Well, as I have mentioned before, I have wanted to go see the
Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad® again for years! I myself only caught one outbound empty coal train at Conneaut, Ohio, May 2004 (saw it arrive too)! It was a great trip with my late Dad (RCJ I)! Also, I was back in the area with a "Creepy" kinda guy in 2019! That trip, 8-2019, only saw an engine sitting at the Conneaut docks (
DMIR colored
SD38 #862)! I never saw the
"Black Bessemer!!!!" Also,
SD38-2 #878 actually came back to the
BLE in late 2019 (after being gone since 2010)! I caught that one in Birmingham, MI, 7-6-2019, running "Light" with a
CN loco! Now,
878 recently departed again!
SD38 #867 also left
BLE!!!! OK, now
CN has sent in five
SD70M-2 locos and the six
Illinois Central® SD70s have since departed! Those were in use there since 2015! I was mad when that happened, but sad I never saw them there.
CN uses the
SD70Ms for
DPU! Well
BLE SD40-3 #905 has remained on the property the whole time! It actually got a new nose after some accident as few years ago! Only three
B&LE locos remain on the property and are used mainly for local trains! I may travel here with an old friend for Memorial weekend!!!! I am going to finally catch
BLE locos running on
BLE trackage!!!!!
The
"Rare Catch" happened on Monday January 31! I noticed on a
"Bessemer" Facebook® group! This was the northbound ore train with all three remaining
BLE locomotives!!!!!! This is a catch that I would have loved to witness in person!!!!! It had
BLE SD38 #868, BLE SD40-3 #905 and
"DMIR" colored
BLE SD38 #862!!!! A guy on
Facebook® mentioned that this happens when the
CN locos are in for maintenance and are only used on empties heading north! They ran
"Light" south and will return to local duties!
"Heritage Units" link of
BLE 868: https://heritageunits.com/locomotive/detail/BLE868
Here's a picture that I (RLJ II) took of the empty coal train returning south at Conneaut OH in 2004! It was right after
CN bought
DMIR/BLE! It had three
BLE SD40-3s!!!! 
This was my only time seeing a
B&LE train working, May 2004 (
Canon® 35mm S.L.R.):
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=4318716
.