On a Stately Bridge in Lodi

Chesapeake & Ohio SD40 No. 7524 is eastbound in Lodi in early 1986. The train is crossing over Ohio Route 421. The 7524 was built in July 1970 and later converted by CSX into an SD40-2.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

C&O GP35 in Akron

At our request the wayback machine has taken us to the 1970s in Akron. Shown is Chesapeake & Ohio GP38 No. 4825 on June 6, 1976. The unit was built in July 1970 and would later serve CSX before a career with various locomotive leasing companies.

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

Some C&O in Akron

Chesapeake & Ohio SD40 No. 7560 is in Akron in the fall of 1978.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Some C&O in Warwick

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway never served Northeast Ohio but its headquarters for several years was in Cleveland. Once the C&O gained control of the Baltimore & Ohio it was common to see motive power of the two railroad mixed together as shown above in Clinton on July 9, 1982.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

C&O Geep on the Wooster Local in Orrville

Chesapeake & Ohio GP9 No. 6037 is on the Wooster Local in Orrville on June 11, 1984.

It came from Warwick to Orrville on a now-removed ex-Pennsylvania Railroad line.

In Orrville the train is shown headed west on Conrail to Wooster where it will leave Conrail rails and get onto former Baltimore & Ohio trackage.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

South Shore Two for Tuesday From Michigan City

The wayback machine has landed us in Michigan City, Indiana on March 30, 1969. In the top image here are three Chicago, South Shore & South Bend boxcabs and a Chesapeake & Ohio cow/calf/calf set along with other interesting equipment.

In the bottom image CSS&SB 702 and some other units are sitting in the sun.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Showing More Than I had Intended

Sometimes a photograph shows more than originally thought.

All I wanted was a roster photo of Chesapeake & Ohio SD40 No. 7526, but in 2020, this shows how much we have lost.

We no longer have Chessie System, C&O, the Akron, Canton & Youngstown hopper), the Erie Lackawanna’s McCoy Street yard and yard office behind the locomotive, some or all of the buildings behind the yard, and all but two CSX mainline tracks.

No. 7426, which was built in July 1970 is eastbound in Akron in early 1974. It would later go to work for the Utah Railway.

Trailing is Baltimore & Ohio GP40 No. 4020, which was built in September 1971.

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

When F Units Hauled Coal Trains

It might be hard to imagine now, but a classic A-B-A motive power set pulling a coal train was once a common sight.

Chesapeake & Ohio F7A No. 7075 is leading a westbound coal train through Kent on the Baltimore & Ohio in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

Not only is F units pulling coal trains gone but so is the passenger platform and station sign that can also be seen in this image.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Railroading as it Once Was: Weeds and Grass Between the Rails Were Common in the 1970s

Railroads didn’t invest much in weed killer during the 1970s. It was not unusual to see grass and weed sprouting between the rails.

It wasn’t that railroads weren’t spending anything on track maintenance, but it was a period of austerity. Two of the railroads that used these tracks by Akron Union Depot, Penn Central and the Erie Lackawanna, were bankrupt.

By the time this image was made, the station no longer hosted passenger trains, but much of its infrastructure still remained in place.

Shown is a Chesapeake & Ohio SD35 leading a westbound Chessie System manifest freight past the platform of the depot.

Today, there are just two tracks here and the platform and its umbrella shed have been removed. But you won’t see weeds like you did way back when.

Photograph by Roger Durfee