When Jim Wrinn Came to Town

Back in April 2011 Jim Wrinn, the editor of Trains magazine, came to Akron to speak to a banquet of the Akron Railroad Club to celebrate the group’s 75th anniversary.

The banquet was held on the night of April 23, but earlier in the day we arranged for Jim to have a cab ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. He also got to operate SD18M No. 321 at Shelly Materials in Kent, courtesy of ARRC member and Shelly worker Bob Rohal.

In the image above, Jim speaks from the engineer’s seat of No. 321, which was known as “Flash” in honor the Kent State University Golden Flashes athletic teams.

Wrinn died last March of cancer and No. 321 is no longer on the property at Shelly’s Kent facility.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

Tags: Jim Wrinn, Kent Ohio, Shelly Materials, Shelly Materials SD18M