Nostalgia & History > Conrail Memory from 1978 - Paris Hill Clayville, NY

From an old scan cleaned up ....

It's a hot hazy humid afternoon on August 17, 1978 in Clayville, NY, and the Queen Anne's Lace is in full flower and thriving. The EL has turned into Conrail but the old depot is still wearing its' faded Lackawanna green and red colors while the power is gritty dirty Penn Central black.

Engineer Jim Sharpe has the throttles of CR 8872 and 9968 pulled back into the 8th notch and the train is moving about 15mph on the stiff 1.55% 15 mile pull up Paris Hill out of the Mohawk Valley from the terminal in Utica. At one time this was a pretty busy little pike linking Binghamton in the Susquehanna Valley with Utica over hill and dale, and part of that hill was the formidable Paris Hill seen here. Back in the days before Conrail, the loads went down the hill; loads like anthracite coal, bituminous coal, paper products, feed grain, manufatured products, and other such goods. But under Conrail everything got turned around and now the loads, mosty feed and fertilizer, have to be hauled uphill. Those little switchers didn't look like much, but in a low speed slugfest with tonnage they would settle right in and just plan pull. That is if their aging cooling systems didn't give out allowing the engines to overheat which was a frequent problem with extened full throttle operation. This one came off the IHB and became CR 8872, an SW7. Behind it is one of the Alco RS-3's rebuilt with a 12 cylinder 567B engine rated at 1200hp. Dewitt Geeps they were called, as Fritz Levernosh the General Foreman over at Dewitt Yard in Syracuse was the guy who came up with the concept, or at least implemented it production-wise to keep the shop forces busy. Newer versions were done at Altoona, but this is a Dewitt job converted from NYC 8333 / PC 5333. Maybe they got rid of the 12-244 Alco engines, but they were no match performance wise to a real Alco or much else, and not widely liked nor respected. But today, all the low speed horsepower that can be put to the rail is welcome and keep those sanders open !

The Clayville depot is the 2nd one to be built here and opened on November 26, 1883. It replaced the original structure built by the Utica, Chenango & Susquehanna Valley RR when they built through here in 1867. Originally it was much longer, but was truncated in the 1930's, likely due to declining business and New York State taxation. On January 18, 1963 agent-operator Clarence "Smitty" Smith closed up and locked the doors forever. On December 28, 1978, a few months after this photo was taken it went up in flames, erased from the landscape and is now long forgotten.

But what a good day to be here watching "The Battle of Paris Hill" on this late Summer day. The roaring of the exhausts, the clatter of the cars, the Bampff of the horn and the big grin from Engineer Sharpe who really liked to have his units in "Notch 8 and bellering !".



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/26 13:09 by train1275.

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Great story on the station and local railroad.
I like the shot by the station !
Gary

Fine photo and great story.

A first-class photo made even better by the background information.
Bob

refarkas Wrote:
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> A first-class photo made even better by the
> background information.
> Bob
I agree with you, Bob, 100%, I love the story which makes the photo so much better.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

That kind of railroading doesn't exist anymore!   Love it!

Great story! I believe we used the 9968 on the Adirondack RR a time or two!

Locoinsp Wrote:
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> Great story! I believe we used the 9968 on the
> Adirondack RR a time or two!

Yes, I forgot about that !!  Here is a photo Saranac Lake operator Chris Brescia took as we came south through there with CR 9968. That's Mike Houck leaning out the cab and Durwood Carman running and Ed Fuhr was Conductor. I'm in the cab looking out at Chris taking the photo, but I can't hardly be seen. I was dead-heading south to Utica after working north on #3 that morning. It is also the day we derailed at Hoel Pond a few miles ahead and the wreck that closed up our operation. That was a long night. We got everyone out on the engine and a Hoyt Bus met us at Floodwood crossing. I had to turn back north the next day and take #4 south on the last revenue run to Utica. Those RS-3m's just could not make the schedules like an RS-3 ... not enough ummpfff horsepower.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/26 18:21 by train1275.

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What a great photo story !

Roger Durfee
Cuyahoga Falls, OH

train1275 Wrote:
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> Locoinsp Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great story! I believe we used the 9968 on the
> > Adirondack RR a time or two!
>
> Yes, I forgot about that !!  Here is a photo
> 
. Those RS-3m's just could not make the
> schedules like an RS-3 ... not enough ummpfff
> horsepower.

I called them "The Gutless Wonders"! I ran the first one we used on the weekend trains in 1979 - I think the 9948 but I'm not 100 percent sure of the number. Definitely not enough umpfff!