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(erielack) Movies of the EL (& others) by Walt Smith

Joshua,
 
    This should be a great ride...........up the hill from Scranton (Steamtown) to Clarks Summit, past all the stations (still remaining) , over the viaducts & thru the Conklin yard, then onto the former D&H.
   This reminded me of an old DL&W engineer I worked with who also worked on the D&H during the Depression when he was cut off on the DL&W. I've written this story and corrected it, but this will be it's first appearance on the EL site. 
BUT FIRST - a commercial.........
      In 1965, I was attending Harpur College (SUNY-BINGHAMTON) days & running a switch engine nights. The co-ed I was dating gave me a birthday present of a Super-8 movie camera and a projector and suggested that I film some of the railroad. I've mentioned this a few times and some of u expressed an interest in seeing the old EL in the late 60s. I finally loaned the rolls of film to a producer of RR videos and he put it on a DVD. One of our listers made me some copies of the DVD, so I'll tell u what's there. Keep in mind that this is AMATEUR filming by an ENGINEER..not a photographer. Nonetheless, some of it's pretty rare stuff and most of it is GONE now.
 
1. EL engine 6361 W/B sets off at west end of Conklin yard.
2. 8051 E/B at milepost 187 qhich is the 2nd crossing rr east of Conklin yard. They are doubling onto their train.
3. we now look at a BAD railjoint as 8051 pulls.
4. As the baywindow caboose passes, a headlite shows and a 2400 leads a W/B by.
 
4 TRACK PRR AT NEWARK DELAWARE - 1974
1. Metroliners pass DAVIS tower.
2. GG1 on E/B freight.
3. Metroliner E/B.
4. N/B GG1 w/ Heritage cars passes S/B GG1 w/ psgr train.
5. S/B metroliner
6. N/B Metroliner
CHESTER, Pa. PRR action
VILLANOVA, Pa. - 2 Silverliners W/B on mainline.
action interlude - Walt, going Postal,  fires .30 caliber carbine in his backyard (Conklin, NY) practicing for his next hearing. 
STRASBURG, Pa. RR
2-10-0 is readied for work, then we ride to Paradise Jct & runaround train, then engine works back uphill to Strasburg.
EL Syracuse Division - Binghamton to Syracuse on throughfreight BS-51. (1967)
   I took promotion to over-the-road service as engineer and this involved riding and learning the road (which I already knew) so I took the moviecamera along. U go thru Marathon, Whitney Point, Blodgett Mills, then the LVRR crossing at Cortland and a glimpse of Wickwire, Homer, Tully, Apulia, & down the mountain & past the signal at Brighton Ave. Round the curve at the University, approaching the passenger station and finally into the former DL&W yard.
 1971 - D&RGW Silverton train out of Durango & great shots of the cars rattling past the cliffs & the little 2-8-2 working her heart out (just like in the 1880s).
STRASBURG again, but this time it's the 1223 action. 
HARPERS FERRY- E8 W/B w 3-car heritage equipment.
RF&P Pot yard 1972 - shows tower & hump ofc w/EMD SW 1200 doing the honors. I was later told I was lucky I didn't get caught acct the RF&P was merciless & would take ur cameras.
OLD AUTO-TRAIN S/B on the RF&P..by Quantico, Aquia creek & Fredericksburg. ALL DOMES many still in UPRR paint.
WEST PITTSTON, PA. My hometown (on the Bloom). Shows North local out of Kingston entering the bridge over the Susquehanna river. GP9, 7 cars & Dunmore caboose.
BINGHAMTON again.....
at crossing south of Conklin yard headlite shows and 3 covered wagons hiball to Scranton on doubletrack.
BD & E/B backs onto train. 2500 & covered wagon power. 
NYC Harlem Div'n cabride into GCT (1967)...engineer had lots of funny stories about kids vandalizing stations there.
NEWARK, NJ PRR station - CNJ local W/B; SCL Silver Meteor S/B pulls in & departs under CNJ Newark branch bridge. More GG1 & PRR MUs. 
FINALLY......a few seconds of my ex-motherinlaw. please ignore.
 
    Most of these are a few minutes here and a few minutes there (except the Syracuse Div'n cabride). When I was shooting film I was always concious of TIME REMAINING & therefore was too brief on some things..........but It's ALL GONE NOW.
 
  For those who'd like a copy, please send $10.00 + $5.00 S&H (cash, ck, or moneyorder) to:
Walter Smith/968 Placid Drive/Melbourne, Fl. 32935
AND NOW...........
 
  While working in Binghamton (on theDL&W side) in the 60s, I became acquainted with many engineers, but spent a lot of time with one by the name of John Tarbox on the 12 PM East End yard job. He had acquired the nickname of 'Honest John' and the reputation of NEVER marking off except on Christmas Day - at which point the elderly yard conductor would somehow slip into the conversation "Ya gonna give the extra list a chance to make some money today, eh, John??". The real joke here was - the engineers worked a 7-day week while the firemen worked a 5 day week. There was, however, a differential in the rates of pay where the lowly fireman got more money per day at the 5-day rate. I believe the fireman got $22.95 per day while the engineer got $20.75. As a result, we got almost as much in 5 days as the engineers got on their 6th day. Overall, they got more money per week, but they had to work 7 days to make more than we did in 5. Only the bravest of us would remark "Well, you're working for 1/2 pay the next 2 days." 
     As I worked longer in Binghamton, I heard little snippets about how old John had a dairy farm with about 20 or so cows up near Chenango Bridge and his wife took care of the farm while John worked on the railroad and they made extra money that way. While working the Cortland local with Norm Orcutt, we'd just cleared the north end of YO yard and were passing a row of small bungalows with the typical look of Company housing like that seen near coal mines in the Scranton area. Mr. Orcutt enlightened me."See those houses, kid? Yes. Well those belong to old 'Honest John'. They were used for section men and their families.During the depression, they were empty & old John bought them off the Company for peanuts. He had money when nobody else did because he had seniority on the D&H too. After he got the houses, he fixed them up a little then went to the City of Binghamton & rented them to families on welfare.
     In a few weeks I was back on the East end job nights and broached the subject with Mr. Tarbox. He said "I EARNED that money in the 1930s the hard way. I was laid off on the 'DL' and got work as a fireman on the D&H. You don't know what work is until you've shoveled a few tons of coal into one of those old camelback 2-8-0 pushers up Belden Hill." 
For those who aren't familiar, the president of the D&H (L. F. Loree) stated  he'd "never put a stoker on his engines as long as he was paying a fireman to shovel coal". Those were 'the good old days'. John did indeed earn his money. The D&H also had 0-8-8-0 Mallets as pushers and these had 2 firemen to feed their ravenous appetite for coal.
    John told me that things began picking up in the late 1930s and he was able to return to the DL&W to stay. He was a prince of a man to work with but all business. I guess you had to be to survive through the great depression. I'm reminded of my one grandfather who had also purchased a farm in the early 1930s when it looked like the American economy was collapsing. I guess he thought our family could leave the town and live on the farm and survive that way.
 
Regards to all,
 
Walter E. Smith> > > > > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List> http://EL-List.railfan.net/> To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html
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