Eastern Railroad Discussion > Planes, Boats and Trains in Lake Erie Land

Wednesday June 29, 2022

I am still finding it hard to get trains in front of the lens as they seem scarce, at least when I am out. And as I've commented before, if they show up that high sun just doesn't seem to bring out a good image. There are many locations I'd like to get creative with, but don't have the patience to wait several hours for something to show up and be poorly lit. So most of the train watching has been close to home. Today we did get over to Sandusky to watch the bulk freighter Florence Spirit come in and then just down to the local docks here in Vermilion.

A sample of what we saw:

1. Sandusky was once quite a port and rail center with the NYC RR (LS&MS), the B&O (Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark), Big Four (Mad River & Lake Erie), NKP (Lake Erie & Western), Pennsy (Sandusky & Columbus Short Line)  and the Lake Shore Electric Interurban. At Shorline Park, seen here, was the site of the B&O lake front operations.

2. A C130 does a flyover. This plane might have been out of either Youngstown (Youngstown Air Reserve Station - 910th Airlift Wing) or Detroit (Selfridge) ? Aviation buffs may have more info.

3. From Shoreline Park you can get a good view of the NS coal loading dock. This used to be the Pennsy operation before N&W got it as part of the NKP and Wabash in 1964.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/22 17:31 by train1275.

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4. Here comes the Florence Spirit in for a stop at the coal dock. She is owned by McKeil Marine with a home port out of Hamilton, ON Canada with a length of 447 ft. She was built in Japan as the Arklow Willow for Arklow Shipping under Irish flag. I believe she has two MAN / B&W diesels rated at 5794 hp.  That is a tow boat beside her, rescuing a broken down boater. Cedar Point is to the right, just out of the photo, and in its' day was a big destination for rail excursion passengers.

5 - 6.Coming around to the other side of the Sandusky waterfront and approaching the coal pier.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/22 16:31 by train1275.

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7. High, raw sun lights up Train 310 as it makes the run east to East Binghamton, NY seen here crossing the Vermilion River on the Chicago Line. East Binghamton, NY was the location of Delaware, Lackawanna & Western's "new yard" (1925) after they moved the operation up from the old yard down in Hallstead. Binghamton is the junction of lines east to Scranton (DL&W main to Hoboken), north to Syracuse (SB&NY) and Utica (UC&SV) all ex DL&W lines. The Syracuse and Utica lines now are part of the NYS&W, and the Scranton Main is NS. Other lines are the D&H north to Mechanicville and Saratoga Springs operated by NS and the old Erie running west to Buffalo (NS) and east to New Jersey (NS, operated by NYS&W). Power is NS 9456, 4402, UP 2676 and NS SD60E 6954. It is a good bet the 6900 will be part of the 22K / 23K and 11R / 16R engine pool running to Massachusetts and needing ACSES II PTC.

8. The NS 6954, trailing unit on Train 310.

9. Train 315 rumbles over the NKP Vermilion River bridge as Engineer Danny Whitt gives a hearty wave. Power is NS 9741 and 9658 as they are almost home on the Conneaut - Bellevue run.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/22 16:51 by train1275.

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The tail end of the train is autos, and just as the last car rolls over a boater shows up into the photo.

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Great Shots on a clear day

Aircraft is a C-130, likely out of Mansfield. Love the ship pics. 

Michael Fair
Royal Oak, MI

Thanks for the info !


bath_wildcat Wrote:
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> Aircraft is a C-130, likely out of Mansfield. Love
> the ship pics. 

See if you can read the marks on the plane on the full resolution picture. The wing number should be near the nose and most likely it has something on the tail that will tell the unit.