B&O (Originally B&S, later WAG) passenger train

Stumbled across this video on Youtube last evening of a B&O passenger train running between Galeton, PA and Addison, NY, filmed in July of 1947. Power is a former Buffalo & Susquehanna 4-4-2.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jlebaron1#p/u/1/CHcPxuwQHaY

Holy Cow! Thats amazing! Where did it come from?

Can anyone of you B&S guys or WAG guys authenticate this video? I think I saw a GAINES station sign, but never knew what the station looked like to compare it to.

Also, someone with some specific knowledge of the line should redo this video and add some narration, so guys like me can know what exactly what we are seeing, like the stops and crossings.

that really is amazing!!! i've wanted to know more about this line ever since i first came to that area fifteen years ago.

Agree, quite a find. Amazing that someone thought to preserve a train trip like this on what is really one of the lesser known parts of the B&O (I'm not sure whether this line had been "severed" from the rest of the system by 1947).

What was ordinary then, becomes extraordinary now.

The Wellsville, Addison & Galeton took over in 1956.

George, The B&S was severed in July 1942 after some severe thunderstorms created a deluge in northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania. I believe this was the same storm that washed out the Coudersport and Port Allegany between the two namesake cities.

The passenger train in the video stopped running in November 1949 after the loss of the mail contract.

Tom-I can confirm that the video starts in Galeton. It's been a few years since I last visited but the brick station still stands, albeit much worse for wear, and is unmistakable.

Check out the book "Buffalo & Susquehanna" by Paul Pietrak for a history of the line, you might also consider joining the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton Yahoo Group.

We don't know where the video came from. Someone just posted it.

Amazing video! I tried joining the WAG group 2 times over the past couple years and my membership went unapproved both times

JT76 wrote:Amazing video! I tried joining the WAG group 2 times over the past couple years and my membership went unapproved both times

Try this link:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wagrailroad/

There are two WAG groups on Yahoo-one of them is pretty much dormant, this is the link to the active group.

Aa3rt wrote:George, The B&S was severed in July 1942 after some severe thunderstorms created a deluge in northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania. I believe this was the same storm that washed out the Coudersport and Port Allegany between the two namesake cities.

I found another reference to the rainstorm that washout out those bridges back in 1942. You see, even I was skeptical with my first reference, but here another:

http://books.google.com/books?id=SV229s ... hport+rain

"July 18, 1942, Smethport, PA, estimated 28.8 INCHES OF RAIN in 3 HOURS. 34.3 Inches in 24 hours." pg 116

http://books.google.com/books?id=SV229s ... nfall+1942 pg119

How in Gods name does anyone survive 9+ inches of rain per hour for 3 hours? I guess its amazing that anything survived at all...

Thanks Tom, While I don't want want to take this subject too far "off track" here's another reference from NOAA that substantiates your links. For those old enough to remember it, this storm was legendary. I was born 11 years later and still recall relatives discussing it every time the topic of bad weather came up.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/scec/ ... L&state=PA

Thanks, Art, for discovering the video on YouTube.

Some highlights and questions from the video:

:27 Galeton water tank with the car shop in the background
:39 back/side of the galeton roundhouse
:57 caboose being switched on the fly in the Galeton yard
1:38 Gaines station
1:57 trackside buildings, where is this?
2:30 station, which one?
2:43 water tank, which one?
3:10 kids getting off, maybe a flag stop?
3:45 road crossing, which one?
4:08 Horseshoe Curve between Van Vleet and Freeman, I think
4:22 bridge, which one? Freeman?
4:39 overheard road bridge with the tracks below?
4:48 Addison
5:15 passengers getting on in Addison
5:22 passenger train departing the Erie interchange in Addison