What yards are left in Erie and are there any locals left?

I am sure most of you know the old P&E is no longer a thru line as they are removing rail from Emporium to St. Mary's.

What memories that line provided. And it all started for me on track 5 in Erie at the NYC terminal.

I remember the ore trains with I1s on the point and pushing. I remember waiting on Greengarden Blvd. for a fast EB N. Plate freight with steam and then my Dad only went a few feet and we had to wait on a WB NYC streamliner before going to the Fish Fry across from the old Howard Johnson restaurant and then on to ride the "Ravine Flyer" at the park.

Those Perch fish and chips sure were good. Also being a Boy Scout and going to our winter retreat along the lake west of town and having to wait for two NYC passenger trains to pass at probably close to 100mph. Did the snow ever fly. LOL!

I could talk about Erie for many wonderful hours. Oh: Seeing Ringling Bros. and their four trains and the parade up Cherry St. to the old showgrounds and that huge tent and then the 3 1/2 hour performance.

Best,
Craig
Lock Haven

Craig,
I always enjoy reading your posts about the "old Erie', railroads and otherwise. Everything is pretty much changed, not only the railroads, but the city in general. Wish I had gotten pictures at some of the locations I used to take for granted. For example, where the Pennsy crossed E.6th. street, on it's way to the lake. There was a tall crossing tower and several old buildings beside the track. I thought it looked interesting there, but never took a picture because I took it all for granted. Now, with the bayfront highway going past there, and the tower long gone, it looks completely different, but at least there is still a rail line.
Sorry to see the old section of the line to Emporium go.Only rode 580 and 581 once, Erie to Emporium and return, but a nice memory.
Mike

Mike:

What is the speed limit through Erie for CSX movements? I remember our neighbor the tower op on Cascade St. saying thru passenger trains on The Central could run at 40mph. However at night he said some hoggers in the steam years ran a lot faster.

Do you remember the locals of the B&LE that ran on 12th St? When the light for the side streets was green, the trains would stop and wait until the light changed. That would have been in the early 1950s. I loved to see those short passenger trains.

Best,
Craig

Craig,
I don't know what the speed for CSX trains, or NS, which runs beside them, from Pittsburgh Ave. to Ash St., is. From what I've seen, they run at a pretty good clip, though. I can remember the Centrals passenger trains that didn't stop in Erie moving pretty fast through there, too.Sometimes, 60-80 mph. Especially , the mailtrains, the Century, eb Ohio State Limited. This in the 1960's.
I don't remember the Bessemer passenger train, but someone gave me pictures of it. I did see the switcher on 12th. st., however. Once, I watched them switch the coal yard, with coal trestle as I recall, at 12th. and Sassafrass st. That was where the Erie Times is located now. I was talking to my brother-in-law , whose in his thirties and working at a location on w.12th. st., and he was surprised to know that a rail line ran along there ! Guess I'm showing my age .
Mike

Craig,

I believe that CSX and NS can both run 40-50 though the city (CP-89 through GE) I'm not sure if you are aware of the NS realignment that Mike refered to.

CSX
I live at MP 93.5 (CSX) (just west of Erie International Airport) and CSX routinely pass at 50-60, intermodal sometimes more, esp. at night. Amtrak passes at 1:50 am (westbound) and 3:40 am (eastbound)(when on time) and even though having left Union Station less than 8 miles before (westbound) it passes faster than any freight, I'd estimate close to 70-75.

NS
NS use to run down the middle of 19th st through the city limiting its speeds to 5 mph. Now its trackage runs along that of CSX creating a 4th elevated track through the city. Living in close proximity to esmer switch (just east of millfair road), NS averages 25-30. East of this switch is singletrack for several miles, the switch creates siding for about a mile, which then becomes single again to cross the trestle over walnut creek.
NS traffic fluctuates much and is very inconsistent so I do not have as much information on it.

Hope this helps. If you have any comments, questions or corrections please feel free to post.
MC

Hope this helps

I remember when the N. Plate main through Erie was a right of way only.
I would on the weekends walk down Cascade to the NP track and walk along side down to Peach St. and then go to either the Shea's Theatre or the Warner Theatre.

I loved the Warner as they had a Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ and they would play it often.

I remember all the name cartoons played The Warner and all the main movies of the period 1950s.

I also remember every Christmas season the huge model train display on the fifth floor of the Boston Store on State Street.

Best,
Craig

The Warner has just been remodeled and,from what I hear. looks pretty good. In the 50's. I used to hop on the old Erie Coach Co. bus,and go to the cartoon specials , on Saturdays.I think it was usually called "17 cartoons", or similar, and that bus would be packed with kids going there. The Boston store train was always a favorite.
I went to a train show at Kirtland, Ohio today, and was able to buy some pictures from "Bob's Photo". He buys up old collections, and has beautiful 8x10's, mostly black and white and $6.00. Many Nickel Plate, New York Central, B&O, and Pennsy, some taken in Erie. One I bought, has an eb passenger on the NKP at Ash St., with a Pacific on the headend[1949]. Another, in 1940, at Union Station, has a 4-8-2 on a Pennsy passenger train, with a NYC Hudson, on another passenger, about 3 tracks over. Also, a Pennsy Mikado crossing the New York Central ,from the tower just west of East Ave. The last was a wb NKP ,crossing the Pennsy at Thornton Jct., west of Girard. He also had several taken of the Nickel Plate at Cascade Yard, near Greengarden.. If you ever go to a trainshow, and he's there, be sure to check him out. He comes from Ansonia, Ct. Well, enough advertising for now. The show was good, and is held again tomorrow.

The Warner has indeed recently been revamped and is very well done from what I have heard as well. The Boston Store was renovated in the late 90's. It houses Rambaldo communications's radio stations on the first floor (star 104, us 93.9, rocket 101, and 1400 am sports radio) as well as a halmark type store called angel loft. The clock still exists and works. The escalators were removed and 3 huge elevators were intsalled along the north wall. The floors above the first are now apartments.

Today I was along the road that runs from the bayfront highway to the south pier/erie sand and gravel and I noticed many coal cars being pushed around the Erie Coke plant by an old yellow EMD switcher.

MC

MC...

Erie Coke has at least four (and possibly five) units on the property. The one you saw today is the latest arrival and is a ex Bethlehem Steel railroads (which one I do not know) unit. Number #38.

Ron S.

Wishing I could visit Erie more often, does anyone have any PICS of CSX and NS side by side or other PICS they could share online?

Best,
Craig

Craig,
Once i get them scanned, i have a ton. Some of CSX, some of NS, some of both, and some pics of Amtrak's Eastbound Lake Shore Limited (#48) when it has been really late and I have caught it during daylight.
Until then I can offer to hold you over with these good pictures taken in or around Erie, but not by me:
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=4773 (train on old 19th st. NS track)
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=867 (train on NS trestle over walnut creek)
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=627 (CSX west of Erie)
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=4771 (CSX heading toward CSX on double track mainline West of Erie)
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=4926 (CSX blasting through the snow)


MC

P.S. are there any specific places in Erie you would like to see pictures from?

MC:

Love it. Thank You. Do you have any at the terminal? Or at Greengarden Blvd? East Erie near the GE plant. Or at the end of the original four track areas both west and east of town. Or at the old NYC station in NorthEast?

Thank You Again Ever So Much.

Best,
Craig

Thanks for posting the Erie pictures. I attended PSU Behrend in the late 80's early 90's and I enjoyed some limited railfanning on the East Side. I used to love pacing the GEs on the test track at 2am in my firebird.
I always wanted to get a picture of a fast train blowing up snow on the four track Conrail main, but I didn't have a camera then. (I seem to recall four tracks, but it's been a while now) I also have pleasant memories of playing golf by the vineyards in North East, and seeing/hearing train after train, across the way.

As to the Java warning in my subject, I just got hit by some nasty spyware/adware/malware from railpictures.net. If you have a Java plugin installed on your machine, they usually pop-up a quick ad window. That's usually no bother, but this time it started installing all kinds of crap to my computer. (Win98SE, IE 6.0, Java 1.4.0) I quickly unplugged my router and deleted stuff, after killing some processes. I had to download and run Spybot Search & Destroy to clean my machine and I'm still not sure that it caught everything, so be careful. I disabled my Java plugin for now.

hmmm, sorry Jim, i have never had any problems with railpictures. I hope all is ok. I'll get those pictures of mine up ASAP.
MC

To those who wanted to see some of my pics from Erie of CSX, NS and Amtrak. I am not sure if I should post them here, or elsewhere, or in an email. Please let me know what you think. I have been thinking about just posting them on railpictures.net

Let me know what you think,
MC