The Capitol Limited Returns to Akron

The CSX office car special passes through Akron Thursday morning.

Rattling the diamonds at Center Street in Youngstown

At Station Square in Pittsburgh. The Capitol Limited of the Baltimore & Ohio used to stop here.

I got cloud skunked just as the train passed the Pittsburgh skyline

Thursday morning CSX ran its ofice car special across northern Ohio and Pennsylvania.

With two F40PHs and 11 passenger cars all decked out in a Baltimore & Ohio inspired livery it looked like the Capitol Limited had returned once again.

I first caught the special at Akron.  The weather was foggy and overcast but my photos turned out okay.

Next was Youngstown where the weather wasn’t any better but I was interviewed by a local TV station curious as to why all the railfans were waiting on the Center Street bridge.

Then it was on to Station Square in Pittsburgh.  The weather was much improved but we unfortunately were cloud skunked when the train arrived.

In times past the Capitol would have made a stop here.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Monday Rail Traffic at Center Street in Youngstown

While getting photographs of trains and fall colors on Monday, Todd Dillion also stopped by Center Street in Youngstown to check out the action there.

He bagged an Ohio Central train going to Norfolk Southern, a CSX auto rack train, a CSX local with two big GE units running nose to nose and a CSX coal train with a new EMD ST70AH.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

Railroading as It Once Was: When Steel was Still King and Center Street Was a Busy RR Junction

Rubber in Akron and steel in Youngstown. Neither of them are what they used to be. There was a time when the Baltimore & Ohio and other railroads reaped large revenue from both industries.

But the industrial base of Northeast Ohio deteriorated in the 1970s and the rust belt moniker became an accurate description of the region.

In the photograph above, we’ve gone back to the days before the steel industry collapsed in the Mahoning Valley.

A Chessie System freight is curving through the Center Street junction in Youngstown. At one time this was a hub of railroad activity.

Note the large iron ore pile and Republic Steel gantry crane off to the left. The double main the lead unit is on is Conrail’s former Pittsburgh, Youngstown & Ashtabula Branch.

The lines over on the right are Conrail’s ex-New York Central line to Ashtabula.

Center Street is still a railroad junction, but the scene doesn’t look like this today.

Photograph by Roger Durfee