(erielack) FW: [AnthraciteRR] January 1930, Scranton Listing of Passenger Operations

[Paul Daniels <vivdan_@_earthlink.net>]

Here's a little more info. on CNJ / RDG / DL&W service in Scranton.

                                                     Regards,

                                                      Bob Daniels
- ----------
From: J1025w_@_aol.com
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 01:38:47 EST
To: vivdan_@_earthlink.net
Subject: Re: FW: [AnthraciteRR] January 1930, Scranton Listing of Passenger
Operations

Bob,

    Here's the complete run-down on this and the history of the sleeping
cars in question. Please forward it to the concerned party.
    The Phila.-Scranton sleeper was on Pullman Line # 2177, via  301/306 The
Interstate Express.  In Scranton, it went to and from the CNJ station, not
the DL&W station. I have a Reading Company master tt from 1933 that
indicates this. I also have 1934 CNJ master tt, which it doesn't say.
However, the station in Scranton indicated, is the same one that the
Scranton and Philadelphia Flyers used. That of-course was non-other than the
CNJ station.
The 1931 Official Guide of the Railways indicates that the Scranton and
morning Philadelphia Flyers, the Scranton Express and afternoon Philadelphia
flyer, and the Scranton section of the Interstate Express (to include the
Phila-Scranton sleeper, all used the same station on Lackawanna Ave. in
Scranton. That again would have been the CNJ station and not the DL&W
station.
     It can seem confusing, because if you have ever been to Scranton you
will realize that there were four stations on Lackawanna Ave; at the time.
They were the CNJ passenger station, the CNJ freight station, the D&H
passenger station (where the Martz bus terminal now is) and the DL&W
passenger station.
      In my conversation with Warren Crater about  30 years ago on the topic
of CNJ/ Rdg sleepers, he recalled from the 1940's and 1950's, that the
Phila-Syracuse sleeper was the one that went to the DL&W station in Scranton
along with the mail and express section of the Interstate Express, after the
CNJ Scranton section was separated at Taylor. The thru section went to the
DL&W station for the sole purpose of  picking up a few DL&W cars that came
in from Hoboken, which included a Hoboken- Syracuse sleeper. (The two
sleepers that were assigned to the Hoboken-Syracuse line were 10-2-1's.
Their names were SCENIC FALLS and SCENIC SLOPE. According to E-L Pullman car
historian Joe Welsh, they were the only 2 DL&W heavyweight sleepers that
were painted in gray and maroon. By the way, you can buy these in the
Bachmann Spectrum series in HO, but you have to decorate them yourself and
relocate a few boxes and tanks on the underbody)
    As for Pullman Line #2177 (Phila-Scranton via the Interstate Express
CNJ/ RDG), according to Elbert Simon, it was a Reading Company sponsorship.
The line commenced on 1/1/26 but was cut back to operate between Phila and
Wilkes-Barre on 9/27/36. There was a strange alteration that happened when
this change took place. As of 9/27/36, the westbound Wilkes-Barre sleeper
operated via the Interstate Express on the CNJ/ RDG exclusively, from Phila
to Wilkes-Barre, but for the easbound trip, the car was drilled over to the
LV station and departed on LV #4 from Wilkes-Barre to Bethlehem. At
Bethlehem, it was transferred over to the waiting eastbound Interstate
Express for the duration of the trip to Phila. Up until this time, the LV
had a 14 section sleeper which had operated between Phila and Wilkes-Barre.
When that was eliminated in 1936, Pullman made up for it by cutting back the
CNJ/RDG  sleeper service from Scranton, and then splitting up the service of
line #2177 between the CNJ and the LV. It was rather a strange arrangement
but that's how it worked.  Line 2177 was completely eliminated on 1/14/40.
  There had been two 12&1 sleepers assigned to Line 2177. There names were
CAMMACK and HOLLISTON. Both cars were built by Pullman in 1911 originally
for the NYC. On 1/1/26 Pullman re-assigned them to the Interstate Express,
between Scranton and Phila. In July of 1936, they underwent modernization
and received air-conditioning. They would have looked identical to the
OTTAWA and the RAYMILTON after their new face lifts and the application of
the typical 12&1 arched bubble roofs for the a.c.
      As you know Bob, from my manuscript, the OTTAWA and RAYMILTON were the
two sleepers which were assigned to Pullman line# 2178 Phila-Syracuse via
the Interstate Express from 1/1/26 to 6/15/53. In 1948, the OTTAWA went to
Reading Company ownership and the RAYMILTON went to DL&W ownership. For a
brief period during 1950, the RAYMILTON was withdrawn and slated for
retirement. It had been replaced by a pool car named WILLMAR. However, the
advent of the Korean War changed all that and the RAYMILTON ended up back in
service on the Intetstate Express, and the WILLMAR went somewhere else. On
6/15/53, the OTTAWA and the RAYMILTON were replaced by 2 NYC 8 sec. 5sbr
sleepers named ORCHARD FARM and ORCHARD LAKE. On 1/29/55 these were replaced
by 2 NYC 8 sec. 5 dbr sleepers named CLOVER LAND and CLOVER PLAINS. On
8/10/57, Pullman Line 2178 was eliminated.
  The final dispostion of the ORCHARD and CLOVER cars was that they were
sold to the Mexican Railway. The OTTAWA and RAYMILTON went into governemt
storage from 6/15/53 to 1960. In 1960, they were released back to the
railroads who owned them and shortly thereafter scrapped.

Joe Wirzbicki



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