On Wednesday I railfanned in Youngstown. After striking out with Ohio Central I saw two trains but couldn’t get photos of them. I hit pay dirt with the Youngstown & Southeastern.
I saw the Y&S train approaching the South Avenue underpass but could not stop in time for photos. I did catch him at the Dewey Avenue overpass and then several more times as the train headed south.
The top image was made from Dewey with the train climbing a stiff grade here. The series continues with the train passing a church, which is kind of an iconic spot on the line.
Then there is a zoom shot from the same location that really emphasizes the trackwork and finally running down a enter median strip which shows the lines interurban heritage.
Conrail 5239, a former Erie Lackawanna Alco RS3 is in Youngstown on Sept. 4, 1978. The photograph was made by George Cheatwood of Akron and made available by Robert Farkas. As was typical in the early Conrail years, the original livery is intact but the EL markings have been painted over in favor of a simple “CR” on the the flanks and nose.
The bottom image was also made by George. EL 2571 is a GE U25B and was captured in Cleveland on April 7, 1979. It is well into the Conrail era but the 2571 still carries its EL colors and even an EL herald on its nose.
Today’s two for Tuesday focuses on the Baltimore & Ohio in the 1970s. In the top image, B&O GP35 No. 3559 leads an eastbound near Kent. The bottom image was made in Youngstown. Leading a train through the area is B&O GP40-2 No. 4161. The unit has already received Chessie System paint unlike its two running mates in this gritty industrial scene that captures well railroading in the Mahoning Valley when steelmaking was still king.
The Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum is conducting a photo charter on July 23 feature a narrow gauge saddle tank steam locomotive.
The event will be held at the museum at 2261 Hubbard Road in Youngstown between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $120 per person plus a $3 service fee.
Participants will be able to capture multiple photo runbys and staged scenes with J&L No. 58 and other steel mill equipment in the museum’s collection.
The locomotive will pull a short train around the museum grounds until sunset. After dark, No. 58 will be posed under lights in several locations.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the museum.
The CSX office car special passes through Akron Thursday morning.Rattling the diamonds at Center Street in YoungstownAt Station Square in Pittsburgh. The Capitol Limited of the Baltimore & Ohio used to stop here.I got cloud skunked just as the train passed the Pittsburgh skyline
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.
While getting photographs of trains and fall colors on Monday, Todd Dillion also stopped by Center Street in Youngstown to check out the action there.
He bagged an Ohio Central train going to Norfolk Southern, a CSX auto rack train, a CSX local with two big GE units running nose to nose and a CSX coal train with a new EMD ST70AH.
We’re taking another look today inside the collection of images made by the late Mike Ondecker.
In today’s series we’ve gone back to mid 1968 to take a look at Pittsburgh & Lake Erie diesels in Youngstown.
In the top image is GP7 No. 5727, which was built for the P&LE in April 1953.
It later served the Illinois Central Railroad, where it was rebuilt into a GP8 and given roster number 7965.
In the bottom image we see a pair of SW9 switchers, Nos. 8939 and 8938.
Notice how the last three numbers on the cab are at an angle.
Both units were built in March 1951. No. 8938 would spend all of its career on the P&LE, but the 8939 would move off the property to enjoy a second life on various other short line railroads.
The J&L Narrow Gauge Railroad in Youngstown is seeking volunteers who are interested in railway signaling to assist in the installation of a working signal system.
The work includes plans to install switch circuit controllers on the house track and eastern extension switches to operate signals directing movements over these tracks.
Thus far the railroad has completed installation of a searchlight dwarf signal for the house track.
It is now acquiring components for the main track signals and plans to install crossing gates at one of its road crossings.
The railroad said if there is sufficient interest it will schedule a J&LNG signaling weekend in the spring.
The J&LNG is a part of the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum and is a 24-inch gauge demonstration railroad that shows the type of narrow gauge railroad operations used by the steel industry.
It features a 93,000 pound 0-4-0T built by HK Porter for the Pittsburgh Works.
Recently the museum has received from CSX three more pieces of rolling stock to add to its collection.
The boxcars will be used for storage while a ballast hopper will become a coal dock for the J&L 58.
Previously, CSX has now donated to the museum a caboose, a tank car for water storage, a hopper for coal storage and boxcars for general storage.
The Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation will benefit from a plan by Athearn Trains and two hobby shops to donate to the group part of the proceeds of the sale of an HO scale SDP45 locomotive.
The donations will be used to help the Youngstown group preserve an Erie Lackawanna SDP45 that it is acquiring from the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The ex-EL unit is now wearing a Conrail livery.
Athearn, the Maine Model Works of Yarmouth, Maine, and Hobby Express in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, will make a donation for every scale model of EL No. 3639 or Conrail No. 6670 that they sell.
The Youngstown group has raised more than $10,000 toward its $20,000 goal to purchase the locomotive.
It also has purchased new doors and windows for the locomotive, which it plans to move to the Marter Yard Railroad Museum operated by the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association, in Youngstown.
EMD built No. 3639 in 1969 and it is one of two six-axle EL EMD units that have been preserved. The other is No. 3607 at the National Museum of Transportation near St. Louis.
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 