Nostalgia & History > Back When I Didn't Know Better - PC Freight

When I first switched to mainly taking 35mm slides, I did not know many of the railfan "rules". I had only gotten my Nikkormat a couple weeks prior to this and didn't know:
1.) Kodachrome was the King - This was Agfachrome because my dad and another railfan I knew shot Agfachrome.
2.) Slides were rarely take on cloudy days - Bright sun was desired except here it would have kept the trucks mainly in shadows.
3.) Don't let the bottom half of the frame be wasted - Today the brick and concrete passenger walks are gone and have been replaced with a narrow concrete walkway.
4.) Don't waste film on common subjects - After all the PC had plenty of SD45's and GE U-Boats.
5.) Interesting photo props will always be there, so get them the next time - Right!!!
It is July 9, 1972 in Alliance, Ohio with a PC freight headed by an SD-45, a U25C, and a U28C westbound on the Fort Wayne Line of the PC. Had these rules not been broken, you would have been looking at someone else's post now.
Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/17 18:24 by refarkas.

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Nicely done!

Is the diamond the crossing of the ex-PRR main and the line that ran south from Ravenna to Bayard? Can't remember who owned it...



Allen

My November 1966 Official Guide lists the north/south line crossing the Fort Wayne Line in Alliance as a Pennsylvania Railroad line.
Bob

The photo is great and exposure right on the money, but I like your commentary better! Funny.

Andy

You should go into broadcasting with a commentary like that..

YY

That flatcar load looks interesting with the Westinghouse placard.

You can be sure when it's Westinghouse !!! Remember that ? ---- Ken

That motorized tilting target atop the truss bridge fascinates me, as most tilting targets I've seen were all by themselves, manually operated, and guarding crossings of two otherwise "dark," lightly used lines. The photo in this thread shows the signal lined the other way, for a train on the line from Cleveland:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3643414

When that truss highway bridge was rebuilt a few years later, the position lights and the tilting target were transplanted to a cantilever:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1199619

Were there other installations like this where a tilting target was part of an interlocking involving other types of controlled signals?

bradleymckay Wrote:
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>
> Is the diamond the crossing of the ex-PRR main and
> the line that ran south from Ravenna to Bayard?
> Can't remember who owned it...
>

The westward train is on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (aka The Fort Wayne), controlled by the Pennsy.

The line crossing the Fort Wayne is the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company (known as the C&P). It ran from the shores of Lake Erie at Cleveland to Yellow Creek, OH (on the Ohio River), with one line going up the Ohio River to Rochester, Pa., and a connection with the Fort Wayne just west of Conway Yard. The other direction down the Ohio River to Bellaire, OH, across the river from Wheeling, West Virgina. The Bellaire line crossed the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis (the Panhandle, and also controlled by the Pennsy) at Mingo, Jct. At Bayard, OH was the branch to New Philadelphia, OH. So yes, this is the line that included Ravenna and Bayard

The C&P was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad for 999 years in 1872.

The C&P is where all the iron ore went from Lake Erie to the steel mills at Mingo Jct. and Steubenville, OH, and Weirton, West Virgina. The C&P was also used as a low-grade line for freights from Alliance to Rochester.

When Conrail rationalized its route structure, the Panhandle was largely abandoned between Pittsburgh and Columbus, and all through freights were routed on the Fort Wayne and then onto the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis (the Big Four) at Crestline, Ohio. All Chicago and Detroit freight was routed on the C&P at Alliance to the connection with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (LS&MS -- NYC) at Cleveland. The Fort Wayne west from Crestline was downgraded to secondary status. Conrail would still occasionally route heavy trains on the low-grade route between Alliance and Rochester, but I didn't see too many during my time in the mid-80s.

Bob's photo is great. It has all the necessary elements.
If I had not broken those rules, I would not have any pictures.
A brief story about breaking Rule 4. In October 1974, I was with a couple of friends from the Cincinnati area in L&N's Decoursey Yard. I asked to stop so I could take a photo of a pair of PC GP7s (#5884 & #5880) running light off of a northbound transfer. My friend driving asked why I wanted to waste my film on "crap" like that. I replied because it would not always be there. I thought #5884 was ex NYC because it did not have DB, and #5880 was ex PRR because it had DB. Turns out both were ex PRR. Well my friend did stop and I took my photo. It turned out great and is one of my favorite PC photos.
Remember: Rules are made to be broken.
ALLEN

I hope most of your rules for young railfans have disappeared because of digital. Most of your rules are based on "Film and processing are expensive and I don't have much money."

I remember days when I shot multiple 36 exp. rolls and counted that among the accomplishments of the day. And I tried to make every shot a keeper.

I assume I stopped counting frames when I bought my first digital. I wonder how long it took before I allowed myself to experiment with shots, i.e., "I know it will probably be awful but I'll try anyway." And most of those shots were awful and I didn't care.

Marty Bernard

Great shot!
The train will pass through Mansfield and I believe part of the Westinghouse plant was still operating at the time.
Maybe the Westinghouse car would be dropped off there.
Gary

krm152 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bob's photo is great. It has all the necessary
> elements.
> If I had not broken those rules, I would not have
> any pictures.
> A brief story about breaking Rule 4. In October
> 1974, I was with a couple of friends from the
> Cincinnati area in L&N's Decoursey Yard. I asked
> to stop so I could take a photo of a pair of PC
> GP7s (#5884 & #5880) running light off of a
> northbound transfer. My friend driving asked why
> I wanted to waste my film on "crap" like that. I
> replied because it would not always be there. I
> thought #5884 was ex NYC because it did not have
> DB, and #5880 was ex PRR because it had DB. Turns
> out both were ex PRR. Well my friend did stop and
> I took my photo. It turned out great and is one
> of my favorite PC photos.
> Remember: Rules are made to be broken.
> ALLEN

Glad you had the foresight to know that "They will not always be there"

YukonYeti Wrote:
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> You should go into broadcasting with a commentary
> like that..
>
> YY

Nah, this is intelligent commentary. Most broadcasting
talk isn't. And I speak as a 36 year broadcasting veteran.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

"The rules" as I heard them also strongly discouraged going-away photo angles. 

I blew that rule off frequently; thanks for doing so in this case. Nice pic. 

And yes, many Penn Central photos benefitted from light overcast, especially during mid - day.   Same with NS today.