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Re: (erielack) Reflections of the death of Ray Ruff



Joe,

I'm a big Lackawanna fan, but the DL&W was, unfortunately, not good at all
at preserving its own history.  That Steamtown ended up in Scranton is in
many ways a supreme irony.  But a good irony.

Chuck



                                                                                                                                 
                      "Joseph A. Braun"                                                                                          
                      <joebraun_@_optonline                                                                                        
                      .net>               To:     erielack_@_Lists.Railfan.net                                                     
                      Sent by:            cc:                                                                                    
                      erielack-owner_@_list Subject:                                                                               
                      s.elhts.org                 (erielack) Reflections of the death of Ray Ruff                                
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                 
                      02/21/2006 10:56 AM                                                                                        
                      Please respond to                                                                                          
                      "Joseph A. Braun"                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                 



Until ten years ago there was always Nana's row house in Reading PA.  I
spent summer months there growing up. Later it was the very special spot to
visit with my wife and son. Nana died but Unky stayed in the house. Unky
died and the house had to be sold. That sale was the end of whole chunk of
history. Reading PA was not the same without that house to go to. Beside
the
family connection, the house was also the link to Harry Crow on one side, a
dispatcher for the Reading RR, whose office at the Outer Station I could
hang out in, and Mr. Gehris on the other side, a Reading engineer who once
hoisted me by prearranged surprise into an F-unit cab for a ride.

The passing of people like Ray Ruff is like a hunk of Nana's house
departing. We miss them for who they were but we also miss them for the
links that they were to the past, to memories of railroads that are
extinct,
to experiences we had that could NEVER be duplicated today. I extend my
sympathies to those who knew Ray Ruff. I offer my thoughts for those of us
who did not know him but mourn the passing of any link to a past that is
the
force behind the creating and maintaining of these society bonds of ours.

We really are a counter-culture in this country of ours that values the
junk-and-replace/demolish-and-build-anew mentality. The mayor of Piermont
NY
(his father was a LIRR man) saw a chance to save the town's old Erie depot
by having the town purchase it. That act of preservation almost cost him
his
re-election: the newer breed of moneyed townsfolk felt it was a waste to
save a derelict railroad station. Take a look now. The restoration is
proceeding with great momentum. The old cupola has been rebuilt and the
depot has a new metal roof already! - all because a handful of residents
still had vision and still had a sense of history.

If, all things being equal, we all lived in the UK, the odds are
nine-to-one
that a Lackawanna Hudson and Pocono and and an Erie K-5 and a Berk would be
sitting in the roundhouse in Steamtown. But we do not have the UK sense of
history here.

So let us honor Ray Ruff and those like him that we all know or knew by
keeping our organizations going and going. And we all ought to start saving
those nickels and dimes so the ELDCPS can pounce on one of those Phoebe
Snow
tavern-lounges whenever Metro-North decides it is no longer needed.

Joe Braun



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