In the top image, Norfolk Southern 7051 is leading the ferry movement of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 to Bellevue where it will then head east on the Wheeling & Lake Erie for another segment of 765’s journey to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s Steam in the Valley 2010. Robert Farkas made that photograph and the middle image of the ferry move on the W&LE east of Bellevue.
The bottom image was made by Paul Woodring who was independently chasing the ferry move. Paul’s image was made on the W&LE at Medina where the 765 was making a service stop.
Here is a pair of Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2 working east of the Brewster Yard. Nos. WE 6312 and 6316 are east are shown on Feb. 24, 2017, approaching the signal for the W&LE/RJ Corman crossing, and about to cross the Corman.
Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-3 No. 4025 pulls around the connection from the Spencer Yard to the Hartland Subdivision on Oct. 6, 2011. The 4025 wears the second W&LE “tiger stripe” livery, which features smaller roster numbers and lettering on the long hood. Originally built for the Missouri Pacific the locomotive also spent time on the Union Pacific roster.
A pair of Wheeling & Lake Erie tribute units lead a westbound through Navarre, Ohio, on Nov. 6, 2011. They are No. 107, which pays tribute to the Akron, Canton & Youngstown; and No. 200, the Ohio Bicentennial unit.
Two of this trio of locomotives pulling a stone train in Akron on Aug. 1, 2015, wear liveries that suggest they once worked for BNSF. SD40-2 No. 6388 wears Burlington Northern colors while the middle unit has a BNSF scheme. The train is shown on the CSX New Castle Subdivision.
Here are two images of Wheeling and Lake Erie No. 2662 heading east in Navarre on Aug. 16, 2014. The top image is the full scene while the bottom image has been cropped.
Yes, you can lose some quality by cropping, but it can save some photos taken from farther away than you’d like perhaps because you have the wrong lens on your camera.
I always remember Marty Surdyk using the fisherman’s term of “trolling” when hoping for a good catch.
On May 23, 2008, I had a good day of trolling during the afternoon before an Akron Railroad Club meeting. Craig Sanders and I caught a few unexpected prizes.
In Grafton as in photos one through three we caught CSX (ex Baltimore & Ohio) on the former Cleveland, Lorain & West Virginia) crossing the Big Four. Conrail units were still around but the surprise was the B&O caboose restored to excellent condition.
I also got a railfan (Craig) in the first photo. Often I did that on purpose to document who was on the scene.
Afterwards we were working our way to Spencer and we had a catch by surprise on the W&LE. Photos four and five show former Nickel Plate coaches 62 and 90 of the Midwest Railway Preservation Society being shipped to Wellington for short excursions on the Lorain & Wheeling.
Finally in photos six and seven on the former Akron, Canton & Youngstown we caught an empty Wheeling & Lake Erie stone hopper train headed back west to Carey.
Photo six was made west of Spencer while photo seven was at New London about to get on CSX (ex Big Four) on trackage rights to Greenwich.
Today I consider those heritage unit catches: Wisconsin Central, and Denver & Rio Grande Western.
I always wonder since we had good catches, did I have fish for dinner?
Although Akron Barberton Cluster motive power typically has handled the ABC job that serves Kent and Ravenna, locomotives from parent Wheeling & Lake Erie often has pitched in to help when needed.
Such was the case on Nov. 4, 2005, when GP35 No. 2662 worked the job. Apparently the crew had not cars to take back to Akron on this day.
No. 2662, one of two locomotives to received this striking red and gold livery, is passing the former Erie Railroad passenger station in Kent.
Wheeling & Lake Erie GP35-3 No. 108 has been around a long time. It was built for the Southern in December 1964 and came to the Wheeling in 1990 when the modern iteration of the company began operations.
A motive power roster online maintained by Chris Toth shows No. 108 still looks the way it does in the photograph above.
It is capable of remote control operation and has Alco-type B trucks.
No. 108 is shown here working in Navarre on Aug. 21, 2013.
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 