Fostoria, Ohio — The Iron Triangle
Over 80 freights a day where Norfolk Southern and CSX form the Iron Triangle
Fostoria, Ohio — The Iron Triangle
Norfolk Southern (former Nickel Plate main) crossing CSX (former Baltimore & Ohio and Chesapeake & Ohio Toledo Line) — the Iron Triangle · Fostoria, Ohio, United States
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Virtual Railfan's cameras at the Fostoria Iron Triangle Railpark cover the junction where Norfolk Southern's former Nickel Plate main and two CSX lines form the legendary Iron Triangle. The operator counts over 80 daily freight trains at what is one of the busiest rail junctions in the United States.
About this cam
Virtual Railfan's Fostoria cameras look out from the Fostoria Iron Triangle Railpark on the junction that gives the place its name: Norfolk Southern's former Nickel Plate main line crossing CSX's former Baltimore & Ohio and Chesapeake & Ohio Toledo Line routes, forming a triangle of mainline track in the middle of an Ohio town. The operator counts over 80 daily freight trains through the triangle — intermodal, manifest and coal — which puts Fostoria in the front rank of American railfan locations. Two cameras exist. The public one is a pan-tilt-zoom camera that sweeps the triangle from the railpark, moving when an operator is available; a fixed camera concentrating on the heart of the junction to the south is reserved for Virtual Railfan members. The host is the Fostoria Rail Preservation Society, supported by the City of Fostoria, which owns the railpark.
What to watch for
Three mainline routes and two Class I railroads in one frame is the whole point — the interest is in the crossings and the waiting, not just the trains. Five dispatcher channels are monitored, which tells you how divided the territory is: CSX Road on 160.230, the RL dispatcher for Fostoria North on 160.635, LF for Fostoria South on 161.320, IP for Fostoria East and West on 161.520, and Norfolk Southern's Fostoria and Lima Districts on 161.250. Because the public camera is a pan-tilt-zoom, the framing changes through the day. The railpark is a purpose-built train-watching facility, so what the camera sees is what a visitor standing there would see.