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RE: (erielack) JULY CALENDAR PICTURE

OK, Mike......here's another funny story that'll appeal to the guys in 
Binghamton area........I hope they don't get in trouble over it.

     In the days of yore when I worked the north local, (to Cortland) we got 
in late in the afternoon.
BY tower (which I saw posted was recently demolished..........WHY???) would 
put us down the track which ran under the coal chutes. With reason this was 
called the 'coal chutes' track. it went right under one of the 2 openings on 
the big concrete (like everything on the DL side) structure. Running at 
restricted speed, I noticed something in the big pit just south of the 
chutes. It was a semaphore and the blade still had the colored lenses 
intact. The pipe was there too with it's little pointy cap. At the time I 
had a Ford F-150 with a long bed and as soon as Norm Orcutt & I put the 
engine on the sand track, I hopped in my truck and drove up the dirt road to 
the coalchutes where I spent the next 30 minutes or so dragging the 
semaphore and it's pole out of the pit. I hadn't realized how heavy they 
were and the old F-150 was sitting low as I (slowly) left the yard & went 
south on Conklin avenue then up the hill behind Lawrences Dairy to my house. 
I called a train buff whom I'd seen taking pictures around the station and 
asked him if he was interested. He sure was, and for $10.00 I drove out to 
near the Vestal Plaza and unloaded it in his front yard where he informed me 
he intended to place it in concrete. His wife was standing in the front door 
with her arms folded not looking too happy. I never saw the guy again but 
Chuck Yungkurth emailed me about 'hanging aroundd the DL&W station with some 
other guys taking pictures' and I thought maybe HE'D know him. ANYBODY know 
someone from Vestal who hung around taking pictures in the early 
60s?????????  In addition, I'll mention that the pit south of the coal 
chutes was used by M of W and Signal depts. to dispose of junk like this old 
semaphore. When I got the semaphore, there was a big-old trunk looking like 
a 'Pirates of the Carribean' treasure chest. I almost took it too, but after 
retreiving the semaphore, I was licked. It might be interesting to go there 
with a metal detector but I'd watchout for HOMELAND SECURITY.   ANOTHER 
HINT.......just south of the employee parking lot across the tracks from BY 
tower was an overgrown brushy area. I'd found a clear glass lantern with 
DL&W RR stamped on it on our engine and it now reposes on my desk here. When 
I found it, I showed it to the head brakeman who said "Jesus, Walt, if you 
like those old markers and things, you ought to get a machete and look in 
there(indicating the brushy area) because old man Foley would throw markers 
and lanterns in there if they didn't work.
       It was Foley's theory that this would encourage the guys in the 
storeroom to clean & fuel the lanterns and trim the wicks. God knows what 
condition this stuff would be in after 40 winters of snow & rain, but for 
whatever it's worth, good luck.

Regards to all,

Walt Smith


>From: Michael Sheehy <njnyrr_@_optonline.net>
>Reply-To: "EL Mail List" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
>To: EL Mail List <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
>Subject: RE: (erielack) JULY CALENDAR PICTURE
>Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:11:22 -0400
>
>That's great!  Would love to hear more stories like that...
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Walter Smith [mailto:wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 11:24 PM
>To: erielack_@_lists.elhts.org
>Subject: RE: (erielack) JULY CALENDAR PICTURE
>
>
>
>   My feeling is that they needed ROUNDUP for the weeds..........seriously,
>guys, when we were running up the NJ & NY line(1960s), there were several
>places where the homeowners had billboard size signs next to the ROW saying
>things like "PLEASE - NO WEEDSPRAYER ON OUR FLOWERS/ROSES/ETC". I guess the
>EL had killed off their trellises near the tracks.
>    That'll teach them to grow FLOWERS near the railroad.
>
>Regards
>
>Walt Smith
>
>
> >From: "Paul R. Tupaczewski" <paultup_@_comcast.net>
> >Reply-To: "EL Mail List" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
> >To: "'EL Mail List'" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
> >Subject: RE: (erielack) JULY CALENDAR PICTURE
> >Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2007 12:04:05 -0400
> >
> >The one thing that really got to me about this photo is the relative
> >lack-of-maintenance on the ROW here. It strikes me as a melancholy 
>photo...
> >:(
> >
> >	- Paul
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > Not much has been said about the the July picture.  It is
> > > interesting.  It is one of the few shots I have ever seen of
> > > an uninteruppted Erie passenger consist.  All Green/Gray and
> > > Green from PA through.  Not hard to do when there are only
> > > three cars.  The calendar says this is train 26 and it
> > > probably is considering the baggage car.  It could have been
> > > a PJ train carrying bulk mail.  I'm not sure how mail was
> > > handled on that line.  If it is 26, EL is not very concerned
> > > about accomodating passengers.  Why not at least use one of
> > > the Erie thru-line reclining seat coaches?  The Stillwells
> > > were airconditioned but the seats weren't very good for long
> > > trips.  It would have been hard to try and sleep in them.  I
> > > wonder how many passengers actually transferred to 26 at
> > > Binghamton.  26 was probably just another commuter train
> > > picking up passengers at Port Jervis and Middletown for a
> > > quick trip to Hoboken.
> > >
> > > Ed Montgomery
> > >
> >
> >
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