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Re: (erielack) pecking order/members ages
I'm age 57. I don't specifically remember regular steam. My RR interest
came from watching the nightly activity of the "night haul" from Newburgh
from my home in Washingtonville. When the leaves were off, I could watch
it's progress from my bedroom window, approaching town, then switching cars
around the small yard there. The lights of the diesel and of the crewmen
moving back and forth were mysterious. What were they doing? Where were
they going? In the daytime I would go down there and look at the freight
cars. One time I saw a car from the "Lake Superior and Ishpeming RR" What
was an Ishpeming? A fish?
Other local wonders included the pedestrian "subway" under the tracks at
Monroe, and the station there where we would sometimes pick up a crate of
oranges from a friend in Florida sent by Railway Express. Also the tower in
Middletown which controlled the crossing gates on North St. by Green's
department store. And the many trucks jamming the cobblestone streets by
the waterfront in Newburgh, transferring freight from the Erie freight
house. And of course Moodna viadust.
My first train ride was from Binghamton (grandparents lived in Johnson
City) to Middletown in 1956 on the Lake Cities. It was scheduled for about
3 am. We had called a taxi to get us there, but arriving at the station,
were told the train was long gone! Great dismay, until we discovered the
taxi had taken us to the Lackawanna station! The taxi hadn't left, so we
got back in to go to the nearby Erie station. I think I slept most of the
way, but while at the station, I got my hands on my first timetables.
Finally I began to figure out what the railroads were all about, an
experience which continues to this day.
Russell Hallock
The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
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