Eastern Railroad Discussion > Past and Present, Ohio style (2)

It's a very hazy September evening in Akron, Ohio in 1975, and the Erie Lackawanna has sent me a westbound treat in the form of 4 E8's on a freight. The train has already made it's lift- it came in with just the empty TTX flats- and the ground man is relining the switches. While power sets like this were fairly common west of Marion, Ohio, the EL tried to keep these off the up and down KM (Kent/Marion) Division. I guess old passenger units, even if geared for freight now, couldn't be trusted on the grades of the KM. That's the EL McCoy St yards, and there are goodies galore to be seen above and beyond the 4 E's. There are 2 EL switchers and 2 40 ft boxcars over to the left at the engine house. Other items include the home built boom crane car, still in Erie green, the circus style piggyback ramp full of EL and PC trailers, the T-22 transfer caboose in the yard, the DL&W boxcar and EL gon in the outdoor shop, and of course the whole ethereal "railroad" atmosphere that surrounded places like this. Now for the bad news....
It's now June 2009, the EL has come and gone, and nothing remains at this location that was EL. All tracks, buildings, engines, workers, and yes, even the atmosphere, have been removed. Conrail pulled up stakes in town and the land was purchased by the city, leveled out, and grass planted. The new Metro bus transfer station has been built, an expensive structure that costs tax dollars instead of generating them as the yards and factories around here did. The two former PRR/B&O mains do remain however, now the property of CSX. What we see here, besides a lack of EL things, is the Akron Barberton Cluster Railroad empty stone man shoving east (away from me) after making a long zig zag move out of the stone yard (located on what's left of the nearby former PRR South Akron yards). Former MP and WC SD's, now property of the new Wheeling, use trackage rights over the CSX to go between their customers and yards. Would I trade the colorful EL for this colorful ABC train? No, but of course I have no choice as time does march on, and while I still enjoy railroading today, I can't stand on that bridge and not feel a sense of loss. It was a good show while it lasted.

RAD

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What's also amazing about this pair, is how little the Akron skyline has changed after nearly 35 years!