Eastern Railroad Discussion > Berea's Farewell to the NYC

This past Sunday, 27 Sept 2015 Norfolk Southern conducted an "absolute outage" for approximately twelve hours to complete four major projects one of which was the PTC Cut-over that occured at MP194 in Berea OH.  Additionally during this outage the diamond at CP207 in Elyria received some repairs and installation and more work at MP242 in Sandusky.  The PTC cut over seen the removal of the remaining signal masts that were there since the days of the New York Central.

This undertaking required quite a list of logistics, shutting down the busy Chicago mainline.  Instructional bulletins were issued the previous Friday detailing how the railroad would cope with the shutdown.  This included diverting trains to other routes, call times set back and the temporary cancellation of any extra or unscheduled trains involving crude, ethanol, grain , coal, steel, ML and unit trains.  All these issues had an effect on trains over the Pittsburgh and Lake Divisions as well as the Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland and Elkhart Terminals.  But sadly progress in the world of railroading took away some historic structures, and being in Berea structures that appeared in many, many photographs.

Photo one is the old signal masts fading in the sunset at Berea, these masts were the first removed some years ago.  The next two photo's are the masts removed this past Sunday.  Note the yellow "X" on the old signal boxes, they too are scheduled to be removed.

(Thanks Chip!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 12:06 by Lakota-rail.

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The first photo shows the new style masts that replaced the old NYC structures, the second is the old NYC masts that were saved by a local model railroad club in Olmstead Falls, Ohio.   The building in the background is a former LS&MS depot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 13:56 by Lakota-rail.

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Has Midnight Lighting acquired a supply of those signals...

Farewell old signal friends.  Glad to here your going a new home for static display.  I was nice of N S to let Olmstead falls have them.  The era of progress and technology is upon us.  Things do not last for ever.  

Thanks for the post and sharing the shots! Did you take any "overview" shots of the new scene, that you can share?

The signals at the bottom next to the Olmsted Depot, were they these signals that I got pictures of in 2012? Also what happened to the signal bridge on the NS west of Berea that was just east of Olmsted Falls. Also what happens to the other signals that did not go to the Olmsted Depot? I hope they don't get scrapped. I would love to have even the one signal light from these signals.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/15 16:03 by cornerfieldhobby.

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Just to note, quite a few of those signals -- the ground masts, in particular -- were Conrail-era installations, not authentic NYC.

It would be appreciated if people in all areas would advise of rail interuptions as soon as its known.
My son and I got to Berea Sunday Sept 27th at 10 a/m to find NS shut down for 12 hours ( 7am-7pm).
If we had some idea that this was happening we probably would have rescheduled our visit.

So please folks if you get wind of this kind of stuff, post it-would have saved 10 hours driving!!

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

algoma11 Wrote:
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> It would be appreciated if people in all areas
> would advise of rail interuptions as soon as its
> known.
> My son and I got to Berea Sunday Sept 27th at 10
> a/m to find NS shut down for 12 hours ( 7am-7pm).
> If we had some idea that this was happening we
> probably would have rescheduled our visit.
>
> So please folks if you get wind of this kind of
> stuff, post it-would have saved 10 hours driving!!

Sometimes you don't find out about it until it happens. I was in the Bear Mountain, N.Y., area a couple of Sundays ago, and the way I found out there was going to be an eight-hour curfew on the West Shore was when the dispatcher gave the track away to the MoW people. I decided that was a good reason to go shoot MUs on the Harlem Line, which I had rarely covered before....

My condolences.  They are in the process of replacing those classic NYC signals here in Indiana further west of you.  I have been shooting them steadily for the past several years.  The soulless replacements just aren't the same.  I also heard the dispatcher tell an early eastbound around Butler on that Sunday morning that nothing would come west past Fairport until late in the day so I knew something major was ongoing out east.

FDF

I've asked a couple of people who work for railroad but nobody knows - where are the signals going once being taken down? There are people who would like to acquire one. 

With the signal upgrade CSX finally got control of their own signals on #1 main there. The old CP 194 Toledo and Indianapolis connection tracks. It is  now called CP 22. 

Lakota-rail Wrote:
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> The first photo shows the new style masts that
> replaced the old NYC structures, the second is the
> old NYC masts that were saved by a local model
> railroad club in Olmstead Falls, Ohio.   The
> building in the background is a former LS&MS
> depot.

So those new signal masts and signal, are they on the CSX main or the connection track between the NS & CSX.

West end of the interlock at the connecting track and NS main.