Hello everyone! On the final Saturday of October, Cincy Railfan Productions and I ventured on up to Marion Union Station in Marion, Ohio, in what would be another memorable day of railfanning. This railfanning adventure like the many others I have taken this year both to Marion and other locations was one to remember thanks to good traffic volume and a fortunate handful of special interest locomotives. For my third and quite possibly final trip to Marion in the year 2023, this was in my humble opinion the best of the three trips to Marion Union Station.
This day of railfanning got off to a great start with a rush of eight trains in a span of 2 and a half hours. Norfolk Southern kicked off the action with manifest train 178 heading up to Bellevue, followed by two pairs of meets for NS and CSX. Twice in the same morning, we witnessed a CSX coal train running on the Columbus Subdivision and a Norfolk Southern train simultaneously passing through Marion. The first meet featured a loaded CSX coal train and NS intermodal train 267, and the second meet featured NS intermodal train 277 and an empty CSX coal train. In between the meets, Norfolk Southern sent northbound manifest 119 and southbound manifest 18M, while CSX sent their eastbound manifest M364. M364 is one of my favorite trains in the entire CSX system, as well as my favorite of the CSX trains in Marion, as it always features a plethora of older and/or unique boxcars, and today was no different. Today's M364 featured a brand new Ferromex grey boxcar and a brand-new Union Pacific yellow boxcar.
Shortly after M364 passed through, we got our first great catch of the day with NS AC44C6M 4005 leading a southbound intermodal, train 270. 4005 was the first special-painted rebuild I caught this year since 4002 back on my Pennsylvania trip in August, and my first time in a long time catching one of these locomotives leading. This was one of two great catches in a row as the next intermodal train, 28N to North Carolina, featured a trio of Dash 9's. Norfolk Southern Dash 9's are sadly becoming a sight more and more uncommon these days as NS is slowly but surely rebuilding these fine workhorses of over 25 years of service. Needless to say, catch them while you can since they won't be around too much longer.
After CSX intermodal I008 passed through, the early afternoon was unfortunately bit of a dead period, especially on CSX. Thanks in large part to the ongoing UAW strike and work stoppage, traffic on the CSX Indianapolis Line is down rather noticeably. A third of CSX's total traffic on the Indianapolis Line is autorack traffic to and from Louisville, and thanks to the strike at the Louisville Ford plant, CSX has been unable to send the usual flow of autoracks. That said, Norfolk Southern traffic managed to keep us entertained with northbound manifest 19W, autorack 11E, and a southbound tanker train. CSX did send through westbound manifest M331 which significantly more autoracks than usual, a likely byproduct of the auto-strike.
The mid-afternoon presented itself with perhaps the most fortuitous catch of them all; a trio of old engines heading off the Larry's Truck and Electric. The three engines were an ex-BNSF SW switcher, an ex-Union Pacific SW switcher, and the grand prize of them all; an ex-Southern Pacific SD45. At long last, I have finally caught an ex-Southern Pacific locomotive on film, and a rare locomotive at that. All three units are part of a large-scale equipment movement on CSX rails to Larry's Truck and Electric (LTEX) that was ongoing in late-October. The three were originally on manifest M360 to Indianapolis, then switched onto today's manifest train M332. To say this was the best catch of the year is a massive understatement, one that tops all the heritage unit sightings of the year.
The remainder of the day more-or-less featured three of the usual trains one can expect to see on a typical afternoon. First, eastbound autorack train M204 (a significantly shorter one), then northbound NS intermodal 273 with double-DPU locomotives, and finally westbound autorack M217. Today's M217 did give us a good surprise with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie (P&LE) emblem unit 3173 leading the train. This marks my first time thus far seeing this unit. CSX did send a nice bonus of eastbound autorack M276 to Baltimore, passing through by a grade crossing amidst the Ohio countryside, making a pretty good ending to a great day of railfanning.
All in all, this was my best day of railfanning at Marion Union Station of this year. It will likely be a little while before I return to Marion, Ohio, as I have other places on my bucket list to visit in the near future, but I will certainly make a return or two within the next six months.
As always, thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!
-N&W475.