Pennsy Diesel Years Volume 4 By Robert Yanosey Dust Jacket Morning Sun Books

$39.00

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Introduction

What does a person who worked forty years for the Erie Railroad know about the Pennsylvania Railroad? Well, let's find out.

This writer, as a youngster in Shamokin, Pa., saw many Pennsy trains, the best being the heavy eastbounds with three or four L1's blasting through town with their banshee whistles heralding their approach. Sunbury, sixteen miles to the west, had even more action with occasional K2's on secondary passenger trains, a G5 on the Wilkes-Barre train, an E6 on a milk train, K4's on the Buffalo flyers, and the hotshot freights had L1's and Ml's.

Pennsylvania Station in New York City was almost a second home to a teenager who adored all the trains ranging from Long Island RR double-decked MU's to GG1- powered streamliners, including the all-Pullman BROADWAY LIMITED. The real home was near the huge Sunnyside passenger train yard where many days were spent watching the Blue Ribbon Fleet being looped while I logged car numbers and names of favorite trains.

I worked at an Erie yard in Jersey City that was adjacent to Pennsy's Harsimus Cove Yard. The attractions there ranged from watching the westbound hotshots LCL-1 and LCL-3 depart heavy with box cars of New York garment district merchandise, to an H9 shoving coal up the BerwindWhite trestle, to an Alco switcher spotting livestock. Train rides and car photo trips were taken on the various important mainlines between the Cove and Chicago, South Amboy and St. Louis. The Enola area, the Middle Division and Horseshoe Curve were visited frequently. During my Conrail years, months were spent working between the Cove, Meadows/South Kearny and Waverly yards. The last service performed was on road trains between the Cove and Harrisburg.

The results of these photo trips were published in several books like Pennsy Power II as well as the earlier volumes of the Pennsy Diesel Years series. A few of my electric photos are featured in the new Pennsy Electric Years book. Articles on the PRR were in Rails Northeast and the fine PRRT&HS magazine, the Keystone.

The PRR definitely made a gigantic impression on this Erie man. If I had to describe my feelings for the Pennsylvania Railroad in one word, it would be ADMIRATION. You just couldn't ignore the many categories where it excelled. The PRR during the first half of the Twentieth Century was the dominant force in the railroad community. It served more metropolitan areas than any other line, ran more trains on more trackage that generated more revenue than any other. With such credentials, little wonder it adopted the self-proclaimed title of the Standard Railroad of the World.

Was such a title justified? Probably - yes. It transformed a good railroad into a great one by its engineering feats. Track relocations erased curves, leveled hills and eliminated grade crossings. PRR was an innovator with so-called "flyover/duck-unders" that did away with delay-prone physical crossings. Freight line by-passes were constructed which expeditied both passenger and freight trains.

The 1910 completion of a massive improvement project created the magnificent Pennsylvania Station in New York City which at one time handled over 700 trains each workday. Multi-tracked tunnels were bored under the East and Hudson Rivers. The world's largest passenger yard was built in Sunnyside, Borough of Queens. The entire project was electrified west almost to Newark, NJ., at a place called Manhattan Transfer. Later projects extended electrification to Philadelphia, and built new passenger facilities at both Newark and 30th Street. The electrification of the mostly four-tracked lines to Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pa., during the 1930's Depression period was nothing less than a stroke of genius.

Most people focused their attention on the motive power. Who would not be awed by greyhound E6's doing ninety per across the New Jersey flatlands en route to Atlantic City or doubleheaded K4's racing Zephyr-like across Indiana? The M1 fleet powered the symbol merchandise trains systemwide, usually on time.

The Pennsy had an aging and expensive-to-maintain steam roster by the end of World War II. Competitive railroads were upstaging the PRR by advertising diesel-powered trains. There were good reasons why the PRR was compelled to dieselize. The PRR purchased cautiously at first. Early acquisitions seemed to be for a few units of each model from every builder. That was great variety for railfan photographers but a nightmare for mechanics and storekeepers. After a trial and error period came the deluge, when large fleets arrived on the property.

Passenger units came first painted in Brunswick Green (an almost black) with five gold pin-stripes which gave them a GG1-like appearance. They were later repainted in Tuscan Red to match the coaches they hauled.

Road freight units had a very attractive paint scheme of Brunswick Green but with only one gold pin-stripe and the ever-present, ever admirable red Keystone on the nose and side panels. They were kept very clean, even shiny - as though they were Simonized. Class. Real class.

Travel aboard a Centipede-drawn excursion that starts out at Harrisburg station and manages to visit these and other spots: Conewago, The Main Line, the Bordentown Branch, PRSL main, Atlantic City, Williamsport, the Elmira Branch, Sodus Bay, Altoona, Cresson Branches, Irwin, Edgewood, Conway, Bucyrus, Toledo Branch, Lincoln Yard, and Detroit, Demos, ABBA PAs and Erie-builts, a unique PB1, more!

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