I enjoy these older videos that not only show the motive power used, but also show the older, many times colorful, freight cars with all the various road names, most of which either no longer exist or were merged into mega-systems. I miss my 1960s-'70s train watching, too!
The EL autorack train which appears at 3:45 rolling through Callicoon, NY originated out of Mahwah, NJ at the former Ford assembly plant that existed there at one point. WB autorack trains would carry the finished cars and empty auto parts boxcars west to places like Detroit and Chicago and the eastbound runs would bring in the parts and empty autoracks east to Mahwah, NJ. Today the Ford plant is now long gone and the huge Sheraton Hotel now presently occupies the site. Incredible footage.
It's always nice to see archival footage of the Lackawanna, EL and Erie. Nice shot of Starucca Viaduct with the Delaware & Hudson Penn Division still intact. Sorry EL couldn't stay out of Contrail.
I'm sorry that DL&W and Erie and D&H couldn't survive separately. They were all venerable railroads. What's even more depressing is that D&H was taken over by CPRail, a Canadian enterprise.
Just now learning a good bit about the Erie Lackawanna. Love that paint scheme, noticed they used lots of EMD cab units (my favorite) and were fond of the burly SD45's. When you see those box cars rocking like that, you know that's some bad, bad track those big trains were rolling over.
The best era for railfanning, the 1960s-70s almost all the classic roads still around and many colorful Diesels and Rolling Stock and all that swinging, rock n rolling jointed rail !!! Lol Today is just a handful of Big roads with look alike crew cab rolling computers and ugly rolling stock with vandalized graffiti !!! I'm glad I was around for those great 5-6 builder colorful days that we thought would never end !
yta- I miss mixed power on the BV&).. Now, it's all AC engines, and 4400 types that I can't see the difference between one or the other... Through Lodi, Ohio on the B&O, you'd see B&O in several schemes, C&O in a couple , and even WM in both of it's paint jobs... Take all of those schemes, and bring in all of the different loco's used, from a GP7 to SD40's, and you had quite a variety... not to mention all the mixed F units still running into the 70's... But ya- 60's-70's were (WERE) the best@!!
All these people today talk about this horn and that horn,,,blah,blah,blah,,,,, They have no idea what an ABBA(not the 70s group)set of F units sound like in notch 8 blowing the Leslie A200 horn.
Personally I think the graffiti makes trainspotting more interesting. They're just metal cars that belong to the railroad anyway. Understandable why vandalism is frowned upon but otherwise who cares
Those E8s were modified for freight service. This involved regearing and replacing the 36" wheels with 38" wheels. The road class was changed from PE-22 to FE-22.
I'll just take the EL back anyday. One of the greatest roads there ever was, (and will ever be) A real railroad, not a transportation company, like we have today.
I also lived in that house, after his son Pat stole the property from Skeet, Skeet was a wonderful friend to everyone and I was at his bedside when he passed away, Skeets wife Frances passed away 53 days later after 53 years of marriage god rest
I too stayed in the house for a few years, with Pat, Pat is an egotistical maniacal sorry s o b, Skeet and Francis were some of the most wonderful people you could ever know and would give you the shirt off their back, I too was at both of them when they passed away and their funerals, Pat would beat them up when he wanted something, including the house, his latest stunt may have him going to prison for assaulting a minor / child endangerment / attempted rape to a minor child / serving alcohol to a minor child, I'm not sure if the local justice system will add more charges or not but he needs to live the rest of his life in prison
Big SD's, F units, 40- and 50-foot box cars, open auto racks, cabooses, kerosene markers, open stations, tissue-paper train orders, and jointed rail. While today's railroading is certainly dynamic, it lacks the character of that earlier time.
I like the EL, because a lot of it is heavy lifting on the part of 4-axles. F units and Geeps go hand in hand, like 1501 and 1751: both of which are OOS on the G&U. We have come so far haven't we?
I lived in Creston, Ohio that was home to the Erie, Norfolk & Western , and the Chessie System. Erie's track now gone that West Salem still has the tracks coming from Mansfield which is used by the Ashland RR, from West Salem to Creston tracks removed, Creston going east to Rittman now is Rails to Trails, and from Rittman to Barberton used by the Wheeling And Lake Erie RR. Aw the memories of the Chessie and the Erie in Creston and Sterling. Sterling had the dimond for the Chessie(B&O) and the Erie. Non stop trains all day and night.
Brotha' I live in West Salem, and used to play on the EL when I was a boy... maaan, the memories of mixed freights rolling through West Salem... Double track line..... 6 engines..... 95 cars.... man...I miss that. Now, at least I get to watch the local bring covered hoppers into premium Products siding plant.. they go through 76 cars a week, and they still bring them in from mansfield/Ashland area.....
I visited and hiked Horse shoe several times in the 70's.. man, what memories I have with my dad and hiking that area.... even "Mule-Shoe" was active then.. that was a trip to watch..
The Middletown Erie RR station is now a library. An addition to the building to the north is on the place the tracks used to run! The other Romanesque station, the Ontario and Western building, is a decrepit ruin.
Amazingly, they kept the news/ candy stand in the Erie station more or less intact and re-purposed it for the library. i remember getting candy from it in the 1950s while waiting for the train . However, it's a shame how the O&W station has been abandoned and neglected... allowed to deteriorate to such a ruin. It was once a magnificent building . That loco coming around the curve and coming across North ST brings back a lot of memories
You can get a street level view of the old Erie Lackawanna station in Middletown NY, using Google Maps. It's all fenced off. Such a shame to let that magnificent structure decay. And to echo David Wayts comments, I use to live near Seville Ohio (just north of Creston), and the town of Creston was railroad central. I would have loved to experience what it was like living in that town during its heyday.
i am old enough to remember seeing these EL locos. and photoed many after being CRd. i saw SDP45 EL bicentennial before CR CRd it. and later as 6669 but still in bicen paint. also saw 6097 after re numbering, still bicen.
sure sure. towards the end of passenger and before everyone had a whole lot of diesel electric power they would use extra passenger equipment to power freights
Eire pike mine line usary pike cold startred frieght equipment Pike line trap N S hostile lock in Pennsylvania owe track right post Delaware Ohio red Erie box grain mill not hide but under roof N S bomb lay It's manifest inside chilicote Lackawanna grain coal shipment Chattanooga Kentucky pike he on reading pike 2102 rumbles spies of rahab
Norfolk Southern saved some of the EL SD45-2 (with a heritage EL SD45-2), has all of the SD80MACs and has a conrail heritage engine, and Donald Trump actually likes America unlike Hillary
I enjoy these older videos that not only show the motive power used, but also show the older, many times colorful, freight cars with all the various road names, most of which either no longer exist or were merged into mega-systems. I miss my 1960s-'70s train watching, too!
I think what strikes me most about these old videos is just how short the trains are. Nothing seems to be under a mile long nowadays.
The EL autorack train which appears at 3:45 rolling through Callicoon, NY originated out of Mahwah, NJ at the former Ford assembly plant that existed there at one point. WB autorack trains would carry the finished cars and empty auto parts boxcars west to places like Detroit and Chicago and the eastbound runs would bring in the parts and empty autoracks east to Mahwah, NJ. Today the Ford plant is now long gone and the huge Sheraton Hotel now presently occupies the site. Incredible footage.
I believe the hotel was sold and just shut down and is to be razed(!) to build a warehouse.
The line below the viaduct is the D&H. Tracks are long gone, but the NYS&W uses the Starucca viaduct 2 times daily
My grandfather was an engineer for Erie Lackawanna.
the best EL, Erie and Lackawanna ever. Great footage
Nice footage
Ah yes This was really - the friendly service route ! I am glad that you post these nice videos. Thanks !
It's always nice to see archival footage of the Lackawanna, EL and Erie. Nice shot of Starucca Viaduct with the Delaware & Hudson Penn Division still intact. Sorry EL couldn't stay out of Contrail.
I'm sorry that DL&W and Erie and D&H couldn't survive separately. They were all venerable railroads. What's even more depressing is that D&H was taken over by CPRail, a Canadian enterprise.
Just now learning a good bit about the Erie Lackawanna. Love that paint scheme, noticed they used lots of EMD cab units (my favorite) and were fond of the burly SD45's. When you see those box cars rocking like that, you know that's some bad, bad track those big trains were rolling over.
The best era for railfanning, the 1960s-70s almost all the classic roads still around and many colorful Diesels and Rolling Stock and all that swinging, rock n rolling jointed rail !!! Lol Today is just a handful of Big roads with look alike crew cab rolling computers and ugly rolling stock with vandalized graffiti !!! I'm glad I was around for those great 5-6 builder colorful days that we thought would never end !
Its really nice to see a train with no graffiti! I sure loved seeing the EL lashups! I dont understand the swaying cars....ties in bad shape?
yta- I miss mixed power on the BV&).. Now, it's all AC engines, and 4400 types that I can't see the difference between one or the other... Through Lodi, Ohio on the B&O, you'd see B&O in several schemes, C&O in a couple , and even WM in both of it's paint jobs... Take all of those schemes, and bring in all of the different loco's used, from a GP7 to SD40's, and you had quite a variety... not to mention all the mixed F units still running into the 70's...
But ya- 60's-70's were (WERE) the best@!!
All these people today talk about this horn and that horn,,,blah,blah,blah,,,,,
They have no idea what an ABBA(not the 70s group)set of F units sound like in notch 8 blowing the Leslie A200 horn.
Although the "Mr. Yuk" style chalk drawings on the caboose at 2:55 are pretty good.
Ah the good old days, when rail cars WEREN'T covered with graffiti!!
Definitely.
Before the punks with spray cans started vandalizing everything.
csmith1965 It was also a time when railroad cars were painted in different colors like red and green and blue and yellow.
Personally I think the graffiti makes trainspotting more interesting. They're just metal cars that belong to the railroad anyway. Understandable why vandalism is frowned upon but otherwise who cares
Good video my favorite railroad I miss the big e
Those E8s were modified for freight service. This involved regearing and replacing the 36" wheels with 38" wheels. The road class was changed from PE-22 to FE-22.
good info!
I'll just take the EL back anyday. One of the greatest roads there ever was, (and will ever be) A real railroad, not a transportation company, like we have today.
I lived in that house in the beginning of the vid,, was Skeet Graves place for many years.
I also lived in that house, after his son Pat stole the property from Skeet, Skeet was a wonderful friend to everyone and I was at his bedside when he passed away, Skeets wife Frances passed away 53 days later after 53 years of marriage god rest
I too stayed in the house for a few years, with Pat, Pat is an egotistical maniacal sorry s o b, Skeet and Francis were some of the most wonderful people you could ever know and would give you the shirt off their back, I too was at both of them when they passed away and their funerals, Pat would beat them up when he wanted something, including the house, his latest stunt may have him going to prison for assaulting a minor / child endangerment / attempted rape to a minor child / serving alcohol to a minor child, I'm not sure if the local justice system will add more charges or not but he needs to live the rest of his life in prison
The units on the train at Hankins curve at 4:55 were an SD45-2, not a GP35 SDP45 and a U33C.
Very nice, enjoyed on 12/25/19🎅🎄🇺🇸👍
Big SD's, F units, 40- and 50-foot box cars, open auto racks, cabooses, kerosene markers, open stations, tissue-paper train orders, and jointed rail. While today's railroading is certainly dynamic, it lacks the character of that earlier time.
Its ashame were never going to see that again, and for me, never.
old school railroading at its finest they knew how to get the job done in those days
Is there any footage of the bridge over the passaic river at Totowa to west Paterson. NJ. Now rt 80.
Harold Owens Oh I'd like to see that too. My husband was from Paterson. His mom is still alive at 90. Probably remembers a lot.
I like the EL, because a lot of it is heavy lifting on the part of 4-axles. F units and Geeps go hand in hand, like 1501 and 1751: both of which are OOS on the G&U. We have come so far haven't we?
I lived in Creston, Ohio that was home to the Erie, Norfolk & Western , and the Chessie System. Erie's track now gone that West Salem still has the tracks coming from Mansfield which is used by the Ashland RR, from West Salem to Creston tracks removed, Creston going east to Rittman now is Rails to Trails, and from Rittman to Barberton used by the Wheeling And Lake Erie RR. Aw the memories of the Chessie and the Erie in Creston and Sterling. Sterling had the dimond for the Chessie(B&O) and the Erie. Non stop trains all day and night.
Brotha' I live in West Salem, and used to play on the EL when I was a boy... maaan, the memories of mixed freights rolling through West Salem... Double track line..... 6 engines..... 95 cars.... man...I miss that. Now, at least I get to watch the local bring covered hoppers into premium Products siding plant.. they go through 76 cars a week, and they still bring them in from mansfield/Ashland area.....
Toward the end of the video, #3677 in the lead on the one train is an SD45-2 that served as a Horseshoe Curve pusher for many years under Conrail.
I visited and hiked Horse shoe several times in the 70's.. man, what memories I have with my dad and hiking that area.... even "Mule-Shoe" was active then.. that was a trip to watch..
I'm making a history video about the Erie Lackawanna and was wondering could I use this footage for it?
Great drum solo at around 8:20
if i was born during that time i wouldnt remember it or be able to enjoy it now would i :P
NO U WOULDN'T !!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOULD U ?????????
Kinda unique after so many yrs..while caboose been extinct tovsee all these vintage 8mm and locos with no ditch lights
Looks like the last one had a Chime-Tone.
The Middletown Erie RR station is now a library. An addition to the building to the north is on the place the tracks used to run! The other Romanesque station, the Ontario and Western building, is a decrepit ruin.
Amazingly, they kept the news/ candy stand in the Erie station more or less intact and re-purposed it for the library. i remember getting candy from it in the 1950s while waiting for the train .
However, it's a shame how the O&W station has been abandoned and neglected... allowed to deteriorate to such a ruin. It was once a magnificent building .
That loco coming around the curve and coming across North ST brings back a lot of memories
I bet after every train that passed through had the town smelling like hot brakes!
@t3hsully1985
U are correct it is not a GP 35. I think it is SD 45 as you said.
You can get a street level view of the old Erie Lackawanna station in Middletown NY, using Google Maps. It's all fenced off. Such a shame to let that magnificent structure decay. And to echo David Wayts comments, I use to live near Seville Ohio (just north of Creston), and the town of Creston was railroad central. I would have loved to experience what it was like living in that town during its heyday.
no the station your looking at is the old o&w station that caught on fire the erie station they built it alot bigger and turned it into a library
Fast trains
Speed was 40 for general merchandise and 50 for 2NY00 and CX-99
The only action the line see's from Binghamton to NJ is the NYS&W road trains.
i was born about 60 years too late :(
agreed!
at 4:45... thats not a GP35. Lead unit looks like an SD45-2.
not a GP35,,,,,,,, it was a SD45-2
+jeffrey mcfadden Good catch !
i am old enough to remember seeing these EL locos.
and photoed many after being CRd.
i saw SDP45 EL bicentennial before CR CRd it. and later as 6669 but still in bicen paint.
also saw 6097 after re numbering, still bicen.
sure sure. towards the end of passenger and before everyone had a whole lot of diesel electric power they would use extra passenger equipment to power freights
wow, actually, 1973 Ford LTDs !!
That was all jointed rail with prob batterd rail ends from not being surfaced in a long time.
We can thank Penn Central and the hurricane in 1972 for the demise
e of the EL.
E8s on a freight at 4:00?
2:10 get a whiff of that asbestos boys!
Middletown died as soon as the railways left
@trainmanlars As did Port Jervis.
...so you were born in 2020? :P
Eire pike mine line usary pike cold startred frieght equipment
Pike line trap N S hostile lock in Pennsylvania owe track right post Delaware Ohio red Erie box grain mill not hide but under roof N S bomb lay It's manifest inside chilicote Lackawanna grain coal shipment Chattanooga Kentucky pike he on reading pike 2102 rumbles spies of rahab
When America was great... :(
Norfolk Southern saved some of the EL SD45-2 (with a heritage EL SD45-2), has all of the SD80MACs and has a conrail heritage engine, and Donald Trump actually likes America unlike Hillary
Sure he does.
Probably a lot dude. It never occurs to them that it's precisely the Trumps of the world who've destroyed our country.
AT.45 SKEET GRAVES LIVES THERE I'M IN THIS OWN ALSO A R/R ARTIST F/B Art by art movie on here arts movie