(The following article by Rachel Myers was posted on the Akron Beacon Journal website on March 8.)
AKRON, Ohio — Akron awoke to the dusk of an era Monday as Amtrak’s Three Rivers train clacked into the Quaker Square station for the last time, running late.
The crescent moon was still high in the sky at 5:55 a.m. as Robert Wheeler, a retired sanitation worker, prepared to board. The 70-year-old Cuyahoga Falls resident grew up next to a set of railroad tracks and can tell the difference between a passenger and a freight train just by the tone of the horn.
He fondly recalled that, as a child, he used to trek over to the dining car when the train was stopped, and servers on board would offer him sweet potato dinners and ice cream pies.
“I said I was gonna ride this train out of Akron no matter what,” Wheeler said. “This is the second time I’m gonna ride it out `for the last time,’ and I hope I’ll still be here if they decide to open it up again.”
Passenger train service to Akron has been shut down twice before, and the third time was much to the dismay of train buffs who traveled from several surrounding cities.
Tom Goughnour of Munroe Falls, one of three members of the Akron Railroad Club who made the early morning trip to the station, said he has been riding trains since he was an infant.
“You could say trains pretty much run in my blood,” Goughnour said. “It’s sad, you know, if they had one that ran at a decent hour of the day, I’m sure more people would ride. But I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”
Dressed in full train attire, topped with a black, billed conductor’s cap, Floyd James, a trainman for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, came to watch the sleek silver cars roll in and bid a final adieu.
“Trains are great fun,” James said. “It’s not like a plane where you’re up, then down before you know it. You have a chance to meet nice people and have nice times.”
James’ friend of 40 years, Clint Ensworth, a retired teacher from Sharon Center, was one of about 10 passengers who filed off the train coming from Chicago just after 6 a.m. He had scheduled this trip just to make the last ride to Akron.
“I’ve traveled all over the country on trains, and there’s nothing like it,” Ensworth said. “You get to see the scenery, talk to people — you’re really a part of the environment. I’m just sad to see this part of history come to an end.”
A few at the station weren’t nearly as nostalgic — just trying to get to where they were going.
Arthur Dickson, an Akron native who now lives in Philadelphia, had been in town to attend the funerals of two relatives, and was catching a ride home after a two-week stay.
“It’s a shame that this is the last one,” Dickson said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I guess I’ll be catching the bus.”