Sometimes you don’t have time to get into position to create a photograph. The photographer reports that he probably had just changed film while inside his 1967 Volkswagon when a passenger train began leaving Toledo Central Union Terminal on Nov. 29, 1968. It’s a Penn Central train but led by former New York Central E8A No. 4062.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
This week’s two for Tuesday takes us to Central Union Terminal in Toledo back on Nov. 29, 1968.
A Detroit-bound Chesapeake & Ohio passenger train is making its station stop in Toledo.
At the time time the only C&O varnish scheduled into Toledo was Nos. 46 and 47, which operated between Detroit and Ashland, Kentucky, and were a section of the George Washington.
These trains also stopped in Columbus, Marion and Fostoria, and carried through coaches between Detroit and Washington.
One of the coaches was a food bar coach that operated between Detroit and Ashland serving light meals and beverages.
The presence of a Union Pacific sleeper on the rear of the train is something of a mystery.
Nos. 46 and 47 were not assigned sleeping cars in late 1968.
The car shown is one of the Star series of UP sleepers. These cars were built in 1956 by Pullman Standard as City series sleeper-lounge cars with five double bedrooms and a buffet lounge.
Seven of those cars were converted in 1965 into the Star series with 11 double bedrooms. All seven of these cars were leased to Seaboard Coast Line in late 1970 and eventually ended up on Amtrak’s roster.
It may be that this car would later pass through Toledo on the Lake Shore Limited.
As for this car in 1968, it may have been on the C&O as a special move or a chartered car.
A footnote to this story is that the photographer and two friends were making their first overnight journey together.
They had planned to stay for the night in Toledo but instead would up in London, Ontario.
A bridge over the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern in Toledo that is often used by railfan photographers may be coming down soon.
The railroad has offered to the city of Toledo to remove the bridge at no expense to the city.
The bridge, which is located at the west end of Central Union Terminal, now know as Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, is no longer open to vehicular traffic, but is used by pedestrians.
An NS government affairs officer told the Toledo City Council that the bridge presents a problem if the tracks need repair.
“The underlying track bed that the trains ride on top of is limited for maintenance because you’re unable to do any sort of raising of the underlying track bed at the location because of the tightness of where the bridge is,” he told the council.
Councilman Peter Ujvagi asked that the vote be delayed until he has the opportunity to meet with residents of the neighborhood who use the bridge.
Councilman Tyrone Riley expressed general concerns about NS bridges in the city, saying they need maintenance and are “in very deplorable condition.”
Kristin Cousino, a senior engineer with the City of Toledo, agrees with Riley. “[NS has] been reluctant to do so to the standards that the city will like.”
The organizers of the Toledo National Train Day festival have confirmed that a Norfolk Southern locomotive will be on display on Saturday, but it is not clear yet if it will be a heritage unit, tribute unit or just a work-a-day locomotive.
What is certain is that Amtrak will not have any equipment at Toledo Central Union Terminal for the 10th edition of the event.
Amtrak last year announced it would no longer support National Train Day, but did send Phase I livery P42DC heritage locomotive No. 156 to the event along with a baggage car, Viewliner sleeper, café car and an Amfleet coach.
Watco Companies has agreed to display its Ann Arbor heritage unit at the festival.
Also present at Martin Luther King, Jr., Plaza, as the station is now called will be exhibits and programming that will include track car rides, operating model-train layouts, and a drawing for free Amtrak tickets aboard the Lake Shore Limited to a destination east of Toledo.
There are expected to be five model-train layouts and various vendors in the station’s former main concourse.
Operation Lifesaver will sponsor children’s rail-safety workshops and Boy Scouts who pre-register can participate in a railroading merit badge workshop.
Local food trucks and vendors will be on hand selling their wares.
The track car rides are being offered by the Ohio Valley Railcar organization.
The hours of the free event are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the station at 415 Emerald Ave. Scheduled speakers during the opening ceremony will include:
Following the opening ceremony there will be roundtable discussion featuring many of the speakers.
Toledo still plans to hold a National Train Day this year, although it will not apparently have the headliner external exhibits that it has had in the past.
The event will be held on May 6 at the former Central Union Terminal – now known as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza – between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. There is no admission charge.
Thus far the only announced railroad exhibit will be Ann Arbor Railroad GP38 No. 3879.
Built in 1969, the locomotive has been painted in a commemorative livery to honor the history of the Ann Arbor, which is now a Watco Companies property.
This year’s event will be the 10th National Train Day celebration in Toledo.
Past events have featured heritage and special livery locomotives of Norfolk Southern as well as an Amtrak exhibit train.
It is not clear yet if either NS or Amtrak will be participating in the event.
The event’s sponsors say on their Facebook page that as in past years the festival will feature vendors, model railroad displays, children’s train rides, a safety workshop oriented to children, food and train watching of the nearby NS Chicago Line from the Amtrak station platforms.
Forty-eight years ago on the day after Thanksgiving, Mike Ondecker, John Woodworth and I headed to Toledo.
We met some railfans there who said there was a scrap yard in London, Ontario, that had some CN CLC (FM) C-liners still intact.
John and I convinced Mike to go to London and our all-Ohio trip turned into an international mini-adventure.
We drove home the next day never realizing this would be the beginning of many good trips together. Here are two images from that trip.
The top image was made on Nov. 29, 1968. It is the day after American Thanksgiving in Toledo, Ohio, and New York Central No. 4024 and Baltimore & Ohio No.1438 (on a Chesapeake & Ohio train) await their time to depart Central Union Terminal.
In the second image it is Nov. 30, 1968, in London, Ontario. CN’s London Reclamation Yard holds stripped hulks and almost complete CLC (FM) C-liners and other discarded equipment.
Greyhound will begin using Toledo Central Union Terminal on June 15. It won’t be the first bus service at the facility, which is also served by four daily Amtrak trains.
Amtrak Thruway bu
ses have been using the station for several years.
The Port Authority is undertaking a $500 million renovation to accommodate Greyhound at the now named Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza.
Amtrak’s Capitol Limited (Chicago-Washington) and Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-New York) stop at the station, which opened in 1950.
Amtrak No. 156, the Phase I heritage locomotive, led a train of a Viewliner baggage car, an Amfleet II coach, an Amfleet cafe car and a Viewliner sleeper.
Until early this month, I had seen Amtrak P42DC just once. That occurred as I was leaving Chicago Union Station aboard the eastbound Capitol Limited and I got a glimpse of the 156 sitting in the coach yard south of the depot.
My memory is that it went out later that night on the point of the eastbound Lake Shore Limited.
I’m one to think that Amtrak’s Phase I livery was its best. In particular, I liked how it looked on the SDP40F locomotives, but the E and F units looked nice in the “pointless arrow” scheme, too.
The Phase I livery did not look so good on GG1 electric motors, but I never saw any of those other than in photographs.
No. 156 has been all over the country, but our paths have never crossed. I’ve seen scores of photographs of it, including some made in Cleveland.
Some guys I know in the Akron Railroad Club have caught No. 156 more than once. I, though, never even had as much as a near miss with the 156.
I didn’t know that it would be in Toledo for this year’s National Train Day event until Friday afternoon before the event when I saw a posting about it on Facebook. Needless to say, that had me quite excited.
My friend Adam and I arrived in Toledo just after 8 a.m. and there was, at long last, the 156.
Yes, I took a lot of photographs of it. To be sure, it was just sitting there, providing hotel power for an Amtrak display train.
But that didn’t matter. It’s nose was open and it looked like it was pulling a train.
Now that I finally have it, the next challenge is to catch it actually leading a train on the road. That might take some time and a little bit of luck as well.
Of course I made a roster shot of Amtrak 156.
The nose needs a little touch-up painting to cover some scratches and dings from life on the road.
The passenger side of the platform with the display train.
If the fuel outlet is where the edge of the “pointless arrow” is supposed to go, no problem. Just paint over it.
Among the first responders who posed with Norfolk Southern 9-1-1 were a Toledo Fire Department Truck . . .
. . . an a Norfolk Southern police vehicle and officer.
The former BNSF speeder that I rode.
The far east end of Toledo Central Union Terminal as seen from a speeder.
NS 9-1-1 and Ann Arbor 3879 lined up for display.
An Amtrak Thruway bus features the Amtrak logo as well as the markings of its owner/operator.
Greyhound now serves Toledo Central Union Terminal.
I stayed overnight in Toledo on Friday and then spent Saturday at the annual National Train Day festival. Here is a selection of special photographs that I made.
BNSF No. 336 is the speeder I rode. The station photo showing the old platforms at the east end was taken from the speeder.
Amtrak’s Phase I heritage locomotive was on the point of a four car display train that mimicked the consist of the Lake Shore Limited.
Here is a selection of the night photos from Toledo’s National Train Day festival that were made on Friday night.
The engineer is Engineer Steve, one of the main driving forces behind the National Train Day in Toledo and the one who set up the equipment. Lighting was provided by David Patch, a transportation reporter with The Blade of Toledo.
Photographs by Roger Durfee
Norfolk Southern’s
first responders tribute unit looks spiffy. Behind it is Ann Arbor GP38 No. 3879.
Watco brought out its Ann Arbor heritage locomotive, a GP38.
Engineer Steve poses at the controls of SD60E No. 9-1-1 on display at Toledo Central Union Terminal.
Engineer Steve climbs aboard Amtrak P42DC No. 156 as he “goes to work.”
NS 9-1-1 and the photographers that captured it under the lights.
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