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

ARRC End of Year Dinner is Saturday

The Akron Railroad Club will hold its final event of 2021 on Saturday when it conducts the annual end of year dinner.

The event will be held at the New Era restaurant at 10 Massillon Road on the east side of Akron.

It will begin with a cocktail hour starting at 5 p.m. with dinner orders being taken between 5:45 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Attendees will order from the restaurant’s menu and are responsible for paying for all food and beverages that they consume and a gratuity for the server. The ARRC is not collecting any money for the event.

The restaurant’s menu can be viewed at www.thenerarestaurant.com

The program will be digital images presented by Jerry Jordak of Macedonia. His program is titled A Railfan’s Life: My Life Trackside Behind the Camera.

Jerry has traveled extensively over the years, particularly in North East Ohio and the Eastern United States.

Many of the images he is likely to present were made during an annual trip he makes with two friends in the fall in connection with attending the Penn Central Historical Society convention.

Known as the “bogus adventure,” the trio explores the railroads in the region where the convention is being held.

Jerry has presented to the ARRC in the past, including a program at the December 2010 banquet focusing on his travels to document railroads that run parallel to or intersect U.S. Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles.

He also has presented at Summerail and his photographs have appeared in various railfan magazines and books.

Due to limited seating in the banquet room of the New Era restaurant, the end of year dinner will be limited to 40 attendees.

Reservations can be made by contacting Bill Kubas (330-928-7025 or bkuboose@gmail.com) or David Kachinko (440-537-6487 or dkachinko@aol.com)

Program Changed for ARRC Meeting

The program for the November Akron Railroad Club meeting has been changed.

The program at the Nov. 26 meeting will now be presented by Todd Dillon who plans to show digital images of Amtrak operations, Nickel Plate Road 765 on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, Chicago Metra commuter trains and other rail images.

Ron McElrath had been scheduled to present a program titled Amtrak at 50, but it will now be shown at the February 2022 meeting.

The ARRC meeting will begin at 8 p.m. at the New Horizons Christian Church in Akron.

Officers for 2022 will also be elected during the business portion of the meeting with nominations being made from the floor.

Further details have also been released about the ARRC’s Dec. 4 end of year dinner.

The event is limited to 40 attendees and reservations are required. The dinner will begin at 5 p.m. at the New Era Restaurant at 10 Massillon Road in Akron.

The program is being presented by Jerry Jordak and is titled  My Life Trackside Behind The Camera.

Jordak is a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Conrail, and Anthracite Historical Societies and serves as a trustee and was a founding member of the Penn Central Historical Society.

He has photographed extensively the railroad operations of Northeast Ohio and in the eastern United States, particularly in Pennsylvania.

ARRC to Celebrate 50 Years of Amtrak

Fifty years of Amtrak will be the focus of the program at this month’s Akron Railroad Club meeting.

Ron McElrath will present video made over the years of Amtrak operations on and off the trains.

The club will meet on Friday (Nov. 26) at 8 p.m. at the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

The meeting will begin with a short business meeting followed by the program at approximately 8:30 p.m. During the business meeting officers will be elected for 2022.

Following the meeting, some members gather at the Denny’s restaurant at 1681 Home Avenue in Cuyahoga Falls for a late dinner, dessert or an early breakfast.

The club also has announced that Jerry Jordak will be the presenter at the annual end of year dinner to be held Dec. 4 at the New Era restaurant in Akron.

The event will begin at 5 p.m. at the restaurant located at 10 Akron Road in Akron. Attendees will order from the menu and be responsible for paying for their food and drink.

Jordak, of Macedonia, is a well-known and respected railroad photographer who is best known for his work in capturing rail operations in Northeast Ohio and the eastern United States.

ARRC Cancels End of Year Dinner

The Akron Railroad Club on Friday canceled its end of year dinner that had been set for Dec. 5.

Club President Todd Dillon said the New Era restaurant in Akron where the dinner was to be held has imposed a limit on 10 people in its dining room due to COVID-19 pandemic rules and guidelines announced by government officials in the wake of dramatically rising numbers of virus cases.

ARRC had earlier announced a cap of 30 attendees for the dinner, but was expecting a crowd of between 15 and 20.

The pandemic has canceled other ARRC events, including the summer picnic and monthly meetings. The ARRC has not met since February.

An email sent to members on Friday indicated the club has received authorization from the New Horizons Christian Church in Akron to continue meeting there.

However, the club will not be able to hold meetings at the church until it is opened to the public.

ARRC Polling Members on Dinner Event

The Akron Railroad Club is polling its members to gauge their interest in attending the annual end of year dinner.

The dinner is set for Dec. 5 at the New Era Restaurant in Akron between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

An email sent to members indicated that attendees will be required to wear a face mask until seated and that seating will be four to six people per table spread over eight tables.

Attendance at the event will be limited to 30 people and as at previous dinners attendees will order from the restaurant menu and pay their bill individually.

The notice said the program was to be determined, but a notice on the ARRC’s Facebook page indicated that the program will be presented by club president Todd Dillon and feature images of rail operations “off the beaten path.”

This will include trains on short line railroads and lesser used Class 1 branches.

ARRC Members Go South at End of Year Dinner

Mark Demaline (left) and Marty Surdyk adjust the projector before Mark began his program at the Akron Railroad Club’s annual end of year dinner held last Saturday.

On with the show, we’re ready.

Twenty-five Akron Railroad Club members and guests took a trip down South at the annual end of year dinner held Saturday in Stow at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s restaurant.

ARRC member Mark Demaline gave a slide show titled Southern Served the South that showcased Southern Railway operations from Virginia to Florida, and Atlanta to New Orleans.

Mark’s hour-long program had something for everyone, including passenger trains, steam-powered excursion trains and workaday freight trains that ranged from hot shots to locals.

Most of the images were made in the 1970s and early 1980s when Mark worked in management positions for the Chessie System in Richmond, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Florida.

He would spend weekends traveling the territory in search of photographs. On occasion he was able to make images traveling to or from work.

Among the stars of Mark’s program was the Southern Crescent, which the Southern operated through Jan. 31, 1979, between Washington and New Orleans. The Southern did not join Amtrak when it began operations on May 1, 1971.

Amtrak took over the Crescent on Feb. 1, 1979. Amtrak had operated the Southern Crescent between Washington and New York, just as Penn Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad had done before the coming of Amtrak.

The Southern was a pioneer in mainline steam excursions and Mark caught a few of those in his program. But most of the presentation was an overview of Southern freight operations.

The end of year dinner is the final activity of 2017 for the ARRC.

ARRC End of Year Dinner is Saturday

The annual Akron Railroad Club end of the year dinner will be this Saturday (Dec. 2) at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s restaurant in Stow, 3732 Darrow Road.

Due to the small size of the banquet room, attendance is limited to 32. There are still four tickets left for the dinner.

The tickets are free and available from ARRC officer Marty Surdyk.

The restaurant is located in a shopping center at the southwest corner of Graham and Darrow Roads about a mile and a half east of Ohio Route 8.

The cocktail hour will begin at approximately 5:30 p.m. We’ll order dinner off the menu between 6 and 6:30 p.m. Terms are individual settlement.

The program will be a slide show by Mark Demaline titled Southern Served the South.

The program will feature Southern Railway freight, passenger and steam excursion action between the late 1970s and late 1980s from the Washington D.C., area, through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida.

 

Program on Southern Railway in the South Will Highlight ARRC End of Year Dinner Program on December 2

Southern train No. 159, photographed at Faber, Virginia, in November 1984.

Southern Served the South is the title of a slide program that Akron Railroad Club member Mark Demaline will present at the ARRC’s end of year dinner on Dec. 2.

The event will be held at the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s restaurant at 3732 Darrow Road in Stow.

The program will feature Southern Railway freight, passenger and steam excursion action between the late 1970s and late 1980s from the Washington D.C., area, through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida.

The end of year dinner is limited to 32 attendees due to the small size of the meeting room in which it is held.

Tickets to the event are free and may be obtained by contacting Marty Surdyk at surdykm@aol.com

The tickets will also be available for distribution at the Nov. 17 ARRC meeting.

The end of year dinner will begin with a cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m. and we’ll be ordering from the menu at about 6 p.m.

Payment for drinks and meals is individual settlement.

30 Enjoy ARRC End of Year Dinner

Roger Durfee (right) adjusts the slide projector prior to his program as Marty Surdyk looks on during the Akron Railroad Club end of year dinner on Saturday.

Thirty Akron Railroad Club members and guests enjoyed dinner and a program about the evolution of Conrail motive power on Saturday, Dec. 3 at the club’s annual end of year dinner.

Held at Beef ‘O’Brady’s restaurant in Stow, the highlight of the event was a slide show presented by ARRC member Roger Durfee that summarized the locomotives used by Conrail during its existence between April 1, 1976, when it was formed from by consolidating many of the assets of multiple bankrupt railroads, to its being divided on June 1, 1999, by Norfolk Southern and CSX.

Roger had just begun his photography career when Conrail came along and he was able to photograph the railroad’s operations from the beginning to the end.

By the time Conrail was carved up in 1999, Roger had been a employee of the railroad since 1998, working out of the Altoona, Pennsylvania, terminal.

The program was not intended to be a comprehensive review of Conrail motive power or the railroad’s sprawling network.

Over its lifetime, Conrail had several dozen makes, models and types of locomotives, many of which it inherited from its predecessor railroads.

In his program, Roger gave viewers a sense of what how Conrail motive power evolved to become the fleet that it had when it ended, although Conrail still exists in the sense that some of its properties operate under the Conrail shared assets banner or NS and CSX.

Roger focused his program on some of the older models that were frequent sights in Northeast Ohio, which was the location where most of the images he presented were made.

Conrail based in Cleveland many of the F units it operated in its early years. Most, although not all, of them came from Penn Central and served Conrail in a utilitarian black livery with a “CR” stenciled on  the nose and flanks.

However, Conrail found itself short of working power so it brought out of retirement for a time a number of former Erie Lackawanna F units wearing the EL’s  colorful livery.

Aside from Conrail in the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown regions, Roger also took us to eastern Pennsylvania, including the Northeast Corridor to view Conrail locomotives that seldom if ever ventured westward.

The end of year dinner was the last ARRC activity o f 2016. An issue of eBulletin will be issued this week, but the paper Bulletin will not be published this month.