearances on New Castle Subdivision trains, most often on the Q292. But there were no Belles for us today.

The local based at Warwick didn’t operate and neither did R.J. Corman. It was from a railroad perspective a rather quiet Sunday.

As for the picnic itself, approximately 30 ARRC members and guests munched on hamburgers and hot dogs along with chips, cookies, pie, brownies, deviled eggs, baked beans and some raw vegetables.

There were a lot of stories told and past good times shared beneath the pavilion of the park.

As always Chef Martè manned the grill and arranged for the burgers, buns, condiments and drinks. Most members had departed by 4 p.m. as things wound down.

The weather was partly sunny, but pleasant. Rain was reported in the Akron area and we saw some dark clouds, but it remained dry in Clinton.

Alethea Rantanes checks out the snacks and desserts during the ARRC picnic on Sunday.

From left to right Bob Farkas, Denny Romain and Bill Kubas sit and wait for the burgers and hot dogs to be grilled during the ARRC picnic, held at Warwick Park.

Tom Ward fills his plate at the buffet tables as Rick Houk (back to camera) dresses his burger.

Todd Dillon (seated) and Paul Woodring review images on Todd’s smart phone during the ARRC picnic.

The engineer of the Q016 gives us a wave as his train passes Warwick Park during the 2018 ARRC picnic. It would be the last train of the day that any ARRC member saw on the day in Clinton.

Back When We Still Were Wearing Shorts

Remember last July? Remember the day of the Akron Railroad Club picnic? It was warm that day and most of us had shorts on with t-shirts or short sleeve shirts.

CSX cooperated and ran some trains. Nothing out of the ordinary came past that day. Unlike at the 2016 picnic, a report of a heritage unit on the Fort Wayne Line of Norfolk Southern didn’t send several of us scurrying to intercept it at Massillon or some other point.

As is typical of the CSX New Castle Subdivision, there were some long lulls between trains.

The action picked up some late in the day. Those of us still there even walked down the street and stood next to the easternmost building in “downtown” Warwick to catch the K182 as it rolled into the nice early evening light.

About 15 minutes earlier, the photo line had captured local D750 returning to its home base after working in Akron and Barberton.

It remains to be determined if the ARRC will return to Warwick in 2018 for its annual picnic or go elsewhere. The officers will hash that out in January.

In the meantime, here are a few memories of this year’s picnic.

The K182 had a hopper car still wearing the Family Lines markings.

After a long day, the D750 returns to its home base in Warwick.

The rear of the U700 lumbering eastbound.

Westbound train Q375 makes an appearance.

The westbound Q299 had a road slug in its motive power consist.

Here comes the Q299 making some smoke as it accelerates.

The Q235 rolls around the curve and into Warwick. It was one of two auto rack trains that came through town during the late morning hours.

34 Enjoy ARRC Picnic at Warwick Park

Chef Martè places the first burgers on the grill.

Thirty-four Akron Railroad Club members and guests munched on picnic food Sunday at Warwick Park in Clinton while watching CSX trains on the adjacent New Castle Subdivision.

A few brave souls risked getting a food-borne illness by eating the unrefrigerated potato salad that someone brought.

In the approximately 12 hours that at least one club member was at the park, CSX sent 12 trains through town.

That was more than the record low of nine but far short of the record high of 21. But it’s the CSX New Castle Sub and long lulls are synonymous with that route.

The train count included two sightings of local D750 which left the yard for Akron at 2:40 p.m. and returned at 6:45 p.m. The crew had gone to work in late morning switching cars in the Warwick yard.

The train count also included two eastbound empty coal trains, two westbound auto rack trains, two westbound intermodal trains, a westbound coke train, an eastbound steel train and one manifest freight in each direction.

Aside from a Norfolk Southern unit trailing in the motive power consist of the Q352, we didn’t see any foreign power.

The highlight or lowlight of the day, depending on your perspective was the Q299 going into emergency a short distance east of Warwick.

That tied up the mainline for a good hour. The culprit was a broken air hose six cars from the rear of a very long empty auto rack train.

A trainmaster came out to check on the stalled train and the IO dispatcher informed the crew that three departments, mechanical, engineering and transportation, were interested in the incident.

At one point the trainmaster asked the conductor over the radio if the engineer had done any damage to “my train.”

No, the conductor said in response. It was just a separated air hose. Still, there was something threatening in the tone of voice of the trainmaster.

As the conductor was walking back to the head end, he encountered a skunk and asked his engineer for advice. The response was that if riled up a skunk will spray you.

Back at the park, master grill chef Martè fired up the grill around noon. Don Woods received the first burger. As in the past there were a variety of chips, salads and desserts.

The weather was as good as it’s ever been for an ARRC picnic and quite a contrast with last year when a thunderstorm rolled through as we were getting ready to eat.

The picnic wrapped up with a game of H-O-R-S-E on the basketball court involving Marty, Richard Antibus and Paul Havasi.

Marty won the game, but none of the three contestants will ever be confused with a more famous Akron basketball player, a guy by the name of James.

By the time the game mercifully ended the players had put up enough bricks to earn a union card and start a second career and enough air balls to leave a crowd horse from chanting “air ball, air ball, air ball” had this been an actual game.

But it was great fun, which is what the annual picnic is all about.

James Leasure (left) scoops up, gasp, potato salad as Dave Shepherd dresses his burger at the condiments table. In the background Bill Kubas ponders the offerings.

Rich Antibus (center) explains to chef Martè and Jim Mastromatteo how many CSX trains we can expect to see once the late afternoon flurry gets underway on the New Castle Sub.

The photo line is in place in the shade of a large tree to photograph D750 as it heads to Akron.

Ron McElrath (left) and Tom Kendra made video of CSX manifest freight Q352.