Sanders to Present at May ARRC Meeting

Former Akron Railroad Club President Craig Sanders will be back in town this Friday to present the program at the May 26 ARRC meeting.

The digital program is titled, Somewhere West of Here and will consist primarily of images Sanders has made in Indiana since moving there in June 2019.

Among the railroad to be shown are Norfolk Southern, CSX, Indiana Rail Road, Indiana Southern, Louisville & Indiana, Amtrak, the South Shore and Indiana Northeastern.

The program also will have images made on the former Illinois Central mainline in Illinois, which is now operated by Canadian National; and CSX, NS and Indiana & Ohio trains in western and southwestern Ohio.

The latter will include a visit to Hamilton, which is a southwestern Ohio hot spot similar to Berea in Northeast Ohio.

Sanders served as ARRC president from 2005 through 2018.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

EBT Subject of April ARRC Meeting

The April 28 meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will feature a program by club president Todd Dillon on the East Broad Top narrow gauge railroad in Pennsylvania.

Dillon will show images made at the annual EBT Winter Spectacular held this past February. The highlight of that event was the first revenue run of 2-8-2 No. 16.

The EBT has been steadily working to restore its steam locomotive fleet to operating condition and No. 16 was the first locomotive to complete that process.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

The May 26 ARRC program will be presenter by former long time ARRC president Craig Sanders and will be titled Somwhere West of Here. More details about the contents of that program will be offered on this site next month.

Shown above are four images from Todd’s program, which aside from steam will have images of other EBT rolling stock and vehicles from the nearby Rockhill Trolley Museum

ARRC Member’s Night is Saturday

The annual Akron Railroad Club member’s night and pizza party will be held Saturday (March 25) at the New Horizons Christian Church. There will be no regular meeting this month.

There will be a $5 cover charge to attendees of the member’s night. The pizza will be served at 6:30 p.m. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their favorite non-alcoholic beverages and snack items to share. The club will supply a limited supply of soft drinks and water.

Member’s night photo presentations should be limited to 10 to 12 minutes. Those showing slides should have them preloaded in slide trays. Digital images should be on a USB device.

Mangold to Present at February ARRC Meeting

The Feb. 24 meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will feature a program by longtime member David Mangold.

The program is titled Everything Else and will present images made in Colorado and, well, everything else. With Dave you never quite know what you will see.

Much of the program content will be on photographs Dave made between 2019 and 2020 with some images from 2022 thrown in.

The images were made before Dave began working as a locomotive engineer for the Rocky Mountaineer excursion train.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

If Dave is unable to present, the program will be given by Ron McElrath and show footage of his first Ohio experiences in the early 1980s with a Super 8 mm camera and then a Panasonic video camera in 1987.

Kachinko to Present at January ARRC Meeting

The Jan. 27 meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to the west coast and Alaska.

ARRC Secretary David Kachinko will present a program that will begin by reliving a 1973 journey he made to the Pacific Coast. Then Dave will jump ahead about three decades and 3,000 mile north to show the Alaska Railroad’s Millennium Special Tour of July 2000.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

At its annual meeting last November, ARRC members in attendance re-elected the current slate of officers to continue in their positions for 2023.

Aside from Kachinko, officers include Todd Dillon, president; Bill Kubas, vice president; Paul Havasi, treasurer; and Ron McElrath, newsletter editor.

Dillon to Present at ARRC End of Year Dinner

The Akron Railroad Club will be holding its annual end of year dinner on Saturday (Dec. 3) at the New Era restaurant in Akron. The event is limited to 40 participants.

The program will be presented by ARRC President Todd Dillon.

His program will focus heavily on the Chicago Transit Authority’s 75th anniversary. This will include photographs from the Chicago elevated and the Fox River museum and the Illinois Railway Museum.

Also included will be photographs from the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and a Nickel Plate Road 765 excursion in Indiana.

Shown above are a few images from Todd’s program that he will present on Saturday night.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

In Memory of James Jeffery

We recently learned that former Akron Railroad Club member James Jeffery died on Aug. 26.

Mr. Jeffrey, 82, was a lifelong resident of Cuyahoga Falls and worked at Stow-based MACTC for 44 years before retiring.

He joined the ARRC on Jan. 27, 2012. During meetings he would typically sit in the front row toward the left side.

ARRC membership rosters during his time in the club misspelled his name as “Jeffries,” an error that apparently was never corrected.

The obituary for Mr. Jeffery published in the Akron Beacon Journal, said he is survived by his wife, Patricia; daughters Kimberly Jeffery and Lisa (Allen) Emmendorfer; and six grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Memorials were to be made to Cuyahoga Falls Firefighter Memorial Foundation or to the Northwest Avenue Church of Christ in Tallmadge.

Woods to Present at November ARRC Meeting

The November meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to eastern mountain railroad operations of CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Longtime ARRC member and veteran railroad photographer Don Woods will present a slide show titled Go East Old Men.

The program will feature images made during a trip with his fellow ARRC member and traveling companion Dave Shepherd in 2021 to to Cumberland, Maryland, and eastward toward Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, (Rockville bridge), then westward on the Pittsburgh Line of Norfolk Southern back to Altoona and home.

The meeting will be held on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

During the business meeting, attendees will elect officers for the 2023 calendar year. Nominations for officer positions will be taken from the floor.

The following day, Nov. 26, ARRC member Bob Rohal will host an open house at his home in Kent of his HO model railroad layout.

The ARRC also plans to hold its annual end of year dinner on Dec. 3 at the New Era Restaurant in Akron.

Attendance at the event will be limited to 40 people. No program for the event has yet been announced.

ARRC to View Eastern Coalfield Railroading

The September meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to the coalfields of the eastern United States.

Akron resident Richard Thompson, a former ARRC junior member, will show digital images of coal railroads.

He will show Norfolk Southern operations on the former Virginian Railway and CSX trains on the former Clinchfield Railroad. The meeting will begin on Friday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Program Change Set for August ARRC Meeting

There has been a change of program for the August Akron Railroad Club meeting scheduled for this Friday (Aug. 26).

Retired railroader Rick Varga will present a slide show during the meeting featuring images of CSX, Conrail, and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie operations.

The digital images program by Richard Thompson on eastern coal railroad operations has been rescheduled for the September ARRC meeting.

This week’s meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.