Erie Lackawanna Alco RS3 No. 1036 is in Akron on Jan. 14, 1973. The image was made near Voris Street and the unit might have been working in nearby McCoy Street Yard.
This is thought to be Erie Lackawanna mail and express train No. 3 shown on a cloudy day passing McCoy Street Yard in Akron in the late 1960s.
I managed to open up the f-stop enough to get some light on the side of the train thereby not making it entirely backlit and thus fooling me into initially thinking this was the morning westbound Lake Cities.
This is an easy mistake to make, since the EL only had one regular passenger train through Akron by the late 1960s, but this one isn’t No. 5.
I was told by one of my followers that this is the only photo he’s seen of a mail and express train on the EL, although such trains were common on mainline railroads through Northeast Ohio and they all looked pretty much the same in their consists of a long string of head-end cars followed by a rider coach on the rear for the crew.
Until July 1965 No. 3 used to be No. 7, the Pacific Express, which handled passengers until the Interstate Commerce Commission allowed the EL to cease handling passengers on No. 7 and its counterpart No. 8, the Atlantic Express, which was renumbered No. 4.
Nos. 7 and 8 were scheduled to depart late night from Chicago Dearborn Station (10:10 p.m.) and Hokoken, New Jersey (12:30 a.m) to make 24-hour runs across the Erie Railroad mainline.
The EL told the ICC that patronage of both trains was light and having to carry passengers forced the head-end heavy trains to operate on a rigid schedule and stop where there was no mail and express business.
The Pacific Express was scheduled to reach Akron in late afternoon. It and the Atlantic Express typically operated with one passenger coach, with No. 8 having lost its sleeping cars in 1964. Dining service had ended in 1963 on both trains when No. 7 also lost its sleeping cars.
It is amazing how a photo can bring the past to life. This image is at least 55 years old. I knew there were mail trains still operating in the late 196os but had forgotten about them. More than half a century does that since they were not often listed in the Official Guide.
The image also is reminder that at one time a host of Christmas packages moved by Railway Express instead of Federal Express, an airline and ground delivery service best known as FedEx.
Amtrak has pretty much left the package haulage business but intermodal trains handle some holiday package business on behalf of FedEx and its chief competitor United Parcel Service.
Erie Lackawanna U25B No. 2513 leads an eastbound near Voris Street in Akron in August 1973. Both the 2513 and its trailing unit are running long hood forward. The 2513 was built in July 1965 by GE.
Erie Lackawanna 2456 is westbound in Akron sometime between 1967 and 1972. This is an Alco C425, EMD F7B, GE U25B lash-up that is putting a ton of smoke in the air as it accelerates out of McCoy Street Yard and passes beneath Thornton Street.
Some of us may have wished to be able to “backstep” seven days to see an event covered in Trainorders.com, to borrow the “Lifeboat” and visit Roanoke in 1958 in order to enjoy some of the last days of steam, or even to step out of our warm apartment in the Dakota and photograph New York City’s railroads in the 1880’s. Odds are that we will never have the chance, but through photographic time travel, the past opens to us.
As we share photos and videos, we invite others to stand beside us and see what we have seen. With movies and video, we can add both motion and sound. The feeling of “being there” becomes all the more real. I know that years ago, I never thought there would someday be a way to share photos, slides, movies, and videos globally, yet here we are in 2022 with this ability.
Here is an example…
It is an evening in September 1968 in Akron. I have just picked up two new lenses for my Mamiya C-3 twin lens reflex camera, and I want to try them out. My 1967 Volkswagen takes me to where Voris Street in Akron crosses the Erie Lackawanna, Baltimore & Ohio, and the Penn Central. Approaching me is a westbound EL freight. I hop out of the car, cock the shutter, check the f-stop and shutter speed, and manually focus. By now the train is upon me. Even though the day is cloudy, this works to my advantage because this train would have been backlit. I freeze into one position and press the shutter release.
It is only then that I realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime action photo. Here are an EL Alco C-425, Alco FB, an EMD F7B, an Alco PA, three EMD E8As, a freight car, and finally an EMD F3A.
Everything is not over, for I have to go home, carefully develop the negatives, and enlarge and print a photo.
Because the technology had not been invented yet, I had no way to make a photo such as what you see. This took an Epson scanner, Lightroom, and Photoshop to create this photo. Through the Internet you are standing next to me and enjoying the wonder of this scene. We look at each other and realize we have shared a never-to-be-repeated moment in time.
This is what photographic time travel is about.
As you post online, just think of all the family standing beside you in the world’s largest photo line, and nobody steps out and ruins your photo.
On Sept. 7, 1975, who would have thought scenes like this westbound in Akron headed by Erie Lackawanna SD45 No. 3619 and SDP45 No. 3659 would only be a memory with the EL becoming part of Conrail in less than a year’s time. Even the tracks on which these locomotives are operating would be ripped out only a few years later.
It is the summer of 1968 in Akron. The westbound Baltimore & Ohio Diplomat with E8A No. 1452 leading is at Akron Union Depot. Across the tracks the westbound Erie Lackawanna Lake Cities is sitting at the EL station, which is partly visible in the background.
Erie Lackawanna F3A No. 8014 in shown in downtown Akron in 1968. In the background are the spires of St. Bernard Catholic Church at 44 University Avenue. Those spires have appeared in countless photographs of Akron railroads that have been made over the years. The church opened in 1905 so it has seen many railroad companies come and go over the decades.
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