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(erielack) pecking order/members ages



I have enjoyed reading of the previous entries, so I thought I should join 
in:

Pushing 59..  EL operator/towerman/extra train dispatcher, New York division 
66 -- 72.

I lived one block off the DL&W Main (Boonton line) in West Paterson for my 
first four years. With a clear view to the tracks, I distinctly remember 
playing on the sidewalk in the summertime with my toys, while watching the 
trains go by.  At that time the freights were mostly steam, and I was 
particularly impressed by trains passing each other.  It was busy.  From our 
second-floor living room, I could also see the tracks.  At age 4, we moved 
to a house in Little Falls on Center Avenue, the last grade crossing 
westbound before the station.  It was on the great up to great notch.  The 
steam engines really held my attention.  I clearly can see the Pacific's 
pounding up the hill. I remember watching and wondering the what kind of 
engine would be on the next train, as the RS-2s appeared.  A work train and 
the Greenwood Lake haul still had steam at that time.

My elderly aunt's house on the west side of Garret Mountain in Paterson also 
had a view of the tracks, and we would go there every Sunday.  I would hear 
the home of the diesels and get excited, because they were "different."  I 
recall the diesels being mentioned by the old folks.  There was a coal dock 
on the north (railroad direction) side of the tracks just east of my my 
Aunt's street.

In the summer, we vacationed a lot in Brielle, and I would watch the smoke 
rise in Bay Head as  a K4 set out for Point Pleasent, then across the long 
bridge over the Manesquan. Early on, there were Babyface Baldwins on the 
CNJ, and sharks interspersed with the K4s.

When I was in the fourth grade, I began to get rides on the Greenwood Lake 
from Little Falls to Wanaque on a westbound train that typically had two 
RS2s and a few stillwells. A friend of my father was an Erie engineer, and 
my dad would tell me to walk to the station instead of walking to school 
that morning.  It was always a most pleasant surprise. The firemen would 
drop down and scoop me up, but I soon learned to scramble up on my own.

That pretty much comprises my steam memories and transition era 
experiences..

Oh yes, my brother-in-law was a clerk of the Susquehanna in Paterson and we 
would take an RS1 and coach, or later an RDC, to Susquehanna transfer and a 
day of shopping in New York City.

Regards,

Len VanderJagt


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