Youngstown & Southeastern Railroad

A main reason I chase shortlines is the search for first generation diesel motive power, and North Lima, Ohio, did not disappoint. The Youngstown & Southeastern is a bastion of first gen movers, with a great deadline at the old Youngstown & Southern shops east of Negley and small stable of active units on hand in North Lima. Of course I'm never sad to run across another Paducah rebuild still in service, and the #8343 (below) looks great in the green and white company scheme. The familiar GP10 frog-eyes headlight and the paper air filter cowling are welcomed sights. But the real treat for me in exploring North Lima was #222. I was delighted to discover her Illinois Central lineage, and even more thrilled when some digging turned up time on the MidSouth. Along with sister #9004 (show here), #222 (then #9005) was in a small handful of high-nosed units that worked for the MidSouth. There's a good chance I saw the unit somewhere in Mississippi during my years chasing MidSouth movements, but I never snapped a photo -- only sister #9004, on a dark day in Meridian, Ms, back in the late 1980s. These days, #222 looks no worse for the wear, given her age and mileage. She still wears the maroon-red paint of previous owner Tishomingo -- another Deep South pike. A missing number board, painted-over name blocks, some bumps and bruises on the pilots ... but otherwise 222 is an untouched Geep 9 from the heyday of the Mainline of Mid-America. Like me, she's a Southerner, sojourning above the Mason-Dixon line.

I enjoyed a wonderful Saturday afternoon solo railfanning across the state line over in Ohio, tracking the Youngstown & Southeastern from end to beginning, from Darlington northwest to Youngstown. The line is in rough shape throughout, particularly on the southern end -- lightweight and rusted jointed rail with lots of kinks and dips. If they still make it down that far, they must take their time along the way. I began to get a sense of the line's chief income, and perhaps its dim future, as I found more and more long cuts of stored unit hopper cars in every siding -- railcar storage, that last gasp of shortline income. Beyond that, it was tough to spot an active shipper. Still, the old Youngstown & Southern route is a lovely one -- exponentially so in autumn, I'm sure. The line meanders through coarse woods and passes through tiny villages on its way north to Columbiana and an impressive tunneling under the old Pennsylvania (now Norfolk Southern) mainline. North Lima and the small motive power stable made the entire trek worthwhile. I was lucky to catch an employee in the office late on a Saturday afternoon. He confirmed my hunches: They only run a few days a week now, rarely go all the way to the end, and are making money on storage and not much else. Still, he was kind enough to grant me permission to walk the property and take my roster shots before the sun set over the county and the day grew old. I'm glad I made the trip to get to know this little pike, as one wonders just how long it will be before the sun sets completely on the old Y&S right of way.