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RE: (erielack) RE: Reminder: Weekly Newsletter For <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>

The story reminded me of the Reboxx display which compares standard issue trucks with trucks which
have had Reboxx wheels installed.

SGL

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joshua [mailto:mail_@_joshuakblay.com]
> Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 8:42 AM
> To: 'EL Mail List'
> Subject: RE: (erielack) RE: Reminder: Weekly Newsletter For <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
> 
> Wonderful story and certainly a further reason to expect a train anywhere,
> anytime.  Wonder how that same cut of cars would have done had the journals
> been roller bearing.
> 
> Joshua
> http://www.joshuakblay.com
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Walter Smith [mailto:wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 7:52 PM
> To: bvolkmer; Chuck Yungkurth; Danny Wilkin; EL List; jackkluge; Mary
> Portelli; lackawanna1_@_juno.com; pemchugh@aol.com; railwriter@comcast.net;
> s2choochoo_@_bellsouth.net; snopercod@citcom.net;
> terryes_tropical_photos_@_yahoo.com
> Subject: (erielack) RE: Reminder: Weekly Newsletter For
> <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>
> 
> 
> Hot times & hotboxes in the old town  (1950s)
> 
>         In this bygone time (how short a time it seems - 58 years or so
> ago), the ERIE railroad still had
> a large presence in the anthracite mining area of the Lackawanna & Wyoming
> valleys of northeast Pennsylvania. The Company had a yard in Avoca, Pa. from
> which they dispatched crews to gather the hopper cars full of the black
> diamonds. After enough of them were assembled in Avoca yard, a train would
> be dispatched up the Jefferson Division through Carbondale and over Ararat
> summit to connect with the ERIE mainline at Starucca or Susquehanna. These
> were heavy trains & starred in many photo books showing 3 (or more) 2-10-2s
> and maybe a 2-8-4 or 2 working their hearts out on the uphill climb. See -
> STEAM ON THE ANTHRACITE ROADS.
>         One of the branch lines that fed Avoca yard was a single-track that
> wound thru backyards of Pittston, Pa. & paralleled the Laurel Line
> interurban to the south side of Pittston. It was here the mishap occurred. I
> remember being in high school (1953 or 54) and hearing my parents discussing
> it because I was dating a girl whose backyard in Pittston had the ERIE
> branch as a boundary. SOMEBODY had failed to tie down the handbrakes on a
> loaded cut of coalcars in Avoca yard and since it was higher than Pittston,
> the cars started rumbling that way. How nobody got killed at the crossings
> amazes me since it was a lightly built, mostly unprotected branchline.
> Gathering speed in the dark, the cars descended upon the edges of Pittston,
> crossing unprotected streets and gaining speed past the amazed inhabitants
> who didn't hear any engine whistle for the many crossings in town. The cut
> of 20 or 30 cars went completely through the city and far to the south where
> they stopped on the up!
>  grade..........then started back. What a sight (not that much could be seen
> ion the total darkness) BUT - no headlight, bell, or whistle. Just a growing
> rumble then a roar as the cars hurtled by to Avoca where they sloowwed, then
> started back south. By the third trip, there were a few hotboxes, and the
> passage was marked by flames & sparks. It must have been pretty scary to
> have THAT in your backyard.
>         Finally some men got trackside with blocks of wood & as the runaways
> slowed, they chocked the cars. I'll bet there was a great hearing for
> somebody at Avoca yard in a day or 2. After my military service when I was
> hired on the ERIE, I often thought of this incident, but even though I asked
> around, nobody wanted to talk about it. Some things are best left forgotten.
>       I went home & visited the area where this took place, but there's
> hardly anything left. The branch served a few local industries in upper
> Pittston and Hughestown during the EL era, but by 2000, the only traces were
> a few crossings where the town fathers had left the rails in place and a
> rock cut at the top of Broad St. in Pittston, Pa. People probably wonder
> what it is for, but it was an exciting place 50 or so years ago.
> 
> Regards to all
> 
> Walter E. Smith
> 
> 
> To: wsmith5957_@_hotmail.comSubject: Reminder: Weekly Newsletter For
> <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>From: wsmith5957@hotmail.comDate: Mon, 28 Jan 2008
> 14:04:46 -0800
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> January 29, 2008
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> Financial Tip of the Day: Act now and enjoy a special offer.
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