After another restful night at the Knights Inn and the now usual continental breakfast, this time Chris Parker and I did not walk to the Holiday Inn to board the bus to Dennison. Instead, we drove to Dennison which put me near the first in line to board the train. Today's trip would be a diesel trip west to Morgan Run, then we would pick up Ohio Central 4-6-2 1293, a former Canadian Pacific steam engine from Steamtown, which would take us west to Newark, turn around and return us to Morgan Run, where our diesels would return us to Dennison.
The excursion today will operate from Dennison to Newark and return. We will be heading west out of Dennison over the former Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle mainline. Twenty-five miles west of Dennison (Milepost 115) was the site of the fatal troop train wreck in 1960. A cross at the site and a monument to the soldiers who lost their lives is in the town of West Lafayette next to the tracks at the main road crossing.
The Morgan Run shop is three miles west of the troop train wreck site at Milepost 118. The Morgan Run shop is the main locomotive shop repair facility of the Ohio Central Railroad. Most of the Ohio Central's many diesels and steam locomotives receive major repair and minor upkeep here. A short stop will be made here to pick up passengers that took the optional shop tour. The track coming in from the north side of the train is the former Wheeling and Lake Erie Zanesville Branch, part of the early Ohio Central system.
Four miles west of Morgan Run shops, we will turn almost due south through the town of Coshocton. This is the corporate headquarters of the Ohio Central Railroad. In the middle of town, you will pass the former passenger depot that now houses the railroad dispatcher and trainmaster's offices (Milepost 122.8). Just after leaving town, you will see the one-storey brick office building on the left side of the tracks. This is the home of the corporate offices of the railroad. The large industrial building beyond the office is known locally as St. Regis and serves as a transloading facility and Ohio Central freight car repair shop. Ohio Central tracks on the hillside beyond all the buildings are the parallel tracks of the old Wheeling and Lake Erie Zanesville Branch, which we crossed at Morgan Run.
Seven miles west of Coshocton is Conesville, the home of an American Energy Power coal-fired power plant which is serviced by the railroad twice daily with two 54-car coal trains coming from various mines on the railroad. It is accessed off part of the former W&LE trackage.
When arriving in Newark (Milepost 158), you will come to a yard used for switching operations on the west end of the railroad. Here, the train will be turned on the wye and the steam engine watered for the return leg of the trip. You will cross over a diamond, which is the former Baltimore and Ohio railroad running from Zanesville to Mount Vernon. The Ohio Central Railroad currently operates the line.
While waiting to board, the exact same trainset from the trip on July 18th was parked at the station with Ohio Central 7220 and 271 for power.
It is not every day you can photograph an Alco C424 leading a passenger train! This is former Erie Mining 500 built in 1964.
Once the train was spotted, I boarded and chose a pair of seats, saving one for Chris, in my usual car, Pennsylvania Railroad RPCX 101. Our train departed Dennison on time at 8:30 AM, on what started to be another hot and humid morning, and we started our new mileage as we rolled west.
Passing the 1877 Pennsylvania Railroad Dennison depot and proceeding out of town on the way to Newark.
A mile out of Dennison, we crossed the former Baltimore and OHio line to Cleveland, that R.J. Corman owns but does not currently use.
Our diesels rounded a slight curve on their way to Morgan Run.
We travelled through the all-too-familiar Ohio countryside and I have truly enjoyed all of the green seen on these trips so far. We made our way to Morgan Run where we would pick up the steam engine, tool car 5012 and passengers who had taken the shop tour this morning. The diesels were cut off and put into a siding, then Ohio Central 4-6-2 1293 took over control of our train.
We passed the Morgan Run Shops which Chris Parker and I planned to tour on Saturday morning.
Ohio Central 1293 rounded the curve as we left the Morgan Run yard then went through Coshocton, passing both the former Pennsylvania Railroad depot and freight house which we would see on the return trip.
Just west of town, we passed some more stored railroad equipment then travelled by a large grain elevator and the Clow Water System Company plant which makes ductile iron pipes. Next we passed the American Energy Power coal-fired generating station at Conesville then on the former Wheeling & Lake Erie tracks that ran to the south of us, were miles of stored freight cars. On the highway to the north, we all enjoyed watching the train chasers drive and the Ohio Highway Patrol officer following the pack.
It was then announced that there would be a photo runby at Trinway, Milepost 138, where the Ohio Central line takes off south towards Zanesville, and on this line is one of the mines from which Conesville receives coal. The steam engine pulled into Trinway and we all detrained.
I walked to the front of the train for my first picture of Ohio Central 4-6-2 1293, nee Canadian Pacific 1293 built by Canadian Locomotive Company in 1948. In 1964, 1293 was purchased from the Canadian Pacific by F. Nelson Blount and moved to his Steamtown USA museum in Bellows Falls, Vermont. The 16-year-old 4-6-2 needed only minor repairs to get it under steam again, and soon 1293 (relettered Green Mountain RR) was pulling short tourist trains at Steamtown. It also was used to pull the Vermont Bicentennial Train during 1976, and, temporarily renumbered "1881" to appear in the 1979 horror movie "Terror Train". In 1984, the engine was moved to the new Steamtown site in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but never operated at that location. Jerry Jacobson acquired this steam engine in 1996.
The whole train, while the passengers were still detraining. I met the official convention videographer, Joe Harper, and exchanged information with him then walked back and started a photo line which everyone respected and used.
The reverse move.
Photo runby one was fantastic. After we all reboarded, we received our lunches, car by car, half a car at a time, which worked a little better than the first excursion.
Later we passed the Longaberger corporate headquarters in East Newark. They are a manufacturer and distributor of handcrafted maple wood baskets and other home and lifestyle products. The company opened in 1973, and its handcrafted baskets were a popular home decor item in the 1980's and 1990's. Founded by Dave Longaberger, the family-owned and -operated company used multi-level marketing to sell its products. It was one of the primary employers in Dresden before it moved to Newark in 1997. Its former corporate headquarters on Ohio's State Route 16 is a local landmark known as the "Big Basket", which is built to resemble the company's top-selling product, the "Medium Market Basket", the seven-story edifice is a well-known example of novelty architecture.
Our train steamed into Newark, where conventioneers could get detrain while it was being turned for the trip back to Dennison. Knowing that if I was the first person off, and walked quickly, I could get a picture of the front of our train, get back on before the last person got off, then I could ride as we turned the train.
My plan worked and I made it back on just before they were going to move the train. I love it when a plan comes together.
To turn the train, we had to pull forward to access the track to our south.
At the westward point, the switch was thrown and we started down the other track.
We were able to see the track that we would return on to complete the turning of our train.
Before the crossing, we turned south but would cross it on our move north.
Our next move took us across the line we came in on.
We curved to the south entering the former Baltimore and Ohio line that went from here north to Sandusky on the shores of Lake Erie and south to Marietta.
A friend from Dennison on Monday, Rick Franklin Corporation B23-7 4202, ex. BNSF 4202, exx. Metro-North Commuter Railway 803, exxx. Metro-North Commuter Railway 1905, nee Conrail 1905 built by General Electric in 1978, was in the yard to greet me.
We pulled south to the north end of the yard and after the switch was thrown, started north with Ohio Central 1293 pulling the train again.
We pulled across the crossing and then down far enough to clear the switch where we would start to reverse around the other leg of the junction that would take us back to the Panhandle Line.
Once we reversed and cleared the switch, we stopped while Ohio Central 1293 took water and was serviced, then it was time for our on-the-ground passengers to return to the train.
While we waited, a light engine move consisting of Ohio Central C30-7 7133, SD40 4602 and GP35 2913 went east.
Ohio Central 1293, now serviced and watered, pushed us back onto the mainline and we were ready to depart Newark. The weather was turning nasty with dark clouds moving in and gusty winds. I was on Stormwatch! Could we stay ahead of this storm?
Just before we departed, Ohio Central GP35 2912 brought a local over the same tracks we had just been on.
The Licking County Courthouse.
We departed at 2:02 PM with Ohio Central 1293 working hard and it was announced that there wouuld be a photo runby at Trinway, weather permitting. I relaxed in my seat for awhile before riding in a vestibule the rest of the way to Trinway.
We detrained and I made the photo line just as a bolt of lightning hit the earth north of us. Not knowing how long we would be here, I photographed the steam engine as the day grew darker. The rain started with half the passengers on the ground then a second bolt of lightning overhead caused the crew to cancel this photo runby.
Knowing that it would take a few minutes to get everyone on the train, I ran down for a picture just as the sky broke loose with a downpour. The temperature dropped as I returned to the train through the first open door I could find.
This is what it looked like about the time that the photo runby would have occurred. It poured and the NRHS convention staff and the Ohio Central Railroad crew made a good call. Here at the junction we had to wait for a coal train to go south. While we waited, lightning hit a transformer on a pole and exploded, something one does not see everyday.
The coal train came with one locomotive on the head end and two on the rear.
The stacks of the Conesville Power Plant could be seen through the rain.
We continued on, passing the former 1930 Pennsy freight house and depot, in Coshocton.
Ohio Central 1293 steamed the final lap through the yard back to Morgan Run.
At the Morgan Run shops, Ohio Central 1293 cut off and diesels picked us up for the return to Dennison.
The Morgan Run shops.
A line of steam engines behind the shop buildings.
It was now time to say goodbye to Ohio Central 1293 and the shops until Saturday morning.
An Ohio Central GP10 and caboose on the line to Sugar Creek, which would be Saturday's excursion. I returned to my seat and enjoyed the last miles back to the Dennison Depot.
Everyone detrained after an excellent steam train excursion on the Ohio Central Railroad. Chris and I went straight to the car and back to New Philadelphia stopping at Applebee's for dinner, where I had a steak and salmon combination meal, which was excellent. We returned to the Knights Inn for a very deserved rest. Tomorrow, a driving tour of Ohio with the main stop being the Made River and NKP Museum in Bellevue.
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