Here are two Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad photos for a Tuesday. The images show an early CVSR locomotive livery.
In the top image, CVSR FPA-4 No. 15 is southbound in Brecksville in August 1996. On the north end is CVSR Alco RS3 No. 4099 (cx-Delaware & Hudson 4099).
The same train is shown in the bottom image in Peninsula.
CVSR trains are currently on hiatus but will return starting in February. A notice posted on the CVSR website said the Cleveland Dinner and Event train will resume running on Feb. 3. The National Park Scenic will return on weekends starting March 4.
The notice did not say of much of the CVSR those trains will cover. Much of the CVSR south of Fitzwater maintenance yard is out of service due to erosion issues along the Cuyahoga River.
Here are three images made in Akron on July 30, 2022. In the top image, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad FPA-4 No. 6771 is southbound approaching Akron Northside Station as the train crosses over the remains of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
In the middle image, the 6777 is is being towed south and will be the lead unit on the northbound trip.
In the bottom image Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2 No. 7006 is on the connecting track between CSX and the W&LE. In a few minutes the former CEFX unit will pull forward bringing its train onto the Wheeling. Then it will back down to Brittain Yard.
The Wheeling acquired the 7006 in December 2015 and quickly pressed it into revenue service.
Locomotive issues have prompted the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to cancel some trips of the National Park Scenic on Friday and all trips of the Fall Flyer on Saturday and Sunday.
A notice on the railroad’s website attributed the cancellations to “unforeseen circumstances regarding our locomotive fleet.”
The affected National Park Scenic departures on Friday depart Peninsula northbound at 11:45 a.m., southbound from Rockside Road station in Independence at 1 p.m., and southbound from Peninsula at 1:45 p.m.
The website notice said passengers who have purchased tickets for the affected cancelled trips will be automatically refunded to their original credit card, which generally takes three to five business days to process.
Tickets are still available for other scheduled National Park Scenic departures, either online or at the station in the hour prior to each departure.
Comments made on the CVSR Facebook page indicated that the locomotives having mechanical issues are AlcoC420 No. 365 and FPA-4 No. 6780, which formerly operated as Baltimore & Ohio No. 800.
A poster offered a screen shot of an email he received from CVSR staff saying a replacement locomotive is expected to arrive next week.
The email didn’t provide any details, but in recent years CVSR has leased locomotive power from Cleveland-based Horizon Rail.
Here is a pair of Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad FPA-4 No. 800, better known for its Baltimore & Ohio livery. The photographs were made on Sept. 6, 2013.
The views include passing under the Ohio Route 82 bridge in Brecksville and near Akron.
Last Sunday I did a quick chase of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
After a major snowstorm Thursday and Friday things were pretty much cleared out by Sunday.
CVSR ran a plow train on Friday and with the regular runs of the National Park Scenic on Saturday I did not expect to have any snow buildup at crossings.
Imagine my surprise when the train hit a snow bank at Boston Mills. It was not a very large one but it still made for a nice photo.
The train itself was covered in ice and snow reminding me of Snowpiercer, a dystopian novel in which the earth has been covered in a global freeze and the last survivors ride a train that circles the planet once a year.
This has been adopted into a movie and most recently a TV show. As with most sci-fi works you must suspend disbelief (like who maintains the track for instance?) but otherwise are enjoyable programs.
Over the past several years the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad has supplemented its motive power fleet by leasing locomotives from leasing firms LTEX and Horizon Rail.
Those units typically operate on the CVSR in whatever livery they came in and at best have a CVSR emblem attached to them.
Shown is a former BNSF GP30u leased from LTEX and that ran on the CVSR in 2013. Built for the Santa Fe as a GP30, BNSF never repainted this locomotive into its own colors or painted over the Santa Fe markings.
By the time LTEX 2436 reached the CVSR, those Santa Fe markings and heralds had been painted over. But otherwise, the 2436 still looked like a former Santa Fe engine.
This image was made on March 3, 2013, during a snow shower at Boston Mill station as the 2436 pulled a northbound National Park Scenic, running long hood forward.
On the south end of the train was LTEX GP15-1 No. 1420, which railfan photographers loved to hate because of its solid black livery. The 1420 would have a longer tenure on the CVSR than the 2436 and was still in service more than a year later.
Here are four photos I made at Brecksville station on July16. All the bikers came on the path over the Station Road bridge over the Cuyahoga River shortly before train time at 1:20 p.m. The baggage car definitely is needed for this popular option on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Note that the locomotives on both ends of the train are leases from Horizon Rail.
Here is a view of HZRX GP35M No. 2348 as it crosses the Ohio and Erie Canal remnants in Akron on June 5, 2021, with a Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad train. It is only on the longest days of the year that this can be photographed in the sun on the northern side of the bridge.
No. 2348 has quite a history. It was built in February 1965 for the Pennsylvania Railroad and later served Penn Central and Conrail. More recently it was seen in Fairport Harbor in freight service.
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