Walking the Old PRR in Lancaster

One sunny day,back in February, I ventured out of doors and took some photos of the remnants of the Pennsylvan

ia Railroad's right of way. This branch line is now a bike trail through Lancaster and is a very pleasant trail to walk, bike or jog on. Here in the first photo is a bridge that was repainted and repaired

along the trail. It is near Cenci Lake

Park.

Our next stop is a mile marker beside Cenci Lake (background) this

marker's T stands for Trinway, a town obviously 60 miles from here (north east).

Now, on our third stop along the trail, is where the trail crosses the still active tracks that the Indiana and Ohio (I&O)use to access Ralston Cereals and I think a couple of other stops. The posts and that you have to weave through them remind me of the tank traps of WWII (only those were much bigger!). If you ride your bike slow enough you can weave through these poles. Unfortunately, the sign on the other side has been vandalized as well as the shelter you see in the background. It once had glass sides, but these have been entirely busted out by someone or somebodies.

I actually don't understand what all the effort is for, what is the point of destroying this material? There a several signs, posts and other things along the trail that have been deliberately destroyed.

Finally, we part with a view of the line running beside the old Anchor Hocking Plant. It is time to part

after our little hike. Thanks for walking with me!

Sunday Afternoon Part I

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon so I decided to do a photo safari and head down to a local park for some nature photography when I spied the I&O coming into town from Logan! Change plans and get some shots of the small six freight. So, off i go.

The first one on the right is of #3888 hauling its ducks into Lancaster. The tracks to the left are the old PRR line from Bremen.

Second photo is a going away shot as it crossed Maple Ave.

I then took off and went to Cenci Park to set up for the next shot.

I was wondering why it was taking it so long to get there, even at the

sedate pace it was taking. .

Photo three, here it comes, under the Rt. 33 overpass, but wait! Something is missing! So, that why it took so long, the crew dropped off the cars! I reminded me of when I am running my

model railroad, and the engine leaves some cars behind "unexpectedly" in that case.

Finally, (photo 4) the train continues to head north. It was

obviously heading up near the Anchor Distribution center where

I&O's "office" is located. Their day was done!

With part II of this post, I will show you some photos of the old

PC line through Lancaster.

What do you do, when heading home and you see the local working off in the distance?

Why, you take a right turn and head out to watch the crew switch some cars.

Yes, you'll sit in line for awhile, but what better way to spend some time on a late fall day?
The I&O is working the Lancaster Anchor Glass plant. It was a very long train!

A Visit To the Coal Mine

Some day I will build a mine like this on my model railroad. I visited this loader on the way to mom's on a cold January day and decided to just take my photos from the car.
Which was probably a good idea anyway as there was no place to pull off and park and coal trucks were everywhere-pulling in, loading, pulling out, as well as the NS train being loaded.
On down towards the Ohio River, all three trains were loaded on the Captina Division-one on the line back to Powhatan Point, one at the river being unloaded, and this one being loaded. With all the trucks being loaded also, it must have been one big order!

I have been by this mine several times and have not seen the loader at work. The one a mile or so north was the one I usually stop and watch. This one was busy, that was for sure!

Visiting family in Terre Haute, IN, this weekend and stopped by the Haley Tower Museum down in Terre Haute.
Here I had an enjoyable afternoon visiting with the kind gentleman who filled my head with useful information about the history, operations and people of the railroads of the area. It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours.
Here are some photos inside the tower.
First, is a shot of the interlocking board, with all the levers and gauges and other items that operators used to switch the trains between the lines. The men of the museum have set this board up to still work (not actually switch the tracks!) When a train comes through, the board lights up and its pretty neat to watch.

Here is the operator's station showing his phone and some of the paraphernalia on the desk.

Then, outside, members of the museum are busy repairing a donated caboose. They have a lot to do!







Finally, I recommend, if you are in Terre Haute that you stop by the museum and take a look. I believe it is open on Saturdays and Sundays.
Map view of the Wabash Valley's Railroader's Museum.

Recently my nephew and I journeyed to Fostoria to watch the trains! If you want to see trains, then this is the place to be.

But first you have to get there. As we were driving north to Fostoria, we passed a large stone quarry and had to wait for the "stone" train to back into the quarry. Here is a shot out my windshield.

After waiting a while, we resumed our trip. Soon after arriving, we saw the first of many freights roar by. Here is one coming toward us as it passed F tower. We were standing at the future site of the Fostoria observation area. You cannot get near the tower as it is on railroad property. So all shots were through a telephoto.
We saw several trains the few hours we were there, make note of number 8704 heads south, we will see it later.
After lunch, we headed down to Marion to visit the station and tower located there.
Again, we were rewarded with several trains passing by, and watching from the vantage point of the tower was great. A gentleman was working on the station and was a wealth of information about the railroads of the Marion area.
After visiting for awhile, I was heading towards AC tower when here comes 8704!
I dashed back inside and snapped this shot of it running under the signals through the stationmaster's window.
I then climbed up to the tower and caught a NS freight (on the left) and 8704 on the right, both heading south. My nephew pointed out that I could have gotten a better shot right outside the station! Oh well! It did come out ok, but through the station would definitely have been better.






My last shot is of 5414 splitting the signals as it heads west. So ended our day of watching trains. Marion and Fostoria are great sites to visit. The visit at the station and AC tower make Marion a better site to visit, plus the sound of those freights hitting the diamond is awesome!

A Reminder Along The Way

At the edge of a small village on St. Route 821 called Whipple, is this reminder of the PRR's Marietta Branch.
The first view is looking north towards Whipple at the bridge.
The second shot is looking along the bridge, as I was standing on the old ROW.
In 1998, the Duck Creek flooded and the water was over this bridge. Quite a flood!

MAINTENANCE DAY ON THE CAPTINA DIVISION

Traveling over to my mom's on a very fine June day, I wondered down St. Rt. 148 towards Powhatan Point heading towards NS' mine loader.
As I pulled up, the coal train just arrived at the loader. As loading the train is a very slow process and I didn't have the time to loiter, I moved on, hoping to catch either a loaded on heading towards the river, or another empty one heading up to the mines.
In the back of my mind is the last time I came this way and caught all three running the line.
But, as I traveled on, I came across a loaded train just sitting on the main and this got me wondering if he was waiting on an empty coming from the Point.

Well, as this photo shows, this crew is the answer why the first train was not in much of a hurry, nor was the second, aas I found a maintenance crew transferring from rail to road at a crossing. It was a very interesting watching the crew work. Basically it is all done with hydraulics. I've run things similar-lift or lower the lever and the rail wheels go up or down. In this case the wheels were going up and the truck drives off the crossing and on its way!
So, the rails are clear for all to proceed, right? Wrong! A little bit further down the line is this contraption that I have no idea what it is called. What it did was lift and tamp the ballast around the rails and ties. At least that is what I saw it do.
Here is a series of photos of this machine.

The first show the machine approaching the crossing (a different one than the first), then it cross the road, pounding on the rocks. Look closely at photo three and you can see the rods coming down.
Finally, after very slow progress the machine is across the road. For being on a country road, there was a lot of traffic waiting to go!
I must have been heavy maintenance day, on down the road I caught a glimpse of another rail truck with crew working on the rails (too distance for a photo).
So goes maintenance day on the Captina Division

ALWAYS TAKE A CAMERA

Running errands the other day, and what do I see? I&O switching the Anchor Hocking Plant and what a train he is pulling!
Photo above-looking down the train towards the plant.
Here is the engine and engineer waiting for the trainman to hook up the boxcars back in the plant.

And off they go, heading north to the distribution center just up the road.
And that is why you take your camera with you when you run an errand...you never know what you might see!

Let's start spring break out-Ohio style! If you click on the photo of the two NS engines of the Captina Mine run you will notice that it is snowing! Yes, it is Ohio and yes it is April, so what else is new?
I caught these two engines in the yard at Powhattan Point. I am wondering, is the left one getting sand or fuel?

On http://american-rails-forums.com/ a member asked about the cars on the old B&O line on the Harmar Side of Marietta. As I was returning home, I stopped and took some shots of the attractions there. Unlike Tuesday, on this day the sun was out and it was close to 70 degrees!

I don't know what the engine is beside the C&O caboose. Obviously this caboose didn't ride these rails when B&O ran the show.


Here are two coaches that have been, at one time, converted to a restaurant? I don't know as the cars are empty and a for rent sign hangs in front of one.









One car still had Christmas lights and decorations showing through the windows.
Hopefully, someone more knowledge about the B&O than me can identify the cars.





This is an interesting boxcar. C&O? B&O? Chessie?
The letter stands for "Historic Harmar Village Bridge Company"
To the left of the car is the bridge across the Muskingtum River.


Well that is my short visit to Marietta.

Around "Round Town"
Returning from a men's retreat down on the Hocking Hills region, I decided to detour through Circleville to see what railroad action I could find on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
I have passed through Circleville many times to watch trains in Chillicothe, but now I decided would be a good time to visit roundtown. Here are the results of my short trip.

First shot is back towards state route 22, Main St in town. To the left is the remains of the old papermill and just pass it is the grain elevator. Last time I was here, the siding was full of covered hoppers waiting for their share of the grain. The NS main is to the right, just out of view. As always, click on the photo for a larger view (or right click, open in new tab/window).

Here comes a very, very long hot shot with containers. I am standing on a fairly sharp curve and the train has slowed considerably down for the curve, as well as being in town. This long train will block a lot of street crossings! It is heading south to Portsmouth.
Here is a MOW car going the other way. My wife called me and I was on the cell phone when I saw the train approaching. This is the result of one handed photography. Good thing my DLSR has an "A" button!
I think this is what remains of the old PRR line from Lancaster. The shot is towards the east and this is an old station that is now a self store place.
Here is what happens when a railroad loses a business. Either the grain elevator is closed, which I suspect, or just does not use rail anymore...the tracks are weedy and have a heavy layer of the dark rust of misuse on them. This is westward and was once part of the PRR line.
This is the same elevator and looking east. In the distance you can see where the station is.
Turn around from the above photo and this is what you see. The old tracks passing under state route 23. They once headed to Washington Court House from Lancaster.

Driving around roundtown, you can tell where there were once more tracks laid out. The signs are there, but the tracks are no longer. What a place to have seen thirty to forty years ago!