Re: (erielack) Mystery Photo Location

["Walter Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>]

Another thought - the West Pittston Delaware Ave station sat at a low spot 
(probably due to a mine cave-in) while the little Susquehanna Ave station 
was at a higher elevation. There's a dip in the land between Susquehanna 
Ave. and Exeter Ave. The railroad resolved this problem by merely raising 
the tracks on a fill. If you drive up Maple street & look at the track, you 
can see how much higher the track is than the road..especially in the 
center. This would point to a mine cave-in. The same holds true for  the 
area around the old station site & the swimming pool/little league field 
which are in a kind of bowl. I'm pretty sure about this area too, since the 
station was considerably lower than the tracks (about 2 feet or so). In 
fact, the windowsills of the agents office & the waiting room were level 
with the tracks whereas the floor of the station was level with the street. 
This would seem to show that the station & surrounding area sunk some time 
after the station was built and the railroad raised the tracks in order to 
avoid a rollercoaster effect with heavy trains. There was no need to raise 
the station, though........I now remember that the trackside door from the 
passenger waiting room had several steps to bring you up to track level.
Regards,
Walt Smith


>From: "Mary Portelli" <portelli101_@_comcast.net>
>To: "Walter Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: (erielack) Mystery Photo Location
>Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 21:49:46 -0500
>
>Hi again Walter,
>Thanks for the information.  I will check with the borough to see if they 
>can tell me about that land.  It's a good place to start although it would 
>be great to have the station plans as soon as possible before they get lost 
>or misplaced.
>
>Regarding Mr. Cox...  I recall reading something that he wrote recently in 
>the newspaper.  I believe that it was trolley info related to 
>Wilkes-Barre's Bicentennial this year so I guess that he is still around.   
>I don't know if you heard but they opened a time capsule from the 1906 WB 
>centennial and discovered a wonderful piece of film from that era.  The 
>county historical society is showing it at their spring banquet and I'm 
>hoping that it will be broadcast or sold.  It should be wonderful to see.
>
>Thank you so much.  I'll keep you filled in on what I am able to find out 
>about the station property.
>Mary
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Walter Smith" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
>To: <portelli101_@_comcast.net>
>Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 3:02 PM
>Subject: Re: (erielack) Mystery Photo Location
>
>
>>  A good source for station plans would probly be Pat McKnight , the park 
>>service superintendent at Steamtown. He has been cataloging many of the 
>>Railroad records and might be able to point u the right way.  I jsut had a 
>>thought..........the property might belong to the borough. Teh reason I 
>>say this is in many cases, local property owners & municipalities donated 
>>land to entice the railroads to build there. The original railroad through 
>>town was called the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg. The L&B was built prior to 
>>the civil war. The DL&W bought them out.
>>   When I worked out of Washington, DC for Amtrak, an interesting case 
>>arose over ownership of the ground where the Richmond, Fredericksburg, & 
>>Potomac had their huge Potomac Yard complex. This was right across the 
>>river from DC in Northern Virginia and just south of the Pentagon near 
>>National (Reagan) airport. As in many cases nowadays, the land became more 
>>valuable for development than as a rr yard. The railroad began shutting 
>>down operations and bulldozing the tracks when the Federal government 
>>stepped in and said in effect they wanted the land back. You see, it had 
>>been given to them during the civil war by the government (the papers had 
>>Abraham Lincoln's signature) to be used as a railroad yard and had a 
>>reverter clause if it was no longer used for railroad 
>>purposes.........OOOPSS. I never did hear how it was settled, but there 
>>are high rise buildings where the rr yard was. I worked with a young woman 
>>who was an engineer and one day she told me she was transferring to the 
>>real estate department of the railroad because that dept. was more 
>>important.
>>       I'd be curious to see what you find out, and I think the borough 
>>archives might be a good place to start. There's probably a 50 foot right 
>>- of - way thru town as well as a few parcels that are unnoticed by anyone 
>>but might be on the tax rolls.........maybe as 'exempt'.
>>       BTW, I just got the newsletter with the trolleycar article in it. I 
>>wonder if Mr. Cox is still alive in Forty Fort.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Walter E. Smith
>

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