Surdyk to Present at AOS Event on Feb. 9

Marty Surdyk will be among the headliners at the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum winter speaker’s series.

Surdyk, a former Akron Railroad Club president and newsletter editor, will be showing images of excursion trains on the Ohio Central System,

The program opens with excursion trains rains that ran on the line through Sugarcreek when it was still operated by Norfolk Southern and continues into excursions out of Dennison in the Genesee & Wyoming era.

Featured will be the steam locomotives acquired and restored by the late Jerry Joe Jacobson and the excursion trains that they pulled over various segments of the Ohio Central system.

Not to be forgotten are the vintage F units Ohio Central operated including F9A Nos. 6307 and 6313 in their sharp livery that recalled the Pennsylvania Railroad pinstripes scheme.

Jacobson founded the Ohio Central and later created the Age of Steam Roundhouse to preserve his collection of steam locomotives, and vintage railroad rolling stock and diesel locomotives.

The program will begin at 6 p.m. on Feb. 9 at the Roundhouse.

Also slated to be presented at the Roundhouse is the documentary Engineering Tragedy: The Ashtabula Train Disaster.

It will be shown at 6 p.m. on March 9. Attendees will be able to meet the producers, directors and some of the actors of the documentary, which aired on PBS.

The Roundhouse was used in the making of the documentary with former McCloud River Railroad No. 9 used as the stand-in for both of the steam locomotives in different scenes.

The Ashtabula train disaster and bridge collapse was the worst train disaster of the 19th century, and left 97 dead.

It involved the Dec. 29, 1876, collapse of a bridge on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern over the Ashtabula River as The Pacific Express was rolling over it during a winter storm.

The two-hour long narrated documentary explores the events surrounding the disaster, including the engineering, construction, and collapse of the bridge, and the treacherous conditions that hampered the rescue attempts of trapped passengers.

In the wake of the incident, public pressure resulted in the adoption of standards for  bridge construction and inspection that continue to apply today.

Steam Saturday: Morgan Run Doubleheader

Doubled-headed steam excursions were not rare on the Ohio Central during the Jerry Jacobson era but weren’t necessarily common either.

The two images above were the first and only time that I saw a pair of Ohio Central steam locomotives work in tandem. Both images were made at Morgan Run east of Coshocton on June 8, 2002.

The 1293 and 6325 had teamed up to pull an excursion train from Sugarcreek to Morgan Run. That train had originated in Dennison earlier in the day and run to Sugarcreek behind F7A Nos. 1000 and 1001.

The 4-6-2 No. 1293 was already in Sugarcreek pulling the Baltic tourist train. The 4-8-4 No. 6325 ran light from Morgan Run to Sugarcreek to joins the 1293 once it had completed its Baltic train duties.

I began the day in Sugarcreek photographing the 1293 at work and the arrivals of the excursion train behind the F units and the 6325.

Once the steam locomotives had been teamed up, I chased the train to Morgan Run, getting photographs at Baltic and Fresno. It was the first time I had chased an Ohio Central steam excursion.

The steamers stayed behind at Morgan Run while the F units returned the excursion train to Dennison.

Before then, though, the 1293 and 6325 executed a photo runby for the passengers at Morgan Run, shown in the top image above. The bottom image was made before the runby.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Steam Saturday: An Ohio Central Steam Memory

Between 1989 and 2003 the Ohio Central operated a daily except Sunday excursion train between Sugarcreek and Baltic. For much of the life of this operation, the train was pulled by 4-6-0 No. 1551, but in the latter years the 4-6-2 No. 1293 drew the assignment. No. 1293 and its train are shown southbound in Baltic in mid-1999.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: On its Way to the CVSR

Central of Ohio 4-6-2 No. 1293, which you probably better know as Ohio Central 1293, is heading north in Barrs Mills on Sept. 6, 2012, on its way to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s Steam in the Valley 2012. It would be the last time this locomotive ran on the CVSR.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: Getting Service

Ohio Central 4-8-4 No. 6325 is being serviced at Bowerston on Aug. 13, 2004. The former Grand Trunk Western locomotive was built by American Locomotive Works in Schenectady, New York, in 1942 and sat for several year in Battle Creek, Michigan, awaiting a restoration that never was finished due to lack of funds. The Northern-type locomotive was later towed to Coshocton and restoration work resumed under Ohio Central auspices in 1998. The  “Queen of Ohio Central Rails” moved under its own power for the first time in 40 years on July 31, 2001.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: Pleasant OC 1293 Memories

It is autumn 1999 and steam locomotive smoke still fills the air on the Ohio Central between Sugarcreek and Baltic. The former Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 is shown after just having crossed Ohio Route 93 south of Sugarcreek and chugging southbound near Baltic in a pastoral setting that is always a pleasure to view.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: ARRC Steam Trip Memories

Here are three of one of my favorite steam locomotives in action on Oct. 13, 2001, with an Akron Railroad Club excursion on the Ohio Central

Former Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 No. 6325 is shown in Pearl on the point for a photo runby for the photographers.

The other two images were made at a location that I did not record. It is shown in the bottom image backing up to Sugarcreek to pick up the excursion train. Having passed me, I took the going away photo (middle image) at the same location.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Steam Sunday: Timeless OC Baltic Memory

During the days when it was pulling excursions on the Ohio Central system, former Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1293 passed through Baltic, Ohio, countless times. Some of those trips involved pulling the tourist train between Sugarcreek and Baltic. That was the locomotive’s assignment in August 1998 when Bob caught it bound for Baltic. The 1293 is still operable but opportunities for it to pull excursions trains have become exceedingly rare.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: A Moment With the 1293

Chances are many of you reading this already know that 1293 refers to a steam locomotive once owned by Canadian Pacific and later purchased and operated by the late Jerry Jacobson. The 4-6-2 was a mainstay of the Ohio Central steam program and the most active steamer during the years of Akron Railroad Club steam excursions. In the image above the 1293 and its train are southbound under the Ohio Route 93 bridge in Dundee in the fall. This photograph was made, most likely, in October 1999.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Steam Saturday: An ARRC Excursion at Pearl

Remember when the Akron Railroad Club used to have steam excursions on the Ohio Central? Yeah, it’s been several years since one of those ran. Shown is 4-8-4 No. 6325, a former Grand Trunk Western locomotive, pulling a southbound ARRC trip at Pearl in October 2001.

Photograph by Robert Farkas