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Re: (erielack) Mystery Wreck on DL&W
In a message dated 06/21/09 07:07:22 Eastern Daylight Time, rutan3_@_embarqmail.com writes:
I received this through my website. I was wondering if anyone can tell
me anything about this photo, such as the location and date.
To me it looks like the cranes are lifting the remains of a camelback
loco and the clothing looks somewhat early 1900's.
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Hi Dave,
What can you tell us about the source of the photo? Do you think this photo is an heirloom and if so where was the family located?
No obvious event is coming to me, but some of the details suggest a later date than you think. That's a Ten-Wheeler based on the domes and type of Walschearts running gear. Slide valves weren't on new engines until 1912 and the railroad had been picking engines for longevity and slide-valve conversion since a little before then. Most were done after WWI and into the 20s and 30s until the new 4-8-4s began bumping the 4-6-2s onto the Branchline and secondary trains.
You might pour through Taber and Graham to check the dispos and notes, which sometimes mention a wreck or rebuild (look for a premature date) or early scrapping. The damage on this engine could be light enough that it was returned to service, though. You might check the DOT records on line for the '20s and '30s since this incident may have had a fatility and if so would be there. That'll give you engine numbers and lots of details.
Those steam cranes aren't the oldies, either. Without numbers it would require examination of details to try to pick out which ones, then their assigned locations in which era. But the near crane in the picture arrived after WWI and was in service though the merger. The far crane is a 150-ton Industrial Brownhoist, and one roster from the '40s shows it assigned to Hampton Yard (dont' know where it would have been in the '20s or '30s). If this scene was from the '40s, that locomotive certainly would have been scrapped if needing major repairs.
All of that spent and crushed blocking suggests that the cars or tender were rerailed before the photo was taken and that the cranes were working toward the engine. Might have been quite a spill. Looks like it could be double track.
The open area could be in the Poconos or on the Sussex Branch, or S&U, anywhere the Ten-Wheelers might have roamed, maybe West End somewhere. It is remote, or a lot more people would have been standing around. The angle of the sun, jackets and long sleeves suggest spring or fall and that the locomotive was heading compass north.
My guess from the style and type of photography, the weathering, lettering and details on the cranes and gondola (K-brakes) is that this is the late 1920s into the 1930s. Just some quick observations. Whippany is running the cabooses today so I'm heading out the door. Nice picture.
....Mike
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