EL Monday: Waving From the Caboose

It is June 5, 1976, and thus early in the Conrail era in Akron. A crewman is waving from the Lehigh Valley’s Bicentennial caboose as it heads west on ex-Erie Lackawanna trackage. 

Photograph by Robert Farkas

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

Down at the AC&Y Depot in Copley

Here is a series of image made in Copley, most of which were made on July 10, 2022. The photos feature the restored former Akron, Canton & Youngstown station. Also shown is ex-AC&Y caboose No. 63, which is displayed at the station.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Penn Central Collage in Macedonia

It’s a collage of Penn Central locomotives and rolling stock in Motor Yard in Macedonia in suburban Cleveland in early 1973. In the center of the image is PC GP40 No. 3154, which had been built for the railroad in September 1968. Also on hand are a caboose and some boxcars.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Working the A&BB in Barberton

It’s around 1967-1969 in Barberton where the Akron & Barberton Belt caboose is tied on to some cars.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

On Foreign Tracks

A CSX train is using trackage rights eastbound on Conrail in Massillon in late 1998 or early 1999. This is the “Wooster Local” that served an orphaned piece of ex-Baltimore & Ohio  trackage in Wooster. The caboose was used for a backup move from Massillon to Warwick.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Between Assignments in Massillon

Western Maryland 5956 is in Massillon on June 11, 1978. Note that by now it is wearing Chessie system colors. It is parked in front of the long-ago removed ex-Baltimore & Ohio freight house along with a caboose.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

A Caboose on the CVSR

Private owner caboose FLNX 79896 operated for a short while on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. It is shown in Akron on March 12, 2016. That is Akron’s Y-bridge above, also known as the All-American Bridge

Photograph by Robert Farkas 

EL Monday: It’s Not the Lake Cities

By 1973, the condition of the tracks in Marion used by Erie Lackawanna and Penn Central was rough as can be seen in this image of a westbound EL train. In the consist is a passenger car that probably is being ferried somewhere. No, the EL had not gotten back into the passenger business by running mixed trains. The Lake Cities, the last EL intercity passenger train, had ceased operating in early January 1970.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

CVSR Caboose Rides Return on Saturday

The caboose used by the CVSR is shown at Boston Mill in November 2012.

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will resume offering caboose rides starting Saturday.

The caboose will be attached to the National Park Flyer, which departs Rockside Road station in Independence for a one-and-a-half hour roundtrip excursion.

The Flyer leaves Rockside Road on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m. and noon.

The caboose rides were last offered in early 2019 but were suspended in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caboose ride tickets at $25 per person. Children under the age of 3 do not need a ticket.

The caboose, which can seat up to 10 peoole, features a functional wood-burning stove and a cupola.

The trips will be offered through May 1. Historically, the caboose has only operated during the winter and spring months.