ORHS Being Forced to Move to New Site

First the railroad said they could no longer operate excursions over its rails. Now the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society is being forced to move its equipment from the site that it has used for 25 years for storage and repair work.

The Wheeling & Lake Erie notified the ORHS on June 15 that it was canceling the society’s lease of the siding extending from Orrville Junction to the ORHS maintenance facility by Pine Street in Orrville.

The society has since been preparing to move its equipment across town to a new location at the site of the former Dabo, Inc.

For years the ORHS has used the siding track for short passenger train and track car rides during various events. The track is the only remnant left of the original Wheeling & Lake Erie mainline between Massillon and Orrville.

The last time that ORHS was able to do that was during its annual National Train Day celebration this past May.

During that event, track car rides were offered, but a track defect sidelined the excursion train pulled by ORHS GP7u No. 471.

Dabo was a rail car scrapper on the southwest side of Orrville that has been idle since the death of its owner.

The facility sits on what is left of the Akron branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The former Cleveland, Akron & Columbus line southwest from Orrville was severed in July 1969 during a severe storm and never reopened.

It was abandoned by Penn Central in 1972 and the tracks removed.

Online reports indicate that the ORHS is paying for the Dabo site on a three-year installment plan.

ORHS reported on its website that it acquired Dabo through a stock purchase agreement from the estate Art Davis, an ORHS member.

The transaction includes 17 acres of land with a small railroad yard and a stretch of the former CA&C.

The society acquired all rolling stock still on the property. This included a former USATC RSD1 locomotive that worked in Iran during World II, a Sturm & Dillard 0-6-0 switcher, three 250 ton cranes and various vintage freight and passenger cars.

ORHS said it intends to restart Dabo as a for-profit business to be used as railroad equipment dealer, scrapper, railcar storage facility and other unspecified opportunities that might come along.

The 0-6-0 has since been purchased by Jerry Jacobson and moved to the Age of Steam roundhouse near Sugarcreek. All other equipment on the property was to be offered for sale.

The ORHS website said it “has been a long arduous process that has involved moving 25 years worth of accumulated materials and parts as well as arranging the movement of our remaining passenger and freight cars via Norfolk Southern.”

In a Sept. 26 posting, the ORHS said it has completed the initial track rehab work at Dabo and assembled a train to move its equipment to the site.

Another posting noted that some ORHS rolling stock had not moved in more than 20 years.

Society members spent the summer doing bearing lubrication, brake and appliance repairs, and truck installation

It remains to be seen what the future holds for ORHS events. It may be that short excursions will be done at the Dabo site.

Tags: Dabo Inc., Orrville Ohio, Orrville Railroad Heritage Society, Wheeling & Lake Erie