Nostalgia & History > The hole is a bad place to be.

Erie Lackawanna was actually making some money again in 1974, but going into 1975 traffic was slowly tailing off as the uncertainty of railroading in the east was taking its toll on shippers. The government was also in full thottle about saving rail service in this part of the country, using the failed Penn Central as the core of a new reorganized system. Traffic in this case was being diverted to PC lines more and more, and damaging EL most of all. EL was the only single line competitor in the New York/Chicago market, and was most vulnerable to traffic shifts. The final body blow to EL was in September of 75. Flooding between Hornell and Elmira had once again taken the EL main out of service. This ominous event sent daggers into the system, and caused a massive rerouting of its traffic. Trains detoured over the Lehigh Valley and PC. It was a nightmare that lasted longer than it should have because of delays in getting the track back in service. My EL friends, already concerned about the future, had a sense of impending doom, and looked at this disaster as the real beginning of the end for their road. I was right there with them in the depression department. I loved EL, and I loved being around this great bunch of people who treated me like I was a part of their family. I reassured them that if the government was involved, the whole reorganization wouldn't see the light of day for years...so much for my fortune telling career!
The image I found is a little piece of that September mess. You are on SB-1. This was a westbound Scranton to Buffalo train originating in Taylor yard.This was not a crew favorite to begin with since it involved putting the train together in the cramped Taylor yard. It was time consuming, but as a fan I enjoyed it. We got rolling out of Taylor about 10AM with the crew in full knowledge that the flooding event was going to mean a long day for them. YES IT DID! We got as far as Conklin New York, just east of Binghamton, and there we sat...and sat...and sat. This was the site of the old DL&W yard and was nothing but a bunch of weeds at this time. Later the yard came back to life as a D&H facility, then a Guilford Facility, then a CP facility, and now, an NS facility.
 Train after train came east, coming down a detour off of PC at Syracuse, and down the EL single track line to Binghamton. We had to wait for three coming that way, plus two eastbounds that were detoured over the LV, and got back on to home rails at Waverly NY. Our train was mostly empties and we had no priority!  As a fan, I enjoyed the show, but I realized this was a disaster all the way around. By the time we got a pilot to take us up the Syracuse line, the damage was done. We got to Chenango Forks where we again stopped to be recrewed. These were five man crews back then, so we needed two taxis to take us back to Scranton. Think about it, that involved 10 crewmen total! No wonder these roads were broke!! Picture shows SF 100, number three in the stabbing parade, waving us bye bye.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Looks like auto parts box car in that photo.

Cheers. Jim

This is certainly one of the best photo and caption combinations I have read in Trainorders. Thanks for sharing this gem.
Bob

When I see “roadjob” I just know it’s gonna be a cool post. EL was/is my favorite and while I was too young (11) upon its demise to understand the full scope of what was happening I have heard and read enough to gain that understanding, point is thank you for your photos but especially your excerpts that really paint the whole picture.

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There were many brutal changes brought about in the RR industry in the 70s & 80s. The reduction in crew size for one, was inevitable. And everyone knew it. But in many places & situations it could have been implemented much more humanely. Today's railroaders had better not take any comfort with the current slim & trim crew sizes. It won't be over until the upper crust wrings every last nickel they can out of their human work force... 

Lance/199 

I have to agree with the rest of the gang. You certainly know how to bring a photo to life with your words and back story. Posts like this are priceless in my mind. They are what makes Trainorders my favorite website. Thank You again Bill !

Just an outstanding first hand narrative.  You could be a professional writer. Thanks.
Rich S

Actually I am a professional writer as well as a professional photographer. Part of my business to this day is writing branding pieces that we offer to our clients to go along with the still and video productions we develop for them. I get to exercise the fun part of my writing by doing it for you folks because I enjoy reliving such a great part of my life. It was a great time to be a railfan, and it is fun to do all over again in writing. I am so happy that people seem to be enjoying the threads. It is a great story to tell about how it used to be.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

There is a lot to like about this outstanding photo!

The lead locomotive is the 3657 which is from the ugly Windham OH wreck. This unit effectively became the "14 SD45-2" in the EL fleet. This adds to the SD45-2 theme of the the week.

As pointed out, the SF100 has auto parts cars on the head end, no doubt bound for Mahwah. By 1975, many days these cars were routed over the DL&W and then handled on a Croxton-Hillburn turn. As a result, the only trains that you could count on seeing every day on the Erie east of Binghamton were Croxton 99 and Second NY 100.

The signal facing the train stood (inactive) well into the D&H days. You can also see the top of the coal tower that was dropped so that GTI could construct the new engine house.

Bill is absolutely correct about the EL being profitable from an operating standpoint. In either 1973 or 1974 the had an OR of 79%. Not very good in these PSR days but outstanding by mid 70's standards. This was due to a good traffic mix and relatively low (compared to PC) terminal cost. Their debt load and equipment cost absolutely crushed them. This is why the Bankruptcy Court/USRA initial approved their reorganization outside of Conrail (a status only granted to the EL and the B&M). The hope was that the EL could address this debt in court. Unfortunately, the 1974 recession killed this plan.

Thanks again for this and really all of your photos!

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