Erosion Issues Prompt Cancellation of CVSR Fall Flyer and National Park Scenic Trips for Awhile

Erosion issues continue to plaque the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, prompting it to cancel all National Park Scenic and Fall Flyer excursions for this weekend.

In a notice posted on the railroad’s website and its Facebook page, the cancellations were attributed to the National Park Service closing portions of the tracks used by CVSR trains “due to significant erosion from the Cuyahoga River.”

The Cleveland Dinner and Event Train will run as scheduled tonight (Oct. 14). Also still operating this weekend is a special CVSR members-only event.

The CVSR notice said the Park Service regularly inspects the railroad tracks, particularly near the Cuyahoga River.

The statement indicated that the erosion areas are the same as those that last spring shut down the line from about the Columbia Run picnic area north of Boston Mill to Akron.

Park Service officials have hired an engineering firm that is reviewing how to address the area where erosion has been a problem.

CVSR’s statement suggested that train cancellations are might continue beyond this weekend.

“The modifications to operations will remain in place while NPS and CVSR wait for additional information and explore options for returning to normal,” the statement said.

No North Pole Adventure trains, which will begin running Nov. 11, have been cancelled but CVSR said some trips may be modified.

It is the second consecutive weekend in which the CVSR has cancelled trips.

The weekend of Oct. 7-9 saw all Fall Flyer excursions cancelled and some National Park Scenic trips were scrapped on Oct. 7.

Those cancellations were attributed to maintenance issues with CVSR’s motive power fleet.

Earlier this week, the CVSR posted another notice on its Facebook page acknowledging, “the CVSR is a preservation railroad that provides a traditional rail experience through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park; many of our cars were built in the 1940s and 1950s.”

The loss of excursions in October will be a major blow to a tourist railroad that suffered significant revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic when dozens of trips were cancelled.

October is one of the railroad’s busiest months as passengers flock to CVSR trains to see fall foliage.

CVSR Begins Explorer Program

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad this week launched its Explorer program for bikers, hikers and kayakers in the the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The program replaces the Bike Aboard program that operated during the summer and fall for many years.

It enables hikers, bikers or kayakers to ride the National Park Scenic one way to begin or after ending their trek in the park.

Hikers and bikers pay a $5 fee for each trip while kayakers pay $10 for a single seat kayak or $15 for a double-seat one.

A season pass is available for $50 and provides unlimited rides. The program will operate through Oct. 31.

CVSR serves three main boarding stations: Rockside in Independence, Peninsula and Akron Northside.

The stations at Canal Exploration Center, Brecksville, Boston Mill, Indigo Lake and Botzum are considered flag stops with passengers needing to wave to the locomotive engineer to indicate they want the train to stop.

In an advisory, CVSR said passengers should use both hands to wave at the engineer to indicate they want to be picked up.

The Scenic is operating twice times a day on Wednesday through Sunday except on Sunday when it operates three three times a day.

Trains leave Rockside Road southbound at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.. They are scheduled to arrive in Akron at 10:30 a.m., 2:40 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. the 5 p.m. departure from Rockside Road and 6:30 p.m. arrival in Akron is a Saturday-only train.

Northbound trains depart Akron at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., and are scheduled to arrive at Rockside station at 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The 7 p.m. departure from Akron and 8:30 p.m. arrival at Rockside is a Saturday-only train.

CVSR Suspends Service to Akron, Peninsula

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad has cancelled its National Park Scenic train through May.

In its place, it will offer a replacement, the National Park Flyer, which will operate on Saturdays and Sundays for one-and-a-half hour trips from Rockside Road station in Independence. The Flyer will not operate to Peninsula or Akron.

The schedule change was prompted by erosion of the bank of the Cuyahoga River north of Boston Mill where the tracks run close to the river for a short stretch.

National Park Service officials said last weekend that erosion from recent rains has reached to within a few feet of the tracks used by the CVSR.

The Park Service owns the track, which passes through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Park officials said it will take weeks to complete work to stabilize the river’s banks where the erosion occurred near the Columbia Run picnic area just north of the Boston Mill ski resort.

In an email message distributed on Tuesday morning, the CVSR said the Cleveland Dinner  & Event Train will continue to operate on Fridays. Also still operating are such theme experiences such as Ales on Rails and caboose rides.

Trains depart from Rockside Road station on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m. and noon. The dinner and event train departs Rockside Road at 6:30 p.m. on Fridays.

National Park Scenic in the Snow

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.

Anyhow I thought you might enjoy these.

Article and Photographs byTodd Dillon

Short Timer on the CVSR

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.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

CVSR to Run First 2022 Train Tonight

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will field its first train of the 2022 operating season tonight with a two-hour dinner and theme train leaving Rockside Road station in Independence at 6:30 p.m.

Night Ride tickets are $16 per passenger while theme experience Murder Mystery: Fitness can be Murder tickets are $60 per person.

Dinner train tickets range between $120 and $105 depending on seating class. The higher priced tickets are for dome level seating.

The dinner train offers a four-course meal with a choice of two main courses. There is also complimentary bar service for dinner train patrons.

The menu for Jan. 21, Jan. 28 and Feb. 4, includes a first course of drunken goat cheese accompanied with stewed red grapes and honeycomb candy; a second course of a Burrata salad of fennel, red onion, focaccia crumble, capers and Italian dressing; and a main course of veal short ribs served with mashed rutabaga, roasted brussels sprouts, honey glazed carrots and herb jus or chicken roulades served with mashed rutabaga, roasted brussels sprouts, honey glazed carrots and herb jus.

Dessert is a pear and walnut crumble with white wine vanilla ice cream.

The National Park Scenic will get underway for the season on Saturday with tickets ranging from $11 to $36 depending on seating class.

The Scenic will board and discharge passengers at Rockside Road, Peninsula and Akron North Side station.  It will operate on Saturdays and Sundays through April with Friday trips added in May.

Trains depart Rockside Road station at 9 a.m. and noon, and depart Akron at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Times at Peninsula are 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. southbound, and 11:05 a.m. and 2:05 p.m. northbound.

CVSR to Begin 2022 Season on Jan. 22

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will resume operations on Jan. 22, operating its National Park Scenic twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays between Independence (Rockside Road) and Akron with an intermediate stop in Peninsula.

Trains will depart Rockside Road at 9 a.m. and noon, and will depart Akron at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

This schedule will remain in place through April. In May trains will operate on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays although the Scenic will not operate May 13-15 or May 20-22 due to the steam in the valley excursions being pulled by Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765.

Seating options include coach, tabletop and first class with fares ranging from $11 to $36 per person.

Also available is dome section seating in the Silver Lariat or Silver Bronco dome cars. Dome section tickets cost $29 for an adult and $24 for a child.

Executive class seating in the Saint Lucie Sound is available for $36 for an adult and $31 for a child. Seating is assigned in executive class.

No outside food or beverages are allowed aboard trains. A concession car will have snacks and drinks for sale.

CVSR to Resume Public Trips on May 1

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will resume public trips on May 1.

The railroad has been offering Saturday-only trips out of Peninsula for CVSR members and volunteers.

Tickets for May and June trips will go on sale on March 23 for CVSR members and on March 26 to the public.

The National Park Scenic will make two roundtrips between Akron and Rockside Road in Independence on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in May.

In June the schedule will expand to operate two roundtrips on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and three roundtrips on Saturdays.

Trains will make intermediate stops in Peninsula and the new Boston station at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park visitor center.

Also returning starting in May are theme trains, including the traditional Ales on Rails and Grape Express along with cocktail trains and dinner trains.

The latter has been rebranded as The Cleveland Dinner and Event Train. It will depart on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. from Rockside Road station starting May 7 and continuing through October.

Passengers will be treated to a two-hour excursion featuring a four-course meal. New this year, CVSR said in a news release, is a choice of two main courses.

There will be complimentary bar service of cocktails, wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages.

Dinner train tickets will cost $105 per person for lower level seating in the Silver Lariat, and $120 per person for dome level seating in either the Silver Lariat or Silver Solarium.

Tickets for Ales on Rails range from $50 to $90 per person depending on seating class. Grape Escape tickets are $60 to $90 per person depending on class while cocktail trains cost $70 per person.

CVSR said a new program debuting this year is the Explorer program, which is an extension of the Bike Aboard program.

Participants can purchase a season-long pass or one-time pass to ride the train then bike, kayak, hike or run in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The Explorer program will run on the same dates and times as the National Park Scenic.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic safety practices, trains will operate at 50 percent of capacity.

More information on this year’s events and train trips is available at http://www.cvsr.org or by calling customer service at 330-439-5708.

CVSR Two For Tuesday

This week’s two for Tuesday features a pair of images of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in action on Oct. 21, 2009. In the top image the National Park Scenic was caught near Akron. In the bottom image it is crossing a creek near Brecksville. In both images the train was headed northbound.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

CVSR Summer Event Ticket Sales Begin This Week

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad will begin selling tickets this week for theme event trains operating between May and August.

These include family-oriented events, Ales on Rails, the Grape Express, cocktail trains, murder mystery trains, evening train rides and dinner and breakfast service.

Ticket sales for CVSR members at the brakeman level and above start on Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. while ticket sales to the public begin at 10 a.m. on Feb. 28.

CVSR memberships levels vary from $50 to $1,500 per person.

The benefits with each membership class vary and but include such things as complimentary tickets to ride the National Park Scenic, discounts on concession purchases, early access to Polar Express ticket sales, complimentary upgrades to a higher class of service aboard the Scenic, and unlimited access to certain services.

The latter include bike aboard, hike aboard and run board services.

Those who plunk down $1,500 for the Saint Lucie Founder level get one private use of the observation-lounge car Saint Lucie Sound on one regularly scheduled Scenic trip.

Through April 26 the Scenic will be operating on Saturday and Sunday only although the train will not run on Easter Sunday (April 12). Starting May 2 service will increase to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The summer schedule of operating Wednesday through Sunday will begin on June 3 and run through Aug. 30.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday during that period the Scenic will operate three roundtrips per day between Akron and Rockside Road in Independence (suburban Cleveland).