Re: PC: Sandusky line

[Blue Moon Network Administrator <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 1 Dec 2001 AGO3 -AT- aol.com wrote:

> Last weekend I was traveling through Ohio on I-80 and got off at the Sandusky 
> exit.  I headed north on I beleive Rte.250 (not sure).  A short distance 
> north of there was a rail line going east-west.  Is this a former PC or 
> Conrail line?  If not , then what rr is it?
> 
> There is a fairly new looking Days Inn right on this railroad with many rooms 
> facing it.  The inn's building parellels the railroad.

There are two lines left in Sandusky.

The east-west line is the former NY-Chicago Lakeshore "North" mainline of
the LS&MS, later NYC, from approximately current day MP 238 to MP 242. It is
impossible to chase on this line, the trains will win from anywhere to
anywhere else almost every time. Find a spot and set up and shoot.

At CP 242 the ex-N&W, exx-PRR line from Bellevue to the Sandusky coal docks
intersects the NYC main. It's not far from Rt 4 for much of the way from
Bellevue to Sandusky and is pretty good for chasing. Well planned, you can get
a train at 3 or 4 locations and when you get to Bellevue you are rewarded with
a still functioning PRR position light signal right off Railroad St, but how
long that will remain in sevice is unknown. The fact that it remains in
use more than 25 years after the line went to the N&W is nothing short of
amazing!

NYC MP 242 was also the location where the Lake Erie & Western (NKP/N&W)
from Fostoria and Fremont and Big Four line (NYC/PC) from Tiffin and Clyde
interchanged with the LS&MS/NYC main at the east end of Sandusky Yard. PRR
called it "Bay Jct" and called their Sandusky line the PO&D on official
diagrams. It must have been a hopping place at one time and the best
railfanning spot in the area by far. NS just recently single tracked PRR at
the CP 242 diamonds, but they still run two high nose NKP SD9's (in NS whining
nag black paint) on the dock transfers to to their small yard on the PRR. If
you ever drive Rt 2 past Sandusky, that's the yard you cross over which is
always busy with Roadrailers and coal hoppers/gons.

The B&O also went into Sandusky, running north from Willard. It crossed the
NYC main at approximately MP 240. Almost no evidence remains today of the B&O
in Sandusky and south to Willard. You _really_ have to look for it.

The Sandusky exits on I-80 are either Rt 250 (east side) or Rt. 4 (west side)
and both will eventually get you to the Central main. Of course it is all NS
now. Rt 4 will take you almost right to the LS&MS station which Amtrak still
uses, although unstaffed. It's a very nice station in use today by an
ambulance/EMS outfit. It's right across the main from the modest NYC
Sandusky Yard and directly between CP 240 and 242. At MP 239.3 is the Sandusky
defect detector which gives warning of westbounds from CP 242 and west at CP
251 is the Gypsum dragger which announces eastbounds.

Of course the best time to railfan the NYC in this area is from 11:30PM to
4:00AM, that's when the NS traffic really rolls and Amtrak 29, 30 and 48 are
due through. 48 even has a Sandusky station stop scheduled for around 1:40AM.

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr.       Blue Moon President & Network Administrator
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