Went up to Deshler and Fostoria, Ohio this past Saturday and had an awesome trip. On the way up US 23 just north of Delaware, I passed under a stopped NS freight on the Sandusky line between Columbus and Bellevue. Going over the route again on the north side of Marion on US 23, there was a stopped southbound NS freight under the highway with a second southbound approaching in the distance.
Arriving at Deshler, things were quiet for about an hour, and then things got busy with a westbound intermodal meeting an eastbound mixed freight meeting at the park…
A westbound tanker train…
An eastbound tanker train that had stopped west of town…
An eastbound grain train turning south…
An eastbound mixed freight…
And an eastbound intermodal.
I then headed east to Fostoria. Going across the CSX tracks at Hoytville, I saw a westbound intermodal pulling out of the North Baltimore yard. Unfortunately, it was too far away to trigger the signals for me to wait.
Arriving at Fostoria, I saw a westbound NS mixed freight stopped east of Town Street and the signals on CSX lined for a train to head west, which turned out to be a southbound CSX intermodal turning west.
After that train cleared, the NS freight was cleared to go through, stopping eastbound and westbound CSX intermodals. What made this move unusual is that CSX trains, especially intermodals, usually get priority through town over NS.
I then headed east of Fostoria to Tiffin (just missing an eastbound on CSX lined to turn north) to pick up a pizza at