Any railfan who’s been to Ohio knows Berea is a must stop site for railfanning. Berea is basically the funnel for CSX and Norfolk Southern as they head west. Both Norfolk Southern’s Chicago Line and CSX’s Short Line Subdivision are former New York Central and Conrail trackage. Norfolk Southern is Milepost 194.0, and CP 194 is right here. CSX is at milepost QDS 21.7. Berea Tower still stands in the middle, as does the Berea Union Depot (more on that later).
It really started in Harborcreek, PA while trying to find breakfast. As we pulled up to a crossing, Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited blazed out of its Erie, PA stop eight minutes late, and that was all we would see until we got to Ohio.
Nearly two hours later, while driving down I-71 to head into Berea, we noticed a train on Norfolk Southern's Chicago Line near the Brook Park Metro Stop. It was 34N, with NS ES44AC #8100, the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit, leading a former ATSF SD75M. 8100 was having cab signal issues and would need a leader with cab signals to bring the train to Conway. After a quick U-Turn, we went back, took a few shots, then went off to Berea.
We rolled over the Front Street bridge to see a headlight appear on Norfolk Southern, so it was a frantic race to the tracks. After a few minutes, it was NS 205 from Buffalo heading to Chicago, with D9-44CW #9934 leading ES44DC 7686 and SD60E 7006. Moments later was Q393 from Selkirk to Chicago, with CSX 829 and CSX 359 at the helm. Q393 was a massive 177 cars on this day.
It was a 34 minute wait before NS 27R with NS D9-40CW 9380 rounded the bend under the Front Street bridge. After a few minutes, CSX Syracuse to Columbus Intermodal Q123-14 rounded the bend with CSX ES40DC #5265 leading ES44AH 727 and ES40DC 5316. CSX furthered their parade with Q022-15 from Columbus to Worcester with ES40DC 5360, AC4400CW 323 and its L&N emblem, and ET44AH 3258, followed by Q378 from Columbus to Selkirk with D8-40CW 7710 and AC4400CW 381.
It didn’t take much longer for more traffic to appear. At 11:03am, NS 26R, from Toledo to Buffalo, cleared CP-194 with NS ET44AC #3630 flying solo, sounding its horn for the foreman who was inspecting switches. Six minutes later, CSX sent another eastbound, this time an unidentified manifest, with ES44AH 953 leading ES40DC 5223. Less than ten minutes later, NS sent an intermodal westbound, with a six unit consist. D9-40CW 9959 lead D9-44CW 9913, SD70M-2 2758, D8-40CW 8347, and D9-40CW twins 9267 and 9190.
It was an eighteen minute wait for NS 21G-15, enroute from Harrisburg to Fort Madison, Iowa to round the bend. The power tapped for this one was NS ES44AC #8043 and ES44DC #7643. After this, it was off to lunch, which wasn’t far away.
Our lunch was at the Berea Union Depot, now converted into a restaurant. We requested a trackside seat. And sure enough, 15J, which had sat in Brook Park most of the morning, rolled west. It met 22K a few moments later. A third train came, a westbound NS manifest, with a NS Dash 9, UP SD70M, a UP ES44AC, and another NS Dash 9 rolled by. After lunch, it was time to go back trackside.
It wasn’t too long of a wait, at 12:39pm eastbound Fostoria to Doremus, NJ Autorack train 18N rounded the corner with SD70M 2617 leading ES44DC 7704 and D8-40CW 8375, the engineer giving us a horn salute as he went towards Rockport Yard. Sixteen minutes later, it was NS 20R, enroute from Chicago to Elizabeth, NJ with SD70ACe 1117 leading D9-40CW 9430. As soon as 20R cleared Berea Tower, NS 23K, enroute from the Pan-Am Southern in Ayer, MA to Chicago, rounded the bend with ES44DCs 7507 and 7567 sandwiching D8-40CW 8365.
It would be a thirteen minute wait until NS 414, oddly a westbound, rounded the bend with SD70ACe 1096 leading D9-40CW 9088, and a good sized train of loaded coke.
Around 1:15pm, NS 145 pulled up and stopped short of the tower to wait for 24W. Meanwhile, CSX Selkirk to Cincinnati Autorack train Q225 rounded the bend with SD50-2 #8616 leading D8-40CW 7708. Not too much longer after Q225’s passing, 24W, running from Chicago to Croxton, NJ, rounded the bend with SD70ACe 1146 and D9-40CW 9104 doing the honors, with a short train in tow.
After 24W’s passing, 145 was given permission to proceed west towards Kansas City, MO, its final destination. At the helm were Kansas City Southern ES44AC #4793, in the Southern Belle scheme, leading KCS Gray Ghost #4578.
It would be nearly an hour before CSX Q166 finally appeared. This is the Canadian Pacific’s Chicago to Montreal intermodal that uses CSX tracks as a faster route. At the point was CP ES44AC 8859, and CIT Equipment Finance Corporation (CEFX) AC4400CW #1031. This then opened the floodgates.
Moments after Q166’s passing, NS 206, a Chicago to Mechanicville, NY intermodal, rolled by with SD70ACe 1079 and D9-40CW 9868 at the point. The engineer gave us a horn salute as he passed. As 206 rolled by, Q357, enroute from Dunkirk, NY to Willard, OH, snuck up on us with ET44AH 3308 leading ES44AH 704, AC44CW 159, D8-40CW 7305, and rebuilt GP38-3, 2027. Moments after, Conway, PA to Decatur, IL manifest 35N headed west at CP-194 with NS 9415 leading NS 9354 and NS 3386, a freshly painted SD40-2.
Nearly a half hour later, high priority Chicago to North Bergen, NJ intermodal Q010-15 shot by with CSX ES40DC twins 5489 and 5263 leading ES44AH 3093. Adding on another half hour of waiting, NS 20E rolled towards Rockport Yard with SD70ACe 1091 leading D9-40CW 9595, and D9-40C 8812. The NS standard cab Dash 9s are becoming a rare sight, as most are being retired, pending a rebuild into AC44C6Ms. As 20E rolled by, CSX loaded ethanol train K662 flew by with UP SD70M 5147 and AC6000CW 7337.
At quarter after four, NS 21Q came by as it went to Chicago from Harrisburg with SD60E #7009 leading SD70M-2 2676, and SD70ACU 7286. 7286 was rebuilt from UP SD9043MAC 3511 (formerly UP 8058, per NSDash9.com). Finally, 16G, from Elkhart to Allentown, PA rolled by with a Dash 9 trio of 9444, 9937, and 9885. After that, it was off to dinner, then the long drive home.
On the way back home, we made a stop to Madison, OH. This is CSX QD142.6 on the Erie West Subdivision, and NS B143.8 on the Lake Erie District. We were preparing to leave when we heard a crackle on the radio. After a short wait, it was Q157, intermodal from Kearny, NJ to Chicago, IL. At the helm was AC4400CW 560 and ES44AH 3086. Shortly after, our final train, NS 316 came into the picture. We set up so that we had the former Nickel Plate Road depot in out shot. The depot was slated for demolition, and was in very rough shape. Our wait was not long, as ES44AC 8149 and D9-40CW 9624 rocketed by Madison with NS 316, heading to Buffalo.
That would do it for this amazing trip, which saw 29 trains, a personal record for a single day outing. A total of 15 hours including the drive to and from home.
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EPILOGUE:
About two weeks after our visit to Madison, the former NKP passenger station and freight depot were demolished. A sad ending to two historic structures.
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