I had a couple more thoughts about the NJ trip last week. Regarding the trackage rights. Did Erie and NYS&W actually take better care of the L&NE portions than they did their own independent operation. It seemed to be clear to me that the Swartzwood JCT-Hainsburg JCT section of the NYS&W was in much better shape than the section between Butler and Swartzwood. The MU-ing of NJT engines on the Greenwood Lake grades makes sense. (I say Greenwood Lake because that's not the real Boonton Line.). However this brings up another issue. Erie seemed to run very long communter trains with just one RS-2 or 3. Did they pad the schedule on the Greenwood Lake run for slow startups or did the old Alcos tackle their loads with minimum problems. DL&W was almost all EMD's and never seemed to put more than a three coach load on the GP-7s. Trainmasters initially handled the longer communter trains and expresses. When they were transferred to freight service, DL&W used F3s back to back to handle the longer trains. I've heard that the ALCO's did have an advantage even though they always sounded like they were about to stall - a four-cycle thing. Ed Montgomery The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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