(erielack) Train 57 Article

[MikeG0112_@_aol.com]

I received The Diamond yesterday and while thumbing through was delighted to 
find the article by John Boehner about his cab ride on train #57. What really 
caught my attention was the picture on page 19 of " A couple of railfans 
waving as #57 approaches Passaic Jct..." Well, I thought I have to look this 
one up. I used to record the passing of every train I saw anywhere, on any 
railroad. I stopped doing this around June 1971 as it was getting to be too 
much work. I still record the date and time of every picture I take, though. 
I got out my old logbook and looked up April 7, 1971 and sure enough I 
recorded the passing of train 57, by at 4:52PM. I am the railfan sitting on 
the bridge abutment. The fellow standing is my friend and future EL towerman 
and Conrail dispatcher John DelVecchio. We didn't actually take a picture of 
this train. Hard to believe now but, an E8 on an EL commuter train was a very 
common occurance in those days and we let this particular train go by. We 
spent so much time sitting on that bridge during our teenage years (we are 
both 16 in that picture) that we had many shots of EL E8's passing this spot. 
If you look closely, in the distance is the Garfield Drill approaching on 
track 2. He passed us 3 minutes later with #449 on the point. They stopped at 
the Waco siding at Midland Avenue to make a setout and this would explain the 
crossover move John Boehner recorded at Waldwick on page 21. The Bergen 
County line was blocked by the drill so the eastbound 3637 probably came east 
via the Main Line through Paterson. I didn't record seeing the 3637 that day. 
The eastbound freight John Boehner mentioned as he passed Croxton had #3645 
running long hood first, and the 3629 with 71 cars. They passed us at BT at 
3:55PM.
I also recorded the westbound Croxton Ordinary that day with 
3617-3621-2452-2511 west at 4:07PM with 104 cars. With the scheduled passing 
of #1111, local to Waldwick, with 3355 leading at 3:55PM, that was a very 
busy 15 minutes at BT.
Thanks, John, for the great article.

Mike Galesi
ELHS #145

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