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RE: (erielack) EL June Calendar
Thanks, Dan, I've probably read that in the past and mentally recorded that he was an engineer and
worked for the ERIE, but forgot the rest of these details of his life. Thanks for filling out the
story.
SGL
> Schuyler,
>
> RE: Who was Graham
>
> According to the article "Graham Cutoff" by M.B Wakefield published in the
> September 1951 Railroad Magazine he was James Marshall Graham. Wakefield
> says he came to the Erie as a vice president in 1904 following stints as the
> head engineer on the B&O and various other engineering positions on other
> railroads. The Graham line was opened to traffic on January 13, 1909 and
> Graham passed away on February 3, 1909.
>
> The article details the construction of the line and includes some
> construction photos of the Moondna Viaduct and the Otisville tunnel.
> Referring to Graham, Wakefield calls the cutoff "a pulsing monument to the
> memory of the man who planned it" and said "the cutoff was conceived and
> engineered by Graham."
>
> Dan Conrad
> ELHS
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Schuyler Larrabee [mailto:schuyler.larrabee_@_verizon.net]
> Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 10:11 PM
> To: 'EL Mail List'
> Subject: RE: (erielack) EL June Calendar
>
> Ed,
>
> The location "Graham" is rather in the boonies. You can get there by
> following some of the roads
> off Route 209 northeast of Port Jervis, looking for "Guymard."
>
> "The Graham Line" is often misunderstood. What I'm about to type is my
> understanding of it, and it
> may not be totally correct. The original ERIE Main Line went over
> Shawangunk Mountain right through
> the village of Otisville. As of a couple years ago, you could still find
> the edge of the platform
> in the hollow in the middle of Otisville where the line ran, as a curb
> embedded in a parking lot,
> with a give-away curve in it toward the east end. The line then zig-zagged
> down the east side of
> the mountain before heading in a slightly straighter path toward Middletown.
>
> But the Western end of the Graham Line originates at the point shown in the
> photo, on the ascent of
> the west side of Shawangunk Mountain in a flyunder (so to speak) where the
> eastbound line, all the
> way to the right in the photo, was at a lower grade, and when a sufficient
> difference in elevation
> was achieved, it burrowed under the original main line. The two tracks then
> traversed the mountain
> side and then went into a tunnel directly under Otisville, essentially on a
> simliar alignment. The
> Graham Line and the old main intersected east of Otisville (see
> http://docs.unh.edu/NY/prtj08ne.jpg
> ), and then split again at Howells Junction (you can see this location prior
> to the Graham Line on
> this view: http://docs.unh.edu/NY/gshn08nw.jpg ), with the old main heading
> toward Middletown, and
> the rest of the Graham Line heading somewhat northeast. This line then
> curved around about 90d to
> the south to line up with Moodna Viaduct, which runs more-or-less
> north-south. At the east end of
> the Viaduct, the line curves around the north end of Shunemunk Mountain.
> You can see that here:
> http://docs.unh.edu/NY/schu35ne.jpg From there, the line went south
> downgrade to rejoin the
> original main line at Newburgh Junction, near Harriman. Look here:
> http://docs.unh.edu/NY/schu35se.jpg . So, the overall Graham Line went
> between Newburgh Junction
> and Graham.
>
> Note there is a parallel between the Graham Line and the DL&W's construction
> of the cutoffs. Both
> replaced curvey track through towns with straighter lines through relatively
> unpopulated territory.
>
> That spur you noticed was the original ERIE Main Line still reaching up to
> Otisville from the
> Howells Junction area. I have no idea when service to Otisville was
> suspended. Ten - fifteen years
> ago, you could find that old ROW because of the very wide open paths in the
> trees. Some of this is
> still visible in Google Earth. At Otisville, see the line running southeast
> from town, there is a
> very straight line at about 135d from north. If you go east toward Howells
> (shows up as a named
> place in GE) look for Derby Road, which is a bridge (is it still?) over the
> Erie Main. Just to the
> left of Derby Road you can see the curving line of the original main/branch
> to Otisville off to the
> south of the line. From there it heads south of west, along the edge of
> some swampy/wet areas, and
> you can catch the sharp curve as it turns north to align with the run up to
> Otisville.
>
> So, who was "Graham?" I don't have his first name right to hand, but he was
> the engineer who laid
> out the line, I believe an ERIE employee.
>
> SGL
>
> > The picture at Graham Junction is interesting. I have seen several
> similar ones but I never have
> visited the location. I've
> > been to Port Jervis a lot but thought Graham was somewhere in the
> wilderness. I wonder why Erie
> continued to push
> > freights over the mountain when they had the Graham cut-off (actually
> longer than the original
> line) in place. What
> > does this location look like today? I was also interested in the map
> included in the "Booster"
> article in TRAINS. It
> > shows a spur from Howells into Otisville in 1953. How long was this spur
> left in place?
> >
> > Ed Montgomery
>
>
>
>
>
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