Re: (rshsdepot) Re:SIRT

["Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

rshsdepot
On discountenances-whatever happened to the mixed trains that I think the
West Point line ran into at least the 70/s? And the Gila Bend train? I don't
think these perpetuity agreements hold any more..

Paul
- -----Original Message-----
From: James R. Guthrie <jguthrie_@_pipeline.com>
To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net <rshsdepot@lists.railfan.net>
Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 6:35 PM
Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) Re:SIRT


>rshsdepot
>I'm not usually active on this list, but here's an answer to a
>question posed to me on NYC West Side Line service that might add some
>insight:
>
>>Question:  what kind of passenger service was there on this line and
>when
>>did it end.  I remember running into a former Supt. of Marine
>Operations
>>for the NYC who told m there was a once a week passenger train into
>the
>>early 40's that was run for franchise purposes.
>
>Cleaning out the mailbox, I found that I don't believe I responded . .
>.
>
>The passenger service appears to have "gone away" more or less without
>notice. This was one of two local operations The other see below) that
>alledgedly still was rideable when I was a teen. There were always
>some ERA or RRE guys that had claimed to have just ridden the line on
>the once-a-week train that allowed the public to ride.
>
>Keep in mind that all of the mail trains to 30th Street carried a
>rider coach, but that one had to be in the right place at the right
>time to board -- according to the guys that claimed to ride. Whether
>or not this was officially permitted or that conductors merely were
>figuring that someone boarding at Harmon for 30th St knew where they
>were going is not something I'm dead certain of . . .
>
>The other operation was the B&O/SIRT. There had never ben an official
>discontinuance of service between Arlington and Cranford, so the story
>always circulated that this was rideable if one was in the right place
>at the right time. One of the guys who claimed to have done this
>actually had a CFR showing he had ridden the train -- though in the
>SIRT case -- a caboose.
>
>[The EJ&E offered mixed train service in the same spirit, by the way.]
>
>Perhaps there never was a discontinuance, and CSX is obligated to run
>a train for passengers on the line to this day.
>
>Cheers,
>Jim
>
>
>
>It was written:
>
>
>> rshsdepot
>> Living in Cranford I did some research through microfilm copies of
>the local
>> town newspaper.  There was only a brief period, I believe in the
>1800s, when
>> the B&O ran experimental service between Cranford and Staten Island.
>I
>> believe this was only done for a month or two.
>>
>> I believe I have a copy of the original article someplace.  I'll try
>to dig
>> it up and I'll post the details.
>>
>> Bernie Wagenblast
>

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