For One Fleeting Moment

 

While Thomas Wolfe has written that “you can’t go home again,” sometimes you can get close. All of my morning plans got put aside this past Saturday when I learned that the Lackawanna heritage unit was out of New Castle and running west on CSX.

There was no question where I wanted to photograph this train. It would be from the same spot that I shot an Erie Lackawanna train back in 1975, the Thornton Street bridge in Akron.

Yes, the 1074 was not on ex-EL track for the simple reason there isn’t any EL track remaining here.

That road to the left of the 1074 was where the EL mainlines used to be. Still, I never would have believed I would ever shoot gray, maroon and yellow passing through downtown Akron again.

I’d like to think maybe the ghosts of the EL were pacing this train as it rolled west, mere inches from where the EL once was. Regardless, it brought a bittersweet smile to my face. For one fleeting moment I was close to home.

Truth be told, that photo probably had more meaning to me than any other one I’ve taken this year.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

Tags: Erie Lackawanna, Erie Lackawanna in Akron Ohio, NS 1074, NS Lackawanna Heritage Locomotive, NS Lackawanna Heritage unit, Roger Durfee photographs