[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

Re: (erielack) HO DL&W F3 AB for sale/Freelance Layout question



> >I'm planning an O scale shortline layout based on the premise that the
> DL&W
> >abandoned the Old Main west of Port Morris and the Sussex Branch during
> the
> >Great Depression and that the lines were bought by Sussex, Warren and
> >Morris Counties (maybe around 1946?) and reorginized as a
> proto-Regional
> >railroad...what I'm wondering is: do you all think this is a plausible
> >theory/scheme...putting aside your obvious love of the Lackawanna, do
> you
> >think that the company might've -- in an alternate universe -- cast-off
> >some older lines in an effort to streamline and maintain solvency?  I'm
> >just curious...
> 
> Brian,
> 
> I don't think the DL&W would have been casting off the old road as of
> 1946
> as it not only served as a means of interchange with the PRR, LV and
> CNJ,
> but it still served as an emergency back-up line to protect the Cutoff.
> At
> least in 1946 anyway.  I would think that they were still doing well
> with
> the economic boom that followed WWII.  Now if you were talking about the
> later 1950's, I think you may have a more plausible theme.
> 
> Tom Schmieder

Brian,

In an alternate universe, you can make anything you want happen,
regardless of history.

I think the milk/freight traffic on the Sussex Branch was still doing
well enough to make it it's own way at that time.  True the passengers
were starting to trail off, but the coal and feed was still going by rail.

(My dad told me that during WWII the service men on furlough would
usually hitchhike up to Sussex County because the passenger service was
too inconvenient.  A serviceman in uniform usually got a ride from a
salesman coming into the county.

Dave

- -- 
The First Railroad in Sussex County New Jersey
http://DLW-SussexBranch.com
Monomania can be a good thing

	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	Sponsored by the ELH&TS
	http://www.elhts.org

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