In August 2008, I decided to take a day and do a railfanning road trip. Since I hadn't been to the Mad River and NKP Museum in Bellevue since I was a kid, I decided to head up there for the afternoon to see the museum and then go out to the east side of town to see Norfolk Southern's large hump yard. Afterwards, I decided to go through Fostoria since I hadn't been there in about ten years.

      So, on Saturday, the 16th, I headed to Bellevue. The biggest change that I noticed on the way up was the overpass on State Route 269 (Southwest Street) over where the tracks coming from Fostoria and Bucyrus joined. Years ago when I was a kid, we would pass through Bellevue on the way to the lake and would occasionally have to wait at the crossing for a slow freight train. I arrived at the parking lot between the "coach yard" of the museum and the tracks heading towards Toledo shortly before the museum opened for the day.

Eating the lunch I'd packed, I heard a horn off towards the northwest. Grabbing my camera, I watched as a long slow freight came past and then turn towards the yard. After the train passed, I quickly finished up my lunch and headed into the museum for a couple hours.		Milwaukee Road Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44-4 #740. Built in April 1952 and originally numbered #2310.	Nickel Plate Road EMD GP30 #900.
Nickel Plate Road Alco RSD-12 #329. Built in 1957.	Nickel Plate Road cupola caboose #700. Built in 1948/1949. Originally Wheeling and Lake Erie #0200.	Nickel Plate Road bay window caboose #423. Build in 1955/1956.	Baltimore and Ohio Alco SA #9096.
Norfolk and Western caboose #518397. Built in 1924.	Wabash EMD F7A #671. Built in 1951. Was originally Wabash #1162 and later Norfolk and Western #3761.	A couple views of the controls in #671. This was probably my favorite of the locomotives on display when I was a kid. The cab seems a lot smaller now. Coming in through the side door was a tight squeeze, and I kept having to watch my head once inside.	One advantage of visiting #671 now that I'm older is that I can sit in the engineer's seat and see out of the windshield.
Another view of Wabash #671.	I then went over to the coach yard to view the equipment there. This is Baltimore and Ohio wagontop bay window caboose #C2424, built in 1934.	A 35-foot Nickel Plate Road piggyback trailer is parked outside the museum's restoration building.	This is Cargill Alco S5 #864. It is one of only seven S5 locomotives built by Alco in 1954.
This is a GE 45-Tonner, built in September 1942 and painted for France Stone Quarry Bi-centennial 1776-1976.	Looking west across Kilbourne Street, I saw an old EMD E unit on a storage track at the end of Wolf Street. I walked down to it to get some pictures. The locomotive turned out to be ex-Penn Central EMD E8A #4321 (formerly New York Central #4070). It's sad that a locomotive like this used to be the pride of the fleet and is now just rusting away.
This is EMD NW2 #2, an ex-NJI&I (New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois) switcher. It was originally Indiana Northern Railway #100. After the NJI&I, it became Wabash #353 and then Norfolk and Western #3353.	A final shot of the museum's Nickel Plate diesels from across the street.	After leaving the museum, I headed to the State Route 4 overpass over the Norfolk Southern hump yard, parking my Jeep in an empty lot along Smith Road just west of State Route 4 (just north of the overpass). Keeping on the berm, I was able to take some pictures of the yard. When I got there, a train with Union Pacific power was slowly making its way westward.	Looking west from the State Route 4 overpass, you can see the hump and locomotive shops on the right.
Locomotives are lined up on the service tracks where they are fueled and prepared for their next trips.	A wider view of the locomotive servicing area of the yard.	After a crew change, a Norfolk Southern freight heads east under State Route 4.

      Afterwards, I headed west to Fostoria, unaware of how the day was about to change.


Kevin L. Wagner

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