(erielack) Eastbound Helper Cutoff at Tobyhanna

[William Romanyshyn <wromanyshyn_@_brennan-financial.com>]

I have a question about the cutoff of eastbound freight helpers at
Tobyhanna during the EL days.  Which crossovers were used at milepost 
110 to get the helpers over from Track 2 to Track 1:  the dispatcher 
controlled trailing point or the facing point hand thrown?  When helpers 
were pushing against the caboose, was the cutoff on the fly?  On those 
occasions when helpers were cut-in ahead of the caboose and the freight 
stopped to cut them off, and then pulled east to clear the crossovers, 
did they stop based on radio communication with the helpers or did they 
just proceed to the next automatic signal, about 1 mile east of the 
crossovers. And I assume the helper crossover to Track 1 and the back-up 
move to couple back onto the caboose was done after receiving the 
appropriate clearances from the Scranton dispatcher.  I have always 
found this operation interesting, but was never able to watch it because 
of not living in the area at the time.  And there does not seem to be 
any photos of this helper cutoff activity at Tobyhanna.

Bill Romanyshyn

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