(erielack) Buy Miles Blather, 05/08/99 (PA)

["iu136_@_cleveland.Freenet.Edu" (Gary R. Kazin)]

I got up early but not bright this morning to chase the private-car
train which is operating from Steamtown behind CP 2317 to Analomink,
the end of the operable track.  I hit the road at 6:11 a.m. and found
grey weather, punctuated with rain and fog, most of the way agross
New Jersey on I-80.  It seemed to lighten at Stroudsburg, but the
fog closed in at Tannersville and it was tough driving on to the
Gouldsboro exit on I-80.  I went on to Moscow after one false turn
and found the station area with no difficulty, arriving at 7:30.
One other fan was on hand and we staked out places to shoot our 
cameras from.  As the clock turned, others drifted in.  At about 7:50,
the headlights appeared and Delaware Lackawanna's big red ALCo 4743
proved to be hauling the 8 PV's as 2317 had a bad bearing.  It was
still a nice show with the 'honorary steam engine' pulling.  I followed
the crowd south and decided to find Tobyhanna station, which I did -
about 1 minute before the train arrived. They were doing about 35.

Well, the fog was pretty bad but I figured I'd go on to Analomink 
which is lower on the mountains and proved to be clearer and not
rainy.  I got there at 9:40 and looked over recent track work. 
Others came after a while, and we chatted about the future of 
passenger service for this line, which is planned for 2003.  It has
become a question of what service and how, not if!

Headlights and ditchlights appeared after a while and the 4743 
pulled the train to the end of the usable track, just north of PA 191.
Cars making the run: Francis L Suter (PRR 7503), City of Milwaukee,
Dover Harbor, Chapel Hill (C&O 3), Cimmaron River (FRISCO), Pine 
Tree State (NH), and Caritas.  TWo other cars were left in Scranton
for visiting.  After a few minutes, I remembered that friends were
riding the Dover Harbor, and I visited them briefly on board.

After about 20 more minutes, DL 2461, an ex-EL ALCo C424, appeared
with AMTRAK 111, a P42DC.  6600 horses ought to be enough to get 
back up the hills on a line that once was a helper district.  The
main reason for two engines, though, was to avoid backing the AMTK
111 the whole way from Scranton.  I had to leave before they put
the new power on and found more fog on the way back across NJ.

Later, we went to Long Island to take my Mom out for early Mothers'
Day Dinner and saw eastbounds on the West Hempstead Branch at 4:33
pm  west of Malverne and on the Babylon line at 4:48 east of 
Lynbrook.


Happy Mothers' Day to all those to whom it applies for tomorrow!
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- --
cleveland.Freenet is a mail-drop.
Gary Kazin, Rockaway, NJ

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