Pennsy Locos on a Former Pennsy Route

Bennett Levin’s former Pennsylvania Railroad E8s powered a rare mileage private car excursion on Aug. 19, 2001, on a former Pennsy route from Harrisburg to Erie, Pennsylvania.

From Emporium, Pennsylvania, to Erie the railroad was operated as the Allegheny & Eastern and since it was a secondary route for the Pennsy the operating speeds were more relaxed.

Marty Surdyk and his brother Robert studied that route and that was where we focused our photography of the excursion.

Listening to the scanner on our trek eastward we set up initially at  St. Marys (top photograph) in pouring rain.

As the day went on the rain let up but the weather mainly remained overcast. We were able to find 12 photo locations. Five of the best are here in this story. 

They included crossing the Allegheny River in Warren, Pennsylvania; Garland, Pennsylvania; and passing a mural of a Climax steam locomotive in Corry, Pennsylvania, the home of Climax Manufacturing, which built the famous logging locomotives.

Our final photo location was in Erie where the excursion train arrived at the Erie Union Station, which today is still used by Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited.  

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

East Broad Top Railroad Sold to Foundation

Looking toward the shops in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania, in August 1962. You can see freight and passenger cars, EBT M-1 gas-electric car, two steamers (I believe 12 and 14), and Johnstown Traction 311. (Photograph courtesy of Robert Farkas collection)

The East Broad Top Railroad has been sold to a non-profit group whose backers include Charles “Wick” Moorman, Bennett Levin and Henry Posner III.

The sale was announced on Friday by the EBT Foundation, which will own 27 miles of the EBT from the south end of the concrete-arch bridge over the Aughwick River below Mount Union to the road crossing in Wood Township.

The foundation said it also acquired the narrow-gauge railroad’s shops, rolling stock, and equipment from the Kovalchick family.

In a news release, the parties noted that the EBT is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Although events will be held this year, regular operations are not expected to get underway until 2021.

“This is the best possible outcome for the railroad, which has been in my family for two generations,” says Joseph Kovalchick, whose father, Nick Kovalchick, purchased the EBT after its coal mines closed in 1956.

The Kovalchick family will continue to own coal-company property that had been jointly owned with the railroad.

Kovalchick said in a statement that his father never intended to scrap the railroad after buying it.

“But it is clear that a for-profit business model is not sustainable. Our faith in the new model is reflected in both the sale and the Kovalchick family’s ongoing role on the board of the new non-profit,” he said.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Brad Esposito, a 20-year veteran of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh led the effort to purchase the EBT.

He was joined by EBT enthusiasts David Brightbill, Lawrence Biemiller, and Stephen Lane.

Esposito will become the general manager of the railroad.

He said the EBT Foundation is committed to preserving and operating the EBT as a steam railroad that will provide education about the role of railroads in local and national history as well as help to promote local and regional tourism and economic growth.

The EBT closed in 2011 and work needs to be done to rehabilitate its tracks, locomotives and passenger cars.

This work will also include installation of a fire-suppression system in the shops and roundhouse, and stabilization of structures in the Rockhill Furnace complex.

The foundation plans to work with the volunteer group Friends of the East Broad Top, which has sought to preserve the property since 1983.

It will also work with the Rockhill Trolley Museum, a volunteer organization that since 1960 has operated over the former EBT’s Shade Gap Branch.

Also involved in advising the foundation are Linn Moedinger, former president of the Strasburg Rail Road, and Rod Case, a partner at the consulting firm Oliver Wyman who leads its railway practice.

The Allegheny Ridge Corporation, which manages the region’s state-designated Heritage Area, was also listed in a news release as a supporter of the foundation.

The EBT was built between 1872 to 1874 to haul coal to a new iron furnace in the center of the state. At one time it also interchanged coal with the Pennsylvania Railroad.

The 33-mile EBT survived the collapse of the local iron industry at the turn of the 20th century and was purchased in 1956 by the Kovalchick Salvage Company of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

The railroad has a gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches and is the the only original narrow-gauge railroad surviving east of the Rocky Mountains.

Its shops complex dates to the 1880s and was expanded between 1905 and 1907.

Housed in the roundhouse in Rockhill Furnace are six narrow-gauge steam locomotives built for the EBT by Philadelphia’s Baldwin Locomotive Works between 1911 and 1920.

The roundhouse also contains an M-1 gas-electric car built in 1927 with plans and parts from Philadelphia’s J.G. Brill Companyand Westinghouse Electric.

The EBT passenger car fleet is believed to date to the 1890s.

Track remains in place over nearly the entire 33-mile main line between Robertsdale and the former PRR connection in Mount Union.

Norfolk Southern now operates the former PRR mainline between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

The railroad’s new website is eastbroadtop.com

Levin Wants Pennsylvania to Divorce Amtrak

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives Transportation Committee held a hearing last week that drew one witness and he suggested the state take over from Amtrak operation of the passenger service in the Keystone Corridor.

Bennett Levin, who oversees the short line Juniata Terminal in Philadelphia and is the owner of private railroad cars, suggested the Philadelphia commuter operator SEPTA operate Amtrak’s Keystone Service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

He contended that this would lower the state’s costs of providing the service, which is now 13 weekday Keystone Service trains and the New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian.

Some Keystone Service trains operate between New York and Harrisburg.

Levin also contended that state operation would lead to increased train service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

The 103-mile Harrisburg-Philadelphia line is owned by the federal government and it would have to agree to transfer ownership of it to the state.

“SEPTA is one of the best managed commuter rail operators in the nation and there is no reason why their franchise cannot be modified to allow them to run west of Thorndale to Harrisburg,” Levin said. “Therefore the initial step in crafting a solution in the Pittsburgh region is to divorce Amtrak by having the U.S. Department of Transportation gift the Harrisburg Line to Pennsylvania and let SEPTA provide the existing Keystone Service.

SEPTA has 81 weekday trains on the Harrisburg Line that carry 20,000 passengers.

Amtrak’s  26 weekday Keystone trains carry 4,130 people, and the Pennsylvanian carries more than 560 passengers a day.

Levin said his plan would remove Amtrak as a middleman. “We have already paid for the Harrisburg Line; we should own it,” he said.

Levin noted that the state and SEPTA collectively pay Amtrak $1 million a week to operate intercity and commuter rail service on the Harrisburg line.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and SEPTA have paid more than $250 million for infrastructure improvements to the route including new or renovated stations at Paoli, Exton, Downingtown, Mount Joy, Elizabethtown, and Middletown.

Levin acknowledged that under his plan passengers traveling from within Pennsylvania to New York would have to change trains in Philadelphia at 30^th Street Station.

“Those folks going to New York, let them walk downstairs,” he said in reference to the upper level and lower level platforms.

Levin was critical of the schedule of the westbound Pennsylvanian, which he said is oriented to passengers connecting to Amtrak’s westbound Capitol Limited to Chicago in Pittsburgh.

But fewer than 10 percent of Pennsylvanian passengers are connecting to Amtrak train No. 29.

With an earlier schedule westbound, the equipment used on the Pennsylvanian could be turned at Pittsburgh to create a new Pittsburgh-Johnstown commuter train.

PennDOT, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern have discussed expanding service between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh but thus far those talks have not produced any agreements.

Levin told Trains magazine that all of the parties seem to be talking past each others. “It’s my belief that Norfolk Southern is a perfectly rational partner, once you get Amtrak out of the picture,” Levin said.

Remembering the PRR E8A Units

With the cancellation of the excursion from Philadelphia to Altoona, Pennsylvania, I would like to share some pictures that I did of the two Pennsylvania Railroad E8As during happier times out that way.

The cancelled trip was to have helped the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society celebrate its 50^th anniversary during a convention in Altoona.

The train was to have run to Altoona on May 9 and return four days later.

It might have been the last mainline excursion of the Pennsy passenger locomotives because owner Bennett Levin has said he does not plan to give the engines a positive train control apparatus.

The images in this series were made at Altoona, Horseshoe Curve, Gallitzin and Cassandra.

Photographs by Jack Norris

Planned Pennsylvania Excursion Canceled

A planned excursion train in Pennsylvania in conjunction with the 50^th anniversary celebration of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society has been canceled, a victim of a recent Amtrak policy change banning most special moves and charters.

The train, which would have featured the PRR E8A passenger locomotives and former Pennsy passenger cars owned by Bennett Levin, had initially been approved by Amtrak.

But Levin received a phone call from an Amtrak official saying Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson had ordered an end to special trains.

Although the Amtrak policy change had allowed for exceptions in narrow circumstances, a recent clarification of the policy indicated that Amtrak will not approve excursions that operate on lines not used by the carrier’s scheduled trains.

The PRRT&HS excursion was to operate from Philadelphia to Altoona, Pennsylvania, on May 9 via the Buffalo Line of Norfolk Southern and the Nittany & Bald Eagle short line railroad using former PRR routes via Williamsport and Tyrone.

Levin had submitted a detailed request to Amtrak in December to operate the excursion and he agreed to Amtrak’s price for the trip in early February.

As late as early April Amtrak was still agreeing to operate the trip before backing out in mid April.

Private Car Owner Defends Amtrak Policy Changes

In the wake of recent Amtrak policy changes that all but banned special and charter movements and a policy review pertaining to the carriage of private rail cars, reports have surfaced that bad behavior by private rail car owners is one underlying issue motivating Amtrak.

Now a private car owner has come forward to contend that there is some truth to those reports.

Bennett Levin, who owns former Pennsylvania Railroad office car No. 120 and two E8A locomotives painted in a PRR livery, told Trains magazine that the trade groups representing the interests of private rail car owners and operators have failed to address that.

“Things have spiraled out of control. Neither of the private varnish organizations have taken positive steps to address these issues, so now Amtrak has said, ‘Enough,’ ” Levin said. “What Amtrak has done is not draconian. It is prudent.”

Saying the issue of safety is paramount, Levin accused the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners and the Rail Passenger Car Alliance of doing a poor job of self-policing their members and instilling a culture of safety first.

That brought a retort from both groups, which issued a joint statement denying the assertions.

RPCA President W. Roger Fuehring, and AAPRCO President Robert G. Donnelley said their groups each have safety committees that have provided safety manuals to members.

Furthermore, there have been no incidents or accidents that have been reportable to the Federal Railroad Administration.

The two group presidents noted that they have denied membership to car owners who have a poor safety record and that not all private car owners are members of AAPRCO or RPCA.

“Both organizations have investigated and taken action on the occasional violations of our membership,” the statement said.

The groups also took issue with Levin’s call for rail car owners and railfans to curtail contacting elected officials to urge them to take action in response to the Amtrak policy changes.

Levin argued in a letter to the National Railway Historical Society that such lobbying may do more harm than good.

“I would urge everyone who claims to have an interest in this matter, from those who own the equipment to those who stand trackside and record its passing for history, to use reason and restraint, and not add fuel to an already raging fire being fed by ineptness, poor judgment, and short sightedness,” Levin wrote in the letter addressed to NRHS President Al Weber.

Levin told Trains that the reaction of rail car owners and railfans is ill-timed and nearing “hysteria.”

In their joint statement, the presidents of AAPRCO and RPCA said the lobbying has been in response to a policy change that caught many by surprise, particularly in its severity.

“[I]t is not surprising that some tourist railroad organizations, charterers, private car owners, and car owner associations have sought help from their legislators in view of the fact that Amtrak is a government approved monopoly receiving aid from the legislature,” the statement said.

“Despite the extreme hardship that the policy entailed, we continue to respect and understand that, with new leadership, Amtrak is analyzing and reviewing all aspects of train operations. In light of the most recent developments, we have asked formally to meet with Amtrak’s President and CEO, Richard Anderson, in order to see how we can be better partners and support Amtrak where it would be beneficial to both parties.”

The two groups have made suggestions to Amtrak as to how to streamline the process of adding and removing private cars from Amtrak trains, particularly at intermediate stations.

Amtrak’s policy toward special movements and charters allows for exceptions in narrowly defined circumstances.

An Amtrak representative told Trains that the carrier’s policy in regards to hauling private cars continues to evolve and should be announced in the near future.

However, in its communications with rail cars owners, Amtrak has signaled that it wants to restrict the number of trains and routes that carry private cars and limit carriage on others to certain days of the week.

Amtrak also has indicated that it wants to primarily move cars from endpoint to endpoint and avoid adding and removing cars at intermediate stations with scheduled dwell times of less than 30 minutes.

For his part, Levin believes the policy changes pertaining to private cars and special movements is “a matter to be thoroughly considered in the context of the railroad’s regular operations.”

Levin said he fears that Congressional intervention may result in “something far worse than a decrease in the frequency of private passenger car trips on the national rail network.”

In their statement, AAPRCO and RPCA cited some of the hardships that private car owners have endured.

This has included cars stored in formerly permitted locations being “frozen in place” and cars already en route being forced to change their schedules at significantly higher costs.

“Cars on the California Zephyr, for example, were not allowed to transfer to the Coast Starlight and were forced to return to Chicago,” the statement said.

Because the Amtrak policy change in regards to special moves was effective immediately, the groups said this resulted in major costs of disruption.

Cost of Installing PTC May Sideline PRR E8A Locomotives from Mainline Excursion Service

Two former Pennsylvania Railroad E8A passenger locomotives are likely to be sidelined once positive train control systems are switched on.

Bennett Levin, who owns Tuscan red Nos. 5711 and 5809 told Trains magazine that the cost of PTC to prohibitive for two diesels that are used only about twice a year.

“Based on what we know at this time, there’s no practical way to continue,” he said.

Levin estimated the cost of installing PTC at six figures per unit. “Nobody is going to spend that kind of money,” Levin said in reference to mainline passenger excursions.

He also said another potential stumbling block is uncertainty about the future of private car operations on Amtrak.

The last road trip for the Pennsy units may be this May when they pull an excursion being sponsored by the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.

That trip will run from Philadelphia to Altoona, Pennsylvania, on May 9 for the group’s 50th annual convention. The train of parlor cars will return on May 13.

Congress in 2008 mandated that railroad lines hosting passengers service and/or hazardous cargo must have a PTC system. The deadline for installing the systems is Dec. 31.

Levin described that mandate as “unfortunate and untimely.”

Calling it an unfunded Congressional mandate, Levin said it would not exist had the locomotive engineer of a California commuter train that collided with a Union Pacific locomotive been doing his job and not using his cell phone just before the collision. That crash helped to prompt the 2008 legislation mandating PTC installation.

The PRR E8A units have passed through Northeast Ohio a handful of times in the past decade and pulled a private car train on the Ohio Central on July 31, 2004, from Dennison to Sugar Creek and return.

Pennsy E units Visit Ohio, Again

The private car chrater "Pacific Express" rounds the curve at Hubbard, Ohio, and passes a former Conrail caboose on Sunday, August 7, 2011.

Bennett Levin’s E8A locomotives made their second appearance in Ohio of 2011 on Sunday (August 7). The locomotives, adorned in a Pennsylvania Railroad livery, passed through Ohio en route to the National Train Day celebration in Chicago in May before returning to their Philadelphia area home.

On Sunday, the Pennsy E units were pulling the Pacific Express, a private car charter train that originated in Hoboken, New Jersey, on Friday and ended its journey in Philadelphia on Monday. The train traveled over a primarily former Erie Railroad routing until getting to Youngstown where it assumed a mostly all former PRR trek except for a stretch of former New York Central track on the Norfolk Southern  Youngstown Line.

Several Akron Railroad Club members were trackside to photograph the special train including Roger Durfee, Alan Savage, Richard Thompson, Cody Zamostny, John Puda, Peter Bowler and Craig Sanders.

To read an article written by Sanders and to view a gallery of photographs, click on the link below.

https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/trackside-tales/pennsy-e-units-pass-through-youngstown/

Photographs by Craig Sanders

E8A Nos. 5711 and 5809 sparkle in the early afternoon sunlight at Lowellville, Ohio, on Norfolk Southern's Youngstown Line. This is former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage.

Covered Wagons Roll Through NE Ohio

The Norfolk Southern office car special passes a pair of Pennsylvania Railroad style position light signals near Maximo, Ohio, on the Fort Wayne Line on April 30, 2011. The train was en route to Louisville, Kentucky, and the Kentucky Derby.

There is nothing that gets the pulse of a railfan photographer racing quite a much as a special movement, particularly when that movement involves some vintage equipment that we rarely see come down the tracks. Mention the phrase “OCS” and there will be dozens of guys grabbing their cameras and heading trackside. And if its the Norfolk Southern OCS, you better get out of the way.

The NS OCS is no stranger to Northeast Ohio, but its visits are infrequent enough to merit getting out to see it when it does show up.

A few events every year are guaranteed to see the NS OCS show up. One of those is the Kentucky Derby. To get to Louisville from its base in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the NS OCS train must pass through Ohio. It’s typical route through Northeast Ohio is the Fort Wayne Line (ex-Pennsylvania Railroad) through Alliance, Canton, Mansfield and Bucyrus. At the latter point, the OCS then turns southward (railroad eastbound) onto the Sandusky District to head for Columbus and, eventually, Cincinnati.

Norfolk Southern does not announce when its OCS train is ferrying to and from various locations. But that information seems to get out on the railfan grapevine, which then distributes it via various railfan oriented websites and chat lists. It helps that a number of NS employees are willing to “leak” the information.

The Louisville-bound OCS train was set to pass through Northeast Ohio in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 30. I arranged to ride with Roger Durfee to intercept the train. We left Roger’s home in Cuyahoga Falls and headed for Alliance.

Upon arriving in Alliance, we heard an NS train on the Fort Wayne Line west of town call a signal. That ended for the moment our plans to get lunch. The bridge over the tracks just north of the Amtrak station where most railfans hang out in Alliance was closed for construction and the fence has been temporarily removed.

Roger parked his jeep at the east end of the bridge and we hoofed it up top for an unobstructed view of the eastbound train. It was nice to be able to have your pick of photo angles without a fence getting in the way.

We had lunch at the Burger Hut next to the Cleveland Line on the north side of town, watching a stack train roll by while munching on cheeseburgers and fries.

Then it was time to scout locations for the OCS train. Roger had initially thought about going back atop the bridge, but that would mean having a crowd of railfan photographers in the images. We checked out a couple of sites in town and on the edge of town. I suggested that we drive a little further west, which led us to the hamlet of Maximo.

The Fort Wayne Line has a largely north-south orientation just north of Maximo and is curving westward in the town itself. On that stretch sits a pair of Pennsylvania Railroad style position light signals. The Fort Wayne Line is double tracked here and signaled for operation in both directions on each track.

It didn’t take Roger long to decide that this would be where we would capture the train. We killed time sitting at nearby nature park within sight of the signals and monitored the radio traffic. We heard the Pittsburgh West dispatcher give the OCS a train order for a 15 mph speed restriction in Canton.

That was good news for two reasons. First, it meant the OCS was nearby. Second, it meant we had a fighting chance to get ahead of the train and catch it further west.

After hearing the OCS call a signal in Alliance, it was time to move. Roger backed his jeep up a narrow private driveway that crossed the tracks. Then we got a bonus. Although the train was coming toward us, the signals came on. But was this because of the approaching OCS or was it because of another train in the area on the Fort Wayne Line going eastward?

A second bonus was that the sun came out from behind some substantial clouds that were filling the sky. The gates of the nearby Beech Street NE crossing came down and then the OCS came around the curve. 

No matter how many times you’ve seen the NS OCS train, it is still a breath-taking sight when it comes into view. There is simply nothing else in America that looks quite like those F units that lead the NS OCS train with their black and white with gold trim livery.

But as a photographer, you don’t have time to admire them. The train was moving along at a good clip and we fired off several shots before we had to bail out. Getting through Canton was a challenge. From our position, there was no traffic light free path through town.

That made the 15 mph slow order the OCS had near Reed all the more important. As we crossed over the NS tracks on Interstate 77, we could see the end of the train in the distance. We had a chance. As we raced westward on U.S. 30, we soon caught and passed the OCS.

Roger had toyed with the idea of going to Bucyrus to catch the train, but by now the weather had deteriorated. A large sheet of cloud cover had camped over us. We elected to go to Orrville and get the OCS passing the depot and restored block tower there.

We made it to Orrville ahead of the train with literally a few seconds to spare. We parked, crossed the tracks and ran into position. With our mission accomplished, we called it day, but not before stopping in Marshallville on the way back for some railroad archeology work.

This small town once hosted the Akron branch of the PRR that used to go to Columbus. That track is all gone except for a short segment within Orrville to serve the J.M. Smucker plant on the north side of town.

Roger recalled having shot Conrail trains here in the 1970s. At the time, Conrail had rerouted traffic off the former Erie Lackwanna that used to operate west of Akron. Instead, it moved from Akron to Warwick and then onto the Akron branch to Orrville, where it turned west onto the Fort Wayne Line. But even this arrangement did not last long and the Akron branch was torn out.

We parked near a grain elevator and Roger looked for the spot where he had once photographed a Conrail train heading westbound. He snapped an “after” shot and that night spent a few hours in vain trying to find the “before” shot. It’s somewhere in his collection, but right now he can’t find it.

A week later, Roger and I met up again to chase another pair of covered wagons. Bennett Levin of Philadelphia owns a pair of E8A locomotives painted in a Pennsylvania Railroad livery. He also owns three passenger cars painted in Pennsy colors, one of which is former PRR office car No. 120.

The E units and three passengers cars passed westward through Northeast Ohio on Thursday, May 5, but I was working and couldn’t get out to see it. The train was en route to Chicago for display at the National Train Day event there on May 7. It would leave Chicago to return to Philly on Sunday, May 8. It figured to pass through Cleveland in late afternoon.

Roger and I scouted a few locations in Bedford, but he decided the best spot would be his first choice, which was near his office. Roger’s “office” is the yard office at Motor Yard in Macedonia. While out scouting, I photographed two NS trains from the Egbert Road overpass. We also ran into fellow Akron Railroad Club member Tim Krogg in Bedford.

The “Pennsy” train was technically an Amtrak special move and operated under an Amtrak symbol, 068. I would learn later that fellow ARRC members Dennis Taksar and Alex Bruchac photographed the train near Berea with Alex then chasing it to Maple Heights. ARRC officers Ed Ribinskas and Marty Surdyk were stationed at Tim Lally Field in Bedford, a city park. They were able to get something of a rare sight. The 068 crawling along.

Train 068 had a stop signal at CP 107. A long stack train, the 25Z, would cross over there so the OCS train had to wait. That the 25Z had to cross over was due to a grain train being dead in its tracks by Motor Yard due to one of the locomotives having blown a turbo. That made the busy NS Cleveland Line a one-track railroad.

The 25Z lumbered past and we heard the 068 get a clear signal at CP 107. We moved into position and waited. In two miles, the 068 had managed to build up quite a bit of speed, which Roger estimated at about 60 mph.

But not for long. The 068 had got caught by the hotbox detector a few miles east. Roger speculated that the engineer had applied the brakes hard coming out of a dip and going into a 40 mph speed restruction. This must have heated the brakes shoes. That turned out to be exactly the case.

We hung around for another hour or so, photographing a somewhat steady parade of NS freight trains. I don’t know if I’ll get the NS OCS train again this year or when the Pennsy E units will get back this way. Whatever the case, it turned out to be a nice way to begin the summer railfanning season.

Article by Craig Sanders. Photographs by Roger Durfee

The NS OCS passes the restored block tower at Orrville on April 30, 2011. The tower, used to sit on the other side of the tracks in approximately the same location where the photographer stood to get this image. The tower is now maintained by the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society, which owns the Orrville depot.

The photo below was a sput of the moment shot that Roger made. The dwarf signal is on a spur to a customer located on the southwest side of Orrville. At one time, this was a lead to the Orrville yard and a connnection to the Akron branch that crossed here.

In the photo below, Craig Sanders prepares to photograph the last car on the NS OCS train as it passes through Orrville, Ohio.

The first photo below begins a three-photo sequence of the passage of Juniata Terminal Company’s Pennsy locomotives and passengers cars passing near Motor Yard in Macedonia.

 

The Amtrak special was gaining speed as it passed the yard office at Motor Yard.

In the going away shot below, Pennsylvania 120 brings up the rear. This was formerly the PRR’s primary office car.

Sunday is just another day of work on the railroad. And so it was for ARRC member David Mangold, an NS engineer. In the photo below, Dave is bringing the “crosstown job” back to Motor Yard. This job begins at Motor Yard and works its way to and from Rockport Yard on Cleveland’s southwest side near Hopkins Airport.