Back in April 2011 Jim Wrinn, the editor of Trains magazine, came to Akron to speak to a banquet of the Akron Railroad Club to celebrate the group’s 75th anniversary.
The banquet was held on the night of April 23, but earlier in the day we arranged for Jim to have a cab ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. He also got to operate SD18M No. 321 at Shelly Materials in Kent, courtesy of ARRC member and Shelly worker Bob Rohal.
In the image above, Jim speaks from the engineer’s seat of No. 321, which was known as “Flash” in honor the Kent State University Golden Flashes athletic teams.
Wrinn died last March of cancer and No. 321 is no longer on the property at Shelly’s Kent facility.
For several years Shelly Materials SD18M No. 321 would deliver Santa Claus to downtown Kent as part of the city’s annual Festival of Lights.
A Shelly Locomotive this year again delivered Santa to town, but it was not No. 321.
The company earlier this year assigned Horizon Rail SD40-2 No. 6089, a former Norfolk Southern unit, to its Kent facility located along the ex-Erie Railroad mainline west of town.
And it was No. 6089 that was dressed up with Christmas lights this year to deliver Santa.
No. 321 has been renumbered 319 and reportedly will be sent to another Shelly facility in Northeast Ohio.
The photograph above was made on Dec. 6, 2008. That was a memorable day.
Veteran transportation reporter Don Phillips was in town to speak to the Akron Railroad Club’s December banquet held at the Martin Center at the University of Akron, a visit arranged by Paul Woodring.
We gave Don a tour of some of the region’s railroads that included a cab ride on the Canton Polar Express train of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, watching CSX trains in Akron, and riding aboard No. 321 that afternoon. Lunch was at the restaurant in the former Erie station in Kent.
Back in those days ARRC member Bob Rohal worked at Shelly and was at the throttle when Santa came to town aboard No. 321.
As the locomotive approached the West Main Street crossing, Bob would “play” Jingle Bells on the locomotive horn.
Bob had nicknamed No. 321 “Flash” and designed the livery. Both paid tribute to Kent State University, whose athletic teams are the Golden Flashes.
Bob fired up the 321 and let Don, myself and Peter Bowler operate the locomotive for short periods of time.
I never got to see “Flash” bring Santa to Kent because the event always occurred the same night as the ARRC banquet.
The banquet has since morphed into an end of year dinner that still is held on the same night s the Kent Festival of Lights although at least once the dinner was held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Bob has since retired from Shelly but some of the traditions he started live on even if carried out by a different locomotive and locomotive engineer.
Back in the day, as we like to say, the first Saturday night in December was a special time on the former Erie Railroad in Kent.
Santa Claus would ride into town in the cab of Shelly Materials SD18M No. 321. At the throttle was Akron Railroad Club member Bob Rohal.
Bob would “play” Jingle Bells on the locomotive horn as the locomotive named “Flash” brought Santa Claus to town.
The occasion was the annual Kent Festival of Lights and if you look on You Tube you can find a video of the 2011 rendition.
I never saw this event because it was always held on the same night as the ARRC banquet.
But on a Saturday afternoon in 2011 I made my way out to the Shelly facility where Bob was setting up Flash for its appearance that night, complete with lights and wire reindeer on top of the cab.
Santa was back aboard Flash on Dec. 7 this year to make his entrances to the annual Festival of Lights celebration.
I generally don’t get a picture of the arrival of my train K920 as it usually arrives at the Shelly Material facility in Kent between 4 and 7 a.m.
The first train of the year, though, was a special one it had a Kansas City Southern GE unit as part of the power.
Besides all gages and controls in Spanish, it was not any different than any other of its type.
Nine train paparazzi stopped by during the day to take pictures of a unit not usually seen in Ohio.
A few days later, I was lucky to see my train pull up through the signals at Kent on Monday and then back into the yard track for my job the next day to move and unload 64 cars.
Article and Photographs by Bob Rohal
My office, dusted and everything working as required.
The first Shelly Materials stone train of the season off CSX arrived in Kent early Wednesday morning and was unloaded the same day. The west-facing unit was a nice surprise, a Kansas City Southern AC44CW.
Once the train was empty and put back together it sat waiting on a CSX crew to back it onto the CSX main in Kent and return to Carey for another load of rocks. I arrived just as “Flash” was cutting away from the train as seen in the top photo.
Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee
Waiting on the connection for the CSX crew.
For the number crunchers, KCS 4591 was delivered as KCS 2016 in November 1999. It was renumbered sometime in late 2005 or early 2006.
KCS 4591 basks in the sun while stacks roll west on the CSX former B&O main. That’s the former Erie main to the right of the train.
Santa arrives at Rockport yard in Cleveland. A nice surprise was NS 4610, the original Southern heritage unit, catching the honors this day.
Saturday, Dec.7 was a busy day in Northeast Ohio if you were in search of holiday trains. I managed to photograph three of them, our company Santa train, one of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s “daylight” Polar Express trains and, finally, the annual train (or should I say engine) that delivers Santa to the waiting crowds in downtown Kent, Ohio
First up was the Norfolk Southern Christmas party that included Santa riding into town on a caboose to the delight of the waiting children (and adults).
Two added bonuses were passing another caboose we use that was close and a visit by a fallen star, the NS 4610, the original Southern heritage unit. After that, it was a stop on the way home to catch the southbound CVSR Polar Express runs at Bath Road near Akron.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Alco power on both ends as this train has rated that not so attractive NS paint out LTEX No. 1420, a GP15-1, on the south end. The final train of the day – or should I say night – was the Kent Santa train. Every year engineer Bob Rohal adorns Shelly Materials ex-DMIR SD18M No. 321, better known as Flash and delivers Santa to downtown Kent.
This year’s theme was the Candy Cane Express and it made a fine sight pulling into Kent on these former Erie Railroad rails. I always like to catch this decorated unit at twilight just before the run.
This past Saturday marked the last day of operations for the year at Shelly Materials in Kent. Akron Railroad Club member Bob Rohal was at the throttle of Flash, which is Shelly’s SD18M that is used to shuffle cars around the company’s Kent facility.
He reports that although the day started sunny but cool, with temperatures in the 40s, a cold front moved through in the afternoon and then came snow.
“We barely got this train emptied as valves on the cars were freezing and we were not able to open the doors for unloading,” he said. “We had to heat the valves on the last three cars so we could deliver the train back to CSX.”
But Flash and Bob still have one last assignment for 2013. On the night of Saturday, Dec. 7, they will bring Santa Claus to town on a 2-mile run for Kent’s Festival of Lights celebration.
As always, Bob will have Flash decorated for the occasion.
“My theme for my decoration of the locomotive this year is the “candy cane,” Bob wrote in an email message. “Google ‘the candy cane’ and the meaning might not surprise you.
“Before you do, though, should the stripes go clockwise or counter clockwise?”
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