It is the late 1960s, and I am standing on the platform of Akron Union Depot. Baltimore & Ohio No. 3693 is eastbound on the westbound main.
If you look closely in the distance to the left of the train, another locomotive is also eastbound with trailers on flat cars. Most likely the 3693 is on the westbound track is to let the other B&O eastbound pass it. That is the Erie Lackawanna passenger station on the right.
In the bottom image, B&O 7597 is leading an eastbound train in through Warwick Yard in Clinton on July 29, 1982.
It is 1967 or 1968 in Akron where Baltimore & Ohio E9A No. 1455 is adding or removing these head end cars to The Diplomat. I don’t remember which it was. In the top image is a short Diplomat with the two cars. In the bottom image is the switching operation. No. 1455 was built in May 1955 and would later join the Amtrak roster as No. 401.
It was the late 1960s when Mike Ondecker and I found westbound Baltimore & Ohio E8A No. 1447 with The Diplomat at the Akron Union Depot. The train on the left is an eastbound Erie Lackawanna freight. No. 1447 was built by EMD in October 1953 as B&O 26A. It would later work for Amtrak wearing roster numbers 203 and 353.
This is a very early scan from an old computer. Baltimore & Ohio E9A No. 1456 leads the westbound Diplomat as it is about to stop at Akron Union Depot in the late 1960s. The train to its left is an eastbound Erie Lackawanna freight.
It is early in the Penn Central era (1968 or 1969) in Akron. A northbound PC freight headed by three former New York Central locomotives is heading east on the joint tracks shared by the Baltimore & Ohio and PC. More than likely, this train will cross over at Arlington Street to the ex-PRR line that runs from Akron to Hudson and go north to Motor Yard and beyond.
The train is passing the west end of Akron Union Depot.
It is the late 1960s in Akron. After the arrival of Baltimore & Ohio’s Diplomat, B&O Alco S2 switcher No. 9074 is removing a mail car taken from it. The train has stopped east out of sight beyond the bridge, and the E units have cut off and pulled west of the train.
The 9074 has coupled onto the mail car and getting in the clear. Then the B&O E-units will back up, recouple, and the train will head west to Chicago.
B&O 9074 will cross a couple of tracks and put the mail car on a siding next to Akron Union Depot where the mail car will be unloaded.
Under the East Exchange Street bridge on the left is Erie Lackawanna No. 501, another Alco S2 switcher.
I am standing on the Erie Lackawanna passenger station platform in Akron looking across the tracks to an eastbound Baltimore & Ohio train headed by B&O 4496 as it begins to go behind the boarding platform at Akron Union Depot. The image was made in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
These two photos are in honor of the just-finished rebuilding of former Reading 4-8-4 No. 2102 and its break-in runs in Pennsylvania this week.
It seems like it was yesterday when the 2102 was doing a break-in run in Akron.
It was a warm summer day in 1968. Somehow the news had gotten out that the 2102, which had been purchased by a group of railfans in Akron who restored it to operating condition, planned to take the T-1 Northern type on a run from Akron to Hudson where it would turn on the Penn Central wye there and return to Akron.
My good friend and fellow railfan Mike Ondecker brought two lawn chairs for us in order to wait for 2102. Diesel-powered train after train appeared.
Finally northbound 2102 came into view. It is seen pulling up to the switch in the top photograph after which it reversed a little ways back.
If you look closely, you can see the switch in front of the steamer appears to be thrown for the other track.
That’s the Erie Lackawanna passenger station platform behind the engine. Those three children watching from the hillside would be about 60 now.
You can also see Mike in the bottom image. He is the closest person sitting down.
Then the 2102 came past us, passed under the concourse of Akron Union Depot, and soon was gone. For a brief few moments Mike and I had traveled back to the age of steam locomotives. Yes, it seems like it was only yesterday.
In an unusual move, Baltimore & Ohio S2 switcher No. 9062 is removing Chesapeake & Ohio business car No. 2 from or adding it to the westbound Diplomat in Akron in the late 1960s. The business car would have been kept as long as it was in town on a set out track next to the platform at Akron Union Depot.
The wayback machine is set for Aug. 18, 1968, in Akron at Union Depot.
In the top image, Baltimore & Ohio E9A No. 1455 has cut off from the westbound Diplomat in order to, most likely, add or remove a mail car.
Across the tracks the Erie Lackawanna’s westbound Lake Cities is sitting at its station.
In the middle image the Lake Cities can be seen pulling away from its station platform. It was not unusual for both passenger trains to be in Akron at the same time.
In the bottom image notice the family standing and watching trains on the EL platform.
Can you imagine joining this family and watching trains? I said “watching” because that is the dark side for morning photography.
Yet if you look carefully, the man appears to have a camera around his neck.
If you decide to use your own wayback machine and join me for taking pictures on this day, tell me seeing my photos 53 ahead in the future inspired you to join me to photograph Akron. I’ll believe you.
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