Once Upon a Time on the B&O near Warwick Tower

Finding an old negative/slide/digital image you have forgotten you had taken can bring back many wonderful memories.

It is one of the purest forms of photographic time travel.

The image above was made some time between 1967-1970 in Clinton. Chesapeake & Ohio F7A No. 7057 and its Baltimore & Ohio coal train are northbound near Warwick Tower where the train can head west to go to Lorain (diverging at Sterling) or continue west to Willard.

On the other hand, it could go east to Akron and beyond to Lake Erie.

The double track is out of the ordinary since one track belongs to the Pennsylvania Railroad/Penn Central and the other to the B&O. But they share trackage with one line for all southbound trains of both lines and the other track for all northbound trains of both lines. This sharing runs from Warwick Tower south to Massillon.

It’s likely this coal train originated in the B&O yard in Holloway, Ohio.

If you look toward the back of the train, you see it is crossing Chippewa Creek on one of two bridges. The pole lines are still in place, and back-to-back F units make this scene even better.

Today one of the lines has been ripped out while the other is used by RJ Corman.

There is only one bridge, no pole lines, and usually no more than one train north and south a day instead of having so many long trains that Canal Fulton, Ohio (A few miles south) needed a firehouse on each side of the tracks.

Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas

Monon Two for Tuesday

For several years the Indiana Transportation Museum operated in excursion service an F7A locomotive painted in the livery of the Monon Railroad. The unit was actually a former Milwaukee Road locomotive. ITM later repainted No. 83 into a livery paying tribute to the Nickel Plate Road.

The two images above were made in Worthington, Indiana, on Aug. 29 1998. The occasion was an excursion train between Indianapolis and Worthington on the Indiana Southern Railroad that ran to Worthington behind ex-NKP 2-8-2 light Mikado No. 587. It returned to Indy behind No. 83.

The excursion traveled on a former Pennsylvania Railroad route that once extended from Indianapolis to Vincennes, Indiana, and was best known for its coal traffic.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

EL Monday: Reposing in Marion

Erie Lackawanna No. 7091 sits at the engine house in Marion in December 1967. The unit was built by EMD in February 1949 for the Erie Railroad where it has roster number 709A. It was later converted to an F7A and given EL roster number 7101.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Somewhere on the B&O

We’re not sure who made this photograph or even where it was made other than somewhere on the Baltimore & Ohio.

The image is in the collection of Robert Farkas who believes it might have been made by the late Richard Sherwood.

Shown is a crop of the original Agfachrome slide that was processed in June 1971.

The lead unit, F7A No. 4633, was built in January 1953 with roster number 979A.

EL F7A Monday in Kent

Erie Lackawanna F7A No. 6341 sits in Kent on Feb. 24, 1973. The EMD unit was built for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western in July 1949.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Penn Central F Unit in Marion

Penn Central F7A No. 1743 leads an eastbound through Marion in fall 1968. Notice the Northern Pacific boxcar on a train passing on an adjacent track.

The trains are crossing the former Pennsylvania Railroad line between Sandusky and Columbus that at the time this image was made had come under Norfolk & Western ownership.

The tracks in use were a paired arrangement between PC and Erie Lackawanna as far east as Galion.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

The Other “Wild Mary’ Livery

Aside from its red and white look, some Western Maryland locomotives that continues to operate in the Chessie System era sported a black and gold livery.

Chessie System F7A No. 7156 was one of those units and is shown in Akron on Oct. 4, 1976.

Alas, it in the middle of the motive power consist and not leading it.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Penn Central in Twinsburg

Penn Central F7A No. 1722 is sitting in Twinsburg on Feb. 25, 1973. Notice the cab-less geep making this an A-B-A motive power set. All of that snow on the ground probably makes you feel cold.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: You Can’t Get This Anymore

Here is a scene that can’t be repeated. Erie Lackawanna F7A No. 6331 is leading a westbound train past EL’s McCoy Street Yard in Akron on Jan. 14, 1973. Everything railroad-related, including the walk bridge, is gone now except for two CSX mainline tracks.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Still Has That Pennsy Look

It may actually be Penn Central EMD FP7A No. 4332 but it is still wearing its Pennsylvania Railroad markings. The image was made in Collinwood Yard, a former New York Central facility, in Cleveland on Nov. 11, 1968.

In the bottom image, PC GG1 No. 4924 also still has its PRR paint as it sits in is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the early PC era.

This may have come from the Memorial Day weekend 1969 trip that John Woodworth, Mike Ondecker, and I took. I’m not certain.

Photographs by Robert Farkas