I was recently impressed by the thread on another NYC forum concerning passenger schedules, namely the Pacemaker. I began looking in the NYC ETT's to see when the Milk trains stopped running down the Hudson Division on their way to the Big Apple. The times posted here are for the engine changes at Harmon. ETT # 70 from the fall of 1950, train # 183 arrived at Harmon 7:15 am and left at 7:30 am. Train # 185 arrived at 10:32 and left at 10:42. Train# 184 arrived at 9:30 pm and departed at 9:38 pm. Train # 182 arrived at 10:03 and left at 10:11 pm. ETT #71 from April 1951 has both eastbound and westbounds arriving and departing at almost the same times with the exception of train # 183 arriving at 7:45am and leaving at 8:00am. ETT #72 from September 1951 is the same as ETT # 71. ETT # 72 from April 1952 has only one westbound and one eastbound. Train # 185 rolls into Harmon at 11:41 am and departs at 11:50 am. Train # 184 comes through at 10:32 pm and leaves at 10:36 pm. ETT # 74 from September 1952, and ETT # 74A from March 1953 is the same as the previous schedule with only trains # 184, and 185 running. ETT # 75 from April 1953 has only train # 185 running, passing through Harmon at 7:15 am and departing at 7:20. The ETT # 76 from September 1953 doesn't list the Milk train no more. This time consuming and highly dedicated service was going more and more to the trucks and the loss of service from the Vermont milk sheds didn't help matters any either. The old forum here had some nice threads about the NYC Milk trains with cars coming from far away communities near the Canada border. Both dedicated milk trains and mixed trains peddled about night and day either hauling the full cars on their way to the Big Apple or cycling the empties back to the milk sheds again. I know these special trains will live on in HO scale on my layout and others who model the Water Level Route in the hayday of American railroading! Anyone else care to add their thoughts on this topic?
Larry