Yes, it was the 425 going to and coming from the Hoboken festival. I am going to say it was 1986 but I could be a year off either way. I don't think 2102 every made the trip.

I am very fortunate to have ridden behind steam on the Lackawanna Cutoff several times. I rode the trip in 1969 behind NKP 759 from Hoboken to Scranton. The track on the cutoff was very smooth and it was a great trip. I cannot remember the date, but I also worked as a volunteer on a Hobo to Bingo trip behind Reading 2102. I believe we went to Binghamton on the ex-Erie line and I remember the 2102 working hard through the tunnel as we left Scranton and headed back to Hoboken. I also worked the trip behind NKP 759 in 1973 when we stalled on a grade at Devil's Hole? on the way to Scranton. All of these trips were possible because of Ross Rowland's efforts. I carry with me today many great memories of those trips. I sincerely regret missing the trips that Mr. Mitchell ran...

Hi Tim,

#2102 ran a Hoboken-Port Jervis trip the year she had the gaudy "Constitution" tender. Thinking that was '86 or '87. Not sure if that ferry move was over the Old Road.

#425 did a Hoboken-PJ run as well. My failing internal hard drive renders it impossible for me to remember the year. ;-)

And then there were the Hoboken Festivals, too...

BTW - let me find my soapbox -- got the ELDCS members update in the mail last week. Could you guys be doing a better job? Seriously, I don't think so. I wish I had time to contribute man-hours, but I am darn happy to have contributed to the cause. Really incredible progress...

Rob

I believe EMD to be correct about 148 being the last steam over the old road on a ferry move because and I am sorry to say Mr. Davis that I don't recall Andy M's engines using the old road to get to Hoboken. The old road (and cutoff) were of DLW origin while I believe they came in on the ex-LV. I remember when 425 ran an excursion up to Port Jervis from Hoboken because an NKP engine couldn't make it; Andy stepped in. After the trip, there were short hops to and from Rutherford. When it was time to go home they offered (I believe) a free trip out to Dover with two run-bys at a locale that escapes me at this point. I just know that Dad and I were on that trip. At Dover, all passengers got off, the BM&R headed west towards the Gap and Comet II coaches took us back to Hoboken.
The video Blue Mountain Oddessy (I cannot spell...forgive me!) shows the consist coming over the old LV bridge from PA into NJ led by M&E Alcos. Isn't the DLW old road further south than that?

Also I remember seeing a b&w shot of ex-Reading T-1 in American Freedom Train garb coming through Roseville Tunnel at night. Somewhere I have it saved. It is an awesome shot, don't know if it was staged, she was moving or standing still...if she was under power, the photographer was a whiz.

So, Id have to say that 148 was the last over the old road and as far as I can recall, Rdg #2101 as AFT #1 was the last over the cutoff and 425 was lastly in NJ via the old LV bridge from Easton to Phillipsburg in the 80's. Again, I THINK!!

Steve,

When the #425 went west from Dover, it took the surviving portion of the "old road" west of Port Morris.

It seems that steam headed to and from Pennsylvania for fantrips out of Hoboken usually made the run via the old DL&W rather than the LV as it was logistically preferrable.

Here's one to consider. When BR&W #60 went to Whippany in 1994, how did it get there? Via the Old Road or?

Also, how did #142 get to Phillipsburg after the SusieQ years? Old Road? Or?

Seems like there may be more contenders for the "last steam on the old road" than I thought?

#425, #2102, #60 or #142?


Rob

First: The opinions I am about to put forth are mine and mine alone, not those of my employer or my employer's partners, public, private or otherwise.

A couple years ago I put together a book, "Scranton Railroads". Towards the end of that book there is a photograph of an Amtrak (not NJT) "exploratory train" in Scranton from 1979. This was to drum up interest in and explore the logistics of a Scranton to NY metro area passenger service. Again, the year was 1979.

That was 30 years before my book was published.

Around the same time my book went to press, our current President and Vice President came into office, with (at the time) a like-minded congress. Now, politics aside, if the project didn't move even a little bit further under said political climate, what does that tell you? It tells me the ELDCPS and NPS will be the only passenger trains on the Pocono line for a long, long time.

NJ Transit is extending their operations Westward, slowly and somewhat independent of the "cutoff" efforts. One day you MIGHT see an NJT train in or near East Stroudsburg, PA.

I plan to be retired by then. I have 22 years to go.

Dave Crosby

[quote="Ron Muldowney"]... All of these trips were possible because of Ross Rowland's efforts.
I carry with me today many great memories of those trips.
I sincerely regret missing the trips that Mr. Mitchell ran...[/quote]

Mega-Dittoes !

We can't all be part of "the 1%"............ and my hunch is that were a spiritual successor to come along, he/she/they would be greeted with "Occupy Hoboken" protesters decrying his or her income from derivatives speculation, commodities manipulation, or whatever, and condemning the ostentatious display of affluence and its pollution....

I think there's going to be a surprize in ridership on the line. I have never read about the second market for the service being considered. Which is between two major business centers in Pennsylvania. Scranton-Philadelphia (change at Newark). It had it's own section in the Lackawanna and EL time tables. It's all about commuters..No it's not. There will be people that will do this change at Newark. As the NEC is speeded up in New Jersey. It will make this route more attractive

Has anything progressed with the cut off in almost a year?

1.) Cutoff is scheduled for 2006.

2.) Be happy if you see steam anywhere between Scranton and Hoboken in the next few years.