Driving Trip - November 22, 2015

Driving Trip - November 22, 2015

Note: click on the thumbnails for a larger image

This is the latest installment in the series of driving trips of myself and my former coworker John. Unlike past trips, we actually saw a decent number of trains along our travels so this narrative should satisfy the vast majority of the readers (all 12 of you) out there. A SPV Rail Atlas of Ohio would also be handy for following along.

Vowing not to wait until the last day of the year to get our last driving trip in, John and I made a date for November 22nd to get together. John usually gives me suggestions for places to visit and I then come up with the trip plan. This time he mentioned "New Washington" which is kind of between several junctions so I did my best to incorporate a route which would take us by there, as well as by several other notable junctions in northern Ohio. I must say that this was one of the best trips we've had. The phrase "quality, not quantity", is often used in a number of situations. With this trip, we put fewer miles on the car yet seemed to see more than usual. We stopped at locations along the way and took photos of things we might not normally stop to photograph. However the railroad landscape is changing and any relics along the line seem to be dropping like flies so I'm glad we slowed down and took the time to take some extra photos. And now, on with the report.

It was a cool, dark morning, but at least it was dry. The weather forecast was not optimistic on seeing much sun so it would be yet another gray day in Ohio. This fit the mood perfectly since our beloved Buckeyes got beat by Michigan State on the gridiron the day before! On the way to pick up John I heard CSX Q122 calling signals on the Columbus Line Subdivision south of Delaware. Shortly before arriving at John's house the Lewis Center defect detector sounded an alarm so the train of 120 axles had to stop and inspect. That gave John and I time to do a little investigation near the small village of Kilbourne for some bridge abutments of a rail line that supposedly started to be built but ran out of money before they got anywhere. John said he saw a photo of the abutments over Alum Creek either north or south of the village. We drove along Alum Creek north of Kilbourne for a few miles and didn't see anything in the river, though we did see a bald eagle make a sweeping move in front of us and then landing on a branch high in a tree, making an impression on both of us with its majestic presence.

We then headed back to the Columbus Line Sub. and began following the line closely in anticipation of Q122's arrival. Surprisingly the crew told the dispatcher they were still walking the train which gave us more time to inspect the trackage northward. We made a stop in Edison to see the remnant of the Toledo & Ohio Central's Eastern Branch through Mt. Gilead. The line exists to serve a grain elevator and is operated by CSX. We parked at the road crossing near the elevator and took some photos. The rail here is jointed 105 lb. 1928 vintage rail.

Looking south on the former T&OC line. At the switch the main is on the left and the spur is on the right.

Looking north on the former T&OC line. The line curves toward the northwest where it meets with the CSX Columbus Line Sub. about 1/2 mile from this location. The grain elevator is the only remaining customer on this line.

The radio chatter revealed that Q122 was finally heading our way. We heard it go through the Leonardsburg defect detector at 59 mph so knowing that it was moving a mile a minute we had to quickly find a spot to see him by. We headed up to the curve at St. James and watched him fly by us. The St. James detector, which has a female voice, clocked him at 57 mph. The old elevator at this location makes for a nice photo prop.

The elevator at St. James probably hasn't loaded a car since the Penn Central days.

We finally get to see Q122 moving close to track speed through the curve at St. James. With three units and just over 100 axles the power is probably barely breaking a sweat. The lead unit looks like it has been through a lot. The old elevator is just out of view to the left.

Next stop was Galion where the Columbus Line meets the Mt. Victory Subdivision (ex-CCC&STL/Erie). The depot here appears to be undergoing some restoration as it looked to have recently been sandblasted. We peaked inside the windows and saw that some work was being done on the inside as well. Here are photos of the building.

View of the trackage looking south. Just beyond the curve is where the Columbus Line Subdivision splits and goes south while the Mt. Victory Subdivision curves to the right (westward). The NYC signals may be living on borrowed time.

View of trackage looking north. The passenger platform canopy still stands even though it has been over 40 years since the last regularly scheduled passenger train stopped here.

Here's a nice 3/4 view of the Big Four Depot. It appears that some painting has been done to the upper part of the structure, but much work is still needed to protect it from the elements.

Just in case you were wondering who built this depot, look no further than above one of the windows to get the answer.

Some of the details around the building caught my eye. Here we see some decorative carvings on either side of the windows.

Continuing north we made a quick reconnaissance around Crestline yard on the Panhandle Line. I'm not sure how to designate this line as it's owned by CSX, operated by CF&E and dispatched by NS. It's the modern version of the Alphabet Route! Not much doing in the yard other than a Conrail cab and a few cars laying around. At East Crest we took some photos of the control point. Nice to see the PRR signals still in service. This part of the line "Stop" is displayed using two horizontal red lights. From Mansfield eastward it is three horizontal amber lights.

Here's the view of the eastbound signals at East Crest. The signal on the left is sitting on what used to be the RofW for the second main. The large PRR signals have a character all their own, but likely will be replaced soon due to the new positive train control regulations.

Spin around 180 degrees and you get this view looking west. The track to the left is the southeast transfer to the Mt. Victory Subdivision. Crest Tower stood between the two tracks just before the highway bridge. The second main would have been on the right of the current main. The passenger platform on the right is still visible.

We continued north and made a brief stop at Vernon where the Mt. Victory Sub. once was crossed by a Conrail (ex-PRR) line which extended from Toledo Jct. east of Crestline up to Tiffin and on to Toledo. CSX has new signals staged at this location so the old NYC signals will soon be replaced.

Looking south (railroad west) at CP 71 we see the control point from double to single track. Also note the two slightly different signal heads for the eastbound signal. It is obvious this used to be double track territory beyond this point.

Looking north (railroad east) at CP 71. Again it is quite clear this used to be all double track. The abandoned Conrail line mentioned in the trip write up used to cross where the trees are on the right side.

New signals await installation at CP 71. It won't be much longer before the NYC style signals become yet another railroad relic relegated to the scrap heap (or in someone's railroadania collection).

We then headed a little further on the Mt. Victory Sub. and checked out the diamond at Shelby where the Mt. Victory Sub. crosses the Ashland Railway (ex-B&O). B&O signals still govern the ASRY trackage but these are about to be replaced. This diamond was one of the first OWLS (One Way Low Speed) diamonds installed on CSX. A nice write up about flange-bearing technology, including the Shelby OWLS diamond, can be found here. A transfer track and small yard used to exist in the southeast quadrant of the diamond at one time. Here are a few photos of the area.

Looking north on the Ashland Railway, we see a recurring theme of signals about to be replaced. Not many signal aspect options for this old B&O signal - it's either stop or proceed!

Here's a closer view of the OWLS diamond. The ASRY is the OWLS route while the crossing CSX line is the high speed route. The steel bars inside the rails support the flanges through the diamond.

View of the CSX line looking northeast (railroad direction east). Note that the rail for the CSX line (the high speed route) never has a break in it as seen in a conventional diamond. A small yard and transfer tracks used to exist on the right.

After making a brief drive through the old military warehouse area near the diamond (which had several cars staged for unloading), we arrived at Plymouth where ASRY crosses the Wheeling and Lake Erie (ex-NOH). The first time I visited the location the diamond was governed by a tilting target signal but now has newer looking tri-light LED signals. The old Plymouth Locomotive Works is slowly being reclaimed by nature (and others). Both the Northern Ohio and B&O depots amazingly still stand, though not in good shape. The sun also made an appearance nicely lighting up some of our photos.

Here's the view on the W&LE looking west toward the diamond with the ASRY at Plymouth. This diamond used to be governed by a tilting target signal.

Looking east on the Wheeling at Plymouth shows that the line moves downgrade from here. The 115 lb. rail is supported by a finer grade of ballast.

Looking north from the Wheeling line reveals this view of what's left of the Plymouth Locomotive Works and its water tower.

The Northern Ohio Railroad depot still stands near the diamonds in Plymouth, though it is slowly being encroached upon by nature. The depot's architectural features are still evident as well as the position of the station sign above the window.

This photo shows the placement of the Northern Ohio Railroad depot with its track. It is apparent that this was moved away from the right of way. The book "Ohio's Railway Age in Postcards" shows the depot next to the track.

The former B&O depot in Plymouth is also standing and in somewhat better shape than the NOH depot. The main is to the left and what looks like a house track is on the right.

A side view of the depot shows some of the detail of the building. For a small town this is a decent sized building. Other than the broken windows the building appears to be in decent shape.

The windows on the south end were broken allowing us to take a peek inside. The building has obviously had some "remodeling" done since its days as a depot for the B&O.

Here's a view of the ASRY main looking north. The track makes a sweeping curve by the depot and then descends into a valley under a bridge in town.

We continued east and arrived at the spot John suggested - New Washington. The CR (ex-PRR) line seen at Vernon crossed the W&LE at this location. It looked like a transfer track used to exist at one time in the southeast quadrant of the diamond location. For a line gone only 35 or so years it is hard to tell where it existed in spots. A high voltage power line now parallels the CR RofW. We stopped at the grain elevator in town and took some photos of cars spotted, finding that one of them had PRR reporting marks showing under the paint!

Spotted on the siding in New Washington was this relic. At first glance only the Conrail paint is evident, but if you look closely you can see PRR above the WE reporting marks, and the Keystone logo is near the top of the panel on the right with H47A showing at the bottom.

Also on the New Washington siding, this Wheeling hopper also shows its former heritage as a CNW hopper. Someone wishes it still was owned by UP.

We then followed the abandoned CR line northwest and crossed the NS Sandusky District just south of Carrothers where the two lines once crossed. Our timing was perfect as we got to see an eastbound NS train pass by. Again the unexpected sunlight helped illuminate the surrounding landscape.

Eastbound NS 234 south of Carrothers on the Sandusky District. The land profile shows that not all of northern Ohio is flat.

After a quick drive by of the former diamond at Carrothers, we continued to follow the abandoned CR line northwest. At. St. Stephens we stopped and took some photos as the pole line is mostly intact and the RofW looks like it only recently lost the ties and tracks that used to be on it (though likely they've been gone for years). The RofW once supported two tracks here.

View of the abandoned Conrail right of way at St. Stephens looking northwest toward Tiffin. The right of way is very broad and with four arms on the line pole this suggests it was double track at this location.

Turning around 180 degrees we see the view at St. Stephens looking southeast toward Carrothers. Part of the pole line is visible in the distance on the right.

We continued to follow the line northwest. About a mile southeast of Tiffin the rail reappears and used to serve a power substation and another customer, both of which are gone.

Looking southeast about a mile east of Tiffin the track reappears. The end of the track is in the distance where the high tension poles appear to cross the track.

A little closer to Tiffin another customer appears to possibly get rail service on what's left of the CR line. At this point we were close to the CSX Willard Sub. and the scanner revealed that a westbound was approaching.

A CSX westbound passes a grain elevator on the east side of Tiffin. The rail on #2 track had just recently been replaced. The old rail in the ditch was less than 15 years old.

John and I had visited Tiffin on several past trips so I won't go into the complex track arrangement that used to be in place. On the west side of town we see one more CSX train before taking a break for lunch. John commented the whistle sounded like the horn off of a Ford Escort. What the lead unit lacked in whistle power it made up for in shiny red paint.

Another CSX westbound heads west on #2 track after just crossing the Sandusky River bridge.

After a very tasty lunch at Wendys, we began following the CR line north from Tiffin. The line reappears on the north side of CSX and continues its journey northwest to Toledo. This part of the line is operated by the Northern Ohio & Western shortline. The line here is heavy welded rail and looks good for 40 mph or better. The first junction it crosses is at Maple Grove with the NS (ex NKP) Fostoria District. A transfer track and an old grain elevator are at the diamond.

Here is a view of the diamond at Maple Grove looking northwest. The NOW line is closer with the NS line crossing in a east-west direction. The old NKP signals that used to govern this diamond are long gone.

This elevator in the southwest quadrant of the diamond at Maple Grove has seen better days. The track in the foreground is a connector between the two lines.

NS was surprisingly quiet so we continued to follow the CR line north. At Burgoon the line used to cross a line abandoned by N&W (ex-LE&W) from Fremont to Fostoria. There used to be PRR signals still standing by the former block tower cement footer in town but these have since been removed.

We followed the line through Millsersville, Helena, Gibsonville and finally Woodville where line ownership switches from NOW to CSX. A small yard is here for staging cars at one of the lime plants in the area. At this point we departed the CR line and headed straight north to pick up the NS Chicago Line (ex-CR, NYC) at Clay Center. No sooner had we arrived did we see the first of many trains.

The leader of the westbound train parade greets us at Clay Center, OH.

One bridge abutment of the Toledo Port Clinton & Lakeside interurban still stands at this location. Definitively a relic of another era.

We then began following the NS line east. The very broad right of way, good for 3-4 tracks, is a reminder of the importance of the route and of how busy it once was when there were many more passenger trains running. About every 10 minutes we had to stop because a train was coming!

Another NS westbound quickly passes on main #1 around Martin, OH.

The rapid fire train frequency was reassuring to both of us who have recently heard nothing but bad news regarding the declining volumes the railroads are hauling right now. At least this very busy line hasn't slowed down!

Here's a train at CP 268. The old NYC signals will soon be replaced by tri-light signals. All former railroad owner identity is about to be lost.

Next in the westbound parade was this mixed freight. The recurring theme of new signals is repeated with the venerable NYC signals about to be chopped in favor of PTC-capable signals.

Finally we arrive at Oak Harbor. This is a neat place to watch trains as the NS line crosses under another NS (ex-W&LE) line from Toledo to Fremont and on to Bellevue. As part of the Conrail split a large transfer track was constructed from the former W&LE line to the former NYC line so trains going from Bellevue could take the transfer and then be on the more direct route to Chicago bypassing much of the Toledo congestion. Here are photos of yet another train on NS.

Looking east, here's a view of the signals at MP 266.2. Note the 220 MHz antenna on the left to support the PTC functionality.

Train #4 in the westbound parade was this empty autorack train being pulled by a rebuilt SD60 locomotive. A nice pure sound with the single unit in Run 8.

At this point John comments, "Now all we need is to see one train crossing over another on the bridge." Ask and ye shall receive as we were luck enough to see just that.

The westbound parade continues! Here's a coil steel train ducking under the NS (N&W) Toledo District track bridge showing built in 1910.

John's wish comes true as we see a train come off the ex-NYC and take the new connector to head on the Toledo District. A train over a train!

We were about to leave only to hear the scanner reveal that one more train was coming.

The depot in Oak Harbor needs a pain job but is still standing and used by MofW forces.

The last train in the westbound parade is this intermodal hot shot, moving noticeably faster than the previous couple trains.

At this point we began our journey south. We made a brief drive around the Heinz plant in Fremont noting for the first time all of the trackage on the back side of the plant. Fremont itself has a number of rail lines that meander the hills and river valley making it somewhat confusing trackage to follow. I think every time I drive through Fremont I get confused but John always patiently re-explains who's who in town. We hop on Rt. 53 and in the process again cross the NS Fostoria District at Old Fort. We see a headlight so we wait for what seems like a long time. The longer than normal wait was due to it being a light engine move. The lead unit had a nice sounding Leslie whistle like what many of the Seaboard System roads (and others) used on their locomotives.

Continuing south we again arrived in Tiffin and CSX was hot. We first stopped to see a westbound stack train, then as we were about to leave heard an eastbound trip the 31.1 detector with 650 axles. OK... got to see this since it was a manifest train. We parked on the east side of town and watched two SD40-2s pulling their heart out (great sound!). The train started by us going 35-40 mph but by the time the long train had passed it was down to 25 mph or so. Later we heard them talk to another crew saying they were down to 14 mph but would make the hill at Republic.

That would be the extent of our train activity for the day. It was a short trip by our standards (only 281 miles), but it made up for the 350+ mile trips seeing only 1-2 trains the whole time!

Questions, comments welcome!

Back to Trains Home index