(erielack) re: PA's on the NRRNJ

["J. McEachen" <jmcea_@_optonline.net>]

"the destination for many an 18-year-old Jerseyite" probably requires an
explanation for anyone under 60. Near alone amongst states, NY always
had an 18 year old drinking age until the 'revolt of the 1980s' when
underage drinking got out of hand (although some states like VA allowed
18 year olds to drink 3.2 beer as I learned in the Navy.) Being a Leonia
resident, Nyack was famous for the destination of the Erie trains, and
the destination of my older brother and his friends on weekend evenings
c. 1950. NJ was forever trying to get the drinking age raised using the
return driving condition of the NJ teenagers as the reason. I remember
hearing of "The Blue Moon" and one other favorite place. 

My 92 year old father (a Leonia resident 90 years now) remembers some 18
trains a day on the Northern Branch. I remember in the early 50's
putting pennies on the track by Sylvan Park and then looking for the
result after the train passed. I only remember RS2/3's and Stillwell
coaches with the funny fans with revolving louvres - and which did
little on hot afternoons after layover in the coach yards as previously
stated. 

The switch to Hoboken caused a crisis, with service into Jersey City
along with susy-Q for a while, then Susquehanna terminating at the
transfer and the Northern branch making the backup onto the Hoboken
approach tracks. The added time, as well as the proliferation of air
conditioned buses on the parallel Public Service, Rockland Coach, and
Westwood Blue lines spelled the death knell of the Erie northern branch.
I do remember the Leonia station and the separate freight station just
to the north being active in the early 50's. 
Joel McEachen
Fairfield, CT

> Message-ID: <id.26012002190214.00000_@_FPE>
> Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 19:02:14 EDT
> From: "Janet & Randy Brown" <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>
> Subject: (erielack) re: PA's on the NRRNJ
> 
> Chris and list:  I rode the next to last train, the earlier Saturday run, on Sept 30, 1966.
> Later that night, 3 RS3's pulled all 15 stillwells south in one train, non-stop from Nyack to
> Hoboken (complete with the switchback at Croxton to get up onto the  Boonton line for
> Hoboken). 
> :=(
> 
> And to answer another of Alan's questions -- the middle train each way stopped at Susquehanna
> Transfer.
> Freight still runs as far as Closter, with quite a few customers in Englewood and south.
> 
> Track ends at the state line in Norwood, near what used to be Ma Skinner's tavern, the first
> joint in New York and the destination for many an 18-year-old Jerseyite.
> 
> . . .sigh. . .
> 
> Randy Brown ELHS#16
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