Erie Lackawanna
Railfan.net 'erielack' E-Mail List Photo Archive

PaCC_Payroll_May_1968.jpg   Original: 1232 by 970 pixels - Current: 1232 by 970 - 100%
                          Try your mouse wheel too!

Previous Image - 65_EL_RE_SPECIAL.jpg (No Next Image)

From: "Jim Guthrie" jguthrie AT pipeline DOT com
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:57:09 -0400
Subject: New Diamond -- Wyoming Division Redux
"PaCC_Payroll_May_1968.jpg" - image/jpeg, 1232x970 (24bit)

The new Diamond arrived yesterday -- lots -- of great stuff in t -- and really
liked the fixes in the Wyoming Division article, though I'll add additional
comments:

The Anthracite Business is far more complicated than the map or the operations
, so one could quibble about stuff forever.

I'm tackling the NYS&W Coal Company stuff for the Midlander, because it's a
special corner, and lots of things have turned up since Harold Frederick's WB&E
book. But as I pointed out in the program at the Convention last year, the NYS&W
built its mine branches 1882-1885. There were issues with the O&W in 1890, and
indeed they chartered the Priceville and Winton Railroad to "own" the Winton
branch it when the newly-opened O&W was threatening its contracts. The NYS&W
branches were served by the DL&W, which had a habit of "losing" cars owned by
the NYS&W when business was slow, putting both the NYS&W mines and the railroad
itself in financial straits.

After all, why should the DL&W allow the NYS&W to ship coal when that might mean
its own mining department would be losing revenue as a result?

The Erie "Lease" of the NYS&W continues in railfan mythology, and I see it
mentioned again. Was there a lease? Yes. Was it entered into in 1898? Yes. Did
it have anything to do with anything after that?

Not a thing. The New Jersey Legislature had to approve it -- which they did --
inserting a clause that said the Erie could lease the NYS&W as long as no rates
on the Susquehanna were ever raised from their 1898 levels. As you can imagine,
there is no lease for long.

Most of the coal companies the NYS&W had contracts with saw those contracts
discontinued by the Erie. The President's Agreement of 1896 (see part 1) limited
the amount of anthracite each railroad could carry, so the Erie -- looking to
increase production of its own properties (hillside C&I) cast off the NYS&W
mines. Greenwood and Algonquin went to the D&H, for example. Others went to
direct HC&I Contracts (Butler) and in that case, purchased by HC&I.

The business about "rerouting all the coal off the WB&E in 1917" is another
myth -- the NYS&W Coal Company Coal from the Jermyn operations at Old Forge were
about the only mines shipping over the WB&E after 1905, and the 1917-18 reroutes
were a USRA project -- same as the L&NE no longer running to Little Ferry on
trackage rights.

There's information on the NYS&W "orphan branches" too -- quite interesting,
actually -- but not quite as speculated, and in the end, cost the Erie dearly..

Much of the anthracite sent over the dumper at Edgewater was bound for New
England. The Poughkeepsie Bridge actually played a small role, because railroads
like the Erie and O&W kept a much larger share of the division by dumping it
into schooners and barges for water transport, rather than share with the New
Haven. The L&NE was a bit different, because it was a big gathering road, like
the original Erie and Wyoming Valley -- so it had incentives to use the bridge
(even if they sent substantial amounts of anthracite to Edgewater 1912-1917).

The Pennsylvania Coal Company is said to have but two employees at the time of
Knox. That is simply untrue -- They still had a payroll of more than $215,000 in
1960; the UMW contract was finally cancelled Dec 15 of 1960 -- almost two years
after Knox. And they still have 17 employees as of May 1968 (See the list I've
attached from the company records).

The PaCC continued to be the Erie (and EL piggybank) -- loaning the brand new EL
$2-million at the beginning of 1961. Elsewhere we're discussing Erie
shareholders, but the concept of having subsidiaries loan fairly sizable chunks
of cash at the beginning of the year, but returning it just before the end of
the year to get it off the books was not something invented by Enron .

The final discontinuance of the Lackawaxen to Honesdale train is actually more
interesting, I think. The Erie posted its discontinuance in September 1939, and
actually discontinued the train. However, the legislature of Pennsylvania had
recently passed a law that railroads needed to get permission of the PUC to
discontinue trains -- but that news had not filtered back to Cleveland. The PUC
told the Erie to put the trains back, and the Erie complied by posting notices
at each station that passengers were welcome to ride the caboose when the local
freight train came through -- and so it lasted until 1942.

It's a very complicated and often convoluted subject, and it is no small matter
to even attempt to explain all of it in a magazine article. I'm not sure a
book-length piece on just the Erie works. In my younger days, I mused about an
8-volume history of the Anthracite railroads, just the anthracite history and
directly related things like the docks in NY, Philadelphia, Buffalo and
elsewhere, which MIGHT begin to do the industry justice.

What's that story about three blind men encountering an elephant?

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie
ELHS #1296



PaCC_Payroll_May_1968.jpg

Image EXIF Data:
Image Creation Date   2012:06:16 14:53:57
Image Capture Date   2012:05:16 13:58:59
Image Digitized Date   2012:05:16 13:58:59
Make   FUJIFILM
Model   FinePix F70EXR
Exposure Time   1/110 Sec.
Shutter Speed Value   1/112.986 Sec.
Aperture   f3.3
Aperture Value   f3.2
Focal Length   5mm
ISO Speed Rating   100 (400)
Metering Mode   Spot
Exposure Bias   -0.67 EV
Exposure Program   Program Normal
Brightness Value   +2.65 EV
Light Source/White Balance   Automatic
White Balance   Auto White Balance
Flash   Flash Not Fired; Compulsory Flash Suppression;
Software Version   PaintShop Photo Pro 13.00
X Resolution   72 Pixels/Inch
Y Resolution   72 Pixels/Inch
Exif Image Height   970 pixels
EXIF Version   0220
FlashPix Version   0100
Exposure Mode   Auto Exposure
Sensing Method   Single Chip Color Area Sensor
Compressed Bits Per Pixel   4
Exif Image Width   1232 pixels
Max Aperture Value   f3.2
Focal Plane X Resolution   4051 Pixels/Centimeter
Focal Plane Y Resolution   4051 Pixels/Centimeter
YCbCr Positioning   Datum Point
ColorSpace   sRGB
Component Configuration   YCbCr
Scene Capture Type   Standard
Sharpness   Normal
Subject Distance Range   Unknown


Click Here or on the corner X to close this window.


    All photos are the property of the original photographer unless otherwise noted and are to be used for personal viewing purposes only.

    The use of these photos on any website or other distribution media is strictly forbidden without the express consent of the image copyright holder.

    Linking directly to this page is permitted as long as "Railfan.net Erie Lackawanna Email List Photo Archive" is creditted on the linking page.