B&O’s Diplomat in Kent

Baltimore & Ohio E8A No 1444 and its train, the westbound Diplomat, is pulling into the passenger station in Kent in the late 1960s or early 1970. This train had once been named the Shenadoah and was renamed Shenandoah in 1964

Because it was one of the few B&O passenger trains to serve Northeast Ohio in daylight it was often photographed in Kent and Akron.

On Jan. 6, 1970, the Interstate Commerce Commission decided not to block B&O’s plans to discontinue the Shenandoah and its eastbound counterpart — the Gateway — between Akron and Chicago.

The surviving trains were renamed Shenandoah and operated between Akron and Washington until the coming of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Tags: B&O passenger trains, B&O's Diplomat, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Kent Ohio, passenger trains, Robert Farkas photography