It is the late 1960s/early 1970s in Akron where Erie Lackawanna C424 No. 2409 is westbound long hood forward with a train underneath the pedestrian bridge where Wilbeth Road once crossed the tracks. The signal in the foreground belongs to the Baltimore & Ohio. You may notice the signal has a letter “P” on a plate on the signal mast. That means “proceed,” which tells the crew of a train that if it gets a red signal indication here it can proceed at restricted speed to the next signal. It does not have to stop here.
Here are a pair of Erie Lackawanna Alco locomotives working in Akron. Note that the engineer is looking toward the back of the train, which most likely is either working EL’s McCoy Street Yard or picking up/dropping off cars there. The image was made on July 23, 1972. Behind the train is the former Erie Railroad passenger station. Also visible is a sign promoting the Akron Beacon Journal with large letters “BJ.”
There are four motors in this motive power consist on the Erie Lackawanna heading west over Voris Street in Akron. We have here the 2506 (GE U25B), 2462 (Alco C425), 2458 (Alco C425), and 3622 (EMD SD45). The mage was made on Sept. 4, 1972.
Erie Lackawanna E8A is stuck in the middle in the motive power consist of this EL train in Akron on October 1, 1972. The 813 was built in April 1951 for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western where it had the same roster number as shown here.
A pair of Erie Lackawanna SD45s, Nos. 3601 and 3603, lead a westbound in Akron most likely in late-1967 or early 1968. Note the Central of Georgia boxcar toward the front wearing a livery that you probably haven’t seen in a long time.
Erie Lackawanna Alco RS3 No. 1014 is shown in Akron in January 1973 at the engine facility of McCoy Street Yard. In three years the EL would be folded into Conail, which would eventually raze and remove most of the EL infrastructure in Akron.
After Photoshopping Agfachrome image two below, I thought I’d see if I had an approaching photo. Thankfully to my surprise, there were three other images of the same train.
Here are all four photos of eastbound Erie Lackawanna 820 and 814 in time order. They were taken in Akron on Jan. 21, 1973.
In sequence they are approaching EL’s McCoy Street Yard, passing by me with the yard in the far right, stopped to pick up and/or leave cars at the yard, and leaving Akron with the train trailing off in the distance.
This image or a similar one may have been posted on this site some time back. An Erie switcher sits west of the Main Street bridge over the tracks in Akron in the late 1960s. This was taken from the long-ago removed walk bridge west of the road bridge. This image is a higher quality redo of this photograph.
To celebrate America’s 200th birthday many railroads painted or more of their locomotives in a special bicentennial livery, often featuring the colors red, white and blue.
The Erie Lackawanna was no exception. It transformed SD45 No. 3638 into a bicentennial scheme.
This image was made in Akron on June 14, 1979. The bicentennial is long over and the EL has vanished, with some of its components being folded into Conrail.
Shown leading a westbound Conrail manifest freight, the 3638 has since been renumbered 6669 and has had its EL identity either painted over or obscured. Note the “CR” initials toward the rear of the unit.
The train is on former EL track and passing a building once used by the EL and the Erie Railroad.
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