Eastern Railroad Discussion > Grade Crossing Rebuild Day in Lake Erie Land

Tuesday May 30, 2023
Warm and Sunny
Vermilion, OH

Today the NS began the Main Street Grade Crossing renewal program in Vermilion, OH, right next to the Vermilion Rail Park. A nice relaxing afternoon watching trains through the work limits. Seems they had to clear up every few minutes for a train movement. From the MofW perspective that sucks. Of course signal crew was also out and on-site. Today was tearing out the pavement and prepping work, mostly with a CAT 962M loader and a Link-Belt EX924 excavator.

1. Ripping up pavement on Track 2.

2. The 11N goes past with the autos. Since he was on Track 2 he probably didn't work Fairlane Yard today. Power is NS 4294 and BNSF 1023.

3. Then the L15 local comes through with NS 2770 and 4586.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/23 17:26 by train1275.

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4. & 5. Then 28V interrupts the work with NS 4404 and 1171.

6. Next by is the 35N with NS 9668 and 9944.

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7. The joy of being interrupted just keeps giving as now 28M passes with NS 9563 and 1845.

8. & 9. Hold on as here comes the 10Q off the connector from Bellevue with NS 7635 and 7622. The signal maintainer has parked his truck in the shade and out of the way.

 

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10. Watching the 10Q by we spot this all but brand new gondola; ZVBX 625831 (Ferrous Processing and Trading).

11. Then this nice gon, NKLX 400321 lettered Giordano's. Sounds like an Italian Restaurant, maybe it carries cannolis.

12. It is followed by OLNX 718184 with HazMat placard 1791. So maybe the Giordano's gon is carrying tomato sauce and this is the bleach if it gets spilled.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/23 17:28 by train1275.

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13. Then down to the riverside on the Nickel Plate to catch the 315 heading home to Bellevue. Power today is two BNSF units; BNSF 8034 and 7035. He is a short one too.

14. & 15.  Back at Main Street after dinner is the 310 eastbound for East Binghamton, NY with BNSF 3250 leading the GECX 2029, ex Tier 4 demonstrator unit. They pass by in a cloud of dust.

 

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16. GECX 2029 on the 310.

17. Bringing up the rear is the DPU; BNSF 4130.

That ends a busy day.

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Interesting posts today! I've seen grade crossing renewals live and on cam. Always a dance to stay out of the way of the revenue producers. Our town has two grade cossings, The main street and a secondary street. When NS renews the rails, ties and whatever else is needed they close, usually the main street first which forces heavy road traffic thought the contorted secondary crossing and streets including Septa buses and 18 wheeler traffic, a real PITA for everyone. When they close the secondary crossing not so bad. Its only a every few years thing and they usually do both mains at the same time. I've seen CSX do one main only leaving the other for a later time, it seems that would exacerbate the pain for motorists. 
 The Giordanos' gon is interesting. I'll bet it can carry a lot of Cannolis! I recently saw a post that caught a bit of one of these gons and I was wondering what it was. Thanks! Nice looking car somewhat unusual in design but the classic gon has never been able to take the beating they get without getting the "swayback" of an old gray mare. Perhaps these more modern designs can handle the loads and severe abuse at scrap dealers and steel mills a bit better.
Gonut

Giordano's Vineland NJ        https://www.giordanosrecycling.com/

 

As usual, great pics Doug. It was good meeting and hanging out with you last week, wish I could've stayed longer.

MdRailfan Wrote:
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> As usual, great pics Doug. It was good meeting and
> hanging out with you last week, wish I could've
> stayed longer.

Great meeting up with you!

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papio
Interesting!
Our local massive trash/recycler is JP Mascaro and Sons. Alas, not big enough to invest in rail cars.
Thanks
Gonut