Eastern Railroad Discussion > Old Road Question

A friend of mine and me have both been observing grain trains from the Toledo Yard bound for Ottawa Lake, MI stopping just east of the Secor Road underpass near Rocket Hall at the University of Toledo. They've been doing this for years, and today, the train that stopped was led by a BNSF sd70 for a nice surprise. Anyway, this section of trackage is dark and sees only one or two movements a week when grain prices are good, there seems to be no reason to stop at any point during the trip.

Has anyone else observed this and perhaps know why?

-thanks.

I photographed one of those trains on Sunday afternoon -- I even huffed-and-puffed my way up the University/Parks Trail to get a second shot of it running through the UT campus after taking a first shot near the Glass Bowl. I don't think that run stopped at Secor, but not too long after it was gone, I heard the BT-30 crew call the Mega Yardmaster to report that the "Clinton Switch" had been returned to normal position. So it's my guess that the Secor stop occurs on other ocassions when the Ottawa Lake run's conductor has to close that switch himself, and the head-end waits near Secor for a taxi to bring him up after doing so. As long as the train is not too long, it should be clear of Douglas Road by the time the power gets to Secor.

That makes sense David, thanks. Can I ask what the power was on the train Sunday?

A solo NS 'Catfish' was on the train Sunday. I can look up the unit number if you care. I noticed that a BNSF SD70MAC was on the B41 local job to North Star Steel on Wednesday; NS is not shy about borrowing the coal train power for these industry trains.

I was actually on my way to shoot 17M at Nasby Sunday afternoon when I saw the grain cars pulling through the Mega and figured out what was going on. I had screwed up getting a shot of an M84 that had a pair of IC units on it -- the leader in CN dress, the trail in IC black -- and was wondering if the afternoon would produce anything noteworthy when this situation developed.

very close to the "Old Road" Erie-Kamazoo which is operated by the Adrian and Blissfield RR.

See the "Old Road" dinner train at www.murdermysterytrain.com

Thanks, no # necessary. While we're at 292, wasn't it you that posted awhile back that NS was replacing the westbound 5 signal bridge? When is this scheduled to happen and why? I saw a westbound train take a yellow off of track 5 (3 siding????) not too long ago, why would they not want these signals anymore?

OSUmatt Wrote:
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> Thanks, no # necessary. While we're at 292, wasn't
> it you that posted awhile back that NS was
> replacing the westbound 5 signal bridge? When is
> this scheduled to happen and why? I saw a
> westbound train take a yellow off of track 5 (3
> siding????) not too long ago, why would they not
> want these signals anymore?
>

The replacement support structure has been sitting next to the signal bridge at Westwood Avenue for more than a year now. I would have thought that NS would have put it to use by now, but that's the railroad for you. I have no idea when it will actually get put up. As for "why," all I can say is that the existing one is fairly old and isn't up to current OSHA safety code, which requires all the jungle-gym manway stuff you see on new signal bridges.