Nostalgia & History > PRR Shamokin Branch Steam

Image in my collection from Bob Wanner taken at Crowl, Pa in June 1956 during a lunch break for four I1ab's.

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What a FANTASTIC IMAGE of the the "GLORY DAYS" of railroading! Thank you for making my Thanksgiving day!

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

Clean Pennsy 4-8-2's. That in itself is a rarity.

They are 2-10-0s.

Great Photo!

Thanks,
Jack

Beautiful picture!

Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Posted from BlackBerry

Love it Dale! The color just stands out.

Actually there are four 2-10-0s in the picture. A doubleheader on the train and two soon to be pushers for the grade. Shipping iron ore to Bethlehem PA with a connection with the Lehigh Valley. DP Morgan did a piece this operation in his Steam in Indian Summer series in the 1950s. Several reprints are available. It was a story of four PRR hippos (nickname for 2-10-0s) lugging a train up the branch in a rain storm. The way Morgan told it was epic. Imagine four 2-10-0s with about 90 cars of iron ore on a grade in a rain storm.

That is a picture I would like to have hanging in my office.

WOW, what a great photo! Have any of you seen the "WEAVER" 16 mm movies of the Pennsy triple header of this same move, Sunbury, PA to Shamokin, PA ? My dad and Clarance Weaver Jr. were buds back in the day and I also had him as a teacher in high school.

George W. Gerhart, III shot one of these ore trains with 2 I1's on the point and an A-B-B-A set of F units pushing in 1956 or 1957. He shot it in CinemaScope (Anamorphic lens) on 16mm and chased the train from Shamokin to Mount Carmel where some Lehigh Valley F units were waiting to take the train over. This will be in our next PRR video.

-JH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/12 15:27 by Panamerican99.

Fantastic image.....calendar-worthy!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

Can someone tell me: 1. Is the structure on the left side of this shot still in existence in some form? 2. I have obeserved a satellite shot of a standard PRR bridge a few miles west of this site just a few yards from Snydertown Road over Shamokin Creek...is this bridge still in existence?

I'm guessing the girder bridge in the background was the Reading's Branch?
Gonut

skwhite Wrote:
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> Can someone tell me: 1. Is the structure on the
> left side of this shot still in existence in some
> form? 2. I have obeserved a satellite shot of a
> standard PRR bridge a few miles west of this site
> just a few yards from Snydertown Road over
> Shamokin Creek...is this bridge still in
> existence?


Interesting thread and nice picture, I never saw that one before. I grew up in a nearby town but after this era, the line was well known as is the history. The building to the left is still standing and looks nearly identical, I believe at the time it was a general store. I last drove by it in the late 90's and no longer live in the area, wish I took pictures at the time, I have relatives in the area still and next time I am there, I plan to take some photos of the line and existing structures.

This location is in a lot of photos and books. The approx. coordinates for the store are: 40.871813,-76.595435, via Google Maps or Bing Maps Birdseye View (not high quality) you can still see the building and follow the ROW. The girder bridge in the back is actually a car bridge for Poppy Road over Shamokin Creek and was still there during my last visit, the Reading Line which still exists is south of this location.

Correction, I was just informed that the location of the water tower is not behind the general store, I am trying to determine where it actually was via track maps. It's not the same building.

http://www.godfatherrails.com/photos/pv.asp?pid=830

The line from Sunbury to Paxinos was ripped out around 1983 or so, I remember driving down Snydertown Road which the line skirted in some locations and saw the tracks being removed, but a lot of bridges, mile markers and etc. still remain. A lot of the ROW is on private land and/or is overgrown.

The line crosses Shamokin Creek in several locations and you can still see the bridges and even walk across at least one as it's near the end of a rail trail/path near the old Blackmill site, location 40.865822,-76.751745

Here are some other remaining bridge locations:

40.858554,-76.775382

40.87652,-76.609365

I highly recommend watching the Clarence Weaver film, "The Ore Train" you will see a lot of the locations mentioned.

Can you tell me the best way to get the Weaver video to which you refer? Couldn't find it on Amazon.
Thanks!

skwhite Wrote:
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> Can you tell me the best way to get the Weaver
> video to which you refer? Couldn't find it on
> Amazon.
> Thanks!

You can get The Ore Train and all the other works he did here:

http://www.pennvalleypictures.com/

I have the whole set, they are excellent and in one there is footage of M1 being used on the branch which was unusual.

Posted from Android

I uploaded some old slides I got at a yard sale, images taken by Al Chione, a couple are on the Shamokin Branch.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91117295@N02/8276686216/in/photostream/

I love the old tin signs on the building to the right, "Pepsi" and others, Maybe an "L&M Cigarettes' right under it.