NS3737,
I was out that way in June with some friends - we stayed in Greenville and made a long weekend out of chasing the BLE. We had no real conversations with anyone from the railroad, but with a couple back issues of Railpace, a scanner, and some good guesswork, we were able to figure out the patterns enough to get some nice photos. Greenville itself is probably the best place to be because of the Old LIne and the High Line in close proximity to each other as well as the operational. They only run two shifts - the evening one takes trains south from Greenville in darkness, so I would not expect to see much of anything on the south end in daylight. The last job of the shift is to bring loaded coal hoppers north past G'ville and leave them in a passing siding near "KO" interlocking (since renamed Sandy Jct by CN), the north end of the High Line. The power then returns light via the Old Line into Greenville itself, crossing the main street and going through a canyon of funky old buildings before entering the yard.
The second shift is called sometime in the AM, and on the weekend we were there, headed north from the yard around 9am. It runs light to KO, picks up the cut left there by the first, and makes its way north to the docks at Conneaut, OH. After working at the dock, it then returns south. We were told that the turnaround time at the docks was short - 45m to an hour, but both days we were in Conneaut we got shots of them arriving and had plenty of time to make our way south to another location. Once they came through southbound, though, chasing was a challenge due to dirt roads and the sheer speed of the trains. The southbounds then left their train at "KY" interlocking south of Greenville (the south end of the High Line) and were taxied back to the yard - the night crew was supposed to be called at 22:00 to take it the rest of the way south.
There are some good photo spots from quiet public roads, especially around KO and KY, and if you can get a shot of an evening southbound headed over the Amasa viaduct at Osgood, it's worth it. The whole property is immaculately maintained and the shop complex is something from another era. Get your pictures soon, though, because I think CN will be making changes soon, if they haven't already.
Kind of a lengthy post, but we had a great time and hopefully supported the local economy a little while we were there. If I ever manage to get some photos scanned and put on webshots or some other such medium, I'll post the links in this forum.
