Exploring the NS Chicago Line - Toledo, OH to Butler, IN

[@charlesdecker7379]

Very nice video! That's my brick warehouse building seen at 45:44 on the right. I was out there helping a customer load equipment that day when you were filming by the diamond. That's me (blue shirt) in the video. I remember seeing you guys back there with the drone.

[@b3j8]

Love the drone footage! The old Toledo Division West is still my favorite Railroad. Would've been something to watch late 1940's action here when there were still 4 tracks and 15 Passenger trains!

[@dougapt446]

Awesome video! I live in Edgerton, Ohio. I've never saw drone footage like that before. Pretty cool. I enjoy your passion for trains. Maybe i'll meet you sometime if you're in Edgerton again. It is a pretty good spot for watching trains . I've saw lots of people filming trains here before. Keep up the good work & stay safe.😊😊😊😊😊

[@ryanbrock8001]

Hey neighbor greetings from Butler

[@deanhale3438]

Really enjoyed the video. Thanks for posting. Look forward to all your other posts.

[@tjtrainzCSX]

Took my 2nd trip to the Chicago Line last year, Waterloo, IN to Cleveland. Hwy 6 between Waterloo and Edgarton was PACING HEAVEN for me. Wauseon is a definite must stop, and Vickers Crossing in Toledo is underrated. Great collage of shots.

[@ToledoRailfan]

I have railfanned that stretch of track a lot but I never knew that it was the longest straight track ever! Also it is quite common to see heritage units in Toledo. I have seen Central of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Reading, Interstate and Monongahela all in Toledo.

[@jerry18291]

I like your drone shots. Gives you a view that is normally seen

[@joannecarpenter8725]

Many thanks David for sharing your awesome videos! I really enjoyed all the drone views of the trains and the different cities along the way. I lived in Toledo way back in the fifties . My hubby and I have also added Deshler and Fostoria to our bucket lists!! Looking forward to checking out your other videos. I appreciate your narratives along the way.

[@Ohio_Photographer]

You mentioning Wauseon has gotten me really interested in going. My cousins will have fun there on that wooden train.

[@DamionJTrains]

This is an awesome video

[@jerrybutler605]

Lot of memories hanging out at 297.

[@RobertBenfield]

They finally painted the caboose in Swanton a few weeks ago!

[@TrainAssassin]

Loved this video. The best thing besides the watching trains was playing "Where's Waldo" with your red car in each drone shot, lol.

[@DavidUlmer-z4f]

Good video.

[@PennCentral-jn2ow]

Excellent!! Planning to go to swanton after seeing this.

[@kylerbriskey372]

I live in Waterloo, IN. Grew up in Edgerton, OH. My grandmas house is right up against an intermediate signal outside of Bryan, OH. My dad and I both work for CSX as Conductors/Engineers out of Garrett, IN and North Baltimore, OH. I always heard from Toledo to Butler is the straightest track for a while, didn’t know it was the world’s straightest double main. Cool video.

[@tjtrainzCSX]

I never knew that stretch was the longest piece of straight line double main, interesting. I took my first trip, to this portion of the Chicago Line, last year, between Waterloo and Toledo, but I went all the way to Cleveland. The longest stretch of straight track in this country is in North Carolina on CSX...

[@albertvieira6635]

You didn't know standing job I give you an A+ keep up the good work please be safe

[@LeeDfined]

This is cool. I'm a Greyhound driver and am really familiar with Toledo Amtrak. I also seen the Virginia Heritage Unit parked there and it hung around the area for a week between Toledo and Detroit when I was on that route.

[@timdaugherty5921]

You sound just like Drayton Blackgrove!

[@jbdbackfan]

Great video! Do you have address or location to the intermodal yard where adventure began?

[@DavidLauback]

Thanks! There's a section of Airline Avenue that runs parallel to the intermodal terminal. Here are the coordinates to that location: 41.637675, -83.582721. If you copy and paste those coordinates into Google Maps it should show you the area where we recorded those videos. Let me know if that doesn't work.

[@glorialotz3333]

Was this the old New York Central main line to Chicago?

[@dknowles60]

yes

[@Metal_Face_Doom]

Do you know what the "track running speed" is?

[@DavidLauback]

That's a great question! I'm not 100% sure.

[@jimlasterni7310]

I grew up watching the New York Central come through Hillsboro Illinois my cousins lived in Cleveland and took the train to St Louis at what location did the tracks come off of the Chicago line and go to St Louis

[@DavidLauback]

According to Amtrak's website, to travel from Cleveland to St. Louis you would use the Chicago Line to go from Cleveland to Chicago and then switch trains to head from Chicago to St. Louis. That appears to be what it is today. I'm not sure if there was a more direct route back in the day...

[@shawnpowell5876]

Out of curiosity, how many trains come into this 67mile stretch if I were ever to go there for a few days to railfan?

[@DavidLauback]

Great question! It's tough to say because it fluctuates some, but on average you can probably expect 2 or 3 trains per hour. There are times when it's quiet for an hour or more and there are other times when trains are lined up one after another, but I'd say on average expect 2 or 3 per hour.

[@timdaugherty5921]

Wow when were all the tracks removed from the Toledo station???

[@Robbi496]

I think in the 1970's??

[@nick-cb6dl]

I use to be a conductor for NS out of toledo, I mostly ran east , Bellevue, Cleveland, Conway. Nice piece, running west out of toledo was kind of boring compared going East

[@DavidLauback]

This spring I'm hoping to make a similar video to this one, but I will head east out of Toledo instead of west. I'm in the planning stages now, but my goal is to film the area from Toledo out to Sandusky (or somewhere around that general area). In the past I have spent most of my time railfanning the area west of Toledo, so I'm excited to see what's out to the east!

[@stevebrandenburg8664]

David- I, too, really enjoyed your the video! I have gone to Fostoria 5 or 6 times in the past in the spring; skipped last year. Been to Deshler several times for a few hours each as well. I have considered the idea of going to Bryan or somewhere on the NS Chicago line for a day for some time. I came across your video at a great time -- good info! I live southwest of Dayton, OH and will likely go north up either Rt. 127 or I-75. After watching your video I thought Butler In would be a great location with the diamonds there, but not sure there is a good railfanning spot there? Between Butler and Toledo, what town would you recommend? I will probably go to the NS line for a day and then spend the night near Findlay and spilt my second day between Deshler and Fostoria. Thanks!

[@DavidLauback]

Thanks for watching! If you're going to explore the Chicago Line, I would recommend visiting Wauseon, Swanton, or Toledo. Wauseon and Swanton both have really nice parks next to the tracks, and they're just nice places to relax and watch trains. If you're up for going into Toledo and exploring some of the action in the city, I'd recommend starting in Northwood, where the NS Chicago Line intersects CSX. Deshler and Fostoria are fantastic places to visit. I have videos on my channel about those places too, along with a video I made in Dayton which you may like. My wife grew up in Beavercreek, so we used to spend a lot of time in the Dayton area. Now her family has moved, so we don't go to the Dayton area as much anymore.

[@stevebrandenburg8664]

@@DavidLauback Thats really funny! I live in Germantown, so close to Beavercreek. I have watched your other videos as well. I thought Wauseon looked like probably the nicest location. Is it worth driving to Butler? Is there a spot close enough to catch the diamond action that one could spend the better part of a day?

[@DavidLauback]

Wauseon is really nice. I now live in Southern Michigan and my dad and brother both live in the Toledo area, so we often meet up in Wauseon to watch trains. It's a good halfway point for us to meet at. We were actually just there earlier this week! In Butler it's a bit difficult to get right up to the diamond on foot without trespassing. I was glad I had a drone to use because that helped me get a good shot of the diamond, but if I just had a typical camera I'm not sure I would have been able to get many great shots. If you look back at my drone video, you can see that there's basically a road that leads to a few houses back by the diamond. You can see where I parked my red car, and by looking at the video you should be able to get a decent idea of where you can go on foot. We just parked right off that road back there. Some of the people who lived back there didn't seem to appreciate that we were there, but we weren't on their property or anything like that. As far as diamonds go, the Vickers diamond in Northwood seems like a much more friendly place to watch trains, although the problem with Vickers is that you can't get anywhere near the diamond. I've only been to Butler once, so I'm not super familiar with the location.

[@AmtrakProductions]

@5:15 Fact check - 23K is a train that runs from Ayer MA to Chicago, not, Mechanicsville NY to Chicago.

[@DavidLauback]

Apparently I need a more reliable place to obtain origins, destinations, and train numbers. What's a good place to get that information?

[@KevBygrave]

Why are some NS locomotives missing the horse head logo on the sides? Some locomotives just have the white stripes as at 44:16 I am very interested to know if the horse head a new addition or an old one, and what year was it added or removed from the logo. I live in the UK and have no idea so I hope it is not a dumb question. Great video by the way & very enjoyable! Regards Kev

[@tjtrainzCSX]

Norfolk Southern's paint scheme was originally no horsehead, from it's inception in 1982, after Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway merged. The "Horsehead" scheme didn't come around until the 2000s... That means NS had the exact same paint scheme for almost 20 years, before they made any change lol...

[@KevBygrave]

@@tjtrainzCSX Thank you so much! Finally I have an answer to something I have always wanted to know, Thank`s again! Regards Kev

[@LeeDfined]

That steel coil train ALMOST qualified as a steel coil unit train. Don't see those as often as I used to

[@demonchildstudio926]

I am assuming most trains go about 60 mph plus out here

[@kylerbriskey372]

That is correct.

[@PRRGG1]

The caboose in Swanton is EX N&W. About 1998, it had been sitting on a rip at Homestead yard by the old roundhouse closest to Front street. It got donated and a crane put it on a low boy and was driven by truck out to Swanton.

[@nick-cb6dl]

It’s no longer homestead yard, it’s evans yard or something.

[@PRRGG1]

@@nick-cb6dl yup. I was surprised to see that.

[@LeeDfined]

Seems like the Virginian stays on that line. I've seen it MANY times between Toledo Detroit and Chicago

[@jason916]

So you could walk it in 14 hours if you pushed

[@davidcoleman958]

Holy cow this is awesome. I used to live around Toledo. You hit all the famous spots! What was your favorite to railfan at?

[@DavidLauback]

I really enjoyed Wauseon! The park by the station is a really nice place to sit and watch trains.

[@davidcoleman958]

@@DavidLauback Good spot for sure. Have you ever gone east of Toledo?

[@DavidLauback]

Yeah! I'm originally from Perrysburg, so we often went to Northwood at the Vickers Diamond. Further out east Oak Harbor is a neat place... This year I want to make a video like this one but heading east from Toledo instead of west.

[@davidcoleman958]

@@DavidLauback Vickers is a good spot. You can see a lot of trains there. Oak Harbor is a neat place too. Sandusky Bay might be my favorite spot to watch trains at.

[@DavidLauback]

Yeah, I definitely want to explore the area around Sandusky and Port Clinton where the tracks are near/go over the water. Hopefully I can get some cool drone shots out there.

[@thecsxnsrailfaner6262]

Go to mulberry Ohio

[@DavidLauback]

I love Millbury! It's cool to watch the trains round the curve there.

[@thecsxnsrailfaner6262]

@@DavidLauback upload more

[@mijnbetsy]

Australia has a lot longer setion of straight track, that is 300 miles long,

[@DavidLauback]

My video claims that the section of track from Toledo, OH, to Butler, IN, is the longest section of straight _double track_ railroad in the world. The section of track in Australia you mentioned is primarily single track, so while it is a longer section of straight track, my video is correct in claiming that the part of the Chicago Line stretching from Toledo, OH, to Butler, IN, is the longest section of straight _double track_ railroad in the world.

[@AllthingsVegas]

Another nice and informative video, so thanks for making it. Is there anything west of Butler on the Chicago line worth visiting? Have a good Friday.