a footnote to your story
One New Years day, I was working East Buffalo Tower on the DL&W in the
1950's. I noticed a well dressed gentlemen coming up the stairs of the
tower. He came and said he was Perry Shoemaker, president of the railroad.
He said he just stopped in to wish me a happy new year.
Art Tross
At 02:50 PM 10/4/04 EDT, you wrote:
>In a message dated 10/2/04 11:52:42 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>curtis.brookshire_@_verizon.net writes:
>
>> Not really sure if Mr. Shoemaker helped to "found" the New York Society of
>> Model Engineers. They originated in Manhattan in 1926, and didn't move to
>> Hoboken until the late 1940s. He may have had a key role in helping the
>> club relocate in Hoboken. Of course, 1926 is well within his lifespan.
>
>The last line of my note mentioned White's involvement in NYSME, not
>Shoemaker's, and I wasn't aware that group began in 1926. I had seen some
notes in
>the NYSME collection and other written accounts about White's involvement in
>bringing the club to Hoboken Terminal and there wasn't much mention of the
club
>before that time (common when a high-profile member takes charge). I had
it in
>my mind that the name and group were formalized in Hoboken and I shouldn't
>have written that last line. White started on the Erie in 1913 and left
in 1938
>to become the VP on the Virginian. He became president of the DL&W in
>January 1941, and he's one of the DL&W presidents I admire most as he was
about my
>age at that time, 43 (I'm 44).
>
>
>
>> On another note, this on Mr White and Mr Shoemaker being railfans. I've
>> always heard Mr White described as "no nonsense", "hardnosed" and "a
>> practical businessman".
>
>And your point? They were businessmen, and they were railfans in the
context
>of their position and times. Both were skilled enough as managers they
could
>have been making much more money in other industries than the shrinking one
>in which they preferred.
>
>Consider the times. White was interested in every aspect of railroading,
>from track to tariffs and taxes to management and politics. It was his
passion.
>When he got to the top jobs of his career he traveled in his business cars,
>was socially active in the industry (befriending so many other railroad
execs.)
>and did what he could to keep his railroad looking better than those around
>him. He had his pride. In his first year he reacquainted the world with
Phoebe
>Snow by putting her name on boxcars, helping to end an era of bland boxcars
>that followed the ban on billboard reefers. He carefully planned a practical
>and colorful dieselization, and decided to purchase new passenger
equipment to
>create the flashiest train in the East, and one that could stand up to any
>operating by his counterparts on other roads. (The Erie, more wisely as it
turned
>out, chose to update older equipment rather than spend on new.). Yes, White
>had to make a lot of cuts, but at the end of WWII all railroading was
tired and
>worn out, and traffic and revenues severely dropped.
>
>
>> Taber's book mentioned that White took no action to
>> preserve any late Lackawanna steam, the 4-4-0 in the National Museum of
>> Transport and the 2-6-0 that ended up on the Black River and Western being
>> the only engines not scrapped. Was there any effort on the DL&W to
preserve
>> any of the modern locomotives, and if so what happened?
>
>Taber also mentioned elsewhere that the railroad did offer locomotives to
>communities along its lines. No one accepted except Scranton, which
required
>that the railroad move a 4-8-4 up to Nay Aug Park.
>
>In those times organized railfans were rare, and the ability to deal with
>preserving equipment was unheard of. Too, we today on average are so much
more
>prosperous than our counterparts in the '30s, '40s and '50s. White's
>predecessor Davis set aside the 952 for the World's Fair, and the railfans
helped
>restore it. In 1939 the R&LHS asked for it, against Taber's wishes, and
the DL&W
>quickly gave it to them. The R&LHS had no home or resources to take care
of a
>locomotive, so the railroad was straddled with it for years. The R&LHS
finally
>found a home for it, on a siding in Bath, N.Y., where it languished. (Taber
>had already carefully arranged with operating managers for the railroad to
keep
>and take care of the engine; the R&LHS requested ownership behind Taber's
>back. The issue escalated to the point where Taber and his supporters
left the
>R&LHS and formed the Railroadians of America.)
>
>Shoemaker joined the DL&W about the same time as White and rose to VP
>Transportation during the meat of dieselization, becoming president in
1952. In our
>talks about the subject, he confirmed that there was an effort to set aside
>some modern steam, but that the railroad didn't have the space or the
place, and
>that some of the responses were laughable. Back then railroads did
everything
>and took care of anything railroad related, including crossings and bridges.
>The receptive towns expected that the railroad would take care of placing
>engines wherever, and some felt the railroad was forcing the towns to take
these
>things.
>
>Back then, too, the shareholders relied on rail stocks for dividends and
>income. Revenues were dropping, expenses and taxes were rising and somehow
the
>railroad had to continue to find ways justify a dividend so that many
>stockholders wouldn't sell off thus dropping the price the stock. Expenses
were watched
>closely and the prevailing feeling of the Board was that they couldn't spend
>big money on something so frivolous and saving a locomotive that makes money
>when sold as scrap. I've read letters, some in the Tri-State collection,
that
>Perry wrote to stockholders explaining the precarious finances of the '50s,
>including one lengthy one to one of DL&W's larger individual stockholders.
The
>feelings in such letters was pretty poignant to me, knowing the man and
what the
>industry and the company was going through, and seeing that the stockholder
>didn't know any of it, that she relied on that dividend and could get it
with
>utility stocks. Perry mentioned that he wrote many of those, and did it
>personally as he felt the stockholders deserved his attention.
>
>About the preserved engines: Perry summered near Bath, N.Y., after WWII and
>one day stumbled onto the 952 rotting in the weeds off the side of a side
road.
>He watched it for years. When the town of Owego asked the railroad to
>participate in its centennial it was Shoemaker's idea to dress up that
engine for
>the event. He worked out the details with the R&LHS and had it fixed up in
>Scranton and Keyser Valley, backdating it to look like a much older mother
>hubbard. I'd have to look up the date of this, but ca. 1949 or '50 seems
right and
>there may have been one other display (will again have to check my long
>packed-away notes). After the event the display returned to Scranton, and
once again
>the R&LHS had no place to put it and no desire to work on it. In one of his
>letters to me Perry said he "couldn't bear to send it back to Bath," so he
kept
>it out of sight.
>
>During the planning for the DL&W centennial in 1951 he suggested using it
>again in Scranton, which was done. Once again, the event passed. Perry
got the
>top job, and the 952 in 1952 had no home and no one to care for it. Perry
began
>soliciting the few museums that existed. The only takers were St. Louis NMOT
>and the B&O Museum. Perry wanted promises that the locomotive would be kept
>under cover, in operating condition and with provisions to return it to its
>home area (the exact working of those terms is not at my fingertips) on
occasion.
>The B&O Museum would not guarantee those terms, St Louis did, and Perry
>worked out a "permanent loan," and arranged and paid for the move over the
NKP that
>included the original parts removed in the backdating process. In one of
his
>letters to me, Perry said "I was more concerned for finding a home for 952
>than being legally correct," that referring to the arrangement between
R&LHS and
>NMOT.
>
>Shoemaker worked over and above the call to preserve that engine, and he was
>very active since the late 1980s in trying to get St. Louis to do right by
its
>agreement. Right now the locomotive is cosmetically restored and I think
>kept indoors. So if it weren't for the efforts of Perry up until the
moment he
>died, and others, that engine would have rotted again in St. Louis, very
likely
>tumbling off of that hillside during one of many heavy summertime rains.
>
>The 565 only survives because it had been sold to a short line then several
>collectors over the years. It's still embroiled in various battles and will
>likely never run again. Surely the Lackawanna deserved better.
>
>Shoemaker and White certainly were railfans, perhaps not by the terms in
>which we accept today. Shoemaker, after the EL went to the CNJ and his DL&W
>business car went with him. What railroad president other than White
collected
>observation car tail signs? Not even Barriger, perhaps the most unbashed
railfan
>of all railroad presidents.
>
>White's life was cut short while returning the EL to fiscal success, but
I've
>wondered what he might have done with his retirement, or what he'd have done
>come Conrail. Knowing a little about him, I'd like to think his independent
>spirit and cash-positive EL would have avoided Conrail and joined the D&H
as a
>partner with D&H's trackage rights. Imagine the EL/DH competing Montreal to
>Philly, New York to Chicago.
>
>Shoemaker after retirement formed a firm that was exploring a modern steam
>locomotive, with a concept more practical and less flamboyant than ACE 3000.
>
>Since so many sent me notes off list asking about Shoemaker's life, here are
>a couple of tid bits. As VPO he lived in Mountain Lakes overlooking the
>railroad. His road foremen used to kid him that he only lives there so
that he
>could watch for smoke. (Black smoke from the steam engines was a no no.)
Perry
>didn't say that wasn't true as he loved the sight of steam in stride. After
>becoming president, he bought a house in Summit that's still there today.
It's
>the big white house with the tennis court on the north side of the tracks
west
>of the station. The tracks are on a compensated curve so the house always
>looks on an angle from the train, but it's plainly visible. From his
suburban
>homes he commuted to 140 Cedar Street via regular m.u. electric trains and
took
>the ferry to Barclay Street, just like everyone else. And he was
well-known for
>visiting the employees at the stations. My favorite story is from Joe
>Monahan who was working Summit Tower. A suited gentleman walked into his
tower one
>morning and just watched and looked out the window. Joe was friendly, but
in
>a short time asked the gentleman to leave, that he could get in trouble for
>having a visitor. Perry introduced himself, and Joe still tells that
story with
>pride and affection for Mr. Shoemaker.
>
> ....Mike Del Vecchio
>
>
>
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