Stowsentry.com - Railway offers pleasant journey

I'm sure more than a few readers have ridden the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad since regular passenger excursions began in 1988.

They might have ridden it when excursions began in the mid-70s, or, if they're old enough, even when regular limited passenger service was offered prior to 1962.

Passenger service on the line which runs from Cleveland to Canton was heavy back in the early 1900s, and at its peak the line operated 24 depots.

The Peninsula depot, which originally was the Boston Mills depot before being moved, is the only one of the old depots which have survived.

On Feb. 2, I boarded a CVSR train for a "cabin fever" trip from the Northside Station on the northern edge of downtown Akron to Peninsula and back.

It was the first train excursion in a series I plan to take in 2008. I've designated this as the year I'm going to "ride the rails."

Passenger train service is pretty much a thing of the past. Cleveland operates its rapid transit system on tracks throughout the city, but city-to-city train travel is extinct for the most part.

It started to fade into oblivion after World War II when the automobile boom began.

And despite high gas prices, it doesn't appear it will return any time soon.

My Feb. 2 trip was a relief from the winter doldrums which cause so-called cabin fever. It was a typical winter day -- cold and overcast, with no snow.

There were four or five passenger cars in the train, but only a couple of them were occupied.

That amounted to what I'd guess was 200-plus people.

The Northside Station is off Howard Street, just a block from the famous Luigi's Italian restaurant. It has an enclosed ticket office and a fair-sized covered waiting area. The train proceeded northeast through Akron's Cascades Locks area along the old Ohio-Erie Canal, then heads due north to the charming village of Peninsula.

The train stopped at the old depot for 10 to 15 minutes, but passengers were not permitted to get off. The depot is right behind the Winking Lizard restaurant, just north of Route 303.

The passenger cars are in between two diesel locomotives, so they can be pulled each way and don't have to be pushed backward.

There's one disadvantage to riding the train in cold weather. Although the temperature inside is comfortable, moisture builds up on the windows and it's sometimes difficult to see out.

The volunteer conductors pass out paper towels so passengers can wipe the windows, but it doesn't make for good photo-taking conditions.

Along the way, the guides tell stories about the pioneer era and point out some of the historical locations. Refreshments and souvenirs are sold in one car.

At other times of the year, passenger excursions run between Akron Northside and the Rockside Road Station in Independence.

The railroad has the capability of following the line all the way into the Tower City complex in downtown Cleveland.

I've heard some of the most scenic parts of the line are through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is north of Peninsula. It passes under the Route 82 high-level bridge east of Brecksville.

During its regular season, which runs from March to October, the CVSR operates various trips on weekends from either Rockside Road or Akron Northside.

For example, the Akron Explorer trip lasts 6 1/2 hours from Rockside to Akron and includes time to visit an attraction such as the zoo, art museum or Inventors Hall of Fame.

Some trips run either from Akron or Rockside and go to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and back.

The next one I want to try is the Canton Explorer, which runs from Akron and allows a 4 1/2-hour layover in Canton to visit one of a number of famous sites.

The Akron to Canton portion of the line runs under the Main Street and Route 8 high-level bridges and past the Goodyear headquarters and multi-building former tire factory complex.

Years ago, the line extended south of Canton into Mineral City, past the Dover Dam and into Dover, and one branch went southeast through New Philadelphia and to the coalfields of Belmont County.

Originally called the Valley Railway when construction between Cleveland and Canton was completed in 1880, the line reached 75 miles long when the Canton to Zoar stretch was added two years later.

The Baltimore & Ohio eventually took over the line, followed by the Chesapeake & Ohio, Chessie System and CSX Transportation in 1980.

When train excursions resumed in the mid-70s, it was known as the Cuyahoga Valley Line. In 1987, the National Park Service purchased the line for $2.5 million. When excursions began in the mid-70s, the trains were pulled by steam locomotives, but that changed to diesel in 1991. The name changed to CVSR in 1994.

The line also offers wine tasting trips and bicycle pickup. If someone is biking along the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trail, they can board the train with their bikes and ride to a particular spot.

Thomas the Tank Engine will visit a site along the line May 17-18 and 23-25.

Another train excursion I'm looking forward to is April 26, when the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society offers a day trip from Orrville to Pittsburgh, a distance of about 90 miles.

The trip follows the Wheeling & Lake Erie main line through Brewster, Bolivar, Zoarville, Brewster and Jewett, then splits off and bee-lines toward Pittsburgh.

There will be a 3-hour layover at Station Square, a commercial complex near the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which wasn't there the last time I attended a baseball game at nearby and now gone Three Rivers Stadium.

E-mail: klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155