<Long Post> I was an extra towerman during the summer of 1970. I first qualified at Dover with Rich Pennisi. During the middle of the summer I posted at West End. West End terrified me so much that I bid in third trick Denville just to get away from it. My favorite regular move at Denville was to cross #604 from track 1 over to track 2 on the M&E. It was basically the only time I had to use the crossover from track 2 to track 2 M&E. 604 was about 11 cars long, and occupied all three tracks at the same time. It also didn't stop at Denville, so it made the move at a good clip. At that time, track 2 (Boonton Branch) continued on through Denville down to Rainbow Lakes (just west of where the present Boonton Line crosses Route 46). There it ended and converged into track 1. Track 1 went through Denville and on to Boonton. Track 3 started at Denville and then went on to Boonton as well. Here's a diagram: http://72.148.42.113/EL/OldDenville.bmp One particular day train 1002 (or 1000, I forget which) was on the bell. The Boonton Drill hit the bell on track 3 at Rainbow Lakes. Normally, I'd just bring him up track 3 all the way to the tower, and then send him on his way to tie up at Dover. On this day, however, track 3 had cars stored on it just east of the tower. There was some time pressure, since the parade was about to start and trains would be coming down both tracks from Dover. In that case, the drill would have to tie up at Denville, which was just NEVER done. So I lined the drill up to track 1 at Rainbow Lakes. 1002 pulled into the station and made his station stop. The distant signal for Rainbow Lakes on track 2 was just a little way east of the tower. So the conductor, seeing the approach signal, started yelling at me from the platform. At that time, things had just cleared up at Rainbow Lakes, so I lined up 1002. When I poked my head out of the window, the conductor commenced yelling some more and waved his hand towards the distant signal, which was now at approach medium. So I said "WHAT?". He waved some more, looked at the signal, realized that he was all lined up, waved to the flagman, and away they went - a minute late because he had been standing around on the platform yelling at me. Just as 1002 started to pull, here comes the drill (lite), going by the tower up track 1, like a rocket, with the throttle wide open. What a sound those geeps could make. Anyway, I enjoyed that morning immensely. Even the first trick towerman couldn't ruin it. John Bobinyec The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org To Unsubscribe: http://lists.elhts.org/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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