CSX's B&O Lima Line: Stops in Glendale, Dayton and Sidney, Ohio

Today, we're along CSX tracks on the former Baltimore & Ohio line from Cincinnati to Lima.
We'll start off in Glendale, take a look around at one of the best railfan sites in the area.
Head north to Dayton and check out the Great Miami River Railroad bridge and learn a little bit about the Union Station that used to be in town.
Lastly, we head to Sidney and take a look at the Big Four Concrete bridge.
The first train we'll see is Q351.
It starts at Barr Yard in Chicago and makes its way south, only stopping to work the yard Garrett, Indiana, which is north of Ft. Wayne.
Glendale has signals in both directions.
There is plenty of parking and some benches set up to enjoy the passing trains.
This is an morning or early afternoon spot for photography.
The sun will shine nicely on the side of the trains from the east.
The former Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Depot was built in 1880.
It's kept up nicely by the the Glendale Heritage Preservation.
A museum is inside the depot which was built to replace the original 1854 wooden structure which was leveled by fire.
The Village of Glendale and volunteers spent tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours to restore the depot.
It opened as the Glendale Heritage Preservation Museum in May of 1997.
The next train is Q561.
It starts in Selkirk, New York and finishes up at Queensgate Yard in Cincinnati, but not before working several other yards along the way.
The Baltimore & Ohio Lima line was acquired when the B&O purchased and subsequently merged the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton RR in 1917.
It heads north to Toledo and Detroit.
It also offers access to eastern cities with a turn at Sidney and again in Deshler.
The Village of Glendale is a quiet zone.
The work toward a Quiet Zone began in 2017.
The Village worked closely with the Ohio Rail Development Commission, as well as CSX Transportation to establish the 11th Quiet Zone in Ohio and second one in Hamilton County.
A Quiet Zone is a designated area where trains are not permitted to routinely sound their horns while passing rail crossings.
There are two grade crossings; one at Sharon Avenue and south of there at Oak Avenue.
Engineers are only allowed to sound their horns under certain circumstances, including when passing another train or in the event of a possible emergency, say someone's on the tracks or maybe too close.
There are strict safety requirements in order to establish a Quiet Zone.
The village installed "quad gates" at each of its intersections.
"Quad gates" have twice the gates as a standard crossing, blocking traffic on both sides of the road for a passing train.
There are also magnetic sensors installed alongside the rails at each crossing.
These sensors notify the engineer of an oncoming train, as well as the computer operated gates, that an obstruction may be present on the track.
The fencing required by CSX changed the configuration of the parking lot and closed the pedestrian crossing near the Depot Museum.
There is a defect detector about two miles south of here in Woodlawn.
So, if you have a scanner you can get a heads-up on approaching northbound trains.
You can also usually pick up another defect detector about 12 miles from here, north of Hamilton at New River Junction.
The last train in Glendale is Q556, a daily that starts in Queensgate Yard and makes its way Collinwood Yard in Cleveland.
Along the way it stops to work New River, Ohio which is north of Columbus.
I went to Dayton and planned on setting up at the CSX Great Miami River Bridge.
I checked the signal west of the bridge and saw a medium clear at MC Cabin.
There used to be Union Station in Dayton, but sadly has been torn down.
Built in 1900, it was called "Tower Depot," because of its seven-story clock tower.
In 1931 the station opened an elevated platform to alleviate congestion between trains, streetcars and automobiles.
Lastly, Sidney is the junction between the north-south Toledo sub and the wast-west Indianapolis line.
Here we see train Q217. It starts in Greenwich Yard, in Philadelphia to Osborn Yard in Louisville, Kentucky.
It also works Twin Oaks in Pennsylvania and Cumberland, Maryland and runs through Marion, Ohio.
I've got two other trips in the works.
I went to Knoxville, Tennessee to get a look at Norfolk Southern's Sevier Yard.
I also am trying to put together a video on Seymour, Indiana and the CSX and Louisville & Indiana intersection.
I'm still hoping to follow a train from Louisville to Cincinnati or vice versa, so feel free to comment if you know a good time on the weekend to make that happen.
As always, please let me know where you like to railfan and where you think I should stop next.
Until our next trip, have a great day.
Dayton Union Station History
www.daytondail...
Big Four Bridge History
www.shelbycoun...