Photo of the Week: Ballast Train

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Photo of the Week Railroads:

Ballast Train at Siam, Ohio

This week’s photo was actually captured by yours truly. I took it as a surprise shot on my way home from Northern Ohio. While traveling south on Route 4, I noticed a couple of parked trains on the Sandusky District. I figured they were waiting for a train to past on ’s nearby Willard subdivision, as the at-grade crossing was located just a bit further down the road in Siam.

Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed when I crossed the tracks and noticed a locomotive headlight in the distance. I immediately turned right in an attempt to double back towards the track. However, as the embedded map shows, the small side road instead turns south. I didn’t have time to turn around, so I pulled over, zoomed in as far as I could, and tried my luck.

The sunlight angle was difficult, and I was still zoomed out pretty far, but I’m proud of this shot I took of this CSX ballast train. I would have never photographed the train in its entirety if I were not forced into doing so.

If you are tired of me tooting my own horn, consider uploading some photos to the Ohio Valley Railroads Flickr pool. I try to showcase different photographers in different parts of the state, but with only 11 members in the group it is sometimes difficult to find variety.

CSX #8888: The Real Story of “Unstoppable”

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: History Railroads:
CSX #8888

#8888, shown here in Woodland, Georgia. Photo by Bart Youngblood. Used with permission.

This Friday is the premiere of the movie Unstoppable. Staring Denzel Washington, the movie tells the story of an unmanned runaway train and the attempts made to stop it. You can watch the trailer for the movie here. While there’s no doubt that inaccuracies will abound (it is Hollywood after all), it should be at least remotely entertaining.

What many of the general public do not realize, is that Unstoppable is a dramatic retelling of real life events. On May 15, 2001 CSX #8888 escaped from Stanley Yard in Toledo, OH. It quickly began a high-speed journey south along the Columbus Subdivision through the communities of Findlay, Bowling Green, and Kenton. The 47 car train reached speeds upwards of 50 miles per hour while authorities made multiple attempts to stop it. Eventually, through the actions of second locomotive and crew the train was safely brought to a stop, 2 hours and 66 miles later. Miraculously, there were no injuries.
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CSX

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Railroads:

is one of two major class one railroads that operate in Ohio, the other being Norfolk Southern. It came into existence with the 1986 merger of the Chessie System with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad.

Major Routes

Rather than attempt to list every Ohio line that eventually became part of the CSX system, I’m going to instead outline the major lines and subdivisions that CSX currently operates in the state of Ohio. As of 2009 Norfolk Southern operates 1,912 miles of lines throughout the state. Below is a map I took from a 2009 Report by the Ohio Rail Development Commission.

Erie West Subdivision

Former Conrail line between Cleveland and Ashtabula. It is a double-track line that runs for 50 miles. Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited uses this route. It connects with Norfolk Southern’s Buffalo line and Youngstown line.

Cleveland Short Line Subdivision

This route runs from the Cleveland Terminal area to Berea, OH. It is 22 miles long and double-tracked for all but one of those miles. The line was at one point a bypass used by the New York Central. CSX acquired it as part of the Conrail split.

Willard Subdivision

This former B&O line between Willard and Beshler, OH. It connects to Willard Yard on the east end and runs for 58 miles of double track to the west.

Fostoria Subdivision

The Fostoria Subdivision includes 1.6 miles of track and the Fostoria diamonds. CSX’s Columbus and Willard Subdivisions, as well as Norfolk Southern’s Fostoria District all cross in Fostoria. This is one of the busier segments of track in the state.

Garrett Subdivision

This former B&O line runs from Deshler into Indiana. This CTC line consists of 45.4 miles of double track in the state.

Greenwich Subdivision

An ex-Conrail line that runs between Berea and Martel, OH. The W&LE has trackage rights over much of this line.

Mount Victory Subdivision

Former Conrail line runs 43 miles between Martel and Bellefontaine, OH. It is double tracked with CTC.

Indianapolis Line Subdivision

Another line acquired from Conrail, this double tracked line runs from Bellefontaine to Ansonia, OH and then onward to Indianapolis, IN.

Columbus Line

This ex-Big Four line was acquired by CSX during the Conrail split. It is a single tracked line that runs between Columbus and Galion, OH. This line is notable for providing CSX access to the Budweiser plant in Columbus and the related daily “Beer Run”.

Toledo Subdivision

The ex-B&O Toledo Subdivision runs for over 200 miles between Cincinnati and Toledo. It is primarily single tracked with CTC. Norfolk Southern has trackage rights between Lima and Sydney and between Hamilton and Cincinnati (as part of the directional running agreement). Amtrak’s Cardinal uses part of the line from Hamilton to Cincinnati.

Columbus Subdivision

This ex-C&O line runs between Fostoria and Columbus. It is single tracked and uses CTC. The W&LE has trackage rights over part of the line.

Northern Subdivision

Another former C&O line, this is one of the busier lines for CSX in the Columbus area. It is a single track line that runs from Columbus to Russell, KY. The has trackage rights for a short distance south of Columbus.

Cleveland Subdivision

The ex-B&O Cleveland Subdivision runs 25 miles between the Cleveland Terminal and Lester, OH. It is mainly a secondary line operating at 10-25 mph via manual block rules.

CL&W Subdivision

At one point part of the Cleveland, Lorain, and Western Railroad, this line extends for nearly 40 miles between Sterling and Lorain, OH. It is primarily single tracked and operated via manual block control.

New Castle Subdivision

Finally, the New Castle Subdivision is a former B&O line that runs between Willard and New Castle, PA.

Radio Frequencies (Subject to change and revision)

  • 160.230 – CSX Road (former Chessie lines)
  • 160.245 – Yard Channel (Ashtabula)
  • 160.290 – Dispatcher, Toledo Sub
  • 160.320 – CR Dispatcher, Columbus Subdivision, Indianapolis Sub
  • 160.485 – IF Dispatcher, Columbus Line Subdivision
  • 160.800 – Road, Columbus Line Subdivision
  • 160.605 – IE Dispatcher, Scottslawn Subdivision
  • 160.800 – Road, Scottslawn Subdivision
  • 160.485 – Buckeye Intermodal Yard
  • 160.530 – Yard Channel (Parsons, Willard)
  • 160.590 – Car Department
  • 160.605 – Dispatcher, Columbus & Toledo
  • 160.770 – Queensgate Hump
  • 160.785 – Maintenance of Way
  • 160.875 – CSX Police
  • 161.100 – LC Dispatcher
  • 161.160 – Yard
  • 161.340 – Car Department (Queensgate)
  • 161.370 – Road Channel
  • 161.520 – CR Dispatcher, Northern Subdivision
  • 161.550 – Industrial Switching

Photo Gallery

References

Hump Yards in Ohio: Stanley Yard

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: History Railroads:

[Image Credit: Jordon on Flickr]

I decided to start a new series looking at the major yards in Ohio. Since the size of a “major” classification yard is a bit arbitrary and Ohio has plenty of rail yards and former rail yards, I’m sticking active hump yards. Hump yards work by using gravity to sort cars rolling down a hill or “hump”. Retarders and mechanical switches keep everything working smoothly.

For the purpose of these series I’ve identified the following major yards in Ohio:

  • : Stanley Yard – Toledo
  • CSX: Queensgate Yard – Cincinnati
  • CSX: Willard Yard – Willard
  • : Bellevue Yard – Bellevue

Special mention also goes out to the recently mothballed Buckeye Yard. These days the bowl of tracks below the hump is being used for car storage.

Stanley Yard

[Video Credit: Automcanic on YouTube]

Stanley Yard, located in Lake Township, was constructed by the Toledo & Ohio Central in 1913. It was first use as a hump yard in 1930, although in these days brakemen riding on the backs of cars served the same purpose as the modern automatic retarder systems of today.

The T&OC was leased by the New York Central System in 1922 and formally merged into the larger company in 1938. The yard became part of the ill-fated Penn Central merger in 1968 and eventually made its way through the Conrail breakup, becoming part of CSX in 1998. Over time the Penn Central and Conrail consolidated many of their Toledo-area operations in Stanley Yard.

In 1996 Conrail reportedly sorted 450 to 700 cars per day at the yard, with only 1 shift operating. Under CSX the classification hump was actually closed for a time in 2004, however it has since reopened and appears to be safe for the near future. Judging by the article the CSX system seems to struggle without its use. The photo to the right was taken at the Stanley Hump in 2005. The tracks in the foreground is the staging yard, with the classification bowl in the far background.

Interesting to note, the first area of CTC track ever operated ran from Stanley Yard to Berwick, OH.

For those wishing to photograph Stanley Yard, it is located in a relatively open area off of Walbridge Road. It is recommended to avoid the actual hump area itself (especially post-9/11) but CSX is usually pretty easy on railfans who don’t get too close to the other tracks.

References:

  1. Michael Rhodes. North American Railyards. MBI October 2003.
  2. “Stanley Yard“. Michigan Railroads.


Other than a book or two, I’m not very familiar with the railroad scene in Toledo. Hopefully this was an acceptable overview. Any other yard you would like to see in the series? Let me know in the comments.

River Road Station to Meet End

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: News Railroads: ,

I was recently informed that ODOT is planning a major reconstruction project for the Waldvogel Viaduct on the riverfront in Cincinnati. The bids are in and the contracts have been awarded so construction should begin relatively soon.

For those unfamiliar with the Cincinnati area, this is down on the river just west of Paul Brown Stadium and the Mill Creek. has their Indiana Sub in the area and CIND, a Rail America shortline, runs a ditch track that collects from a number of river bulk transfer industries. The junction of the two lines is known as CP Oklahoma.

This project is going to have a number of effects on the rail lines in the area. For starters the CSX will be getting a new #10 switch and the entire set of main lines will be moved south to make space for a future bike trail (and possibly a light rail line?). A little over 400 feet of CIND trackage is expected to be moved to connect to the new alignment.

By far the greatest effect will be the demolition of the old River Road Amtrak Station (show near the “View 3″ label above). This was one of the famous “Amshaks” that opened when Amtrak deemed it too expensive to run out of Union Terminal and other large stations. The one in Cincinnati was the first of these stations Amtrak ever built and was used by the railroad from 1971 to 1991. In 1991 Amtrak moved back to a renovated Union Terminal where the Cardinal stops today (although it may not be only one for long). [Image by G. R. Harper, used with permission.]

In more recent years the station was sold to the . It has been used as a staging platform for I&O Passenger Corporation and Cincinnati Railway excursions.

The River Road station was plagued by a poor location in a bad part of town. Few will miss it, but just the same it will be another piece of railroad history that has disappeared. You can see more photos of the River Road and other Cincinnati stations on this page. There’s also some good photos at Queen City Discovery.

Amusing Anecdote

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Uncategorized Railroads:

The other day I had to run to Target. They had a buy three get one free deal on cereal, which isn’t really relevant to the story. Anyway, since I was so close I decided to take an hour or so and watch the tracks on the Toledo Sub. There was a nice open gravel lot and the sun was setup perfect to photograph some southbound trains. Which of course, by the law of the railfan, dictated that I would only be seeing northbounds for the next hour and a half. I ended up with crappy shots like you see above.

One such northbound was going by when I saw a CSX hi-rail truck traveling south on the other track. This was the second one I had seen in as many days.

I was surprised as the truck came to a halt in the middle of the grade crossing. The rail wheels slowly rose up and the driver slowly turned his front wheels to the left. Thinking better of things, he backed up a bit while the rest of the train passed. Once it was gone, he drove away and got on 315.

And that’s my story. Not too exciting, but I had never seen a hi-rail truck drive away like that. It was humorous to me at the very least.

Cbus #3: Sandusky District

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Photo Essays Railroads: ,

Before you think my life has become all CSX all the time, I did spent a little bit of time on the other side of town and managed to get some passable shots. The first one (shown above) happened just as I was walking up to my chosen spot along “Big Four Road”. For as quickly as I fired the shot off I think it turned out okay.

I thought my chosen spot was pretty interesting. It was a short side street that ran along the tracks. You could see the road had lost importance over the years and was severed in a number of places. I was probably one of the few people around who could easily figure out why such a small street had such a strange name. The Big Four (or more formally the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, & St. Louis Railroad) was a NYC predecessor road and the forerunner to ’s Columbus line. Of the two lines in these photos, the Columbus line (along with the Weber Road Connection) run along ground level while the Sandusky District (ex-N&W, ex-PRR) runs along the viaduct.
Speaking of the viaduct, below is the only train I saw on the Sandusky District over the two hours I was waiting. Oddly I saw three trains on the far less busy Columbus Line. I do think the shot turned out well even though by this time my light was beginning to fade.
One last photo before I wrap this post up, a CSX hi-rail truck went by. Of course, as is typical, I had just put my camera away and barely managed to get this off with my point and shoot.
Thus ends my trilogy of Columbus posts. Don’t let me have all the fun though, if you would like to share some Ohio Railroad photos on this blog just let me know.

Columbus Photos Part 2

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Photo Essays Railroads: ,

The journey with the my new SLR continues. This is the second batch of photos I’ve taken over the course of a couple of days around the Columbus area. Above is my favorite shot of the whole batch, and the first night shot I’ve tired. It’s a ten second exposure of a coal train crossing the Scioto River in downtown Columbus. It pretty much turned out exactly as I hoped for, and I really enjoy the reflection of the headlight in the river.

Speaking of Columbus, I also took a couple of skyline shots. At the very bottom of both these shots you can see a Norfolk Southern train on the Sandusky District.

In a perfect would I would have been able to get a little bit closer for these two shots, but I was stuck waiting by the Toledo Sub for a CSX train to cross the river. Downtown Columbus is a very frustrating place to railfan because there is no real good way to watch every track at once. At best the Norfolk Southern trains were bonuses, at worst they were distractions that kept things bottled up at CP Scioto. So overall I would say these two could be better.

The photos above and below were taken right when the Toledo Sub crosses 315 and the Olentangy River, right off of the Olentangy River Bike Path. There was a train being held at the signal so it was just a matter of waiting, but even with all the time in the world it was hard to find a good angle I liked. Eventually I finally settled on the curve with the signal in the foreground. Unfortunately for me, the open door on the short hood kind of ruins the shot.

While waiting for the shot above, a northbound train snuck up behind us. I took this quick shot of the power crossing the bridge.

And lastly, I have one more night shot. This one didn’t turn out nearly as well as I hoped (it’s kind of out of focus) but wanted to put it up anyway. This was only my second attempt at a “streak-shot” after dark.

Columbus Railfan

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Photo Essays Railroads:

Last week, after over a year of going to school at Ohio State and not seeing one train, I decided to do something about it. This was partly because I was frustrated living so close to active rail lines without seeing them, and mostly because I needed something to shoot for my Introductory to Photography class.

I had tried to railfan the old C&O line that runs through West Campus before. I knew from the whistles I could hear that it was an active line, but everytime I made the long trek out to West Campus it seems I would hit a dry spell just at the right time. When I woke up Friday morning I thought my bad luck would continue as the rain came down. After hearing two whistles go by in the span of an hour and a half I figured it would be worth taking a chance.

I rode out on my bike and settled into my preferred spot next to the Adventure and Recreation Center (ARC). It’s a nice grassy field that has clear (if a little weedy in the foreground) of the track looking both to the north and south. Then I began to wait, and wait. I was worried this would be like all the other times.
After 2 hours of waiting I was startled out of my textbook by the sound of a nearby horn. I could feel my heart beat as the first northbound of the day pulled from the trees into my viewfinder. I might not fail my assignment after all.

With the first train gone I assumed I would have at least another hour until the next one came. I sat down and started going through the shots I took of the first train. Every once in a while I would look to the north and wonder if a southbound might sneak up on me. I had been facing the south (a better picture) and couldn’t think of any grade crossings to the north that might give me advance warning.

Seemingly no more than a minute after I had this thought I looked up and a train was on top of me. This one was flying and I barely had time to react. Instead I turned around and settled for this shot.
Vowing not to let it happen again, I turned my body around towards the north and continued my wait. I was busy writing some articles for my site when yet another southbound decided to sneak up on me. This time I managed to get my camera up in time, but the settings that it was on were less than ideal.

All in all, it was a great railfan experience. I even learned a lesson or two about paying attention to the tracks. I hope everyone enjoyed my little story.

Railfanning Glendale

Author: Kyle Montgomery
Category: Photo Essays Railroads: ,

This week I took some time to head down to Glendale Ohio for some railfanning. They have a nice public parking lot right across from a restored CH&D depot. The police station is also near by for safety and I believe there might be an ice cream shop in the town square. We went the fast food route and after a stressful trip down a construction-delayed I-75 we pulled in right for the first train. When all was said and done we saw 5 trains in two hours. We also saw a hi-rail truck attempting to fix some broken crossing gates. They were stuck in the on position. Here is a few highlights from the trip.




If you’re in Lebanon and get the itch to see some more face-paced modern freight trains, I would recommend Glendale as a good railfanning spot.

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