| B&O GP40 3739, Akron Junction, Akron, Ohio, March 4, 1983, photo by Chuck Zeiler. Overhead is the Akron Branch, which split off of the ex-PRR Valley Main at Hudson, Ohio, and ran southwest through Akron and Orrville, ending at Columbus. It was made redundant with the Penn Central merger by the ex-Big Four/NYC mainline between Cleveland and Columbus, and was mostly abandoned later when washouts took out several portions of the line. Out of the picture to the left is B&O's office and Tower AY, which controlled Akron Junction, the overhead tracks continued south to JO Interlocking, and South Akron Yard. From Akron Junction at MP 11.5 to Warwick Tower at MP 27, the PRR's Akron Branch and the Baltimore & Ohio main line had a joint-track arrangement. Operators at JO Tower on East Market Street controlled the intersection of the Erie Railroad with the B&O and PRR joint line, as well as the switches and signals at Akron Union Depot and, after 1967, Arkon Junction. Below is the B&O's Cleveland to Canton Valley Line curving to the right. The track to the left led to the coaling tower and small yard, and a connecting track between the Valley Line and the joint B&O/PRR tracks overhead, which the B&O called the Chicago Line. |