>The book is part 1 of a five-volume (!) set of photos from Vince Purn and >John Knauff. Never heard of 'em? That's because they were members of the New >York Railroad Enthusiasts, a pretty tight-knit group as it would seem. Their >collection is now being published in these Trackside volumes. The RRE was one of the 3-4 major railfan groups in the NY area until the early '60s. They were known for running lots of great fan trips, and they maintained (and still maintain) the Williamson Library at Grand Central. The Williamson had all the current rail history books, plus Williamson's personal library -- he was President of the NY Central. It made a for a great and cozy clubhouse, and was open on Tuesdays and Fridays from around 6 to 10. It was carpeted with a former red carpet from the Twentieth Century Limited. Members and other railfans would come by and show off the slides or movies they'd just gotten back from the camera store or in the latest Kodak mailer. I'd catch the 4:30 train on the LIRR after school and be there by about 6:15, and usually catch the 10:30 home. The RRE, Railroadians and R&LHS were apparently one group back in the 1930s -- and split over the issuee of fan trips -- one faction wanted to visit engine terminals; one faction wanted other railroad facilties and yards, and a third wanted unusual and scenic "off the beaten path" routings. Many years ago, I was told that the "last straw" was a trip on the DL&W which saw everyone detrain at Taylor Yard where they had the run of the place, while the locomotive crowd had been expecting to spend the day exploring the locomotive shops. Oh how nice it would be to have the luxury of battling **that** one out in such a way as for all three factions to be satisfied -- if note sated -- with trips today. BTW -- there's a nice "Lake Cities" drumhead on display in Williamson. If you'd ever like to take a look around, the RRE has a yearly open house, but even better is the monthly meeting of the NY R&LHS Chapter (all six of us, though twice that number showed up for myt recent NYS&W show <g>). Cheers, Jim Guthrie The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
This HTML page is © 2000-2008 Blue Moon Online System and The Railfan Network
This page and the data contained therein may not be reproduced
for any form of commercial use without the explicit permission
of J. Henry Priebe Jr. or his duly authorized agent.