Life and Times of a urban railfan

 I'm back, Really I didn't go anywhere just haven't had to much to write about in the past few weeks. While trying not to complain, the simple fact is I just got plain fed up with the scene here in Akron and Barberton. The construction of the new sewers and the Interstate has pushed most of us into a mile long stretch of track while I try to do new shots and be creative it doesn't always pan out, honestly just too many railfans in one area to suit me, plus I seem not to be in the top twenty percent of the favorites around here so couple that with a gas needle that didn't work, a bad wheel bearing, and a boss that seems to think I waste my time with the trains I was at my breaking point. When one reaches his or her breaking point there is only two options for them to choose and that is fight or flight, one can choose to fight through the discouraging situation or they can choose to do something different, I chose the latter. During the past month or so I happened u...

The Friday before this past Friday began my return to what I consider a normal schedule, for the most part work has taken up most of my time trackside and had cut into my other train hobbies pretty severely. So  Wednesday afternoon I get off work and go get gas and begin the drive to my usual spot where I park, the weather wasn't the best it was windy and cold ( need I mention that we had tornado warnings at 6 in the morning) so the weather was definitely not the best. Tired and beat down from work some hope had sprang through when some of the clouds began to clear and the sun came out but that was short lived. The first Train to cross my path was the Z-640 while I was crossing over the mill street bridge from getting gas, a quick right turn and down to Summit street to catch the ABC Railway crossing Summit street on it's way back to Brittain yard with the daily freight. The Conductor climbs back on board the 1502 after lining the switch back to proceed East After the A...

               To say the least the past couple of weeks have not been my favorite, in my last blog I talked about how my new year was off to a great start and how I expected great weather, well my friends that just has not happened yet. Almost every day this month including my birthday it has rained, only the first week in Jan did we have some snow and very little did we have, before the nice heat wave that came along with this wet weather. Shooting in the rain in the winter months is a challenge in itself, low sun angle coupled with a thick cloud deck only adds to ones lighting sorrows. The only time the light is good is between the hours of 1:00 and 3:00 the rest of the time it is too dark and having a lack of trains during suitable daylight hours creates its own problems. Along with this weather my work schedule has not been kind either to my passion and had lead to me being depressed and down. However today I p...

    Happy New Year to all of my friends and followers here on my Blog.  To say I will not miss 2016 is a understatement, while it had it's ups and downs I am just glad to be into the new year 2017, a new 365 page book that I get to write and I already have written an awesome first page. It is sometimes considered a old wives tale that how you begin your new year is how it will be. If it is any indication of the things to come just from yesterday I am going to have a epic year ahead. Let's begin on how my new year began, I spent the evening in church like I have been doing for the past 16 years and then I got up and went to service the next morning. Yesterday morning it was superb weather for January and not a cloud in the sky. After church I went out trackside to catch one or both trains out running, the Q299 and the L389  (I was fortunate to catch the latter), what better way to bring in the new year than with a mixed freight led by a clean SD70AC in pe...

        With the rear of 2016 in the clear and the headlights of 2017 in full view I begin to look back over the past year and where I was this time last year. As 2015 came to a close it was a year of hard change I lost a lot, how much I would rather not say. This year brought me a new vehicle a much needed asset in the train chasing realm. With my new addition brought about some new trips, it was this past spring on my first trip driving out to Bellevue Ohio with my buddy Dave that seemed to show the first signs of change for the better. One of the memorable moments from the trip was when we caught the Wheeling coming out in Monroeville Ohio I remember it greatly as I stood on the bridge of the former New York Central Eastbound track that was turned into a trail and provided me with this perfect shot as the train began to cross the river. Tigers on the Prowl in Monroeville  Later on in a few weeks of this picture would bring me to having...

     Some things bring about a memory, this one come while I was driving last Thursday on my way to help someone move some boxes out of the basement. While I was driving through the new interchange ramp I look over to the right and saw that what remained of the Akron Barberton Belt's East Akron  line right of way and the water department maintenance facility was totally wiped clean and nothing remained but a dirt pile. Let's rewind  25+ years ago back when I was about 9 or 10 I remember riding over to South street to a restaurant called the Bunn. It was about 1500 feet south of the water dept and the Beltline crossed directly in front of it and me and my dad would go for a cheeseburger and the hopes one of the pinkish yellow switch engines would traverse the line, and every once and a while  we would get a show when they made their way back to Barberton. Little did I know that in less than 5 years the tracks I would see these trains on would be nothi...

    One thing for certain is change is inevitable, Trains change tracks, direction, and symbols so it should be to no surprise that eventually I would have to change the format of my blog. I made the changes due to wanting to simply make the blog better and easier to read on mobile devices. Also I just got sick and tired of trying to keep the description and links from running into the pictures or the actual writing. Like when trains change tracks a bulletin is issued giving a detailed description of what changes the crew can expect so hopefully this post can be as such. Let's take a look  at some of the new changes......... Screen shot with some Descriptions For you desk-toppers, or those who have a laptop and read my post from them there are some neat features to look at. The first feature to the left is a side bar featuring all of my post from the most recent all the way back to the beginning. Also another neat feature is to the right the little black bar,...