Eastern Railroad Discussion > Thanks Mansfield for the memories...

With the recent news of NS planning to shutter Mansfield as early as June 01, 2026 I was going thru some of my photos on why I liked going to Mansfield, Ohio. As long you did not act like a "glute" you were pretty much left alone; get your shots and get lost.The PRR leading the 12V and NS 10E the former CR NLPI....

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UP leading a tanker past the industrial decay know as the former Westinghouse plant then CN leads 64K and lastly two brand new CN's lead 66R. I can remember the days of CR when the trains were aplenty with up almost forty a day; combination of freights, roadrailers, intermodal and coal. It was bound to happen sooner or later. IF the NS/UP merger is approved who knows what the future of this line holds. Thanks for looking...

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Forever-Railfan-45
What is Mansfield and what is NS shuttering? I'm not familiar with whatever the Mansfield facility is.
Thanks!
Gonut

Mansfield was a yard and crew change point. The ASRY used to interchange with NS there. Back in the days of CR it was very vital. And also appears that Norfolk Southern feels that it's not that vital anymore or it may be a bit of redundant.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/26 21:12 by Forever-Railfan-45.

how are they going to run anything on the fortwayne line then and also interchange with ashland 

A fine set of images, especially the first one with the PRR Heritage unit passing under the signal bridge with the classic Pennsy position-light signals. Outstanding.

At the same time, very sad to see the abandoned factory next to the tracks. Way too much of that in the so-called "rust belt". We've been pretty successful where I am in western Michigan converting such former factories to other uses as offices or housing, and sometimes even to new industrial uses. Hopefully that can happen in Mansfield too. 

The beam design for signal bridges as sometimes used by PRR and Southern is one that the industry should have adopted instead of the visually very-busy, cluttered and distracting "tinkertoy" design. So much visual clutter and sometimes bright reflections with those. Just as a fan checking out signals on occasion to see if something is lined up, I find them to be visually cluttered and suboptimal for a good, clear, easy "read" of the signal. I've often thought that they have to be a bother for train crews. But maybe I'm wrong, and it makes little or no difference in actual practice.

That beam signal bridge was a simple, clean design that does not visually distract from a clean, clear view of the signal aspects by the train crews with additional visual clutter, no matter what type of signal heads are used. It was a design that PRR and SOU got right. Too bad that the industry did not feel the same way.

Thanks again for a fine set of images.

MC

FairportRails Wrote:
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> how are they going to run anything on the
> fortwayne line then and also interchange with
> ashland 

I haven't confirmed if they're going to keep a local operating in Mansfield, but what I have heard is that crews on the trains going through (170 and 171 are the only regular jobs now) will now run through to Fairhope Yard in Canton.

My source indicated 170/171 could be rerouted to Bellevue with Conway traffic then running on its own train over the FWL. When I reluctantly moved to Ohio in 2014, they did have a pair of trains that did exactly this but I don't remember the symbols.

Was Mansfield a crew-change point during the Conrail era? 

Yes it was.

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My favorite is Pic 1!!