40 Years Difference at Voris Street

Railfans have been watching trains at Voris Street in the southwest corner of downtown Akron for generations.

They’ve seen it evolve from a place to watch trains of the Erie, Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railroads to one in which the trains of just two carriers, CSX and the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway, pass by.

Voris Street was situated just beyond the west entrance to the Erie’s McCoy Street Yard and along the joint line of the B&O and PRR.

The top photo was made at Voris Street in April 1979. GP40 3705 is leading an eastbound manifest freight with duo of unit also painted in the Chessie System colors.

Just a few years earlier Bob had captured the 3705 at this same location in its B&O all-blue livery.

The bottom image was made on July 15, 2019, near Voris Street.

Bob writes that he moved a couple hundred feet north from where he stood 40 years earlier in order to avoid the tree shadows.

CSX ES44AC-H 3086 is the sole power on the head end of an eastbound manifest freight passing a scene that has changed dramatically in recent years.

The red brick buildings of historic Akron have been replaced by a new Interstate 76/77 highway ramp to Main Street.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

 

Tags: Akron, Akron Voris Street, Baltimore & Ohio, Chessie System, Chessie System locomotives, CSX, CSX New Castle Subdivision, Photographs of Akron railroads, Railroads of Akron Ohio, Robert Farkas photography, Voris Street in Akron