ABC Two for Tuesday

Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2 No. 6347 is by the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway engine house in Barberton on June 13, 2012, in the top image.

In the bottom image, two Wheeling GP35s, No. 100 and WE 101, the latter being the Pittsburgh & West Virginia tribute unit, are waiting to leave ABC tracks and enter CSX tracks near Lambert on the CSX New Castle Subdivision in Akron on April 25, 2012.

Having interchanged cars with the ABC, the train will head east on CSX using trackage rights until the W&LE interchange track where they will go east to the W&LE Akron Subdivision to get to Brittain Yard in Akron.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

Chasing the ABC Local to Ravenna

On Tuesday I caught the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway local to Ravenna. Wheeling & Lake Erie No. 302, a former Denver & Rio Grande Western GP40 still lettered for that railroad powered the train.

In the photos above the train is shown switching at Kent, heading to Ravenna and on the turn trip at Ravenna

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Barberton Sunday Afternoon Triple Play

Here are three images made in Barberton on a Sunday afternoon of May 29, 2020. In the top image, Akron Barberton Cluster GP40-3 No. 4005 sits by the engine house.  In the middle BNSF 3268 is eastbound on the CSX New Castle Subdivision. The bottom image features another angle of the  3268.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Switching the ABC in Barberton

Akron Barberton Cluster SW1500 No. 1502 is working in Barberton on June 2, 2015.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

W&LE Receives ORDC Grant for Spencer Project

The Wheeling & Lake Erie will receive a $490,626 grant from the Ohio Rail Development Commission for track work on four subdvisions.

In a news release,  ORDC said the grant will fund a reconfiguration of connecting tracks among the Hartland, Akron, Brewster and Carey subdivisions in Spencer.

The ORDC grant matches a $6.8 million federal Consolidated Railroad Infrastructure and Safety Improvement awarded to the project last month.

The project is designed to alleviate traffic congestion while increasing operational fluidity, ORDC officials said in a press release.

In a related development, ORDC approved a $50,000 grant to Renewable Lubricants to help develop a transload facility in Kent that will be served by the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway.

The facility will be located in southwest Kent and involves various input oils that will be shipped by rail and transferred to truck for final movement to Hartville. 

The facility project’s total cost will be $600,000. The facility will have two spurs and a total capacity of 20 to 30 rail cars. ABC is a W&LE subsidiary.

ABC 4005 Two for Tuesday

I’ve rarely caught Akron Barberton Cluster GP40-3 No. 4005 on the road. Here are two photos of it from Akron.

The ABC uses CSX to interchange with the Wheeling & Lake Erie and to work a small yard in Akron. Both photos were taken from a location that is no longer safe. A friend was held up there. The top image was made going westbound on CSX on Jan. 15, 2020. The bottom image was made eastbound on CSX on May 5, 2021.

The 4005 was acquired by the W&LE in July 2019 and rebuilt at the Brewster shops. When released, it had been lettered for the ABC. The heritage of the locomotive is Dakota, Minnesota  & Eastern.

Photograhs by Robert Farkas

The ABC Working in Akron

Here is a series of images made on June 17, 2022 in Akron where Akron Barberton Cluster Railway EMD SW1500 No. 1501 is working a shipper. The series shows the train about to back up into the company, working the company and making up a train to head back to Barberton. The crew will back up the two boxcars, run around them, and head back to Barberton.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

An ABC 1501 Kind of Day

Akron Barberton Cluster SW1500 No. 1501 is eastbound heading for the yard in Barberton on Nov. 12, 2021. The unit was once on the Conrail motive power roster. It was built in June 1966 by EMD.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

ABC SW1500 in Barberton

It’s Independence Day 2021 and Akron Barberton Cluster Railway SW1500 No. 1501 reposes under a bridge in Barberton where the railroad is based.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

ABC Working in Akron

Akron Barberton Cluster Railway SW1500 No. 1501 works in Akron on June 5, 2021. The unit once worked for the Indianapolis Union Railway, a terminal railroad not unlike the original Akron & Barberton Belt that was owned by the railroads with which it connected.

Photograph by Robert Farkas