(erielack) Another Piece of the DL&W Gone

["Joshua K. Blay" <joshua_@_joshuakblay.com>]

NOTE: This message had contained at least one image attachment.
To view or download the image(s), click on or cut and paste the following URL into your web browser:


http://www.Railfan.net/lists/listthumb.cgi?erielack-06-03-04

1.jpg (image/jpeg, 252420 bytes)
2.jpg (image/jpeg, 277964 bytes)
3.jpg (image/jpeg, 328806 bytes)
4.jpg (image/jpeg, 324693 bytes)
5.jpg (image/jpeg, 192597 bytes)

Despite being born 19 years after the DL&W ceased to exist, I am a huge fan
of the Lackawanna.  One my ambitious goals is to model Homer (on the
Syracuse line) as it was in the 1950s/1960s.  While its going to take a long
time to get a model going (and a lot of space), I have been doing a lot of
research.  Last fall I discovered that there was a sizeable remainder of the
Maxon & Starin coal trestle, located just north of the depot on the opposite
side.  What remained was the embankment, the concrete abutment and about 30'
of a bridge to the building itself.  Sometime after Maxon & Starin closed in
the 1950s/1960s the building was torn down and the bridge was dropped, with
one end still on the abutment and the other on the ground.  

 

This spring I went down and took measurements of the concrete work and
bridge, and I'm glad I did because within the past week the abutment has
been removed and the bridge pulled out.  Close to 40 years after the process
began, demolition of former customer of the Lackawanna is nearing
completion, probably thanks in large part to the increasing value of scrap
metal.  Pieces of the bridge have already been torched.  I've attached some
pictures.  For the modelers out there, now is the time to get out and get
measurements before things like this vanish forever.

 

#1

Looking south from the abutment.  The building itself was about 200' long.

 

#2

Looking at the bridge itself.  Note the remaining left rail.  Angled
supports on either side were probably supports for a wooden walk way with
planks bolted to the steel work.

 

#3

From this evening- basically same shot as #2 but abutment and bridge
removed.

 

#4

Viewed from the top of the embankment- abutment laying on the ground and the
bridge beyond.

 

#5

Bridge waiting for a torch to finish the work.  Most walkway supports on the
left have already been torched.

 

 

 

Joshua
http://www.joshuakblay.com

 

------------------------------