Doing Some Aerial Trainspotting

 I was thinking about heading over to Grand Haven on Sunday.  The Great Republic was coming in but then I got to thinking about the crowds that would be there, so I decided to head down to Ohio instead.  There was a special treat waiting for me in Bellevue.  More on that in the next post.

As I was thinking of heading over to Grand Haven, I got as far as M-52, so I decided to take it down to Ohio.  I remembered that it would land me west of Deshler, so I ended up making a stop in Deshler first.  I didn't see any trains when I got there, so I headed east to Fostoria.  As we got to North Baltimore, I saw a train heading towards Deshler, so I headed back there.  I arrived in time to catch it.  I was using my drone but I wasn't expecting it to come down this track, fortunately, my drone moves fast enough.

One of these days, I would like to catch a northbound train and this watertower.

A shot of the old train station.  It would be nice if they would make an effort to restore this.  I could see a restaurant/viewing area here but I have a feeling it will get torn down first.

The tower there.  I think CSX still uses this for storage.

These posts are kind of out of order.  After Deshler, I made a stop in Fostoria.  I didn't hear any trains, so I moved on.  I had bigger fish fry.  After I fried those fish, I headed back to Fostoria and I arrived in time to catch this train.  I recognized where the whistle was coming from, so I was able to get my drone in position.

Again, I was not expecting it to make a turn for the other track.  But I liked the way this was illuminated.

And it heads to the west.

This train was coming from the south.  It also ended up heading west.  I was not expecting this, so I had to hurry my drone over here.  Fortunately, I caught it in time.

And one more shot.

A train coming from the west.  I anticipated this one.  So I was able to get this shot and I was fairly happy with this shot.

It passes the F tower.

A Norfolk Southern train heading to the east.

A Stop in Deshler

 So I went down to Deshler on Sunday.  It has been a while since I've been there and I wanted to try out my drone there.   I figured it would be a good place to test my drone with trains.

While I was waiting for the first train,  I decided to take some pictures of the depot.  I think the depot is owned by CSX but it would be nice to see some group take it over and restore it.

The former F tower here.  This has been replaced by a a more or less central dispatch.  I think they still use it for equipment storage and stuff.

One of the nice things about the drone is that I can get angles of things that I wouldn't normally be able to get.

Another angle of the tower.

Another angle of the depot.  It would have been nice to see this in its hey day.

A shot of downtown Deshler.

Looking south down the tracks.

It wasn't long before a train appeared.

This trian was heading eastbound.

I kind of like this shot.

It had an engine in the middle of the train.

It was followed by a westbound train.

I cropped this a little bit.  It is a Union Pacific Engine.  I should have shot to the side to get the art on the side.

And another one.  It seems like train watching at Deshler is feast or famine.

One more shot of it.

I decided to switch to my other camera.  I was hoping this train would pass in front of the Depot.  It ended up heading south.

Just some different angles of it.

I like this livery.  It was the livery I saw in Cumberland.

The almost straight shot.

And it continues to the south.

I like it when I can get a sense of place.
 

A Stop in Deshler

So last Sunday, I decided to head down to Deshler.  It has been a while since I've been down there.  The weather was a little on the cold side.

 It wasn't too long before the first train appeared.  It was an east bound CSX train.

 I kind of like the picture of the signals.

 Even though we saw this train as we were heading into town, it still snuck up on us.  We were waiting in the car to kind of warm up.

 But I still got a decent enough picture.

 We caught one more east bound train.

 This is probably my favorite train livery.

And it continues on to the east.

Return to Deshler

On Sunday I decided to head down to Deshler.  It has been close to two years since I've been down there and I was kind of missing it.

 It didn't take too long for a train to appear.

 It was a Union Pacific train heading towards the east.   It was carrying auto racks.

 I'm not normally a fan of stern shots for anything, but I do like this one.

 I think I like this one even more.

 Then I heard the distinctive sound of a train horn to the south.

 It was a CSX engine pulling some rail equipment.

 I think they are installing new rails somewhere.

 And some of the rails.

 And my cats namesake, the Chessie System.

 It wasn't too long before another train appeared.

 This one looked like it was carrying coal cars.  This one was heading to the north.  I think it would have been heading towards Toledo.

 Another train heading to the east.

 And one heading to the west.  According to one of the people at the park, CSX is looking to demolish both the tower and the train station.  I hope they keep the tower at least, you don't see too many of those around.

After a friendly wave from the conductor.

I didn't want to stay long because I got a late start and I didn't want to get home too late.  I saw this train again as I was heading back to the freeway.  It was carrying container cars and I think it was heading to the container loading place in New Baltimore, Ohio.