Eastern Railroad Discussion > "East is Neat" Road Trip: Day 1: WLE 2 for 2 + Beloit

Good day Eastern Board people and lurkers of Trainorders,

Starting in February of this year, I planned for a road trip encompasing the Eastern reagions of the US during October. Having guessed purely on previous photo dates, and a rough idea of the weather over this year, I decided the 16th sounded like a good date to go. So far it seems like my gamble is paying off. My trip will take 11 days, showcasing the colors of Fall in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and (still deciding) Kentucky. Hopefully I'll catch up with some of you if you're out.

So, onto the topic at hand. Day 1 began early in the morning, driving from Dayton, OH to Bellevue to see if I can make it 2 for 2 on catching and chasing the Wheeling and Lake Erie leaving town. Traffic that morning at Mini Plant was consistant and heavy, a great distraction while I waited for the main event to depart. The chase was short, catching it at Bellevue and again at Monroeville, before learning they tied down waiting on a cab. Here's the W&LE from Sunday, 10/16.

#1. The Wheeling departs Bellevue, OH around 1100 with a mixed bag of colorful EMD SD40-2's.

#2. The obligatory shot at Monroeville was done. The trees must have peaked, or very close to peaking. They were absoluely stunning!

#3. The train ended up tieing down about 10 miles from one of the Wheeling's offices at Clarksfield, OH. There were plenty of units tied down in the yard, so one more for the archves cant hurt.

More...

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After the short chase on the Wheeling, I headed east towards my overnight halt of Pittsburgh. Before reaching the Steel City, I decided to stop by for a few hours at a spot I wanted to visit for a while, Beloit, OH. The "Sag" makes for some excellent photo ops, and thankfully, NS was kind enough to send through a fairly consistent line of trains that afternoon. In total about 12 trains passed by in 4 hours.

#4. NS 1006 leads a BNSF unit and a fairly heavy manifest up the hill. Sadly this would be the last train in sunlight for the day.

#5. NS 11V? with a recently rebuilt C40-9W to AC44C6M NS 4008 on the point, heads upgrade.

#6. In one of the more dramatic moments of the day, NS 1049 leads a fast moving coal train up the hill, while an autorack disappears into the thick coal dust left in its wake. 2 manned helpers on the rear provide extra horses to push this train into Alliance. The untreated coal was pretty irritating on the eyes, but you have to admit, it looks cool as heck when its coming at you.

Day 2 will be Pittsburgh. Thanks for looking!

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NICE pics!!

Great first day. My favorite is your Monroeville bridge photo for the trees' color makes it special.
May all your trip be this good.
Bob

Great shots!