Fresh Paint Interlude

August 14, 2006
I was on my way back from Corning when I saw the familiar triangle of lights as I passed over the Ohio Central near Crooksville. So I turned around and found a spot to take a picture. I had not taken a lunch break, so I thought I could take a few minutes to watch a train. It had just finished raining, and the sun was doing it's best to evaporate the puddles, creating a mist that hung overhead like a veil.

I found a little crossing that I had never shot from before, and waited for the train, which was only creeping. I lined up a shot with a row of mailboxes in the foreground and waited for the train to roll into view. When it did, I was surprised how clean the leading locomotive was. Then I noticed the number.

4027? Evidently the OC had renumbered one of it's former Southern Pacific tunnelmotors, and repainted it from it's gray and rust scheme.


Not even the trucks were dusty. I decided to run south and get another photograph, as the sun was threatening to come out, and I wasn't all that pleased with the white, featureless sky in the mailbox photo.

I just needed to wait for the rest of the train to pass. Which of course, was a nice thing to have to wait for.

The trailing locomotives appeared around the corner, first a big blue former Conrail C36-7, and then a green, former BN C30-7. I had never seen the BN locomotive before, which gave me even more impetus to chase the train a little further.

I zipped down to the crossing at Tunnel Hill Road, maybe 2 miles away and waited.


The sun came out as the train neared, and lit the gleaming nose and the yellow house beside the tracks.



The train headed into the mist, and I shot it going away, hoping against hope the mist would linger long enough to watch the trailing engines disappear too. It was not to be though. The somewhat shabby C30-7 did look pretty cool though, as it slowly rocked its way south.




The next day I kept my eyes peeled for a northbound coal train, so see what train the gleaming tunnelmotor was leading. The next day's GLT had different power, thus telling me that the trio of interesting engines was an RHT, the Rehoboth Turn.