(erielack) 'NK' Target - Mahoning Division

["Dad" <wsmith5957_@_hotmail.com>]

     I promised Nathan I'd write up some more memories of the ERIE Mahoning Division and have been derelict in my duties. Good thing RFE Sammy Miller isn't around, I'd be serving 10 days for failure to cover my job. 
      For those of you not familiar with it, a 'target' is a railroad crossing where the movement of trains or engines is governed by a semaphore-type signal that usually has a light at each end of a crossbar which is vertical or horizontal depending on which railroad has the right-of-way. Many of these are unmanned, but the one to which I refer was manned 24/7 and the operator was located nearby in a small tower across from the P&LE railroad station in Youngstown, Ohio. I may make a few errors in this since it has been 45 years since I manned this tower so I will ask Steve Timko to critique this post (or Cal Banse if he happens to be online).
        The tower was regularly manned (no pun intended) by 3 older women who had been operators for quite a while - going back to the days of World War 2 I think. It served a busy area where the B&O had to cross the ERIE to access their freighthouse in town, the ERIE would send engines light with caboose to the P&LE yard east of the tower and they'd come back with a train,  and the P&LE had numerous freights & locals on its' line up to the lake. The first time I worked there, I was told by one of the dispatchers to 'Keep your door locked in that place' since it was in a bad part of town and he cited an example of a colored man who had knocked on the door late at night yelling 'I'se hurt bad!'. He sure was........while he slept in a nearby hobo jungle, another man attempted to steal his shoes using a razor to cut the laces. He cut a little too deep and the poor guy was barefoot with deep gashes down the center of each foot.
       Aside from these little unpleasantnesses, NK  was a nice place to work. It wasn't all that busy since you only had the crossover moves and all you had to do was check & see if there were any interfering moves pending before making a line-up. The real treat was in the afternoon when the Pennsylvania passenger train would appear from the uptown station and pass with the Tuscan red E-8s & a long string of headend cars then the coaches, diner & pullmans (this was 1960 or 61 when there were still real trains around. After it got dark, the eastbound B&O train (Capitol Limited) would be seen in the distance leaving its' station due to the glow from spotlights mounted on top of the domecar in the consist. Shortly the headlight would appear and as it crossed the river, the spotlights would light up the area where she swung onto the P&LE tracks for the run to Pittsburgh & the East. The B&O had a large elevated station in town and a lighted sign on the roof with the B&O logo. All in all a very classy act. 
      I really regret not having taken fotos of the P&LE B&O & PRR stations not to mention the trains. I had one or two of the ERIE station but as usual thought '"It'll always be there'' . Question for Steve Timko - was NK still in service when you worked in Youngstown?  I suppose it's all gone now. 

Regards to all

Walter E. Smith

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