Life and Times of a urban railfan

        With the rear of 2016 in the clear and the headlights of 2017 in full view I begin to look back over the past year and where I was this time last year. As 2015 came to a close it was a year of hard change I lost a lot, how much I would rather not say. This year brought me a new vehicle a much needed asset in the train chasing realm. With my new addition brought about some new trips, it was this past spring on my first trip driving out to Bellevue Ohio with my buddy Dave that seemed to show the first signs of change for the better. One of the memorable moments from the trip was when we caught the Wheeling coming out in Monroeville Ohio I remember it greatly as I stood on the bridge of the former New York Central Eastbound track that was turned into a trail and provided me with this perfect shot as the train began to cross the river. Tigers on the Prowl in Monroeville  Later on in a few weeks of this picture would bring me to having my first car accident and having to re

     Some things bring about a memory, this one come while I was driving last Thursday on my way to help someone move some boxes out of the basement. While I was driving through the new interchange ramp I look over to the right and saw that what remained of the Akron Barberton Belt's East Akron  line right of way and the water department maintenance facility was totally wiped clean and nothing remained but a dirt pile. Let's rewind  25+ years ago back when I was about 9 or 10 I remember riding over to South street to a restaurant called the Bunn. It was about 1500 feet south of the water dept and the Beltline crossed directly in front of it and me and my dad would go for a cheeseburger and the hopes one of the pinkish yellow switch engines would traverse the line, and every once and a while  we would get a show when they made their way back to Barberton. Little did I know that in less than 5 years the tracks I would see these trains on would be nothing but a memory. I persona