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RE: (erielack) Looking Back

Great memory, Ed! Thanks for sharing with the list!

		- Paul


> -----Original Message-----
> From: erielack-owner_@_lists.elhts.org
> [mailto:erielack-owner_@_lists.elhts.org]On Behalf Of 
> Montgomery, Edward T
> Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:57 PM
> To: erielack_@_lists.railfan.net
> Subject: (erielack) Looking Back
> 
> 
> It is January 30th and being a high school teacher I am at 
> the semester
> break.  All of a sudden the memory came to me.  On or about 
> this date 30
> years ago I was teaching at Waite High School in Toledo.  I 
> knew that it
> was just a matter of time for the EL to be absorbed into Con 
> Rail (as it
> was known then) so after I completed my grades, I got in my red and
> white Chevy Blazer and drove the 100+ miles to Cleveland.  I wanted to
> see the Cleveland-Youngstown commuter run.  It was a long trip because
> in 1976 not all of I-90 was complete going into Cleveland.  When I got
> to the Terminal Tower area I discovered that the center of 
> the city was
> pretty run down.  No urban renewal yet.  I found a place on a side
> street, parked and ran over to the entrance of the terminal.  Higbees
> was there and still running.  The station was impressive and 
> it was easy
> to tell that it was made for a lot of people movement but by then was
> quite entry.  I worked my way down to a level where I could see the
> rapid transit lines and a lot of stairs going down to tracks. 
>  Only one
> was lit with two EL trainmen greeting people.  I went downstairs and
> there was Train 28.  All of the other platforms were dark but 28 was
> waiting to leave.  I decided to board and walked the train.  
> The Phoebe
> Snow coaches looked like they had been well cared for.  On 
> the bulkheads
> at the end of one car was a collection of newspaper articles 
> describing
> how the commuters kept the train running, fighting the railroad and
> PUCO.  I had thought that most of the passengers were non-payers; EL
> employees riding on a pass.  After walking the train I found E8 833 on
> the front and within a few minutes in semi-darkness it departed.  Even
> at the end, the train was clean, the exterior was washed, and it gave
> the impression of a railroad that cared.  That was my final 
> view of the
> EL - a lasting memory.
> 
>  
> 
> I walked back through the empty trainshed area upstairs through the
> station which was even quieter and headed back to Toledo.  
> It's hard to
> believe that 30 years have passed since that encounter.
> 
>  
> 
> Ed Montgomery
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
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