October 2024 Railfanning in Fostoria, Ohio; Autumn Railfanning Action at the Iron Triangle Railpark.

Hello everyone, and welcome to today's video. On October 14th, 2024, I spent the day railfanning once again at the iconic Fostoria Iron Triangle for what would turn out to be another busy day of railfanning at the Iron Triangle Railpark. Within the span of nine hours on this beautiful autumn day, I saw 27 trains, good for about three trains per hour. This was my second busiest day of railfanning here at Fostoria this year; my busiest day was back in June.

The day started off with, surprisingly enough, three consecutive Norfolk Southern trains. Norfolk Southern is typically busiest in the morning here in Fostoria, but even by their standards three consecutive trains in the first hour is rather rare. An eastbound tanker train kicked off the action, followed by manifest 148 heading to Bellevue and the eastbound local train pulling into Blair Yard. CSX finally kicked off their end of the action with an eastbound autorack train taking the turn northwards to Walbridge, and not long after NS intermodal 270 to Norfolk blazed on through. NS train 270 was the first great catch of the day with a Dash 9 duo, a sadly dying site in today's railroading landscape. Oddly enough, I saw Dash 9 number 9969 back in September in Marion on 270's counterpart; 271 to Chicago.

As mid-morning arrived at the Fostoria Iron Triangle, CSX began their barrage of action that would only pick up as the day went on. Manifest M367 to Chicago came through with one of the rarest catches on the rails; four consecutive Montana Rail Link (MRL) boxcars on the same train. Montana Rail Link boxcars, as one can imagine, are pretty rare outside of the BNSF trackage, so seeing four of them on one train is iconic. After that, daily intermodal I150 to Detroit came through and unfortunately somewhat ruined the catch of the day in the form of partially blocking the Baltimore and Ohio Heritage Unit (CSX 1827) trailing second on an eastbound intermodal train heading east on the Willard Subdivision at the same I150 was turning north. I was lucky enough to catch the B&O 1827 through the window of opportunity that was the gaps in the intermodal cars, but not getting a closer shot of 1827 was somewhat painful. I hope to see it again with better conditions as it is one of my favorite heritage units in service.

Despite the minor disappointment, the day continued to go well as the trains kept coming. A CSX SD40-2 led a westbound autorack train up to Walbridge and for the first time in a long time, I saw a meet on the NS Fostoria District with intermodal 28N to Charlotte meeting the daily NS Steel Special to Leipsic. Even better, 28N had a Dash 9 leader, making it the third Dash 9 I had seen on the day. CSX had a couple of pretty cool meets on the Willard Subdivision following the Norfolk Southern meet. First was eastbound manifest M560 meeting a westbound intermodal, and the second was an eastbound coal train turning south on to the Columbus Subdivision meeting hotshot intermodal I010 to New Jersey. After the two meets came the ultimate surprise of the afternoon with a northbound CSX coal train heading to Toledo featuring a mid-train DPU. This was one of only a few recent trips here in Fostoria I can recall seeing a northbound coal train as those sadly seem to be not as common these days.

As morning turned to afternoon, manifest trains dominated the flow of traffic here in Fostoria. M561 came through town with quite a lashup while a rather short M567 took the turn onto the Willard Subdivision. The big catch of the afternoon, and perhaps the best catch of the day as a whole, was the Kansas City Southern combo on NS manifest 303 heading out of Blair Yard. The two KCS engines looked phenomenal in the autumn sun and this was only one of a handful of occasions seeing KCS power here at the Iron Triangle. CSX followed up with five trains in over the next two hours; eastbound manifest M370 to Cumberland, L457 Columbus Subdivision manifest up to Toledo, the westbound coke express (B157), intermodal train I151 to North Baltimore, and a westbound intermodal train. Norfolk Southern concluded their action on the way with westbound 15Q to Decatur with a one-unit wonder, while CSX finished up the day with an eastbound coal train.

Overall, it was another enjoyable day of railfanning here in Fostoria. I hope that the next time I visit the Iron Triangle Railpark I will have better luck catching the CSX heritage units and the same amount of luck in terms of train traffic. Thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoy the video!

-N&W475.