Ohio Hotspots Tour Pt. 1 Youngstown to Marion

"The Fiddler" and I spent most of a week hanging out at various Ohio rail sites to enjoy some "LARFing".  For the uninitiated that's "Lazy-Ass-Rail-Fan" -ing, complete with lawn chairs - as demonstrated by Charles ("The Fiddler") in the shade of Marion Union Station.

We had four big stops in mind but spent time in a few smaller stops on the way.  Marion, Deshler, Fostoria and Bellevue were our main targets but we wandered the likes of Youngstown, Akron, Galion, Crestline, Plymouth, Willard, and Bucyrus along the way.  The rail parks where one could sit for hours and see plenty of trains were the main focus.  There's no way to hit every interesting spot and really enjoy them in a few days, so this narrowed the target list nicely.

Part I...........Part II......... Part III..........Part IV


Charles and his wife were on the way home from Michigan so I met them on I-80 at Mercer, PA.  After Diane headed for home we went right for Youngstown, OH first.

I had planned out how to find the PRR and B&O depots as well as some Ohio Central facilities.  We found everything I had in mind but downpours dampened our desire to drive around any further.  The B&O depot, now a restaurant/caterer was crowded for a private event so we moved on without photos of the ornate building.  But we found some OHCR units and the PRR depot.  The PRR depot was of their modern design with tracks on a lower level behind the building.  It had been converted to a bus terminal out front and apparently its last use was as a fireworks store.  On the way back to I-80 we turned in where we saw Ohio Central power. The two rebuilt geeps and SD18 were as close as we dared get them.  Plus we had the clouds overhead.  Charles did a "drive by shooting" with my camera.  A short distance north of this spot was an abandoned engine facility with turntable, sanding towers and such.

Next stop Akron.  I had located the former Union Station which had been taken over by the University of Akron as their Buckingham Building and it looked like a good site to watch the moderately busy CSX Newcastle Sub.  We did see a few trains here from the street bridge immediately north of the depot.


This station, though given a face lift by the university, shows some modern PRR influence that B&O may have gone along with.  The concourse is intact but the platforms and stairs are long gone.

WB autoracks.

EB stone train.

The Erie had its own depot a couple of blocks away to the south of Union Station, behind the concourse over the stone train and the platforms appear to have connected. Erie/EL through tracks ran roughly where the grass strip is to the left of the autorack train.  They entered the scene straight from the north a bit to the right of where the converted silo is located in the autorack photo.  We caught these trains and were going to change location to the curve where the auto racks are in the photo.  What we found was a university lot, some Erie remnants and less good access to CSX than we expected to see.  We decided it was time to try out regional favorite Skyline Chili in nearby Stowe and call it a day.  We both had a lot of miles behind us at this point.














On Monday it was time to head toward our first target; Marion.  Just north of there is a cluster of rail and industrial towns we had to check out on the way.  Charles and I had stopped by Galion on the way to North Platte in 2012.  But, this time we had more time to wander and Crestline was so close by.  In fact, it was almost in sight.  We could see the head end of a northbound on CSX at Crestline, and the tail end of the same train was visible at Galion.  We located the former "Crest" interlocking downtown where the PRR main used to cross the former "Big Four".  The tower was located right by the nose of the NS eastbound.  We made our way over to the old PRR yards and found CSX everywhere since they initially bought the line west of here.  The photos shows you what I mean, plus there were CSX no trespassing signs down the length of the yard.  The PRR main west of here is now GWI shortline Chicago, Fort Worth and Eastern.  NS still owns to the east but retained trackage rights over GWI and CSX.  CSX built a connector to this yard back at the Conrail breakup. The photo of the NS train shows the connector, and the fact that NS is using those trackage rights. 

Crestline was a huge PRR town at one time with two large roundhouses and a big yard facility.  The "Broadway Limited" used to stop here.  Charles shot these remnants in a "semi-drive by" as there was little space to pull off.

After Crestline we wandered over to Galion.  The depot is so cool to look at and the former Big Four tracks were well lit.  We decided to sit awhile under the platform after Charles chatted with the hair stylist using that part of the building.  However, the tracks were being worked on by numerous MOW crews and we never did get to see anything (other than the distant train near Crestline) on any Big Four line at anytime.  At least we caught the north end of the building in favorable light this time.


As we headed into the next nearby town of Bucyrus, we found a grade crossing with flashing lights and caught a northbound NS mixed freight.  Next to the crossing was an MOW crew that seemed busy, possibly adding some capacity to the Bellevue/Sandusky line.  Looking the other way I spotted the edges of "Colsan" interlocking which would lead us to our next target.  And, behind us was the former Toledo & and Ohio Central yard.


Just down the road a block or two from this crossing is a gem in the form of a restored T&OC depot that has all the earmarks of a railfan park.  They have sheltered picnic tables and nice grassy access to live lines.  The PRR main now GWI's CFW&E passes through and connects with the former PRR/NW/NS Sandusky line which cross at "Colsan" interlocking.  The roadbed of the former T&OC is clearly visible through the lot and remnants of yard tracks stop short of the interlocking.  Rail contractor Transco uses the other end of the T&OC yard for their rail car repair shops.  I stumbled onto all of this using Google Maps on "satellite" mode before the trip began.

We caught a few more NS trains and a GWI track car before we moved on to the day's main goal of Marion Union Station.  Here we have trains moving through "Colsan".  The southbound TOFC is about to cross the former PRR main while the trailing unit is crossing the roadbed of the T&OC.  Someone has put nice vinyl fencing over the bridge there. Another northbound on the Sandusky line is passing the east/south connector to the former PRR main. Eventually it was time for a "coffee exchange" and something to eat.  We hit the local Wendy's downtown and moved on to Marion.  Part II next.

BC

Part I..............Part II.............. Part III..............Part IV