RE: (erielack) Northern Electric

["Michael Connor" <mjconnor_rr_@_hotmail.com>]

WS
For a time the NE (or Scranton & Binghamton) was owned by the Binghamton 
Railways Company which did plan to link the two.  IIRC a power line linked 
the two properties but the gap from Montrose to Binghamton was never closed 
by rail.  MJC


>From: "Dad" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: "Dad" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
>To: "Erie Lackawanna Mail List" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>,        "Alfred 
>Runte" <Alfred_Runte_@_msn.com>
>CC: "Bill Volkmer" <bvolkmer_@_herzogcompanies.com>,        "Bill Robinson" 
><OverCrailway_@_aol.com>,        "Neil Weinberg" <laurellines@gmail.com>
>Subject: (erielack) Northern Electric
>Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:08:03 -0400
>
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>Northern_Electric_car.jpg (image/jpeg, 383x223 27834 bytes, BF: 3.07 ppb)
>N.E.carshops.jpg (image/jpeg, 322x213 15652 bytes, BF: 4.38 ppb)
>N.E.Carshops_south_end.jpg (image/jpeg, 323x154 15172 bytes, BF: 3.28 ppb)
>N.E.carshops_overall_view_from_the_west_side.jpg (image/jpeg, 322x109 11774 
>bytes, BF: 2.98 ppb)
>
>I just got my copy of the LAUREL LINES (NRHS _ L&WV Chapter) newsletter and 
>they are arrandging to have the book NORTHERN ELECTRIC reprinted. It's been 
>out of print for a while and is a fascinaing histry of this interurban 
>which ran from Scranton to Montrose. It followed the old DL&W until it got 
>to the village of Hop Bottom then veered into the mountains to reach 
>Montrose. I think the originaal plan was to reach Binghamton. I'd heard of 
>it before I worked on the DL&W side and when working west from Scranton on 
>a freight, you could begin to see traces after ur train crossed the 
>Nicholson viaduct. You'd look across the valley and especially when the 
>leaves were off the trees, you could see the remains of the right of way. 
>The view was especially good from the firemans side of the cab going North. 
>When we reached the town of Hopbottom (Foster on the RR), you could see on 
>the west side of the town a well-constructed concrete building that was out 
>of place among the frame houses!
>  . This was the station & substation of the Northern Electric. Like the 
>Lackawanna stations, it was of concrete and built for the ages. I kept 
>meaning to drive by and look at it up close, but somehow during my EL 
>career, I never did. In the late 90s, I was retired & living in Fla. and 
>came up to the old stomping grounds with a friend who was an Amtrak 
>engineer out of DC. I knew a guy from highschool in West Pittston who 
>worked at steamtown (Richard Kithen)  and the 3 of us made a pilgrimage up 
>to look at the remains. When we got to Hop bottom, a left turn took us up a 
>road that led to the old station. We approached up a driveway that had been 
>the ROW and stopped the car. There was an elderly man sitting in a rocker 
>on the platform who rose and said "Can I help you?" I realized that he was 
>blind and explained that I'd worked on the 'DL and finally had come to see 
>the old N.E. station. he called his wife and they very graciously took us 
>on a tour of their home. The ticket offi!
>  ce & bay window was their living room and they'd made the old !
>  station
>into a comfortable home. I asked about the back where the rotary converters 
>were for the substation and the lady said she painted there- an amateur 
>artist. When she took us in back you could see where the huge 
>motor-generator sets had been mounted. It was an interesting visit and upon 
>leaving, if you looked south, you could see the embankment going off thru a 
>canopy of trees toward Nicholson.
>         I DID stop and take some photos of the old carshops and powerplant 
>while working in Binghamton in 1968. They are here along with a picture of 
>one of the carsthat ran there.
>This is near Dalton and I don't know if they still exist. When I took these 
>fotos, some kind of electrical supply co. was using the buildings and there 
>were transformers, etc scattered around the grounds. If you drove North 
>from here, you'd come across the abutments where the old line crossed the 
>hiway and a little further on on the west side of the road was a 2-story 
>building that had been the offices. I've often wondered why the Scranton 
>Chapter of NRHS doesn't run a charter bus photo safari for traction fans to 
>see what used to be here. You could combine the fun of seeing the massive 
>viaducts of the DL&W & other RR remnants.
>
>Regards to all,
>Walter E. Smith
>
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