EL Monday: One Day at Brier Hill Yard

George Cheatwood caught Conrail No. 2489 still in Erie Lackawanna colors in the ex-EL Brier Hill Yard in Girard on April 22, 1978. The unit once wore EL roster number 2415. 

EL Monday: Congestion in Akron

I am standing east of both the Erie Lackawanna, and Baltimore & Ohio passenger stations in Akron in the late 1960s.

From left to right: A string of freight cars (mostly hoppers), what looks like a B&O baggage car or a mail car on what might be the B&O eastbound main; an eastbound B&O train sitting on what looks like the B&O westbound mainline perhaps waiting for the eastbound EL freight on the next track to clear the crossovers at JO Tower east of this location, and finally the boxcars on the upper track leading to Quaker Oats

This is the most congestion that I have seen at this location.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: Where I Once Rode the Lake Cities

I am looking east at the corner of Erie Street and Sterling Avenue in Rittman in March 1987. By this time the two track mainline of the Erie Lackawanna had been torn up in many places. How strange to think that just over 20 years before this, I had ridden a round trip on the Erie Lackawanna’s The Lake Cities from Akron to Marion through this very spot. Today the track has been removed to a point east of South Main Street in Rittman.

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: Waving From the Caboose

It is June 5, 1976, and thus early in the Conrail era in Akron. A crewman is waving from the Lehigh Valley’s Bicentennial caboose as it heads west on ex-Erie Lackawanna trackage. 

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: The ‘B&M Era’ on the EL

Boston & Maine No. 1724 is on the point of an eastbound train in the Erie Lackawanna’s yard in Kent sometime between 1967 and 1972. This is one of several B&M run-throughs I saw on the EL during those years. 

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: My Last EL PA Photograph

It is the fall of 1968 in Marion. As usual, I took a photo and then moved on. As I looked at this photo today, I noticed there is an engineer in Erie Lackawanna GP35 No. 2563 looking at me. At the same time, there is a crewman standing in the open door of EL Alco PA-1 No. 853.

Since the two locomotives are coupled, I can guess 2563 moved/will move 853 and perhaps the Alco switcher and any other locomotives behind it. Whatever happened, I just realized this is perhaps my last photo of an EL PA. 

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: Long Gone Akron Scene

Erie Lackawanna Alco C425 No. 2454256 leads a westbound in Akron in 1967 or 1968. Today virtually everything but the two ex-Baltimore & Ohio (now CSX) tracks and the small gray building on the right are gone or replaced. Shown in the full scene below is San Hygene furniture and Mattress company. Aside from Alco locomotives being gone from mainline Class 1 railroad operations, searchlight signals such as the one visible in this scene are largely a thing of the past. The 2456 was built in October 1964 and would go on to have a life with three other railroads after the EL was folded into Conrail in April 1976.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: It is Not No. 3

No, this is not Erie Lackawanna No. 3. It looks like EL GP7 No. 1238 had problems in the paint shop or just after painting. The location is Hornell, New York, on July 25, 1973. The 1238 was built for the Erie in September 1952.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: An RS3 in Marion

We’re in Marion on Dec. 30, 1972, where we see Erie Lackawanna Alco RS3 No. 1022 passing AC Tower. The 1022 was built in April 1951 for the Erie Railroad. The unit would operate into the Conrail era where it had roster number 5242.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: An F3A in Kent

Erie Lackawanna F3A No. 8044 and two other units are eastbound in Kent in the late 1960s. The 8044 was built for the Erie Railroad in July 1947. The train is passing through the yard, which was one of the largest on the former Erie in Ohio.

Photograph by Robert Farkas