Nostalgia & History > A "Susie Q" PX...

In October, 1981, New York, Susquehanna and Western operated a fall foliage/railfan passenger special from Little Ferry NJ to Hawthorne and Oakland NJ. In this era, NYS&W's revival role as a bridge route in handling Sea Land container trains was still in its future, and the weed overgrown line saw only sporadic local service much west of Maywood. The consist, hauled by two NYS&W GP20's, included a few ancient ex Lackawanna MU trailer coaches out of the electric suburban service, along with some leased lightweight equipment. Although we couldn't ride the train, a group of us from Baltimore drove up that weekend to chase what was then a most unusual move over the old NYS&W main line. Here are a few images captured around Oakland, and the deck truss bridge near there over the Ramapo River.

Cheers,

aussiehinz

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Nice pictures....thanks for sharing....that was a memorable trip, one of several when the Delaware-Otsego system took control of the railroad. One minor correction.... The locomotives pictured here are GP-18's, not GP-20's...

Great shots. Photo three is a beauty.
Bob

I was on-board that day and it as a great trip! What's not mentioned is that as we entered Oakland one the MU coaches derailed as we went across a high crossing. The pilot on one of the old Erie MU coaches just clipped the crossing on the elevated curve coming into Oakland and one wheel set went on the ground. Luckily we were moving slowly but the MU I was in one coach back banged around quite a bit. I still have the slides stashed away of the process of re-railing the coach. The close-by Oakland Fire House opened up for everyone to use the rest rooms and get snacks at the local stores. The delay cost us a few hours and I remember getting back quite late. It was getting cold and dark when we got back as the train had no MU heat or lights from the two GP-18's. I purchased two "Ship With Susie-Q" Athearn Bluebox 40' boxcar that day on-board and they still hold a place on the layout today as a trip reminder.

Jack

Nicely done! Marty

I think by the time the train got to Butler everyone had enough for one day; the ride back was very uncomfortable temperature wise.