Eastern Railroad Discussion > Toledo Questions

I went down to Toledo Tuesday and saw a couple things that interested me.

First, I could only find 2 Ann Arbor units on the property at all Tuesday. I looked from Milan down to Ottawa and Temperance Yards. 7771 was switching the yard in the morning and then locked up in the pm behind the Jeep plant gate. 7791 was at the engine/car shops building. I assume at least 1 unit was in Saline since I saw cars on the south side of Pittsfield Jct on my way north. They leave the cars on the south side of the main when heading north to Osmer later. They leve them on the north side of the diamond when they need to head south later. Where were the other units? Anyone with ideas. Have any been shipped off property for work or something? I didn't get a good look at the unloading facility between Ottawa and the CSX yard, but didn't see any there either. Nothing i could spot from the crossing south of the yard.

Next question. I caught the NS transfer coming into the yard from the north about 11:00 or so. It was carrying several loaded open top hoppers with what appeared to be pulpwood. Does anyone know what there cars were. I assumed that they were going north to the TSBY or LSRC until I went to Temperance Yard and saw about 25 of these cars being unloaded using construction equipment.

Is this a new customer for the Ann Arbor?

Next thing. I was looking for Stanley and Walbridge Yards and somehow went too far south. I crossed a line marked with flashers and a CSX signs while on US23/20 jst west of state road 163? I decided to following this line north and came to Stanley Yard. This line looked very overgrown where I first crossed it, but more used as I got closer to the yard. What line was this? Why would it look so overgrown away from the yard but not closer to the yard. I didn't see any tracks coming off the line or customers on the line to account for the track conditions changing.

Another one. What yards does NS have in Toledo. I know they have one near the Toledo Docks on the SE side of town. I thought they had another yard in town also, but didn't see it at all. Which yard was the one I saw.

Along with that question, what railroad yards are in Toledo. I know of Stanley, Walbridge, Boulovard (all on CSX) Ottawa and Temperance (Ann Arbor), Lang Yard (CN) and the NS yard mention before. Also there are the Toledo Ore Docks and coal docks which appear to have thier own yards. Any that I have forgotten not including the one by the Amtrak station?


For the trip Isaw a total of 51 engines ranging from GP-9's (NHN on the ADBF) and a switch engine (Ottawa Lake elevator) to a SD9043AC in Lang Yard. A lot of the GP38-2's and SD40-2's also. Nothing else real special in terms of power. Did see a WC letter engine pulling into Lang Yard with what looked like WC 658 on it. Looking at my WC roster I don't see a 658, but see several SD45's in the 658? numbers, so I assume that was whatI saw. Does anyone know what WC engines were on CN in these parts Tuesday as I would like to know what engine that was.

chapmaja Wrote:
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> I went down to Toledo Tuesday and saw a couple
> things that interested me.
>
> First, I could only find 2 Ann Arbor units on the
> property at all Tuesday. I looked from Milan down
> to Ottawa and Temperance Yards. 7771 was switching
> the yard in the morning and then locked up in the
> pm behind the Jeep plant gate. 7791 was at the
> engine/car shops building. I assume at least 1
> unit was in Saline since I saw cars on the south
> side of Pittsfield Jct on my way north. They leave
> the cars on the south side of the main when
> heading north to Osmer later. They leve them on
> the north side of the diamond when they need to
> head south later. Where were the other units?
> Anyone with ideas. Have any been shipped off
> property for work or something? I didn't get a
> good look at the unloading facility between Ottawa
> and the CSX yard, but didn't see any there either.
> Nothing i could spot from the crossing south of
> the yard.

It's possible that the two GP39-2's were at the Visteon plant in Saline. They tend to park them at the plant in between shifts up there. As for the third GP38, it conceivably could have been inside the house, at an inaccessible point at GM Powertrain, or switching Ohio Blenders. You don't tell how long you were looking, so I can't rule that latter possibility out.

> Next question. I caught the NS transfer coming
> into the yard from the north about 11:00 or so. It
> was carrying several loaded open top hoppers with
> what appeared to be pulpwood. Does anyone know
> what there cars were. I assumed that they were
> going north to the TSBY or LSRC until I went to
> Temperance Yard and saw about 25 of these cars
> being unloaded using construction equipment.
>
> Is this a new customer for the Ann Arbor?

It must be. I've never seen this myself, but lately I haven't devoted much time to local railfanning.

> Next thing. I was looking for Stanley and
> Walbridge Yards and somehow went too far south. I
> crossed a line marked with flashers and a CSX
> signs while on US23/20 jst west of state road 163?
> I decided to following this line north and came to
> Stanley Yard. This line looked very overgrown
> where I first crossed it, but more used as I got
> closer to the yard. What line was this? Why would
> it look so overgrown away from the yard but not
> closer to the yard. I didn't see any tracks coming
> off the line or customers on the line to account
> for the track conditions changing.
>
This is the old Eastern Division of the Toledo & Ohio Central. At one time it continued on down to Fostoria, Bucyrus, and beyond. Today it goes only a short distance beyond that road crossing on US 20/23. There used to be a team-track operation just south of the road crossing, but it has been inactive for years. The reason the track condition improves as you get closer to the yard is that sometimes arriving freight trains come down the "Eastern Runner" to clear the south end of Yard S (the Receiving yard) and then back in. I've only seen this a few times, but I'll bet it happens whenever the hump job is fouling the direct lead into Yard S from the "Which Way" switch, which is on the Eastern just north of SR 795.

> Another one. What yards does NS have in Toledo. I
> know they have one near the Toledo Docks on the SE
> side of town. I thought they had another yard in
> town also, but didn't see it at all. Which yard
> was the one I saw.

"Near the Toledo Docks on the SE side of town"? The Toledo Docks are on the NE side of town. Anyway, Norfolk Southern's principal yards in town are Homestead Yard in Oregon, which is on their pre-Conrail Toledo District line, and Airline Yard/Toledo Mega Terminal. On the opposite side of Ironville Tower from Homestead are Ironville and Front Street yards, which are used for industrial support. Airline and "the Mega" are part of the same complex southwest of downtown, along the ex-NYC main between CP-289 (Swan Creek) and CP-292 (Nasby). Airline is the base for local operations on the west side of the river, while the Mega Terminal is the intermodal facility. NS also has two local yards in Maumee to support local grain elevators, the Ford Stamping plant, and Johns Manville in Waterville.

>
> Along with that question, what railroad yards are
> in Toledo. I know of Stanley, Walbridge, Boulevard
> (all on CSX) Ottawa and Temperance (Ann Arbor),
> Lang Yard (CN) and the NS yard mention before.
> Also there are the Toledo Ore Docks and coal docks
> which appear to have thier own yards. Any that I
> have forgotten not including the one by the Amtrak
> station?
>

See above.
>
> For the trip Isaw a total of 51 engines ranging
> from GP-9's (NHN on the ADBF) and a switch engine
> (Ottawa Lake elevator) to a SD9043AC in Lang Yard.
> A lot of the GP38-2's and SD40-2's also. Nothing
> else real special in terms of power. Did see a WC
> letter engine pulling into Lang Yard with what
> looked like WC 658 on it. Looking at my WC roster
> I don't see a 658, but see several SD45's in the
> 658? numbers, so I assume that was whatI saw. Does
> anyone know what WC engines were on CN in these
> parts Tuesday as I would like to know what engine
> that was.
>

What color was the WC unit? If it was grey, it was an ex-Alstom SD40R, and probably WC 6958. If it was maroon-yellow, then it was an SD45, and there are several possibilities for the "missing digit." I don't actually know what was in town Tuesday.

And since you mentioned the NHN Geeps, how did they look? Do they still have full NHN markings?

Thanks for the info. I figured you'd post an answer to these questions. Sorry, about the NE/SE thing. I am not good at directions at all. Homestead was the yard I saw then. It was one of the maroon and gold WC units, so I asume it was a SD45 with the "missing digit".

As for the Ann Arbor stuff. What is Ohio Blender? I've never heard of them before. I checked the yard at around 11:00am for the power then again around 5:00pm or so.

Do they normally run both Gp39-2's up to Visteon? It would make sence to do that actually. You could arrange it to have one on each end so you wouldn't have to back the power into Saline like they used to do. I'm actually suprised the Ann ARbor never aquired a cheap switcher to run the line from Pittsfield to Saline.

chapmaja Wrote:
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> As for the Ann Arbor stuff. What is Ohio Blender?
> I've never heard of them before. I checked the
> yard at around 11:00am for the power then again
> around 5:00pm or so.

Ohio Blenders is a grain processor on Summit Street just south of where the AA crosses Summit, which in turn is, rough guess here, about a quarter mile south of Manhattan Junction. It's as far south as the AA goes on that track; below there, it becomes NS (ex-PRR) property to work the Arms Dock and the newsprint warehouse. An AA crew wouldn't be down there at Blenders for very long, but that would be an out-of-the-way place for them to be.

BTW, it's certainly possible that the 7802 is "somewhere else" for work, and wouldn't it be nice if it got repainted in the bargain? Those orange Geeps are looking pretty trashy these days.

> Do they normally run both Gp39-2's up to Visteon?
> It would make sence to do that actually. You could
> arrange it to have one on each end so you wouldn't
> have to back the power into Saline like they used
> to do. I'm actually suprised the Ann ARbor never
> aquired a cheap switcher to run the line from
> Pittsfield to Saline.

The GP39-2's aren't always paired up, but it seems they usually are. They were today when they got a "work between" warrant for Diann to MP 47.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> The reason the track condition improves as you get
> closer to the yard is that sometimes arriving
> freight trains come down the "Eastern Runner" to
> clear the south end of Yard S (the Receiving yard)
> and then back in. I've only seen this a few times,
> but I'll bet it happens whenever the hump job is
> fouling the direct lead into Yard S from the
> "Which Way" switch, which is on the Eastern just
> north of SR 795.

Well, coming down the Eastern Running to the "Which Way" also doesn't allow access to S 6, 7, or 8. If 1-5 are plugged with cars already, then they will pull a train past the S Yard switch on the eastern, then back into the yard. I've seen them do this with up to 7100 ft of train. We then backed our measley 12 cars onto another track in the same manner. Also, if you have a small train that will fill up one of the S Tracks, they will have you pull it out and shove it onto another track even if you come down a clear rail. Why waste a whole track when it will fill up one (or two) others?

Practice Safe CSX