I was now solo for the reminder of the trip and left Romulus, Michigan at 5:40 AM and made my way down to Ohio Highway 20, which I took east. I stopped for petrol and hot cakes and sausage at McDonald's before driving to Bellevue and an early morning return to the Mad River and NKP Museum. I had used Google Earth and located some of their other equipment which I did not see on my last visit here.
The Mad River and NKP MuseumOne of the earliest railroads that ran through Bellevue in 1839 was the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad and the first engineer of the "Sandusky", Thomas Hogg.
The Mad River & NKP Railroad Society, a non-profit organization, chose this as part of our name when we formed. In 1976 we opened the museum as a lasting bicentennial project. Henry Flagler, who built the Florida East Coast Railroad once lived on the property where the museum is now located.
NKP is the AAR reporting mark for the Nickel Plate Road (New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company) which ran through Bellevue from 1882 until 1964 when it merged with the Norfolk & Western Railway. Bellevue was a hub for the Nickel Plate operations and a division point for the railroad's Buffalo to Chicago route. Bellevue housed the principal classification yards, the largest roundhouse in the system, all maintenance of way equipment for the road, the principal icing station, an engine terminal for both diesel and steam, headquarters of the general superintendent, and facilities that were used by four of the Nickel Plate's divisions.
New York Central E8A 4070, later Penn Central 4321, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963. This is privately-owned and not part of the museum.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 4714 "Silver Dome", the first dome car built in the United States used on the Train of Tomorrow. It was built by Budd in 1940 as Chicago, Burlington and Quincy coach 4714 "Silver Alchemy" and was converted to a dome car in 1945.
Outside-braced box car 9078. Full identity unknown.
PPCX baggage car 3939. Identity and history unknown.
Ringling Brothers & Barnum Bailey Circus Blue Unit 157? Identity and history unknown.
New York Central 10-6 sleeper 10123 "Lebanon Valley" built by Budd in 1949.
Amtrak bi-level coach 9619, nee Chicago and North Western 708 built by Pullman in 1958
Southern Railway 150 crane D70 built by Industrial Works in 1926 and currently numbered 903010. I left here and parked near the new equipment which was not on display during my last visit in 2006.
France Stone Company 45 ton switcher 1776/1976 built by General Electric.
Illinois Central coach 2640, built by Pullman Standard in 1947, which is privately owned.
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western electric multiple unit 2545 built by Pullman and General Electric in 1930 and lettered Erie Lackawanna 3545.
Atlantic Coast Line 6 double bedroom-lounge-buffet "Sea Island Beach" built by American Car and Foundry in 1949. It later became Seaboard Coast Line 6606 then Amtrak 3226.
Northstar Steel Cargill Michigan Division S-5 864 built by American Locomotive Company in 1954.
New York Central baggage car 9110 built by American Car and Foundry in 1946.
New York Central snowplow X665 built by Russell in 1943.
New York Central System freight house.
A refrigerator car. History unknown.
Norfolk and Western baggage car 1375, nee Wabash 354 built by American Car and Foundry in 1926.
Chicago and North Western RSD-5 1689 built by American Locomotive Company in 1954. This locomotive moved to the Illinois Railway Museum in 2014.
San Luis and Rio Grande 6-3 sleeper "Donizetti" built by Pullman in 1924. It was sold in 1967 to Ruben Darby of Darby Wood Products and much later, became San Luis and Rio Grande 9167.
Pennsylvania Railroad 45 ton side arm pusher locomotive 2 built by Atlas Car in 1920 and used on the coal docks in Sandusky.
Norfolk and Western caboose 557981 originally Illinois Terminal 981, built by St. Louis Car Company in the 1950s.
Nickel Plate diner 104 built in 1927 and converted to Norfolk Southern maintenance-of-way car 920494, built by Pullman in 1927.
Baltimore and Ohio caboose C2424 built by the railroad in 1941.
Southern boom car 930019 and Norfolk and Western derrick crane 514900.
Norfolk Southern SD9 52, nee Nickel Plate 349 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1957 painted as Norfolk and Western 2349. Now I walked over to the museum I saw before and photographed through the fences this early wet morning.
Wabash F7A 671 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1951 as Wabash 1162.
Milwaukee Road H12-44 740 built by Fairbanks Morse in 1954 as 2322.
Norfolk and Western RSD-12 329, built by American Locomotive Company in 1957.
Nickel Plate Road GP30 900 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1962.
Museum view. I heard a horn and walked over to the grade crossing.
Norfolk Southern 8383 East going through Bellevue, Ohio.
The Pennsylvania Railroad tower in Bellevue built in 1946. I returned to the car and headed east down the highway.
I came upon Sunrise Farmers Co-Op 25 ton switcher, ex. Monroeville Co-Op Grain, nee Continentnal Power and Light 3640, built by General Electric in 1947 at Sunshine Elevator in Monroeville. The track to the Monroeville elevator is on the right-of-way of the old Baltimore and Ohio Sandusky Branch. The tracks were taken out in 1979-80 when the line was abandoned, but put back in in 1993 to serve the elevator. This line is also connected to the old Wheeling and Lake Erie line now part of the 'new' Wheeling in Monroeville.
I pulled off the highway west of Wellington at the Lorain and West Virginia Railway. They are a scenic railway located in Lorain County originally built to serve the heavy industries in Lorain. It is now owned and operated by the 501(c)(3) non-profit Lake Shore Railway Association. We offer seasonal train rides with historical 1950's era equipment from our train depot in Wellington, Ohio. Organized in 1979, the non-profit Lake Shore Railway Association was formed to try and save the Lorain & West Virginia Railway from abandonment. Since that time we have purchased approximately 20 of the original 25 miles of that railroad. Operations began in 1993, and we have currently rehabbed the southern six miles of track, with hopes of continuing northward.
Lorain and West Virginia Railway E8A 101, ex. Wisconsin and Southern 801, exx. Metra 522, nee Chicago and North Western 5021B built by Electro-Motive Division in 1950. It was acquired in in 1997 and was repainted and upgraded for high speed operation in 2002.
The head of the train.
Lorain and West Virginia Railway coach 2919, nee Long Island Railroad 2919 built by Pullman-Standard in 1955.
Lorain and West Virginia Railway coach 2938 nee Long Island Railroad 2938 built by Pullman-Standard in 1955.
Lorain and West Virginia Railway coach 2932 nee Long Island Railroad 2932 built by Pullman-Standard in 1955 and caboose 90293, nee Chesapeake and Ohio 90293 built by American Car and Foundry in 1949.
In 1853, the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad began operations in northern Ohio. A series of mergers in 1869 resulted in the TN&C becoming part of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Slated for demolition, the Lake Shore Railway Association joined forces with the Nordson Foundation to save this historical building. The depot was disassembled piece by piece and moved to its current location in Wellington in the late 1990s. This former LS & MS Oberlin freight depot, built in 1853, lives on serving our organization.
When I crossed the CSX tracks in Wellington I saw a train that stopped for a red signal west of town.
CSX 6071 West just sat there, but I had to move on. I took Ohio Highway 58 back to US 20 East, which took me to Interstate 71, which got me on Interstate 90 and through Cleveland. East of there I saw a CSX train with pure CSX motive power so I drove Ohio 2 east to Willowick, found a grade crossing and set up for pictures.
CSX 5221 East at Willowick. From here I took Ohio 2 east to Ohio 44 South, back to Interstate 90 to Exit 218, and stopped at Wing Thing to get some wings to go. It was then east one exit and the road into Jefferson, Ohio where I parked for the last of Bart Jennings' rare mileage trips.
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