Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX OCS in Lake Erie Land and Other Adventures

May 11, 2022
On this date in 1894 the Pullman Strike began when workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company walked out after unsuccessful wage negotiations.

Nice day today, and got wind of the CSX OCS Train coming to this part of Ohio so we went down to the Big Four Line west of Wellington by the Zacharias Farm on Jones Road.

1-3. Train 368 had gone east and we heard he went into emergency, also heard the OCS was into an emergency near Berea so had more wait time than originally expected. The OCS went from Track 1 to Track 2 at Wellington which put him on the far track here west of town. Three views of the 12 car train with three F40PH's. CSX 1, 2 and 3 were the power, and all are ex Amtrak. CSX 1 - Amtrak 280, CSX 2 - Amtrak 395 and CSX 3 was Amtrak 390. We will watch the train pass here, and I will try and identify the cars as best as the info I have available. 

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/22 06:02 by train1275.

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The B&O Royal Blue actually dates back to when the Royal Blue Line trains were inaugerated on July 31, 1890. The color was scoped out by B&O President Charles F. Mayer who was able to develop the paint mix from a piece of velvet cloth from Europe that was Royal Saxony Blue.

I'll ty to give a rundown on the cars in the train here in the order they passed. Corrections most welcome !

Photos 4-6:  
1. Champion M. Davis - Power / Stateroom ex Great Northern. Pullman 1946.
2. David M. LeVan - Baggage / Commisary built 1917 for ACL
3. John W. Smith - Lounge built 1948 for C&O and once was NYS&W 507
4. John W. Snow - Lounge / Conference built 1953 for the US Army as a Hospital Car
5. Alvin R. Carpenter - built 1915 for the ACL now an Oberservation Sleeper
6. E. Hunter Harrison - ex Southern built 1958, Cafe Car



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/22 18:47 by train1275.

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Photos 7-9.

Continuing the cars in the train:

7. Moonlight Dome - Built 1946 for the "Chessie" the train that never was .... and sold to the B&O.
8. Michael J. Ward - Built 1954 for Erie Railroad "Spirit of Youngstown", Sleeper
9. Alfred E. Perlman - Built 1926 for FEC, Observation Sleeper
10. Hays T. Watkins, Jr. - Built 1924 as SAL #1. Observation Sleeper
11. John T. Collinson - Observation Sleeper built by Pullman for Pullman was "Queen Elizabeth" in 1925, later to New York Central
12. W. Thomas Rice - Theater Observation built 1954 for the CN is bringing up the markers.

That field on the Zacharias farm they are going through will soon be spread with some odiferous liquid manure fertilizer,  glad this whole show passed before they got out there and spread it ! 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/22 18:50 by train1275.

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10. Moving on west along the Wheeling & Lake Erie we see some power at Hartland; W&LE 7013 and 7003 parked at Hartland Base. WLE 7013 is ex MoPac and the 7003 is ex MILW.

11. Over in Monroeville, towards Bellevue we catch the tail end of a job leaving Monroeville bound for Hartland with the WLE 7105 trailing. This unit was ex Union Pacific #3655 built in December 1979. He's crossing the Route 20 / Route 18 overpass.

12. Arriving in Bellevue, it was pretty dead. This job was passing "Mini -Plant" and turning out to the Toledo Line. SD40-2 NS 3320 was ex SOUTHERN 3320 built in May 1979.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/22 18:53 by train1275.

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13. NS 3320 heads out to do some customer service work and in the background we get a glimpse of ex N&W SD9 #2349 now on display at the Mad River & Nickel Plate Railroad Museum. The 2349 was originally Nickel Plate 349 built in April 1957. Also just seen is an ex NKP caboose and an N&W bay window caboose.

14 - 15. Heading up to Sandusky and checking at the coal pier we catch the boat "Saginaw" in for loading. Saginaw was launched May 9, 1953 by the Manitowoc Ship Building Co., so her 69th birthday was 2 days ago !  Currently powered by an MaK diesel engine that replaced her steam turbine which powered her when she was new and named John J. Boland. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/22 18:57 by train1275.

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16 - 17. A look at the coal pier facility and some hoppers and other equipment. There is a lot of interesting history and happenings here over the years.

18. Returning to home turf at Vermilion a catch of Train 20R that we saw briefly in Sandusky but did not photograph. Now he is blazing through town about to pass the depot and the engineer is giving a friendly wave.

 

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19. A westbound as seen from the north side of the Chicago Line Vermilion River bridge with NS 4386, 4363 and 1211.

20. And to end the day is Train 315 from Conneaut. He is running short of time tonight, and we catch him at last light crossing the NKP Vermilion River bridge with NS 9872 leading Union Pacific 8729 as they head for home (Bellevue).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/22 19:00 by train1275.

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As usual, very interesting post from Lake Erie Land. Thank you.
We have a Zacharius Creek but not a Zacharius Farm near here. No railroad was situated near Zacharius Creek but it was crossed by a rural trolley in the 1910-1920 era. When attending grade school in the mid-Fifties the creek got so high during Hurricane Diane, our school bus detoured to get us home. It was bad enough flooding that they dismissed us early, always a great occasion when a kid!
So if someone is eating in the E Hunter Harrison do they automatically get severe indigestion? Seriously, that is the first thought I had when I saw that the car served food and was named for a most indigestible name in recent railroading. I'll reserve further opinion on EHH and what he has left as his legacy.
gonut

Great coverage thanks for sharing

Fantastic Post !   Especially like the Sandusky Facilities shots.  The ex-John J. Boland still looks good for a 69 year old.  Here are 2 shots from back in October of 1992.  First shot of the SS John J. Boland upbound on the Saginaw River at Zilwaukee,MI.   Bottom shot of the American Steamship Company logo depicting the Boland on a wooden chart table on the bridge of the MV Indiana Harbor.   I'm not absolutely sure, but I think that the Boland was the Flagship of the American Steamship Co. for a number of years.   Love all those Laker shots !

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1 - PV Moonlight Dome with Les at Denver, CO, 24 April 2009.  Good to see the PV has a new chapter in life.

2 - PV Moonlight Dome came off Amtrak train 6, The California Zephyr, at Denver Unioin Station, Denver, CO, 24 April 2009.

Thanks for your info - Moonlight Dome - Built 1946 for the "Chessie" the train that never was .... and sold to the B&O.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/22 13:38 by cozephyr.

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