Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special video featuring the many trains of the Fostoria Iron Triangle and Fostoria, Ohio! Back in 2016, I uploaded my first "Trains of Fostoria, Ohio" video that featured a full day of railfanning action and all of the trains that pass through this legendary junction in a single day of railfanning. Today's video is the official sequel, and I am happy to say this day of railfanning was one of my best days of railfanning, both in terms of train action between CSX and Norfolk Southern, and in terms of special catches. In a span of 11 hours, I saw a total of 36 trains and four CSX heritage/special units! The heritage units included the Pere Marquette (CSX 1899), New York Central (CSX 1853), the Spirit of Magnolia (CSX 454) and the CSX Operation Lifesaver (CSX 4658).
This was the busiest day I had at the Fostoria Iron Triangle in a number of years. NS kicked off the day with manifest 302 to Bellevue featuring a number of rare rolling stock, including Reading and Northern, Norfolk and Western, and Family Lines Covered Hoppers! After 302 came through, it was all CSX for the next hour. CSX manifest trains M567 and M267 passed each other on a rare zipper meet on the Pemberville Subdivision, and surprisingly, the old C&O line was rather busy this morning. A CSX coal train came through next on the Columbus Subdivision and manifest/autorack M225 passed through shortly after the coal train. After 90 minutes of no action on the Fostoria District, westbound NS autorack 11E rolled on through with a one-unit wonder.
An eastbound intermodal train on the Willard Subdivision kicked off the first exciting part of the day with non-stop action on the old B&O mainline. The Spirit of Magnolia (CSX 454) came on through with a rather long M506 from Cincinnati that featured some old rolling stock from the 1990s. In particular, a pair of Conrail boxcars and an Illinois Central covered hopper. Right behind Spirit of Magnolia came the Pere Marquette Heritage Unit (CSX 1899) on intermodal train I161 to North Baltimore. This was my first time catching the Pere Marquette on camera and it is definitely one of the better heritage units CSX has, and is one of the only heritage units to feature a passenger paint scheme instead of a freight paint scheme. CSX would follow up I161 and the Pere Marquette with five more intermodal trains (including the daily I010 and I150 coming through at their regularly scheduled times) and manifest M368 to Selkirk, New York. Norfolk Southern sent two more trains in the late morning and early afternoon timeslot; daily intermodal 28N and the daily steel special local train featuring an uncommon GP60.
CSX would continue non-stop action on the Willard Subdivision with a cavalcade of manifest traffic. M566 to Buffalo kicked off the afternoon action with a YN2 leader and a rare Oregon and Northwestern RR Shortline boxcar. M565, the counterpart of M566 to Chicago, came by with a rare MOW equipment car in front and had a perfect meet with M558 to Willard. Manifest M367 to Chicago and M209 to Louisville came back-to-back not long. In all this time, NS had just one train; westbound manifest 303 with BN and KCS covered hoppers. CSX would continue dominating the afternoon after 303 with four consecutive trains; a mega Union Pacific oil train, the Coke Express (B157), M561 to Cincinnati with an SD70MAC leader, and best of all, the New York Central Heritage Unit (CSX 1853) leading manifest M560 to Selkirk. Admittingly, my shot of the NYC unit was not as good as my shot of the Pere Marquette, but I am sure glad I saw it for the second time this year.
For the second time this day, I saw back-to-back special CSX locomotives. After M560 passed with the New York Central leading, the Operation Lifesaver SD70MAC (CSX 4568) came southbound on the Pemberville Subdivision with L457. Interestingly enough, this train would kick off a good deal of action on the old C&O mainline. After L457, intermodal I151 came round the connection and met the second westbound coal train of the day, and not long after that, L456 came north as well as a grain train with Chessie System and Family Lines cars! This was the busiest I had seen this particular line in years, and even Norfolk Southern picked up on the action. NS sent their second eastbound intermodal of the day, 270 to Columbus with an SD70ACe leader, had a grain train working out of Blair Yard, and sent manifest 15Q with a Dash 9 combo! It was great to see the Fostoria District finally come alive, and even better to see a pair of classic Dash 9s working the premier manifest train of the line. The final train of the day was G110, the daily grain train that always has BNSF power.
To say this day was one of my best days in Fostoria is an understatement. Four heritage/special locomotives, 36 trains, and plenty of great rolling stock made for a terrific day at the Fostoria Iron Triangle. Thanks for watching, and I enjoy the video!
-N&W475.