Brittain Yard - A.C. & Y RY. Shops
Located east of Downtown Akron in what was once called Brittain, Ohio. It was a small settlement; that was part of Springfield Township, which is now completely unified into the city of Akron. Often referred to as the "White Grocery" which was attributable to several the grocers and clean streets. Situated west of Mogadore and east of Downtown Akron, the AC&Y Railway's Brittian Yard was in an area of proximity to Akron's rubber industry.
Click on the map for a larger version.
Notice on this 1915 plot the changes the AC&Y Railway has made to the area. Click on the map for a larger version.
Brittain Yard uses a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading, railroad cars or locomotives. Using many parallel tracks allows for storing rolling stock off the mainline. So that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. The Yard initially had a capacity of 800 cars and was capacity was expanded in 1922 and 1956.
Late 1920's image of Brittain Yard probably taken from the newly installed floodlight tower.
Between the years 1912-1917, the AC&Y Railway constructed a seven stall roundhouse with a 75-foot turntable.
Added to the roundhouse were an additional four stalls and a machine shop in 1923. They replaced the turntable with a 90-foot unit in 1945 and 1946. The Diesel Shop was erected in 1947 with electrical shop added to it a few years later. The shop was an addition that was built in November of 1950. The two-story addition housed the electrical and air brake shops on the first floor.
The second floor of the building contained the offices for the Superintendant of Motive Power, Diesel Supervisor, Traveling Engineer and their office personnel. There were also locker rooms for the shop employees. In 1956, the AC&Y removed stalls 1 through 5 of Roundhouse. Then in 1970 they tore down the remain Roundhouse and its machine shop.
Today, Brittain Yard is owned and operated by the Wheeling Lake &Erie Railway. It is now refered to as Akron Yard.
