A Chilly Winter Day of Railfanning in Fostoria, Ohio, at the Fostoria Iron Triangle. 1/14/2024.

Hello everyone. On January 14th, 2024, I ventured up to the Fostoria Iron Triangle Railpark for the first of two days of railfanning over MLK weekend. I had two consecutive days off of work, and decided to enjoy that weekend with some railfanning at one of my favorite hotspots. This day of railfanning was a fun yet polarizing one; the train action was good yet the weather was bad. This day of railfanning was quite possibly the coldest day of railfanning with temperatures in the single digits, and the windchill did not help matters. I mention this because as a disclaimer, as the subpar weather affected my camera and shook my lens quite a bit while filming. Nevertheless, I did my best in catching the action here at the Fostoria Iron Triangle.
This day of railfanning got off to an incredible start with one of the rarest sights on the rails; a pair of ex-Union Pacific SD60s headed to Larry's Truck and Electric (LTEX) in Eastern Ohio. Fun fact, both of these units (UP 2388 and UP 2436) previously worked for the Indiana and Ohio (I&O) Railway, a shortline in Greater Cincinnati. These two units arrived there in 2021 to serve as "bigger power" for the shortline and have been replaced with newly-acquired Dash 9's for BNSF. The first of these two units is a "Triclops," a rare sight on the railroads in 2024 as most Triclop SD60Ms have retired. To say this was a great catch is an understatement and was quite unexpected on today's manifest M560 coming from Cincinnati. My only regret is not getting a better angle of the two units but you work with what you can get, and I am satisfied with the video I got of these two great engines.
In addition to M560, there were six more CSX trains to pass through Fostoria and on the Willard Subdivision. Manifest M559 from Cleveland was the first train of the day to pass through, followed with intermodal I150 to Detroit, manifest/autorack M200 to Walbridge, CPKC intermodal train I166, and a coal train heading south onto the Columbus Subdivision. All these trains are more or less the typical trains one will see in Fostoria on a given morning.
The afternoon saw a good handful of CSX intermodal trains, starting off with the ever-on-time I010. Without fail, intermodal I010 to New York is the train with the single-most consistency in terms of being on-time. Following I010 for CSX were four other intermodal trains (including M151 from Detroit and I137 from Baltimore) and a pair of CSX manifest trains (M369 and M367). Today's manifest M369 was the best train of the afternoon and featured some pretty great rolling stock. The notable rolling stock on today's train included the rare car on a flatbed (a BNSF grain car on a flatbed) and a handful of ex-Southern and ex-Norfolk and Western Hopper Cars. The BNSF grain car was due for maintenance and showed signs of needing repair, but was nevertheless a great catch.
As for Norfolk Southern, today was a surprisingly slow day for NS action on the Fostoria District. Throughout the whole day, the Fostoria District only saw a grand total of just four trains; the steel local to Leipsic, intermodal 28N, a westbound autorack, and an eastbound grain train. I am not sure as to why Norfolk Southern sent so few trains on this day of railfanning, but many of the trains on the Fostoria District are long-distance trains and run on variable schedules. 28N and the local train are seemingly the only trains with a consistent schedule here in Fostoria. Hopefully Norfolk Southern will restore train counts on the Fostoria District, but only time will tell.
Overall, despite the frigid cold, it was another fun day of railfanning at the Fostoria Iron Triangle. The catch of the two ex-Union Pacific SD60s certainly made my day and I was rather pleased with the CSX action I caught. Here's to hoping for more great days of railfanning in the year 2024!
Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!
-N&W475.

[@railfangabrielstrains]

Awesome Catches

[@NW475]

Thank you!

[@railfangabrielstrains]

@@NW475 Your welcome!!

[@VirginiaRailfanProductions]

Good job Patrick! What software do you use?

[@NW475]

I’m using Wondershare Filmora these days.

[@VirginiaRailfanProductions]

@@NW475 Got it, maybe that’ll be my next step. Is it for free?

[@NW475]

Sadly not there’s a purchase fee and a yearly subscription fee on top of that.

[@VirginiaRailfanProductions]

@@NW475 Aw man, I can’t afford that right now unfortunately