EL Monday: Congestion in Akron

I am standing east of both the Erie Lackawanna, and Baltimore & Ohio passenger stations in Akron in the late 1960s.

From left to right: A string of freight cars (mostly hoppers), what looks like a B&O baggage car or a mail car on what might be the B&O eastbound main; an eastbound B&O train sitting on what looks like the B&O westbound mainline perhaps waiting for the eastbound EL freight on the next track to clear the crossovers at JO Tower east of this location, and finally the boxcars on the upper track leading to Quaker Oats

This is the most congestion that I have seen at this location.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

CSX Has Plans for Additional Tribute Locomotives

CSX has indicated that it will place several heritage locomotives on the rails in the coming months.

Last week the first of those, which pays tribute to the Baltimore & Ohio, entered revenue service.

The B&O tribute unit is a hybrid with the nose having the traditional CSX locomotive scheme but the long hood resembling a B&O locomotive from years past.

The locomotive was painted at a CSX shop in Waycross, Georgia.

An email sent to CSX employees revealed plans to create additional heritage locomotives honoring CSX predecessor railroads.

A CSX spokesperson told Trains magazine it will be “quite a few.”

The email did not name the processor railroads that will be celebrated or say how many tribute locomotives there will be.

The B&O tribute locomotive carries a B&O capitol dome herald on its rear. The unit also was renumbered 1827 in honor of the year the B&O was chartered.

CSX has paid homage to its predecessor companies with stickers of their heralds on the sides of locomotive noses. Otherwise, those locomotives retain the CSX livery.

The Florida-based Class 1 carrier also has repainted its F40PH locomotives used in executive train serviced in a B&O-inspired livery.

CSX Locomotive Pays Tribute to B&O

A CSX ES44AH locomotive has been given a livery that pay tribute to the Baltimore & Ohio.

Trains magazine reported on its website that No. 1827, formerly the 3059, debuted in its new scheme on Train M646 during a run from Waycross, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama.

The new livery is not a pure heritage scheme. The front of the unit retains its CSX livery while the back has a partial B&O look starting with the beginning  of the long hood.

Chessie Caboose in Massillon

Baltimore & Ohio caboose C2851 is in front of the long-gone freight house in Massillon on Feb. 15, 1981. 

Photograph by Robert Farkas

B&O Two for Tuesday

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.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

B&O Alco Switcher in Akron in 1971

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

B&O Varnish Two for Tuesday

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

B&O Two for Tuesday

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

Beach to Present at January RRE Meeting

The January meeting of the Forest City Division of the Railroad Enthusiasts will feature a program by Dave Beach.

Titled The South End of the CT&V, the program will consist of image of a former Baltimore & Ohio line that once ran from Cleveland to Mineral City, Ohio. Known as the Cleveland Terminal & Valley, the north end of that line is today used by the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

The meeting will begin at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Friday (Jan. 20) at the Church of the Redeemer, 23500 Center Ridge Road in Westlake.

Train Time at Akron Union Depot

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