Ohio Central Geeps Two for Tuesday

During the time that it was owned by the late Jerry Jacobson, the Ohio Central System has a locomotive fleet that could fairly be described as eclectic.

Most OC units were painted in the railroad’s maroon and gold livery but not all of them. It was not unusual to see a unit in an oddball scheme pulling trains until it found its way to the paint shop or was sold to another company.

The top image was made in Dennison on May 21, 1994. No. 3216 is a GP40 wearing the OC livery that at the time was still somewhat new. It was built in November 1968 for Penn Central and wound up on the Conrail motive power roster.

No. 3216 would later go to work for the Buckingham Branch Railroad in Virginia.

The bottom image was made at Morgan Run on June 8, 2002, and shows a GP10 still in the colors it came with. This unit began life in January 1956 as an Illinois Central GP9.

It had a series of owners before it showed up on the OC including Qwest Communications Corporation, which painted it silver and black, and MidSouth and Gulf & Mississippi. It would later wind up on the Everett Railroad in Pennsylvania.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

Yet They Were F Units

During the early 2000s the Ohio Central acquired a pair of F7A cab units that it used in excursion train service.

Both units were rated at 1,500 horsepower and came to the OC from the Gettysburg Railroad. Each had been built for the Milwaukee Road, although not in the same year. No. 1000 was built in 1951 while No. 1001 rolled off the assembly line in 1950.

They were painted a rust red color and carried “Ohio Central System” gold lettering on their flanks.

Neither unit received an Ohio Central livery and their stay at the railroad would be relatively brief. By early 2007 they had moved on to the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western in North Carolina.

I never thought the scheme the 1000 and 1001 had during their time on the Ohio Central was all that attractive. But they were F units and in the early 2000s there weren’t many of those still around outside of museums.

In the photograph above, the pair is seen on one end of an excursion train that originated in Zanesville and ran to New Lexington on Oct. 14, 2001.

The train traveled the Ohio Southern Railroad and the excursion ran shortly after the route had been reopened following years of being mothballed.

The former Pennsylvania Railroad branch had been rehabilitated in a $12 million project largely funded by the State of Ohio, which had purchased the line in the early 1980s.

It was mostly cloudy on the day of the excursion with occasional peeks of sunshine. One of those came as the train was getting into position in Zanesville for boarding.

This would be the only time that I photographed Ohio Central operations in Zanesville. The 1000 and 1001 would eventually be supplanted by a pair of F9A units that were painted in a striking livery that was reminiscent of the PRR pinstripe livery of the 1950s. But that is another story for another day.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

Quite a Motive Power Consist in Massillon

You’ve probably never seen a motive consist quite like this before and you probably won’t again.

It is April 10, 1998, in Massillon and a southbound Ohio Central train operating on the R.J. Corman has quite an ecletic collection of motive power including SPCX No. 705, OHCR No. 7573, and Connecticut Department of Transportation No. 471.

The lead unit is a GP10 that at the time was in the motive fleet of Qwest, which is best known as being a telecommunications company and not a railroad.

But it had a fleet of locomotives, including the 705, which was built for the Illinois Central as a GP9 in January 1955.

By this date it had joined the Ohio Central motive power roster although it continued to carry the Qwest herald on the flanks.

It was not unusual for Ohio Central to operate motive power still in the livery of a previous owner or operator.

CDOT 471 is a former Maine Central GP7 built in July 1950. During its time on the CDOT roster it received a livery paying tribute to the New York, New Haven & Hartford.

You probably know this locomotive fairly well because it pulled excursion trains for several years for the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Running Light in Beach City

Both of these photographs were made in Beach City, Ohio, on Sept. 2, 2009.

Both locomotives are GE B23-7R units. No. 4094 is still wearing the colors and markings of the New Castle Industrial Railroad.

The locomotive has a history that is as colorful as its livery. It was built in June 1972 for the Western Pacific. It would later be on the rosters of the Monongahela, Conrail and Norfolk Southern before going to the NCIR.

No. 4093 was built for the WP the same month as the 4094. It, too, was on the rosters of the MGA and Conrail but went to CSX after the Conrail break up.

The light power move shown here was running southward.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Ohio Central Consecutive Roster Numbers

Although not on the same train or part of the same motive power consist, the sequence above shows consecutively numbered Ohio Central U23B units both of which were once owned by Conrail.

In the top photo OHCR 4092 is working in Coshocton on Nov. 12, 2009.

In the bottom photo OHCR 4093 is northbound on R.J. Corman (ex-Baltimore & Ohio) trackage in Massillon on April 19, 2010.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Crossing Chippewa Creek South of Clinton

We’re looking down Chippewa Creek as Ohio Central GP8 No. 5407 and GP10 No. 7595 pull a train southbound on R.J. Corman tracks south of Clinton on May 25, 1996.

This photo angle is still available but encroaching vegetation on the left bank of the creek has diminished the openness of the view.

The photographer was standing by the bridge carrying South Second Avenue over the creek.

The Chippewa beyond the bridge flows into the Tuscarawas River.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Catching Trains on OC’s Cambridge Line

Last Friday I went to Zanesville to chase the Ohio Central Cambridge turn.  I was successful in catching that coming out of Cambridge tunnel.

This used to be the former Baltimore & Ohio line between Wheeling, West Virginia, and Columbus.

I also got a bonus train with a garbage train coming in from CSX. It’s brought in by one crew then pulls east onto the Cambridge line.

Another crew then couples on and pulls the train south to its destination of a landfill at New Lexington, Ohio.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Get It While You Can

It is the afternoon of May 15, 1998, in Clinton (Warwick).

Ohio Central has sent its coiled-steel train to Warwick where it has been put in the eastbound siding.

Now the OHCR power is waiting on R.J. Corman tracks for the CSX train bringing back the empty coiled-steel cars to be taken south.

In the top photograph, the view is looking south at OHCR GP9 No. 91and OHCR GP38AC No. 2175 with its Operation Lifesaver lettering with Warwick Tower in the background.

The tower was out of service as an interlocking tower but used by maintenance of way workers.

The bottom photograph shows a side view of both locomotives with the roof of Warwick shower showing above the 2175.

Today OHCR no longer interchanges with CSX at Warwick, and OHCR is no longer owned by Jerry Jacobson.

This is just another reminder to photograph the familiar while there is time.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

One Day in October 2005 at Morgan Run

The late Jerry Jacobson, owner of the Ohio Central System, was an Akron Railroad Club member and for many years ran a special October trip for the club members and their families, and until the final years, for the public.

Shown are images made during an Oct. 22, 2005, trip from Dennison to the Morgan Run shops near Coshocton, Ohio.

In the top image image Ohio Central F40PH No. 280 (ex-Amtrak) and Baldwin 2-8-0 No. 33 (ex Lake Superior & Ishpeming) are inside the shop.

Next up club members and others converse outside the shop while some make photographs.

The next two images show F9A No. 6313 is on the south end of passenger train at Morgan Run.

In the final two images SD40-2 No. 4022 leads an eastbound unit coal train on what was once the PRR’s Panhandle Division. SD45 7499 is on the west end of the unit train.

Photographs By Robert Farkas