Auroraadvocate.com - Kaleidoscope: Some hot spots for railroad fans to go

by Ken Lahmers

Editor

Judging by the inquiries I get about my "Kaleidoscope" columns, trains are a topic that readers are very interested in.

Since I recently visited the Conneaut Railroad Museum, I figured it is a good time to talk about some fascinating train-related destinations.

The Conneaut museum is housed in the former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (later New York Central) depot, built in 1900, and is beside the busy CSX rail line.

The building has been restored and is in very nice condition. My favorite item there is a full-size Berkshire steam locomotive used by the Nickel Plate Road.

Berkshires were workhorses on the NKP until the early 1950s when steam power gave way to diesel/electric locos.

Berks, as they were called, had 67-inch driver wheels and were about 15 feet high. They were attached to large tenders capable of hauling huge amounts of coal.

The Conneaut Berk sets outside the depot on a short section of track with a tender and caboose attached. To steam engine fans, it is a beautiful piece of iron.

Inside the depot are several large-scale models of locos and equipment, along with smaller gauge models. Photos of old steam and diesel locos are abundant.

There are an 1866 stock certificate from the Red River Line in New York, relics from the Ashtabula bridge disaster of 1876 and displays of lanterns, timetables and passenger passes.

During my 1 1/2 hours there, a half-dozen CSX trains passed the depot. One fellow I talked to drove all the way from Akron and placed a lawn chair along the tracks to watch the action.

He, and a college-age fellow who was photographing and videotaping the trains, carried radios tuned to CSX's frequency so they knew where the trains were

Marion and Dennison

Over the Labor Day weekend, I visited Marion in central Ohio. It's quite a haven for rail fans because two main north/south lines -- CSX and Norfork Southern -- cross CSX's main east/west line at four "diamonds."

The north/south lines are only about 125 feet from each other and between them sets the beautifully restored Union Station, which has many train-related items on display.

It houses several mechanical CTC (centralized traffic control) boards and signals, which have been collected from interconnect towers all over Ohio.

The 12-foot wide old board from Fostoria, another train watchers' paradise, is there. It's pictured with a dispatcher sitting in front of it in a 1940s photo in a NKP book in my collection.

A docent at the station the day I visited was a dispatcher/signal operator at 60 interconnect points during his working years. He knows everything about the boards and signals.

Some of the signals are hooked up, so the docent can show how they operate.

Outside the depot along the east/west CSX line were three or four oldtimers sitting in lawn chairs watching trains pass. About 50 come by each day. The docent said nearly 100 used to pass daily a few years ago.

I met a 14-year-old boy, who told me he's taken thousands of images -- still and video -- of trains in his young life. His dad drives him around to hot spots.

He lives in Columbus, about 40 miles south of Marion, and had photographed some trains in Delaware prior to arriving at the Marion depot that day.

Beside the depot is the restored AC interconnect tower, which was moved across the CSX tracks a few years ago. For safety reasons, CSX didn't want people walking back and forth across the tracks to climb up to it.

I wrote in a previous column about visiting the Dennison Depot in Tuscarawas County along the Pennsy Railroad's old Panhandle line. Nearly $1 million has been spent to restore the 1875 building.

Dennison was called Dreamsville USA because of its volunteer-run canteen during World War II. Canteens were prevalent at depots across the country to serve soldiers going to and coming home from the war.

Not only does Dennison have many train-related items inside the depot, there are items in five restored passenger cars strung together outside.

And a K-4 Kanawha steam engine, which once worked on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, sets outside on a track waiting to hopefully be restored some day.

Other interesting spots

In the spring, I wrote about visiting the Mad River and Nickel Plate Road Museum in Bellevue during an Orrville Railroad Heritage Society rail excursion.

That museum probably has the largest collection of full-sized locos, passenger and freight cars and cabooses of any museum in Ohio, as well as a restored depot and other items.

The Northern Ohio Railway Museum near Chippewa Lake in Medina County has about 30 streetcars and interurbans. Some are restored; others are awaiting makeovers.

The museum is fortunate to own 2 miles of former interurban track, and hopes some day to offer rides on its restored cars.

One major railway museum which I haven't visited yet is the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington, a suburb on the north side of Columbus. It's not far from where my uncle lives.

It has more than 30 large items on display, including a former Norfork & Western loco, interurban cars, freight and passenger cars and rail construction equipment.

Several other restored depots in Ohio have been turned into railroad and/or general historical museums. Among them are Mogadore, Bedford, Middlefield, Copley, Orrville, Amherst, Jefferson, Andover, Willard, Columbus and Waterville.

Several old depots house model railroad clubs, including Marion, Sebring, Olmsted Falls and East Canton.

Another place which is a rail fan's delight -- Fostoria -- is only a couple of hours west of here and 40 miles southeast of Toledo.

About 150 trains daily pass through the city on three main lines, and people travel from all over Ohio and surrounding states to view the action.

The Fostoria Rail Preservation Society has purchased a restored depot, which is open to the public on weekends.

The society and city hope to develop Iron Triangle Rail Park, which would be situated around the depot and include a museum of rolling stock and other items.

The city recently received more than $800,000 in federal transportation enhancement funds to start the project.

I've never been to Fostoria, but certainly will put it on my list for a day of casual train watching.

Sadly, the STEAM Railroad Museum in Minerva (southeast Stark County), which has been more of a restoration facility than a museum, is closing up shop.

I came across an ad on the Internet saying all of the facility's equipment, including two Alco locomotives, other rolling stock, smaller items and tools will be sold at auction Oct. 15.

Some of the Ohio groups which offer train excursions are the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society, Ashtabula Carson & Jefferson Scenic Railroad, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, Byesville Scenic Railway and Hockey Valley Scenic Railway.

E-mail:

klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155