The upper level of my two-level layout is all narrow gauge, depicting a portion of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western’s Fourth Division line in southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Marion Ohio, 1971
These are photos that I took at Marion, Ohio in August 1971. Marion, about 40 miles north of Columbus, hosted 6 railroads at that time. Here, the Erie Lackawanna (former Erie main line to Chicago) and parallel Penn Central (former New York Central/Big Four) crossed the adjacent Chesapeake and Ohio and Norfolk and Western main lines between Columbus and Toledo. Also at Marion, the EL main split off to Cincinnati. Besides an impressive multiple-diamond crossing of the two lines, there was an interesting-but-boarded-up depot, a hump yard, and engine facilities.
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In August 1971, the railroads were in transition, which was demonstrated at Marion. The mergers had already begun. EL had formed in 1960 by merging the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. C&O owned most of Baltimore & Ohio but had not yet formally combined into the Chessie System. Amtrak had just formed on May 1, 1971, which allowed the freight railroads to end all passenger traffic nationwide, including to Marion. Burlington Northern, whose train found its way into Marion on this August day, had just formed from combining the Chicago Burlington &Quincy, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and the Spokane Portland &Seattle on March 2, 1970.
Eleven months later, EL filed for bankruptcy in June 1972, after devastating damage along the Southern Tier in New York, and EL was eventually folded into Conrail in 1976, but the line west from Marion to Chicago was not included, and much of this line has been abandoned or converted to short lines. In February, 1973, the Chessie System was incorporated, to include the C&O, the B&O and the Western Maryland; Chessie was merged into CSX in 1980.
My only visit to Marion was in August, 1971, with my future wife. We were able to wander around the yard for a few hours, and watched a few freights come into town on the EL. There was an amazing collection of locomotives, many from distant roads. We were even invited by a friendly operator to climb into the hump yard tower to get a better view. I’ve been in a few towers over the years, but this was the only time I was ever in a hump yard tower. Yes, she still married me after this day, this visit which I enjoyed a lot more than she did.
These were taken using the Kodak Retina S1 camera with black & white Plus-X Pan 35mm film.