The Diamonds At Marion

CSX Transportation; Mario, Ohio; May 19, 2014

This is the third and last installment of our current series on busy railroad junctions in Ohio. In previous posts we spent a night at Crossroads Park in Deshler and visited the abandoned tower at Leipsic. Today we stop in at the town of Marion.

The center of the action is Marion's Union Station, located where two north-south lines cross an east-west line. From the east, the Erie and Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis ("Big Four," a New York Central subsidiary) shared tracks across the diamonds. The Erie and Big Four split after the diamonds continuing west. Today only a stub of the Erie remains to the west, while CSX uses the Big Four. The easternmost of the north-south lines is the former Pennsylvania Railroad and is now used by Norfolk Southern. The westernmost north-south line is the former Hocking Valley, now used by CSX. Union Station sits south of the Big Four with platforms for all three lines.

I arrived with my brother Bruce at Marion at about 2:00 on May 19 and we were soon greeted by an eastbound train on the Big Four led by CSX AC4400CW No. 15, which we shot rattling across the ex-Hocking Valley diamond (above). A few minutes later, a local freight came down the Hocking Valley behind CSX No. 2308, a former GP30 converted into a road slug.

CSX Transportation; Marion, Ohio; May 19, 2014

After about a half-hour lull, Norfolk Southern got into the action on the ex-Pennsy. C40-9W No. 9924 came south with a grain train, passing restored AC Tower. the tower sits adjacent to the station.

Norfolk Southern; Marion, Ohio; May 19, 2014

Another half hour later and the sun had swung around favoring westbounds on the Big Four. CSX obliged by sending a train across the diamonds, passing AC Tower and Union Station. In all, it had only been an hour and half since the first train showed up, and we wound up with trains on all three lines. More from Marion can be found here.

CSX Transportation; Marion, Ohio; May 19, 2014