The new Trains magazine popped into my mailbox today, with its map of the "Anthracite Railroads Today." The first howler is the omission of the NYS&W/WB&E -- which carried more anthracite than the O&W (though the Erie buried the numbers for competitive reasons. Also omitted is the DS&S, although not lasting very long, also carried more anthracite than the O&W. I suppose one could also be nit-picky and note that the L&NE's route to the Port of NY is not showm although that was a pretty busy route too. The NYS&W's Edgewater Terminal was one of the busiest anthracite tidewater terminals of all -- yet is omitted as well, but the Erie at Weehawken(!!!) **is** shown. If Weehawken is "important" for the Erie, then the DS&S and L&NE should have been shown; And considering that most of the Erie's anthracite was dumped at Edgewater -- and not Weehawken after 1906 -- makes it even more annoying in its omission. I wonder if there'd be any interest in a map that shows the railroads that actually shipped anthracite and where the anthracite was consigned over the years? Take that map -- and then re-do this map to show what happened to those routes might be a revelation. In any case, I am again irritated by railfan mythology overtaking railroad history here: the Northern Field Map last year had a few nitpicky errors; the NY Harbor Map had a bunch of real howlers, and this one is delightful as far as it goes, but doesn;t thell the story that **is**anthracite. Cheers, Jim Guthrie ELHS #1296 The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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