Meadville Museum Gets Lackawanna Snow Plow

A former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 1945 Russell snowplow has been donated to the French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

The relic was donated by an economic development agency in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

The plow, which was wide enough to cover two tracks, was owned by Growth Resources of Wellsboro, which owns part of a former Conrail route between Corning, New York, and Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The plow was being sent to Meadville on a flatcar that will arrive in Meadville on tracks of The Western New York & Pennsylvania.

The WNYP plans to unload the plow and deliver it to the museum on its own wheels.

Restoration Completed on Erie S-2 in Meadville

The former Erie Alco S-2 switcher as it appeared last July before completion of its lettering.

Cosmetic restoration of a former Erie Railroad Alco S-2 switcher has been completed by the French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

The project got underway in 2007 and was completed with society members finishing the lettering of No. 518 in late September.

The locomotive came to the society from the Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson Railroad.

Built for the Erie in October 1948, No. 518 served on the Erie Lackawanna and for Cleveland Electric Illuminating before ending up at AC&J.

It is now displayed in Pomona Park in Meadville along with a 1908 wooden Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad boxcar and an Erie Lackawanna bay window caboose, No. C356.

The boxcar is on loan from the collection of the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society while the caboose and the caboose belongs to the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society.

Chasing Erie Ghosts, Alcos in Meadville

This Alco S2 was an unexpected find during our time in Meadville. It is within sight of the former Erie mainline.

A while back after the conclusion of a chase of a train on the former Bessemer & Lake Erie, my friend Adam and I drove over to Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Our intent was to find Alco locomotives on the Western New York & Pennsylvania, which we did, but I also found myself chasing ghosts of the Erie Railroad.

Meadville was a big Erie town and some passenger trains would set out and drop off cars here, including sleepers, lounges and diners. This practice continued into the Erie Lackawanna era.

The Erie also had a major yard in Meadville, which is used today by the WNY&P. The yard is not hard to find and neither were the Alcos.

We were there on a Saturday of a long holiday weekend, so the Alcos were probably spending the weekend waiting until being recalled for service on Tuesday.

There didn’t seem to be any activity in the WNY&P yard. We got our photos and left.

I then spotted what turned out to be a museum display devoted to the Erie and EL.

The display is maintained by the French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society and features an Alco S2, a caboose in EL markings and a boxcar, among other artifacts.

The S2 was in the process of being restored to its Erie livery and it turned out that it used to be owned by the Cleveland Illuminating Company and also spent time on the Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson.

I may have seen No. 518 reposing on the AC&Y and maybe photographed it when it was still in its CEI markings.

So, it turned out, we found more Alcos than we expected in Meadville.

We then turned our attention to our other reason for venturing to Meadville, which was to check out the Voodoo Brewery and Brew Pub, which was quite good.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Keeping alive the heritage of the Erie Lackawanna in Meadville.

The Erie diamond etched in concrete was saved from the coaling tower in Meadville when it was being razed.

The former Erie mainline in Meadville just east of the yard is now operated by the WNY&P.

Looking eastward on the former Erie mainline at Osgood, Pennsylvania. Norfolk Southern owns the tracks here.

WNY&P No. 427, an Alco C425, was sitting idle at the east end of the former Erie yard in Meadville.

WNY&P C424 No. 435 was one of the Alcos that we came looking for in Meadville.

 

Ex-B&LE Boxcar Loaned to Meadville Museum

Two railroad museums in Pennsylvania have worked out a loan arrangement of a former Bessemer & Lake Erie wooden boxcar.

The 36-foot car is owned by the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society of North East but is now on loan to the French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society’s museum in Meadville.

Built in 1908 by Standard Steel Car Company for the Union Railroad, the car was sold to the B&LE in 1914.

After 1934 it was used by maintenance of way forces. The Lake Shore museum acquired the car in the 1970s.

The car remains in as-built condition aside from having had some wood siding replaced. It also retains its original archbar trucks and plain bearings.

The French Creek museum plans to display the car with its Erie Lackawanna Alco S2 locomotive and EL caboose in Pomona Park.

“The Bessemer served Erie County, so it is appropriate for Lake Shore to own this car, but the Bessemer’s association is stronger with Meadville,” Lake Shore President Ray Grabowski told Trains magazine. “It’s proper that the car be displayed close to where it actually may have been used.”