Charlie Wilson and I caught Baltimore & Ohio GP30 Nos. 6912, a GP30, and 354, a GP35, in 1 in Indianapolis on Dec. 29, 1972. The B&O served Indianapolis via a line that began at Hamilton, Ohio, and ran to Springfield, Illinois. Most of that route is gone west of Indy, but is still used by CSX and Amtrak east of the city.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
A Baltimore & Ohio Alco S2 pauses in Akron in early 1971. The image was scanned from an Agfachrome slide and we don’t know the name of the photographer who made it.
Collection of Robert Farkas
Mike Ondecker and I were in Akron on a morning in 1967 or 1968. Pennsylvania Railroad switch engine No. 9115 is eastbound on the eastbound Baltimore & Ohio main that is shared with the Pennsy between Arlington Street in Akron and Warwick Tower in Clinton.
Perhaps the crew is going to interchange cars with the B&O at Akron Junction.
On the next track is the westbound B&O Diplomat making a station stop.
Beyond the Diplomat is the Erie Lackawanna passenger station. Notice the man at the open window. What a railfan’s dream location this was.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has been set to visit Akon in June 1979. Coming our way is Baltimore & Ohio SD40 No. 7592 on the point of a colorful lashup heading west. The train is approaching Voris Street.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
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.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
A Northeast Ohio transportation planning agency is trying to revive a long-held dream of having the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad serve downtown Cleveland.
The Plain Dealer recently reported that the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency is working with other agencies to what needs to be done to enable CVSR trains to travel the 11 miles from the tourist railroad’s northern terminus in Independence into Cleveland.
The idea has been studied before and has been around for more than 20 years. A major stumbling block to extending the CVSR into Cleveland is that CSX owns the former Baltimore & Ohio tracks that excursion trains would need to use.
Once part of the B&O’s Valley Line, the track north of Independence remains an active freight line. There are no freight operations over the track used by the CVSR between Rockside Road station in Independence and downtown Akron. That track is owned by the National Park Service.
NOACA coordinates transportation planning in Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Geauga, and Medina counties.
Executive Director Grace Gallucci said the agency plans to hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study of extending the CVSR northward, possibly to Tower City Center on the southwest corner of Public Square.
“We all have enthusiasm for the project,” Gallucci said. “We’re going to get this done. To be able to put together a railroad taking people from the inner city to the national park would be fantastic.”
She said the study is expected to take 12 to 18 months to complete. Any infrastructure improvements the study recommends could be funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
As for the cost of the feasibility study, Galluci said that will be shared by the partnering agencies. She did not say how much the study will cost.
Those agencies are still working out their respective contributions to the study.
Lisa Petit, the superintendent of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, told The Plain Dealer creating a car-free connection between the park and Cleveland is a major motivating factor behind the renewed effort to extend the CVSR into downtown Cleveland.
She noted that Northeast Ohio has been designed primarily for access by car rather than transit.
This has resulted, Petit said, in lack of transportation between the park and “certain neighborhoods and communities around us.”
U.S. Census data shows that 22.4 percent of Cleveland households don’t have a car. The state median is 6.2 percent.
Joseph Mazur, CVSR president, said previous efforts to extend the railroad’s trains into Cleveland have failed, most recently in 2008.
NOACA has listed extending the CVSR into downtown Cleveland as among a dozen “major projects’’ eligible for federal funding.
The agency defines a major project as one costing $12 million or more to complete.
Today’s two for Tuesday focuses on the Baltimore & Ohio in the 1970s. In the top image, B&O GP35 No. 3559 leads an eastbound near Kent. The bottom image was made in Youngstown. Leading a train through the area is B&O GP40-2 No. 4161. The unit has already received Chessie System paint unlike its two running mates in this gritty industrial scene that captures well railroading in the Mahoning Valley when steelmaking was still king.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has landed us in Akron in the late 1960s or early 1970s. We can’t quite tell which it is. But we can clearly see Baltimore & Ohio GP38 No. 3830 leading an eastbound at Voris Street in a classic Akron Railroading scene. The 3030 was later painted in Chessie System colors.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Movement of the former Baltimore & Ohio passenger station in Hamilton was expected to be completed today (Jan. 17, 2023).
The depot, which dates to the 1850s is being moved in two movements because the structure is two separate buildings.
The first of those building was moved last month more than 1,000 feet north along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to a city-owned lot.
The remaining building is to make the same journey today to be joined with the two-story structure already on site.
The depot was owned by CSX, which donated it to the city with the proviso that it be moved off railroad property.
There has been discussion about making the depot a community center, but no specific use has been agreed upon by city officials.
The depot will be restored to “white box condition,” meaning it will be ready for conversion to suit a business occupant.
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.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
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