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Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
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New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:44 p.m. EDT, Jun 08, 2009
There's something new aboard the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
Passengers on Northeast Ohio's tourist railroad can tune in to an impressive audio tour of Cuyahoga Valley filled with stories, nature, history and music via individual headsets and easy-to-use receivers.
You will learn that it took canal boats up to six hours to work their way through Akron's Cascade Locks, a series of five locks on the old Ohio & Erie Canal. Those locks led to Akron's growth into a major city.
You will learn about John Malvin, an African-American canal boat captain on the old Ohio & Erie Canal.
You will hear from worker Willie Rich about what it was like working in the old Jaite paper mill in the Cuyahoga Valley.
You will hear from farmhand Clyde Davis how bootleg whiskey stills were found in almost every ravine in the park during Prohibition.
You will learn how the scenic Beaver Marsh in the park used to be an auto junkyard and how great blue herons and bald eagles have returned to the Cuyahoga Valley.
The new audio tour, unveiled last week, is a free service funded with a $350,000 federal grant, said Jennie Vasarhelyi, the park's chief of interpretation, education and visitor services.
''This is a big step forward for the railroad, a huge step forward,'' said Steve Wait, the president and chief executive officer of the Peninsula-based railroad.
''It really adds to the train trip,'' said Bliss Baker, 72, of Mansfield, one of many passengers who gave the audio tour rave reviews.
''I really like it. I like the facts and the tape really brings the valley to life,'' said Baker's 65-year-old wife, Barbara.
''I love it,'' said James Gilchrist, 37, of Broadview Heights.
Margaret Rein, 68, of North Royalton, said the audio tour was ''very good, very informative. . . . It's very cool.''
What makes the system unique is that Global Positioning System (GPS) technology activates the recorded messages.
A tourist railroad in South Dakota's Black Hills uses a similar system but its audio tour is broadcast via loudspeakers throughout the train, Vasarhelyi said.
The railroad and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park decided not to go that route. Its system, in discussion and planning for several years, relies on 600 individual — and highly portable — headsets and receivers for passengers, who can choose to listen or not.
The program, called Voices in the Valley, is a major improvement over relying on park rangers, train staffers and volunteers to offer park interpretation aboard long, noisy, moving trains, Vasarhelyi said.
The audio tour features sound effects, music, multiple voices and a series of short stories or vignettes that are ''more engaging . . . and will offer a better experience to our visitors,'' she said.
The park has worried that train passengers needed to get more park interpretation than they had been getting, she said.
''It's not a 'this is,' 'this is,' 'this is' tour,'' Vasarhelyi said. ''The focus is storytelling, human voices that tell the story of a broader landscape.''
There are 27 spots on the track between Akron and Independence — 14 southbound and 13 northbound — that trigger the system to tell another story.
That means passengers can get about 40 minutes of stories on the 90-minute southbound trip from Independence to Akron and another 40 minutes of different stories on the northbound return trip.
The southbound stories and vignettes focus on the history and development of the Cuyahoga Valley. The northbound stories look at the impact of man's activities on the Cuyahoga Valley and the Cuyahoga River.
Antenna Audio, Inc. produced the audio tour. Texas-based BarZ Adventures, Inc. provided the GPS-enabled delivery system.
Antenna Audio produced the audio tour used at Alcatraz Island, the old federal prison in California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The Cuyahoga Valley tour relies heavily on old records, interviews, oral histories, a narrator and people associated with the Cuyahoga Valley.
That list includes Lynn Metzger, a retired professor from the University of Akron; Sam Tamburro, a former park historian now with the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park; park biologist Lisa Petit; railroad engineer Larry Blanchard; Steve Tuckerman of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; valley farmer Daniel Greenfield; Elaine Marsh of the Akron-based Friends of the Crooked River; park supporter Tom Fritsch; and long-time valley resident Joe Mazzola of Brecksville.
There is music by Northeast Ohio's Alex Bevan and Foster Brown, plus the Golden Eagle String Band and from the Smithsonian collections. Old Ohio canal captain Pearl R. Nye even sings a short song.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
More information
For information about the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, call 800-468-4070 or go to http://www.cvsr.com.
A captioned version of the audio tour is available for those with hearing impairments.
The audio tour is not available to Bike Aboard! passengers, who pay $2 to ride with their bikes.
There's something new aboard the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
Passengers on Northeast Ohio's tourist railroad can tune in to an impressive audio tour of Cuyahoga Valley filled with stories, nature, history and music via individual headsets and easy-to-use receivers.
You will learn that it took canal boats up to six hours to work their way through Akron's Cascade Locks, a series of five locks on the old Ohio & Erie Canal. Those locks led to Akron's growth into a major city.
You will learn about John Malvin, an African-American canal boat captain on the old Ohio & Erie Canal.
You will hear from worker Willie Rich about what it was like working in the old Jaite paper mill in the Cuyahoga Valley.
You will hear from farmhand Clyde Davis how bootleg whiskey stills were found in almost every ravine in the park during Prohibition.
You will learn how the scenic Beaver Marsh in the park used to be an auto junkyard and how great blue herons and bald eagles have returned to the Cuyahoga Valley.
The new audio tour, unveiled last week, is a free service funded with a $350,000 federal grant, said Jennie Vasarhelyi, the park's chief of interpretation, education and visitor services.
''This is a big step forward for the railroad, a huge step forward,'' said Steve Wait, the president and chief executive officer of the Peninsula-based railroad.
''It really adds to the train trip,'' said Bliss Baker, 72, of Mansfield, one of many passengers who gave the audio tour rave reviews.
''I really like it. I like the facts and the tape really brings the valley to life,'' said Baker's 65-year-old wife, Barbara.
''I love it,'' said James Gilchrist, 37, of Broadview Heights.
Margaret Rein, 68, of North Royalton, said the audio tour was ''very good, very informative. . . . It's very cool.''
What makes the system unique is that Global Positioning System (GPS) technology activates the recorded messages.
A tourist railroad in South Dakota's Black Hills uses a similar system but its audio tour is broadcast via loudspeakers throughout the train, Vasarhelyi said.
The railroad and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park decided not to go that route. Its system, in discussion and planning for several years, relies on 600 individual — and highly portable — headsets and receivers for passengers, who can choose to listen or not.
The program, called Voices in the Valley, is a major improvement over relying on park rangers, train staffers and volunteers to offer park interpretation aboard long, noisy, moving trains, Vasarhelyi said.
The audio tour features sound effects, music, multiple voices and a series of short stories or vignettes that are ''more engaging . . . and will offer a better experience to our visitors,'' she said.
The park has worried that train passengers needed to get more park interpretation than they had been getting, she said.
''It's not a 'this is,' 'this is,' 'this is' tour,'' Vasarhelyi said. ''The focus is storytelling, human voices that tell the story of a broader landscape.''
There are 27 spots on the track between Akron and Independence — 14 southbound and 13 northbound — that trigger the system to tell another story.
That means passengers can get about 40 minutes of stories on the 90-minute southbound trip from Independence to Akron and another 40 minutes of different stories on the northbound return trip.
The southbound stories and vignettes focus on the history and development of the Cuyahoga Valley. The northbound stories look at the impact of man's activities on the Cuyahoga Valley and the Cuyahoga River.
Antenna Audio, Inc. produced the audio tour. Texas-based BarZ Adventures, Inc. provided the GPS-enabled delivery system.
Antenna Audio produced the audio tour used at Alcatraz Island, the old federal prison in California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The Cuyahoga Valley tour relies heavily on old records, interviews, oral histories, a narrator and people associated with the Cuyahoga Valley.
That list includes Lynn Metzger, a retired professor from the University of Akron; Sam Tamburro, a former park historian now with the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park; park biologist Lisa Petit; railroad engineer Larry Blanchard; Steve Tuckerman of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; valley farmer Daniel Greenfield; Elaine Marsh of the Akron-based Friends of the Crooked River; park supporter Tom Fritsch; and long-time valley resident Joe Mazzola of Brecksville.
There is music by Northeast Ohio's Alex Bevan and Foster Brown, plus the Golden Eagle String Band and from the Smithsonian collections. Old Ohio canal captain Pearl R. Nye even sings a short song.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
More information
For information about the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, call 800-468-4070 or go to http://www.cvsr.com.
A captioned version of the audio tour is available for those with hearing impairments.
The audio tour is not available to Bike Aboard! passengers, who pay $2 to ride with their bikes.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 12:57 PM, 06/08/2009
will you hear about the 71 year old who drove onto the tracks and got hit??
Posted 02:43 PM, 06/08/2009
I wonder how the train "turns around" downtown?
Okay, it comes in from the valley...how or where does it turn around so the engine faces back to the valley?
Posted 03:03 PM, 06/08/2009
Deidre,
That's a stupid comment.
Connelly, I believe the train has an engine on each end and does not have to turn around. Or else it turns around somewhere in the Akron train yards.(Really just moves the engine from one end of the train to the other, whole long trains rarely turn around.)
But that is just a guess.
Posted 03:06 PM, 06/08/2009
steve -
sorry
Posted 02:22 PM, 06/09/2009
Thanks Steve...
