For two for Tuesday we’ve asked the wayback machine to take us back to see some Chessie System motive power. In the top image we see Baltimore & Ohio No. 6614 in a Chessie livery and B&O No. 6558 in its original scheme. The train is in Akron on July 2, 1976. In the bottom image B&O No. 4331 is eastbound in Greenwich in the fall of 1986.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
I am standing east of both the Erie Lackawanna, and Baltimore & Ohio passenger stations in Akron in the late 1960s.
From left to right: A string of freight cars (mostly hoppers), what looks like a B&O baggage car or a mail car on what might be the B&O eastbound main; an eastbound B&O train sitting on what looks like the B&O westbound mainline perhaps waiting for the eastbound EL freight on the next track to clear the crossovers at JO Tower east of this location, and finally the boxcars on the upper track leading to Quaker Oats
This is the most congestion that I have seen at this location.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It is June 5, 1976, and thus early in the Conrail era in Akron. A crewman is waving from the Lehigh Valley’s Bicentennial caboose as it heads west on ex-Erie Lackawanna trackage.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine is set to bring back memories of the Chessie Steam Safety Express era. Here we see Chessie System 4-8-4 No. 614 is in Akron on the weekend of June 27-28, 1981. The 614 pulled a roundtrip between Akron and Pittsburgh on Saturday and then made a one-way ferry move to Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It is the late 1960s, and I am standing on the platform of Akron Union Depot. Baltimore & Ohio No. 3693 is eastbound on the westbound main.
If you look closely in the distance to the left of the train, another locomotive is also eastbound with trailers on flat cars. Most likely the 3693 is on the westbound track is to let the other B&O eastbound pass it. That is the Erie Lackawanna passenger station on the right.
In the bottom image, B&O 7597 is leading an eastbound train in through Warwick Yard in Clinton on July 29, 1982.
Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas
It is early in the Penn Central era, most likely 1968 or at the latest 1969. The locomotives shown already have their PC roster numbers.
Along has come a freight with former Pennsylvania Railroad Alco C425 No. 2441 leading a five-unit lashup that also included another C425, an EMD GP9, an EMD F7B, and two EMD F7As.
The train is heading north through Akron to Hudson and the mainline between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
To the south in this image is the bridge carrying Buchtel Avenue over the tracks. Further back is the Akron Union Depot walk bridge.
Any one of these five units would be a good museum piece, but together they are priceless.
Things have been extensively rerouted around the campus since then, so I can’t remember what they are calling it now. Buchtel Avenue’s original path through the University of Akron campus now is a walking path most of the way,and Buchtel Avenue proper now is routed to the north and ends at the side entrance to E.J. Thomas Hall.
Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has landed us in Akron on June 19, 1979. We’re just in time to catch Baltimore & Ohio SD40-2 No. 7610 is on the point of a westbound caboose hop. The 7610 was built in February 1977. The image was made near Voris Street.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It is Sept. 1, 2022 in Akron. Today is the first day I have seen Cotter Merchandise Storage No. 1231 work anything but Cotter itself. Normally an Akron Barberton Cluster locomotive works this location, which I believe is a paper company.
The crew is about to leave two boxcars, coming out the plant, picking up two more boxcars and pushing boxcars into the plant. Also shown is a roster photo of the 1231.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
Erie Lackawanna Alco C425 No. 2454256 leads a westbound in Akron in 1967 or 1968. Today virtually everything but the two ex-Baltimore & Ohio (now CSX) tracks and the small gray building on the right are gone or replaced. Shown in the full scene below is San Hygene furniture and Mattress company. Aside from Alco locomotives being gone from mainline Class 1 railroad operations, searchlight signals such as the one visible in this scene are largely a thing of the past. The 2456 was built in October 1964 and would go on to have a life with three other railroads after the EL was folded into Conrail in April 1976.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
A Baltimore & Ohio Alco S2 pauses in Akron in early 1971. The image was scanned from an Agfachrome slide and we don’t know the name of the photographer who made it.
Collection of Robert Farkas
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