Re:(erielack) EL calendar photo - January 2006

["Janet & Randy Brown" <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>]

Paul and all --

I rode that trip with my family.  It went from Hoboken, down the ramp, up the river to West Shore's Weehawken terminal and out through their tunnel.  It was a hoot watching the officials watching the diner as it inched its way down the ramp in Hoboken.  They looked like they weren't sure it would make it.  Seemed to me to be a poor time to find that out.

As I recall, we changed ends at West Point and went back to Newburgh, where we were then headed correctly to go right to the Newburgh Branch and under Moodna Viaduct.  We went to at least Greycoiurt; I think we  swapped ends again there and came home over Moodna and the main line.  High speed limits all the way (except for the branch) allowed an exhilerating trip which wasn't too long -- great for families and daisy pickers.

Comment:  Having paid for the calendar, why should you have to be careful reading the captions?  Why shouldn't they be careful writing them?  I say "you" because this kind of thing and the comments on the list talked me out of buying one this year.  I hope the pictures are good, at least.

Randy Brown
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Running a little behind here! :)

Opening up the new calendar, we're treated to a view of a back-to-back F3's on September 22, 1963, backing down to their trains. For some reason, this lashup strikes me as "familiar," but I decide to read the caption and see if I'm not imaging things.

The caption states that the two units are backing down to train No. 45, the "Twilight," a Sunday-only train. I find that somewhat odd, since I thought mostly E-units were pulling pasenger trains by this time. But I figured I could be wrong...

So I go through my collection to see if I have shots of this lashup, and sure enough, I do. These two units were the ones that led the excursion from Hoboken to West Point on (surprise!) September 22, 1963. Apparently, the caption writer saw that the shot was taken on a Sunday, and then looked up a schedule to see what trains ran on Sundays, and just stated that the units were coupling up to the "Twilight." (anyone got a schedule that tells what time the Twilight actually departed Hoboken during this time?)

Based on the sunlight angle and shadows, this appears to be a morning shot, and these guys are backing down to their excursion train. (for the record, the trailing unit is EL 8424)  Other photos of these units on the excursion train can be found in Vols. 4 and 5 of "EL in Color" from Morning Sun Books.

Always be careful reading these photo captions!

    - Paul


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