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Click for detailed Lehigh Valley
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| The Lehigh Valley Railroad was the chief line serving Ithaca, home of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society |
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Join the Cornell Railroad Historical
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Mailing address: Cornell Railroad Historical Society |
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We
welcome your comments and suggestions.
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Cornell
Railroad Historical Society
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Special Meeting: June 14, 2022 at the Art Space The History Center of Tompkins County
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John
Taibi, author of numerous books on the railroads of central New York
will be discussing his newest work "Hojack - Remembering the Rome,
Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad and Division at the June meeting of
the Cornell Railroad Historical Society. The meeting will take place
in the Gallery Art Space of The History Center of Tompkins County. Doors
will be open at 7:00 PM. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:15 PM.
Admission is free and open to the general public as well as members
of the CRHS. |
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CRHS Picnic 2021 Happy to be meeting in person, on a fine July Saturday, July 10, 2021, at our usual Clyde, NY location |
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CRHS members watch was westbound CSX containers
head west |
CSX Eastbound follows NYState
Barge Canal through Clyde, NY |
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| With most members fully vaccinated against the Covid Virus, it was deemed safe for us to gather underneath the Route 414 underpass in Clyde, New York on July 10, 2021. The weather began cloudy, but kept clearing until by the time we adjourned, it was largely blue skies and pleasant temperatures for the remainder of the afternoon. It was great to feel as if we were an actual organization, no longer confined to computer screens and isolated at home. Plans now include meetings this fall at The History Center in Ithaca. We will be posting notifications when plans are complete. | |||
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Young boys worked to sort coal and remove stones and debris in the huge "breakers" above the Pennsylvania coal mines. | Continuing
Pandemic Isolation Means Cornell Railroad Historical Society Will Not
Meet Physically in the Near Future, as of May 2021 |
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| The
Ithaca & Owego Railroad was one of the earliest railroads in New
York State, receiving its charter from the state legislature in 1828.
However it took some years to get operating, finally running trains
hauled by horses in 1834. It was less than efficient, suffering through
bankruptcy, and was finally bought by coal interests from Scranton,
Pennsylvania, and renamed the Cayuga & Susquehanna by 1850. The
main purpose was to deliver Pennsylvania anthracite from the Wyoming
Valley in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area to Cayuga Lake and a water
connection with the Erie Canal. While coal dominated much rail traffic
for the next 160 years, the focus changed to places such as West Virginia
and Kentucky, and further west to Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. By the
21st century, huge amounts of coal originated in the eastern corners
of Wyoming and Montana, with the odd coincidence that the state of Wyoming
borrowed its name from the native-named valley in Pennsylvania. Now,
as people and governments seek to decrease emissions of carbon dioxide
into earth's atmosphere, the use of coal is seen as a threat, and it
may forecast the demise of coal mining and its transport by rail. |
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| Cornell
Railroad Historical Society September, October, November Meetings Canceled
As Virus Continues |
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| The
Cornell Railroad Historical Society has decided not to hold in-person
meetings this fall as the Corona Virus continues to affect members of
our community. With many members in the group menaced by this disease,
especially due to age or other infirmities, it seems the wisest move
not to hold meetings. Furthermore, the History Center, location of our
usual gatherings, is limiting access to 15 persons or fewer. We will
reassemble as soon as it seems safe to do so. In the meantime, we are
still publishing our newsletter and urge you to take out a membership
and thus receive news of the group. |
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| Cornell
Railroad Historical Society Holds No Meeting for August, 2020 |
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| Due
to both the continuing CoronaVirus19 shutdown of public meetings in
New York State for this month, and the fact that we do not hold a meeting
in August anyway, there will be no meeting this month. We wish all members,
friends and possible web visitors continuing good health and positive
feelings as we all manage our lives and families through this unusual
time. |
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| July
2020 CRHS Picnic Canceled for this Year |
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| The annual picnic of the Cornell Railrad Historical Society was canceled for 2020. Fears of the spread of virus to particularly vulnerable members, lack of the usual heavy freight traffic on the cross New York Main Line and the distance to travel from Ithaca and further south caused the CRHS Board to cancel the effort. As fans of the hapless Dodgers would say in my youth, "Wait 'Til Next Year, Ya Bum!" | |
| The CRHS Editor remembers summer days when he would ride the Erie "Plug" into Hoboken, get aboard the Lackawanna Barclay Street Ferry and ride back and forth across the river, watching the majestic steamships go by. Well, it was kind of a railroad trip, despite all the water. Here, the SS United States is on its way to Europe, escorted by the Pauline L. Moran. Remember, this was in 1958, over 60 years ago. Thank heaven for Kodachrome. | |
| Virus
Pandemic Keeps Cornell Railroad Historical Society Off the Rails |
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The continuing situation
with the Corona Virus affecting life in general, and meetings of non-related
persons in particular has meant the Cornell Railroad Historical Society
has not held meetings in either May or June of 2020. It was also decided
that, despite the possibility of an outdoor meeting and picnic in July
at our usual gathering spot, under the highway overpass alongside the
CSX Main Line in Clyde, the risk to older members of any kind of get-together
was unwarranted. Traffic has been reported as being much lighter than
usual along that line as well. So, we paddle on, boats against the current
or trains facing restrictive signal indications, hoping the line clears
sometime in the future and we will be able to use whatever metaphor
is handy for new meetings. |
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| April
Meeting Canceled -- Stay Healthy |
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The April meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society has been canceled due to the closing of The History Center in Ithaca and to protect the heath and safety of our members. We hope to meet again in the future, but the situation remains fluid and we will align our activities to the rules and needs of the entire community. |
| Black Diamond with new diesels, about 1947, at Ithaca | |
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| March
Meeting: A Trip on the LV Buffalo Division |
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The February meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society will feature a video from Broken Knuckle Productions on the Lehigh Valley Railroad Buffalo Division, Upstate Branches, provided by our program director Bob Travis. With sufficient time, we may also see some recently uncovered pictures of etchings of Jersey City yards and locomotives by Reginald Marsh, sometimes listed as a member of the "Ashcan School" of American artists. Meeting will be at the History Center in downtown Ithaca on Tuesday, March 10. Doors open at 7 PM and the meeting begins promptly at 7:15 PM. Remember, too, that it's time to renew your membership in the CRHS, since newsletters will be cut off next month and you may miss the always exciting April Fool issue. |
| Jersey City Yard - Painting by Reginald Marsh | |
| The
Steel Industry
and How It Fostered Railroads to Haul Its Products |
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Our Cornell Railroad Historical Society meeting for February 2020 featured our vice-president Tim Lynch presenting a talk with pictures and videos on his visit to the remnant of the mill in Bethlehem, PA. He noted: "I was talking about the process of steel making: how a blast furnace worked, how the Bessemer converter worked, how an open hearth worked, how coke was made, and how all the parts of a typical US steel mill's "hot metal" plant was organized and operated. I also wanted to cover a bit of history of the US steel industry, particularly the start of Bethlehem Steel in the Lehigh Valley and the connections to the Lehigh Valley RR, and what has happened to the mills that once were an anchor for the railroad industry." Tim showed his program using the large video projection system of The History Center. It was extremely interesting and informative. |
| January
2020 Meeting Viewed Resurrected Old Logging Locomotive |
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At our January meeting, we viewed a video from TRAINS magazine on the "Skookum" locomotive, which was originally built for a logging railroad in the east, but ended up in Oregon. Just before that railroad ceased operation, the engine derailed and fell into a swamp. Years later, it was located, rebuilt and made to run as a tourist attraction. The DVD followed this "Lazarus" story — fascinating and colorful. One of only six built, this 1909 locomotive was rejected, accepted, and left for dead in 1955, and revived in 2019. We met in the Gallery room of The HIstory Center, with large-scale projection provided by our own projector. |
Page revised by Gene Endres, June 1, 2022