CVSR Rolling Stock Getting New Minimalist Livery

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is giving its passenger cars a new look.

The red and gold stripes along the windows are being removed in favored of a more minimalist appearance.

Many CVSR cars are also being renumbered to match their original heritage railroad numbers.

Most affected by the renumbering will be the cars CVSR acquired from Akron Metro, which originally bought the cars for possible commuter train use.

One of the newly-branded cars, the edutrainment car, is now in revenue service.

It is all silver with the initials of its original owner, the Pennsylvania Railroad, in an upper corner near the vestibule.

The Cuyahoga Valley name continues to be displayed in the letter board and the CVSR wing herald is at window level at the ends of the cars.

The look of the edutrainment car, the former PRR Sharon Inn, is similar to how observation-lounge car Saint Lucie Sound has appeared since it was refurbished a few years ago.

CVSR cars for several years have featured a broad red stripe with thinner gold stripes on the top and bottom of the red stripe.

The Cuyahoga Valley name in the letter board and the car name were set against a red background with gold striping. This will vanish as well.

This livery dates to April 1994 when the railroad was renamed from Cuyahoga Valley Line to CVSR.

The new look will be progressively applied to CVSR rolling stock over the next year.

What a Way to Open the CVSR 2017 Season!

At Peninsula with a bit of fog lingering in the trees.

Cruising at Bath Road.

At Akron Northside station.

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad opened up the 2017 season on Saturday by using fresh out of the shop 6777 back to back with 6771. How cool is it to see and hear in 2017 an FPA4 set, with both of them in a clean and sharp paint scheme.

Photographs by Roger Durfee

CVSR Debuts Matching FPA4s on Scenic Train

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad started its 2017 season on Saturday with matched Montreal Locomotive Works FPA4 diesels on the southbound end of the train. CVSR 6777 just received this paint scheme. Here are CVSR 6777, 6771 at Akron Northside Station. Also shown is ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Paul Revere, which was part of Saturday’s train.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Another Round of CVSR With Autumn Foliage

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad meets the Cuyahoga River north of Boston Mill along Riverview Road.

I spent the afternoon before the October Akron Railroad Club meeting in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

I had gone down there to see if the fall foliage had reached its peak around Peninsula. It had not.

So I went to Howe Meadow to intercept the northbound National Park Scenic of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

The color here was nice, yet not as intense as it has been in past years. Maybe it is just an off year for autumn leaves.

I had plenty of time to get up to the Columbia Run Picnic Area, park and walk along Riverview Road to the opening where a bend in the Cuyahoga River almost touches the tracks.

I had photographed at that location the previous Sunday when RS18u No. 1822 was on the south end of the Scenic.

But on Friday the 1822 had been replaced by FPA-4 Nos. 800 and 6771. It was the first time I’d seen a double-headed set of locomotives on the Scenic since late autumn 2015.

There figured to be enough light left to catch the last southbound trip of the Scenic to Akron but I had time to kill.

I checked out the ledges overlook, which was even more spectacular than I had thought it might be. And it was easy to reach.

My last photo op with the CVSR was at Indigo Lake. I stood up on small hill on the west side of the tracks to get the train against the background of fall foliage on the east side of the rails.

All in all it was a good afternoon of autumn photography.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

At the far northeast corner of Howe Meadow. I photographed this same locomotive in this last location in 2015, although from a slightly different angle.

The curve coming into Indigo Lake is a nice place to photograph in the fall.

Coming into the station at Indigo Lake.

An Alco doing what an Alco does when it accelerates. It makes a dense cloud of black smoke.

The Scenic is just about to stop for the station at Indigo Lake, which is out of view to the left.

Horizon Rail GP 10 No. 8420 looks good amid a backdrop of fall foliage and a reflection from the late day sun.

South End of the CVSR Scenic

October was a month of variety for the motive power assigned to the south end of the National Park Scenic of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

You generally found either RS18u No. 1822 or FPA-4 No. 800 on the point, but depending on what day you were out there might or might not be a trailing unit.

On Friday, Oct. 28, No. 800 had as a running mate FPA-4 No. 6771. The next day, the trailing unit was C424 No. 4241, which earlier this year was knocked out of service due to a fire.

The 800 and 4241 are shown working together in Akron (top photograph) and Peninsula (middle photograph). The 800 is working solo in the bottom photograph showing the Scenic arriving at Northside Station in Akron.

Photographs by Roger Durfee