The money shot of the day was FPA-4 Nos. 6777 and 6771 framed by the Old Station Road bridge over the Cuyahoga River with a reflection in the Cuyahoga River.
Few things excite a railroad photographer more than a locomotive with a different livery, particularly if it is one he hasn’t seen or photographed before.
Such has been the case with Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad FPA-4 No. 6777, which recently rolled out of the shop with a new paint job.
The 6777 doesn’t look that much different than it did before. The CVSR livery introduced on FPA-4 No. 6771 is still the gold, red and black look that CVSR motive power has had since at least the early 2000s.
But the CVSR winged herald has been removed from the nose in favor of a V-stripe.
Put the 6777 and 6771 back to back and you’ve got a matching set that looks quite spiffy.
I stumbled onto the matching 6777 and 6771 duo the first weekend that it ran. But last Saturday I got a phone call from fellow Akron Railroad Club member Peter Bowler that the two of them were still paired on the south end of the National Park Scenic.
A previous commitment kept me away from the tracks until mid afternoon, just in time to catch the last run of the Scenic for the day.
I was hoping to get the locomotives traipsing through the snow. There was snow covering the ground at my house, but in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park the snow amounted to only a dusting.
It was cloudy as I made my way to Indigo Lake and then up to Brecksville. My objective was to maximize the number of side views because that is when the matching look of 6777 and 6771 is at its best.
Of course, it helps that 6777 has a new paint job that looks shiny and new.
In time the 6777 and 6771 will be broken up and the shine will fade due to wear.
But for now the CVSR has a new look and it’s time to get out and document it because there are darn few places to get a matching set of FPA-4 units.
Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders
Trailing at Indigo Lake.
Going away at Brecksville.
C424 No. 4241 leads the northbound CVSR Scenic at Indigo Lake.
Looking down Old Station Road bridge at the nose of the CVSR 4241.
Tags: Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, CVSR 6771, CVSR 6777, CVSR FPA-4 No. 6771, CVSR FPA-4 No. 6777, CVSR locomotives, CVSR motive power, FPA-4 locomotives, FPA4
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 
February 1, 2017 at 10:35 am |
Great images. My favorite is your first one at the bridge because it seems the bushes have been thinned out allowing a side shot.
Bob
February 1, 2017 at 1:28 pm |
I thought the same thing about the absence of bushes and that is why I elected to go with this angle rather than the earlier angles I had thought about.