Passenger Trains > Pumpkin Express and Other Fall Foliage Goodies

Last Sunday turned out turned out to be a good day to seek trains and peak fall foliage. I ended up spending the day on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, which operates through the heart of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Northeast Ohio between Cleveland and Akron.

For those unfamiliar with the operation, the National Park Service owns the tracks between Independence and Akron. At one time this was a Baltimore & Ohio branch that extended from Cleveland to Mineral City, Ohio. Most of the branch is still in place with only the segment south of Canton having been abandoned. But the section owned by the NPS does not see freight trains.

I had just finished photographing the northbound Scenic train at Brecksville and was en route to Peninsula to check out the foliage there when I spotted an extra movement. It turned out to be a special named the "Pumpkin Express." It caters to children and their parents.

I chased the special back to Brecksville where I got the two images shown here. The bridge in the background is the iconic Ohio Route 82 bridge that has appeared in countless photographs.

The Pumpkin Express had picked up its passengers at Brecksville and what you see in Photos 3 and 4 is the train after it arrived back. The passengers had ridden to the Szalay's Market where they received a complimentary small pumpkin and had a chance to tour the corn maze, which the market boasts is the largest in the region. Of course, it also gave them a chance to shop there.

(Photo 2): Not only did these passengers get their pumpkins, they also did some shopping.

(Photo 3): Passengers inspect their train as it rolls north to go to the CVSR Fitzwater shops, where the Pumpkin Express could clear the main to get out of the way for the midday southbound Scenic train.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 05:03 by SDP40F600.

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Earlier in the day I had caught up with the first Scenic train of the day as it made its northbound trek from Akron to Independence (a Cleveland suburb).

I waited at Indigo Lake to get the train coming through some trackside color there. LTEX 1420 is not my favorite CVSR locomotive, but it looked good in the golden glow of autumn (Photos 4 and 5) at Indigo Lake.

I was able to barely catch up with the train and got this grab shot (Photo 6) along Riverview Road south of Peninsula.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 04:39 by SDP40F600.

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The Pumpkin Express operated twice on Sunday. The afternoon trip followed behind the midday Scenic. After dropping off its passengers at Szalay's, the train deadheaded north to Peninsula to take siding to clear for the northbound Scenic.

(Photo 7) The Pumpkin Express had the CVSR's Rail Diesel Car on the north end. I am not sure if this car was in power mode and was pulling the train or whether this was a push-pull operation. Whatever the case, the northbound deadhead move is running parallel with Riverview Road. It was tough to photograph the RDC car leading because it meant shooting toward the sun.

(Photo 8) The power on the south end of the train was RS-18 No. 1822. It is shown going away from me along Riverview Road.

(Photo 9) Earlier, I had photographed the southbound Pumpkin Express traveling through Peninsula.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 05:18 by SDP40F600.

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(Photo 10): The equipment for the Pumpkin Express is laying over in Peninsula on the siding to await the passage of the northbound Scenic. I laid down on my stomach to get this perspective from ground level.

(Photo 11): A rare chance to get two CVSR trains passing side by side. The train on the left is the northbound Scenic.

There is a back story behind this image. The angle you see is not what I had originally intended. I had wanted to get this photograph from the west side of the tracks (to your left), not between them. I had been standing between the tracks to watch the Scenic arrive. Usually, the head end stops short of the grade crossing that you see in Image 11. But not today. It went well past it, meaning that I was committed to photographing the "meet" from the middle of the tracks.

You may note that a woman is partially visible in the far right of the image. When I first saw the image after making it I wasn't pleased to have her there. I knew something like this might occur because a crowd of people had gathered who had disembarked at Peninsula and were returning to their vehicles, which are parked in the lot visible to the left. I had anticipated that as soon as the Scenic cleared that they would immediately begin crossing the tracks. I was fortunate, though, that the crowd stayed east of the siding as the Scenic began to move northward. So I had an unobstructed view of the "meet."

As I expected, the crowd began moving and started walking into my shot. I did get some clear shots with on pedestrians, but the image shown here was my favorite. After thinking about it some, I decided that I liked having that person in the image after all. If anything, I wished that I had moved my camera slightly to the right to get all of her. But it was a spontaneous moment and I was focused on getting images of the two trains passing before too many people walked into view.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 05:22 by SDP40F600.

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The two images shown on this page had been a year in the making and are among my favorites of what I captured on this day.

I had been in Peninsula last year about this time and noted the foliage on the surrounding hills. I had gotten a photograph at the time of a Scenic train with the hills ablaze in the background, but it had been a cloudy day. I also had been near the Route 303 crossing and had only a partial view of the hills.

So I planned what would be a better location and waited a year. Last Sunday turned out to be a nearly ideal day. It was mostly sunny and the hills were at peak color.

Photo 12 shows the southbound Pumpkin Express passing through Peninsula while Photo 13 shows the southbound Scenic train arriving in town.

Thanks for looking.

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