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Re: (erielack) Freight Operations (Classic Trains/Hoboken)

FYI, I rode one of these trains home on weekends. For several months, I 
worked the floatbridge engines in the old ERIE yard in Jersey City and most 
of the engineers were pretty good guys. One of them felt that I, a lowly 
fireman, could be trusted not to put a boxcar in the river. He therefore 
made a deal with me...........if I'd check out the engine at 3PM and work it 
until 7 PM, he'd finish up and I could run across to the DL&W yard where HB3 
(or whatever) was made up & I could ride the caboose to Scranton & spend the 
weekend at home with the wife & kids. It was a FAST ride over the Boonton 
line & all the way to Scranton - although I almost got to Buffalo one time. 
There were 2 cabooses and the crew was of course in the rearmost caboose. I 
told them not to forget to wake me when we got to Scranton. They forgot and 
I had turned up the oil heater for protection from the snow & ice  that 
January. I laid on the bunk in the baywindow caboose & dropped offline. I 
was woken by a bump as 2 Fairbanks-Morse Trainmasters took the slack and 
then roared into full throttle as only those engines could.
FIRST THOUGHT - where am I?
2nd  THOUGHT - was that the Scranton station going by??  YEP.
       Luckily,  I slept with my boots on & only had to jump up & grab my 
grip & be out the back door. Snow blowing around the rear between the 
cabooses , 3AM and dark, and the increasiing roar of the 2 pushers getting a 
run for the climb to Clark's Summit. I could faintly see the lights of the 
old yardoffice across from Bridge 60 tower and I bailed off the steps into 
the foot or 2 of snow.
Nobody was watching as I hit & rolled a time or 2. The 2 big FMs passed & 
their markers faded to the other side of the Lackawanna River. I picked up 
my grip & began the long walk back to the parking lot on Cedar Avenue.
Hey, I'd cheated death again & learned a good lesson.
        When you start out on the railroad, there should be one of these 
books like they have for computers only it'd be called 'RAILROADING FOR 
DUMMIES'.
Regards to all
Walter E. Smith
- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>
To: <Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com>
Cc: "EL Mailing List" <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>; 
<erielack-owner_@_lists.elhts.org>; "Paul R. Tupaczewski" 
<paultup_@_optonline.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 7:42 AM
Subject: Re: (erielack) Freight Operations (Classic Trains/Hoboken)


> These were Monday-Friday schedules handling mostly merchandise out of
> Hoboken in the evening. They were hot trains with cars for NE-99 at Bingo
> and Wabash & NKP at Bfo, so they were probably relatively short and
> generously powered. At this time, plenty of hot merchandise including LCL
> was still being handled in boxcars.
>
> Paul B
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <Charles_Walsh_@_berlex.com>
> To: "Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>
> Cc: "EL Mailing List" <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>;
> <erielack-owner_@_lists.elhts.org>; "Paul R. Tupaczewski"
> <paultup_@_optonline.net>
> Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 6:36 AM
> Subject: Re: (erielack) Freight Operations (Classic Trains/Hoboken)
>
>
>>
>> I'm wondering how long a train would HB-1 or HB-3 typically be?  And how
>> long it would take tor them cross over the plant at Hoboken and get out 
>> of
>> the way?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>                       "Paul Brezicki"
>>                       <doctorpb_@_bellsouth
>>                       .net>               To:     "EL Mailing List"
> <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>
>>                       Sent by:                    "Paul R. Tupaczewski"
> <paultup_@_optonline.net>
>>                       erielack-owner_@_list cc:
>>                       s.elhts.org         Subject:
>>                                                   (erielack) Freight
> Operations (Classic Trains/Hoboken)
>>
>
>>                       02/02/2006 05:09 AM
>>                       Please respond to
>>                       "Paul Brezicki"
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I don't have a DL&W schedule but the July 1962 EL schedule shows two WB's
>> out of Hoboken: HB-1 and HB-3 for Buffalo departing 6:15pm and 8:30pm,
>> after
>> the bulk of commuter runs. In general for EL and predecessors, freight
>> traffic available for mid- to late-afternoon departure was held until
> after
>> the commuter rush.
>>
>> Paul B
>>
>> I have a photo in my collection showing EL train HB-1 departing the yard,
>> and heading west on the southmost track. My guess would be that the whole
>> thing was crossed over to the Boonton Branch (by then, Boonton Line) at
>> West
>> End Interlocking. My other assumption was that freights usually ran 
>> during
>> passenger "lulls" (very late at night or late morning-to-early 
>> afternoon).
>> I
>> seem to remember reading that most DL&W freights out of Hoboken were
>> nocturnal, which would have taken care of the issue of conflicting with
>> passenger trains.
>>
>> - Paul
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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