(erielack) East Stroudsburg station rich history worth remembering

[Todd Hollritt <thollritt_@_yahoo.com>]

   Locals knew the "station house" as the hub of East Stroudsburg. In the late '40s, my friends and I used the station house to catch the bus home if weather was bad or didn't feel like walking after a movie at the Grand or the Plaza. Delaware Valley Bus Co. used the station as one of its bus stops.
   After the movie, we'd go to the station to wait for the bus to take us to North 5th Street.
There was a station master there at night. What a grand place — big, beautiful and built like a fortress. Always clean.
    If we were lucky, a train was there or coming in. What a thrill to stand on the platform and watch the huge iron horse and the activity of a working train station. We used to talk to the DL&W workers and the engineer and oiler man from the train. It was a great time.
Years later, I worked the third shift at Hughes Printing. In the early 50s trains still came through the station.
    I drove the mail truck for Hughes and another employee loaded the big mail sacks to take to the station, unloading them onto iron wheeled wagons on the platform. When the trains came in, they loaded the sacks to take to New York City. Then DL&W merged with the Erie Lackawanna and diesels started being used.
    The devastating 1955 flood about ruined the railroad business in the area. My uncle worked at the Round House in East Stroudsburg where the G.E. plant was later located, working on trains. One summer I worked as a section worker, or as they were called, "gandy dancers," laying new railroad ties from East Stroudsburg to Mount Pocono. I remember the DL&W well. Hate to see it go.
PAUL E. ACE
Stroudsburg
 
Todd ~




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