'Section Sheds' ( ? )

From George Ellwood's fantastic archives....@ Great Notch in the early 70's.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/bldg/el-shed-akg.jpg

These were once pretty common on many roads and I presume were used by MOW forces. But what exactly was typically kept in these trackside buildings ?

They were called Tool Houses on most railroads, including the Erie and the Lackawanna. In Western Pennsylvania, they were Car Houses, because everything is different out there ("Red out the car house, and set the retrackers near the door.")

The track gangs began and ended their work at the tool house, which usually had a coal stove with a well-banked fire, all their hand tools, small machines like rail saws and drills, and the gang's motor car. The foreman usually had a small desk attached to the wall.

Some railroads had a standard inventory of hand tools for various size section gangs. Where things were organized very well, the wall hooks for tools had black outlines of each tool painted behind the hook that held the tool, so it was easy to see what was missing, or where the tool should be placed.

When the gang had a motor car, there were usually two short rails extending out under the door to a small crossing in front of the tool house. The gang would roll the motor car onto the crossing, pick up one end and turn it to place the car on the track.

Chief, fantastic description and addition to our memories and knowledge. Thanks for it.

I've been in some. Add the following smells: kerosene, lit lanterns, the coal stove, and the even small pile of coal. And, anything mechanical also had a smell of oil.

To a non-rail fan it would be something between an awful smell and a stench.

To a fan it's an aroma providing strong memory nuance and a warm private smile.

...cigarrette or cigar smoke and sweat, the summer oven and the winter icebox. Some of these same smells we talk about were present ( in full or impart) inside towers, station back rooms, yard offices, engine (diesel and steam) cabs, cabooses and baggage cars. The railroad was really a wonderful locations to excite all your senses!

And then there is the aroma of the creosote on the ties out on the track. The newer ones were quite strong. Older ones still gave off a scent.

Here's a bizarre recollection of scents from my childhood in Scranton; the combined aroma of creosote, diesel exhaust, and the yeasty smell of bread rising and baking. Right alongside DL&W's downtown Scranton Yard sat Williams' Bakery, a big commercial operation that had a retail store. Sometimes on Sundays, my family would make the trip downtown to Williams' Bakery, where I'd get my nose full of all the scents mentioned above. To this day, when I smell creosote or diesel fumes, I can almost swear I smell fresh baked bread.

...was the pickle "factory" in Perth Amboy as a K4 smoked by! EF DREW of Boonton did food fats and soap. In fog or heavy skies the waft of wind from the east would creep into Denville; or was it the EF Drew cars sitting in the west siding? Anyway, those odors combined with any RR odors in Denville (see all the above) were also strange!

Sween, For decades I had forgotten about that bakery. Yeah, add that to the olfactory-memory collage of diesel fumes and creosote in Scranton.

I used to ride #3 and 6 a lot as one day round trips from Hoboken. Arrive at 1:51 and leave at 3:18. In the winter there was also a guy roasting chestnuts on the street not far from the station. Between his wood and the roasting nuts and a freight coming through: Wow.

You know guys, I sure hope there isn't a college of psychology hacking into this thread and having serious discussions about us with this railroad nasal thing.

By the way from 1960 to 1962 the round trip Hoboken-Scranton on Tue, Wed, or Thu was only $4.10. Riding all the way in the observation cars...there is no thrill ride in any amusement park in the world that would come near that. They served a terrific orange ade for $0.25 and you got a dish of complementary peanuts with that.

There was also a distinctive aroma to the DL&W streamlined cars. I don't know whether it was the flooring, paint, or seating. It was a clean smell that was not the same on any other road's equipment.

pdman...what a great story about taking the four buck trip. Lord, if only we had the option today, I swear I'd do a couple times a month. The guy with the chestnuts was a permanent fixture on the corner of Wyoming and Spruce, about three blocks north of the station. I never knew who he was, but he had the greatest fresh buttered popcorn in the world. He sold it in white paper bags and never hit it with the butter until you ordered a bag. More olfactory delights, since the smell of the popcorn was impossible to resist.

Personally, I think railroad "smells" are a huge part of the experience for most all of us. Wow, and you remember the bakery. That is amazing!