Re: (erielack) pecking order/members ages

["Elaine and John Redden" <ejredden_@_frontiernet.net>]

44 years old here.  Too young for steam, and too young for the Erie, but the mix of covered wagons, geeps and 2nd generation power on EL freights really hooked me.

Grew up in Hinsdale, NY, where about half of the classrooms of Hinsdale Central School faced the Erie Lackawanna mains.  I was "encouraged" to pay less attention to trains and more attention in class on at least two occasions that I can recall - in 4th grade, and 7th grade.

The only "Erie Lackawanna" steam that I recall was a light engine move of RDG 2102, that was masquerading as Delaware & Hudson 302.  One Sunday morning in 1973, my Dad and I were at our usual train watching spot near X Tower in Olean.  A W/B freight stopped to switch the small yard there, and an old engineer climbed down out of the cab, came over to us and said, "There's a steam engine coming out of Hornell!"  He was actually excited about the event.  We went home, loaded the camera with film, and waited.  Sure enough, a couple of hours later, the 302 / 2102 came rolling into town, under its own power.  It proceeded to Salamanca, and was, to my knowledge, the last steamer to use the Erie turntable there.  It then continued down the Bradford Division, for temporary storage at Brockway.

John R.


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