WE SD40-2 No. 6350 has entered the eastbound Norfolk Southern main in the NS yard in Canton on April 13, 2012. The crew will bring the train east and then back up into the NS yard to interchange cars. The 6350 was built for Canadian Pacific and later rebuilt by Alstom.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
We’ve dialed the wayback machine to the early Conrail era for the Fort Wayne Line. Here we see Conrail helpers 7034 and 2420 awaiting their next assignment. They are in the Conrail yard in Canton on June 29, 1978.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Here are two views of vintage Norfolk & Western motive at Gambrinus Yard near Canton. In the top image is the 2152, a Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 captured in February 1973. In the bottom photograph a pair of N&W locomotives await their next assignment on Oct. 11, 1980.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
I took this photo of Penn Central SW7 No. 9098 from Fairhope Tower in Canton in mid/early-late 1972. The tower was located just just east of the Pennsylvania Railroad yard in Canton. Fairhope was where the Bayard Cutoff diverged from the Fort Wayne Line.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Penn Central GP40 No. 3186 is westbound about to cross under the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad signal bridge just west of Broadway Avenue in Canton in September 1972.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It is the early Penn Central era in Canton, either late 1968 or early 1969. A westbound freight has a motive consist of Penn Central, Pennsylvania and a Bangar & Aroostook unit. This lash-up and its train are about to meet an eastbound freight.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Early Conrail motive power at its fines is on display in the yard in Canton on March 19, 1977. Pulling the eastbound train at SD40 6355, GP40 3079, and SDP45 No. 6686. The middle unit still wears Penn Central markings while the third unit still has Erie Lackawanna paint. The 6686 was built in June 1969 as EL 3655.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Canton officials want to study the possibility of a light rail service that would whisk visitors between the Pro Football Hall of Fame and downtown and someday to the Akron-Canton Airport.
The city engineering office and the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority will seek a $25,000 grant to explore the idea.
The grant application has been submitted to the Stark County Area Transportation Study.
However, Canton Enginer Dan Moeglin said SCATS has told him the rail project is not high on that agency’s priority list.
Officials say the development of the Hall of Fame Village with new hotels and attractions would draw a significant number of people from out of the area.
The proposed rail service would cost between $25 million to $50 million with officials hoping the Federal Transit Administration would cover at least 80 percent of the costs.
SARTA CEO Kirt Conrad said the project would take at least two years from approval to construction. The project could be halted if the Hall of Fame Village ends failing to develop.
“If it’s not cost effective and we’re not going to get the return on investment, then we’re not going to do it,” Moeglin said.
“We think having that dedicated line to and from the Village and downtown creates a calling card and attractiveness that a simple bus doesn’t provide,” he said.
Canton officials envision using track owned by Akron Metro Regional Transit Authority that was once used by the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad between Akron and Canton.
A portion of this line is used by the Wheeling & Lake Erie for freight service.
If the rail service develops, a station would be established near the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the southwest corner of Fulton Road NW and Harrison Avenue.
Trains would go to Tuscarawas Street west of Brown Avenue. Intermediate stops could include 12th Street NW near the McKinley Memorial and Wm. McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, the Ralph Regula Federal Building, City Hall and Stark State Downtown campus at 400 Third St. SE.
Some new track construction would be needed for the project on Third Street SW as it goes southeast from Tuscarawas and then east with a stop at Market Avenue.
Eventually, the service would be extended northward to the Akron-Canton Airport with stops in the Belden Village area with shuttle service to SARTA’s Belden Village Station on Whipple Avenue NW.
Conrad said autonomous vehicles could shuttle passengers from a station on Fulton Road NW by the track to and from the Hall of Fame.
He said he’s had only preliminary discussions with Akron Metro officials about using the rail line. Yet to be worked out is whether the city and SARTA would lease or purchase the railroad tracks.
Valerie Shea, director of planning of Akron Metro, said her agency has not “had any discussions regarding this specific proposal or its operational details at this time. However, we continue to discuss and remain open to any ideas that bring economic growth to our region.”
Conrad said a feasibility study, if funded, would take at least six months to complete.
SARTA operated a bus designed to look like a trolley for less than six months in 2006 on a loop in downtown Canton. Ridership was poor with the trolley bus carrying fewer than 10 passengers on some days.
Conrail GP38-2 No. 8089 and its caboose are en route to their next assignment in Canton in May 1985. The unit was built for Penn Central in February 1973 and would later go to work for Norfolk Southern.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
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