Great Train Chase!

[Randy]

Some of you that like to follow trains and take pictures of them might get a kick out of this story....

Back in 1971, I was a year out of high school and a year into college. During summer that year, I went railfanning in the town I would end up living in 10 years later. Conneaut used to be a bustling place back in those days. There was a dispatcher's office at Mill Street, and most crew changes took place there. An eastbound rolled to a stop in front of the dispatcher's office with 5 N&W SD-45s, the crew got off the lead unit and hopped into a yellow Chevy Suburban that would take them a couple blocks west to the yard office. The new crew took their grips and headed for the lead unit #1704. After waiting for what seemed like 20 minutes, the engineer made a couple blasts of the horn and started to move. I'll never forget the sound those 5 SD-45s made as they grabbed that frieght and headed east. The ground shook! What a magnificent sight! As the lead unit headed out onto Conneaut Trestle, I looked down at the Pentax Spotmatic camera hanging around my neck and realized in the excitement I had forgotten to take any pictures!

[daveh]

There I was for 90% of the story wondering when you were going to post the photos!

Nice story, Randy.

[pompiere]

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my computer one morning, and I heard a train whistle on the tracks that run about half a mile from my house. As it got closer, I realized that it didn't sound quite right for the diesel freight trains that normally run on the Norfolk-Southern line. It sounded more like a steam whistle. As it passed by an opening in the trees, I saw that it was a big steam locomotive, pulling a diesel locomotive and some passenger cars. I found out later that it was this train: www.toledoblade.com/local/2012/07/16/Lima-built-steam-locomotive-to-return-to-area-for-special-trips.html Like Randy, I missed the photo opportunity. It was neat seeing such a big steamer in action, though. I have seen big engines up close in museums, and smaller ones running, but never a big engine like that under power.