Railfanning Deshler and Fostoria - May 2022 

I never been to Oklahoma! When I eventually get a chance to go there, where's the best place to watch trains? Any recommendations?

Thanks! I think for the most part I'm using a lot of the default settings. I try to record at 60 frames per second to help make the trains less blurry since they move pretty quickly. I can't think of any other settings I change off the top of my head.

Roughly 100

I looked back at my video files, and it seems like we were there from about 2:30 to 6:00 on the day we recorded these videos. To be honest, I'm not sure if there's a particular time of day that's better than others.

Hopefully you mean I "can" come over, because I'd love to check out your layout sometime! 😂

Thanks for watching! I shoot my videos at 60 frames per second. I’m originally from Northwest Ohio, so I’m mainly familiar with that part of the state, especially the area west of Toledo on the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line. I also lived in Central Pennsylvania for a few years, so I’m familiar with the area east of Pittsburgh when it comes to PA.I don’t know the area between Pittsburgh and Fostoria quite as well. Fostoria and Deshler are both amazing places to watch trains. Fostoria gets more traffic than Deshler. Marion, Ohio, may be another good place to visit if your route takes you through Central Ohio. Let me know if you have any other questions!

@@DavidLauback I have a ton and thanks for the response. I'm planning to spend 4 nights out in Ohio and I want to visit the areas that you mentioned and I mentioned. Does the NS mainline from Toledo to Pittsburgh carry a good amount of traffic? I've wanted to railfan the NS for a longtime now and I finally saved up the cash to do it, so I'm excited. Any thoughts on the Toledo area (since you mentioned it)? Fostoria and Deschler as well please.

@@AllthingsVegas There’s a lot of traffic on the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line, which runs through Northern Ohio between Cleveland and Toledo. I’m not super familiar with the line east of Sandusky, but there are a couple neat bridges where the tracks cross the water in the Sandusky area. The Sandusky Bay Bridge is neat to see, although it’s tough to get a close view. There’s a state fishing access pier just west of the bridge that provides some decent viewing. There’s also a neat bridge that goes across the Portage River in Port Clinton, but again, it’s a bit tough to get a good view. Oak Harbor has a neat crossover bridge where the line splits off and goes down to the big NS yard in Bellevue. Sometimes you can catch trains going over and under the bridge at the same time, which is neat. Northwood, just east of Toledo, has a diamond with the CSX (known as Vickers). You can’t get super close to the diamond, but a lot of people like to sit and watch trains by Advanced Auto Images, just off Wales Road. If you want to do anything on the Chicago Line west of Toledo, I would recommend that you check out my video called “Exploring the NS Chicago Line - Toledo, OH to Butler, IN. That area has plenty of traffic and lots of fast-moving trains! I think I would recommend spending at least a full day doing Deshler and Fostoria, if not one full day at each place. Those places are amazing! If you want to learn more about Deshler and Fostoria, I would recommend watching my “rail park review” videos on my channel for those two locations. Marion has a nice train depot next to the diamonds and is about an hour south of Fostoria. Deshler is about 45 minutes east of Fostoria, so you could potentially hop from one to the other on the same day. North Baltimore is about halfway between Deshler and Fostoria. There’s a diamond there just west of I-75 and also a huge CSX intermodal facility to the east of North Baltimore, although it’s tough to get good views of the intermodal facility. In my opinion, the drive between Deshler and Fostoria is really fun if you take State Route 18. That route never gets too far from the tracks and so you can see stuff along the drive! I’ll let you know if I think of more stuff. I’m sure there are great places to watch in Northeast Ohio too, I’m just not very familiar with that part of the state. Again, feel free to ask if you think of more questions!

@@DavidLauback I read this a few times and I'll be checking out more of your videos. I'll be out there in a couple of months and I'm beyond excited as I have been looking forward to catching some NS action (never been east of Chicago). I made a note to visit Bellevue, Oak Harbor, Marion and Bellevue. I noticed that you have a Toledo, Ohio video and I'm going to be there, so I will watch that video too. Any changes or is it pretty much the same as far as railfanning there (additional tracks, etc)? As far as flying a drone, do you recall if Fostoria, Bellevue, Deschler, Toledo, Oak Harbor, Sandusky (bridges), Marion, Alliance or North Baltimore are an issue like you can't fly in the area? I also really appreciate the fact that you do a few things. You answer folks in the comment section and you give them information. Not everyone on here does and I really appreciate it.

@@AllthingsVegas I don't believe there are any major changes to the areas since these videos were published. The old passenger depot has been torn down in Deshler since I recorded videos there, but that's about it. As far as flying drones, they may not want you to fly directly above the North Baltimore CSX intermodal terminal, but I don't know that for a fact. I tried to sort of keep my distance when flying around last time I was there. In the Toledo area you just have to pay attention to all the applicable drone rules such as not flying too close to airports and hospital helipads and the like. I've actually never been to Alliance or Bellevue, so I'm not sure about those locations. (I hear they're great for train watching though!)