Eastern Railroad Discussion > Cleveland Commercial Railroad in Bedford, Ohio

Earlier this week I was in Bedford, Ohio, when the Cleveland Commercial Railroad job came by with a load of gondolas that I believe were bound for a scrap metal dealer in Cleveland. This short-line operation uses tracks that way back in the day was the Cleveland line of the original Wheeling & Lake Erie. Today the CCR operates the line between Cleveland and Glenwillow in suburban Cleveland. South of Glenwillow the route is operated by the modern W&LE. 

Photo 1: The northbound CCR job approaches in Bedford, Ohio.

Photo 2: The motive power of the CCR is a mixture of former Union Pacific and Santa Fe units. The lead unit was originally built for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas and no longer has its UP markings. The trailing unit is an LTEX locomotive and still retains its ATSF markings.

Photo 3: In my mind, this image is what the CCR and other similar short line railroads are all about. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/16 02:50 by SDP40F600.

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Photo 4: As the CCR job was going northward, Norfolk Southern train 68D came east on the nearby Cleveland Line. The view is looking south-southeast from the sidewalk between the grade crossings of West Glendale Street. The head end of NS train is visible as is the rear of the CCR job. The 68D had a load of stone bound for a Shelly Materials facility in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Photo 5: The motive power of the CCR job is visible beyond the westbound signals for Track No. 2 of the NS Cleveland Line.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/16 02:48 by SDP40F600.

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Great catch of a not often seen CCR.  I have always enjoyed that section of track from Bedford >>North.  The tracks through the cemetary were alwasy a great place to horse around as a kid. Had to have been the Wheeling then.  I miss the tracks north of the scrap dealer through the back yards as it snaked to Republic Steel .  The Wheeling abandonded that section not all that long ago. It was a slow stretch of rail with plenty of problems for the road crews.  Aplliances and cars left on the track. Not the best of neighborhoods. Now that abandoned section is a walking/bike trail, Morgan run or something of the sorts. There was a coal retailer where the tracks intersected Broadway near Union Ave.  Clinton Coal delivered to the area homes for the coal buring furnaces. 
RichS

By the  way...NUMBER 3 image is awesome!. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/16 06:40 by richs.

I seen that 68D down in Macedonia. He had Helpers SD40E's #6337 & #6338. Did you see 11K with 4000? Also that Ex. SF Blue Bonnet GP35u home is at Glenwillow. Great catch. What time did the CCR come through Bedford?

This thread answers and raises questions for me. But first you can see the Santa Fe unit in the Google Street View image from Pettibone Rd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3568759,-81.4668596,3a,79.8y,305.71h,81.4t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1shx6s0YnJm49AWZxpCX8fnw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dhx6s0YnJm49AWZxpCX8fnw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D281.18317%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Way back in June of 1993 my dad had a week of Ohio Bell training in Boston Heights Ohio near Hudson. I went up with him and each day while he was in class I took the family Ford LTD and went out railfanning around Hudson, Cuyahoga Falls and Cleveland. On one of the days I went to Pettibone Rd merely thinking that there was a rail line on the paper map and maybe I would see something. Wheeling and Lake Erie was still in their first years and there were people working out of the depot there. They told me that first the general freight train that was parked there would go to Cleveland then an acid train with NS power. Because the track was so rough I was able to video both trains there at Glenwillow then catch both of them where the pictures in the thread were taken along with taking video of Conrail on their Cleveland Line. It was one of the greatest pre-Internet total luck out situations.

So does the modern Wheeling and Lake Erie go into Cleveland on this line or do they hand all the traffic off to the Cleveland Commercial Railroad?

Jim

To answer a couple of questions . . .

Yes, I did see the 11K with the DC to AC conversion No. 4000.It came through Bedford at 5:47 p.m. after waiting for a while at CP 102 for eastbound traffic to clear a single-tracking zone that extended to CP 107.

Yes, the Wheeling & Lake Erie (the modern company) did once go into Cleveland. Today, though, the W&LE interchanges traffic with the Cleveland Commercial Railroad in Glenwillow. I believe that the W&LE might still own the tracks north of Glenwillow into Cleveland and leases them to the CCR. But those tracks may have been sold. The CCR has been around for a while.

There was at least one other operator who leased these tracks several years ago. That was an outfit operating as the Conotton Valley. It ran a tourist train for a time between Bedford and McCracken Road.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/16 04:18 by SDP40F600.