[PRCo] Re: Troop trains

Tue May 10 21:43:43 EDT 2011

Better you were using Kodachrome Bob.  All my Ektachomes from the early 1960s faded.   That E3 or E4 process was a dud.   But the Agfachrome dyes from 1960 held up very well.   

Scenicruisers.... buses with two side-by-side diesels.  I had official contact prints at one time of Central Greyhound C-675 sent to me from Pontiac, Michigan ... they were the official General Motors "builders photographs" for the PD-4501 model.  Difference between builders photos of buses and those of streetcars was, they took those buses out and found some very pretty locations to photograph them.   

First time I saw a Scenicruiser was on display in front of the terminal in Parkersburg, West Virginia.   Probably Saturday the 3 of September, 1955.  (Perpetual calendars are great!)   In those days Parkersburg had service by hound east and west on US 50 to Cincinnati and St. Louis and Baltimore and Washington (competing with the B&O), and north to Pittsburgh and south to Charleston and some local runs too.  

I remember a driver in Parkersburg telling me about one of his friends who had an early local run into Parkersburg and back out in the evening.   He kept the hound in his own driveway.   Well, one night his kid took the bus and filled it with other kids to take advantage of the all you stuff into the vehicle rate at the local drive-in.   I think the story ended with, "After that he didn't keep it at home any longer."   

In those days the Greyhound fleet was mostly the 1951 PD-4103s, a lot of slant window PD-4104s but once in a while you would still see those prewar Yellow Coaches (743s I think).   I remember riding one of those Yellows on a Pittsburgh - Philly schedule from York to Lancaster one day back in 1953 or 1954, by then probably 17 or 18 years old.

As I think about it now, the local bus company in Lancaster was running late and middle 1930s ACFs in base service at that time on some routes.   Bill Janssen used to refer to the Wizzards of Hoboken who kept those 40-year-old DC electric coaches running on the Erie-Lackawanna in the early 1970s.   Well, we had wizzards in Lancaster that kept old ACFs and ACF-Brills running long after they should have expired too.   There was one 26-S ACF from 1942 still running in the 1960s on a weekday interplant charter for RCA.   One Saturday in 1962 when all the newer coaches were out on charters and they were running short of equipment, I saw that critter sailing in the New Holland Pike on a scheduled Ephrata run.   I remember my thoughts when I saw it that day were, "My God ... you could legally put purple antique car license plates on it."    

On May 10, 2011, at 9:11 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:

> 
> Dwight, 
> 
> 
> 
> 49 year old memories! On my 1962 trip , the Greyhounds were Scenecruisers which had restrooms. They traveled on US 66, and (where completed) on I-40. There were numerous rest stops at Greyhound Post Houses.  Westbound, we got into St. Louis around 4 am and had a couple of hours until our connecting bus left for Los Angeles.  I remember watching St. Louis PCC's running near the bus station, but it was still dark and I didn't have a tripod along.  I had a 35mm camera, but that  was i n the days of low ASA Kodachrome 10 a nd 25.   
> 
> 
> 
> Bob 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net> 
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
> Cc: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
> Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 7:43:59 PM 
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Troop trains 
> 
>    Bob   On my trip to Rolla I had spent the day riding the IT suburban 
> service= and fotting SLPS before heading west to Rolla.  The Dog on which I 
> ro= de had no restroom--it was an early version of the Highway Traveler 
> series--and I well remember the rest stop on my trip.  It was at a p= lace 
> called "The Diamond,"  or something close to that and I think it = was on 
> theold Rt.66.  I was in desperate need of it, at any rate, hav= ing been 
> lulled into a belief that the bus would have a restroom by virtue = of the 
> fact that the one I rode into STL DID have such a facility!   And yes, that 
> is the preferred pronunciation of Rolla!   Dwight 
> 
> May 10, 2011 04:20:13 AM, pittsburgh-railways at dement= ia.org wrote: 
> 
> I remembe= r stopping at the Post House in Rolla (RAWL-Luh) on a 
> cross-country=C3=82&n= bsp;Greyhound trip in 1962. 
> 
> 
> 
> Bob 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Herb Brannon" To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
> Sent: Monday, May 9, 2011 9:46:= 25 PM 
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Troop trains 
> 
> I haven't heard that tow= ns name mentioned in quite a few years. 1957 was 
> almost a decade before= my time there but I doubt if it changed very much. 
> On Mon, May 9, 2011= at 21:02, Dwight Long wrote: 
> 
>> =C3=82&n= bsp; =C3=82  =C3=82  Herb =C3=82  Back in 1957 I was returni= ng 
> east from Rolla, Mo., on the 
>> Frisco's loc=3D al passenger train= , and we went into the hole at least 
> once, 
>> and I think tw=3D ice, = for a very long troop train. =C3=82 I learned 
> laterthat it 
>> w= as headed =3D to Ft. Leonard Wood. =C3=82  Dwight 
>> 
>> Ma= y 9, 2011 05:29:17 PM, pittsburgh-railways at dementi=3D a.org wrote: 
>> = In the Summer=3D of 1964 I had a "seasonal" job with the City of Akron, 
>> Street 
>> &Hig=3D hway Dept, as a laborer on a McAdam pavi= ng crew. We had a three 
> day 
>> job,=3D in mid-August, on a city stree= t which ran along side the main 
>> east-westrailroad tracks. These tr= acks served the Eire-Lackawanna, 
>> Baltimore 
>> &=3D Ohio = 
>> and the Pennsylvania railroads. Every day we worked on that street= =3D we 
> saw 
>> troop train after troop train headed westbound. All th= e trains us=3D ed 
> the 
>> 1930s Pullman cars you speak about. Just a f= ew months later in Ap=3D ril, 
> 
>> 1965 
>> I 
>> departed, l= ike your brother, on a TWA flight headed for BCT =3D and AIT, 
> as a 
>> = Combat Engineer, at Ft Leonard Wood, MO. 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> &g= t; On=3D Sun, May 8, 2011 at 22:52, Bob Rathke wrote: 
>>> 
> &gt= ; >A couple of follow-ups, Fred: 
>>> 
>>> 
>> &g= t; 
>>> =3D - In March, 1963 I took my brother to Greater Pittsburg= h Airport 
> where 
>> he>boarded a TWA Constellation for his inductio= n in the Army at Ft. Kn=3D 
> ox. 
>>> Attached is a photo of my broth= er about to enter the door, look=3D ing 
> back 
>>> toward the camera= . 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> By 1964=3D -67, th= e Defense Department was sending a greater number of 
>>> Pittsbu= =3D rgh inductees to basic training on trains from the PRR and 
> P&LE >>=3D stations. I took photos of the 1930's Pullman cars kept in th= 
> ose 
>> stations>for use on the inductee trains. 
>>> 
> = >> 
>>> 
>>> - L=3D ast Fall, my uncle told me abou= t his rail trip to basic training 
> in 
>> 1942> (previously, he had = never talked about his WWII experiences). His 
>> dad=3D 
>> 
> = >>accompanied him to the P&LE station that day where he boarded = =3D a 
> B&O 
>> train 
>> to 
>>> Washington, D.C., and= then on to an Army base in=3D the South. Hhe said 
> his 
>>> parents= (my grandparents) didn't know that=3D he enlisted in the Army - 
> they 
> &= gt; >always thought that he had been dra=3D fted. 
>>> 
>> = > 
>>> 
>>> Last Fall he talked freely about his =3D e= xperiences in the U.S. and 
> Pacific 
>>> 1942-45, and I furiously to= ok n=3D otes on everything he said. 
>>> 
>>> 
>> &g= t; 
>>> Bob 
>>> 
>> =3D > 
>>> 
>> = > 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> = 
>>> 
>>> =3D ; 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> = 
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> &=3D g= t; From: "Fred Schneider" 
>>> To: pittsburgh=3D -railways at dementia= .org 
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 8, 2011 10:40:38 AM 
>>> =3D ; = Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pennsylvania RR Heritage Passenger Train 
>>> = 
>> &=3D gt; Back on October 8th, 1958, I entered the army. The lo= cal 
> recruiter 
>> (yes=3D , 
>>> guys, RA stood for ragged ass= ) gave me a ticket to Harrisburg on =3D the 
> 
>> Pennsy. 
>>> M= y parents were on the station platform in Lancaster to=3D say good-bye. 
>>> And dad had one last picture of the train disappeari=3D ng west w= ith one 
> of 
>>> those Pennsy business cars on the rear end of n=3D = umber 25. 
>>> 
>>> That was one hellish long day. Hours o= f processin=3D g and finally a bus 
> to 
>>> Philadelphia and another= bus to Fort Dix. An=3D d then standing in 
> formation 
>> for 
>> = >an hour. Finally some a-hole serge=3D ant comes out of a building and s= 
> ays, 
>>> "Oh, you guys still here. Wel=3D l maybe we do something.= " And he sent 
> usto 
>>> dinner at 11 PM for wha=3D t was left over= in the reception center. Then 
> to 
>>> bed at 1 AM. Then =3D they w= oke us up again at 4 a.m. to tell us we were 
> in 
>>> the army now.= =3D 
>>> 
>>> Thanks Bob, for the memories. 
>>> = 
>>> 
>>> -- A=3D ttached file removed by Ecartis and put = at URL below -- 
>>> -- Type: im=3D age/gif 
>>> -- Size: 1= 88k (192970 bytes) 
>>> -- URL : 
>>> http:=3D 
>> // = 
>> lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/TWAConstJackStairs63.= 
> jpg.gif=3D 
>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> = 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Herb Brannon 
>> In Cuyah=3D o= ga Valley National Park 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> &g= t; 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon 
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 