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From: Richard Wisneski rcwisneski AT gmail DOT com
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:44:52 -0500
Subject: SF Tower Sheets 1969
"Jan_9_1969.jpg" - image/jpeg, 1166x1100 (24bit)

Attached are a number of train sheets from SF Tower from January 1969.
These are in the collection of Frank Reilly and he allowed me to scan
them and share with the list.

Rich Wisneski

When I first saw these sheets I reached out to some friends who had
worked there at one point or another and asked some basic questions:

I see an E8 running light west late each night, returning just after
midnight, I presume this is to turn the E8 at NJ to set it up for the
next morning’s run east out of Suffern?

Trains 1155 – X56 and X515 (to TC)-1172 – was this for some sort of
school service to Tuxedo?

X51 – 50 did this train go west to NJ, turn on wye, then back to
Monroe (I think that is where 50 originated?)

I see the use of “K” for times, like “4K” which I’m guessing is short
of “00” : 4K = 4:00?

I received a few replies and have included them below listed in
chronological order.

From Art Erdman:

Each night, the Suffern Hostlers ran the E8’s to NJ to turn them on
the Wye. This was a pain in the neck for the dispatcher as the
afternoon Turn Job that cleaned out the Mahwah Ford Plant would be
ready to go west as ND91 and NY99 were coming west and he could not
run the Turn Job west on Track 2 to NJ to keep out of the way with the
E8’s in the picture.

Yes, there was a School Train that handled students to Tuxedo and that
was the trains noted.

X51 was the deadhead move to NJ and turned on the Wye (it headed down
the Graham Line and came out at Harriman on the Main Line ) and backed
to Monroe to start its run. X51 cleared in the Siding at Monroe so
traffic in the Single Track could be reversed. Train 50 used to stop
at SF to pick up the rest of the train, but that ended around 1970 and
the entire train went to East Greycourt and then came east as Train
50.

Tony Verlezza used “K” to designate an even hour on the sheet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Jim Mardigiuan:

Years before coming to work on the EL I actually rode X515/1172 from
Suffern yard to Tuxedo. We had ridden out of Hoboken and the crew let
us stay on. Shoved out at Hillburn (BM), up track 2. Rode back to
Hoboken. This was around 1969 or so. Have photos of the train in
Tuxedo with an RS3 and Stillwells.
I was around 17 years old. At Tuxedo about a hundred HS girls got on
the train (didn't notice if there were any boys). Too shy to talk to
the girls, but it was a fun trip!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Daniel Biernacki

My recollection on X51 differs a bit from AJE:
When the Push-pulls arrd, X51 was one of the first to get them because
it eliminated the use othe Wye at NJ. However, the train still cleared
up at Monroe to reverse traffic on the single trk. However, sometime
before CR, the wayside phone was so unreliable at Monroe and the crew
(Ciccarelli & Hughes) frequently had trouble with the electric lock.
So, it was decided to pay the extra mileage and turn the train at E.
GB. (engrs still had a 100 mile day, condrs were 150 in commuter
service). My ETT of 2-29-76 shows it turning at E.GB and by then it
was X61.
3rd SF was my first job on 7-7-70 and 50 did not stop to pickup cars
at SF, it just ran straight thru SF.

The deadhed moves forthe school train to & from Tuxedo originally used
the x-overs at TC, but moves against the current were normal if
traffic allowed. Cannot remember whether it was the school train or
the x-overs that came to the end first. The x-overs were still in
when WHS did his map book.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow up from Art Erdman

Train 50 picking up at SF may have ended earlier than I thought. In
1966, I remember 50 backing into the Extension at SF to pick up the
rest of its train when it went all over the ground. There are photos
of that derailment around someplace. Maybe that was when they stopped
splitting the train. X61 and CX99 collided at NJ one morning when X61
went by the Stop Signal at NJ in the fog. Dan, remember the 3rd Trick
at SF going up for bid week after week when no one wanted the job ? I
see on Rich’s SF train sheets that Lenny Vanderjagt was stuck on the
job for while. Unfortunately, I also did a stint on 3rd SF during that
period too. I worked 3rd SF one New Year’s Eve and I had no trains and
got a good seven hours sleep.


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