Welcome to Akron Railroads

Welcome to Akron Railroads, formerly known as the Akron Railroad Club Blog, a site once connected with the Akron Railroad Club. The ARRC meets every month but December in Akron, Ohio, at the New Horizons Christian Church.

This site is not formally connected with the ARRC but instead serves as an archive of past postings about ARRC meetings and activities as well as railfanning adventures and photographs posted by some members.

Also included in the site are historical overviews of the railroads of Akron and Northeast Ohio as well as some news and information about current railroad operations in that region.

For more up to date information about the ARRC, visit the club’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AkronRailroadClub/

Seeing Blue in Alliance

There is a whole lot of motive power wearing Conrail blue in this power move in Alliance on May 12, 1984. The view is railroad eastward on the Fort Wayne Line.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

One Day on Conrail at Collinwood

Randy Faris took this photo of CR 6735 as it sat in Conrail’s Collinwood Yard in Cleveland, Ohio on May 19, 1985.

Pa. Groups Win NRHS Heritage Grants

Two Pennsylvania preservation groups have received heritage grants from the National Railway Historical Society.

The Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Chapter NRHS in Scranton received $4,200 to upgrade exterior lighting on a former Delaware Lackawanna & Western passenger station platform and freight station at Moscow, Pennsylvania.

The Corry Rail and Industrial Legacy Society and Museum in Corry, Pennsylvania, received $5,000 to improve shop buildings housing reconstruction of a 1903 narrow-gauge, wood-frame, T-boiler, box cab Climax geared locomotive, serial A-313, from Wild Goose gold mining Railroad, Nome, Alaska.

NRHS said it is awarding $125,000 this year to 28 non-profit organizations for railroad preservation projects.

The organization said that since 1991 it has awarded more than $1.2 million in 398 grants for preservation and restoration of historic railroad structures, locomotives, railcars, photos, and archival documents.

CPKC Shows Off New Locomotive Livery

Be on the lookout next time you go tackside for the new locomotive livery of Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

CPKC released a photograph of the first unit to war the livery, which is ES44AC No. 9375.

The scheme is CP red with the CPKC beaver and shield herald on the long hood. There is a splash of gold and black that begins at the radiator end of the locomotive.

The livery was chosen by CPKC employees from among five choices during voting conducted last year.

Shaw Exhorts Workers to Deliver

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is calling on company workers to help deliver on the promises he made during a proxy fight for control of the board of directors.

Shaw and his management team prevailed in their effort to elect or re-elect directors who support the current management.

They had opposition from Cleveland-based investment firm Ancora Holdings which sought to elect its own slate of directors who pledged to replace Shaw and other top managers.

In a message to workers, Shaw said the vote of the shareholders showed they have confidence in the NS business strategy that he is overseeing.

 “But they were also really clear: They want us to deliver results,” Shaw said.

Five new board members were elected including three supported by Ancora. The board has 13 members.

EL Monday: Working in Akron

An Erie Lackawanna switcher works McCoy Street Yard in Akron in May 1971. The image was made from a footbridge that led to the yard. The tracks at the far left are mainlines for Penn Central and the Baltimore & Ohio. The view is looking railroad westward.

Photograph by Richard Jacobs

EL Monday: High Railing in Akron

This image was made in downtown Akron in the late 1960s and shows an Erie Lackawanna high-rail track at work near the passenger station.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

RRE to Meet Friday in Westlake

Bob Todten will present the program at the Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts meeting to be held on Friday, May 17.

The meeting will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Westlake at the Church of the Redeemer, 23500 Center Ridge Road.

On the C&O in Marion

It is October 1970 in Marion. A southbound (railroad eastbound) Chesapeake & Ohio train is about to cross the diamonds of the Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna at AC Tower.

At this time the C&O still had passenger service in Marion, a section of the George Washington that originated in Detroit and connected with its parent train at Ashland, Kentucky.

Nos. 46 and 47 operated only on weekends and also stopped in Toledo and Columbus. Hence there is still a boarding platform and lighting next to it.

At the time this image was made Nos. 46 and 47 were living on borrowed time. Amtrak didn’t want them and they were discontinued on May 1, 1971.

In some ways this scene still resembles what you would see if you were to stand here today. The C&O style signals are gone, but haven’t been gone all that long. The connecting track leading from the C&O to the EL yard is still in place and still used every day.

Along that pole line to the right was the Norfolk & Western’s line to Sandusky from Columbus. Today that line is Norfolk Southern’s Sandusky District.

Now known as the CSX Columbus Subdivision, the former C&O line is still a double-track railroad here. The current CSX locomotive livery somewhat resembles that of the second unit in the motive power consist of this C&O train.

Marion was a busy place for trains in 1970s and remains so today even if some things are not quite the same as they once were.

Photograph by Richard Jacobs

Awaiting Assignment in Toledo

Detroit Toledo & Ironton No. 216 and Grand Trunk Western No. 5853 are in Toledo on Aug. 11, 1982. The 5853 is an ex-Rock Island locomotive.

Photograph by Robert Farkas