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RE: (erielack) Milk Cars In Branchville Photo

It's certainly possible that these on the Sussex Branch stations were made up by a local craftsman,
but things like these were easily available from commercial sources in those days.  There were very
large catalogs of standard bits of fancy trim like these, which could be ordered to match whatever
roof slope you happened to have on your building, but which were also carried in stock at common
pitches, such as 12/12, 10/12, and so on.

I think Dave's reference to the holy trinity is on the mark.  The Methodist Church of my youth was
covered with them, all over the ends of the pews, in the windows, etc., etc.

SGL
 
> I've seen it written that those are "trefoil-in-a-circle" eve supports; they are not carved. The
eve support itself is a
> standard item, and the circles and trefoils within them?were cut from larger boards and added to
larger eve support. The
> trefoils show evidence of a coping saw and are attached to the eve support by methods obviously
not done at the time of
> manufacture.? I didn't notice them on pre-1905 Boonton, but Branchville and Franklin depots had
them and were very
> similar depots built by the same company.? I wouldn't call them a Lackawanna trademark considering
that both were
> Sussex Railroad depots.? I did retrieve one from the collapsed Branchville depot -- the contractor
drove his heavy
> equipment over the depot several times to break it into smaller pieces for removal. Mine was?was
busted up, but
> complete enough to reassemble.
> 
> Circles in eve supports show up on various depots all over the country; they're not unique to
DL&W, though many
> wooden Morris & Essex Railroad depots used circles in the even supports.? But?in Linden, N.J.,
near where I work there
> is a large 19th Century church that uses trefoils within circles as its archetectural theme that
are nearly identical in
> style?to those Sussex County depots.?It is used?as a framework in the big stained-glass mural in
the street-side gable, and
> smaller ones around the rest of the building as ornamentation. Seeing that got me wondering if
there wasn't some
> religious significance to that design -- the three circles possibly referring to the stations of
the cross --?and could
> that?faith possibly relate to the people using the Franklin and Branchville branches.?
> 
> Mike Del Vecchio
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Rutan <rutan3_@_embarqmail.com>
> To: EL Mail List <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>
> Sent: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 10:07 pm
> Subject: Re: (erielack) Milk Cars In Branchville Photo
> 
> 
> 
> The darkness above is actually the intricately carved roof supports (there's a name for
those...Dave?) ?
> I've always called them trefoil design eaves brackets, but an architect might have a more correct
term.?
> ?
> What I find curious about those eaves brackets is that they have been called a 'Lackawanna
trademark' even though I
> know of only 3 station on the DLW who sported them. One is Branchville, one Franklin, and one...?
> ?
> (Drum Roll...)?
> ?
> Pre-1905 Boonton?
> ?
> Everyone go look carefully and you'll notice that Jamesburg, NY and Stewartsville, NJ have similar
eaves brackets, but
> that they are just plain circles, not trefoils.?
> ?
> Dave?
> -- Sussex Branch Tales - A book by Dave Rutan?
> Get yours now!?
> http://books.cafepress.com/item/sussex-branch-tales/281959517?
> ?
> ? The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List?
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> 
> 
> 
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