Switcher Saturday: 2016-June-25

Happy SWSat!

And we are off and running shunting cars as we go. Rich I like the idea of the docksider as a marina worker. Last week my family took me to City Island In the Bronx for Dads day and they patiently waited as I researched the City Island Monorail/death trap and some Marine railroads ( not what you are thinking).so fun weekend. 

This week I am posting images of a relatively new switch engine builder and rebuilder Republic Locomotive works. I do like the looks of thier little RX500 industrial switcher critter thing. 

For a Father's Day weekend treat, last Saturday I paid a visit to my favorite local train store, The Model Railroad Shop in Dunellen, NJ. The store has an extensive book department so I always spend a lot of time browsing the many titles. 

What has this to do with "Switcher Saturday" you ask? Well, as I was perusing the shelves, I was drawn to a softcover book titled "South Buffalo Railway" by Stephen Koenig. One of the Bethlehem Steel family of railroads, the South Buffalo was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in 2001. This book recounts the history of the railroad from its beginnings until the 2001 acquisition. As a short line serving heavy industry, it relied heavily upon a fascinating variety of steam and diesel switchers to get the job done. There is a heavy emphasis placed on the road's motive power and the book is packed with fabulous images and information pertaining to the locomotives. 

Published by South Platte Press, the book is out of print; however, the store had another copy in stock and Amazon lists several copies as well. I decided to post about the book as I believe it would be of great interest to anyone with an interest in switching locomotives. Highly recommended to the Switcher Saturday" crew!

Bob

Good story and neat pictures Andy/SilverLake!  I googled for the City Island Monorail, looks like a train wreck if I ever saw one!  here is one of the links:  http://www.boweryboyshistory.c...sily-worst-ride.html

Bob/CNJ, I'll have to try to pick up that book one of these days, thanks for sharing it.  A quick search on "the bay" I found this picture of a South Buffalo Railway switcher, so thought I'd grab it and throw it here for you!

and a pic of the monorail from the bay...

Murnane posted:

Good story and neat pictures Andy/SilverLake!  I googled for the City Island Monorail, looks like a train wreck if I ever saw one!  here is one of the links:  http://www.boweryboyshistory.c...sily-worst-ride.html

Yeah Rich it was pretty insane looking. That Bowery boys group does a really good podcast BTW. Here are a few more pics. Sorry it has no switching stuff. 

So yes they derailed on one of their first trips (unsurprisingly ). Amazingly one of the stations still exists as a ruin (@Tom/MNCW).

Happy Switcher Saturday,

Great pictures everyone. Many years ago, I worked for Iona College in New Rochelle, NY. In fact, it was my first real full-time job. They had a slogan (everyone needs a slogan!) the "Proof is in the People." While that simple statement seems obvious, it can be true of any organization, including a railroad. So, I thought I would include a rather nice picture of a railroad worker performing switching duties. Just like the locomotives who performed their grimy chores, the workers often had to accomplish their hard work, unceremoniously in extreme weather. Often, the work could be dangerous. 

The first image is Ruth Hilger Hoffman who was the subject of an article I wrote for The Keystone, the quarterly magazine of The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. The article was in the Winter 2015 issue. Ruth was a switch tender for the Pennsy who filled in for railroad men who went off to fight in WWII and was the basis for the PRR's Molly Pitcher ad campaign (second image). Here is a nice You Tube video that shows an interview that Bowling Green University did a few years ago. She is quite a character and had an interesting life! 

https://youtu.be/nYosnNaGalE

Tom 

"switcher saturday"...one of the "viewing highlights" of my week!...

i so look forward to reading all the topics and looking all the pictures...

my very best regards...

howard...here in a very hot north florida...usa...

WOW!!!  I always learn so much from you guys!!!  Thanks for all the commentary and wonderful historic photos!   

Rich - I love your boat train pulled by the docksider!  Fabulous!!   Perhaps the NYC switcher is leased to the Baltimore and Annapolis RR and is pulling the boats from your house to the Severen River in Annapolis?   Nice photo of the South Buffalo steam switcher too!  AND the monorail

Silver Lake - the 4 wheel cab end switchers you show us .... are they prototypes for a model SWEEP switcher ( hence the RMT BEEF ).  These are some cool little critters for sure!  Who knew!  AND of course the monorail ( I had no idea that this even existed ) Could this have been the first "light rail"??  Seriously I hope no one was killed in the derailment.  Great photos and history lesson!!

CNJ 3676 - Bob .... thanks for showing us the photo of your Father's Day find!!  Cool book!!

MNCW - Very nice photos of switchwoman and switchman!  Indeed, it is  about the people who unceremoniously run and operate the railroad.  Your photos certainly demonstrate this for sure.... and of course during WW2 many woman did unceremoniously run/operate the railroads and quite well too!

I'm going to make a photo contribution later today.  I want to take some new photos of switchers on my layout first so I can share them with you guys.  Work has been demanding all my attention these last couple weeks so there really has been very little ( and I mean very little ) time for trains.  

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Rich- Thanks for posting this topic for another week!

Bob/CNJ3676- Looks like South Buffalo was an interesting railroad.

Andy/SILVERLAKE- I used to enjoy going to City Island years ago. I think my wife and I went to Sammy's last Summer. 

Patrick/Trumptrain- thanks for your comments.

Tom 

Tom - Thanks too for the link to Ms. Hilger's interview.  It's very interesting and most educational!  Love it !!!

LV Alco FA1 #534 switching some cars at Cape Shark.

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTcd03o7yvA

Websites:http://porvoomodelrailroaders.com/

late to the party again....work is interfering with Saturdays!

Here's some big road switchers running today on the FSJR

I showed my son these pics of this New York Cross Harbor Railroad switcher and he noticed  the big Spider-Man decoration on it......

 How could you miss it? I was showing him these in part because I had taken him to a favorite odd hours old comic book shop in Sunset Park on 40th street in fact it is diagonally across the street tracks from that famous train cuts the corner building. So he liked that this engine used to go through here with a comic character on it and he created something similar with one of my engines and one of his favorite comic characters.

So here is my MP-15 who we now call Rapheal pulling some private varnish on my switch shelf.