Eastern Railroad Discussion > Lots of Orange at This Sunday Picnic

This past Sunday the Akron Railroad Club held its annual summer picnic at Warwick Park in Clinton, Ohio. The park is adjacent to the CSX New Castle Subdivision, which is part of the former Baltimore & Ohio Chicago-Pittsburgh mainline.

There is a lot of railroad history in this village. At one time, the B&O and the Pennsylvania Railroad had a shared trackage arrangement between Warwick (the name of a tower in Clinton on the railroad) and Akron. At Warwick, the PRR had two lines heading out of town. One line went southwestward toward Orrville, where it crossed the PRR's Chicago-Pittsburgh mainline, before eventually winding up in Columbus.

Another PRR line ran parallel to a B&O line between Warwick and Massillon (Mace Tower). The PRR and B&O had a paired trackage arrangement between Warwick and Mace. The B&O line was part of a route that extended from Cleveland and Lorain (joining at Lester) to Wheeling, W.Va., via Dover and Holloway, Ohio.

Today much of the former PRR trackage is gone. The PRR route to Columbus has been abandoned and the tracks removed except for a short segment in Orrville.

One of the two Warwick-Mace tracks has been removed and the surviving track is owned by the R.J. Corman. But word has it that the Corman is seeking to end its interchange with CSX at Warwick in favor of interchanging the cars with the Wheeling & Lake Erie at Brewster. Presumably, the W&LE would then interchange the cars with CSX or maybe NS.

The Ohio Central had tackage rights over the Corman line to Warwick, but it reportedly is or has moved its interchange with CSX to Columbus. Hence, the ex-B&O branch between Warwick and Mace may be in danger of being abandoned.

On Sunday, that ex-B&O branch was quiet. Presented are a series of some of the trains that I photographed during my time at the ARRC picnic.

(Photo 1): CSX No. 86 leads a load of empty stone hoppers on the K919. The train is en route to Carey, Ohio, to pick up another load of stone. The image was made at nearly 9 a.m. against sunlight providing backlighting. It is running on the single track segment that passes Warwick Park. The line here is single track between Warwick and Lambert in far southwestern Akron.

(Photo 2): This image was made in approximately the same location as Photo 1. Westbound K067 has a load of empty crude oil tankers headed back to the oil fields.

(Photo 3): Warwick still boasts some color position light signals and I made it a point to photograph some of them in the morning. They are located at the east end of the yard where the double track goes to single track. Shown is the Q216 maneuvering its way onto the single track.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/14 04:52 by SDP40F600.

---

---

---

The title of this thread reflects the fact that four of the 15 trains that I saw on Sunday in Clinton (Warwick) had BNSF power on the lead. Here is a sampling of the "orange parade."

(Photo 4): The Q368 had a monster motive power consist of nine units. On the point was BNSF 4128. Most of the units in this consist were CSX, save for the BNSF leader and one rental company unit. The view is similar to that of Photo 3, which shows the train moving onto the single track. The track in the background in front of the nose is the lead to the R.J. Corman line.

(Photo 5): The L137 was a light power move even though this symbol corresponds to a westbound intermodal train. I don't know what happened to the rest of this train, but when it came past Warwick Park it had but two BNSF units. This image shows the trailing unit. The lead unit was BNSF 4401, but you can't see it due to the angle of the photo.

(Photo 6): BNSF 7816 leads westbound K065, another crude oil tankers train. By the time I made this image shortly after 5 p.m., the sun had come back out. Although thunderstorms were to the north and south of us, our picnic dodged the heavy weather. As I was returning home, I was a few blocks from my house when the radio station interrupted the baseball game to which I was listening to announce a tornado warning for northern Cuyahoga County. Fortunately, nothing severe occurred.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/14 04:56 by SDP40F600.

---

---

---

In 2012 and 2013 the Akron Railroad Club held its picnic at the Willis Picnic Area in the Bedford Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks system. That park is located next to the NS Cleveland line. The latter features a higher volume of traffic than the CSX New Castle Sub, but Warwick Park is closer to the club's "home base" and the location of the picnic in years past.

(Photo 7): We got a touch of NS when the Q330 came out of the yard with this FURX unit on the lead. It has some NS markings although the horseheads have been painted over. Does the fact that this locomotive is of Norfolk Southern heritage mean that it can be said to be an NS heritage unit? It is even leading, not trailing.

(Photo 8): There is no doubt that this is a genuine NS locomotive. This was the last train of the day that I saw. NS 9222 is leading the Q299.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/14 04:47 by SDP40F600.

---

---

GOOD stuff...!!! Thanks for posting.

Image #1 with the summer haze behind the lead unit is a well done B&W conversion.
John

Image 2 like the lushness of the summer greens.