A brace of Erie Lackawanna locomotives lead a westbound train through Akron in April 1973. On the point is U25B No. 2518. Other units in the motive power consist are the 2552, 7092, and 7123. The train is approaching Voris Street and ducking beneath Thornton Street.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
I was using Agfachrome film when I photographed Erie Lackawanna Alco S2 No. 500 in Akron in September 1972.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Erie Lackawanna F7A No. 7131 passes the former Erie passenger station in Akron on Aug. 25, 1968. Built in March 1961 as Erie 807A, it was later renumbered by the Erie as 713A. At the time this image was made the station was still being used by EL’s Lake Cities between Chicago and Hoboken, New Jersey.
Photograph by Mike Ondecker
Thursday morning CSX ran its ofice car special across northern Ohio and Pennsylvania.
With two F40PHs and 11 passenger cars all decked out in a Baltimore & Ohio inspired livery it looked like the Capitol Limited had returned once again.
I first caught the special at Akron. The weather was foggy and overcast but my photos turned out okay.
Next was Youngstown where the weather wasn’t any better but I was interviewed by a local TV station curious as to why all the railfans were waiting on the Center Street bridge.
Then it was on to Station Square in Pittsburgh. The weather was much improved but we unfortunately were cloud skunked when the train arrived.
In times past the Capitol would have made a stop here.
Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon
Penn Central GP7 No. 5673 is sitting just geographically northeast of the former Pennsylvania Railroad yard in Akron on Jan. 14, 1973. The long-removed walk bridge installed to make it easy for Firestone Tire employees to get to the streetcars and buses on the other side of the tracks is visible in this photo.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
A motive power consist of all first generation diesel motive power passes a boarding platform of Akron Union Depot and the Erie passenger station in mid 1968. The lead is Baltimore & Ohio GP9 No. 6467 would work for a number of other railroads in later years and be converted to a GP10.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine is set for Aug. 18, 1968, in Akron at Union Depot.
In the top image, Baltimore & Ohio E9A No. 1455 has cut off from the westbound Diplomat in order to, most likely, add or remove a mail car.
Across the tracks the Erie Lackawanna’s westbound Lake Cities is sitting at its station.
In the middle image the Lake Cities can be seen pulling away from its station platform. It was not unusual for both passenger trains to be in Akron at the same time.
In the bottom image notice the family standing and watching trains on the EL platform.
Can you imagine joining this family and watching trains? I said “watching” because that is the dark side for morning photography.
Yet if you look carefully, the man appears to have a camera around his neck.
If you decide to use your own wayback machine and join me for taking pictures on this day, tell me seeing my photos 53 ahead in the future inspired you to join me to photograph Akron. I’ll believe you.
Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas
Erie Lackawanna E8A No. 826 works in Akron in 1973. By then passenger service had been gone for three years and passenger locomotives had been redeployed into freight service. The 826 was built in February 1951 for the Erie Railroad and carried the same roster number. If you look around the edges you can see tiny slivers of the Erie passenger and freight stations.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
I don’t know if Richard Antibus plans to show images similar to those above during his slide show to the Akron Railroad Club on Friday night. But he might.
Shown are three things that are not longer part of the Akron Railroad scene. All of them existed 20 years ago, but have fallen within the past decade or so.
In the top image is Erie Railroad herald that once adorned the freight house on Exchange Street in downtown Akron. The Erie became the Erie Lackawanna in 1960 and passed out of existence in 1976.
But the freight house, which was built in 1916, continued to stand and proudly show its heritage. One of the last uses of the freight house was to receive shipments of news print for the Akron Beacon Journal.
But things have changed and the freight house was razed in May 2013 to make way for a $20 million rental housing used by University of Akron students and known as The Depot.
In the middle is the former yard office for the Baltimore & Ohio. Located along Arlington Avenue, it served yards of both B&O lines in Akron.
The yard for the former Valley Railway is gone, but CSX still maintains a rather small portion of the former Hill Yard. But there is no yardmaster assigned there anymore and crews no longer report for duty here.
In this views, made on April 30, 2006, the rear of an eastbound CSX train is passing on the nearby New Castle Subdivision. This photograph was made the same day as the image of the Erie herald on the freight station. It’s a good thing I made these images when I did.
The former B&O yard office was destroyed by a suspicious fire Oct. 1, 2013. Akron firefighters said a door of the building, which by then had been vacant and board up for several years, had been forced open, leading them to specualte it might have been arson.
In the bottom photograph is the boarding platform for the Akron Amtrak station. Constructed in 1990, the platform is located where boarding platforms once existed for Akron Union Depot to serve passenger trains of the B&O and Pennsylvania railroads.
This image was made early on the morning of Sept. 9, 1995. Later that day Amtrak’s Chicago-New York Broadway Limited would begin its final trips. Amtrak Nos. 40 and 41 has begun serving Akron Nov. 11, 1990, after being rerouted away from the former PRR mainline between Chicago and Pittsburgh via Canton.
Amtrak service to Akron resumed Aug. 10, 1998, when the Chicago-New York Three Rivers began stopping here.
The Three Rivers was discontinued west of Pittsburgh on March 7, 2005. The boarding platforms were removed in early 2012 during a CSX project to revamp the New Castle Sub so that it could accomodate double-stacked container trains.
That work also led to the removal of the last umbrella shed and platform still standing at former Akron Union Depot site.
Article and Photograhs by Craig Sanders
Norfolk & Western Alco RS11 No. 398 sits at the former Akron, Canton & Youngstown engine facility in Akron in mid-1974. The unit was built for N&W in 1959.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
