Mangold to Present at February ARRC Meeting

The Feb. 24 meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will feature a program by longtime member David Mangold.

The program is titled Everything Else and will present images made in Colorado and, well, everything else. With Dave you never quite know what you will see.

Much of the program content will be on photographs Dave made between 2019 and 2020 with some images from 2022 thrown in.

The images were made before Dave began working as a locomotive engineer for the Rocky Mountaineer excursion train.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

If Dave is unable to present, the program will be given by Ron McElrath and show footage of his first Ohio experiences in the early 1980s with a Super 8 mm camera and then a Panasonic video camera in 1987.

Kachinko to Present at January ARRC Meeting

The Jan. 27 meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to the west coast and Alaska.

ARRC Secretary David Kachinko will present a program that will begin by reliving a 1973 journey he made to the Pacific Coast. Then Dave will jump ahead about three decades and 3,000 mile north to show the Alaska Railroad’s Millennium Special Tour of July 2000.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

At its annual meeting last November, ARRC members in attendance re-elected the current slate of officers to continue in their positions for 2023.

Aside from Kachinko, officers include Todd Dillon, president; Bill Kubas, vice president; Paul Havasi, treasurer; and Ron McElrath, newsletter editor.

Woods to Present at November ARRC Meeting

The November meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to eastern mountain railroad operations of CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Longtime ARRC member and veteran railroad photographer Don Woods will present a slide show titled Go East Old Men.

The program will feature images made during a trip with his fellow ARRC member and traveling companion Dave Shepherd in 2021 to to Cumberland, Maryland, and eastward toward Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, (Rockville bridge), then westward on the Pittsburgh Line of Norfolk Southern back to Altoona and home.

The meeting will be held on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

During the business meeting, attendees will elect officers for the 2023 calendar year. Nominations for officer positions will be taken from the floor.

The following day, Nov. 26, ARRC member Bob Rohal will host an open house at his home in Kent of his HO model railroad layout.

The ARRC also plans to hold its annual end of year dinner on Dec. 3 at the New Era Restaurant in Akron.

Attendance at the event will be limited to 40 people. No program for the event has yet been announced.

ARRC to View Eastern Coalfield Railroading

The September meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to the coalfields of the eastern United States.

Akron resident Richard Thompson, a former ARRC junior member, will show digital images of coal railroads.

He will show Norfolk Southern operations on the former Virginian Railway and CSX trains on the former Clinchfield Railroad. The meeting will begin on Friday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Program Change Set for August ARRC Meeting

There has been a change of program for the August Akron Railroad Club meeting scheduled for this Friday (Aug. 26).

Retired railroader Rick Varga will present a slide show during the meeting featuring images of CSX, Conrail, and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie operations.

The digital images program by Richard Thompson on eastern coal railroad operations has been rescheduled for the September ARRC meeting.

This week’s meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

ARRC to Take Magical Mystery Tour

The October meeting of the Akron Railroad Club will take attendees to various short line and regional railroads.

Chris Lantz has titled his program The Magical Mystery Tour — Part 2.

The meeting will begin on Friday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Nostalgia in Store at July ARRC Meeting

It will be nostalgia time when the Akron Railroad Club holds its July meeting this Friday.

The July 22 meeting will feature a program by Blaine Hays of Cleveland showing slides of railroad operations in Northern Ohio in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The program will showcase steam excursions as well as diesels and cabooses that are seldom seen in revenue service today.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Coal Trains Featured at June 24 ARRC Meeting

The Akron Railroad Club will see a program on western coal trains at its June 24 meeting.

Mark Demaline of Westlake will show photographs he made during a 1995 trip to the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.

It was a time, he said, when coal was still king and the railroads serving the region were still expanding lines and operations in anticipation of a bright future. “Just about everyone thought the boom would last for generations into the future,” Demaline said.

The program will show trains of Union Pacific, Burlington Northern, and Chicago & North Western. It also will show some of the mines that they served.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

ARRC May Program Features Michigan Railroads

The Akron Railroad Club will kick off the Memorial Day weekend with a program on Michigan railroads at its May meeting on Friday.

Brian Szemon will present digital images of Michigan railroads spanning an area south of Interstate 96 from Grand Rapids to Detroit.

This will include trains traveling lines formerly operated by the Chesapeake & Ohio (former Pere Marquette), and Canadian National (former Grand Trunk Western’s Flint Subdivision. Also shown will be operations on the Great Lakes Central.

Brian is an Andover resident who has been railfanning since childhood and recalls trips to Conneaut during his younger years.

The meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Bowler to Present at April ARRC Meeting

Peter Bowler will present a three-part program at the April 25 meeting of the Akron Railroad .

He will open with digital images made on the 35 miles of the east end of the BNSF Seligman Subdivision between Flagstaff and Canyon Diablo.

The second and third parts will focus on Chinese railroad operations. This will include some low- light images of Chinese standard gauge steam from Sandaoling and video of the scenic Jiayang narrow gauge and Sandaoling standard gauge railroads.

The club meeting will begin at 8 p.m. in the social hall of the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

After the business meeting the program will get underway at approximately 8:30 p.m.