DARLINGTON (8am) -I meet up with Tim Robbins at their Columbiana office and I am introduced to Bud Gane (railroad superintendent), Chris Jacobs (the engineer for our trip) and Caron Gane (conductor). After getting all the supplies we need for the day, we gas up the Durango and head off to Darlington Brick to pick up the engine.

Before embarking on our journey, Chris starts off with a little prehauling checklist. He checks the air pressure in the breaking system, oil and fuel. Meanwhile Caron is climbing around the cab doing windows and cleaning some oil streaks off the CC&PA lettering strip on the nose. Chris and Caron also check the other box cars in the siding make sure the load hasn't been tampered with overnight and releases the brakes from the cars.

We start off the morning by swapping around with a little switching work. We move three empty box cars to the new Darlington Brick dock and couple the three full ones to the back of the engine. Caron's off working the switches and spotting the distances between the cars as we couple them.

Finally once that is finished, we're off. During the ride, we passed through some beautiful scenery and with the autumn leaves, it made it even more spectacular. There are a lot of great rock outcrops along the rail line as well. We pull out of Darlington heading westbound. The line runs along the Fork Little Beaver Creek to our south. We pass through Cannelton and Rt. 651 is on our north and the North Fork Little Beaver Creek parallel on our south. We pass over the state line into Ohio and begin our approach into Negley. In Negley, we pass the old Y&S engine house and rail offices. The CC&PA acquired these when they purchased the rail line and hope to restore them and make them operational once again next summer. The engine house has room for two locomotives and has a repair pit under one of the tracks. There is also a stationary crane and other equipment in there. There is some minor concern that the GMD-1 may be a little to long to fit. That will have to be something they will check though. 

Flagging us through crossings were two of the line maintenance guys. Crossing are suppose to be installed at many of the major intersections in Ohio starting Mid November. Florida, Indianola Ave., Midlothian, Indianola Rd., Home depots entrances (they paid for them!), 224, Western Reserve, 164, 165, 558, 154, Rt. 7 (I think I may have missed some and some of these may not be large enough to get active crossings).

Once we pull out of Negley, we follow Bull Creek and pass through the Mill Rock Pass. There is a bridge that runs over the tracks as it's going through the pass. If your looking for an awesome photo opportunity, there is place to get it. Out of Mill Rock, we head parallel along Little Bull Creek and Rt. 154 and into Rogers. The rail line runs along the Rogers Flea Market property. We cross 154 again just east of Signal, Oh and the line begins to head north. It's pretty much uneventful from Roger's to Columbiana. We saw a few deer, groundhogs, rabbits and a nice looking baby stroller in the middle of nowhere. There were a few road crossings. Rarely did we get above 5 MPH. there were some spots where we had to creep along because the engine and the cars began to rock. Beginning Nov 5th, new railroad ties are going to be put in the bad spots along the line along with some new rock. This should help get the rails level again and allow the train to maintain a constant 5-10 MPH.

We stop halfway along our trip in Columbiana for a short break at the CC&PA Office. It's now close to noon. Then it's off to Youngstown. Into North Lima we go and we pass through the Rt. 164, Rt. 7, and Rt. 165 crossings. We come up to Western Reserve Rd. and begin our approach into Boardman. We go through the McCluge Rd. crossing and pass some empty CC&PA box cars pulled off on the McClurge Rd siding. Our flaggers help us pass through the 224 crossing (they've caught all our other crossings as well along our trip) and we're through in less than a minute. We pass Home Depot which I mentioned earlier paid to have active crossings at both their drives. We pass Indianola Rd. and past the Lowell Ave. crossing where I am usually standing taking photos of the train going buy. I wonder why I am not there today :). We're now in Youngstown proper and you experience a different view of Youngstown than your use to! We pass Midlothian Blvd and Florida Ave. We take a moment and uncouple the box cars so we can run into one of the spurs and pick up a flatbed car to take to Hazelton. We grab that and back up and recouple with the boxcars and we coast downhill the rest of our journey. We pass under I680, South Ave., and across Poland Ave. Once we pass Poland Ave. it's time to move the box cars around and put them in order so they can be delivered in the Hazelton Yard. Once that is done, it's time for me to depart the engine. Due to issues with the Hazelton Yard and with the Mahoning Valley Railroad Association, I was unable to ride in the locomotive for this part of the trip. I watch as the train heads off to deliver its payload. We catch up with it again as they park just past Center Street at the entrance to the Hazelton Yards.

It's now about 5 PM and our day is complete. We load up our stuff and head back to Columbiana. 

The End