Phil Albano wrote: > I think that sharp ballast line is not retouched and heres > why. My grandfather worked for the Erie from 1912 - 1959 and > was section foreman at Lima, Ohio. Like a lot of old time > railroaders he took a lot of pride in his work. He told me > they used a long piece of string as a guide to make a perfect > straight edge on the ballast. Keep in mind during most of his > career the M of W Dept. did a lot of work by hand as the > modern track machinery of today did not exist . > > I realize that knife edge ballast line looks too perfect so > it is understandable why some would think the photo was > retouched. Here is a photo my grandfather took during the > 1920s at MP 59 which is about 7 miles west of Lima, Ohio. > This photo is the original yellowing fading print that is > unaltered and has never been near a computer until today! > Show this to the guys in your local M of W dept. and tell > them the ballast edge was lined up with a string - they won't > believe it but it should be good for a few laughs. I tend to agree with Phil - remember, this photo was taken in the 1950s, when railroads still nitpicked their Rights-of-Way, and you can probably bet that the Erie knew this was going to be the location of the publicity photo and had crews going out and doing track duty ahead of time to make it pristine. - Paul The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------
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