B&O Switcher in Benwood

Baltimore & Ohio SW900 No. 9418 is between assignments in Benwood, West Virginia, on Nov. 25, 1972. The EMD product was built in 1955.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

One Morning 53 Years Ago in Akron

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.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

B&O Geep in Kent

Baltimore & Ohio GP9 No. 6454 is westbound in Kent in the late 1960s. The Geep was built in August 1956 and would later join the roster of the Maryland Midland. The photograph was just able to get beneath the pole line.

Photography by Robert Farkas

Difference of Several Years

In the top image CSX AC44CW No. 7004 leads a westbound in Akron on June 16, 2021, near Voris Street. In the bottom image Baltimore & Ohio GP30 No. 6913 leads a westbound passing an eastbound Erie Lackawanna train at nearly the same location on Jan. 14, 1973. What a difference a few years makes.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Some C&O in Warwick

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway never served Northeast Ohio but its headquarters for several years was in Cleveland. Once the C&O gained control of the Baltimore & Ohio it was common to see motive power of the two railroad mixed together as shown above in Clinton on July 9, 1982.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

B&O F7A in Kent

Baltimore & Ohio F7A No. 4580 is eastbound in Kent in the late 1960s. On the left side, a small portion of the B&O passenger station can be seen.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

R.J. Corman at Justus

A northbound R.J. Corman train crosses the Wheeling & Lake Erie at Justus just east of Brewster. The image was made on May 19, 2021. The Corman train is on a former Baltimore & Ohio secondary route.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Action on North and South Ohio Rail Lines

Most rail lines in Ohio are oriented east-west and are dispatched as such. But even some rail lines that physically operate on a north-south orientation are dispatched as east and west rather than north and south.

This can be seen in Marion where former Chesapeake & Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad routes come through town on a north-south orientation but are dispatched as east-west routes.

In western Ohio, a couple of rail lines are dispatched north and south. Shown above are some images made on the CSX Toledo Subdivision (former Baltimore & Ohio) and the Indiana & Ohio (former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton).

In the top image a southbound CSX auto rack train, the Q203, is approaching Hook-Watz Road north of Cairo, Ohio. It has just passed beneath a signal bridge visible in the distance that still holds a B&O color position light signal.

Next up is southbound steel train K596, which is moving from the north end of a lap siding at Cairo to the main.

Moving farther south, we find southbound manifest freight Q509 rolling along south of Wapakoneta. Note the B&O position signals in the distance. These are still several of them on the Toledo Sub.

Skipping even further south, we find the Q561 in Hamilton, Ohio, on the joint track used by CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Now let’s check out some I&O trains starting with a southbound that has just left the yard in Lima. It is crossing the former Pennsylvania Railroad’s Fort Wayne Line at Sugar Street.

We head back north to Ottawa where we find an I&O train getting off its own rails and onto the CSX Toledo Sub. The former DT&I is abandoned between here and Lima.

Not far down the road that same I&O train is passing the grain elevator complex in Columbus Grove. At one time, the Akron, Canton & Youngstown crossed the B&O here although the crossing was farther south from the grain elevator.

Finally, we end the series with an oldie. This southbound I&O train was captured on its own tracks south of Hamler on July 19, 2009, and was scanned from a slide.

You wouldn’t know this was the I&O from the motive power being used. In fact you might not think you were even in Ohio.

All the other images in this series were made this past April.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Back When Holloway Still a Railroad

Holloway, Ohio, was once home to a major Baltimore & Ohio terminal due to its proximity to the southeast Ohio coal fields. Steam power lasted here well into the 1950s and the last B&O steam operation was an excursion to Holloway from Cleveland on May 17, 1958.

B&O Steam locomotives were just a memory in late 1972 when this image was made of GP38 No. 3820 sitting at the engine service facility.

This photograph was made during the photographer’s first year of mainly using slide film. That year he chose Agfachrome or High Speed Ektachrome for his color photography.

Today the yard and all of its service facilities in Holloway are gone.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Another B&O F7A at Work

We don’t know where this image of Baltimore & Ohio F7A No. 4590 was made. We do know it was made in mid 1968.

Photograph by Mike Ondecker