Eastern Railroad Discussion > W&LE Avella and Points West

In going through Gene Schaeffer's Book "The Wheeling & Lake Erie, the East End" I came across a photo he took in 1999 of a train on the east side of the old Wabash bridge that spans the Ohio river in Follansbe, WV. I wanted to see if I could get a picture there. My first of many attempts ended up without even seeing a train. Due to there being usually one eastbound train a day and lately an occasional run of empty tank cars for the Mark west operation in Westland, PA. I was surprised to see how much it has grown in since Gene took his picture. This makes a good shot more of a challenge. After many attempts, yesterday I finally got a train at this spot. I was hoping for Tiger stripes but after all these failed attempts I would settle for anything. Yesterday two ex-BNSF units, #6989 & 6967 were up front. On 6-17-15 I was on my way to this spot and when near Avella I heard a train at Mingo Junction get a warrant to come east. I knew I could never get there and climb up to this spot so we waited in Avella for the train. We had some beautiful blue skies and sun just like yesterday and I included two pictures from 6-17-15. So we will start off with the pictures from 6-17-15 first:

1. In early morning light W&LE #6382 leads 38 empty tank cars east just short of the detector at Avella, PA. The bridge crosses Cross Creek. From what I see it is now welded rail from the east side of the old Wabash bridge in Follansbe, WV. to just past Brown's Orchard near Southview, PA.

2. I was able to get ahead of the train and get it at a spot I had noticed earlier. The Caldwell road crossing near the tiny village of Woodrow, PA. Nice morning light on the nose of #6382. 

3. Now we jump to yesterday at the east side of the old Wabash bridge, CP FOLL. We got there a little before 7:00 AM and settled down in a spot to the left of the picture. In a bit I heard on the scanner that WE 636 ( I think so & corrections are welcome ) was coming east and would drop down into Mingo Junction to drop off some cars and re-crew. This plus an air leak on the train gave me the time I need to have the sun clear the trees and light up the track. It took until 8:30 AM for the sun to clear the trees. So around 9:30 AM he finally started east. As you can see the sun was not perfect but it was now or never. I debated on whether to take this shot or zoom in and get the train emerging off the bridge. But after seeing  shadows across the nose of all those vertical girders on the bridge that was negated. Basically mostly luck on my part and some persistence created the shot.

More...............

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4. After coming down from our spot I thought there was no hope to catch the train due to the time we took to get down to the car and the windy roads to Avella where I could follow the train. But I decided to do it anyway and maybe with some luck catch the train. Coming into Hickory, PA I could hear the train coming up the grade to the short tunnel in Hickory. I tried to think of a decent spot to catch it again and settled for Brown's Orchard near Southview, PA. We buy our Apples from them and the owner knows me but I still asked for permission. I was able to get some altitude but not as high as I wanted to before the train showed. So here is a quick shot of the power plus W&LE #200.

5 & 6. Two random shots of the consist. You may be able to see the Southview road crossing. It is near the fifth tank car back.

Thanks for looking, John

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Beautiful images. Both the bridge photo and the one from the orchard are great. I like how the curve in the orchard shot gives a clear view of the power and part of the train.
Bob

Your fourth shot is my favorite!

Nolan Majcher
Broadview Heights, OH
Nolan Majcher Photography

Agree, very nice series...like them all. Glad you were able to finally catch those trains.
Alan

outstanding pics!
Jim

Very nice John. Encroaching vegetation is a persistent issue in the east, particulalry so on the W&LE. I visited an old spot a couple weeks backwhere my Dad and I used to wait for trains at the East End of the siding at Castle Shannon PA when I was a lad. The siding was almost never used by the end of the NS era and subsequently removed by W&LE in the 90's. Saplings eventually sprouted in the middle of where the old siding used to be, and now 20+ years of tree growth have obliterated any trace that a siding once existed, and completely treed in what were once relatively wide open shots of trains on the main itself. The same thing is happening at Avella in your first shot. That was the west end of a siding as well. This makes places like Browns and the large bridges priority spots for photos, because everything else is quickly becoming a tree tunnel. On the upside, traffic is better than its been in over 30 years, so I'm by no means complaining. In the early 2000's, you couldn't even count on finding anything turning a wheel on the line in 24 hours, now its unusual to go to Rook and not find something going on.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/15 11:50 by PittsburghMike.

Great catch John, maybe next time I will have that much luck!  lol

Great shots

Thank you all, glad that you found the post interesting.
John

Nice photographs with good late day lighting. I enjoyed seeing them.