[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

Re: (erielack) Car Orders

Many depots had a small door built into the side of the building near the 
baywindow in most cases. This had a company phone inside of it and often another 
door opening into the Agent/Operators office. For crews that would do work after 
you went home you put all your paper for them, switch list, waybills, empty card 
tickets, etc in with the phone. The crew would open the switch lock on the door 
and get all their paperwork and instructions. Some places had a free standing 
phone box mounted on a pole and you would leave your paperwork there.
Bob Stafford
Marysville, WA




________________________________
From: JG at graytrainpix <graytrainpix_@_hotmail.com>
To: erielack_@_lists.railfan.net
Sent: Tue, December 14, 2010 6:02:32 PM
Subject: (erielack) Car Orders



Paul,

By the late 60s, the EL had closed a lot of stations, but generally kept enough 
so there would be at least one freight agent or clerk for the region worked by a 
particular local crew.  But there were exceptions; at Dundee in Passaic, for 
instance, there was no agent.  The Dundee industrial area was overseen by 
Paterson Yard, and a clerk from there would drive out to exchange paperwork and 
discuss the work with the conductor on the Drill.  I believe that Paterson also 
covered the Garfield area on the Bergen County Line, maybe up to BT (Passaic 
Jct., or really Coalberg Jct. to the Erie).  From BT up to Glen Rock, the agent 
at Radburn-Fair Lawn handled the work.  So, the Garfield Drill would work with 
two different offices in its daily routine. 


If you go back before 1966, there were evening drill crews like the 2nd AC Drill 
that roved around quite a bit (although assigned to Passaic and Paterson, it 
would venture up to Ridgewood and down the Bergen County Line sometimes); also 
there were weekend crews that went beyond their normal areas (e.g., I recall one 
Saturday seeing a drill crew working on the Carlton Hill branch, so I asked the 
conductor what job this was; terse response: "third Northern").  I'm not sure 
how these crews were directed, since the agency stations were mostly closed on 
weekends and after 4 pm.  Perhaps they reported to a clerk in Croxton, who would 
coordinate the next business day with the regular agent.  


I forget where the Greenwood Lake Line was handled from.  I do recall that there 
was an agent in the Bloomfield Freight House on the Erie's Orange Branch, to 
handle that Branch.  There may have been an agent in Boonton for Drew.  I think 
there was an agent in that modern shack at Mountain View, who handled the 
Boonton Line stub to Little Falls (lots of business there back then, kept the 
Little Falls Roustabout busy).  The Pompton Jct. station may have handled the 
Greenwood Lake line above Mountain View (for the Greenwood Lake Haul).  Dover 
had an agent who may have handled Lake Jct. to Denville.  The NJ&NY was handled 
by a group of clerks in the new Wood Ridge station, up thru Hackensack.  There 
were some open stations above Hackensack for whatever business there was up 
there, maybe Hillside.  


I think that the Northern Branch had agents or clerks at Ridgefield, and further 
up the line somewhere.  The Newark Branch had agents at Newark, and at Franklin 
Ave. in Nutley (he was kept busy by Hoffman LaRoche back then).  On the Main 
Line, there was an agent at Kingsland for the Kingsland Drill, then another 
agent at Clifton for Delawanna thru Clifton, then the Paterson area had those 
yard clerks. The Passaic Branch (remains of Erie Main Line) was also worked from 
Paterson, although there might have been an agent at the modern Clifton depot 
thru 1965 or so, dealing with what industry remained on the north side of 
Passaic (there were quite a few old, dying factories in that stretch, along with 
the Passaic team tracks and the meat processing place). 


I don't recall ever seeing a local crew with a teletype printed list like the 
road freights had (e.g., the Paul Brezicki collection of road freight info as 
summarized so well on the ELHS web site).  They may have gotten a hand-written 
list from the yard, in addition to their waybill stack; the trains were 
generally 25 cars or less (although the NJ&NY "671" Drills could be up to 40 
cars at times).  But usually they made up their switching plans "in the field", 
in consultation with the agent or clerk responsible for the area they were 
working.

I never worked a station, so I'm just passing on what I observed or was told.  
Too bad about Ron Wallace's passing this year, he knew all this stuff by heart.  
These are the kinds of daily operational details about the EL that are slipping 
away from us as time passes.  Mea culpa, I'm just as guilty as anyone in 
ignoring them and not documenting them, when I had the chance.

Jim Gerofsky



Very interesting! This is similar to a "switch list" that many model railroaders 

use, although those usually consolidate information for all towns along a 
local's route. I assume towns that didn't have an agent had adjacent town agents 

write car orders for the former? Did local crews leave with any switching 
paperwork at their point of origin, or did they have to stop at the respective 
agent's locations to get these car orders?

    - Paul

                        

    The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
    http://EL-List.railfan.net/
    To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html





	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	http://EL-List.railfan.net/
	To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------