Conrail's last few years east of Fort Wayne (1997-1999)

During Conrail's final years they operated 2 regular trains east of Fort Wayne, Indiana out of Piqua Yard: the Decatur Local WDFW-1 and the "East Local" to Lima (WIFW-30). The RoadRailers on the Fort Wayne Line ran up through April 1999 until the Triple Crown facility in Crestline was closed and moved to Sandusky. The circus train mishap was a sad ending to the Conrail era in Fort Wayne. The damaged RBBX 42107 sat in Piqua Yard for nearly 1 year before it was removed. I believe both damaged cars and the locomotive were repaired and eventually put back in service. After CSX took over the line, WIFW-30 was soon known as C726. This was filmed on a Panasonic VHS-C analog camcorder. Thanks for watching! - Zeke.
00:13 - WIFW-30 does their normal switching at Van Wert, Ohio with a pair of B36-7s (CR 5047 and CR 5050) on September 25, 1997.
03:17 - In Delphos, Ohio on October 7, 1997 a pair of EMDs (CR 8149 and CR 3389) are on WIFW-30. Having just switched out the Central Soya plant, the train heads east to Lima.
04:39 - The same train passes Elida, Ohio with a friendly wave from the crew. I remember this section was good for 50 mph.
06:10 - Conrail RoadRailer RR-241 (or R-241 on the radio) passes NS Tower in Lima, OH with a single SD40-2 (CR 6433) leading on October 7, 1997.
07:26 - Same train above passing over the Estry diamond in Van Wert. The Greve car dealership hot air balloon was visible soon after I left Lima.
09:06 - Following R-241 into Fort Wayne, I catch up with them at the Paulding Rd. crossing, enjoying the clickity-clack as the train passes into the setting sun towards the Triple Crown Yard.
10:22 - The lighting is more "Fall like" on October 20, 1997 as we catch WIFW-30 cruising through downtown Monroeville, Indiana with CR 5065 and CR 5008.
11:30 - Same train passing Richey Rd. and the Conrail dragging equipment detector.
12:51 - Following to Van Wert, they come down the Cincinnati Northern (Van Wert Industrial Track) against some early Fall colors. Some motorists ignore the horn and flashers.
16:04 - WIFW-30 backs up across Estry and rejoins their train. Notice the position light changes to a restricting before they head west. I think the crew had to do something on the ground to make the signals change.
17:42 - Following east to Middle Point.
18:45 - On June 17, 1998 at NS Tower in Lima, Conrail YILI (the Lima local) heads west back to Cole St. Yard as a motorist disregards the warning lights at Pine St. You can see how bad the Pennsy track had deteriorated by this time. It looks like a bumpy ride. CR 3305 and CR 8215 pull a string of tank cars from the Lima refinery. To access the refinery Conrail came down the DT&I at Sugar St. and then used a portion of the old Erie Lackawanna main from SJ Tower.
20:05 - WIFW-30 comes through Monroeville on October 29, 1998 with CR 3285 and CR 3319.
21:00 - ** Conrail's Last Day - May 31, 1999 ** It started off badly with a mishap in Fort Wayne Piqua Yard. The Circus Train was handed to Conrail from NS and it derailed in the yard. One of the cars had climbed a switch. Fortunately there were no injuries. It was a rainy day and after I set up in Van Wert to catch the final Conrail train (Circus-500), it started pouring as it approached (no footage). I couldn't get ahead of it in Lima so I headed to Dunkirk, Ohio where I caught him passing the Pennsy Tower in light rain. LMS 736, CR 6406, and CR 6635 powered the train.

[@ChadQuick270W]

Great footage here. Thanks so much for capturing it. That hot air balloon was a nice touch. Monroeville at one time had double track and a siding that was remote controlled from Estry Tower. I’ve always liked the sound of that jointed rail. It’s just soothing to me. 👍

[@wmuzeke]

Thanks! Yeah, I think that was the only time I saw that car dealer's hot air balloon. It is amazing to think how busy the PRR used to be through there.

[@alexschmollinger6576]

Chicago Fort Wayne & Eastern Operates the line now

[@mccoy79productions66]

awesome

[@garynewell7072]

This is on the Ft. Wayne Division worked on maintenance out of Lima next to NS tower

[@westernmarylandrailway4006]

I was living in NW Ohio (Findlay) at this time and was a member of the Ada Ohio Model RR club. We were in the attic of the Ada Ohio PRR Depot. Was a thrill to see a train roar by the depot from the upstairs bay window. Of course, not a lot of traffic on the PRR at that time, but they had been running some Triple Crown Trains.

[@wmuzeke]

That would have been a nice vantage point. The RoadRailers, locals, and occasional grain trains were about it. Things picked up a little bit after the CR merger with CSX running a set of through-trains on the line and NS used it for a few years for some intermodal trains, too. Thanks for your comments!

[@joetarantine4075]

The circus train also rearranged its consist while in Crestline. There's a video somewhere of them passing Crest Tower on the Indy Line as they started towards Columbus. They would have backed around the new connection that was put in place at Crestline shortly before the split

[@wmuzeke]

I would like to see that video if you know where it is.

[@joetarantine4075]

@@wmuzeke kzbin.info/www/bejne/imiaY6B7ptJjl5I When the circus train heads off for Columbus, you can see the cars were in a slightly different order than how they were when shot at Dunkirk

[@wmuzeke]

Thanks for the link. It is interesting seeing more footage from that day. I see what you mean. They moved the flat cars and auto racks to the other end. Also, in the opening shot it looks like they are doing some switching on the PRR side east of the diamonds. I am wondering if they dropped part of their train in the old Triple Crown yard, while they did the switching to the east - then rejoined everything and shoved north onto the Indianapolis Line. They must have spent quite a bit of time there. At least the rain had quit when they filmed there, but the photographer had the advantage of being under that bridge. It was raining pretty intensely that day.

[@joetarantine4075]

@@wmuzeke Hope you have more good stuff to share soon!

[@wmuzeke]

For sure. Stay tuned....

[@TrainsOhio]

Great clips!

[@wmuzeke]

Thanks!

[@logandetwiler4483]

Long live Conrail!!!! Gone but not forgotten

[@christopherdibble5872]

Trackside; the engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954,but you see them wave?

[@wmuzeke]

I still get quite a few waves these days. It's tough to see with the tinted windows sometimes, though.

[@christopherdibble5872]

You eye, really nice to hear that, my friend God bless those engineers.

[@christopherdibble5872]

You're right, but are they waving at just cellphones? Or sincerely.

[@heatherjenkins1009]

Rest in peace to a great rail road

[@thedenverrailfan1985]

Miss conrail horns. Great video

[@wmuzeke]

Thanks. Agreed about the horns!

[@doubleutubefan5]

I was a toddler during these years.... I have some..... strained faded memories of these units

[@wmuzeke]

That's a pretty good description of my memories of Penn Central...

[@ChadsRailfanExperience]

Man, how much more would I have caught had we had social media flowing operational heads up back in that day!

[@wmuzeke]

Yep. eGroups was pretty good back then, but you couldn't check it while trackside and I still had dial-up. Word of mouth and a scanner were still the way to find out what was going on.

[@thekentuckyrailfan]

I wish conrail would come back the only conrail I have seen is 8098

[@wmuzeke]

Yeah. Definitely one of my favorite HU's!

[@thekentuckyrailfan]

@@wmuzeke yep at least I caught t leading

[@jamielacourse7578]

I've never seen that method of moving trailers before. Interesting.

[@TheRrxing]

Miss those horns

[@Steelers2841]

261&262 Were the Night Trains that Ran from NS Calumet Yard in Chicago to Elizabeth port, NJ And Vice Versa 262 Come through Canton Late Morning or Early Afternoon Right Behind TRPI AND NLPI And RR261 Come Mid to Late Afternoon right Behind TV3 and Head of PIIN the Canton Helpers of 8215 and 3389 would Come out to Fort Wayne. RR241 and 242 would Connect with 255 and 260 that would Go to Detroit or KC or Connect with 267 the Fort Wayne to Saginaw, Tx

[@wmuzeke]

Thanks for the info.