Nostalgia & History > Cabs Under Catenary

New Jersey Transit E8A 4248 (plus one) flashes West thru Elizabeth, New Jersey with a "Jersey Builder".
Two other 'fans are also taking in the sight.

January, 1980.

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A diesel ran Newark to Bay Head in the morning?

Great shot of early NJT action!

There are three dudes on the platform - the one in green _might_ be my uncle - he spent many a day on the Elizabeth platforms back then.  He's going to check his slides to see if he photographed this same train.

 

Those PRR E8s looked pretty sharp in that scheme. I see the Jersey Builder cars are getting a coat of paint there too. Were all the P70s gone by the time this was taken? Those were the magic carpet I rode in each time I took that trip. Great photo - thanks for sharing.

 The date was Saturday, January 19, 1980 and the time of the south (west) bound NJT pass was 11:15 a.m. The consist was 8 cars. The second unit is 4267. The lead cab was in the "new" color scheme with the stripes on nose dipped into a V shape. Note the red numbers on the side of the unit. The second unit has the "old" color scheme with no dip in the stripes. I am indeed standing off to the right on the platform (as my nephew pointed out in a reply to this entry). I'm still wearing Vietnam era duds which served me very well for about 25 years! The lead unit bears about the most attractive scheme aside from Pennsy that was applied to these. I'm going to check my friend's memory to determine who was that other guy on the platform!

I knew it!!  Awesome - you were quite a fixture in Elizabeth for a good 20 years.  These days you would have been arrested and banned from the area after your first weekend!

> the time of the south (west) bound
> NJT pass was 11:15 a.m.

Think it was scheduled out of Newark at 0930.
The shadows look better for that.

Remember that it is  mid-JANUARY so we were lucky to have shadows at all. One thing I am MOST precise about is the time of day I shot it! This might not have been a scheduled train since I am having fan closest to the train check on its origin (possibly deadhead from Elizabethport). Also, as questioned previously, I'm sure there were P70's running on weekdays that year.