Phil Dalton & Dale Pierce Train Blogs

Fallon’s Kiddieland, also called Fallon’s Playland and Fallon’s Kiddyland, was an amusement park southeast of Akron, Ohio that had all the obligatory rides, at a far cheaper price than Meyers Lake, Cedar Point and the like. It closed down in 1981 and decades after the fact I i still have no idea who Fallon was.

There was a merry go round, roller coaster, giant swing, hand cart ride, penny arcade, roller skating ring, miniature golf course, pony ride and several really small attractions for little kids. Snow Cones and cotton candy were a big thing.

The only drawback was no toilet facility except for these horrible outhouses.

Originally, a gas operated “diesel” took people on a ride. Called The Akronite  after the Pennsylvania  R.R.train, it did not run through the park as most park trains did, but on a loop into a field next to the park, passing a large, mosquito infested lake.

Later the “diesel” was replaced by a C.P.Huntington type of engine.

While other defunct amusement parks in Ohio have received much attention in dd and book form, such as Meyers Lake, Euclid Beach or Idora Park, Fallon’s has been lacking in coverage.

Masters Of The Weird is not a  train book, but a book on horror film available at http://www.lulu.com/content/12694461

The book deals with some obscure movies related to trains, however, that may make it worth a look.

Read on.

There is, for example, a lengthy section on some oft he actors in the 1970 era horror film, Horror Express with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas,

There is also a section the 1980s film, Terror Train.

One likewise will find a few other interesting facts.

Not a train book, but perhaps worth a look….

Ohio has always been somewhat unlucky for the railroads. There was the big bridge disaster in Ashtabula long ago where everything but an engine went down into a ravine. There were many wrecks in the north of Ohio for the New York Central. The B&O and Norfolk & Western also had their share of crashes. One of the worst calamities to hit the railroad industry, however, was not a wreck, but a flood.

In late March of 1913, Ohio was hit with more than five days of straight torrential rains. These caused rivers and lakes to overflow and land throughout the state to be submerged.

Tuscarawas County was one of the hardest hit by the floods, when the Tuscarawas River crested and then dumped water everyplace. Towns lost power, homes were destroyed, factories were closed and roads were submerged.

The railroads were particularly hit hard in this area.

There was extensive damage to the Baltimore & Ohio station, track and side cars in the Dover area.

Track near Port Washington on the Pennsylvania line was uprooted and in some spots washed away.

Several railroad bridges were damages or outright destroyed.

By the time the rains stopped and the waters retreated, damage was astronomical for this county in particular and Ohio in general.

Further east, the Ohio River also swelled and caused great inconvenience to towns along the banks, as well as railroad trackage and bridges.

Stark County was also hit  hard in the Canton area.

Hindsight is always the soundest and after the fact a number of dams were built to prevent such a problem from happening again, though not eliminating floods all together. Or at least restricting  flooding of this magnitude.

Technically the Santa Fair Mall still stands in Federal Way, Washington, between Tacoma and Seattle, though nothing is left of the original complex except a clock tower. A major fire long ago saw to that.

Prior to the fire, the Santa Fair Mall was a unique concept as it was part theme park and part shopping complex. Built to resemble a German Village, there were not only stores, but rides both within and outside the complex.

Inside rides featured a dodge em type ride called The Matador, a Mad Mouse  rollercoaster and canal boats made to look like Venice.

One of the most popular rides was a kiddyland type “steam train” that circled the mall. Not unlike similar rides at other parks and zoos, but beloved by adults and children combined, the little train made many runs per day, in a loop. The ride was not scenic, but it was fun.

While the demise of the amusement park section of the mall is lamented, by those who remember, there has been surprisingly little written about this place in the history books.

One picture book on Federal Way does cover the kiddyland. The local Federal Way Historical Society also has material on Santa fair and has even done some traveling exhibits on the same in the past at other shopping malls, libraries and the like.

When The Laughter Dies Away, though not the fanciest book around, also covers this unique and long-gone attraction at http://www.lulu.com/content/1223686

Information for this modern tourist line at http://www.hockingvalleytrain.org to see schedules, timestable and fares.

The Hocking Valley Scenic Railway operates out of 33 Canal Street, Nelsonville, Ohio. Phone at 1-800-967-7834.

The coaches pulled by an old C&O diesel, take riders through the hills of the scenic Hocking  Valley in southern Ohio.

The Boo Train runs every Halloween, Santa Train at Christmas and there are varied Fall Foliage tours in autumn. Summer is the busiest season for the line. There is also a special Easter run.

There is also an 1840′s type pioneer village for visitation.

I have an assortment of economical 6 hr railroad videos for sale that I market at rail fests and online. Usually &10, half of which is mailing and tape  yet. No dvd yet, but coming soon.

Query d_pierce17@yahoo.com for info.

Write for a longer list of what is on each video. Handheld footage off camcorder and old 8mm transfers.

6 hr combos include the following:

1. Amusement Park Trains

2. Railroads Of Ohio I

3. Railroads Of Ohio 2

4. Washignton, Oregon and Northern California Rails

5  Steam Power

6. Western Rails

7. Arizona Rails

8.  Ghost Towns, Graveyards and Railroad Museums Of The West

9.  US Railroad Museums

10, Midwestern Rails I

11. Midwestern Rails II

12. Freight Trains

A short blog as I am still recovering from Christmas and a week of vacation afterward, where my wife and i traveled to several places in Ohio.

One of the towns we revisited, where I had not been in many years, was Hartville below Akron.

There is not a great amount of stuff to brag on there. They have a big flea market, a chocolate factory, a winery and that si about it.

They also have Hartville Station, which is an old depot turned into an art gallery.

No big deal there.

I do note with pleasure since our last visit’s adventure to the area some years back, they have added an excellent C&O caboose.

I do not know the particular history of the caboose, but it is well cared for and on display by the art gallery.

Worth a look for any C&O fan.

I never saw Vol 1 or 2, but Classic American Railroads Vol 3 has a great deal of data and some magnfiicent color photos within. I assume the other editions had the same pattern, of selecting a certain number of railroads and aiming at them.

This book offers a particularly interesting section of the defunct Atlantic Coast Line, that once operated in places such as Birmingham, Atlanta, Montgomery, Orlando and the like, with a powerful steam system and later magnfiicent purple diesels. As one if my personal favorites among the historical railways, the ACL should merit a blog of its own, but that is another story for another time.

Other railroads delay with here include Norfolk & Western, Monon, Reading, Maine Central and more.

While there is again, a ton of information on each of the selected lines, the photographic content is what is especially spectacular.

Now I need to find the other two predecessor editions.

Recommended.

When in the attic recently I found somethign form my childhood packed away that had been forgotten about. It was a simple hard paper goat mask from when as a kid, I rode The Empire Builder on the Great Northern.

I forgot about this until recently. That is the goat mask, not the train ride.

No. It is not for sale.

Rocky was the beloved mascot of the Great Northern railroad, a cartoon goat who appeared in their ads and in silhouette on their logo.

In the 1960s, kids riding the train received a free goat mask. I can now envision how silly it looked to see people waiting at the station to pick up riders and be greeted by a load of goat masks staring at them from the windows.

Finding the goat mask brought back memories. I think I will frame the thing.

I do miss the Great Northern AND Rocky the goat.

Case closed

What more can I  say on this blog?

We figured out how to add photos so will have shots on most new blogs and have added some photos to the older blogs as well.