Hello everyone, and welcome to my second video of the year from Marion Union Station in Marion, Ohio! Today's footage is from Saturday, January 19th, and was the second day of weekend railfanning here in Marion. I originally planned on heading to Deshler on this day of railfanning, but due to the heavy snow from the day before, I decided to stay here and see what I could get. My decision to stay here in Marion was a pretty solid one as the traffic was better for both railroads on this day of railfanning, especially for Norfolk Southern.
This day of railfanning kicked off with a classic NS Dash-9 combo leading northbound train 170 to Conway. The iconic Dash-9 duos are sadly a slowly dying breed as Norfolk Southern is rebuilding these iconic engines in earnest. It is hard to imagine saying that five years ago. Following 170, NS sent train 119 from North Carolina with an ACe leader that provided one heck of a hornshow, and 18M came through not too long after that. 18M was surprisingly short, though it did include an old-school Chicago North Western green boxcar near the rear of the train.
As for CSX, the action on the Indianapolis Line on this morning of railfanning was pretty good as well. CSX sent a late intermodal I007 with a special "DO NOT HUMP" boxcar and a noticeably long train, possibly the longest I007 I have ever seen. Next on the Indianapolis Line came a rather early M331 from Cumberland (M331 usually is an afternoon train) and a surprise M204 came through not too long after that. I had to catch M204 at a bit of a weird angle as I did not see it until I was halfway up the stairs of the AC Tower in Marion. Normally, I film trains near the top of the on the Indianapolis Line but due to not seeing the train until the last minute, I had to settle on filming it from the stairs instead.
After M204 and the morning rush, Marion experienced quite a traffic jam on the NS Sandusky District. The Sandusky District is known for being one of the busiest single-track mainlines in the United States. Thanks to growing intermodal demand in Columbus along the NS Heartland Corridor, it has gotten busier. In the past few months, Norfolk Southern has added four intermodal trains (270 and 271 from Chicago, 272 and 273 from Detroit) to carry trains to Columbus. While we all enjoy seeing more trains, the addition of these four trains has stretched the line between Bellevue and Columbus rather thin in terms of capacity. As a result, delays and traffic jams on the Sandusky District are becoming more commonplace as seen in today's video.
The early afternoon kicked off like usual with intermodal 28N passing through, and then the traffic jam began when Norfolk Southern sent "The Beast," aka train 779. Train 779 is a massive coal train that runs to North Carolina via West Virginia, and it receives this nickname thanks to the large amount of engines it has. Today's 779 had a total of seven engines, (2x3x2 configuration), and the train is so long it cannot fit in the sidings that are north and south of Marion. Thus, all other trains had to sit for quite a while. After "The Beast" passed on through, Norfolk Southern kicked off the afternoon parade first with manifest train 178 to Bellevue. 178 had to stop just after crossing the diamonds to finally allow intermodal train 266 with BNSF power to pass on through. Believe it or not, Norfolk Southern dispatch held up 266 at the north Marion siding for almost two hours before allowing it to continue due to traffic congestion between Marion and Columbus. Daily Manifest 18W to Winston Salem, NC, also finally got the green to head south with a respectable consist, and last but not least in this parade of trains, manifest 116 came through with a short consist. Manifest 116 and its counterpart 117 are the newest manifest trains along the Sandusky District and they work all the small yards between Portsmouth and Bellevue. These two trains pick up the extra cars for the bigger trains, and one of these cars was a rare Illinois Terminal Covered Hopper! Though heavily faded, I could still see the "Illinois Terminal" and this was by far my best catch of the day, aside from the Dash-9 combo.
Oddly enough, despite all the action on NS, CSX was rather quiet with the exception of the northbound grain train on the Columbus Subdivision. I am not too sure as to why the Indianapolis Line was so inactive this afternoon though CSX occasionally does have days where that line is not so busy as it should be. Some days you can't win them all, though I will put this day of railfanning in Marion in the win column as it was a pretty entertaining day overall. Hopefully the next time I am in Marion I will catch another heritage unit or at the very least more fallen flag rolling stock.
Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!
-N&W475.