At the crossovers at CP 286 (MP 286.9), where the speed limit rises to 60-30 and an east leg of a wye from that line trails in and the East Toledo Yard begins on the south side of the line, past a road bridge overhead, a box labeled "CP 286" on the north side, a bridge over a road, and an angled grade crossing, to Rockwell Junction, where the yard ends, a spur from a factory to the north trails in, and the former Hocking Valley (later C&O) line departs on the south side. A 22,948 ft. south side siding begins at the crossovers at CP 285 (MP 285.4), where a former Toledo Terminal line crosses at grade, past a grade crossing, a signal bridge, an angled grade crossing, detectors at "Millbury" (MP 282.9), where the speed limit rises to 79-80-60-50, a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 282.x, and four grade crossings, to crossovers at CP 281 (Millbury Junction, MP 280.9), where the siding ends, a line to Bellevue once continued straight ahead, and the DT, Rule 261 (which seems to be 2MT, CTC, in June 2009), main line turns east.
There are three grade crossings, Intermediate Signals at MP 278.x, a grade crossing, a spur trailing in from the north, a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 277.x, Clay Center (MP 277.0), where the line turns just south of east, a rail-served warehouse to the north, Martin (MP 276.1), two grade crossings, Intermediate Signals at MP 274.x, a grade crossing, MP 273, a grade crossing, detectors at "Graytown" (MP 272.9), Intermediate Signals at MP 272.x, a road alongside to the north, a grade crossing, Graytown (MP 271.6), a grade crossing in town, extra track on the north side trailing in, Intermediate Signals at MP 270.x, Rocky Ridge, four grade crossings, MP 269, a closed grade crossing, a road alongside to the north, crossovers at CP 268 (MP 268.3), two grade crossings, Intermediate Signals at MP 267.x, a spur on the north side, a grade crossing, and a road alongside to the north..
The former Wheeling & Lake Erie bridges overhead as the main line turns east, past Intermediate Signals at MP 265.x, Oak Harbor (MP 265.7), a grade crossing in town, formerly rail-served silos to the north, a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 263.x, two grade crossings, open fields, detectors at "La Carne" (MP 260.9), four grade crossings, Intermediate Signals at MP 260.x, La Carne (MP 260.2), an angled road bridge overhead, a grade crossing, a street to the north, a spur north to Camp Perry, a through truss moveable bridge (with speed limit 50 mph over the bridge) over an inlet at CP 256 (MP 255.9), six bridges over streets in Port Clinton (MP 254.5), an old spur trailing in from the north, crossovers at CP 253 (MP 253.6), with a box labeled "253" on the north side, a grade crossing, dual road bridges overhead, a dirt road grade crossing, a grade crossing, Intermediate Signals at MP 251.x, Gypsum (MP 251.2), and detectors at "Gypsum" (MP 251.1).
The line turns south-southeast, with passenger speed limit briefly 75 mph, past a grade crossing, a bridge over a stream, a road alongside to the north, a former wye with the erstwhile Lakeside & Marblehead Railroad at Danbury, dual road bridges overhead, a road bridge overhead, and a grade crossing, across Upper Sandusky Bay on the causeway with crossovers at CP 248 (MP 248.5) and the through truss moveable bridge at Bay Bridge (MP 248.0), with speed limit 50 mph across the bridge, and southeast past signals at "CP 247", crossovers?? at CP 244 (MP 244.8), and Venice, and east where the former Lake Erie & Western and former Big Four once crossed at grade, past crossovers at CP 242 (MP 242.8), and a bridge over a stream, where the former PRR line from Columbus now owned by NS crosses at grade (with southwest (from early 2013) and northwest quadrant connectors), the speed limit is 50-40 across the crossing, and a 10,296 ft. siding starts at the signal bridge east of the crossing..
There is a bridge over a road, a cemetery to the north, the passenger station, with platform, umbrella shed and stone depot to the north, at Sandusky (MP 241.6), on a 6,415 ft. siding, a bridge over a street in town, a grade crossing in town, a bridge over a street in town, and the former flat crossing with a former B&O line south to Willard at BO Tower, to the crossovers at CP 240 (MP 240.7), where both sidings end. The main line runs generally along the south edge of Lake Erie, with a lake port at Sandusky, once served by Lake Erie & Western, the Big Four, PRR and B&O, but now served only by NS on the line that railroad acquired from PRR in 1964.
The Water-level Route passes two grade crossings, and detectors at "Sandusky" (MP 239.3), and turns southeast, just south of the lake shore itself, past a bridge over a stream, an angled grade crossing, a road alongside to the north, a grade crossing, MP 235, an angled road bridge overhead, signals and crossovers at CP 234 (MP 234.4), a grade crossing, a spur on the north side to silos, dual road bridges overhead, an angled grade crossing, an old brick depot on the north side in Huron (MP 232.3), where passenger speeds are only 70 mph and there is a bridge over a river and a bridge over the former Nickel Plate (now NS) line to Huron Harbor, on the lake.
There is an angled grade crossing, detectors at "Ceylon" (MP 228.6), where the line turns east-northeast, following the lake, Ceylon (MP 228.5), Intermediate Signals at MP 228.1, passenger speed limit of 75 between MP 226.2 and 225.7, fields, seven grade crossings, MP 223, a dirt road grade crossing, MP 222, a road alongside to the north, detectors at Vermilion (MP 220.9), a grade crossing, a grade crossing in town, a bridge over a river with a street just to the north, a grade crossing, crossovers at CP 219 (MP 219.7), where the 15,312 ft. "Vermilion" north side siding starts, a grade crossing, signal bridges and crossovers (still part of CP 219), a bridge over a divided road, a turn east-southeast, two spurs on the north side, beyond the siding, an angled grade crossing, a grade crossing, a road bridge overhead, a bridge carrying the ex-Nickel Plate line overhead, Intermediate Signals, and a bridge over a street in town.
The siding ends at signals and crossovers at CP 216 (MP 216.8), and the line passes a grade crossing, two road bridges overhead, Fairlane (MP 215.9), a grade crossing, an angled wide road bridge overhead, Millers (MP 215.3), where a spur to a Ford factory heads north, Amherst (MP 213.2), where there is a 16,898 ft. south side siding, crossovers at CP 212 (MP 212.7), a location where the Lorain & West Virginia once bridged overhead, a grade crossing, dual road bridges overhead, and crossovers at CP 207 (MP 207.9), where there was once a wye with a line headed southwest and still is a flat crossing with the former B&O line to the Lorain Dock, with connectors in all but the northeast quadrants and speed limit of 50 mph across the crossing.
The line turns just north of east, with speed limit 50 mph between MP 207.3 and 206.7, and passenger speeds of only 70 mph and freight speeds of 55-50, thence to MP 202.5, past Elyria (MP 206.5), where there is a passenger station on the south side and a 23,840 ft. siding, two sets of dual road bridges overhead, and east at the west end of Elyria Yard, where there is a wye on the north side with a line north to Lorain, the yard itself on the north side of the line, the east end of Elyria Yard (MP 204.6), crossovers at CP 203 (MP 202.9), Shawville, detectors at Olmstead Falls (MP 199.8), crossovers at CP 197 (MP 197.8), where an 18,041 ft. siding begins, speed limits fall to 50 mph at MP 194.8, and the line turns northeast to the former location of Berea Tower (MP 194.3), where there are crossovers and the siding ends, the (CSX) former Big Four line from Columbus trails in from the southwest and continues northeast (now owned by NS), and the Water-level Route turns north-northeast. Following the breakup of Conrail, this is the location where the Water-level Route changes from NS ownership (to the west) to CSX ownership (to the east).
A substantial break in environment occurs overnight on the passenger trains between Chicago and New York City or Boston, between the mid-Western farmland and the "rust belt" of the industrial East. On an eastbound Lakeshore Limited, daylight begins along the upper tier of upstate New York, along the former New York Central's "Water-level Route", in the vicinity of Rochester, NY. Westbound, the Lakeshore Limited is in darkness from somewhere east of Rochester to somewhere west of Cleveland. For the Capitol Limited, the eastern points are somewhere southeast of Pittsburgh, on the western slope of Sand Patch.