I purchased some unused Erie-Lackawanna tickets and decided to have a little fun in honor of the Akron Railroad Club.
Using an EL punch (purchased from an old EL employee), I produced a one way ticket from Akron to Hoboken, New Jersey.
The one way fare of $26.02 is correct for the date punched of Oct. 30, 1966. I will see you folks when you come to visit me in NJ.
We hosted a “Rush Hour in the Tower” event in the old Erie Railroad’s “WC” Tower in Waldwick. New Jersey, on June 15. For a $20 donation, our guests had access to the tower and surrounding area from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A half dozen photographers were treated to about 40 trains during that period, featuring six types of motive power and two commuter agencies.
Norfolk Southern even rushed the local back right before the flood gates opened. It was a nice event and everyone went away happy.
The New York, Susquehanna & Western was operating one of their two ex-Southern Pacific (No. 8321) tunnel motors this past Sunday. It is great to see one of these rare locomotives operate. I photographed it Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
After much anticipation the Union Pacific office car special on the former Erie Railroad to Harriman, New York, and back on Sunday.
Akron Railroad Club member Jack Norris said the weather was crazy with rain and clouds, sun and rain. “None of the photo locations I wanted to do were really great for this due to the time of day and weather, so I ended up in WC Tower in Waldwick, New Jersey, for an operators view. Heck, anyone can shoot from a bridge.”
There was a big car show in Waldwick as the train came through. My girlfriend caught the train up near Tuxedo, New York, about a half hour later. Our wet winter and spring has made for some lush greenery.
The train is slated to leave New Jersey today. ARRC Vice President Todd Dillon said the tentative schedule is to leave New Jersey at 5 a.m. from Croxton Yard.
There is a crew called at Conway Yard near Pittsburgh for 4 p.m. and the estimated time at Berea is 8:45 p.m.
But this is the railroad so times are subject to change. If anyone wants to catch this in daylight for certain, you probably should head east to at least Pittsburgh and possibly even further east depending on the train’s progress.
As for why the train went east in the first place, there is speculation that it had to do with the bicentennial celebration of Brown Brothers Harriman Company Bank, which was established in 1818.
Henry Harriman was a UP President and his son, E. Roland Harriman, was a UP chairman years later, thus giving the family a connection to UP history.
The celebration may have been held at the Harriman Mansion in Arden, New York.
With the cancellation of the excursion from Philadelphia to Altoona, Pennsylvania, I would like to share some pictures that I did of the two Pennsylvania Railroad E8As during happier times out that way.
The cancelled trip was to have helped the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society celebrate its 50th anniversary during a convention in Altoona.
The train was to have run to Altoona on May 9 and return four days later.
It might have been the last mainline excursion of the Pennsy passenger locomotives because owner Bennett Levin has said he does not plan to give the engines a positive train control apparatus.
The images in this series were made at Altoona, Horseshoe Curve, Gallitzin and Cassandra.
Have you ever seen a rules test? This test from the Erie Railroad, dated 1930, was given to new firemen and trainmen who were on the job for six months.
This exam is 38 pages and contains 324 questions, covering train operations, signal aspects, whistle signals, etc. Tests like this are still given by railroads today.
I couldn’t resist acquiring this interesting piece of railroading. I do have an Erie rule book from this same period that I have skimmed through over the years.
I took this test and had no problem answering over half of the questions. I have to review to get the others. Oh well, looks like summer school for me.
The birth, life and death of Penn Central can be shown in stock certificates that illustrate the various stages of the railroad.
When first formed, the company was called the Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Company. That name was soon shortened to Penn Central Company.
After the June 1970 bankruptcy and the April 1976 disposal of the railroad into Conrail, the Penn Central (which had other doings besides railroading, namely real estate) became Penn Central Corporation.
That company still exists today as American Premier Underwriters, an insurance company. As a side note, notice that the last reincarnation no longer showed a train in the vignette.
I hope Dave McKay Day went well. I was in Waldwick, New Jersey, on that day, getting the Erie Waldwick Tower and Waldwick Erie Station museums ready to open for the season. Since the famous Erie landmark Waldwick “S” Curve (also known as Collin’s Curve) is right there I decided to take a couple shots. It may be only three tracks now and the only varnish it sees are NJ Transit commuter trains, but it still looks good and is still as photogenic as ever. Also included is a shot of Chesapeake & Ohio 614 when it traveled the ex-Erie back in 1996.
I went to a large railroadiana show on Sunday. Among the many interesting items for sale were a half dozen Penn Central diesel nose decals. Now that would be a modeling project. I thought showing this was appropriate for the 50th anniversary of Penn Central.
I went railfanning in Trenton, New Jersey, recently and in keeping with the Penn Central birth/Pennsylvania Railroad demise theme, I would like to present some reminders of those railroads that are still in service today.
These include position light signals (now colorized) and former Metroliner cars serving as cab cars on Keystone Service (New York-Harrisburg) trains.
My New Jersey Transit trains clicked away the miles at a steady 105 mph between Trenton and New Brunswick under the heavy catenary of the former PRR mainline.
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