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Re: (erielack) Bordellos on the DL&W
The "cut-and-run" is correct.
The "red light district" has a few explanations, all of which harken to?the 19th Century. With full crews and, in the days before air brakes, when you had a brakeman for every five cars in a train, a trainman?inclined to visit trackside females would leave a red lantern near the tracks so that his crew would know where to find him before departing.
In reality, the?red lamp was just a signal that could have meant anything that any crew agreed it would mean on any given day. Men could have been shooting pool, gambling, anything. ?Back in the days when crews were five men and bigger, they all weren't busy at every stop. And on some branchlines, or in?timetable-and-train-order territory trains in the inferior direction did a lot of waiting for superior trains.
As for its use on the DL&W or Erie -- it certainly could have been.?? There's a book by Keenan that describes the 1860s-1880s on the M&E and DL&W and he mentions the ills and vices so common to railroad men and how he succumbed, and later tried to fix those problems by finding religion and preaching to the trainmen. He didn't detail the methods by which the men found their trackside vices. Joe Bromley's book about life on the Utica Branch ca. 1900?talks about killing many hours spent waiting for other trains, and just because they could.? Both are interesting reads
Mike Del Vecchio
- -----Original Message-----
From: Peter <peterh55_@_comcast.net>
To: erielack_@_lists.railfan.net; erielack@lists.elhts.org
Sent: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 9:31 am
Subject: (erielack) Bordellos
A historic note from the N&W site about the Virginian RR.
"the one the Brethren (old timers) liked best: an explanation of how "red
light" districts for bordellos got their nick name.
Seems that train crews would leave their lanterns, still lit, outside the
"houses of ill repute" to let the callers know where they were, so they
could be "apprehended" for their next run. Also the article gave an
explanation of the term "cut and run", coming from steam engines, running
low on water; they would cut off from their train and run to the next water
tank...."
Any recollections of this from the DL&W or Erie?
Pete
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