Newsletter PENN CENTRAL POST- " Special Issue THE FLOOD

[Fireman43]

Musings on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Came across a copy of this 10 page newsletter depicting the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes. Must have printed if off online from somewhere but no idea where.
Pretty interesting all the employee stories and pictures, as well as the RR report to Congress. Has a few sections to it, one is a day to day log of RR activities affected as the storm increases , another on the demise of the 23 span Shock Mills bridge over the Susquehanna in PA and a fair amount of stories on the Elmira/Corning area.
Out of state in college at the time and of course not paying attention at the time was unaware of the damage that would forever change the landscape of railroading for ever in the affected areas.
Rereading some of the details now hard to comprehend - what 4 months of rain falling in 2 days could do.

[MACTRAXX]

F43: June 14-25, 1972 is when Hurricane Agnes deluged the Eastern Seaboard...
The Southern Tier of New York and central Pennsylvania were hardest hit in this historic storm...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Agnes

The Penn Central Post was the railroad's in-house monthly newspaper - I remember the special issue
concerning THE FLOOD since it had a red cover heading - The PC Post used green in their limited color print.

There is a topic about Hurricane Agnes in the Pennsylvania Railfan Forum:

www.railroad.net/viewtopic.php?f=130&t=101604

Back then Penn Central was struggling in bankruptcy and then had to deal with this catastrophic storm...

MACTRAXX

[SST]

While this isn't directly related to RR''s I thought I'd add this. While at Letchworth State Park the other day, I hiked down to the Lower Falls where the foot bridge that goes over the Genesee River is located. I was surprised to read that this stone foot bridge survived Hurricane Agnes.

https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2 ... k_New_York

[NYCRRson]

My Dad was running the trains from Buffalo to Corning (via Lyons) at that time. Was asleep in a motel right across the street from the front entrance of the Glass Museum. They came about 4 am and knocked on all the doors with the warning; waters coming. Dad and the other PC guys made it up to the engine house safely.

The motel was destroyed, Dad left so fast he still had the room key in his pocket. He kept it for years.

They put something like 14 loaded coal hoppers on the bridge over the river hoping to weight it down. It did not work.

The guy running the local cab company put his cabs up on a hill, but he left the keys to the cabs down in the office which was swept away....

I have an original copy of that Special Issue of the PC POST.

I also have a copy talking about using TOFC flatcars to transport lots of mobile homes to the flooded areas in Pa and NY.

[D Alex]

To give you an idea just how bad the flood was, do you know those switchbacks of the Genesee river in Letchworth? The river actually crested over the ridges leading to the curves. Forty ton boulders were moved along the riverbed.

[MACTRAXX]

Everyone:

The best description of the Penn Central Post is the term "Newsmagazine" since it was more then a news
letter or newspaper and had the characteristics of a magazine periodical. In 1968-69 two per month were
issued and in 1970 it became a monthly publication.

I am also the son of a PRR/PC employee and have a group of PC Post copies in storage - I have a copy
of the July 1972 special issue about the Hurricane Agnes flooding and resulting damage...

Hardest hit by Hurricane Agnes was the Susquehanna River Watershed and tributaries NY-PA-MD with
historic flooding in cities such as Harrisburg, PA...

Another interesting find is that there is nothing previously posted about Hurricane Agnes - June 1972
in the Penn Central Forum in the Fallen Flags section...

This subject was covered instead previously in the Pennsylvania Railfan Forum:
https://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtop ... 0&t=101604

In the eight year two month history (2/1/1968 to 4/1/1976) of the Penn Central Hurricane Agnes was
the most significant event affecting PC other than the 1970 Bankruptcy...

MACTRAXX

[charlie6017]

For those interested in reading this issue, or any issue of Penn Central Post, Terry Link's fine
website is a great resource.

1972 flood issue

http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/post/post.htm

[BR&P]

I have a bunch of those PC Post issues, including the flood and the first one made. If anyone is buying PM me and we'll work something out.