A brace of Erie Lackawanna locomotives lead a westbound train through Akron in April 1973. On the point is U25B No. 2518. Other units in the motive power consist are the 2552, 7092, and 7123. The train is approaching Voris Street and ducking beneath Thornton Street.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
I was using Agfachrome film when I photographed Erie Lackawanna Alco S2 No. 500 in Akron in September 1972.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Erie Lackawanna F7A No. 7131 passes the former Erie passenger station in Akron on Aug. 25, 1968. Built in March 1961 as Erie 807A, it was later renumbered by the Erie as 713A. At the time this image was made the station was still being used by EL’s Lake Cities between Chicago and Hoboken, New Jersey.
Photograph by Mike Ondecker
The wayback machine is set for Aug. 18, 1968, in Akron at Union Depot.
In the top image, Baltimore & Ohio E9A No. 1455 has cut off from the westbound Diplomat in order to, most likely, add or remove a mail car.
Across the tracks the Erie Lackawanna’s westbound Lake Cities is sitting at its station.
In the middle image the Lake Cities can be seen pulling away from its station platform. It was not unusual for both passenger trains to be in Akron at the same time.
In the bottom image notice the family standing and watching trains on the EL platform.
Can you imagine joining this family and watching trains? I said “watching” because that is the dark side for morning photography.
Yet if you look carefully, the man appears to have a camera around his neck.
If you decide to use your own wayback machine and join me for taking pictures on this day, tell me seeing my photos 53 ahead in the future inspired you to join me to photograph Akron. I’ll believe you.
Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas
Erie Lackawanna E8A No. 826 works in Akron in 1973. By then passenger service had been gone for three years and passenger locomotives had been redeployed into freight service. The 826 was built in February 1951 for the Erie Railroad and carried the same roster number. If you look around the edges you can see tiny slivers of the Erie passenger and freight stations.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
In the top image CSX AC44CW No. 7004 leads a westbound in Akron on June 16, 2021, near Voris Street. In the bottom image Baltimore & Ohio GP30 No. 6913 leads a westbound passing an eastbound Erie Lackawanna train at nearly the same location on Jan. 14, 1973. What a difference a few years makes.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
Sometimes I just like a scene. It’s Sept. 4, 1972, in Akron. The power for a westbound train has cut off and left the train in the Erie Lackawanna’s McCoy Street Yard.
Soon a switcher will add/remove cars, and this power will back on to its train and leave town. EL 2452 is an Alco C425 coupled to what appears to be a former EL passenger unit now working in freight service.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Between 1967 and 1972 most of my photographs were taken on 2-and-1/4-inch by 2-and-1/4-inch roll film. Each roll had 12 exposures. Rolls of slide film plus processing were exceedingly expensive, so I rarely took slides.
The image above is an exception.. Erie Lackawanna F3A 7094, Alco FB1 7263, F3B 7072, and F3A 7091 are eastbound in Akron in the late 1960s.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
On a cloudy morning in July 1972, the late Mike Ondecker, who worked the power desk on the Erie Lackawanna phoned and ordered me to get to Akron because a Burlington Northern locomotive was coming through on the EL.
At that time foreign power was a lot less common than it can be today.
Here are EL SD45 No. 3614 and BN F45 No. 6625 either picking up cars or dropping off cars at the east end of the EL yard.
Note the Akron, Canton & Youngstown boxcar parked at the building in the background. It is the EL freight house, which has since been razed.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Erie Lackawanna GE U25B Nos. 2516 and EL 2517 and their train are in Akron in August 1975. This looks like a local that would be just the right size for a small model railroad.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
