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Re: (erielack) ELHS Eastern Region Spring Meeting report

Matamoras is in Pennsylvania, not New York!    Neil W.
On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 00:28:01 -0400 "Paul R. Tupaczewski"
<paultup_@_optonline.net> writes:
> Today was the ELHS Eastern Region Spring Meeting, and here's the 
> report
> from this writer's point of view...
> 
> The day started promptly at 12 Noon at the Holiday Inn in 
> Parsippany,
> NJ. In the "Show and Tell" category, there were two notable items 
> being
> displayed at the meeting: Joe Lofland has revised versions of his
> Dunmore cupola caboose kit on display - he is hoping to clean it up 
> and
> get casting molds made later this year - they looked nice! The 
> other
> notable items were the draft sheets (essentially the B&W version) 
> that
> author Rich Pennisi brought of his forthcoming book (and I'm
> paraphrasing since I don't remember the exact title) "A Colorful 
> Look At
> An Erie Lackawanna Railroader's Memories." It's a soft-cover, 
> full-color
> book that is about 48 pages long, and covers the EL in New Jersey, 
> New
> York and Pennsylvania. Rich shot using large-format slide material, 
> so
> the images are razor-sharp. It's quite diverse in terms of its 
> content,
> and looked fantastic - I can't wait to see the color version! Rich 
> is
> almost done with a second volume, and a third volume is also set to
> follow that one. Nice!
> 
> The first presenter was Curt Springstead, who did a wonderful (and
> well-researched) retrospective of the life of his 
> great-grandfather,
> famed Erie engineer Harvey Springstead. He put 7 years of research 
> into
> Harvey and his life, and wove a fascinating tale for the members at
> hand. He finished off the project by detailing his involvement in 
> the
> Waldwick (NJ) tower restoration project, and noted that while 
> Harvey
> today lies in a Corry, PA cemetary wiith an unmarked grave, his 
> legacy
> will finally be recognized as this tower will be dedicated to 
> Harvey's
> memory (he lived a block away from the Waldwick wye, so this 
> dedication
> is particularly appropriate)
> 
>  up was Dave Rutan with his "Sussex Branch - A Ride Through History"
> presentation. In Dave's typically meticulous style, he covered the
> Sussex Railroad/DL&W Sussex Branch between Waterloo Jct. and
> Branchville, as well as touching upon the route to Netcong, plus 
> the
> Franklin Branch that came off at Branchville Junction (and was 
> abandoned
> in 1934). The combination of val maps, vintage photos and current 
> views
> made for a very well-rounded presentation with several neat tidbits 
> of
> factual information that many people had not realized.
> 
> The next presenter was not listed on the flyer due to some
> miscommunication - Jeff Gabriel went over Erie interlocking 
> stations,
> taking a short east-to-west tour of select Erie interlockings and
> towers. The presentation focused around DB Interlocking, around the
> swing span over the Hackensack River in New Jersey. DB is notable as 
> it
> is the last remaining Erie interlocking station (that hasn't been
> completely remoted). DB is slated to close when the Montclair 
> Connection
> cuts in (this may now occur NEXT year!). Coincidentally, the second 
> part
> of Jeff's presentation covered in detail the activities around the
> Montclair Connection construction, as well as a quick retrospective 
> of
> the soon-to-be-closed stations on the east end of the Boonton Line
> (nee-NY&GL)
> 
> Following Jeff was Tim Stuy of the Erie Lackawanna Dining Car
> Preservation Society, with a well-done history of the group's dining 
> car
> #741, as well as a brief history of Erie/DL&W/EL food service, and 
> plans
> for the diner over the next two years. Dinner in the diner? Sounds 
> like
> it's about two years away!
> 
> Next was Steve Stewart (of Stewart Hobbies fame), presenting a 
> selection
> of current-day shots by him plus numerous shots in his collection of 
> the
> DL&W/EL between Blairstown, NJ and Binghamton, NY, with a 
> particular
> concentration on the large bridges along the line (notably, 
> Hainesburg
> Viaduct, Delaware River Viaduct, and the Tunkhannock Viaduct). 
> There
> were also many stories of his personal experiences going to East
> Stroudsburg University and the "hometown railroad" (particularly 
> amusing
> and/or shocking was the story of a fellow student who rode a sled 
> down a
> hill, didn't stop in time, and flew under an EL freight train, only 
> to
> pop out on the other side and survive - good thing he slid under a 
> long
> 89' autorack!)
> 
> The last presenter before the dinner break was Mike Carramanna, who
> presented a selection of slides from his collection of the Erie
> (pre-merger). Notable to this author was a view of Erie private car 
> #4
> sitting in Hoboken on the Hoboken Shore Railroad - anyone have ANY 
> idea
> why it was there?)
> 
> The dinner buffet was even better than last year's! All came away 
> quite
> satisfied!
> 
> After dinner, Mike returned with slides he shot of the EL. Starting 
> with
> the marine equipment in Hoboken, he followed the DL&W from east to 
> west,
> and returned to Hoboken to follow the Erie side, covering the entire 
> EL
> very well. Due to a lack of time, his DL&W collection slides could 
> not
> be shown (this year!)
> 
> The last presenters of the evening were Curt Carlough and Jay Held,
> collectively showing the Erie/DL&W/EL/NYS&W in and around the 
> Paterson,
> NJ area. The slide show was ushered in by a very violent 
> thunderstorm
> that ripped across Northern New Jersey (and knocked out the power 
> for a
> few seconds). The show continued on! A mixture of color and black 
> and
> white images, many rare views not previously seen, highlighted
> operations on both DL&W and EL lines.
> 
> The night ended about 8:45, and all left home happy after a long
> (LOOOONG) day. Thanks go out, as usual, to Pete Hasler for doing a
> terrific job once again in organizing this event. Jay Held and Jim 
> Dent
> must also be commended for running the Society's sales table this 
> day.
> Harold Werthwein announced at the end of the evening that this 
> year's
> Annual Convention will be in Matamoras, NY (just up the road from 
> Port
> Jervis, NY), and is *looking for presenters!*  If you're 
> interested,
> please let me know and I'll forward you to Harold. The convention 
> will
> be the weekend of September 27-29, 2002. Mark those calendars now!
> Details will be sent in the very near future.
> 
> It was also nice to see so many list members there today - ones who 
> I
> actually met included Jim Dent, Jim Harr, Tom Schmieder, Bob Bahrs, 
> Jay
> Held, Tim Stuy, Joe Lofland, Bob Fellows, Dennis McDermott, Pete
> Heimbach, Lance Erickson, and Rich & Esther Tubbs (YES! From 
> Marion!) -
> and anyone else I forgot to mention!
> 
>         - Paul
> 
> 

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