Reliving a Bygone Era

I come from a line of railroaders. My grandfather and many of his male siblings worked for the railroad, either on the road or in the shops near their northern Pennsylvania homestead. Those were the shops of the New York Central Railroad. It was one of the iconic eastern railroads founded in the mid-1800s by men with the names Vanderbilt and Corning. In 1968 it merged with the other iconic road- the Pennsylvania RR- to form the Penn Central and then in 1972 they melded with others into Conrail. (His oldest son, my uncle, worked on the Erie Railroad.) I have always been a train lover. It takes me back to my grandfather's backyard where, but a quarter-mile away ran the New York Central tracks. If he was outside he always stopped and watched. I learned to do the same.

The New York Central has been gone for nearly half a century. It's status as one of the original great railroads (robber barons and all) has not diminished. Fortunately the city of Elkhart, Indiana, has kept that history alive in the National New York Central Museum. They located it there since the largest selection yard on the system was there in Elkhart, and it is still the site of over a hundred trains a day passing by.

We had the joy of going through the museum the other week. It was a step into a different world when riding trains- and their economic essential importance- was well-acknowledged.

Among all the memorabilia was a model train layout, Lionel gauge. Here is a short video I put together of the trains making their way from the steam era to modern Amtrak.

But there was more. Here are some of my pictures of the rolling stock, sitting, gathering years, and still sharing memories.

Downtown Train

I have many memories of freight trains, growing up along the New York Central line in northern Pennsylvania. That, and the fact that my grandfather and uncle worked for the railroads, helped me fall in love with the rails. One year we took a plane to New York to visit the family in Brooklyn. But we experienced air sickness on the trip to NYC so we came home by train. That sealed it.

Over the years I have had several friends who shared my love of trains and would be out doing what is called "railfanning"- chasing trains, taking pictures and just enjoying the majesty and power of those engines and the call of the railroad. I have often lived not far from train tracks, even having c cabin along the Penn Central line in the wilderness of the Pine Creek Gorge in Pennsylvania. I have had a number of interesting train trips of my own as an adult. The distant call of the train whistle is irresistible.

A couple weeks ago I was downtown on the top level of the parking garage when that whistle came echoing through the buildings. One of the local switcher trains was coming. I was in a good location to get some video, so I pulled out my trusty iPhone and started taking the video. I went home and did some editing, added a bluegrass song (of course!) and came up with a 1:11 view of a downtown train.

Enjoy- and one of these days I may make another one with all the train pictures I have from the past 60 years.

Bringing Back a Memory

Reading the news this morning about the Amtrak crash yesterday brought back a memory of my own. It was spring 1987. The youth of our church had just completed our first ever mission trip. We had gone from Wisconsin to New York City to do some work with the homeless at our denomination's ministry in midtown Manhattan. At the time the best way to make the trip for our group of 15 was Amtrak.

It was a wonderful week. We had done something new and exciting not just for our church, but for our denomination as well. It was among the first of this type of mission trip and we all had had a remarkable experience. As we were heading north on Amtrak heading home we were all just sitting enjoying the warmth of having done something new and different.

When in an instant the air brakes slammed closed and we went screeching and bumping for what seemed like forever. It was around dusk, as I remember it, and all I could see out the left windows of the coach was water- the Hudson River. I had no idea how close we were to the water, what was going on or if we were about to jump the tracks.

My favorite four-letter word came out.

Shit!

Thankfully we came to a stop without derailing. The bump I felt and heard was a 4WD truck that had gotten stuck on the tracks- where there wasn't a crossing. No one was in the truck and no one on the train was hurt. We eventually (hours later) began to move on toward Albany where they gave us a new head-end but many of the cars, our included, had little idiosyncrasies as a result.

We were late to make connections and late to get home, but we were safe and sound.

The news from Philly today gave me pause at our not being hurt and that no one our train was killed.

Life can change in an instant- and it usually isn't something we expect at a time we want.

One of the reasons I have since learned the importance of letting people know how much I care about them and how important they are to me. Life is fragile. Keep the important things first.

The Way, Way Back Machine

When I was a mere young'un I would spend time at my grandfather's house up the street. He and my aunt had a collection of 78 rpm records that intrigued me. (This was the late 50s.) Since my grandfather was a railroad man, one of the records was "The Freight Wreck at Altoona", a song about a train crash at the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, PA, west of us.

For years I wondered about the song, but it was last week that I decided to do some digging on the Internet. Well, ladies and gentlemen, here it is. Yep, I found it on You Tube. It was but a moment and I was transported back over 50 years as the sound of a real phonograph record came from the mists of time.

Vernon Dalhart was the artist- and I find on Wikipedia that he was one of the true pioneers of developing country and western music in the early 20th Century, recording the hit, "Wreck of the '97" (another of my favorites.)

Anywhere, here it is. Be transported back to a time many years ago. Hear the static on the record and remember the excitement that sound would have engendered in people who weren't as used to such things as we are now.

On the Tracks

Mid-Continent Railway

North Freedom, WI

Scan from slide

A Long Gone Sight

Bridge Across Pine Creek

Ramsey, PA

(Scan from slide)

August 1982

Note: Yes, it is the same bridge as in the photo at the top of this page.
This one was taken 24 years earlier while Conrail was still running the line.
I used Paint Shop Pro to add some softening effects.

With all the time spent on Les Mis and practicing my trumpet I decided to set up this whole past week of posts ahead of time so I did some digging around to find some interesting stuff.

An Extra for Today

AND, the #1 song 32 years ago today:

John Lennon, (Just Like) Starting Over. No wonder she's a Beatles fan!

A Quote for Moving Day

Today is the day to move from one place to another across town, downsizing, an attempt at de-cluttering life. So here's a quote I found that struck me as appropriate for today.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. 

Walt Disney

Fun Pix from Valley Forge

Well, let us not get too serious about Valley Forge. It would not be like me to NOT find some fun pictures from our visit last weekend to Valley Forge. Let's try these first.


A wedding party having pictures taken from the top  of the rise by the Memorial Arch. The wide-open spaces of the park, and maybe even the flag in the background, could make for some neat pictures. But, as my wife noted, it is tough to make the climb in heels.

Pity poor  Baron von Steuben. Standing around all day and  the spiders just won't leave you alone.

The old Reading and Conrail line travels along the edge of the encampment at the Schuylkill River. As I walked down the hill I wondered how George and Martha could sleep with the railroad going by. (Not serious, of course.) Sure enough, as we were walking up from Washington's headquarters I heard the unmistakeable sound and the train came rumbling through.

Then there was the clear presence of modern American life. The Valley Forge Casino. Wonder what old George would say about this?

Finally, what fun to take pictures of flowers 

and capture wildlife with it.

It Never Gets Old

Wonderful slides, wonderful version of one of the top songs of the 20th Century to capture America and the changes. Steve Goodman is still the greatest in his youth and energy; Arlo made it his own; Willie's fits this video. Why not just sit back and enjoy!

What Does It Look Like?

Target Field Station on Minneapolis Light Rail

"What on earth are you doing?"

What do you think I'm doing?

"I have no idea."

I'm taking a picture of the train.

THAT Was Quite a Storm

It's well known among train buffs as the Rockville bridge, the world's longest stone arch bridge. It is north of Harrisburg, PA, on the old Pennsylvania RR mainline. Back in the early 80s I went there several times with another railfan friend for some photo time.

Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River
pmPilgrim picture, 1981

The Rockville Bridge, at the time of its completion in 1902, was, and still remains, the longest stone masonry arch railroad viaduct in the world.[1] Constructed between 1900 - 1902 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it has forty-eight 70-foot spans, for a total length of 3,820 feet (1,164m).
(Wikipedia)

Conrail heading west over the Rockville Bridge
pmPilgrim picture, 1981 

The bridge crosses the Susquehanna River about 5 miles (8 km) north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The eastern end is in Rockville and the western end is just south of Marysville.
(Wikipedia)

Rockville Bridge north of Harrisburg, PA
pmPilgrim picture, 1981 

Well, on Monday, as the Big Blizzard of 2010 was winding down along the east coast, the winds were, well, blizzard strength. A Norfolk Southern freight was heading westbound to Chicago when it was derailed.

Two empty containers even ended up in the Susquehanna.

The blizzard part of the storm didn't hit that part of the state, but the power of the wind is obvious. The gust was probably at least 50 mph.

--pennlive.com and the Patriot-News

A 40-Year Memory: Disappearing Railroad Blues

 
June 21 – Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy, largest ever US corporate bankruptcy up to this date.

Note the old Pennsylvania RR Red Keystone, faded, 

on the side behind the cab.

A 30-Year Memory: The End of the Line

March 31 – Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train.

And the Rock Island Line was a very fine road.

Here's Odetta with a fine version:

Not Grandpa's Subway

Or New York's either.....

DesignBoom posted a series of pictures from what Fast Company called the Nine Coolest Subway Stations in the World. Astounding is another adjective that would fit.

Moscow’s Komsomolskaya Station

St. Quiren Platz Station in Munich

Olna Centrum Station in Stockholm

See all the pictures and the other six stations HERE.

Paving Paradise

The Infrastructurist - America Under Construction lamented 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking Ball (And The Crappy Stuff Built In Their Place).

#1 is truly a disaster from 1963 when Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan was torn down for Madison Square Garden.





The train station is still the busiest in the world, but you might as well be in a subway station.

#11- Detroit's Michigan Central Station still exists but is in trouble. The others have been replaced by vacant lots, parking lots, highway interchanges and buildings of all different types.

But then I think about some of the stations that have been preserved, even if they are not necessarily train stations anymore. I have been to St. Louis Union Station, Washington D.C. Union Station, Union Station Chicago, and the best and brightest (in my humble opinion)

Grand Central Station in New York.

Lost Trains

I recently got a forward from my friend Dwight that one of the big names in toy trains, the German manufacturer Marklin, is in trouble. (Link to NPR story.) It is now in the German version of Chapter 11 and is actually owned by a British private equity firm. They are hoping that they can attract a new generation of train lovers.



Which first got me thinking about my toy train when I was a child. It was an American Flyer. It had realistic two-track layouts, not the three tracks of Lionel. It is now long gone- both mine and the company. (Train can be seen on the left side in the Christmas morning picture from around 1955 or so. pmPilgrim at much younger age on the right.)

Then I started looking through some of my slide scans of some of the now lost railroads of the east coast where I grew up....

First is the Reading (pronounced redd-ing). (Picture 1974, near Allentown, PA)


This engine shows signs of two other great, classic, and doomed railroads, the Pennsylvania (PRR in the red keystone just showing behind the cab) and the Penn Central merger of the PRR and the New York Central (NYC). (Picture 1982, near Allentown, PA)

Here are two more: the CNJ, Central Railroad of New Jersey, with its logo just showing on the boxcar on the right and the Lehigh Valley (LV) on the yard engine. (Picture 1974, near Allentown, PA)

These of course were the major roads folded into the Consolidated Rail Corporation- Conrail. (Picture 1983, Rockville/Harrisburg, PA)

They are all gone now. Conrail was basically split and sold in 1999 to CSX and Norfolk Southern. There are still some of their engines and insignia around. But they are left to history. These companies helped make the United States the industrial power they were. They had robber barons running them, true, and in that were the seeds of their destruction. Conrail never stood a chance.

Someday they will be forgotten in everyday life. But let's hope history keeps their rightful place alive.

When Speaking the Truth

Thanks to the website The Best Article Every Day for this fake NYC subway advisory sign. Sometimes the satire is better than the truth.

Famous Trains

Keeping with the "transportation" theme of the Seaway post, I noted on Mental Floss Blog a Quick 10 list of 10 Famous Trains. These included the Cannonball Express (think Casey Jones- yes, he was real), the Orient Express, the Hiawatha trains, and the Orange Blossom Special, among others.

They asked in comments for famous trains I might have known. Well, I have been fortunate to ride on the City of New Orleans (Illinois Central) and the Broadway Limited (Pennsylvania RR) in the 60s and the Lakeshore Limited, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, Empire Builder, and Hiawatha in their Amtrak incarnations. I have also been on Spain's AVE high speed train between Seville and Madrid.

Trains are a great experience when done well. They offer you the ability to sit back and relax, move around and enjoy some incredible scenery. It is still sad the way we have misused and abused the idea of train travel both through a non-supportive policy and an even more non-supportive RR companies in the last century that took what they could from them and left them go down.

(Pictures: (Right) Amtrak at Rockville, PA, bridge, 1983. (Left) AVE at station in Seville, April 2002. pmPilgrim photos.)

National Train Day

On May 10, 1869, in Promontory Summit, Utah, the “golden spike” was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, ceremonially creating the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. And America was transformed.
--National Train Day website

Yes, in many ways it is a shameless promotion from Amtrak. But if it works to get more people on trains, I'm all for it!

So thank a train today. Even if it's old and just used for a bunch of tourists.

pmPilgrim photo