A Nickel Plated Adventure

On Sunday I see a post on Facebook stating that the Nickel Plate 765 would be passing through Fostoria yesterday to head to her next excursion.  I was excited about the prospect but I was waffling on whether or not I would take the day off.   Finally on Monday, I decide to take the day off.  Then on Tuesday, I find out that she wouldn't be passing through Fostoria but instead would be taking the route through the northern part of Ohio.  That required a little research on my part in order to figure out where the best spots to catch her would be.

 The first place I thought about was Bryan, Ohio.  There is a train depot there and it looked like good sight lines towards the track.  But then I saw a tweet from them that they were going to be running late, so  I decided to head over to Butler, Indiana to catch her a little earlier.

 Before leaving, I had to get a picture of this Norfolk-Southern train that was just waiting there.  This kind of confirmed my idea of the picture here.  Sadly, I wouldn't make it back here to catch her.

 A shot of the cabin.

 I got to Butler and then figured it out that it would be a little longer to wait for her.  I decided to grab some lunch but there was only a Subway and McDonalds.  I opted for the McDonalds.  Then I saw a tweet that said she was waiting in Saint Joe, Indiana.  I headed there but just missed her, so I headed back to Butler and caught her there. 

 Diesel engines are cool but there is something special about seeing a steam engine in action.  With the huffing and buffing, it is almost like a living creature.  Granted, one that is made out of steel but still.

 I hate to think of just how much coal this goes through and how much pollution it is creating.  But man, it is fun to watch.

 I found another spot, but it wasn't quite as nice.

 As I was heading out of town, I was behind a pair of people that were pacing her.  I didn't want to pace her, I wanted to pass her so that I could get pictures elsewhere.  I finally got ahead of her and was able to get this picture.

 After that picture, there were detours and I wasn't able to catch up to the Nickel Plate in Byran, so  I decided to get a couple country pictures.  I have no idea where I took this (even with the GPS) but I liked the picture.

 A shot of the baled hay.

 The Nickel Plate had a crew change in Toledo, so I was able to catch up to her again near the Amtrak station there.  I had a little bit of a wait but the line is fairly busy.  This gave me an opportunity to test the shot.

 And I'll have to say that I liked the vantage point here.  I might have to go train watching here again.

 After about an hour wait, the Nickel Plate reappeared out of the yard.  There were several people waiting on the bridge but there were plenty of spots for all.

 I'll have to say this was probably my favorite spot of the day.

 The train came right under us and you could feel the heat from the engine.

 And to answer the coal question....alot!

 Then I decided to head over to Sandusky Bay.  The few times that I've taken Ohio Route 2 to Cleveland, I remember passing by this bridge.  As I looked on Google Maps, I found a place where I could take pictures and it was pretty nice too.  There was a passing train that gave me an idea that this was a pretty good spot.

 There was a nearby airport, so I managed to get an airplane shot.

 And then this heron passed by.

 It wasn't long for the Nickel Plate to appear and I really liked the pictures from here.  Especially since she had a full head of steam.

 The water helped a bit too.

 And you can make out a little of Cedar Point in the background.

 Next I headed over to Wendy Park in Cleveland because I thought I'd have a chance to catch her there.  I turned out that she stopped for the night just before Cleveland and when she resumed, she didn't pass Wendy Park anyway.  I knew what the view would look like but I thought it would be cool with a steam engine going over.

 And a couple shots of Cleveland.

A shot of the Terminal Tower as an exclamation point.

All in all, I had fun trying to chase down the Nickel Plate, I was hoping to catch her in a few more places but it's tough and I really didn't want to break any traffic laws to do it.   Hopefully I will be able to catch her on the way back to Fort Wayne but it sounds like that's going to be a while.