MP 168.69 Two westbound CNJ pusher locomotives returning
from Mountain Top drift down the Back-Track into Ashley, PA. They have
passed under the Interstate Route No. 81 overpass and now are about to
duck under Pennsylvania Route No. 309. - eastward
view, April 19, 1968 - A. W. Kovacs
Eastward of Ashley the grades on the
13.5-mile
Back-Track immediately got tough. CNJ No. 916 is blasting
steam exhaust and coal smoke high into the sky as it laboriously shoves
against the tail end of this freight. But wait a minute! Look at that
caboose - one of the World War II RDG expedients - CNJ No. 91545
displays the old New Jersey Central ball herald and open caboose stove
window. Soon this class will have that window plated over and receive the new
Jersey Central Lines Miss Liberty herald adopted by the
railroad late in 1943. - southeast view, October 24, 1946 -
Don Ball collection Right - The CNJ's
first and only all steel caboose class came from the RDG in the form of
a kit. The shops at Elizabethport, NJ, assembled them. They arrived in 1942, a
year before the railroad instituted its new World War II inspired Liberty
Line image. - April 1942 issue of Reading - Central
Railroad of New Jersey magazine - courtesy James Stinson
Left
- Toward the end of 1945 the CNJ modified M-3as 2-8-2 class Nos.
903 and 913 with increased braking capability for dedicated
Back-Track service. The engines had their original 11" single phase air
pumps replaced by two 8-1/2" cross compound air pumps - one mounted to
each side of their boilers. The larger air pumps necessitated that the power
reverse gear be relocated behind the front cylinder in reverse position. The
front running board height was raised to clear the new hardware and a three
step engine ladders installed. Extra air tanks were added as was a large
finned cooling coil on the air brake line. Early in the following year CNJ No. 935 was also
modified. The CNJ had been considering the abandonment of the costly,
100 year old, Ashley Planes operation and require motive power with
sufficient braking power to safely handle heavy tonnage over the steep grades
of the Back-Track. - Bethlehem, PA, August 15, 1948 - Harold
Fagerberg Right - The modified locomotives were soon
rendered obsolete by the July 1947 arrival of five sets of Electro Motive
Corporation F-3 A-B-A road diesels equipped with dynamic braking.
- Westfield, NJ, October 2, 1947 - Robert P. Morris, Jack De Rosset Collection
This eastbound freight has come up the grade from
Ashley and is now passing through an area of Georgetown, PA, originally known
as Bushes Cut. Over the years its designation changed to Georgetown
Cut. - westward view, September 1965 - A. W. Kovacs
CNJ westbound freight with No. 2503 in
the lead rounds the curve east of the Northampton Street grade crossing.
- southeast view, April 25, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
Eastbound CNJ No. 1532 is about to cross over
Northampton Street in Georgetown, PA. This is the same Northampton Street that
crosses the CNJ mainline in Wilkes-Barre, which is way out of view to
the right. - southwest view, June 20,
1970 - A. W. Kovacs
MP 166.90
Left - During the 1960s the Back-Track
was single track between MP
166.90 Georgetown and
MP 156.49
Solomon's Gap. A decade earlier the single track section had been
approximately 1 mile shorter, between
MP 164.32
Mountain Park and MP
155.31 Penobscot. In this scene Sperry
Rail Service No. 132 approaches the automated Georgetown Interlocking
and the east end of the double track into
Ashley. The tower sign on the signal box states: GEORGETOWN.
- northeast view, May 27, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs Right
- This westbound CNJ slow drag freight has just entered the double track into
Ashley.
- northeast view, May 27, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
June 27, 1965, had not been a good day on the Back-Track. Several cars
of a westbound freight came off the track in the vicinity of
MP 165.00
but remained on the ties for another two miles until they split the switch at
the east end of the double track into Ashley. About 20 cars derailed
consisting of 11 loaded and 9 empties. Service was restored on June 29, 1965,
late in the day. Ashley based steam crane No. 4 with locomotive No.
1613 worked the west end of the wreck while Bethlehem steam crane No. 5
and locomotive No. 1705 worked the east end. -
all views June 28, 1968 - A. W. Kovacs
MP 164.62 The Back-Track made a long
eastward ascending loop around the north side of Wilkes-Barre Mountain.
Before the double track had been cut back to Georgetown during the early
1960s, it had once begun at Mountain Park. FQ
Interlocking was short distance beyond the Back-Track's reverse
alignment where it loop the south side of the mountain.
Left - Looking back to the east end of the double track from
Ashley, the Back-Track has essentially curved around the base of the
mountain and is now heading on a west ward tangent.
Left Center - Changing direction and viewing the interlocking, the signal
standard at the left is automatic block signal No. 1643 (the top
semaphore blade is pointed, the bottom blade is fishtail, and there is a
number plate on the upright) and the one at the right the west home signal to FQ Interlocking (semaphore blades are
square).
Center Right - In his westbound view from inside the
interlocking, the converging track at the left is a siding to a CNJ prepay
station (freight house). Right - The distant single arm
semaphore signal at the left of the track is the east home board to FQ.
If it was clear, trains were permitted to proceed (in this scene it is
set to stop). The structure at the end of the spur is the freight
station, and the old locomotive coo-coo clock style headlight at the
base of the tower is - when lit - a signal to train crews that there are train
orders to be delivered. FQ was also a train register station -
signalmen (tower operators) had to register all trains. - all views Circa
1930 - photographer unknown, authors' collection
This westbound (compass direction east) CNJ freight is west of
Laurel Run, PA, closing the distance on the reverse curve at Mountain Park
that will bring it around the mountain. Although hard to see, the LV
Mountain Cut-Off is behind the train on an elevated grade. - southwest view, April 19, 1968 - A.
W. Kovacs
MP 161.30 Left & Center - he LV
Mountain Cut-Off began converging with the CNJ Back-Track southwest
of Mountain Park. The distance separating each railroad steadily decreased
until both lines paralleled each other at Laurel Run. In these two views
of essentially the same location, a CNJ (left photograph) and LV
(center photograph) eastbound freight both approach the Northampton Street
overpass. (Northampton Street began at the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre,
climbed the mountain into Georgetown, and passed through Laurel Run before
changing name to Laurel Run Road at Oliver Mills, PA.) The abandoned siding to
the left of the LV was once the CNJ/LV transfer track. - easterly views, June
20, 1970 & April 15, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs Right -
CNJ No. 871 climbs the grade through Laurel Run with 41 eastbound freight
cars. The tail end of the eastbound transfer track is visible to the right of the
locomotive and the LV tracks up the slight rise. -
northeast view, July 11, 1948 - Robert F. Collins
MP 161.29 The CNJ depot at Laurel Run was,
by timetable direction, on the south side of the tracks (caution: an eastbound
train at this location would be traveling in a westward direction) at the foot
of the Northampton Street overpass - CNJ bridge No. 161/28. In this
view the mainline is closest to the station with the eastbound transfer track between
the train order board and the LV track in the foreground.
- northwest view, Circa 1950 - Clinton T. Andrews
MP 161.28 The track arrangement at Laurel Run
changed in 1965. The transfer tracks had been abandoned and a new connecting
track
installed between the CNJ and LV. In these sequential views a CNJ
westbound
freight is on the mainline. The track to the left is the passing siding and the track to the right on elevated grade, the new
connection to the LV.
- southeast views, April 5, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
In this scene, a westbound set of LV pushers
are leaving CNJ rails over the new track arrangement to returning to Coxton
Yard .
- southeast view, April 10, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
During 1965 the CNJ and LV implemented a Joint Use of
Facilities agreement between Franklin Junction and South Bethlehem. Their
plan was to share sections of track in an effort to reduce their respective
cost of operating in the mountains of Pennsylvania. New track connections had
to be constructed at several locations, one of which was at Laurel Run (Oliver
Mills on the LV). Although an interchange connection already existed
between the CNJ and LV at Laurel Run, it favored the wrong direction of
traffic for the LV.
- southwest view, November 1965 - A. W. Kovacs
An eastbound LV freight rolls over the new connection to the CNJ
from its Mountain Cut-Off mainline. It
will remain on the CNJ rails for 17.1 miles until arriving at Whitehaven,
PA, where it will
return to its own tracks at a railroad location identified as Braders
(Frazers on the CNJ) and proceed eastward. The abandoned sections of
CNJ/LV tracks were eventually removed. - southwest view,
April 15, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
MP 157.00 The western limit of
Penobscot Yard was on the Ashley side of Solomon's Gap.
- northeast view, September 19, 1954 - Jack De Rosset collection
This eastbound LV freight, operating on the
CNJ under terms of the Joint Use of Facilities agreement, is about
to enter the narrow confines of the deep cut through Solomon's Gap at Mountain
Top. the masonry works in the left foreground are remnants of the Ashley
No. 1 Plane. - northeast view,
April 13, 1967 - A. W. Kovacs
MP 156.73 The Back-Track (right)
joined the gravity run-off track (left) from the head of the Ashley Planes
near the west entrance to Solomon's Gap. The two tracks ran parallel to each
other through the gap but did not merge until reaching Penobscot Yard.
The Ashley Planes had been operated bi-directional from 1843 until 1867
when the Back-Track had been built around the mountain for passenger
service and westbound freights. The technology of the diesel locomotive led to
the eventual demise of the Ashley Planes in 1948. The back-to-back
signals (signal No. 1562 eastbound and No. 1563 westbound) are Automatic
Positive Stop signals for the Back -Track. If in the stop
position this signal could not be passed without authority from the train
dispatcher. - northeast view, Circa 1930 - Central Railroad
Company of New Jersey
Left - An eastbound freight is deep in the rock cut at
Solomon's Gap. The train is passing under CNJ bridge No. 156/58, which
carries two tracks of the LV's Mountain Cut-Off mainline over the gap.
The abandoned track to the left of the train was the old Ashley Planes
gravity run-off track to Penobscot Yard. - northeast
view, June 20, 1970 - A. W. Kovacs Right - The
same scene taken 40 years earlier shows the run-off track still in service.
- northeast view, Circa 1930 - C. T. Steeb
MP 156.40 The east end of Solomon's Gap
opened into the west end of Penobscot Yard, which was the marshalling
area for cars coming up the Ashley Planes. Yard facilities included a
small car repair shop, water station, coaling dock, scale house, 80' turntable
(turntable No. 5 - installed in 1911 and removed in 1956), and
16-stall roundhouse, Penobscot passenger depot was at the east end of the yard
on the north side of the railroad. In this view an eastbound freight has
emerged from Solomon's Gap and is about to enter the yard. The Ashley
Planes run-off track, which once ran to the right of this track, was
removed during 1950-1951. - southwest view, June 20, 1970 -
A. W. Kovacs
These two westbound CNJ freight trains are at
the west end of Penobscot Yard awaiting the green board into
Ashley. - southeast view, January 24, 1966 -
A. W. Kovacs
Map of Penobscot Engine Terminal and Yard
MP 155.38 A four-unit Baldwin
Locomotive Works lash up growls past Penobscot Station on its run
eastward. Judging by the amount of power and the mix of cars, it is a CNJ
Symbol Freight bound for Jersey City, NJ. The information displayed in the
number boards of the lead locomotive is typical CNJ practice for
multiple unit covered wagons: 72 is the lead unit, M and R
are the booster unit designations, and 79 is the trailing unit. The
practice of displaying all of the motive power designations in the number
boards was relatively short lived - intended for an era when road units were
operated in matched cab and booster sets. It appears that the next westbound
train has to pick up train orders. Although the eastbound indicator is clear,
the westbound is not. - northwest view, Circa 1950 - Central
Railroad Company of New Jersey
CNJ No. 922 with a string of westbound empties
steams past Penobscot Station on it journey to Ashley. Company Rule
No. 122 - Freight Service. Air Brake Pipe Pressure and Retainers -
required that retainers be used between Penobscot and Ashley. The amount
of freight car retainers to be set was a function of the gross actual tonnage
of the train divided by the maximum tonnage per effective brake. Trains
consisting of 50 percent or more of loaded coal, ore, cement, or similar heavy
commodity cars, moving between Penobscot and Ashley must have the retainer
valve handles turned up on all cars in the train, in the high pressure
position on the loaded cars, and the low pressure position on the empty cars.
Trains of this character will consume twenty (20) minutes running time between
Penobscot and Laurel Run, sixteen (16) minutes Laurel Run to Mountain Park,
and sixteen (16) minutes Mountain Park to Ashley. - Central Railroad Company
of Pennsylvania Time Table No. 6, April 24, 1949 -
southeast view, Circa 1930 - photographer unknown, authors' collection