On a light engine move after interchanging with the Wheeling & Lake Erie, Ohio Central Nos. 4093 and 3185 are southbound in Beach City on June 15, 2012. Note that the 3185 has received a Genesee & Wyoming logo on its nose.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
This photo should bring back a lot of pleasant memories for many of you. Shown is Ohio Central passenger car 3659 in Sugarcreek in September 1996. It was the era when steam locomotives pulled the Sugarcreek-Baltic tourist trains. Or maybe your memories are from riding this car or something similar during an Akron Railroad Club steam excursion. Those were great times, but they eventually ended.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
No injuries were reported when an Ohio Central train derailed near Trinway on Thursday.
New reports indicated that 97 empty cars and one loaded car derailed about 3:30 p.m.
The derailment site stretched for more than a mile from near Adams Mills to Tinway.
Officials said cleaning up the derailment was expected to take about a week. No cause of the derailment was given by railroad officials.
The derailment occurred about 13 miles north of Zanesville.
In its early years the Ohio Central used a livery that was reminiscent of a scheme used by the Nickel Plate Road. That was appropriate because tracks used by the OC between Harmon and Zanesville via Sugarcreek and Coshocton were once part of the NKP system.
Shown above is GP9 No. 99 with an excursion train in Dennison on May 24, 1994, sitting on former Pennsylvania Railroad rails. Toward the end of the Jerry Jacobson era of the OC, the railroad had a pair of F9A units painted in a livery similar to the pinstripe livery of the Pennsy from the 1950s.
Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders
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
It is Sept. 27, 1997, in Sugarcreek, Ohio. It’s a sunny and pleasant fall day and two Ohio Central steam locomotives are in town and operating. No. 1551 is handling the Baltic tourist train while No. 1293 brought into town a special sponsored by the Orrville Railroad Historical Society.
I was aboard the latter train and during the layout I walked around and made several photographs. There also was an Ohio Central freight train working in town at one point.
In the top image a crew member stands an the rear platform of GP10 No. 7561, which still wears Conrail colors. In the bottom image, the 7561 is coupled to Alco RS3 No. 1077.
Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders
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
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
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
Here are two photos of Youngstown & Austintown GP7 No. 1501, formerly a Pittsburgh & Lake Erie unit, on the Ohio Central in July 1998. The top image shows the 1501 sitting in Sugarcreek,. The bottom image was made of it pulling a southbound train approaching Baltic.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
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