Here are four photos I made at Brecksville station on July16. All the bikers came on the path over the Station Road bridge over the Cuyahoga River shortly before train time at 1:20 p.m. The baggage car definitely is needed for this popular option on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Note that the locomotives on both ends of the train are leases from Horizon Rail.
Photographs by Edward Ribinskas
When Akron Railroad Club member Bob Farkas cranks up his way back machine he usually has in mind going back to the 1970s or earlier.
When I dive into my version of a way back machine I tend to have a much shorter focus in time.
I recently launched a project of reviewing some my older digital images with an eye toward processing and posting some that got overlooked shortly after they were made.
I decided to start with July, August and September of 2011, a period of time that incorporated the first three months that I started doing digital photography.
I was all over the visit that September of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 when it came to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and pulled a series of excursions.
The image above was made on Sept. 17. The 765 was pulling a trip headed for Canton that was billed as a “total track tour.”
I was waiting for it on the Old Station Road bride that is now part of the towpath trail.
What caught my attention about this photograph is the FL9 that is trailing on the train and will bring it back north later today.
The CVSR used that FL9, a former Amtrak and New Haven unit, between 2009 and early 2012.
It was paired with NKP 765 during its September 2011 visit, which would turn out to be the waning days of No. 484’s tenure in the Valley.
No. 484 at the time was owned by F.P. Flynn but has since moved on to working in Canada.
Another notable fact about this train is the presence of two dome cars. The dome with the blue, gold and gray paint was named Emerson at the time and had just been joined by the former Silver Bronco, which was already wearing CVSR colors.
The ex-Silver Bronco assumed the Emerson name for a while before reverting to its original Denver & Rio Grande Western name.
The blue, gold and gray dome in this train is a former Great Northern car than ran on the CVSR between 2009 and 2011.
As I processed this image I also noticed something that had escaped my attention at the time.
Can you find the Akron Railroad Club member in this photo? He is standing next a tripod with a video camera and has a still photo camera around his neck. Look a little to the left of the Buckeye crossbuck at the grade crossing.
It is Paul Wooding who was part of the impromptu photo line.
Last month I posted some images made of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 passing a swamp located south of the Brecksville station o n the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
I had walked along the tracks to reach that location. But the steam locomotive wasn’t the only thing I photographed there.
I also captured the CVSR diesel on the north end of the train, RS18u No. 1822, and some passenger cars.
Note how the smoke in the bottom image is still hanging in air back near the Brecksville station. It almost looks like the 765 is still there.
The National Park Scenic departs from Peninsula station amid peak fall colors in early November.
Autumn is probably the favorite season of the year for the managers of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroads.
It’s trains are stuffed full of leaf peepers wanting to get a look at the autumn foliage along the 25-mile route between Akron and Independence.
And just as soon as the foliage season is done the Polar Express season begins. The trains featuring the children’s Christmas tale account for 20 percent of the CVSR’s annual ridership.
Is it any wonder that the railroad looks forward to the end of the year?
I, took, look forward to autumn on the CVSR, but for a different reason. Some of my best images of that railroad have been made in October and early November.
And between runs of the National Park Scenic, there is autumn glory to photograph in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Peninsula as already been decked out to become the North Pole for the Polar Express trains.
The first of three images of the southbound Scenic coming through an S curve north of Brecksville station.
Horizon Rail No. 8420 leads the National Park Scenic at Brecksville.
Passing the leaf-covered path to the Brecksville station.
CVSR 1822 is framed by an arch of the Ohio Route 82 bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley.
FPA-4 No. 6771 leads the last Ales on Rails train of the year through Brecksville.
The Baltimore & Ohio tribute FPA-4 No. 800 brings up the rear of the Ales on Rails train at Brecksville.
Now facing south on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, Horizon Rail No. 8420.
Because CVSR No. 800 has always seemed to face south I must have thought that it always would.
All roads lead to the Silver Bronco or at least maybe in Peninsula.
The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad began its 2016 operations more than two weeks ago. I was in Akron last Saturday so I made a trip over to the Valley to see what was running.
The same locomotives that I saw pulling CVSR Scenic trains last fall are still pulling trains this winter, but with a twist.
CVSR No. 800, the Baltimore & Ohio FPA-4 tribute locomotive, is now facing north. Facing south is Horizon Rail GP10 No. 8420, which the CVSR has leased.
I don’t know why the locomotives were turned. There’s probably a reason for it and maybe it’s a good one.
What I do know is that I’d rather have the 800 facing south because the light is always better for a south-facing locomotive on a north-south railroad.
But I’ll make do the best I can this winter and spring until either the 800 gets turned or another more colorful unit replaces the 8420.
The first photo op of the day was along Riverview Road as the late morning Scenic headed northbound south of Peninsula.
What a difference a week makes. I had been on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad on Sunday, Oct. 25 and the leaves were at their peak colors.
A week later, many of those leaves had not only lost their color, but also fallen to the ground.
There was still some color left and many leaves still on the trees had that golden brown that makes late autumn distinct.
It was a sunny day and the last time that the CVSR would operate the Scenic train with a pair of locomotives on the south end.
With this year’s pairing featuring two FPA-4 units running tail to tail, it might be the last opportunity to get this unusual coupling.
Fellow Akron Railroad Club member Roger Durfee and I set out to chase the late morning and middle trips of the day.
Here is a sample of what I was able to capture.
The day’s trips represented the last service to the stations at Botzum, Indigo Lake and Brecksville until next year. Starting Nov. 7, the Scenic shifts to Saturday and Sunday operation with the only intermediate stop being in Peninsula.
Not as much color as last week, but the view from the Ohio Route 82 bridge was still pretty fantastic.
Passengers wait on the platform with their bikes as an arch of the Route 82 bridge frames the nose of CVSR No. 800.
I got down on my stomach to get his shot at Brecksville station.
A small amount of gold is left in a tree next to the tracks just north of Boston Mill.
Is this the last time that FpA-4 Nos. 800 and 6771 run together as a pair? We’ll find out in autumn 2016, but much can change in a year’s time.
Around the curve lies the Boston Mill station.
Bearing down on milepost 43 in Akron.
The best color of the day was at milepost 43 in Akron behind a housing development.
Side lighting illuminates a stand of autumn gold as the train rumbles through Akron southbound.
We waited for the Scenic to go north out of Akron and then called it a day. The train is passing milepost 43.
The sunlight through the trees casts an interesting shadow pattern on the undisturbed snow as the northbound afternoon CVSR Scenic train approaches Brecksville.
There’s snow and then there’s deep snow. No sooner had I set out from the parking lot in Brecksville toward the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad tracks when I found myself ankle deep in it.
It wasn’t that long of a walk so I trudged ahead with the objective of photographing the northbound Scenic train crossing Chippewa Creek.
The snow was even deeper on the other side of the creek. I fell once when my mind was going in one direction but my body in another.
But it was worth it because the snow had not been spoiled by human footprints or other activity. It was as pure a scene as I could expect to find in Northeast Ohio and with little imagination reminiscent of being in an isolated spot in the woods of Minnesota, Michigan or Canada.
Another photographer also hiked through the snow, but he chose to photograph from the creek whereas I wanted to be able to get coming and going shots.
It was getting to be late afternoon and the sun was low enough that much of the track was in shadows. Yet the sun streaming through the trees created an interesting effect of shadows across the rails.
The bridge over Chippewa Creek was in open sunlight, which is probably why that other guy chose to go down to the water level. He would get a nicely lighted side view.
During the winter the Scenic doesn’t stop at Brecksville station, so I had to guess as to when it would arrive there. The only scheduled stop between Akron and Rockside Road in Independence is Peninsula.
I was happy to see a spot of yellow when the Scenic came into view. That meant that the black LTEX 1420 would not be on the lead. Try photographing that locomotive in shadows.
Instead, the 1822, an RS18u that had been built in May 1958 for Canadian Pacific, was on the point. The trailing unit was No. 800, the FPA-4 built in March 1959 for Canadian National, and painted in a Baltimore & Ohio livery.
I can only hope that this motive power consist combination will continue to run a little longer.
Seeing the 1822 on the point was a most welcome sight.
The 1822 passes a snow-covered hillside just before crossing Chippewa Creek. The horn is sounding and the bell ringing for the crossing at Brecksville station.
Crossing Chippewa Creek on a sunny day that made it feel warm.
The Ohio Route 82 bridge looms in the background as the 800 brings up the rear of the northbound Scenic at Brecksville.
The Scenic rounds a curve at Brecksville, thus enabling a side view of the entire train. Not the deep ruts cut by the train as it rolled through the snow.
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 