I had to check out the recent removal of the former Erie Railroad grade crossing at Arlington Street in Akron that Steve McMullen reported on earlier.
I use to spend a good bit of time there before work or between classes at the University of Akron. There was a parking lot located between the Erie Lackawanna and the Baltimore & Ohio/Penn Central near this crossing, a natural place to spend some time and see trains of all three railroads.
My photography was in its early stages with an average camera and print film, but I thought I’d dig out a couple of oldies and do a little “then and now” of the EL Arlington Street crossing.
In the first photo above an EL westbound is laying sand for the short but steep climb to JO interlocking. Note the crossing signal. In today’s photo above little remains now other than the base for that crossing signal.
Looking west now in the photo below, this EL eastbound is only a few feet away from the crossing. Note the cement phone booth in the distance and the PC local working off to the right. In the today photo below about all that remains is that cement phone booth and one truncated EL main that hasn’t seen a train since the early 1980s.
In one final photo looking east on the EL I’m straining to hear the horns of CX99 but hearing only the wind.
Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee
Tags: Erie Lackawanna in Akron Ohio, Erie Lackawanna Railroad, Erie Railroad, Penn Central, railroad abandonment
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 
November 26, 2012 at 1:08 pm |
Those cement phone booths were along the Erie Lackawanna at several locations. The road crews used them to contact the dispatcher for arrangements to interchange with an adjacent industry or another railroad. There was one at Creston used by EL crews to pickup ore loads set out by N&W (NKP/W&LE) in the 70’s. That booth is now located on the Orrville depot platform.
Richard Jacobs “Jake”