Passing Beneath Ohio Route 21

CSX SD50 No. 8556 and its train is westbound under the Ohio Route 21 bridge in Warwick Yard in Clinton in April 1996. Warwick Tower is just visible in the background to the right of the bridge pillars.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Grand Find in Clinton

We’re in Clinton on May 21, 1996, to see something a little out of the ordinary. This eastbound CSX train is led by former Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 No. 5715 still wearing its original livery. Note that the trailing unit is a Canadian National locomotive.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Once Upon a Time on the B&O near Warwick Tower

Finding an old negative/slide/digital image you have forgotten you had taken can bring back many wonderful memories.

It is one of the purest forms of photographic time travel.

The image above was made some time between 1967-1970 in Clinton. Chesapeake & Ohio F7A No. 7057 and its Baltimore & Ohio coal train are northbound near Warwick Tower where the train can head west to go to Lorain (diverging at Sterling) or continue west to Willard.

On the other hand, it could go east to Akron and beyond to Lake Erie.

The double track is out of the ordinary since one track belongs to the Pennsylvania Railroad/Penn Central and the other to the B&O. But they share trackage with one line for all southbound trains of both lines and the other track for all northbound trains of both lines. This sharing runs from Warwick Tower south to Massillon.

It’s likely this coal train originated in the B&O yard in Holloway, Ohio.

If you look toward the back of the train, you see it is crossing Chippewa Creek on one of two bridges. The pole lines are still in place, and back-to-back F units make this scene even better.

Today one of the lines has been ripped out while the other is used by RJ Corman.

There is only one bridge, no pole lines, and usually no more than one train north and south a day instead of having so many long trains that Canal Fulton, Ohio (A few miles south) needed a firehouse on each side of the tracks.

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

All Contribute to the History of This Place

A signal, a boxcar and a building. Each of them contributes to the history in this photo. We are in Clinton somewhere between 1967 and 1972.

The eastbound signal guards the unseen (now-removed) Pennsylvania Railroad/Penn Central line that diverged just east (photo right) of here from the eastbound main

The train is heading west and the boxcar is not the usual boxcar red B&O boxcar.

Most likely it has special paint because of its insulated cushion underframe.

The building behind the train seems to have been around since long before I started railfanning. Today it houses a restaurant/bar and apartments.

Boxcars such as this are still in use. They have about a foot of cork insulation inside all around, and are used to keep things such as beer and wine cool, but not ice cold, which would account for the cushion underframe if hauling glass bottles. 

It looks like the plug door may have come from a different car, since the color doesn’t match.

Today CSX has only a single track instead of an eastbound and westbound track. The ex-PRR track diverged here and went west past Warwick Tower toward Orrville is gone.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

B&O Two for Tuesday

It is time for a Baltimore & Ohio two for Tuesday so let’s set the wayback machine and off we go. In the top image, made by Robert Farkas, GP30 No. 6972 is sitting on the point of a train in Clinton on Sept. 21, 1984. The unit was built in December 1962 and later was on the CSX motive power roster.

The bottom image was made by Mike Ondecker and shows F7A No. 4502 in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 8, 1968.

Another Chessie System Era Warwick Memory

Here is a higher quality redo from an old scan. It is June 1983 in Clinton where Baltimore & Ohio No. 6933 is heading to Massillon. The now-removed track curving to the left was the connecting track to the long-gone ex-Pennsylvania Railroad line that ran from Warwick Tower to Orrville and then down to Columbus. This line often was called the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus, after the name of a predecessor railroad company.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

October Day Railfanning in Clinton

CSX GP40-2 No. 6248 is on the stub track used by power for locals out of Warwick Yard in Clinton. It’s Oct 8, 2022.

Surprisingly the stub track comes off RJ Corman’s track. On that same day we see westbound CSX 935 and CSX 8364 meet CSX 6248 in Clinton.

Photographs by Robert Faraks

CPL Two for Tuesday

Here are two photos including long-gone ex-Baltimore & Ohio color position light block signals.

In the top image R.J. Corman RP20BD No. 5400 and its train are on Corman trackage in Clinton after interchanging with CSX on June 25, 2012.

The CPL on the right is for westbounds. I believe the CPL to its left is for RJ Corman trains to enter CSX tracks.

In the bottom image, after passing the eastbound signal at CP Lambert on the CSX New Castle Subdivision, Akron Barberton Cluster SW1500 No. 1502 is heading east on June 26, 2012. Notice 1502’s old number from Conrail on the number boards on the front.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

Rent-a-Wreck in Clinton on CSX

Helm Leasing No. 9008, the former Southern Pacific No. 8988, leads an eastbound on the CSX New Castle Subdivision in Clinton on March 6, 2005.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Autumn Colors Two for Tuesday

Today’s two for Tuesday features two trains in Northeast Ohio on Oct. 24, 2022, amid varying degrees of autumn color.

In the top image, CSX GP40-2 No. 6248 is about to leave the stub track where power is kept for the local working from Warwick Yard in Clinton.

In the bottom photo Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40T-2 No. 5411 is sitting about a third of a mile down the track crossing Elton Street SW, which is located west of the west end of the W&LE yard in Brewster.

Photographs by Robert Farkas