AC&Y History

History

AC&Y Steam Roster AC&Y Diesel Roster	In 1907 a 7-1/2 mile line from Akron to Mogadore, Ohio was envisioned as an eastern outlet for the Rubber City's products. This shortline became the AC&Y. The first trains rolled over the route in 1912. Though planned, namesake lines to Canton and Youngstown were never built! So prosperous was the AC&Y that in 1920 the lease of the Northern Ohio Railway was assigned. AC&Y then became a 171 mile Class I road running west from Akron to Delphos, Ohio.
The Northern Ohio's route was constructed in 1881 as part of an ill-fated narrow gauge empire, then "standard gauged" in 1890. The struggling line was reorganized in 1895 as the Northern Ohio Railway and leased for 999 years to the Lake Erie & Western. The line was never profitable until the AC&Y assumed control in 1920. Bank closings in 1933 forced operation under trusteeship with final court approved consolidation under the AC&Y herald in 1944. In modern times, AC&Y's management, realizing the impending consolidation of smaller railroads into larger systems, arranged to sell the railroad under favorable terms to the Norfolk & Western. Merger with the N&W took place in 1964, although the AC&Y retained autonomy as an independent entity until 1982. The remaining AC&Y trackage from Carey, Ohio to Akron was acquired from the Norfolk Southern in 1991 by the new Wheeling & Lake Erie and is still operated today.
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Akron Canton and Youngstown Railroad Historical Society
P.O. Box 196
Sharon Center, Ohio 44274

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