Worthington Crossing 1990
Photos and text by Paul V. Maykuth
This was my one and only visit to the Worthington Crossing. Realizing I had missed an important local landmark, my objective was to document any remaining evidence of the Tower or interlocking devices. Even an old foundation would have been better than nothing. As expected, all signs of past glory had been wiped clean. Shucks! Too late [again].To my surprise, two headlights appeared on the northern horizon. One each on the Norfolk Southern and Conrail tracks, both southbound obviously competing for authority to proceed over the crossing. The NS moved out first pulling an intermodal train from Bellevue. It was led by SD40-2 No 3317 followed by two similar high-hoods.
As soon as the NS cleared the diamond, the CR pulled out led by SD40-2 No. 6459 and GP40-2 No. 3293, pulling a mixed manifest southbound towards Buckeye Yard in Columbus. I'm not sure how this was coordinated, but I suspect the silver control box and some automated process via block signals had something to do with it.
At that point in time I was not warm to second-generation diesels. But I had extra film in the camera and needed to square out the roll. So I decided to wait. If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken more pictures of "modern" train action. The NS high-hoods bore the last identity of pre-merger owners, Southern and Central of Georgia. Conrail would disappear forever, just like blah-blah predecessor Penn Central (never wasted film on them either, big mistake). The second-generation Geeps would be replaced by third-generation monsters, and mostly relegated to regionals to work out the remainder of their lives in mixed paint schemes. Time marches on. But there's some universal appeal if you embrace the new with the old.
