Here are two Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad photos for a Tuesday. The images show an early CVSR locomotive livery.
In the top image, CVSR FPA-4 No. 15 is southbound in Brecksville in August 1996. On the north end is CVSR Alco RS3 No. 4099 (cx-Delaware & Hudson 4099).
The same train is shown in the bottom image in Peninsula.
CVSR trains are currently on hiatus but will return starting in February. A notice posted on the CVSR website said the Cleveland Dinner and Event train will resume running on Feb. 3. The National Park Scenic will return on weekends starting March 4.
The notice did not say of much of the CVSR those trains will cover. Much of the CVSR south of Fitzwater maintenance yard is out of service due to erosion issues along the Cuyahoga River.
Sometimes backlit images can be saved and here are two examples. Both were made in 2016 on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Akron.
In the top image Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 767 is southbound approaching Akron Northside Station in Akron on the afternoon of Sept. 25. For a short time NKP 765 was renumbered to 767. It is shown crossing the remains of the Ohio and Erie Canal. In the bottom image, CVSR FPA-4 No. 6771 is about to pull its train and the NKP 767 north.
Here are three images made in Akron on July 30, 2022. In the top image, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad FPA-4 No. 6771 is southbound approaching Akron Northside Station as the train crosses over the remains of the Ohio and Erie Canal.
In the middle image, the 6777 is is being towed south and will be the lead unit on the northbound trip.
In the bottom image Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2 No. 7006 is on the connecting track between CSX and the W&LE. In a few minutes the former CEFX unit will pull forward bringing its train onto the Wheeling. Then it will back down to Brittain Yard.
The Wheeling acquired the 7006 in December 2015 and quickly pressed it into revenue service.
A VIA Rail Canada train rolls through Scarborough, Ontario, on March 23, 1982. If VIA 6777 looks familiar it is because is now works on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad as one of their three Montreal Locomotive Works FPA-4 cab units.
Locomotive issues have prompted the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to cancel some trips of the National Park Scenic on Friday and all trips of the Fall Flyer on Saturday and Sunday.
A notice on the railroad’s website attributed the cancellations to “unforeseen circumstances regarding our locomotive fleet.”
The affected National Park Scenic departures on Friday depart Peninsula northbound at 11:45 a.m., southbound from Rockside Road station in Independence at 1 p.m., and southbound from Peninsula at 1:45 p.m.
The website notice said passengers who have purchased tickets for the affected cancelled trips will be automatically refunded to their original credit card, which generally takes three to five business days to process.
Tickets are still available for other scheduled National Park Scenic departures, either online or at the station in the hour prior to each departure.
Comments made on the CVSR Facebook page indicated that the locomotives having mechanical issues are AlcoC420 No. 365 and FPA-4 No. 6780, which formerly operated as Baltimore & Ohio No. 800.
A poster offered a screen shot of an email he received from CVSR staff saying a replacement locomotive is expected to arrive next week.
The email didn’t provide any details, but in recent years CVSR has leased locomotive power from Cleveland-based Horizon Rail.
Last Sunday I did a quick chase of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
After a major snowstorm Thursday and Friday things were pretty much cleared out by Sunday.
CVSR ran a plow train on Friday and with the regular runs of the National Park Scenic on Saturday I did not expect to have any snow buildup at crossings.
Imagine my surprise when the train hit a snow bank at Boston Mills. It was not a very large one but it still made for a nice photo.
The train itself was covered in ice and snow reminding me of Snowpiercer, a dystopian novel in which the earth has been covered in a global freeze and the last survivors ride a train that circles the planet once a year.
This has been adopted into a movie and most recently a TV show. As with most sci-fi works you must suspend disbelief (like who maintains the track for instance?) but otherwise are enjoyable programs.
In honor of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad launching its 2022 season today (Jan. 21) we present two views of northbound FPA-4 No. VSR 6771 in Akron on March 22, 2014. The train is on the bridge over the remains of the Ohio & Erie Canal. The unit once worked for Canadian National. The first train of 2022 likely won’t make it as far as Akron, but the National Park Scenic will return to the rubber city on Saturday.
Do you realize that VIA Rail Canada took its FPA-4 locomotives out of service 30 years ago? Yet two of them were on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s National Park Scenic train last Saturday.
The top and middle images were taken in Peninsula while the bottom photograph was made in Akron as Baltimore & Ohio No. 800 was being towed north.
Was it really 49 years ago that I took this photo of my first Montreal Locomotive Works FPA-4? Here is a photo that still brings a smile. Canadian National 6786 is at the station in London, Ontario, on November 30, 1968. Mike Ondecker, John Woodworth and I had originally intended to go to Toledo on Nov. 29 for an overnight stay but finished there and spent the night in London were this was taken.
Today FPA-4 No. 6767 may sit at Fitzwater Yard stripped of its siding and components, but it hasn’t always been this way. Here is the 6767 in better times. She is shown in London, Ontario, on March 25, 1981, working for VIA Rail Canada.
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