Today's Train of Thought- Way to Go Ohio, Aug 24th 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the verdant fields in the eastern corner of the Buckeye State.

Referred to in tourism literature as the 'Little Switzerland of Ohio', Sugarcreek, OH is known for its gently rolling hills, Amish and Swiss background and until a few years ago, the home of Ohio Central's steam program. The public excursions stopped with the Genesee & Wyoming acquisition of the Ohio Central. However the OHCR's previous owner, Jerry Jacobson, retained his considerable collection of former Ohio Central steam locomotives as part of the deal.

Not only did Jacobson retain his steam fleet, he also had a roundhouse constructed from scratch to house everything. Although he made it clear from the outset that he wouldn't be operating excursions out of Sugarcreek like before, the steam locomotives housed in what would be called the Age of Steam roundhouse would be made available to other scenic and tourist railroads in the region, including the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic outside of Cleveland.

Of course, as the Age of Steam roundhouse is being constructed, there's still a railroad for Genesee & Wyoming to run. The OHCR line through Sugarcreek runs north-south through the gently rolling hills (hence the 'Little Switzerland' moniker) between their Coshocton hub and the Wheeling & Lake Erie interchange in Brewster, OH. Commodities hauled include coal, steel, grain and aggregates- and with ongoing drilling and exploration of the Utica Shale, there's potential for additional traffic including pipe and fracking sand.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Richard Thompson caught Ohio Central B23S-7 #4093 and a trailing Super 7 trundling past a cornfield with a southbound mixed freight outside of Sugarcreek, OH on July 30th 2012. The two-unit lashup represents a sort of 'before and after' of the Ohio Central with the trailing unit in GWRR orange and black.

Steamy Iron Horse Roundup for August 2012

NORFOLK SOUTHERN- Throughout much of their 22-state system, the Norfolk Southern railroad has been observing its 30th anniversary with a employee specials powered by steam locomotives from NS predecesors.

This included the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's Nickel Plate Berkshire #765 making a rare trip to the Keystone State to power employee specials out of the NS facilities at Conway and Enola, PA [just outside of Pittsburgh and Harrisburgh, respectively- NANESB!].

Scores of rail enthusiasts, photographers and onlookers record the big Nickel Plate Berkshire #765 as she storms through Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, PA on her way back to Indiana on August 20.

With Norfolk Southern Nickel Plate heritage ES44AC #8100 trailing, the 765 steamed across the Alleghenies on the former Pennsylvania Railraod mainline from Conway to Enola under her own power on August 13th. The 765's Keystone state sojourn marked the first time since 1977 that the famed Horseshoe Curve just west of Altoona has seen a steam engine pass through the landmark under her own power- former Pennsy K-4 4-6-2 #1361 was on static display at Horseshoe Curve until the 1980s.

It had also been nearly as long since a steam locomotive crossed the ¾ mile former Pennsy stone masonry Rockville bridge [the Aug 19th run shown at the top of this entry] over the Susquehanna north of Harrisburg. Interestingly, in addition to the dozen or so coaches and equipment cars for the #765, the train had made the ferry moves from Conway to Enola and back with four NS gondolas in tow- at least two of them loaded down with coal and one carrying a front-end loader, making the 765's ferry move and return trip to Indiana undoubtedly the most popular mixed train to operate in Pennsylvania in decades.

Earlier in the month, the 765 had powered employee specials on the former Norfolk & Western Pocohontas Division and in early September will head to Missouri to operate specials out of the St Louis area.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum's former Southern 2-8-0 #630 seen leading an employee special out of the Bristol, VA area on a rainy mid-July day. Sid Vaught photo

The 765 wasn't the only steam locomotive active on Norfolk Southern this summer, however. Norfolk Southern's original partners in the pilot excursions for the 21st Century Steam- the Chattanooga, TN-based Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum- provided the use of their recently restored 1904 built 2-8-0 Consolidation for a series of employee excursions throughout the southern part of the Norfolk Southern system.

The former Southern Railway ALCo steamer spent a good deal of this summer on 'home' rails powering excursions out of Atlanta, GA, Chattanooga and Knoxville, TN as well as Bristol and Roanoke, VA. She reportedly suffered some mechanical difficulties while on one excursion out of Bristol, leading the Norfolk Southern to pinch hit with their Savannah & Atlanta-painted heritage SD70ACE. The #630 was reportedly brought back to Chattanooga for inspection where she was recently put back in service hauling the TVRM's Missionary Ridge excursion trains this month.

The TVRM is also working on restoring 101 year old former Southern 2-8-2 Mikado #4501. Given the Baldwin's Southern Railway ancestry, it's also highly likely that the #4501 would also be made available for Norfolk Southern excursions and specials.

Ohio Central 4-6-2 #1293 preparing to depart the Indigo Lake station in North Arkon, OH in September 2008. Peter Bowler photo

OHIO- Northeastern Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley announced that they will be holding their 'Steam in the Valley' event, with Ohio Central's former Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 reportedly doing the honors on September 8th..

This would mark the first time since the Genesee & Wyoming's 2008 acquisition of the Ohio Central that locomotives from the former OHCR system would be operating. With GWI's acquisition in 2008, former OHCR CEO Jerry Jacobsen began working on building a roundhouse from scratch from a 34 acre lot in Sugarcreek, Ohio. Although the 2008 transaction with Genesee & Wyoming's included all the modern equipment, Jacobsen retained possession of the OHCR's steam fleet and some vintage rolling stock while construction began on the Age of Steam roundhouse. Interestingly, although Jacobsen had reportedly carved out a provision to retain possession of all ten steam engines, the Age of Steam Roundhouse reportedly has no plans to operate excursions over the OHCR, instead oping to allow tourist lines to make use of some of the former OHCR fleet as well as operate over the Ohio Central for break-in runs and transiting to another tourist line. Apparently the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic is the first railroad since the Genesee & Wyoming takeover to borrow one of the former OHCR's steam loco from the Age of Steam.

Interestingly, since former Canadian Pacific #1293 is no longer part of the Ohio Central's steam fleet, the locomotive will reportedly revert back to its Canadian Pacific lettering. Since the GWI takeover of the Ohio Central, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's Nickel Plate Berkshire #765 has put in a couple of appearences for the Buckeye State scenic railway.

Started up in 1972 on a former Baltimore & Ohio branch between Cleveland and Arkon, OH, 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of CVSR operations through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The historic line dates back to 1880 and much of its route parallels a former Ohio & Erie canal and towpath.

This Year's Final Train of Thought- Charging into the New Years; Dec 31st 2009

For some many of us, 2009 is a year that we can't wait to see come to an end. High unemployment, a crappy economy, pontificating pols jetting off to Europe or Brazil to preach about how our daily commute was melting the polar ice-caps and don't even get me started on that multi-trillion dollar turd of an entitlement program that Congress rammed through on Christmas Eve day when they thought nobody was watching.

But through it all, one should remain steadfast and resolute. Sort of like Ohio Central SD40T-2 #4025 leading a coal train down some middle-of-the-street trackage in Dresden, OH as photographed by railpictures.net contributor Chris Cook on a snowy December 2007 afternoon. Despite the slow speed of the train hauled by the #4025 and its brethern, there is no doubting who has the right of way.

Today's Train of Thought- It's Going to Be a Super (7) Day; Oct. 25 2009

Today's Train of Thought features one odder creations to have come from General Electric's Erie, PA factory in the last 20 years- the experimental 'Super 7' series. The Super 7s were basically heavily rebuilt 'Universal' series locomotives that were traded into General Electric for newer Dash 8 locomotives. Instead of scrapping them completely, GE decided to keep the frames and trucks and give the vintage trade-ins new motors and carbodies. It was only marginally successful- with the Monongahela Railway being the only domestic customer for an order of what was essentially eleven heavily rebuilt ex-Western Pacific U23Bs [U= Universal; 23 = 2300 HP; B = 4-axle wheel arrangement]. However, the Super 7 series generated some interest south of the border, as Mexico's Ferrocarriles Nacionales Mexico (the then state-run railroad) ordered close to 100 to be rebuilt from their retired U36Cs as well as some former Delaware & Hudson and Southern U33Cs and Milwaukee Road and Union Pacific U30Cs. This fleet survived the subsequent privatization of Mexico's railroads and was included in the fleet of TFM (Transportes Ferroviaria Mexicana- now Kansas City Southern de Mexico) and can still be seen operating anywhere between Veracruz and Chicago. Some of the Super 7 demonstrators found their way north to a new home on Quebec ore-hauler Roberval & Saguenay, as well.

Within a few years of ordering the Super 7s, the Monongahela was taken over by Conrail. Conrail, in turn, was split between CSX and Norfolk Southern in 1999. The Super 7s dutifully served Conrail and CSX before the latter decided to sell off the oddities. Takers for the 11-unit fleet included the Providence & Worcester, Ohi-Rail, the New Castle Industrial Railroad, Arkansas & Oklahoma and Ohio Central. On a bright August 2008 day, railpictures.net contributor Mike Mautner caught OHCR B23-S7 #4093 and a sister Super 7 heading up the Coshocton-Zanesville, OH 'Steel train' across the Tuscawaras River bridge in West Lafayette, OH.

Since this photo was taken, shortline operator Genesee & Wyoming announced their acquisition of the Ohio Central railroad. So it's entirely possible that besides wearing the paint of Ohio Central, CSX, Conrail and the Monongehela, the 4093 might also be wearing G&W's trademark orange in due time.