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From: "Dad" wsmith5957 AT hotmail DOT com
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:27:44 -0400
Subject: Shipping firetrucks in the 1920s from Elmira
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Reading the posts about firetrucks being shipped from Elmira brought ot mind a story my father told me about when he was a young man in his early 20s.
At the time he was employed by the Glen Alden shops in West Pittston, Pa. (on the 'Bloom'). The town fathers had bought a new truck from American La France and asked for volunteers to drive it from the factory. Dad & several others got time off from the Glen Alden & traveled to Elmira by train. West Pittston to Scranton, then DL&W mainline to Elmira.This must have been quite an adventure for these young guys in that bucolic time when you very seldom travelled far from your hometown but the real adventure was driving BACK with the new firetruck. Many of the roads were unpaved in the 20s and it took a couple days. Still and all, it was the event of the year for these guys, several of whom are pictured here in front of the West Pittston Fire Department with the vehicle itself. It has a huge 4-cylinder engine and a chain drive connecting to the rear axle (wooden-spoked wheels). As you can see in the foto, it has right-hand steering wheel. It lasted until the 1950s. My grandfather and father were life members of WPFD and in addition to teaching me to love trains, took me to the upstairs meeting rooms where the walls were hung with beautifully framed Currier & Ives prints of famous fires. (I wonder what happened to the prints when the new firehouse was built). The old foto also shows the original doors which were used when the steam pumper was pulled by horses.
I eventually joined to make it 3 generations of the family in the WPFD and when I wasn't working on the EL, I went to many fires (but not on this truck).

Regards to all,

Walter E. Smith

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