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Re: (erielack) pecking order/members ages



>
> I'm an Erie steam era fan, not EL and not current day.
>
> Chuck Yungkurth has been a tremendous source of information for me (too 
> bad he didn't grow up in Erie territory).
>
> Randy Brown is old enough to remember steam and Jerry Heckman saw steam 
> growing up but it was gone by the time he started working for the 
> railroad.
>
> Are there any other group members who actually saw Erie steam?

Well, does marine equipment count?

I'm a mere child of 57, and remember the Erie and Stillwells, but only 
vaguely the DL&W; my grandmother took me on a ferry to the old Erie terminal 
sometime in 1957 -- but didn't get to ride trains, only look at a few of the 
small number of commuter jobs/NYS&W left at that time. We also did the 
Hoboken DL&W ferry, but didn't get off to see the trains (ditto on the West 
Shore ferries).

I especially remember the E-L because of all those fantrips over interesting 
mileage in the early 1960s -- the round trip to Susquehanna with the movie 
runby at Starucca Viaduct with PAs, the Newburgh trip mentioned earlier in 
the week, and the "City of Northumberland" with PAs to/from Scranton and 
then Trainmasters to Northumberland. I also remember that the scheduling was 
off a bit -- we didn't arrive Northumberland until 4:30 PM (should have been 
back in Scranton by then!) and then arriving Hoboken sometime after 
midnight. (I remember also that the folks were pretty p**sed picking me up 
at Babylon at 3:15 AM, as I'd missed the last train on the Port Jeff Branch 
of the LIRR (12:21 AM in those days).

At one time or another rode every passenger route extant as of the early 
1960s, including before/after the rerouting of the Erie Mainline on the 
Boonie, all the commuter lines, and the then-obligatory Saturday round trip 
trip to Branchville; I never got west of Hornell, except for 
Youngstown/Cleveland in the Spring of 1970.

The E-L was always fun to ride. I do wish I'd had a better camera in those 
days, though.

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie ELHS #1296 



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