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(erielack) Operations: EL in the 60's



This business of trains being "reversed" in Croxton if they were detoured
through Scranton raises an interesting issue with TOFC, and I'd like to see
comments from the List member who used to work at the ramps there (I'm sorry
I don't remember who you are).

Prior to 1971, EL used circus-loading, so they tried to keep the cars on
NY-99/NY-100 etc pointed in the same direction. At 51st St in Chicago, the
ramps were at the north (timetable west) end of the tracks (except for one
track facing the opposite way for "turners"), and at Croxton presumably they
were also aligned this way. That's why most of the trailers you see in
photos prior to '71 are pointed west. When a TOFC train came in from the
Scranton side, the cars were facing the wrong way and would have to be wyed
before unloading. Ditto for "wrong way" cars received from connections at
Chicago or Buffalo, or cars from say, Akron, where the ramps were at the
east end of the tracks. When a manifest freight train was humped, the pig
flats would be classified by right way vs wrong way, which I gather could
take up to 24 hours. The latter would then have to be wyed (unless Croxton
also had a ramp facing the other way), consuming even more time. Westing's
"Erie Power" has a neat shot of an SW "turning the pigs" at Bergen Jct. on
p. 416.

Fast forward a few years. Second 100 arrives from Chicago, and UPS (and
other) tractors are waiting on the pad with engines running. As soon as it
stops, the packers begin unloading (without regard to which way the cars are
facing), cherry-picking the hottest trailers first, which are on their way
to the sorting facility within minutes. What a difference from circus
loading.

Paul B

When the Erie side was the principal freight route, a derailment which sent
everything via Scranton and over the hill at great notch would require
everything being "reversed" in Croxton with regard to blocking, with use of
the New Connection.





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