Chris Lantz to Present Oct. 25 ARRC Program

The Akron Railroad Club will hold its September meeting on Friday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. at the New Horizons Christian Church at 290 Darrow Road in Akron.

Chris Lantz will present a digital images program titled Magical Mystery Tour.

Chris is an accomplished photographer who also works for a steel mill railroad in Cleveland and once worked on the Wheeling & Lake Erie.

He also is a member of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society where he has served as a locomotive engineer of the organization’s Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765.

Lantz to Feature Pennsylvania in ARRC Program

Chris Lantz will take Akron Railroad Club members attending the Oct. 26 meeting on a journey through Pennsylvania on Norfolk Southern and CSX.

The digital program will begin in Pittsburgh and show NS operations on the Pittsburgh Line as far east as Port Royal.

Chris will then skip down to Cumberland, Maryland, and work his way westward on the former Baltimore & Ohio mainline, now owned by CSX, back to Pittsburgh.

Points of interest in the program will include night photography of trains in action at Port Royal and Lewistown.

Some Western Maryland Scenic Railroad action might be part of the program and expect to see some Amtrak action.

The October ARRC meeting will begin with a short business meeting at 8 p.m. followed by the program at approximately 8:30 p.m. The club meets at the New Horizons Christian Church, 290 Darrow Road, in Akron.

Following the meeting, some members gather at the Eat ‘n Park restaurant at Howe and Main streets in Cuyahoga Falls for a late dinner, dessert or an early breakfast.

Visitors are always welcome at Akron Railroad Club meetings.

FtWRHS Reaches Pact With Indiana City on Moving, Restoring NKP Steam Locomotive 624

The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has reached an agreement with the City of Hammond, Indiana, for the moving of former Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive 624 to an undisclosed site where it will be restored.

Hammond has owned and displayed the 624 since 1955. Deterioration caused by prolonged exposure to the elements prompted discussions between the FtWRHS and the City of Hammond about a new home for the 624, a Mikado-type built in 1922 by Lima Locomotive Works.

FtWRHS officials said that the 624 could be restored to operating condition depending on what the society finds when inspecting it.

Kelly Lynch, a FtWRHS vice president, said space limitations at the society’s shops at New Haven, Indiana, means that the 624 restoration work will be undertaken at a private site in Northeast Indiana.

A private donor is funding the move of the 624 to that site and the restoration work. The FtWRHS will offer technical support.

The 624 is expected eventually to be displayed at the proposed Headwaters Junction railroad park in downtown Fort Wayne.

In a related development, the FtWRHS is also working to preserve a former Nickel Plate Road SD9 diesel.

Overseeing that project is former Akron Railroad Club member Chris Lantz.

Thus far, the society has sought to stabilize the locomotive in preparation for cosmetic restoration and eventual mechanical operation.

Initial work has involved removing surface rust on the car body doors, cleaning, painting and installing door latches.

No. 358 was built in 1957 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. The NKP SD9 fleet was seen as a replacement for the railroad’s Berkshire steam locomotives, including No. 765, which the FtWRHS owns and operates.

No. 358’s original assignment was hauling coal trains on the NKP’s Wheeling & Lake Erie District.

It operated for NKP successors Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern through the early 2000s, often based in Bellevue.

FtWRHS officials estimate the cost of mechanical work and replacement parts at $100,000.

Canton Railroad Book Now Available

Akron Railroad Club president Craig Sanders’ latest book, Canton Area Railroads, has been released by Arcadia Publishing. The book was written in cooperation with the Akron Railroad Club and features photographs from club members Richard Antibus, John Beach, Michael Boss, Peter Bowler, Richard Jacobs, Chris Lantz, James McMullen, Bob Redmond, Edward Ribinskas, Marty Surdyk and Paul Vernier.

The book chronicles the history and development of the railroads that served Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Carroll and Tuscarawas counties. Among the cities coverd are Canton, Massillon, Alliance, Orrville, Wooster, Dover, New Philadelphia, Dennison, Brewster, Navarre, Minerva and Sugar Creek.

Canton Area Railroads documents how railroad operations changed as the steel industry declined and railroad consolidations led to traffic shifts and route abandonments. Among the railroads that served this region were the Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio, New York Central and Wheeling & Lake Erie. The book has images of these roads plus their sucessors Penn Central, Norfolk & Western, Conrail, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Ohio Central, R.J. Corman and OhiRail.

Also discussed are modern passenger operations Amtrak, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society. The book is 128 pages and has more than 200 photographs.

Canton Area Railroads is the fifth railroad history book published by Sanders. His other works include Akron Railroads, Amtrak in the Heartland, Limiteds, Locals and Expresses in Indiana, 1838-1971, and Mattoon and Charleston Area Railroads.

The ARRC will be selling copies of Canton Area Railroads at train shows and at its monthly meetings. The book is also available from  booksellers and the publisher (www.arcadiapublishing.com).