The full-time and part-time employees and volunteers at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad really seem to enjoy what they do.
That was apparent during my recent 3 1/2-hour behind-the-scenes look at the 51-mile railroad, which operates between Rockside Road in Valley View and downtown Canton.
With about 22 full-time employees, several part-timers and nearly 500 volunteers, the railroad has plenty of personnel to handle riders on its year-round excursions.
Passenger trips have been offered since the mid-1970s on the former freight and passenger line, which originally was called the Valley Railroad and later was operated by B&O and the Chessie System.
In 1987, the National Park Service purchased the tracks between Valley View and Akron after CSX Transportation abandoned them. The route between Akron and Canton has been owned by Akron Metro Regional Transit Authority since 2001.
Although I've yet to ride the southern route, it takes passengers past the Goodyear Tire & Rubber headquarters and the massive former Goodyear Air Dock on the east side of Akron.
All aboard at Rockside
For passengers, the CVSR's day starts at 9 a.m. as they board the first trains at either Rockside Road or Canton. The Rockside to Akron route operates year-round, while the Akron to Canton route runs from June to August.
But the day starts earlier for the staff, who must fire up the locomotives which are parked at either the Fitzwater yard/shops just south of Valley View or in Canton.
Shortly before 9 a.m., I met Director of Marketing Kelly Steele at Rockside, then was taken to the 1950s vintage Alco diesel locomotive that was to pull the train to Akron by Superintendent of Operations Will Carney.
We climbed up the ladder to the cab, which has one engineer's seat with a control console on the right side and two other seats on the left side.
The main controls include the throttle, braking device, horn and bell. And believe me, that horn is really loud in the cab when the windows are open!
The engineer on the southbound journey was Larry Blanchard, who is also the CVSR's director of operations.
He was a freight train engineer for 41 years from 1959 to 2000, mostly with the Rock Island Line in the Midwest. He has been with CVSR since his retirement.
A personable fellow, Larry is very knowledgeable about all phases of the CVSR's operations, and probably has many interesting stories to tell about his nearly 50 years riding the rails.
Carney has loved trains since he was a teenager. In fact, he began volunteering with CVSR when he was 13 years old, then became a freight engineer after graduating from high school.
Only in his 30s, he was an engineer for seven years, then held other positions in the industry until joining the CVSR. "If I didn't work here, I'd have to get a real job!" he joked.
Both engineers said they encountered derailments and witnessed train/car crashes at grade crossings in their years of piloting freight trains.
Carney explained the locomotive we were in is an Alco RS-18, which weighs 120 tons, has a 12-cylinder diesel engine and generates 1,800 horsepower.
Blanchard said the railroad maintains eight of its own locomotives and has a couple more on loan. It also has about 16 passenger cars and five RDCs (rail diesel cars), which are self-propelled passenger cars.
The Rockside-to-Akron stretch of the line provides some beautiful scenery through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Passengers can buy tickets at the Rockside, Peninsula and Northside Akron stations, and later they can get off or on at the Canal Visitor Center, Brecksville, Boston Mills, Indigo Lake and Botzum stops.
The line passes under the Route 82 and Ohio Turnpike high-level bridges, which provide riders with breathtaking views from the valley upward.
Wildlife such as white-tailed deer, Canada geese, great blue herons and various songbirds can be seen along the way, as well as colorful wildflowers, wetlands and plants.
Riding in the locomotive was a real thrill. The windows were open on a beautiful late-summer day and a pleasant breeze blew. Blanchard said our top cruising speed was about 29 mph.
Coming into Akron Northside, we stopped about a mile out for five to 10 minutes while the northbound train from Canton eased into the station to drop off passengers.
When we came to rest at Akron Northside, we were nose to nose with an RDC. Hitched to it were a couple of other passenger cars and a locomotive on the far end, which pushed the train northbound and pulled it on the return trip to Canton.
Time to head north
I climbed down from the cab and proceeded to the staff car for the ride back north, which commenced after a pause of about 10 minutes.
There, I met head conductor Greg Szucs, who has served in the part-time post for the last 11 years and is another avid rail enthusiast.
He told me the head conductor -- there also are a handful of assistants onboard -- supervises ticket-taking and radios to the engineer to stop so people can get off at their intended stops.
Szucs is retired after working for AT&T and Kohl's. He said his current post is "a childhood dream." He also has served as a brakeman, equipment painter and maintenance man for CVSR.
One of the volunteer conductors told me he was a conductor for a freight line during his working years. Yes, freight trains do have conductors.
Riding in the caboose and later in the locomotive when cabooses were no longer used, he served as a troubleshooter. He said there were times when a train had to stop for a problem and he'd walk 2 miles from one end of it to the other and back.
"Being a conductor on a passenger line is a much different operation," he said.
On the way back, a group of Amish riders got off at the Indigo Lake stop, which provides shuttle service to Hale Farm and Village. They had boarded at Rockside.
The train stopped to let me off at the Fitzwater yard/shops, where I learned about maintenance operations from Blachard, who had driven back from Akron Northside in his car.
During that stop, Carney climbed to the top of the northbound lead locomotive with a hose to solve an overheating problem with a fill-up of water.
That northbound loco was in the hands of Dean Dienes, another retired engineer. A former Chicago & Northwestern System diesel, it is on loan to CVSR.
The shops consist of a former Summit County highway maintenance facility and a newer, larger building erected by the national park, where locomotives and cars can be stored and repaired.
Two side-by-side tracks go into the steel-sided building, which old-time railroaders still call a "roundhouse" even though it isn't round and doesn't resemble the old-style structures.
Director of Marketing Kelly Steele met me at Fitzwater and drove me back to the Rockside station.
More CVSR Information
Steele told me three round trips daily run on the northern part of the line. Once passengers pay, they can ride all day and get off and on at as many stops as they wish.
One popular service offered is Bike Aboard! For $2, bicyclists on the nearby Towpath Trail can flag down the train at all boarding stations and ride with their bikes to other stops.
The Polar Express before the year-end holidays is another popular feature. To book a ride, folks must mail in their requests in late summer, and spots are determined by a lottery.
Akron Explorer trips from Rockside or Peninsula to Akron allow riders to spend time at attractions such as Stan Hywet Hall, the Akron Art Museum or National Inventors Hall of Fame.
A Canton Explorer trip allows riders to lay over and visit such sites as the Canton Classic Car Museum, McKinley Tomb, Pro Football Hall of Fame and National First Ladies Library/Research Center.
"Grape Escape" wine trains run once a month, and Thomas the Tank Engine and The Little Engine That Could appearances usually take place annually.
From Sept. 24 to 28, "Steam Through the Valley" will feature a 1948 steam engine loaned by the Ohio Central System based in Coshocton, which recently was bought out by the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad.
For information about the CVSR, call 1-800-468-4070 or visit www.cvsr.com.
E-mail: Klahmers@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155