From the Ohio River to Lake Erie (American Railway, Volume 7)

We look at the railways running along either side of the Ohio River including a route which was originally the famous Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (the Chessie) and which today is operated by the CSX railroad company. We study freight traffic through the steel-making city of Ashland, where long coal and manifest services are seen, as well as a switcher on a coke working, traversing tracks so uneven that sea-sickness tablets would normally be the order of the day! Another interesting sight is that of an ex-GP30 locomotive known as a road slug, or calf, working a train of scrap metal paired with its mother.

The program journeys into West Virginia as we see some interesting scenes of Norfolk and Southern tracks crossing over the CSX Chessie’ route at Kenova via the impressive Ohio River Bridge towering above the town’s streets. CSX freights and NS trip workings are seen including modern and older locomotives at work. We cross into Ohio on the Norfolk Southern line which runs north to eventually reach Cleveland; we also cover the CSX route through West Virginia over the long climb through the small town of Hurricane, where a 130-wagon coal train really tests the train locomotives – an impressive sight for North American Railroad fans!

The program then moves to the East of Cleveland near to the shores of Lake Erie on the CSX route east to Buffalo, which eventually reaches New York. CSX, NS, Conrail, BNSF and Union Pacific railroad locomotives are seen on a variety of workings, including double-stack container trains, grain, manifest, coal, oil and autoracks. Finally we pay a return to the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific main line in southern Kentucky as we witness trains through the steep cutting at Kings Mountain and over the trestle bridge at South Fork. A fascinating range of trains, in-country locations and locomotive liveries are on offer!