Watching trains on a hot July day. 

  My grandson and I went to the Marion Station to watch the action on a very warm July day.  Fortunately, there was a cool breeze, some cooling rain, and lots of train action to keep our minds off of the heat.  We both enjoyed the day! 
  

 

Photo 1-A view of the NS office.  Notice the new cantilever with the new style of signals and the old NW signals to the right. 

Photo 2-My grandson is waiting patiently for the next train to come!

Photo 3 A  CSX Hy-Rail splits the signals heading west on the CSX line.

 Photo 4 The drive cautiously looks both ways as he crosses the diamond.  I would too! This is a very busy line!

 Photo 5- There he goes.

 Photo 6 If you look closely, you will a crew member working on the engine.  This engine was dragging a long line of tank cars out of the CSX yard to our left, came around the curve and promptly stalled.  It took them two attempts to start the engine.  Once it fired, the engineer "va-room, va-roomed" it!  Reminded me of trying to keep an old car I had running at idle! Eventually it ran and they backed back into the yard completing their job.

 Photo 7 After the yard job cleared, a south bound freight shows up.

 Photo 9 A NS crew shows up to check the diamond out, and while they are working, a CSX local comes by.

 Photo 11 The worker is tightening bolts that have come loose holding the diamond together.

 Photo 12 Checking the diamond out.

 Photo 13 Look what is on the end of another local?  An old Conrail caboose!

 Photo 15  Finishing the job.  The crewman on the right is on the lookout for approaching trains.

That is the end of our jaunt to Marion and its famous diamonds.  Here is one last shot of a NS local running in reverse with another Conrail caboose leading the way.  For once, we didn't hear the blast of the air horn, but the toot of the horn on the caboose!

Winter Trains

Winter Trains

Took the grandson train watching one nice clear sunny Saturday in February, venturing to Circleville to view the action.    Thinking that a Saturday would be an 'off' day to watch trains and we'd be fortunate to see even one, we never the less, set out, undaunted with the prospect of not seeing any trains. 

  Once there and set up we were not disappointed.  The total before we left, because nap time was upon us, was five!  All coal drags, four from NS and one for CSX.  Nice score for a winter day! 

  Here are some photos of the day's outing. 

 Coal trains on a clear winter day.

 On the old PRR branch from Lancaster, the old line continues to shrivel.  Here is the MOW equipment waiting for Monday's work. 

 I think that this ag business still has rail service, as the rails head into its backyard. 

 The end of the line.  Looking west. 

 The right of way towards the east-towards Lancaster-now bare of rails and wooden ties.  There isn't much left of this line as businesses along it are long gone. 

 

Finally, once again I venture into Zanesville, on my  way to see my mother, and stop to grab a quick shot of the GW/OC engines taking a siesta in the yard. Look closely and you can see the snow showers-it's winter in Ohio!

 

Visiting the Yard

 Visiting one of my daughters in Nashville, Tenn, I happened to discover that CSX had a very large yard-the Radnor Yard-that once belong to the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) railroad.  This is a huge yard.  Before taking photos, I drove 'around' the yard and was amazed at the size. 
  There is an overpass on one end of the yard, and from there I could take some photos. 
  Photo one is a view of the yard showing its size.

  This photo shows how the engineer running his train.  He is standing beside his engines (this view shows the slug) and is watching the train slowly move down the track. Yes, he is not on the train-he is using a remote control!  The engineer ran the train completely pass him and then walked up the hump hill to continue his work.

 Here is the train slowly moving up the hump hill and each car is uncoupled to roll down to its proper track for classification.  The time to do this was amazingly short.  I have never seen a hump operation before this close, and that train was completely disassembled in about fifteen minutes.

 Here is the 'front' of the train as it backs up the hump. 

 Another view of the hump yard.  Look closely and you can see a boxcar moving down the hill to its track. 

At last, just about in fifteen minutes, the last car is let go.  The engineer did it all, ran the train and uncoupled the cars. 
   I find it interesting that there is an approach signal on the track to the hump yard. 


The following link will take you to an overhead view of the yard.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspectivephotography/2559314053/in/photostream/

Summer Rail Adventure!

 Took the grandson and wife to see Nickel Plate 765 head into Ashville, Oh (south of Columbus) on the NS line to Portsmouth.  The train stopped in Ashville to take on water, via a fire hydrant, and for some crew going over that all steam engines need. 
  Here you see 765 coming into Ashville.

 The crew was extremely busy oiling, greasing (you could hear the air powered grease gun!), and just checking things out.  There was a large ground crew swarming all over the engine. 
  In the bygone days of steam, not that many people were needed!

 Another view of the engine and crew.

 How much oil do I add?  I dunno, but I guess this crewman knew the right amount.  He kept climbing up his ladder and looking in the reservoir to check.  There was both NS crew and Fort Wayne Railroad crewmembers  working on the engine.

765 is running on NS's rails as part of their celebration of thirty years as a corporation.  Behind 765 is NS's Nickel Plate heritage engine. 
  765 is from Fort Wayne, Indiana and is part of the historical museum located there.

 This is for all you modelers out there. 

 765 is just about ready to leave Ashville. 

 Most of the crew are aboard and just a few more checks. 

 Here is 765 heading south just out of Circleville.  If the lights hadn't been so long, traffic so...well you know... I would have been able to have some great shots in Circleville, but I just managed to get some from an overpass south of town.  I didn't see the power line in the foreground in my haste to get the shot.

 I did get to this overpass just north of Kingston, just north of Chillicothe. 

 Here is a photograph of the steam dome (nearest the bottom of the photo), the sand dome-note all the lines leading down on the right side of the engine. 
  On the steam dome you can see the whistle.  The sand is to provide traction for the driving wheels, of which there are eight (four to a side).
  Behind the sand dome and just before the cab roof you can see the steam driven motors that supply air for the draft of the engine's fire. 

 765 splits the signals heading towards Kingston.  This photo is best viewed by right clicking on it and viewing as a larger image.

765 leaves us as it heads south out of Kingston towards Portsmouth on the Ohio River.  It is just about to cross route 159. 
  It was a great adventure to watch this piece of history come alive! 

In Parkersburg, there is a park that once, during the Civil War, was Fort Boreman that is a good place to view Parkersburg, and of course the railroad in town. In our first view, you can see the bridge over the Little Kanawha River that empties into the Ohio River. Note the steel platforms on both sides of the track just before the bridge. I believe that at one time there were stations on those platforms.

The grade up to this bridge seems rather steep, and must be quite a strain on the engines pulling up to cross the bridge. Running under the bridge is the track to the high line, the yard that is where the old main from Grafton once entered Parkersburg. The wall to the left of the bridge is the flood wall. It is quite cramped in this area!

Here is a view of the track up to the high line. I have read that since the turn table has been removed, it is quite an interesting maneuver to go from the low yard to the high yard.

Up on the hill, you can look down and see the low yard. In the yard is a coal drag waiting to leave. I was thinking maybe it would leave soon, but it never did.

Walking around the hill on Fort Boreman, I notice a line running south along the Little Kanawha River. In this view (below) I noticed a train section down below with a caboose attached!

Following the tracks, I noticed in the distance an industry with a siding. I suspect that is where I heard a horn toot a few minutes earlier. I wonder what goes in/out there? I didn't have time to drive down and investigate, but maybe another day.

Finally here is a shot of the three bridges that cross over the Ohio from Parkersburg to Belpre, Ohio.In the foreground is the old US 50 bridge-a new one is just south that crosses the Ohio south of Belpre-behind it is the old B&O bridge, and in the distance is the RT 7 toll bridge.

A Visit to the B&O in Parkersburg

Its been a few years since I was able to visit the B&O in Parkersburg, and being in town for a

lectureship at a local college, I has some time during the lunch break to drive downtown and take a look around.
Here are some of the things I saw.

This is a view of the "high yard" which the old main line entered Par

kersburg from Grafton to the east. The yard was full of cars, which I have read are mainly storage. There isn't that much industrial shipping left in the area for this many cars!

Here is the local yard engine (I assume) waiting to go to work. #2562 is a GP 38-2 (http://www.thedieselshop.us/CSX.HTML). Last time I was here, the yard engine was in the old CSX "ghost" paint and was showing rust signs. That one was 2660, also a 38-2.

Not much going on here, and time was limited, so I went off to take some more photos.

Here is another view of the high yard along the side of some COHS passenger cars.

When you look to the left side of the car, you see COHS stenciled on hit. This car sits near the site of where the station once was (across the tracks from it). Many windows are busted by rock throwers and it seems that no repair or restoration is underway. I think I shot this car the last time I was here. I don't think much has changed.

I get a kick out of the approach from the old bridge across the Ohio River. While my telephoto exaggerates the curvature, I always wonder why there is a curve? Why not just straight on? Was the street already there when the bridge was built? When that line was laid, that street probably was dirt, so it wasn't that hard to realign the street! Then, there could have been a straight at one time and double tracked just before the bridge? Maybe someone knows.

Last photo shows an inspection car. Unfortunately, I didn't get its number (no pun intended). It was hard to get to, to take a photograph.

Next up, looking down at the B&O in Parkrsburg.