Re: (erielack) Erie Wyoming Division

["Norman Weiler" <nweiler_@_nac.net>]

List,

Does anyone know the background behind that boxcar that's on its side along
the Wyoming Div? It's located just west of the bridge that takes the Wyoming
over the DL&W, which is almost under the I-380 bridge spans.

Thanks,
Norm

- ----- Original Message -----
From: <gjokra_@_comcast.net>
To: "Henry W Jarusik" <hwjpa_@_fastem.com>; <erielack@lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 10:32 PM
Subject: Re: (erielack) Erie Wyoming Division


>
> Henry,
> I too, lived along the line, however, later in the early eighties, in
Wimmers, near Mt. Cobb. I don't have a good map of PA handy but I know where
most of the line went. If you were in Lake Ariel, you were on the branch
that ran just a few miles from the main. (2 point something miles)
> The line came up from Scranton through Cobb's Gap and crossed the DL&W and
Roaring Brook at "Nay Aug". This is just under the I-380 bridge outside of
Dunmore. The tracks followed Roaring Brook across from the DL&W to just
before the Elmhurst Reservoir where it ran along side RT 590 to the top of
the "Saddle". at which point it went across the small valley to
Wimmers,(Passing under I-84 first) then around the hill to Saco. Saco is on
RT 348 and the tracks crossed at DeLeo's gas station. There was a small yard
here. Next it went through Maplewood, near Lake Henry and crossed RT 196
near Varden. I remember a small village called Gravity which had a grade
crossing but my map doesn't show it. This is where I lose the tracks until
they surface near Hawley and connect with the Honesdale branch and follow
the Lackawaxen river to Lackawaxen and the juction with the Main Line. The
last train through this line was in 1969. There are very few pictures of
this area as it was still very r!
>  ural and traffic was fairly light by the late fifties. I know that the
line followed the path of the Pennsylvania Coal Co. gravity railroad right
of way for much of the way. If I get a chance to look at a better map online
some more of the little villages along the way will jar my memory. The man I
bought my house in Wimmers from was a retired conductor for the Erie. He
passed away not long after I moved in so I didn't have a chance to get more
stories from him. He did say that later on, because traffic was so light
here that he would get off the train at his house and they would pick him up
the next day. The crew would cover for him so he didn't have to drive to and
from Dunmore so often. His wife was a Hollister, an early settler family.
> If anyone has more to offer about this end of the division it would be
great to know more.
> Greg Okrasinski
> ELHS #2887
> -------------- Original message --------------
>
> > List:
> >
> > Was this the line that ran from Hawley, Pa. over to the Scranton area?
> > Can someone give me the general path it followed, and any other details?
> >
> > Our family farm [Lake Ariel Post Office] is along this now abandoned
> > right-of-way. The line was active and then removed in the early 1960s.
> > I was too young to ever see any railroad activity on the line but
> > remember the rails being there looking functional and in service.
> >
> > The Erie burned down the farm house in the early 1930s from the exhaust
> > cinders igniting the roof. As my father told it, everyone came home
> > from church one Sunday to see the house burning down. I don't know how
> > it was resolved, but they did build a new house on the old foundation.
> >
> > Henry Jarusik
> > New London, Pa
> > --
> > Henry W Jarusik
> > hwjpa_@_fastem.com

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