Back in February of 1983 I was blessed to be invited for a trek aboard the Lehigh Valley's Business Car 353 from Newark, NJ down the New York & Long Branch to Bay Head, NJ and return. These shots were taken at Bay Head. It should be noted that the 353 was not in its proper Cornell Red color at the time of these shots. Built by Pullman in 1916 and owned by the LV for 60 years, the car was owned by Dick Horstmann who kept it active and immaculately maintained.
Continuing our railfanning at Princeton Jct, NJ, in 1978 Conrail was still moving freight under wire as seen below with two former PRR E-44s supplying the muscle and all followed up with a proper former PRR N-5B cabin car.
Not handsome nor successful in performance were Amtrak's E60s. Here's the 961 complete with "ghetto grilles'
Love this old stuff from the east! Here's some new stuff from the west. "Caboose Passing" A CP transfer passes a parked Amtrak Empire Builder, unceremoniously stuffed into a spur track during a service disruption. An Amtrak crewman fights with an icy switch to re-line to the main.
Iowa Interstate Newton Sub IAIS 153(SD38-2) and 703(GP38-2) lead SANT into Malcom, IA. BNSF 9217(SD70ACe), BNSF 9966(SD70MAC), IAIS 507 & 508(ES44AC) with BNSF 5920 as rear DPU on an eastbound coal drag east of Colfax, IA. The coal train was interchanged in Council Bluffs from the BNSF and the PRB and is enroute to the ADM coal generating plant in Cedar Rapids, IA. January 8, 2020 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's January 1981 and big new GE's are at the ready at the former DL&W terminal in Hoboken, NJ, while outside the old order remains in force with mu cars, operating just as they had since 1930. Hello hello, says Pheobe Snow We welcome you to our new show Today steam steps aside and now you ride Upon a road electrified.
Like some of you, I enjoy hiking old rights-of-way and finding cool artifacts. In 1981 I found a portion of the New York, Ontario & Western's main line in Bloomingburg, NY. There I found the depot (built in 1898) and the south portal of storied High View Tunnel, bored under Shawangunk Mountain in 1871 with a length of 3,855 Feet. The 540 Mile long NYO&W ceased operations in March 1957.
Happily the NYO&W's General Office and depot in Middletown, NY was found in fine shape on another day and it still stands today. Unfortunately the depot in Summitville, NY was barely standing in the rainy gloom. Note the ancient rolling stock. I don't know what remains there today.
With pans squashed nearly flat, a GG-1 arrives in Newark, NJ. [February 1983] The LV's NK Tower in Newark was manned in 1983. Back in the day, the LV handed its passenger trains off to the PRR here for forwarding into New York City. I think NK has since been razed. Remember tobacco advertising?
I've long thought that the Lehigh & Hudson River's HQ building in Warwick, NY would make a great model kit. Once a vital bridge line, the L&HR's fortunes rapidly declined after the 1968 PC merger and the Poughkeepsie bridge fire in 1974, and it was included in Conrail. When I visited Warwick in the early '80s, much had fallen into decay, though their engine shops were being used by a railcar firm and CR used the property to originate a local.
The L&HR's mainline ended north at Maybrook Yard, owned by the New Haven and finding interchange also with the Erie, NYC, NYO&W, L&NE. Maybrook was a massive affair with over 100 tracks and two humps. With mergers, the bridge fire and general decline of northeast railroading, the yard faded into the weeds. By May of 1981 when I stopped by, almost nothing remained. From what I read, one track remains today and most of the area is now occupied by a trucking terminal.
One of the more amusing town names on the former Erie main in New Jersey is Hohokus, native American for Undercliff I once read. True to the interpretation is the location of the depot. The depot on the other side of the tracks is spotted in a more traditional parcel of land. Those "hairpin" style metal fences are really neat I think. I hope to find them in N Scale when my railroad is built.
