Eastern Railroad Discussion > Out Cleveland Way Today - Lake Erie Land

Saturday September 16, 2023
Gorgeous Day in Lake Erie Land

Headed to Cleveland today and caught some interesting action. 

1. First up was the 269 with the ERIE heritage unit leading NS 1163 and 4612. He's coming west over the Cuyahoga River over DB bridge (ex NYC RR).

2. A closer look at the Erie unit. ERIE and EL were headquartered in Cleveland, and the Erie docks are just a short way back over my right shoulder. No rail yard there anymore.

3. 23G came through with NS 9854, 8124, 4126 and 9709 blowing a friendly salute.

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4. 28V comes east with NS 9694 and 9921.

5. Then 22X comes by with NS 8127, 4535 and UP 2752.

6. From water level we catch 28M with NS 4424 and 4694.

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7. & 8. The tour boat Goodtime III comes down the river and through the bridge. That's Terminal Tower in Photo 7 to the right.

9. Lady Caroline, another tour boat, has passed through the bridge and goes up river.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 18:01 by train1275.

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10.  There are plenty of low flying aircraft to see and photograph here too.

11. Grain Train 40T rolls east over the bridge with NS 1077 and 8022.

12. On the way home we found this Train 316 parked on the NKP at Avon Lake; 204-5 (CEI) the lead to the old defunct and being torn down Cleveland Electric Illuminating Plant. He's got the 1043 lead out, but I don't know what is trailing. This was shot from Miller Road by the Ford Plant with a long lens. He's tied down due apparently to the bridge at Conneaut being out of service for the next 36 hours and Bellevue wanting him out of the way. The Conneaut bridge over the West Branch of the Conneaut Creek is undergoing replacement.

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GREAT photos. So many memories. I rode the Goodtime a few times, including when the river was filthy. And riding the Rapid Transit (heavy rail) from the east side downtown, we always passed a big billboard advertising Erie RR. Back then, the Terminal Tower was the tallest building in Cleveland.

13. The final shot today is the 315 on the NKP crossing the Vermilion River in Vermilion as seen from the south side at Harbor View Marina. The light really went to hell kind of screwing up the best of intentions.  Power is NS 4646 and 4068 and he's cruising right along !  I did what I could with the shot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 17:58 by train1275.

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A glorious day for photography. That Cleveland Draw is one of the most hated movable bridges over the water anywhere! Did the boaters, the Coast Guard and NS ever come up with an equitable solution to boaters getting stuck for extended periods of time when there were no obvious trains! I've read several times that NS  would leave the bridge down for over an hour and no trains would pass. Check the Fort Lauderdale bridge cam. They host many Brightline passenger trains and Florida East Coast freight trains. They get the job done with no more than 15 minutes blockage of watercraft most of the time.

https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/usa/florida/fort-lauderdale-new-river.html

Thanks for another super post. It looks like you have the new camera and lens figured out.
Gonut



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 19:49 by Gonut1.

Wow. NS 1068 could really benefit from a bath.
No repaint needed--just 50 gal of water, some detergent, and a pressure washer. There. I just saved NS $20,000.
/Ted

Nice bunch, that first shot at Drawbridge is pretty awesome. And somebody is actually building a new building in downtown Cleveland, which is great since this basically doesn't happen anymore in rustbelt cities, although Cleveland has rebounded nicely and has improved a lot in recent years from what I read. Anyone know if all NS trains go through downtown nowadays or do some hit the shortline off the C&P like they did under CR?

JG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 23:16 by jgilmore.

jgilmore Wrote:
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Anyone know if all NS
> trains go through downtown nowadays or do some hit
> the shortline off the C&P like they did under CR?
>
> JG

The routing you are asking about is more or less impossible, as the short line east of Rockport is now the CSX mainline. The former location of CP Short no longer has a mainline track for east-west moves, it would have to be done on yard tracks.

Excellent series!!!

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Nice catches and photos.   Hope to try to get some shots at Vermillion next year. 

jgilmore Wrote:
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> Nice bunch, that first shot at Drawbridge is
> pretty awesome. And somebody is actually building
> a new building in downtown Cleveland, which is
> great since this basically doesn't happen anymore
> in rustbelt cities, although Cleveland has
> rebounded nicely and has improved a lot in recent
> years from what I read. Anyone know if all NS
> trains go through downtown nowadays or do some hit
> the shortline off the C&P like they did under CR?
>
> JG

Trains 310 and 309 switch between the Chicago Line and NKP and don't go through downtown via the lake front and over DB. Two pairs of intermodals also 28B, 29P and 265 switch over and 264 seems to take NKP at Vermilion.
315 and 316 go via NKP.

Posted from Android

Nice pics!!  I like the overhead shots the best.

NS 40T with 1077 went dead in the water after it got to Pa due to a locked axle.