{"id":175,"date":"2010-06-10T01:23:01","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T05:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/?p=175"},"modified":"2017-03-02T14:07:36","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T19:07:36","slug":"eries-yd-tower-at-ararat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/?p=175","title":{"rendered":"Erie’s YD Tower at Ararat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The portion of the D&H Penn Division that I am modeling is the segment between Lanesboro, PA to the north, and Carbondale, PA to the south (a distance of about 36 miles). Approximately half-way between those two locations\u00a0lies the tiny hamlet of Ararat,\u00a0PA.\u00a0This\u00a0represented the\u00a0summit of the climb from both the north and the south, and in 1952 was the location\u00a0as which north and southbound\u00a0pushers\u00a0either\u00a0ran through, or were cut\u00a0off,\u00a0turned on the wye, and sent back running light to either Lanesboro or Carbondale.<\/p>\n

This view looks north, downgrade, and\u00a0towards Lanesboro. Tiny YD\u00a0Tower and its privy can be seen up ahead on the left. Even though the D&H was the dominant railroad on the line, the track and its structures were owned and\u00a0manned by the Erie.\u00a0 That being the case, YD\u00a0Tower is painted in the traditional Erie Company Colors of Cream-Gray with Dark Green trim, and Red window sashes.\u00a0 The crossover tracks are right in front of YD, and the wye is off-scene a bit, \u00a0past the tower and behind the end of earthen embankment on the right. The entire length of the Jefferson Division\u00a0 (Jefferson Junction to Carbondale)\u00a0featured \u00a0manually operated switches and signals\u00a0until the line was purchased outright by the D&H in 1955, at which time CTC was installed.\u00a0All color images in this section are courtesy Morning Sun Books, from their publication entitled Delaware & <\/span>Hudson Steam in Color<\/span>. That book is no longer in print, but Morning Sun has made the e-book version available. Visit http:\/\/morningsunbooks.com\/products\/delaware-hudson-steam-in-color-digital-reprint <\/a> (Henry W. Peterson photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Although operating far fewer trains per day, the Erie also ran on this line. It’s July 24th, 1952 and Erie diesels are starting to invade the Division. Here we see a pair\u00a0of their 1200 series GP-7’s\u00a0sitting near the tower. The diesels have dropped their caboose and are getting ready to run through the crossover in front of YD.\u00a0\u00a0The caboose will then release its brakes and\u00a0drift downgrade via gravity,\u00a0catching up to its train (seen in the distance)\u00a0and re-couple “on the fly”.\u00a0 This maneuver was affectionately know as “The Dutchman’s Drop” when it was being performed by the D&H. Unlike a steam loco, the Geeps do not need to be turned on the wye, but will simply reverse direction, cross over to the southbound main in front of YD, and run light back to Carbondale.<\/p>\n

The Erie began dieselizing all its mainline freight and passenger operations\u00a0starting in 1946\u00a0when they acquired\u00a0several EMD FT A-B-B-A sets. Once that process began, the Erie Berks and Santa Fe’s were considered surplus on the main\u00a0and were re-assigned to secondary service. Until the winter of 1951, this pusher assignment would have been held down by a 2-8-4 or 2-10-2, but now in mid-1952, a pair of Geeps\u00a0are working\u00a0in this capacity, operating\u00a0along side Erie steam, and will continue to do\u00a0until this time next year, when all remaining steam will finally be relegated to the scrapper’s torch. (Robert F. Collins photo)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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On May 30th, 1952 we find a Challenger in pusher service\u00a0sitting next to YD, and a second 4-6-6-4 up ahead, parked\u00a0on the siding between the two legs of the wye. (Henry W. Peterson photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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During the early 1950’s, coal strikes were common.\u00a0The NYO&W was an interchange partner with the D&H in Carbondale; their own Mayfield Yards were just few miles away. During this time the bankrupt\u00a0O&W had completely dieselized, and was still hauling anthracite coal as a primary source of revenue.<\/p>\n

With the miners on strike, and locomotive coal scarce (unlike other roads, the D&H burned a mixture of anthracite and bituminous in their steam locomotives), the D&H had sidelined some of their steamers, and\u00a0the O&W had fewer loads to haul, sidelining some of\u00a0their diesels. That being the case, the O&W F-units were sitting on their property\u00a0not making\u00a0money, and the D&H was in need of additional motive power. So, during coal strikes the O&W would\u00a0rent their surplus diesels to the D&H as pushers.\u00a0In this\u00a0March 19, 1950 scene, O&W FT A-B\u00a0couplet\u00a0in\u00a0D&H\u00a0pusher service is approaching YD Tower, after having just crested the summit of Ararat Mountain. (Robert F. Collins photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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J-Class #1528 with a southbound Symbol\u00a0\u00a0approaches YD to pickup orders on the fly. All B&W images in this section from the Carstens book Delaware & Hudson Challengers and Northerns<\/span>\u00a0(Bert Pennypacker photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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On July 25, 1952 southbound Symbol MW-4 (Mechanicville-Wilkes-Barre-4) with 124 cars in tow passes YD after picking up orders. (Robert F. Collins photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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And here were see the rear end of MW-4, as\u00a0J-Class pushers 1526 and 1522 pass by YD\u00a0 and pick up their orders. (Robert F. Collins photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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In a rare reverse view of the tower, Northbound Challenger #1527 passes YD in the summer of 1952. In less than 12 months these leviathans will have gone to scrap; diesels having taken their place. (John Krause photo)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Two D&H “JUMBO”<\/strong>\u00a0E-6a Class\u00a01200’s (#1208 and #1217) have just completed a push up the hill, have been turned on the wye, and are passing\u00a0YD to pick up orders for the return run south to Carbondale. (John Krause photo)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The portion of the D&H Penn Division that I am modeling is the segment between Lanesboro, PA to the north, and Carbondale, PA to the south (a distance of about 36 miles). Approximately half-way between those two locations\u00a0lies the tiny hamlet of Ararat,\u00a0PA.\u00a0This\u00a0represented the\u00a0summit of the climb from both the north and the south, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eries-jefferson-division","category-historical-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1603,"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/1603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattforsyth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}