ClassicTrainsMag.com 75wedding, following a short honeymoon,
I had the first territory of my own.
MY CORNER OF THE CENTRAL
The Newberry Junction trainmaster’s
territory was part of the Syracuse Divi-
sion and consisted of the southernmost
95.4 miles of the single-track line from
Lyons, N.Y., on the Water Level Route to
Jersey Shore, Pa. The north-south “Fall-
brook” portion extended from the state
line at Lawrenceville, Pa., south through
Pine Creek Canyon (the “Grand Canyon
of Pennsylvania”) to Jersey Shore, and the
east-west portion from there east to New-
berry Junction and west to Avis and a
connection with the PRR, on which we
had trackage rights for trains to the
Clearfield and Cherry Tree coal country.
The Fallbrook was manual-block terri-
tory, and the east-west line was TCS, as
the Central called its CTC, controlled by
the operator at Jersey Shore. There was
also an 11.1-mile branch from CV Junc-
tion, near Lawrenceville, to an inter-
change with the Wellsboro, Addison &
Galeton Railroad in Elkland. Crews
based in Corning, N.Y., handled the six
daily symbol freights between Syracuse,
Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Newberry
Junction as well as the occasional coal ex-
tra. New York state law required a third
brakeman on trains exceeding 100 cars,
so a “swing brakeman” would ride the 15
or so miles in each direction between
Corning and Lawrenceville when train
lengths required, which they usually did.
Newberry Junction was a busy place,
with yard crews and yardmasters on duty
around the clock. Local management
consisted of me, a general yardmaster,
and two general foremen, one for cars
and one for motive power. In addition to
the symbol freights to and from the
north, the yard handled daily trains to
and from Clearfield and Cherry Tree, a
local freight, and an Erie Lackawannatrackage-rights train to and from Cor-
ning. The NYC interchanged with the
PRR and Reading, and each road had a
trainmaster there. The Reading yard was
in line at the south end of our yard. NYC
symbol freights from Buffalo and Niagara
Falls carried a block of Reading cars on
the head end, which the inbound road
crew delivered after the “cut-off man”
pulled the pin behind it. This triggered
my first labor confrontation of sorts.
It didn’t take me long to realize that aA “swing man,” having complied with a New York state law requiring three brakeman on trains exceeding 100 cars, climbs down from the FA
heading freight BH-2 south at Lawrenceville, Pa. At left, Assistant Superintendent Bob Foster stands beside a Checker station wagon hi-rail car.
Two EMD SD45 demonstrators head train BH-2 at Cammal, Pa., in August 1967. Located 24
miles north of Jersey Shore on the “Fallbrook” portion of my territory, Cammal is in the midst
of Pine Creek Gorge, a.k.a. the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.