Notes on Meetings of 2007-2008
Our annual picnic meeting was held on July 14, 2009 at Stewart Park in Ithaca. Between the waters of the lake and the Ithaca Secondary tracks,was a good time with food supplied by individuals, train courtesy of Norfolk-Southern and plenty of time to spin yarns, complain about the weather or swap tales of past rail trips.
The June 2009 meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society featured a variety of short presentations by various members. Held on June 9 at the History Center in downtown Ithaca, we saw everything from detailed models built by Art Wilcox to a Journal Brass and a Whatzit Tool (later revealed to be a flattened hook for detecting cracks on the surface of a journal brass) shown by Bruce Tracy, to a photos slide show from Doug Flanagan. We also had a talk on "Steam Locomotive Types of the Lehigh Valley" by Greg Dickinson. All told, an evening of great variety and interest.
The April Meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society was held at The History Center, downtown Ithaca on April 14. We were to view a video of the last mainline steam operation in the world. This line in China, featuring giant 2-10-0 steam over the Jing Ping Pass, attracted railfans from all over the world including our own railfan extraordinaire, Tom Trencansky. Tom was unable to appear, due to family matters, but an intriguing video of the operations in China was substituted.
The March meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society was held at the History Center, on East State Street in downtown Ithaca. Tom Trencansky showed (via computer) many fascinating slides of the Delaware and Hudson, in and around Binghamton, NY, as well as other locations on the line. The D&H was one of the oldest corporations in America, having started with a canal to bring coal from the early Pennsylvania coalfields to the Hudson River.
Our February meeting at the History Center featured the final installment of the video on how railroads were involved in war, particular attention being paid to how the Allies attacked the Axis railroads during World War II.
The November meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society was a joint meeting with Ithaca's history museum, The History Center, in conjunction with the new exhibit at The History Center: Riding the Rails. This show featured photos from the museum's collection, along with illustrations and text from the newly revised edition of A History of Railroads in Tompkins County. Our speaker was Thomas D. Simpson, who represents the Railway Supply Institute in Washington, D.C. spoke on his lifetime interest in railroads starting as a youth in Ithaca, and continuing to this day. He supplies information to our elected representatives from this international association of suppliers to the nation's freight and passenger rail systems and rail transit authorities. He also presented to The History Center a ledger book for the East Ithaca station (on the Elmira and Cortland branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad). The new edition of A History of Railroads in Tompkins County, updated and augmented by our own long-term member, John Marcham, was available for sale as well.
Our September meeting showed a video of historic footage of "Railroads at War" beginning with the Civil War and continuing up to post-World War II. This video had some extremely different and rarely seen footage of preparations for war at the front during World War I, including the assembly in France of steam locomotives that were designed and built in the United States.
Milwaukee Road ad from 1943: ——What's the Olympian in the hole for, Bill?
Conductor Bill can't talk about his railroad orders in wartime — even to such in old friend of the line as Monty Miller, foreman of the Angle D ranch.
1t may be the famous, electrified Olympian has gone "in the hole"— which is railroadese for waiting on a side track —because it's more important for a military train to have the right of way.
Station agents, conductors, brakemen and other railroad men don't like to appear unobliging —but they've pledged themselves for the duration to give no information to anyone about unusual train movements.
That's in the interest of national security. An idle word dropped about a troop train — or a supply train's schedule and destination — might reach enemy ears and lead to an attack on a convoy days and even weeks afterward.
For the most part passengers realize this situation. They too, keep mum about war traffic they see on the railroad.
If the Olympian, the Hiawathas, the Pioneer Limited or other heavily traveled trains happen to be delayed, there is little complaining among passengers. For this understanding attitude, we of The Milwaukee Road are deeply grateful.
On July 8 we held our annual picnic meeting at Stewarts Park in Ithaca. People were free to arrive any time, and there were hot dogs and rolls, salads and drinks by before 6 PM. A charcoal fire for grilling was in place thanks to Steve Peck. The location, the northeast corner of the park, is near the Norfolk-Southern tracks, and the freight to the salt plant at Myers headed north around 4:30 PM. It came back through the park by 7:10 PM and members still in attendance enjoyed its progress.
June 2008 Meeting Copes with Numerous Unexcused Absences We viewed some videos provided by John Marcham at the June Meeting, . Due to the lack of our usual tech operators, the mysterious operation of the projection system at the NYSEG Meeting Room had to be deciphered by some of those attending. They did this successfully and members enjoyed the results.
May 2008: We Viewed an Excellent History of the Construction of Grand Central Station
Member Andrew Diamond provided an exceptional video on the construction of the current Grand Central Terminal which provided numerous memories of members who had traveled by train from that marvelous structure.
April 2008 Meeting Viewed History of the Southern Tier Presented by Greg Dickinson
One of our long-standing members and our resident expert on all things locomotive and freight-car related, Greg Dickinson, covered the history of rail lines in and radiating from Elmira, NY. Greg grew up in Elmira, and has expert knowledge on historical and current-day aspects of the original rail line from the Hudson to the Great Lakes, as well as lines from the south and to the north, including the Northern and Southern Central, the Lehigh Valley and all their successor lines.He showed us a detailed overview, with maps and pictures, of how the railroads we have come to know in the Elmira area evolved.
Our March meeting had sign-up sheets for working at our April Railfair (see above) and then a fine video provided by Larry Parmelee covering snow-fighting on Donner Pass. Dating from 1993, when Donner was still in the hands of Southern Pacific (though the merger with the Denver & Rio grande Western had taken place) the DVD was continuously fascinating.. Starting with amazing pictures of how the huge machine known as a flanger clears snow from both sides of the tracks, the video immediately chanced to include a derailment of one flanger and one of the four diesels propelling the work train. Later scenes showed how marksmanship brings down large icicles from tunnels and snowsheds. Finally, the increasingly heavy snow brings out the famous rotary snow plows, which hurl snow up to 200 feet from the tracks. Surprisingly, this year, with the Union Pacific in charge, the line got blocked for a time by a stalled Amtrak train. We didn't see that, but the snow was so cinvincing, members had to check the windows outside the Ithaca Sciencenter, to make sure we would get home easily!
February 2008: Summer in Duluth in the Winter
February Meeting: Jim Torgeson presented pictures of rail, marine and industrial sites around Duluth, Minnesota. Our chief executive brought photos he shot during the NMRA meeting at the one-time hub of the iron ore industry at the western end of Lake Superior. The meeting on February 12 was lightly attended due to predicted snow. However, the weather held off and Torgeson gave an excellent presentation. Members who missed it will regret this one.
"Passers By" by Ted Rose from the 2007 Images of Rail Calendar
January is the start of the year, and our program was a brief history of the railroad calendar by Gene Endres, along with a number of pictures of calendar paintings by two of his favorites: Ted Rose and Howard Fogg. Several members contributed comments on the railroads and locomotives shown. We also viewed some fine rail photos by Dave Sommers, shot in the New York Metro North area and also of rail action in Ithaca.
December 2007 Meeting: Video at the Fair
Our December meeting had a visit to the Central New York Chapter's 33rd Annual Model Train Fair. Steve Peck shot comprehensive video of this event, and allowed members to revisit or enjoy the premier fall railfan event in central New York.
The November meeting of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society saw a return appearance and a new lecture and slide show by Frank Barry, of Lansing, New York. Frank traveled extensively in Mexico during the late 1950s, chasing the final operations of steam locomotives on the (then) National Railways of Mexico [Nacionales de Mexico or N de M]. Frank caught some of the last steam trains from Guanajuato (just north of Mexico City) up to Aguascalientes, Durango and Torreon. He rode on the trains, photographed people along the way and the crews working on their trains. His superb black-and-white prints were carefully scanned into a computer slide program, and it wasa very special program, made even better by Franks' skills at telling the stories behind the pictures.
Finger Lakes Railway Was Featured for September 2007 Meeting
A good audience was on hand for our September meeting on September 11. Featured speaker was Deb Najarro, who represented the Finger Lakes Railway and the Finger Lakes Scenic Railway. We had originally scheduled FLRy President Mike Smith for this meeting, but Deb proved an able substitute. She showed some shots of operations on the railroad, taken by herself, and then covered some of the background of this successful local shortline. We thank Deb Najarro and the Finger Lakes Railway for a fine show. August 2007 Meeting Was An Informal Affair At Sciencenter
The CRHS August meeting was a come-as-you-are, bring-what-you-have gathering at the NYSEG Public Meeting Room at the Sciencenter. Attendance was astonishingly large for the usual August meeting. Steve Peck showed a video of our Buffalo Harbor Tour, and various members added commentary on what was shown. Jim Torgeson was especially valuable, since he had planned and organized the tour. Following that showing and a break, we watched a DVD provided by Gene Endres, which had been assembled from a variety of older 16 mm. films and thence copied to 3/4-inch videotape. That now obsolete format was finally dubbed to DVD. The images ranged from pictures of the Pennsy Elmira branch, to a brief scene of the ALCO PA-led Black Diamond in Ithaca, to even some old Castle Films for kids about dreaming of being a railroader. Other news from President Torgeson was that we are planning additional excursions in the future, with possible destinations of Steamtown in Scranton, and perhaps the Strasburg Railroad or Horseshoe Curve in Altoona.
Buffalo Harbor Excursion Proved a Memorable Trip
Our bus tour of Buffalo Harbor on Saturday, July 21 began at 7 AM at the mall parking lot just off Route 13, Ithaca. We had a full complement of passengers and a perfect, clear morning. We pulled out right on schedule and everything went perfectly, with the arrival at the Buffalo Marina around 11 AM. Some members kept track of all the existing and abandoned rail lines passed over on the way. (Those with a rail atlas -- the one covering New York State Railroads in 1946, for example -- were able to spot these points. The tour schedule provided by our President, Jim Torgeson, gave locations to the exact tenth mile, however. Bravo, Jim!)
At shortly after noon, our cruise boat, the Miss Buffalo left the landing near the marina and cruised up a channel still serving the giant General Mills elevator. It then turned back when the channel became too narrow, and was able to loop into the Buffalo River,, which itself twists and turns several times while heading past a whole assemblage of largely abandoned elevators. All these were served by lake freighters, carrying grain from various points in the Midwest. They were also served by a huge array of rail trackage, as the grain was trans-shipped to either local mills or to other mills in the area or on the east coast. Near the drawbridge still used by the CSX main line, we again had to turn back. Beyond this point was the vast Republic Steel plant, now completely gone and a storage yard for wind turbine parts. Back at the landing, we boarded the bus again and were taken on a tour of rail points of interest around Buffalo, once the second-largest rail center in the country. High point was a stop at Buffalo Central Terminal, which was the location of an antique car show on this day. The main terminal concourse was open for visitors and proved magnificent. Restoring the station is an ongoing and massive job. One hopes it can be carried out, though it will take years. Click on the panoramic view of the concourse dizzying (Flash) view.
Following that stop, we did get to the restored Lehigh Valley station in suburban Williamsville.
The final leg of the tour took us past the former Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, right along the lakeshore southwest of Buffalo. It is striking to see all this departed industrial might. There is still significant rail activity in Buffalo, but in years past it was far more so. Exhausted but exhilarated, we arrived back in Ithaca by about 10 PM. Thanks and gratitude go to our faithful Swarthout bus driver Jody and to Jim Torgeson for a magnificently planned tour.
July 2007 Picnic in Stewart Park, Ithaca
Our annual informal picnic meeting was held at Stewart Park in Ithaca, New York on Tuesday, July 10. We met at the northeast end of the park, near the Norfolk-Southern tracks. The day was warm and somewhat hazy, but right for a summer picnic. Shortly after 6 PM, the N-S train was spotted coming down the lake shore with a set of salt cars from the Cargill mine. It was operating push-pull, one supposes for ease in switching. A number of members fled the picnic table to grab pictures, and no TSA or local cops sprang from the bushes to stop this public photography.
Our June 2007 Meeting Showed Slides of Rail Action from the Mid-1940s
Chris Wolff's grandfather had a long history, from exploring in the Goldrush towns of the Sierra Nevada in California in the 1930s, to working with early aircraft pioneers in that industry, to supervising the construction of Liberty ships during World War II and then working in labor and work efficiency with for the government and private industry such as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad after the war. By the way, he also took slides. Some of these have been scanned and restored, and Chris and his father were on hand to narrate and explain the rail scenes shown.
Chesapeake and Ohio articulated. Photo: Jack Wolff
