7mm US model dabblings
- Thread starter Jordan
- Start date
Scale7JB
Western Thunderer
richard carr
Western Thunderer
I'm in Chicago again and last weekend I went out to Ohio to meetup with Jim for a bit of rail fanning as they call it in the US.
We went to Fostoria, where 3 routes cross, 2 are CSX one east west and one north south which cross each other and one is Norfolk Southern running east west which crosses both CSX routes. There is rail fan park in the middle of all this with seats, clean toilets, and a canopy to sit in the shade.
Here are a few photos from the day.
A CSX train heading west to north around the connecting line on a very sharp curve, unfortunately the sun is in the wrong position for this shot.
A close up of 3376 as it approaches the crossing with the Norfolk Southern line now on the north bound CSX route.
A west bound norfolk southern grain train this, will have crossed the east/west CSX mainline line a short distance away.
An east bound NS grain train as it crossses the North/South CSX line.
All we need for model railway train, a pair of SD40s with a single coil car !
Another pair of SD40s on a south to east manifest train. The leading loco is a rebuilt SD40-3 followed by an unrebuilt SD40-2, so Jim tells me and it does say ont he side of the loco !
Here are some close ups.
It wasn't the busiest day at Fostoria, in particular there wasn't much traffic on the NS line at all.
The east bound grain train returned in afternoon as it appeared to be being split at the grain elevator down the road.
This did allow us to get some close ups of locos and wagons.
It was a great day at Fostoria, I would recommend it to anyone heading that way, I now know a lot more about Ohio's railroads and about freight cars, thanks to Jim.
The next day I went down to Deshler.
Richard
We went to Fostoria, where 3 routes cross, 2 are CSX one east west and one north south which cross each other and one is Norfolk Southern running east west which crosses both CSX routes. There is rail fan park in the middle of all this with seats, clean toilets, and a canopy to sit in the shade.
Here are a few photos from the day.
A CSX train heading west to north around the connecting line on a very sharp curve, unfortunately the sun is in the wrong position for this shot.
A close up of 3376 as it approaches the crossing with the Norfolk Southern line now on the north bound CSX route.
A west bound norfolk southern grain train this, will have crossed the east/west CSX mainline line a short distance away.
An east bound NS grain train as it crossses the North/South CSX line.
All we need for model railway train, a pair of SD40s with a single coil car !
Another pair of SD40s on a south to east manifest train. The leading loco is a rebuilt SD40-3 followed by an unrebuilt SD40-2, so Jim tells me and it does say ont he side of the loco !
Here are some close ups.
It wasn't the busiest day at Fostoria, in particular there wasn't much traffic on the NS line at all.
The east bound grain train returned in afternoon as it appeared to be being split at the grain elevator down the road.
This did allow us to get some close ups of locos and wagons.
It was a great day at Fostoria, I would recommend it to anyone heading that way, I now know a lot more about Ohio's railroads and about freight cars, thanks to Jim.
The next day I went down to Deshler.
Richard
Jordan
Mid-Western Thunderer
Their what???!!!???
Scale7JB
Western Thunderer
Don’t worry, they’re only closing their premises, but keeping their own product lines going on-line.Their what???!!!???
JB.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Hi JB
No they further away than you think and I was more interested in watching trains go by.
Richard
No they further away than you think and I was more interested in watching trains go by.
Richard
richard carr
Western Thunderer
SO Saturday I went down early to Deshler, it was about an hour away from the hotel in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere.
Deshler also has a railfan park, with covered seating, some limited but clean toilet facilities, and a reasonable amount of parking.
The really good thing to see was the 10or so young people aged from late teens to late 20s that were there enjoying the trains.
I arrived at 7:30 just in time to see a train, it was then almost constant action, with one train after another passing by until about 11.
The trains going round the connectors do take a long time to pass.
Deshler is where the east west CSX line that passed through Fostoria, continues west bound and is crossed by another CSX North/South line from Toledo to Lima. There are 3 connectors with only the North to East without one.
This is on the North south line heading North, but too the connector to head west bound.
Here it is starting to round the curve
On the very end was tagged this coach.
An east bound container train
This one then came round the corner running from East to South.
Next came an eastbound ethanol train with Canadian Pacific powerr on the front
The second loco is CSX and the third is Norfolk Southern, this was then being chased by another container train.
While all this was going on, a southbound autorack train was waiting patiently on the north side of the crossing for all this traffic to pass.
Eventually after about 45 minutes it got the road to proceed
Next was a container train running west to south
IN the meantime another container train ran East to west then this came in running east to south.
Not only did this train have old locos, it also had an old box car.
After this things quietened down a bit I went for a walk around the town, it isn't very big. I did come across this antiques store.
Richard
Deshler also has a railfan park, with covered seating, some limited but clean toilet facilities, and a reasonable amount of parking.
The really good thing to see was the 10or so young people aged from late teens to late 20s that were there enjoying the trains.
I arrived at 7:30 just in time to see a train, it was then almost constant action, with one train after another passing by until about 11.
The trains going round the connectors do take a long time to pass.
Deshler is where the east west CSX line that passed through Fostoria, continues west bound and is crossed by another CSX North/South line from Toledo to Lima. There are 3 connectors with only the North to East without one.
This is on the North south line heading North, but too the connector to head west bound.
Here it is starting to round the curve
On the very end was tagged this coach.
An east bound container train
This one then came round the corner running from East to South.
Next came an eastbound ethanol train with Canadian Pacific powerr on the front
The second loco is CSX and the third is Norfolk Southern, this was then being chased by another container train.
While all this was going on, a southbound autorack train was waiting patiently on the north side of the crossing for all this traffic to pass.
Eventually after about 45 minutes it got the road to proceed
Next was a container train running west to south
IN the meantime another container train ran East to west then this came in running east to south.
Not only did this train have old locos, it also had an old box car.
After this things quietened down a bit I went for a walk around the town, it isn't very big. I did come across this antiques store.
Richard
Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen
Western Thunderer
Just to mention, Deshler, Astoria and Elkhart all have live webcams to view for free on Virtual Railfan. There's also loads of other locations.
Tim
Tim
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
And I only had to shake you awake two or three times as I droned on and on......
It was one of the better days I've personally had railfanning in Fostoria. I consistently fall victim to the phenomenon wherein there are 120 trains a day on average but maybe 3 while I'm on the premises. I'm probably the worst person to take along railfanning actually. Anyway, things started slowly, but came on quite nicely later on. It would have been quite lively if there had been a normal amount of traffic on the NS line, but we still got our fill over the course of the day.
Looking at Richard's photos from Deshler, I'm starting to wonder if CSX is short on road power. It wouldn't surprise me, as they've been in cost cutting mode for several years now and have often cut too close to the bone only to have to relent when things fail. The southbound freight we saw at Fostoria with the two sd40-2's on it would never normally have older EMD's for road power these days, it's always big GE's. And there were several more examples of 2nd generation EMD's in road consists in the Deshler photos. I even saw a CSX Dash 8 GE unit in a consist through Fostoria, and I thought all of those had been taken off line.
Looking forward to the next opportunity to meet up and watch more trains, perhaps in Elkhart next time. It's a good thing we went last week instead of now. It was an absolutely beautiful day last week, now it's hot and humid at roughly 36°!
I'd probably be cranky. 
Jim
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Jim
I'm cooking in Chicago, it is 97 degrees here at the moment, no one wants go outside !
I left Deshler at about 1pm on Saturday and headed back to Elkhart I stopped off at Hamler a few miles down the road from Deshler where the Indiana and Ohio Railroad crosses the CSX east west line. I was in luck a signal was on green and a coke train arrived a few minutes later.
There is a grain elevator at Hamler but it hasn't been used for a while.
I then carried on Butler where 2 norfolk southern routes cross.
I managed to catch this train as it passed through the town
This is the pusher at the back, the train is heading to Elkhart.
I went looking for the crossing, but when I found it I ran in to a local who suggested I leave as it was private property. Given the look of him I decided that was indeed the wise thing to do.
It took about 80 minutes to drive back to Elkhart, passing through Amish country, I saw quite a few of them on the side of the road with their horse drawn carriages.
After checking in at the hotel in Elkhart I walked down to the station to see this.
It's another container train heading west to Chicago, but then this happened ?
The train is moving at about 30mph, does anyone know what he is doing ?
Richard
I'm cooking in Chicago, it is 97 degrees here at the moment, no one wants go outside !
I left Deshler at about 1pm on Saturday and headed back to Elkhart I stopped off at Hamler a few miles down the road from Deshler where the Indiana and Ohio Railroad crosses the CSX east west line. I was in luck a signal was on green and a coke train arrived a few minutes later.
There is a grain elevator at Hamler but it hasn't been used for a while.
I then carried on Butler where 2 norfolk southern routes cross.
I managed to catch this train as it passed through the town
This is the pusher at the back, the train is heading to Elkhart.
I went looking for the crossing, but when I found it I ran in to a local who suggested I leave as it was private property. Given the look of him I decided that was indeed the wise thing to do.
It took about 80 minutes to drive back to Elkhart, passing through Amish country, I saw quite a few of them on the side of the road with their horse drawn carriages.
After checking in at the hotel in Elkhart I walked down to the station to see this.
It's another container train heading west to Chicago, but then this happened ?
The train is moving at about 30mph, does anyone know what he is doing ?
Richard
adrian
Flying Squad
It looks like he's retrieving his lunch, suitably warmed up from where he's left it for the last 30 minutes!
mickoo
Western Thunderer
He is indeed doing just that, that's the access door to the header tank and cooling water filler, nice and toasty but not overly hot to scald the food.
Copyright Mike Danneman.
The standby hot plate on GEVO's
A failed hotplate is a valid reason to stand down a head end unit but I expect this crew just got on with it. I believe KCS does not fit hotplates as standard and have a union agreement to head end such units. However, they may not be permitted to head end in outer areas/railroads/countries, I read just recently that (I think it was) CP will not head end KCS units due to their lack of hotplate facilities.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
August brought another business trip to Chicago, so there was another opportunity to head out to Ohio and meet up with Big Train Jim.
The first place we went to was Marion, about 40 miles north of Columbus. Here there are 2 North South lines one CSX and one Norfolk Southern, both of these are then crossed by a CSX East West line. There is a marshalling yard to the North West and various connecting lines. The 2 North South lines do not cross each other. All the lines in the station area are double track, but all of these revert to single track a few miles in all directions.
We went to the former Union Station which is situated to the south of the East West line between the 2 North South lines. There is a small museum here which opened mid morning.
Hopefully these photos will make it all clear. It was hot getting on for 90 degrees and humid.
The action started straight away with the arrival of a NS stack train heading North
Then a North bound manifest train. Here it is going through the crossing.
Then we had a south bound on the CSX N/S line
This was an empty coal train.
Next was a south bound manifest train on the Norfolk southern line.
You can still see BNSF locos in war bonnet livery, most are looking well worn though.
This then arrived on the CSX E/W line. It appeared to be a short train of autoracks
So this then headed round the West to North connector, and then reversed back into the yard and picked up a load more autoracks. It turned out that it had left the rest of it's train further down the mainline and so reversed back to collect those before moving on. This took it well over an hour to complete all these maneuvers.
Here it is on the West to North connector
It then drew forward to block both North South lines
Here's a detailed picture of the Norfolk Southern crossing
One of the advantages of Marion is that you can take photos from the signal tower at the station. Of course this isn't used any more but is part of a small musem at the station.
This is a NS manifest train approaching the crossing taken from the mid level of the signal tower.
In the afternoon the signal tower was opened up and we got a chance to look inside and got a full demonstration of how it works. I'll post the pictures of this up later today.
Richard
The first place we went to was Marion, about 40 miles north of Columbus. Here there are 2 North South lines one CSX and one Norfolk Southern, both of these are then crossed by a CSX East West line. There is a marshalling yard to the North West and various connecting lines. The 2 North South lines do not cross each other. All the lines in the station area are double track, but all of these revert to single track a few miles in all directions.
We went to the former Union Station which is situated to the south of the East West line between the 2 North South lines. There is a small museum here which opened mid morning.
Hopefully these photos will make it all clear. It was hot getting on for 90 degrees and humid.
The action started straight away with the arrival of a NS stack train heading North
Then a North bound manifest train. Here it is going through the crossing.
Then we had a south bound on the CSX N/S line
This was an empty coal train.
Next was a south bound manifest train on the Norfolk southern line.
You can still see BNSF locos in war bonnet livery, most are looking well worn though.
This then arrived on the CSX E/W line. It appeared to be a short train of autoracks
So this then headed round the West to North connector, and then reversed back into the yard and picked up a load more autoracks. It turned out that it had left the rest of it's train further down the mainline and so reversed back to collect those before moving on. This took it well over an hour to complete all these maneuvers.
Here it is on the West to North connector
It then drew forward to block both North South lines
Here's a detailed picture of the Norfolk Southern crossing
One of the advantages of Marion is that you can take photos from the signal tower at the station. Of course this isn't used any more but is part of a small musem at the station.
This is a NS manifest train approaching the crossing taken from the mid level of the signal tower.
In the afternoon the signal tower was opened up and we got a chance to look inside and got a full demonstration of how it works. I'll post the pictures of this up later today.
Richard
Joe's Garage
Western Thunderer
Brilliant photos, thank you for sharing Richard.
Is the CSX E/W line the old NYC at Marion?
Cheers
Julian
Is the CSX E/W line the old NYC at Marion?
Cheers
Julian
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Hi Julian,
The east/west lines are the ex-Erie to Chicago and the ex-Big Four/NYC to Indianapolis and St. Louis. To the east of Marion, at least for some distance, the two lines roughly paralleled each other and were treated as joint double track main. To the west of Marion, the Erie split northwest for Chicago, while the Big Four continued west to Indy.
Today the Erie is mostly gone west of Marion. Actually I think it's also mostly gone to the east as well. Most of the Erie would have been made redundant by the formation of Conrail. The Big Four is still active as CSX trackage now.
The various lines see decent traffic. It's not especially heavy, but steady enough. Proximity to the tracks is pretty good as well. Fostoria probably sees more traffic, especially on the CSX ex-B&O line, but the CSX and NS e/w mains are a fair distance apart. The other good thing at Marion is that the n/s lines do not cross, so you can see trains on both lines simultaneously. That can't happen in Fostoria as the NS and CSX lines cross just to the west of the Railpark.
The only downside for me is that Marion is a bit further away than some other places like Fostoria. But for some reason I do enjoy the environment there, and I never mind going when given the opportunity.
Jim
The east/west lines are the ex-Erie to Chicago and the ex-Big Four/NYC to Indianapolis and St. Louis. To the east of Marion, at least for some distance, the two lines roughly paralleled each other and were treated as joint double track main. To the west of Marion, the Erie split northwest for Chicago, while the Big Four continued west to Indy.
Today the Erie is mostly gone west of Marion. Actually I think it's also mostly gone to the east as well. Most of the Erie would have been made redundant by the formation of Conrail. The Big Four is still active as CSX trackage now.
The various lines see decent traffic. It's not especially heavy, but steady enough. Proximity to the tracks is pretty good as well. Fostoria probably sees more traffic, especially on the CSX ex-B&O line, but the CSX and NS e/w mains are a fair distance apart. The other good thing at Marion is that the n/s lines do not cross, so you can see trains on both lines simultaneously. That can't happen in Fostoria as the NS and CSX lines cross just to the west of the Railpark.
The only downside for me is that Marion is a bit further away than some other places like Fostoria. But for some reason I do enjoy the environment there, and I never mind going when given the opportunity.
Jim
richard carr
Western Thunderer
As promised but a bit later than anticipated are the photos from inside the signal tower. When it was in operation is was sited on the other side of the East/West lines from where it is now (it was north of the tracks).
Here is the track plan, it's not quite like this today and this covers a large area a few miles in all directions.
As a train moved through what look like white dots in the photo light up.
This is better view of part of the panel.
This is the inter locking box, the levers control the signals and switches and are all mechanically inter locked through this you can see some of it in the black bottom part.
A view from the other end
The final image is the other corner of the tower, I'm not sure what this is, maybe Jim knows
The signal panels don't of course control anything any more but they work so if you set the right signals and switches all the lights on the panel light up.
Richard
Here is the track plan, it's not quite like this today and this covers a large area a few miles in all directions.
As a train moved through what look like white dots in the photo light up.
This is better view of part of the panel.
This is the inter locking box, the levers control the signals and switches and are all mechanically inter locked through this you can see some of it in the black bottom part.
A view from the other end
The final image is the other corner of the tower, I'm not sure what this is, maybe Jim knows
The signal panels don't of course control anything any more but they work so if you set the right signals and switches all the lights on the panel light up.
Richard
JasonD
Western Thunderer
It'll all fit on a Raspberry Pi, apart from chair and desk and the operator won't need those 'cos of remote ops 
When I started working in computers in 1969, we had an old system in the basement with odd relay circuits clicking. At Christmas we could play Carols with (card) programs that ran the floor-standing tape drives at different speeds.
The tower contents must have been built long ago, great pics of lovely stuff.
Jason
When I started working in computers in 1969, we had an old system in the basement with odd relay circuits clicking. At Christmas we could play Carols with (card) programs that ran the floor-standing tape drives at different speeds.
The tower contents must have been built long ago, great pics of lovely stuff.
Jason
richard carr
Western Thunderer
The next day I went to Deshler, I had been there on a Saturday in June and had a very enjoyable day with lots of trains, so I was hoping for another busy day even though it was Sunday morning.
I wasn't to be disappointed, I arrived about 7:30 and by 12:30 there had been 15 trains pass through, a very busy Sunday morning indeed.
The first train of the morning was this manifest freight heading from east to south
It then passed a north bound freight waiting on the main.
This one looked like empty coal hoppers.
Another manifest train appeared from the south, this time heading east, this one had interesting loco a GP38-2 in the consist.
Next was the first West to East with a train of hoppers.
Then another manifest train heading north
To be continued.
I wasn't to be disappointed, I arrived about 7:30 and by 12:30 there had been 15 trains pass through, a very busy Sunday morning indeed.
The first train of the morning was this manifest freight heading from east to south
It then passed a north bound freight waiting on the main.
This one looked like empty coal hoppers.
Another manifest train appeared from the south, this time heading east, this one had interesting loco a GP38-2 in the consist.
Next was the first West to East with a train of hoppers.
Then another manifest train heading north
To be continued.