Another Early Conrail in Akron Memory

It’s the early Conrail era and we find former Reading Lines SD45 No. 7600 in Akron on Aug.1, 1976. The 7600 is hooked up to a second EMD SD45, Erie Lackawanna No. 3609.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

A Cheese Head in Kent

The Wisconsin Central is only a memory now having been acquired by Canadian National in 2001. WC locomotives were not common visitors to Northeast Ohio, thus it was a surprise to find this SD45 trailing a CSX unit on a westbound in Kent on Aug. 5, 2005. The 7512 was built for Burlington Northern in July 1971.

Photograph by Craig Sanders

EL Monday: Running Through Akron

A pair of Erie Lackawanna SD45s, Nos. 3601 and 3603, lead a westbound in Akron most likely in late-1967 or early 1968. Note the Central of Georgia boxcar toward the front wearing a livery that you probably haven’t seen in a long time.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

EL Monday: Back to July 1972 in Kent

The wayback machine is set for 1972 in Kent. We see SD45 No. 3610 on a westbound on July 22, 1972. The unit was built for the EL in June 1967 and would later spend time on the Conrail roster.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Climbing the Hill

Eastbound Conrail SD45 No. 6076 and its train is climbing the hill west of Massillon on the early morning of July 19, 1980. Note that the motive power consist still has some units that had yet to be repainted into Conrail blue.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

N&W at Orrville

Norfolk & Western SD45 No. 1804 leads train DJ-12 eastbound in Orrville on July 25, 1984. The originated at Oakwood Yard in Detroit and was bound for the Chessie System at Connellsville, Pennsylvania.

Note the open auto rack car second in the consist behind the motive power. Such a practice was common once but would not be done today.

The train is operating on the original Wheeling & Lake Erie, which has since reverted back to the modern version of the W&LE.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Conrail Two for Tuesday

It’s Tuesday and time to present a pair of images from the same railroad.

In the top image, we see Conrail SD60M leading an eastbound manifest freight on the Fort Wayne Line in Orrville on May 25, 1996.

The bridge it is passing beneath carries the Wheeling & Lake Erie.

The photographer wrote about the image, “while Conrail tolerated my entering their little-used yard in Orrville, Norfolk Southern would not allow this today.”

In the bottom image, Conrail SD45 No. 6130 is shown in Akron in June 1979 during the railroad’s relatively short life in the rubber city.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

 

 

A Twofer EL Monday

Today’s Erie Lackawanna Monday is a twofer and it is not because there are two photographs shown above. Nor is it because both images were made in Akron.

No, this is a twofer day because each image has two of the same thing.

In the top image, we see two nearly new EL SD45 units, Nos. 3625 and 3624 leading a train east in mid 1968 where Wilbeth Road used to cross the railroad tracks in Akron.

This must be a time-sensitive train given the first two cars appear to be reefers and the visible trailing cars are trailers on flat cars.

In the bottom image EL 04949 and C176 are on the rear of an westbound  freight in downtown Akron in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

We can only imagine how many countless railroad photographs made in Akron have featured the twin spires of St. Bernard’s Church on University Avenue.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Railroading as it Once Was: When Erie Lackawanna and Delaware & Hudson Swapped Power

In advance of being absorbed by Conrail, the Erie Lackawanna did some “tidy up” work.

The Delaware & Hudson had acquired three EMD SD45s once their demonstration chores were done.

They were basically big orphans in a sea of Alco and GE motive power, so the D&H and EL worked out a one-for-one swap of the three SDs to the EL for three GE U33Cs to the D&H.

This was all fine and good until Conrail was acquiring the EL, but not the D&H; so the whole deal was undone a couple months before C-Day.

The U-boats returned to the EL and the D&H got its SDs back and quickly put them to work with a quickie re-lettering job.

I consider it a stroke of good luck to have ran across all three of them together at Binghamton, New York, in September 1976 in the sun no less, their travels having come full circle.

After a few years on the D&H these locomotives were shipped off to Mexico.

Article and Photograph by Roger Durfee

When These Locomotives Were Still Working

Akron Railroad Club member Todd Dillon dipped into his archives to pull out some image of Buffalo & Pittsburgh SD45 locomotives. He reports that these units have since been cut up at LTEX. They are shown here in service in happier times.

Photographs by Todd Dillon