The westbound Diplomat of the Baltimore & Ohio is making its station stop in Akron in 1968.
Leading No. 7 today is E8A No. 1446. In the background is the passenger station for the Erie Lackawanna.
The Diplomat is on the westbound B&O main line with the Akron Union Depot passenger platform between No. 1446 and the viewer.
The track between No. 7 and the platform was used for storing cars to be put on passenger trains or cars that were taken off passenger trains.
A photo made by Akron Railroad Club member Bob Rohal was published in the Record-Courier last Friday.
The photo was made in 1958 of a Baltimore & Ohio mail train passing through Kent. Rohal made the photograph atop the Main Street Bridge.
The caption mentions that an Erie Railroad passenger train was due about a half hour after the passage of the B&O train.
However, the caption incorrectly states that B&O passenger service in Kent ended year before the Erie Lackawanna discontinued its last passenger trains in January 1970.
The B&O continued to operate four passengers trains a day through Kent until the coming of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.
The caption also mentions that Erie employee Otis Taylor was waiting at the Kent station to put water into the passenger train’s locomotives.
“Little did I know that in three years along with my Journeyman Jimmy Powell I also would also be putting water in the Passenger Diesels after Mr Taylor retired,” Bob wrote in an email message.
Periodically, we report on the status of Nova tower, that decrepit structure on the south side of the tracks of the CSX New Castle Subdivision in Nova, Ohio. Built by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad decades ago, the tower once controlled crossovers and a siding here. But those are gone and for some reason the tower itself continues to stand.
I was out on a Memorial Day outing on Sunday when I heard a train heading eastward on the ex-B&O. I had time to get ahead of it and so I drove to Nova. With Nova tower, you never know when your next photograh of it will be your last.
A couple of railfans from the Chicago area were already there and one of them was brave enough to climb the stairs to get a photograph through the tower’s windows — or what is left of them.
His photograph did not work out the way he had hoped. The levers are still in the tower and he was able to get those all right. But the high contrast lighting resulted in the oncoming train being washed out.
Perhaps he might be able to salvage a half-way decent image in Photoshop.
As for myself, I stayed firmly on the ground. Perhaps the stairs are still safe, but every time I see Nova tower it looks a little worse for wear. One of these days . . .
I pass by Nova Tower several times a year on my travels from Columbus to Elyria. I grew up in Akron and my uncle was an engineer for the Baltimore & Ohio.
I always enjoy the photos and stories on the Akron Railroad Club website. This photo was taken on April 9, 2013.
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 