Once Upon a Time on the East Broad Top

Here are three East Broad Top photos from the slides donated to the ARRC several years ago by a railfan’s widow.

The top image is a general view looking toward the shops in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania, in August 1962. You can see freight and passenger cars, EBT M-1 gas-electric car, two steamers (I believe 12 and 14), and Johnstown Traction 311.

In the middle photo, it is August 1962 and Johnstown Traction 311 from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is sitting on a piece of standard gauge trackage over the 36 inch EBT track. She is the first trolley for the Rockhill Trolley Museum.

In the bottom image private car Orbisonia and locomotive 14 are by the shops in this October 1961 photo.

Photographs Courtesy of Robert Farkas

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Still Looks Like the New York Central

New York Central Nos. 7364 and 7311 are in Painesville on Oct. 2, 1969. This is a year and a half after the Penn Central merger took place. If you look carefully at the caboose, though, you’ll see it has a PC logo and lettering.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

One Day in 1968 at Painesville

It is the first month of Penn Central, but it looks like a New York Central world as westbound NYC 4032 passes through Painesville, Ohio, on the weekend of Feb. 24-25, 1968. Both views are from the same negative.

The photographs were made with a Mamiya C3 twin lens reflex camera that took a 2 and 1/4 inch square negative that made cropping like this easier. The camera was owned by his father.

Although Bob didn’t record the train number, it is probably No. 63, which was the only daylight westbound passenger train on the ex-NYC through Painesville and Cleveland.

It was scheduled into Painesville at 10:55 a.m. and Cleveland at 11:59 a.m.

No. 63 originated in New York, leaving Grand Central Terminal at 10:30 p.m. It carried a sleeper and slumbercoach between New York and Cleveland and added a diner-lounge at Buffalo, New York, that ran to Chicago. Of course No. 63 also had coaches.

After leaving New York, No. 63 split into two sections at Albany, with one section conveying cars to Montreal via the Delaware & Hudson where it operated as No. 9.

No. 63 would last until the coming of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

One Day 49 Years ago at London, Ontario

Was it really 49 years ago that I took this photo of my first Montreal Locomotive Works FPA-4? Here is a photo that still brings a smile. Canadian National 6786 is at the station in London, Ontario, on November 30, 1968. Mike Ondecker, John Woodworth and I had originally intended to go to Toledo on Nov. 29 for an overnight stay but finished there and spent the night in London were this was taken.

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

 

N&W F Units in Brewster

Norfolk & Western Nos. 3697, 3717, and 3712 are at Brewster outside the N&W diesel shop in the late 1960s. Although the N&W had no F units of its own, these Fs are ex-Wabash.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Old Enough to Be Nostalgia

Early in its history, the modern Wheeling & Lake Erie held a competition among its employees to design a locomotive livery.

The winner was a bright combination of red and gold that was applied to two GP35s, Nos. 2662 and 2679. W&LE CEO Larry Parsons often referred to them as the “painted ladies.”

Parsons believes that the best color for a locomotive is black so the red and gold look was not widely applied.

No. 2679 has since been rebuilt and repainted in the W&LE’s standard livery, but No. 2662 remains on the active roster in its red and gold appearance.

The two units are shown together in the above images in Akron on May 8, 1994.

They had led an excursion train from Bellevue into town and parked it near Summit Street.

Passengers were taken by bus to Quaker Square for dinner. I remember that it was Mother’s Day.

The two “painted ladies” are shown ready to return to Bellevue. The train was sponsored by the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum and operated under the name Bradley Memorial Limited in honor of a boy who had died far too early.

The fact that No. 2662 is still in service means the image is not yet lost history, even if it is historic.

The images also qualify as nostalgic because the W&LE no longer will agree to host excursion trains such as these.

This would be the only time that I saw the two “painted ladies” paired together on the same train.

Some EL Color in Kent

Thankfully, I have some Erie Lackawanna photographs that I made in color although many of them are roster photos. Here is one of my favorite EL slides. F7A EL 7124 leads three E8A locomotives eastbound through the EL yard in Kent in April 1973.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

When Jointed Rail Was Quite Common

Here is another memory for the blog. A Baltimore & Ohio trailer train heads east through Kent in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The Erie Lackawanna passenger station can be seen on the hill in the middle left. Notice all the jointed rail that was normal back then.

Leaving the Kent Yard

An Erie Lackawanna Alco FA and Alco RS-3 are eastbound leaving the EL Kent yard in the late 1960s. This photo is from the north side of the tracks and not the more commonly photographed south side. Notice, also, the light tower, bridges and semaphore signal.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Last Year of IC Varnish

I was going through some glassine envelopes of negatives and found this. Illinois Central No. 4035 is in Centralia, Illinois, in August 1970. The Train name/number are unknown to me.

John Woodworth, Mike Ondecker, and I were in Centralia to photograph IC passenger trains. I never guessed that in less than a year there would no longer be IC passenger trains.

Photograph by Robert Farkas