Some Color for an EL Monday

For this week’s Erie Lackawanna Monday we’re going to go with a rather colorful Alco RS3 sitting near the engine house in Akron on Jan. 21. 1973. Obviously old man winter got here before us.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Something to be Thankful For

Sometimes we forget local railfan history, or how blessed we are to have been a part of it.

It is the late 1960s/early 1970s in Barberton at the Akron & Barberton Belt engine facility. A&BB No. 28 (Baldwin S12) is at the front left with A&BB No, 5408 (Alco RS-3) behind it.

On the right is Norfolk & Western 2547 (Alco RS-3). Whatever day I took this around 50 years ago, I never realized how thankful I can be for having photographed these fallen-flag builders’ locomotives on a fallen-flag railroad. Even the engine facility as seen here is gone.

Yes, we have the Akron Barberton Cluster here with a different engine facility, but it just isn’t the same. On Thanksgiving Day, also count your railfan blessings. You might be surprised.

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

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

Railroading as it Once Was: CR Rarity

Certainly one of the rarer units on Conrail, this former Lehigh Valley Alco RS-3 with a high short hood rests at the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, engine service facility in October 1977. Built for the Pennsylvania Railroad with a steam generator in that tall hood, it went to the LV as its 211. It would be the only unit of its kind on both the LV and CR roster, and would even retain this car body after it’s conversion in the RS-3 mod program. I believe this unit survives today, although with an EMD prime mover.

Article and Photograph by Roger Durfee

Railroading as it Once Was: Some Strange Bedfellows Showed up in Early Conrail Days

There were some strange bedfellows in Conrail’s first year or two as the newly merged railroad was leasing anything it could beg, borrow, or even steal for a day or two.

In this August 1976 example we see a former Erie Lackawanna caboose being moved by a former Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Alco RS-3 (renumbered as BN 4065) at Brier Hill Yard, a former EL facility, in Youngstown.

West Coast meets East Coast in the shadow of the YS&T steel mill. In a few short years, Conrail would get its act together and these SP&S/BN units would make their way back to Washington State.

Article and Photograph by Roger Durfee