Bonus Time in Bellevue

The 5413 has a pair of mismatched number boards as it leads its train out of Moorman Yard on Norfolk Southern.

Whenever I go to Bellevue I figure that if I get any Wheeling & Lake Erie trains it’s a bonus.

I go to Bellevue to see Norfolk Southern and if the W&LE comes into or leaves town that is value added to my day.

Such was the case during a recent visit in which my W&LE bonus time began in Monroeville when I spotted the railroad’s business car sitting on a siding.

A few more miles down the road revealed a WE train sitting at Yeomans with its locomotives pointed eastward.

I wasn’t there when this train showed up and when I left town about 9 p.m, that night this train was still sitting where I had last seen it.

There would be yet one more W&LE bonus to be had in Bellevue. The job that interchanges with NS in Moorman Yard came out on the Brewster connection with a former Denver & Rio Grande Western SD40T-2 leading.

I doubt that anyone ever tires of seeing the Rio Grande on the Wheeling, particularly when one is leading or if two of them are paired together.

A closer view of the 5413 and its mismatched number boards as it rumbles onto the Brewster connection.

Stripes on the noses of W&LE 4000 and 6997.

A tunnel motor and a corn field.

Near Ohio Route 4 and sitting beside the trail built on the former New York Central right of way.

Getting Lucky on the Wheeling & Lake Erie

The head end of the eastbound stone train was stopped just short of Section Line Road near Bellevue.

I’ve long said that the Wheeling & Lake Erie is most often something I catch when I’m looking for something else.

That was particularly the case on a recent Saturday when I spotted four W&LE trains while just driving around and not chasing a Wheeling train.

The saga started at mid morning as I was cruising toward Bellevue on U.S. Route 20/Ohio Route 18. I spotted a very slow moving westbound W&LE manifest freight on the nearby tracks.

I figured to have plenty of time to get into Bellevue and into position to get it.

After passing the head end of the westbound, I noticed a short distance later that an eastbound Wheeling stone train had stopped and been cut so as not to block the Ohio Route 4 crossing.

I turned down Section Line Road to get into position to get the two trains meeting on the double track southeast of Bellevue. One of those tracks is the Yeoman’s siding.

Neither train had a locomotive wearing the W&LE’s black with orange speed lettering and stripes livery.

The westbound stopped just short of the Section Line crossing and a crew member got off to flag the crossing. For some reason the gates were not working.

After the westbound cleared Section Line Road, I headed for Monroeville, planning to get the stone train crossing the West Branch of the Huron River.

But nothing happened and the radio was silent. Apparently, the stone train did not have a crew on board. As I was driving back to Bellevue, the stone train was still sitting where I had last seen it and still in two sections.

I was almost into town when I spotted a third Wheeling train. This one was sitting on the Lake Shore Connection.

After getting photographs of that train I drove into town but didn’t see the train I had seen earlier. It was already in Moorman Yard of Norfolk Southern, but I’ve seen W&LE trains sit for hours waiting to get into that yard.

The train on the Lake Shore Connection had two locomotives on the other end so it must have been a Toledo train. I didn’t know, though, if it was coming or going to Toledo, where it interchanges with Canadian National.

I spend the next few hours chasing Norfolk Southern and CSX, returning to Bellevue just after 3 p.m. A bridge was out on Ohio Route 269, which caused me to alter my route.

I took Ohio Route 4 with plans to go into town on U.S. Route 20. But as I approached the W&LE crossing of Route 4, I noticed a headlight to the west.

Instead of going into Bellevue, I made a right turn and drove to Monroeville. The eastbound manifest train was getting a new track warrant as it reached Monroeville.

I got into position and photographed my fourth Wheeling train of the day as it crossed the Huron River. This train had the same motive power set that the first W&LE train of the day had.

The same unit that led that train into Bellevue was leading it out of town so the power must have been spun in the yard.

With that train in the bag, it was time to move on back to Bellevue. The stone train and Toledo train were now gone.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

A wider perspective of the array of liveries on the motive power consist of the W&LE stone train sitting near Bellevue.

A crew member is on the ground to flag traffic as the westbound train crawls over the crossing of Section Line Road.

It’s the first time I’ve seen two W&LE trains meet on this stretch of track southeast of Bellevue.

One end of the W&LE Toledo train on the Lake Shore Connection parked just west of Prairie Road in Bellevue.

The other end of the W&LE Toledo train.

The last W&LE train of the day had the motive power that had graced the consist of the first Wheeling train of the day I had seen.

 

Chasing a W&LE Train Out of Bellevue

A Wheeling & Lake Erie manifest freight threads its way through the switches at the mini plant in Bellevue. It is headed for the Brewster connection, which can be seen in the foreground.

The W&LE train is entering the Brewster connection and will soon be on its home rails. Note how the letter “O” has been used for the numeral zero in the number board on the left.

Crossing the West branch of the Huron River in Monroeville was my last glimpse of this train as I did not chase it any further.

I had been in Bellevue less than an hour when I heard a Wheeling & Lake Erie train crew tell the Norfolk Southern dispatcher that it was ready to depart from the Wick Moorman Yard.

The dispatcher told them to stand by, which is another way of saying it will be a while. After a few NS movements through the mini plant, the NS dispatcher called the W&LE crew and told them their turn had come.

I walked down to the crossing of East Center Street and waited. I could see a small spec of orange in the distance and it took the train a while to work its way out of the yard.

My immediate objective was to use my longest telephoto lens to get the train weaving through the switches of the mini plant.

Then I briskly walked back to my car and headed off to Monroeville. I knew it would take time for the long train to snake its way onto the Brewster connection and out of town.

It would also need to call its own dispatcher to get a track warrant to go to Hartland.

I was able to easily get ahead of the train on the drive to Monroeville. My next objective was to get a shot of the train on the bridge over the West branch of the Huron River.

I discovered this location last year and this would be the third time that I’d worked it, all with eastbound trains.

A couple of other railfans were already in place on the bridge. It seemed to take the W&LE train longer to get to Monroeville than I had expected.

But soon there was a nearby locomotive horn and I could hear the grade crossing gates for Ohio Route 99 come on.

It was nice to see a pair of matching orange and black units. It was a long train and had a lot of tank cars. The other two fans left, but I stuck around to see the entire train cross the bridge before moving on in search of NS traffic on the Sandusky District.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

W&LE Tunnel Motors Running as a Pair

The money shot of the chase was catching these two Wheeling & Lake Erie tunnel motor locomotives crossing the Huron River in Monroeville.

I was watching an outbound Norfolk Southern train slowly make its way westward through the mini plant in Bellevue.

I heard a Wheeling 90 talk on the radio, but it appeared to be switching in the yard.

I looked up and there it was about to enter the Brewster Connection.

I grabbed my camera and sprinted for an open area at the end of East Street.

The train was led by a pair of former Denver & Rio Grande Western tunnel motors. I’ve seen two tunnel motors paired together before, but it is not necessarily a common sight.

The train was moving slowly and there was a track crew ahead working on the rails. I knew I had time to get to Monroeville ahead of the train.

In Monroeville, it was a short walk on the North Coast Inland Trail to the bridge over the West Branch of the Huron River.

The black water of the river reminded me of a line from a Dobbie Brother song, “Oh black water, keep on rollin.’ ”

Both the train and the river did just that.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Making its way onto the Brewster Connection.

Crossing East Street in Bellevue, which dead ends where I am standing.

The going away shot.

Clear track ahead on the Brewster Connection in Bellevue.

Just starting out on the bridge.

Looking down the North Coast Inland Trail on a bridge once used by New York Central trains.