Eastern Railroad Discussion > Thanksgiving around Scranton, PA

While in the Scranton, PA area for Thanksgiving and my father's funeral I found some time to get trackside and photograph the usual suspects in the area.

Before the pictures, a couple words about my father.  He was my guiding force in much of how my life transpired.  Relevant to my rail photography hobby (much of which had been seen here on Trainorders over the past 18+ years), these two tributes tell a lot about where I developed my photographic talents (if you would call them that) and my storytelling:

https://www.pahomepage.com/video/jack-scannella-obit_20181120230504/1609901632?fbclid=IwAR3DHXUQyfg8zWoIfaPpODf9M96dFLTSBIV4vf9bUp0S0Ias9WwqHO_943A

http://andypalumbo.blogspot.com/2018/11/jack.html

Now, on to the pictures.  Driving north from Harrisburg to Scranton, as I usually do most Thanksgivings, rather than taking the direct 100 minute shot north on I-81, I took the scenic route along the Susquehanna River via Sunbury, which parallels the NS's former PRR/PC/CR Buffalo Line, then the former PRR/PC Wilkes-Barre branch (later D&H and CP, now NS's Sunbury Line).  My wife and daughter had already gone north, and my son was enroute with his girlfriend, so it was just me and the dog this Thanksgiving morning.  I knew NS 11Z from Binghamton, NY to Enola, PA was heading south, and I was on an intercept mission, hoping to catch it coming through Sunbury.   It had somehow made up time, and I wound up catching it a few miles south of Sunbury in a town called Herndon, PA, just below the CP-SOUTH BOYLES interlocking, doing every bit of track speed.

Black Friday dawned cold but sunny, so after a great meal and reminiscing about my dad with family and friends, I figured I'd spend a few hours around my secondary stomping grounds.  NS's 11Z and 36T were both making their way south from Binghamton, NY, but Steamtown was running their first of two Holiday Express excursions at 09:30, which I caught on the former DL&W line out of Scranton behind the University of Scranton.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/18 06:22 by sscannella.

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I then had enough time intercept Buffalo, NY - Allentown, PA manifest 36T from the bridge just south of NS's Taylor Yard.  The bright yellow leader added a nice touch of color.

From there I headed to the former Lehigh Valley Coxton Yard (later Conrail) and now Reading and Northern Pittston Yard, where I knew the PISB job to the Scranton back valley branch would soon be departing.  Their YJPI yard job was sorting out the morning's inbound cars and getting the PISB's train ready.  It was using two of the former Santa Fe GP30s which had arrived a couple days prior with one of their passenger trainsets for Santa trains over the weekend in Tunkhannock.   Finally everything was put together and the road job got under way with a former UP SD50 leading the way.

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The yard job often tags along with the PISB to switch the lumber company in Old Forge, and do the interchange work with NS at Taylor Yard.  Here are a few more views in Duryea.

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And a couple more of the Reading and Northern job crossing the Lackawanna River into Old Forge.

After a brief pause for lunch I came back out in the afternoon for another hour or so, spending time around Steamtown, where the second Holiday Express train was departing at 13:30.

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In the video, both the Steamtown Holiday express, and the Electric City Trolley Museum's 1:30 departures made it out on time.

While they were departing, the Delaware-Lackawanna had run an interchange down to NS's Taylor Yard to clean out 30 some empties before the next round of loads were delivered Friday evening.  The four 4-axle Alco products then returned light, seen passing Bridge 60 on the west end of Scranton Yard.  They then used the connecting tracks to drop down to the former Delaware & Hudson main to reach the DL's shops in South Scranton, seen crossing South Washington Ave.

 

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I'll finish this installment with a short video of the quartet of Alco's crossing South Washington Ave on their way to the South Scranton shops.

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Sorry to hear about your father.

Posted from Android

Great photos and videos as usual Sam.  Very enjoyable and great to see what goes on in areas back east I'm familiar with.
Yes was enjoying the photos and videos so much I forgot you lost your Dad.  My heart goes out to you and your family.  My Dad had many similar influences on me with photography and railfanning.  Still get that "can't wait to tell him what I saw trackside" feeling sometimes even after 14 years.
Steve B.
Henderson, NV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/18 15:34 by stevelv.

What a great set of photos. My favorite was the second Holiday Express departing while the Interurban was at the station.
Bob

Sorry to hear about your father Sam.

Posted from iPhone

Sorry about your dad ,Never easy .Thanks for the pictures and videos, nice to see this area .

Very sorry to hear about your father.  

I lost my Dad many years ago and still miss him a lot, may your sorrows mellow a whole lot faster, and as to the
videos, may Santa be damn good to you this year!

Out

Sorry to hear of the passing of your father! Reading the obituary on him and watching the video clip on the news, says to me, he was a great man! You should be very proud to have called him dad. I’ll think of him tonight when I watch the evening news. 

By by the way, he taught you a lot about photography. Your shots are great.

Valleyman

Best wishes Sam, it is a dark experience saying farewell to a father.  I have found that we do not 'get over it' one bit; instead we learn to carry the weight that is now ours.  Your memories will last and your photography carries some of his Spirit, which we can see from the links provided.

Hang in, one step at a time.  It's supposed to hurt, so long as we keep moving, the healing will too.

~RGDave

Very sorry for your loss.

Good stuff...!!

Sorry to hear about your dad...

Having viewed and enjoyed so many of your well-crafted posts here, and seeing the tributes to your father, it is so obvious to me of your dad's influence on your exceptional photojournalistic ability.
Thank you, and your dad, for sharing your coverage of the Central/NE Pennsylvania railroad scene with us.  

Nice series of photos, as usual.  You did very well with your time there.

Sorry for the loss on your father.  The tribute was very well done.