Guys, I couldn't stop thinking about leaving our cars in a shopping mall lot in Troy. Even my wife was thinking the same thing, also mentioning any suspicious vehicles left unattened for many hours would draw attention. So, I came up with a better plan. We should meet in Piqua at the Miami Valley Mall. There's a Best Western Motel right next to the tracks which should be a better parking area. Here's the directions, and please tell me asap if you are coming. I guess between 9 - 9:30 am would be good. I still plan to railfan Piqua, Sidney, Russia and maybe last would be Troy, becase I do believe near 4 pm there are at least 4 trains due North until about 6 pm. Getting a shot of a train on the little bridge over the Great Miami River would be cool. DIRECTIONS TO PIQUA'S MIAMI VALLEY MALL: (THERE ARE TWO EXITS FOR PIQUA. SECOND FROM THE NORTH END, FIRST FROM THE SOUTH END - RT 36/PIQUA). *TAKE RT 36 WEST/PIQUA OFF I 75 *TURN TOWARDS PIQUA *ON YOUR LEFT JUST SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET FROM THE HIGHWAY WILL BE THE MALL *GET INTO THE TWO LEFT LANES AND TURN LEFT UP INTO THE MALL *IT'S THE ONLY LEFT TURN BEFORE THE RR BRIDGE *BEAR RIGHT AND FOLLOW THE MALL'S ROAD AROUND FOR 2 OR 3 HUNDRED FEET AND YOU WILL SEE THE RR TRACKS. *PARKING IS AVAILABLE RIGHT THERE AND THERE'S A SMALL ACCESS ROAD TO THE TRACKS - DON'T GO DOWN ONTO RR PROPERTY WITH YOUR VEHICLE - PARK IN MALL - I SHOULD BE RIGHT THERE AT 9 AM. *YOU SHOULD SEE COVERED HOPPERS SITTING THERE - THAT'S THE PLACE!
Still not sure if this is doable for me yet JT. My Brother-in-Law will be home that weekend but I'm not sure if the Wife and Son can get into his place if he's at work. I will know more this week.
How about a total change of venue? That same weekend will be the heritage and railroad days in Deshler, Ohio. They'll have a (small) model train sale, a few layouts setup, a bunch of other non railroad activities, and of course, scenery by CSX! Deshler is about two hours north of Troy. Waddya guys think?!
Whoa! That sounds good too! What does everyone think of that? Ed can meet me in Piqua early and we can drive up there. Warren..........sounds like you can't miss this one! LOL! One question, what do they do for railroad days?????
- small model swap meet - modular layouts on display - carnival rides - entertainment by CSX Deshler sees about 90-100 trains a day, so there will be no shortage of entertainment! LOL [ 05. August 2002, 03:18: Message edited by: BrianS ]
There's a slight chance I'll bring my N scale layout down and work on it at the show. Maybe you guys could give me a hand on it. Waddya think?
Sounds good to me Brian. Ed says he'll go to Deshler too. What time does it start? We can do what we can to help you with your layout. Outdoors I hope. By the tracks right??
Exact start time escapes my memory, but it should get underway by 1000 on Saturday. Activities are all weekend, and the "entertainment" is heaviest in the evening and overnight. Usually after 7pm you can count on four, five, six, or more trains in an hour. I'd say the hours between 1100 and 1800 are the slowest, maybe only producing a dozen train in that timeframe. If you guys are up to it, there's places at the park, and right next to the diamond, to pitch a tent or park a camper.
I don't imagine I'll be staying really late. I'll be running with little sleep. I have a full day of activities at my daughter's college the day before. I mean from morning until night! I'll be lucky if I get to sleep before 1 am or so. Then again, I am nuts. As for camping, the last time I went camping I was drunk as a skunk at the campfire. I believe we were drinking Chivas Regal. And Wild Turkey. And I'm a beer drinker!!!!! I ended up passed out in the tent, head first on a downward slope. In the morning, I stumbled out of the tent barefoot in search of a far away place to find a log to sit over. I didn't make it two feet before I lodged a pebble into my foot. Limping for several miles back to the car wasn't much fun. Neither were the 21 bites I had on my back. I mean welts. And......... the "sun" burn from being so close to the campfire trying to keep the massive man eating bugs off of us, and sore feet from swatting them with large limps as they landed on our boots. Those things carry little children away!!!!!!!!! They wouldn't die!!!!!!!!!!! Did I mention the BBQ chicken and baked beans we ate with our liquids? For some reason, it didn't work well when I had ended up upside down overnight. What about chasing the booze with stream water? I didn't mention that! I haven't been camping in 22 years since then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Except......for my trip to Cass........but that's another story. = But, I'm looking forward to Deshler! I have never ventured up there.
If you can swing a second day, Sunday I'll take you guys fanning outside Deshler. There's a lot to see up here beyond corn fields, contrary to popular belief.
Of course you know that this means giving the brother-in-law the old heave-ho. Not a problem! For the day on Saturday I can make it. But I must be home Saturday night. Johnny you are more than welcome to spend the night at my place if you need a rest stop on the way home as I'm sort of on your way home. About 3 hours drive east on the Turnpike or I-90. You can sleep on the sleep sofa that I affectionatly call "The Widowmaker".
I have been to Deshler. It's a great place to train watch. There are also several structures around the town that are good to photograph. If the tower and station are still standing, get some shots. North of the diamond is a large, concrete grain refinery. South of the diamond is an old steel bridge that you can get some good shots of, and if memory serves me right there is still a steel water tower near the tracks. The signals that govern the diamond are composed of some of the old B&O multi aspect circular faced signals, and they work. Trains that go N/S and E/W usually move through at a real good clip. Trains that move from one line to another usually slow down. I traded a bag of homemade cookies with a CSX engineer for a crew support kit and a few misc trinkets as the engine rolled by. You may be able to do likewise, provided the CSX has put engineers on their trains that day. I agree there is more in Ohio than cornfields and State tropers. East of Deshler is Fostoria, which is a great place to watch and shoot. Further east I found a place called Attica Jct. It's near a road, yet the diamond is out in a cornfield. There is still a concrete phone shed near the diamond. The grafitti in the shed is circa 1954-1970. There are some good LBJ jokes in it. East of Attica junction is a town with a CSX yard. The name of the town escapes me. Lots of security and gang bangers, though. East of this, and a little south is Plymouth. you can go there and still see the old locomotive factory. An abandon line runs to the factory, and there is a nice old depot just North of the factoryon it. Sadly, no engines were around, so I could not see if Plymouth built them as over scaled as most model manufacturers do. Mark
Brain, that's good to hear! LOL! I'll bet you had little sleep that first night if you camped through that thunderstorm!!!!!! Warren, thanks for the offer, but I too must return "home" to Piqua, Sat night. My wife and her Mom are going out to dinner and I told her have fun, I'll be watching trains! We'll be leaving Monday for home and will be traveling straight through. Mark, thanks for the info on Deshler! We'll seek out some of those points of interest! I guess Ed will meet me in Piqua and we'll find one another up there. Brian. do you know a place we can meet at a given time?
Brian, that's early for me under the circumstances. I told Ed to meet me at 8:30, so we should be there by 10:30. He has to work the day before and has a two hour trip just to meet me too. Otherwise, I'd be out before the sun rises. How big an area are we covering in Deshler? I imagine we'll find you, but be by the shelter at 10:30 anyway! I guess we just drive into Deshler and will find it easily?
I will be there between 9 and 10 am. Eventually I will need some directions from the I-75/Rt 18 exit but don't worry about it until a few days from the meet. I can help you with your layout Brian if you decide to bring it as I am a fellow N scaler anyway.
Deshler is a place where the vast majority of the shots can be covered on foot. There will be a few out of town shots, but they're only a mile or so away from the park...
