Erie Lackawanna RS3 No. 1029 leads a westbound train through Kent in 1966 or 1967. The unit was built for the Erie in November 1952.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Posts Tagged ‘Kent Ohio’
EL Monday: Westbound Alco in Kent
April 17, 2023EL Monday: Way it Used to be in Kent
February 6, 2023
It is the late 1960s in Kent. This view is looking railroad east toward the Erie Lackawanna passenger station. The two EL main lines are on the left while three team tracks are on the right. Even the westbound waiting shed is still there. With the frequency of trains, soon this scene will take on a life of its own.
Much has changed since this image was made. You can stand in this same location today and still see the West Main Street bridge and the passenger station. The grain elevator in the background suffered major damage in a fire in late 2022.
The area where the team tracks used to be is now a parking lot. The passenger shelter on the west side is long gone and rail traffic here is much diminished.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
B&O Two for Tuesday
January 31, 2023
Today’s two for Tuesday focuses on the Baltimore & Ohio in the 1970s. In the top image, B&O GP35 No. 3559 leads an eastbound near Kent. The bottom image was made in Youngstown. Leading a train through the area is B&O GP40-2 No. 4161. The unit has already received Chessie System paint unlike its two running mates in this gritty industrial scene that captures well railroading in the Mahoning Valley when steelmaking was still king.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
Cause of Kent Mill Fire Still Under Investigation
December 7, 2022The future of a former grain mill devastated by fire last week remains uncertain as investigators continue to seek to find the cause of the Friday blaze.
The investigation involves the Kent Fire Department and the Ohio Fire Marshal’s office.
The fire at the former Star of the West mill complex was reported around 9 a.m. last Friday. Firefighters nearly exhausted all of the water supplies in Kent’s water supply stored in towers.
The city issued a water conservation order and borrowed water from Ravenna.
Firefighters were still on the scene on Monday and North Water Street remained closed to through traffic.
The mill is one of the oldest and most iconic structures in Kent. It sits next to the former Erie Railroad mainline, which is now used by the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway. The mill is on a bluff above the CSX New Castle Division tracks.
Officials have yet to determine the full extend of the damage to the structure.
The mill complex was acquired by Tulips LLC for $405,000 in 2019.
Tulips has said it was planning to convert the property into a mix of businesses and apartments.
Fire Strike Landmark Kent Mill
December 3, 2022
Firefighters said it may be as late as Sunday before they will be able to extinguish a fire that struck the former Star of the West Milling Company grain elevator in Kent on Friday morning.
No injuries were reported in the blaze that began just before 9 a.m.
Kent Fire Chief Bill Myers told reporters that an explosion occurred at the scene about three minutes after firefighters arrived.
A cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Located at 162 N Water Street, the mill is located next to the former Erie Railroad mainline, which is now used by the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway. Fire hoses were stretched across the tracks.
Myers said at one point that firefighters were hindered by water supply issues, which forced firefighters to reduce the use of water.
The City of Kent issued a water conversation notice in an effort to conserve water.
The mill was built in 1879 and has been a fixture in countless photographs made in Kent of railroad operations.
At one time, the mill produced hundreds of millions of pounds of flour.
Firefighters from several Northeast Ohio departments were at the scene battling the fire, including units from Hudson, Stow, Munroe falls, Ravenna, and Tallmadge.
Scott Budzar, owner of Scribbles Coffee, located near the mill, said his businesses and others in the vicinity were forced to close due to the fire. “It’s such a massive structure, too, and iconic,” he said.
The mill was reported to be oldest building still standing in Kent.
“It used European technology, and so it took over and it became very, very successful,” said Sandy Halem, president of the Kent Historical Society. “1879 until 1999, it’s a long time for a continuous business.”
Building owner Manouchehr Salehi told the Record-Courier the building was locked up and no one should have been inside.
Salehi said the fire could change his plans to convert the structure into a multi-use complex that would include businesses and apartments.
“Let’s find out what the damages are,” he said. “The structural integrity completely changes everything.” The mill complex includes nine buildings. It was purchased in 1992 by Star of the West Milling Company of Emmett, Michigan. Mill operations ceased in 2016.
When Jim Wrinn Came to Town
November 30, 2022
Back in April 2011 Jim Wrinn, the editor of Trains magazine, came to Akron to speak to a banquet of the Akron Railroad Club to celebrate the group’s 75th anniversary.
The banquet was held on the night of April 23, but earlier in the day we arranged for Jim to have a cab ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. He also got to operate SD18M No. 321 at Shelly Materials in Kent, courtesy of ARRC member and Shelly worker Bob Rohal.
In the image above, Jim speaks from the engineer’s seat of No. 321, which was known as “Flash” in honor the Kent State University Golden Flashes athletic teams.
Wrinn died last March of cancer and No. 321 is no longer on the property at Shelly’s Kent facility.
Photograph by Craig Sanders
Chasing the ABC Local to Ravenna
November 3, 2022
On Tuesday I caught the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway local to Ravenna. Wheeling & Lake Erie No. 302, a former Denver & Rio Grande Western GP40 still lettered for that railroad powered the train.
In the photos above the train is shown switching at Kent, heading to Ravenna and on the turn trip at Ravenna
Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon
More Than 50 Years Ago in Kent
September 18, 2022
An eastbound Baltimore & Ohio merchandise train in Kent has just passed the passenger station behind me. The Erie Lackawanna passenger station is up the hill to the right. It is the late 1960s/early 1970s, so this image is more than 50 years old.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
EL Monday: The Lake Cities in Kent
August 8, 2022
It’s 1967 or 1968 in Kent and the Erie Lackawanna’s westbound morning Lake Cities is at the station. It was scheduled through Northeast Ohio in the morning hours after its overnight journey from Hoboken, New Jersey. Therefore, there are far more images of the westbound No. 5 than eastbound No. 6, which reached Akron and Kent in the evening.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
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