(erielack) [NSTier] Erie Standardization....

[Will Semanchuk-Enser <alcoman_@_net.bluemoon.net>]

This is GREAT...talk about an undertaking....


Will Semanchuk-Enser    Blue Moon Internet Corp General Manager
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   Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:47:55 -0500
   From: Ralph McClive <rmcclive_@_twcny.rr.com>
Subject: Fwd: Erie  wide gauge


>Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 23:29:04 -0500
>From: Richard Palmer <rpalmer_@_dreamscape.com>
>Subject: Erie  wide gauge
>To: Railroad readings <rpalmer_@_dreamscape.com>
>
>  Cattaraugus Republican, Salamanca, N.Y.,
>           Thursday, June 24, 1880
>              The Erie Narrowed
>
>  Standard Gauge - A Day Without A Railroad Train - Waiting Passengers -
>                       Quick Work - An Ovation - Again On Time
>
>     Never was the enterprise and push characteristic of our age more fully
>exemplified than in narrowing the gauge of the Erie last  Tuesday. For the
>last few weeks extra gangs of men had been busily at work preparing the
>track and switches for the change, and getting everything in readiness for
>the moment when the order should be given to move one rail nineteen and a
>half inches nearer the other.
>        Moving the rail, however, did not constitute the greatest amount of
>work to be done. The handling of the vast amount of rolling stock was one of
>the largest jobs in connection with the work. Monday morning the yards all
>along the division were full of road gauge cars, and these had to be sent to
>Hornellsville on that day. During the day 300 cars were shipped out of
>Salamanca, and at night the yard on the Erie side looked desolate and
>deserted. The old switch engines, 304, 36 and 73, which had so long
>pulled in and out on the labyrinth of switches, were likewise sent away.
>As these old switch engines left the yard the Atlantic engines and engines
>in the shops gave them a parting salute.
>     The departing locomotives gave a long good-bye blast, which had in it
>some little tinge of sadness, and the whistles which had become familiar to
>all were heard for the last time on the Reservation. At 6 o'clock Monday
>evening there were but three broad gauge cars in the Erie yard-the tool car
>and two gondolas, which were to be narrow-gauged here.
>   The passenger trains ran regular Monday forenoon, but in the afternoon
>there was a general abandonment after train 9 had passed over the road. The
>last broad gauge train over the road was a wildcat from Dunkirk to
>Hornellsville, run by conductor Kimball, and passed Salamanca at 9:30 P.M.
>Monday night was a remarkable one in the history of the Erie road. After
>Kimball's "wildcat" reached Hornellsville, the shriek of no engine broke the
>stillness between Dunkirk and Hornellsville.
>      The  moon shone down upon a stretch of 198 miles of track upon which
>stood not a single car. Excepting a few cars in the shops at Salamanca,
>there was not a car on the Western division from 12 M until 9 o'clock on
>Tuesday morning. The work of moving the rail began at 4:30 Tuesday morning,
>and at 8 A.M. intelligence was flashed over the wires to Superintendent
>Beggs that the work was completed on the main line. About 800 men were
>employed in the great enterprise, which was carried though without accident
>in just three hours and a half from the time the first spike was pulled.
>    The Little Valley section was first to report its work finished. In just
>two hours from the time of beginning Foreman Carroll sent in his report that
>his section was ready for the narrow gauge trains. Track Foreman Wyman
>telegraphed to Superintendent Beggs that the Salamanca section was ready at
>7:30. A number of sections were completed at almost the same moment. Shortly
>after the news that the line was reduced to standard gauge, an inspection
>train, with Wm. Wilcox as conductor and containing Division Superintendent
>Beggs and other railroad officials was started out of Dunkirk.
>       The train was pulled by an engine from the Dunkirk & Allegany Valley
>Railroad, "The Conewango, No. 3" - with engineer Tibbits at the throttle.
>The engine and cars were decorated with flags and the train was greeted with
>continuous ovation as it passed over the road. As it reached Salamanca, at
>11:45, there was such a screeching of engines as is seldom heard. The "wild
>cat" inspection train proceeded to Olean where it was met by a similar train
>from Hornellsville. The Dunkirk train returned to Salamanca and was closely
>followed by the Hornellsville inspection train,
>under the direction of Conductor Langworthy. The train was pulled by engine
>574, and reached here at 2:30 P.M. and was  greeted with an enthusiastic
>reception. M. W. Coburn, one of the most reliable engineers on the road, has
>the distinction of  driving the first Erie engine over the narrow gauge
>track. Engine 574 is nearly new, having been used on the Buffalo division
>for a few weeks. It is a 60 ton mogul, built at the Grant Locomotive Works
>at Patterson.
>      The inspection trains having passed over the road, the track was
>pronounced in good condition, and train three was dispatched from
>Hornellsville as "wild cat. " The train, run by Conductor Martin, came into
>Salamanca at 2:50 P.M., being about three  hours behind its regular time.
>David Cary, one of the oldest men on the line pulled the train with engine
>No. 57. Thus with comparatively little inconvenience to the traveling public
>the Erie was reduced to standard gauge, and again the trains are
>speeding over the road nearly on time.
>                     Notes
>    The gauge of the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio railroad between
>Leavittsburg, Pa., and Dayton, O., was changed Tuesday from broad to
>standard. Two thousand five hundred men were placed along the line from
>Dayton to Leavittsburg, 325 miles. The work began at 3 a.m. and ended at 9
>a.m. the shortest piece of work of this kind on record.
>    The trains on the eastern division of the NYP&O with few exceptions, run
>on about their usual time Monday and Tuesday. Twenty new consolidated 60-ton
>moguls from the Grant Locomotive Works are to pull the freight on the
>western division of the Erie. Their power seems almost limitless, and the
>boys say they will draw everything that can be hitched to them. One of them
>took about eighty log fed cars out of Salamanca yesterday morning.
>    On Monday a special order was issued by Superintendent Beggs, enjoining
>engineers and conductors to use the utmost care in running trains. The order
>was faithfully obeyed and the great amount of rolling stock moved to the
>east terminus of the division   without delay or accident. The same care was
>enjoined and complied with in moving the train after the road had been
>reduced to  standard gauge.
>    About 70 cars have been narrow gauged at the Erie shops since the 15th of
>May. They are stamped N.G. Salamanca, May (or June) 1880." "N.G." doesn't'
>always stand for "no good."  The new bob-tail switch engine No. 515, to be
>used in the yard here reached Salamanca Tuesday. Two more of the same
>pattern  are expected to do the same work by the old switch engines.
>     Train 12 on the N.Y.,P.& O. came into Salamanca Tuesday with narrow
>gauge coaches. 1,600 cars from the N.Y.,P.& O. road were sent east over the
>Erie between Monday and Monday night.  Since the "embargo has been raised,"
>freight traffic has been lively.
>
>Rochester (NY) Union and Advertiser, Saturday, July 30, 1881
>
>                                 "The Battle of the Gauges"
>                               Last of the Broad Gauge - The New
>                             York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad
>                                  Conforms to the Standard
>     The broad gauge of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad is no
>more. In the bright light of this beautiful summer morning with each moving
>rail a change was wrought and in a few short hours the diligent hands of
>experienced workmen had transformed the Erie road from a broad gauge route
>to one of standard gauge. It was a matter of expediency, nothing more.
>     A few years ago this fact was fully appreciated by the directors and
>managers of the road, and a third rail -- allowing means of passage for both
>broad and standard cars --was placed on the main line. To-day an important
>step has been taken by the company. The road between this city and Corning
>has been narrowed from a width of six feet between the rails, to one of 4
>ft. 8  1/2 inches, the standard gauge.
>                            How It Was Done
>     As the Erie was the last railroad to submit to the "battle of the
>gauges," some little interest may be excited as to the manner in which the
>change was made. For several months past extensive preparations leading to a
>rapid narrowing of the road have been going on. All along the line between
>Corning and Rochester, a distance of 94 miles, the measurements for the new
>gauge have been made. In fact the line had already once been laid before
>work was commenced this morning. The east rail was the one to be moved, and
>just 15 1/2 inches from the inside of this rail spikes had been set,
>throughout the entire distance, at intervals of time throughout the past two
>months.
>       Mr. Canfield of Buffalo, Road-master, and Thomas Conners, Supervisor
>of Tracks, had  thoughtfully and carefully made preliminary arrangements and
>G. E. Butterfield, stationmaster in this city, had changed the switches in
>and about the yard, thus completing the preparations for successful and
>speedy changing of the gauge. Last night
>the rolling stock of the road was all transferred to Corning.
>     The last train running on the broad gauge, drawn by engine number 11, B.
>Rogers, engineer, and A.S. Alexander, conductor, arrived in this city at
>thirty minutes past eleven and almost immediately returned to Corning.
>Between two and four o'clock this morning about 500 experienced workmen,
>employees of the Rochester, Buffalo, Susquehanna and Western Divisions, were
>distributed in gangs of six or eight each at equal intervals along the line
>of the road between this city and Corning.         Strict orders were given
>to begin the work promptly at four o'clock and at that hour, all being in
>readiness, almost simultaneously each separate force of workmen began their
>allotted task. It was an interesting sight to one walking along the line of
>the railroad to see these men busy as beavers tearing up and rapidly
>replacing the rails. In each division the work was so arranged that it was
>carried on in the most systematic manner possible.
>                                 Perfect System
>     First came the men who skillfully and quickly withdrew the spikes, then
>followed swiftly those who moved the rail from its old position to the one
>destined for it alongside of the spikes already set, and last of all in
>quick succession came those who drive the spikes about the rail in its new
>place. The work progressed far more rapidly than one would readily believe,
>the rate of taking up and relaying the rails being about one mile in four
>hours as performed by each gang. By eight o'clock the whole distance of
>ninety-four miles had been transformed from a broad gauge to the standard
>measurement and the last victory of the standard width: 4 feet 8 1/2 inches,
>in the battle of the gauges in this country has been won.     The first
>arrival this morning over the newly laid track was the "wild cat" train from
>Avon, drawn by engine 60, Frank Marsh engineer, and A.S. Alexander
>conductor. This train left Avon at 8:15 and reached this city at 11:45,
>being detained about an hour and a half at the Henrietta section; the only
>place along the route where the men laying the track had not done all that
>was expected of them. At a quarter before twelve o'clock the train from
>Corning, drawn by engine 35, in charge of Augustus Johnson engineer, and
>G.H. Brown conductor, reached its destination, thus proving the complete
>transformation of the road.
>           Although this train was an hour and forty minutes late running
>time had been made, the delay being occasioned by waiting at  various
>stations for orders, the passengers on this train report a gala day all
>along the line. At each station crowds were assembled to welcome the train
>and great enthusiasm prevailed. Hats were thrown in the air, handkerchiefs
>were waved and cheers burst from the lips of many. The change is completed
>and general satisfaction prevails and great credit is due to both managers
>and men for the highly creditable manner in which this work has been
>accomplished.
>                Fish Plates and Spikes
>
>     J.E. Butterfield and his men did some hard work yesterday. John Wieman
>is the Boss man to "fix" switches.  The Hog (switch engine) left on Thursday
>morning at 5 o'clock never to return. The porcine locomotive, almost a
>historical machine, has done its duty.
>         John English began at this end of the branch, with twenty men.
>Thirty men from Avon to Attica breakfasted at Mrs. Kelly's hotel at
>half-past two o'clock this morning.  V. Rogers, the well-known engineer,
>enjoyed the distinction of driving the last locomotive over the broad gauge.
>He "made the old gal scream" before leaving the city.
>        Frank Marsh is the first engineer over the narrow gauge on the
>Rochester branch. Tom Ford wants a little more practice before he can draw a
>spike properly.  It was amusing to see Dan Turner handle a crow bar
>yesterday. It was a big surprise to some of the boys on this end of the
>division to see themselves in the agony of perspiration.
>       Joseph Bradt was out with his rail gang this morning and did splendid
>service. Tom Connors, the supervisor of the tracks, tough obliged to forego
>the pleasure of helping in the narrowing, on account of indisposibility,
>followed the work of the men in his mind and was almost well when he heard
>the scream of the last engine out on the broad.
>
>
>

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