January 2021 Railfanning in Fostoria, Ohio; A Great Day of Railfanning at the Iron Triangle Railpark
Vložit
- čas přidán 22. 01. 2021
- There is perhaps nothing more awesome in all of railfanning than watching trains dashing through a beautiful canvas of fresh snow on a wonderful winter day.
Hello everyone, and welcome to a most special video production of N&W475! On MLK Weekend 2021, I visited the legendary railroad town and railfanning hotspot Fostoria, Ohio, in hopes of a great day of railfanning. Thankfully, those hopes were indeed fulfilled in what turned out to be perhaps the best day of railfanning I’ve had at the Fostoria Iron Triangle Railpark in nearly 3 years. This day of railfanning was absolute superb; a day filled with a combination of beautiful winter weather, an abundance of action from both railroads, a plethora of foreign power, and best of all, heritage units from both respective railroads.
The day began with a bang at 7:30 with the first meet of the day between a CSX coal train coming off the Columbus Subdivision meeting CSX manifest Q200, the daily manifest between Gibson, Indiana, and Walbridge, Ohio. This was the first in three train meets between CSX trains for the next two hours, the most action-packed I’ve seen CSX in Fostoria in over a year. After 9 a.m., Norfolk Southern ran the bulk of their fleet of trains along the Fostoria District, starting with a westbound autorack featuring two foreign power units: A Union Pacific SD70ACe and a Canadian National SD70ACe. Norfolk Southern would follow this up with NS manifest 12Q led by a UP ET44AH, which runs between Elkhart, Indiana, and Bellevue, Ohio, and CSX would follow up 12Q with another train off the Columbus Subdivision, this time a unit grain train.
The next hour of railfanning, between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m., would turn out to be one of the absolute best and most exciting hours of railfanning of my life. The hour of fun began with NS manifest 14Q, one of two manifest trains re-routed onto the Fostoria District within the last year. To my great surprise, 14Q was running with a DPU. Though Norfolk Southern DPU trains are nothing new, this was the first ever NS DPU train I’ve ever seen here in Fostoria. Traditionally, Norfolk Southern almost never ran DPU trains of any kind on their line through Fostoria, but nonetheless, it was interesting to see. After all, as the old saying goes, there is a first time for everything.
Shortly after NS Intermodal 234 passed through town, the great catch of the day rolled through town. To see a Norfolk Southern AC-to-DC Special-Painted unit leading a train is a treat any day of the week. To see a Norfolk Southern heritage unit on a train is even better. But what’s better than both of these? Seeing both types of units featured on the same lashup of the same train. On this day of railfanning, NS intermodal 218 passed through the Iron Triangle with NS AC-to-DC AC44C6M 4004 and the Interstate Heritage Unit ES44AC 8105 (a.k.a., the creamsicle). This was my first time seeing both of these amazing units, and my first time catching two Norfolk Southern heritage units on one single train. There is no better place I’d rather catch my first double-heritage train than right here at the Fostoria Iron Triangle Railpark.
The day only got better from there, as CSX sent one of their own special units on CSX Q213, the daily autorack train between Cumberland, Maryland, and Detroit, Michigan. Leading Q213 on this day was the Western Maryland Emblem unit. This was my first time seeing the Western Maryland unit and only the fourth emblem unit I’ve seen in all my years railfanning CSX. Incredibly, this CSX emblem unit was the very next train right after NS 218 came through with its two heritage units. 2 trains, three heritage units. How about them apples? No place I’d rather see it happen than right here in Fostoria, Ohio.
The remainder of the day played out like a typical day in Fostoria with many of the regularly scheduled trains passing through, but one last amazing catch for CSX was the SD70AC on Q151. Q151 is the intermodal counterpart to CSX train Q150, and interestingly enough, CSX has designated some of its remaining SD70AC’s to service as the motive power for train Q151. As for Norfolk Southern, the last good catch of the day was the BNSF ES44C4 leading manifest train 15Q, the daily train between Portsmouth, Ohio, and Decatur, Illinois. 15Q is the manifest counterpart to 14Q, but unlike 14Q from this morning, 15Q did not feature a DPU unit. Even so, it was a nice final train to end the great day of railfanning with.
At the end of the day, 27 trains in eight hours of railfanning. Through the traffic levels might not be what they once were in Fostoria, but the traffic was still pretty good, the action was interesting, and best of all, the catches on display were superb. Without a doubt this was my best day of railfanning at the Fostoria Iron Triangle in a long time, and I hope to be back up to this grand old location not too long from now.
Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!
-N&W475. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Awesome video!
Thanks Caleb!
Im going today! Hopfully i see some good units!
Have fun up in Fostoria and hopefully you see something good!
Love your content
Thanks man!
@@NW475 your welcome sir
When I was a kid and lived on Seneca Ave., there was MUCH less use of the wyes and more straight through traffic on the C&O, B&O, and N&W. The only use of the wye was at night from the N&W to the B&O.
Very cool. Ironically the wye from the N&W to the B&O is the wye that is least used these days.
Do a summer video in Fostoria
I got plenty summer videos of Fostoria from over the years.
Engine trouble at the 121 mark?
Yes indeed.
@@NW475 I could tell the lead engine was the doing all the work
Oh it was. And it was bad. The rear engine wouldn’t start up.