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Discussion relating to the Penn Central, up until its 1976 inclusion in Conrail. Visit the Penn Central Railroad Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: JJMDiMunno

 #289524  by pablo
 
I actually just saw those 70-tonner pictures for the first time in a long time yesterday. They are the best pictures I've come across so far, and I have yet to see color pictures of the 70 tonners. I know for a fact that one of the 70-tonners was scrapped in the last few years, in Saskatchewan, I think, (didn't look for my notes on it) and all that remains are the builder's plate, air tanks, and bell. These are in a museum. The other unit is a mystery.

That map is interesting. The Jamestown area is not correct, and the Mayville area could be done better, but Westfield looks dead on with perhaps the omission of a siding or two.

I know I've seen a picture of the tower in Mayville, and as I said, I have a picture of the CTC bridge over the PRR.

Dave Becker

 #289775  by Aa3rt
 
Dave, Thanks for the Mayville link. I have an old black & white photo in my collection, taken on August 10, 1941 showing a JW&NW car at the crossing. The tower is on the left and the building shown in the link I provided in my previous post on the right. The location is listed as "Mayville Junction". I presume that this was somewhere north of the town itself?

As far as photos of the 70 tonners-these are about the only photos I've ever seen, except for those in the Chautauqua Trolleys book and a copy of an article from the Post-Journal with a writeup on the last run of the JW&NW. I've never seen a color photo of these locos.

 #289777  by pablo
 
Someone back in the day (possibly an older version of Railroad.net) asked if anyone had a color picture of them. I'm in the same boat as you; those pics, that P-J photo, and a couple of Black and White pics.

I'm not entirely sure where the diamond was. If I had an address for the tower, that obiouvly would answer all questions. Here's what I know:

1. Mapquest currently (as of a day ago) shows the PC railroad line through Mayville as an "abandoned railroad", though it's been gone for years. Using that as an example, it's north/west (as the crow flies, not by rr terminology) of the PRR station in Mayville where the two lines crossed. The JW avoided the brutal grade up Erie Street into Mayville proper by skirting town.

2. That same Mapquest map shows a spur off of the PC approximately where the JW would have gone. It is possible, though I've never heard of it until this map, that PRR/PC kept that small spur alive to serve customers. The extreme southern end of the JW was used into Conrail, and in fact, the turntable and roundhouse on the JW was used by the Erie for its switchers that plied the Jamestown area. I can see this happening in the north, albeit with far less traffic.

Look under "maps" and not "directions" at Mapquest for the north side of Chautauqua Lake.

Dave Becker