Eastern Railroad Discussion > A Cold February 7th - Lake Erie Land

Saturday February 7, 2026
Vermilion, OH
Sunny and bright, 13 degrees, wind gusts up to 30 mph with -11 windchill, or so says the weather service. It didn't really feel that cold.

Went out this morning with mixed results due to intense bright sun. After almost three hours this afternoon and no catches, we gave up, then the trains came ... of course. It was also difficult as there were very limited places to park due to snow banks on the shoulders of the roads and the big ice festival in Vermilion. The Rail Park parking lot was pretty jammed and down at the docks was not plowed leaving really nowhere good to park and hang out.

1. & 2.  Train 256 (Ashland Ave - Chicago to Croxton, NJ) at Joppa Road on the Lake Shore line west of Vermilion. He's carrying domestics, internationals and Tesla auto racks on the rear. Power is NS 4730 and BNSF 6677.

3. Just as 256 clears we have 11N (Doremus, NJ - Detroit, MI auto mtys) coming west with NS 4799 and 9931.
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/26 14:24 by train1275.

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4. Migrating (Tundra?) Swans fly overhead near Shinrock.

5. & 6.  At Shinrock on the NKP we have the L20 outlawed and tied down with NS 6424, an ex BN SD40-2 (BN 7076) converted to SD40-3 built in October 1978.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/26 16:11 by train1275.

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7. - 9. This was the last catch of the day before lunch. NS 10Q (Bellevue - Conway merchandise) charges hard through Avery with NS 4597, 4428 and rear DPU; NS1250.

Since this will be the last train caught on film, we will just enjoy watching it by as it passed the Schlessman Feed facility. Saw some other trains, but not in a position to grab photos.

10Q must have gotten hung up someplace east of here, because about 2 hours later he was still on the west side of Cleveland.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/26 14:28 by train1275.

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10. And there goes the DPU. Up ahead about about 12 miles he'll go through the east-leg connector and over to the Lake Shore line for the run to Cleveland and east.

That's it .... lunch time, then we are done.

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Real nice bunch of shots.
JB

train1275 Wrote:
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> 4. Migrating (Tundra?) Swans fly overhead near
> Shinrock.
I looked them up and they do appear to be Tundra Swans! I'd never heard of them before - my first thought was Snow Geese but they didn't look quite right!  Great photos!

I really like your photo #5, such a pretty blue sky!

Stay warm! It’s 1 in Topton, PA but we have some serious wind tonight that has the real feel at -11.

On the bright side I had a robin in my yard today, which is very early. I hope that means a warm up is coming soon!!

Dan

Posted from iPhone

Fantastic array as always, but #5 is exceptionally nice.
—Mac

It is difficult getting around with the snowbanks hanging around. Never heard of Tundra Swans but there they are!
No robins here it was -4 overnight just 7 now and won't even reach 20 today We may see temperatures above 32 Tuesday but these frozen piles of snow ain't going anywhere fast enough for me.
Thanks for going out and getting what you can and sharing.
Gonut