THE TRANSFER TABLE
The Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition

VOLUME 26 NO. 2 FEBRUARY 2004

Back To Wilmington Chapter Web Site

DECEMBER 8, 2003 MEETING NOTES

    The Chapter's Annual Holiday Dinner was held on the evening of December 8, 2003 at Maximillian's in lieu of the normal monthly meeting. Following cocktails, dinner, and some excellent conversation, the 28 members and guests were treated our traditional gift drawing. Special thanks go out to Ed Thornton and to Mitchell's Hobbies for making the gift handout possible.

    This year's slide presentation by Steve Barry covered "Cab Units and Steam." We saw images of our Chapter's recent Toronto Trolley Trip, #2317 enroute to the Delaware Gap, and the White Mountain Central. We learned that the engines on Mount Washington were really 2-1+1-2's and they ascend grades up to 37% ! We saw M&E's FL-'s, Tennessee Central's E-8's, and a variety of F units. There were great scenes of the Cumbres & Toltec freight operations and along the Silverton & Durango. We visited the West Virginia Central and Cass railroads by day and saw Strassburg's #89 by night. Also represented were Orbisonia's East Broad Top, the Ohio Central, and the Morgan Run Shops by day, by night, and in fog. There was also the Western Maryland in Cumberland with steam and a GP-30. This great program was enjoyed by all.


DECEMBER 23, 2003 BOD MEETING NOTES

    The Board of Directors of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society held their annual meeting at President Phil Snyder's residence on the evening of Tuesday, December 23, 2003. Numerous topics pertaining to the current and future health and activities of the Chapter were discussed. Of particular interest to the members, the choice of this year's "Special Category" for the Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest will be: any photo taken within the last two (2) years looking  down from above a railroad structure or piece of railroad equipment so that you can see the roof or inside of a gondola, hopper, etc. There may or may not be a Chapter Picnic this year. The matter will be discussed at an upcoming meeting. Also under consideration is a possible trip to the Middletown & Hummelstown now that they have  returned their steam locomotive to operation. A target date might be a Saturday in May.


 NOTICE: IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER

    If our normal "THIRD THURSDAY" NRHS meeting is canceled due to inclement weather, it will be postponed and held on the FOURTH THURSDAY.  If it must again be canceled, it will NOT be rescheduled. We will simply wait for the next month's normal "third Thursday" meeting.  If the weather looks bad or is predicted to be bad, you may telephone the Claymont Community Center to see if it will be open that evening for our meeting.


DUES ARE DUE

    If you have not already done so, please send your 2004 membership dues ($32 for local & National) to our Treasurer's NEW ADDRESS !!  Ralph Stevens, Jr. 1432 Governor House Circle, Wilmington, DE 19809-2485


UN-PRIVACY NOTIFICATION

    Since I never got around to it last year as planned, I would like to print an updated Chapter Membership list in an upcoming newsletter with Name, Address, Telephone, and E-mail Address. If for any reason you do NOT want your information published, please send me a note, post card, or E-mail by March 22, 2004 (address in Chapter Officers box below). If there is anything on your address label that should be corrected, let me know. To ensure that your E-mail address gets included, please send me a short note via E-mail.


DRAW BRIDGES

    Chapter Member Richard Hall is looking for prints or slides of ANY Wilmington area bridges THAT OPEN. Please contact: Richard E. Hall, 500 W. Summit Ave., Wilmington, DE 19804-1814.  Phone: 302-994-3911.


FROM THE EDITOR

    It was raining off and on in the heavy fog as Richard Hall & I ventured up to the National Headquarters of the NRHS on December 17, 2003 to check out the library. After negotiating the Schuylkill Expressway and the streets of Philadelphia, I dropped Richard off at the front door and we agreed to meet in the library. I drove off to find a parking spot in a nearby facility and found one practically next door. When I got back to number 100 17th Street, I was surprised to find Richard sitting in the lobby. My personal luck with museums and other locations of interest had struck again; even though I had called to confirm that the library would indeed be open that close to Christmas. Oh, the library was open all right, but the elevator was not working, and the offices are on the 12th floor!

    It was not long before the repairman had gotten one of the three elevators working again, and he personally took the two of us in our "private car" to the 12th floor. We arrived at the NRHS Office and were greeted by Lynn Burshtin and a number of volunteers. She gave us a tour of the entire office and library and we settled down in the conference room. Richard and I each had our own "want list" which we set about researching.

    We especially liked the "Ephemera Files" which we were told contained the "bits & pieces" of information that just didn't fit anywhere else. We agreed that is EXACTLY the place where you can find some really great and unusual information. I also spent some time with the collection of Railway Age magazines, which is bound and complete back to 1930, and Trains magazine which is bound and complete from Volume 1.

    Everyone that we met during our day in the library was very friendly and happy to see some new faces   taking advantage of the library. There were lots of conversations on lots of different topics (although all of them seemed to involve trains for some reason). That made the time fly by as we perused the files and made wonderful little discoveries. Every now and then you would hear something like, "wow, look at this - - ." Eventually, we thanked everyone for their help and wished them a happy holiday and signed out in the guest book.

    We decided to "bug out" between 3 and 3:30 PM to "beat the traffic" but, evidently, we were not alone with that thought in Philadelphia on that Wednesday afternoon. We eventually worked our way past the powerhouse behind 30th Street Station and back onto I-76. Despite the rain, snow, sleet, hail, freezing rain, and traffic we were able to get home by 5:30 PM.


NEWS BITS
      Transportation officials are considering a $7.5 million plan to move the Newark train station and a $15 million plan to build a new headquarters for DART First State on the Wilmington Riverfront. The plans appear in the latest Transportation Improvement Plan, for 2004 to 2007, that the Wilmington Area Planning Council will discuss at a public meeting on Monday. Approval by WILMAPCO is necessary to get federal funding for transportation projects.
    The plan to move the station from its location adjacent to the Chrysler plant, where it has operated since 1997 to a 10-acre site on Chapel Street near the Newark Library occupied by Newark Concrete would allow for more parking and theoretically would help the long-term growth of rail service. The move would also allow enable rail carriers to park trains at the station overnight which would be more efficient because the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which operates the R2 rail service between Newark and Philadelphia, would not have to send empty trains into Delaware to make the first pickup of the day. Moving the station also would allow passenger trains to avoid conflicts with the Chrysler plant.
    WILMAPCO board members want to relocate the DART headquarters from the building on the Riverfront next to the Big Kahuna restaurant. The building has had a few problems including having to be evacuated last winter when snow caused the roof to buckle. The new $15 million headquarters would be built on a vacant lot the Delaware Department of Transportation owns a short distance away on the Riverfront, adjacent to the Juniper building. Plans for the new building have not been drawn up and what would happen to the old building has not been decided. [taken from "Newark may get new train station" by Sean O'Sullivan, Staff reporter, 1/11/2004,from http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/01/11newarkmaygetnew.html]

    The Railway Mail Service Library (RMSL) is an archival collection of primary and secondary sources pertaining to en route distribution history. It also features many obsolete postal artifacts associated with this activity. These items are used to assist researchers interested in route agent, seapost, railway, and highway post office (RPO and HPO) operations, known as the Railway Mail Service/Postal Transportation Service (RMS/PTS). RMS Library coverage focuses on the period between 1862 and 1978 for the USA, as well as the late 19th and early 20th centuries for other postal administrations. Literature and artifacts related to the RMS/PTS are always sought, to improve the scope and depth of the collection. Auctions of duplicate items raise funds for these new acquisitions. A VHS cassette with two movies about RPOs is also  available for $17 postpaid. [from Frank R. Scheer - Curator, RMSL at (703) 549-4095 or 12 EAST ROSEMONT AVE, ALEXANDRIA, VA 22301-2325. You may also send an email to f_scheer@yahoo.com. If you include your postal mailing address, he will send hard-copy illustrated want lists of obsolete postal artifacts

    Richmond's Main Street Station reopened in December 2003 . Once again, downtown Richmond is linked to other downtowns along the Northeast Corridor as well as to Hampton Roads. Amtrak's Twilight Shoreliner and Acela Regional (Newport News-Washington, D.C.) stop at Main Street Station in downtown Richmond. The three-phase City of Richmond project included renovating the station head-house, parking spaces, and a new track platform. Richmond's Main Street Station which is located in the Shockoe Valley historic district, opened on November 27, 1901. The Dispatch reported that thousands of people were on hand at the opening and passengers had trouble alighting from the train because of the crowds. The Times called Main Street "the finest railroad station south of Washington." The headhouse, train shed, tracks and several miles of viaducts cost around $2 million. Wilson, Harris & Richards of Philadelphia were the architects. Main Street Station is a Beaux Arts masterpiece with the largest intact train trestle in the United States. The train shed in the back is one of the last of its kind in the country.
    Increased traffic, longer trains, and heavier locomotives rendered Main Street obsolete almost from the beginning. During the period commencing just before World War I and ending just after World War II, numerous plans were proposed to improve the situation. But the traffic dropped dramatically after WWII, and changes were not necessary. The Seaboard moved its train to Broad Street Station, and Amtrak continued to use the station until October 15, 1975.
    The station remained vacant for several years. SWA Development Corporation bought it in 1983 with plans to turn it into a shopping mall. On the eve of the conversion, a spectacular fire destroyed the upper floors and roof of the headhouse. The building was restored, including exact replicas of the terra cotta roof tiles fashioned from the 1901 molds. The shopping mall opened in 1985, but closed after 2 years. It was then used as offices for the Commonwealth of VA.
    Greater Richmond's current restoration of Main Street Station--a symbol of the city to many--promises to strengthen the transportation network of the region and bolster economic vitality downtown. The $48.2 million renovation of the Main Street Station property into a multimodal transportation center will serve Amtrak, Greyhound, GRTC buses, airport shuttles, taxis and tour buses at one centralized location. It will become Greater Richmond's Travel and Welcome Center. [from the Historic Richmond Foundation http://www.historicrichmond.com/mainstgala.html]

    For the 2004 Strasburg Train schedule check http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/2004_schedule.htm. But be aware: "Thomas" (and crowds) will be back in June, September, and December.

    For 2004, Steamtown will offer excursions to multiple destinations for visitors who want this experience. Excursions to the Pocono Region, the Lackawanna Valley and Tobyhanna will be offered.
2004 Excursion Schedule and Prices
Museum Fee [$6 Adult $5 Senior]
Lackawanna Valley Excursions [$15 Adult $13 Senior] July 10, 17, 24 and 31; August 7, 14, 21 and 28
Tobyhanna Excursion [$25 Adult $20 Senior] May 29, 30 and 31; July 2, 3, 4 and 5; September 4, 5 and 6; October 3, 9, 10, 11, 17, 23, 24, 30 and 31
Pocono Region (Delaware Water Gap and East Stroudsburg) [$75 Adult ...$70 Senior] October 2 and 16
Tickets and reservations for the 2004 Excursion Season will be available beginning March 1, 2004. Steamtown National Historic Site, 150 South Washington Avenue, Scranton, PA 18503-2018 (570) 340-5200 - (888) 693-9391 ) daily between 9:30 am and 4:00 pm [from: http://www.nps.gov/stea/exc.htm] For a full report on all of the locomotives in the Steamtown collection, check out Gordon Chappel's Steam Over Scranton: The Locomotives of Steamtown, now available on-line at: http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/steamtown/shs.htm

    Don't forget to also check on the Wilmington & Western at: http://www.wwrr.com/schedule.htm

    The Black River & Western Railroad, in conjunction with the Town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, announced the planned May 2004 startup of a new tourist passenger train between Phillipsburg and Carpentersville, NJ. The Black River Railroad System acquired a 1930 Brill Model-55 motor car for use on its lines. The vintage 42-seat motor car was purchased from the Edwards Railway Motor Car Company, which will also renovate the car at its Mt. Dora, Florida facility. It is expected to be delivered for service in April 2004. The Delaware Turtle will depart from a new depot located off Phillipsburg's revitalized Market Street, near the historic Morris Canal Arch, easily accessible from U.S. 22 via S. Main Street. The Black River & Western Railroad was started in 1961 and has operated steam and diesel tourist trains between Flemington  and Ringoes, New Jersey continuously since 1965. Passenger trains are operated by a dedicated group of Volunteers which are always glad to share their passion for railroading with passengers as they trundle through scenic Hunterdon County. [from http://www.brwrr.com]

    Norfolk Southern took part in the first cross-country movement of alternative-fuel school buses in a new type of railcar known as a unilevel. In the past, railroads did not have enclosed railcars with enough inside clearance for large vehicles, and the prospect of moving them on open flatcars offered too many chances for damage en route. With the prototype cars, rail became a more viable option than driving the buses across country, because of limited availability of fuels such as LNG and vehicle size that makes truck transportation expensive. Four alternative-fuel buses were driven from a factory in High Point, N.C., to NS' automotive vehicle distribution facility at Winston- alem, N.C., where they were loaded into prototype railcars. The railcars were interchanged to the Union Pacific Railroad at Kansas City, Mo., for their journey to Los Angeles and delivery to short line Pacific Harbor Line for unloading at Wilmington, Calif. [from http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/newsbreak/0104/index.html#buses]


PHOTO CONTEST

The National Railway Historical Society's Wilmington Chapter's Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest will be held at the regular Chapter meeting on Thursday, May 20th, 2004.

Here are the guidelines for entering images in this year's contest:
    As usual, there will be two separate contests; one for prints and one for slides. Each contest will have the same SEVEN categories. Prizes will be awarded for winners in each category (that is fourteen winners in all), plus additional awards for the best print and the best slide in the show.

    Each member can have up to three entries per category (that's 42 total photos if you are really ambitious: up to 21 total slides and 21 total prints!).

    Photos for the five normal, standard, REGULAR CATEGORIES #1-#5, as always in the past, must have been taken within the LAST FIVE (5) YEARS (anywhere on this planet).

    For the VINTAGE CATEGORY #6 ONLY, the photos can be of any railroad related subject but must have been taken 15 OR MORE YEARS AGO, that is before May 1, 1989. As voted on at the January 1998 meeting, the time frame was changed from "more than 25 years old" to "more than 15 years old".

    For SPECIAL CATEGORY #7 ONLY, designed to get people out to take new pictures; photos must have been taken in the LAST TWO (2) YEARS; that is, between May 1, 2002 and May 19, 2004 and must be a photo taken from above a railroad structure or piece of railroad equipment so that you can see the roof or inside of a gondola or hopper.

CATEGORIES [note timeframes]

1) STEAM - Photos with a steam locomotive as the primary subject within the last 5 years.
2) DIESEL - Photos with a diesel locomotive as the primary subject within the last 5 years. This category also includes gas-electrics, Doodlebugs, RDCs, and FL9s north of Harmon, and the like.
3) HEAVY ELECTRIC - Electric power on big railroads within the last 5 years.
4) TRACTION - Trolleys & light rail including streetcars, all subways, etc. within the last 5 years
5) GENERAL - Any photo that does NOT include one of the above as the primary subject within the last 5 years. Passenger and freight cars, stations, signals, railfans, and the like go here.
6) VINTAGE - Any railroad-related subject photographed 15 or more years ago.
7) SPECIAL CATEGORY for 2004 = any photo taken from above a railroad structure or piece of railroad equipment so that you can see the roof or inside of a gondola or hopper. and taken within the last two (2) years.


Note: This copyrighted article was written for the "Transfer Table", the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society by Chapter Member Richard E. Hall © Richard E. Hall 2004

TWO TRAIN WRECKS AT RISING SUN By Richard E. Hall

    There was little level track on the section of the old P&BC, the PRR's Octoraro Branch, located in Cecil County. The line crossed the Maryland-Pennsylvania State Line at an elevation of over 480 feet, the highest railroad elevation in Cecil County, much higher than the B&O's 220+ feet at Foy's Hill. There was a short section of level track where the original wooden trestle had crossed Keilholtz Run between Rising Sun and Sylmar. The only ascending grade on that section of the original P&BC was from just south of U.G.Br. 56.59, over Keilholtz Run, to about one mile west of the Rising Sun passenger station. There was a section of 1.0%, then 0.15% at M.P. 57.0 and the station, then slightly increased to 0.25% across the fill and was 0.85% to beyond Stubb's Hill, then was 1.48% to just beyond M.P. 58, from there it was down hill to the Octoraro Creek. Perhaps these few lines, with this note that the P&BC was used for through freight trains to relieve some of the main line traffic from the 1880's to well into the early 1900's, will help to better understand the following.

    The tracks on the 1.57% descending grade north of Keilholtz's Run passed through a cut, known as Hunt's Cut. There had been a rather bad freight train wreck in that cut back in November, 1887. It was back in the days when the link and pin type of couplers were still being widely used. Only a very few freight cars were equipped with any of the new types of automatic couplers, of which several types were tested. There were very few, or in most cases, still no air brakes on the freight cars. The railroads were reluctant to spend the money for air brakes on the freight cars until after 1900. The combination of link and pin couplers and no air brakes is what caused the wreck.

    The southbound extra freight train was powered by PW&B 2-8-0 type locomotive number 205, but the locomotive was not involved in the wreck. The PW&B's locomotive number 205 was a PRR standard freight design, class H1 (original class I under the old classification system), a class which had been first built in 1875. It was fitted with 50" diameter drivers, 20"x 24" cylinders, carried 125 lb. boiler pressure, weighed 95,700 lb., with 82,700 lb. on the drivers, and exerted 20,400 lb. tractive effort.

    The freight train, with engineer Ingram and conductor Daisy, had departed Oxford Yard running southward at about 9 PM with 27 short gondola cars loaded with coal. That extra freight train, running as X-205 south, was by then running several hours late.

    This pre-dated the general use of self clearing hopper cars on the PRR. Short gondolas with drop doors in the floor or in shallow pockets, were used for hauling coal back then. Although a very few still existed into the 1890's, the PRR's old wooden, small four wheel, hopper bottom, self clearing coal jennies had largely been replaced by the wooden, drop bottom, short gondolas. The PRR lines used the designation "short gondola" for the shorter wooden gondolas designed with drop bottom doors for coal and other mineral products. The "long gondolas" were the longer solid bottom wooden gondolas, some with drop ends, some with side stakes, were used for mill trade, forest products and general service.

    It may seem contradictory, but some of the PRR's long gondolas were fitted with racks for coke trade. PRR's early self clearing hoppers were still considered to be gondolas, that is why their older hopper cars were classed as "G", for example Gg, Gl, Gla, Glb. The class "H" designation for self clearing hopper bottom cars was introduced with the later H21, H22, H25, H31 and later Ht and Hm type hoppers, including the AAR type Lo, or covered hopper type cars. The PRR had previously used the letter "H" as the class designation for hand car and what were then called hand trucks, what are commonly called push cars.

    Just south of Sylmar, a coupling link broke and the train parted on the grade with the front portion pulling slightly ahead of the uncoupled rear cars. With no air brakes to go into emergency with a parted train, both sections of the train kept on rolling. On the steeper part of the down grade, the engineer checked the train's speed with the steam brake on the locomotive, but the loose cars from the rear picked up speed on the grade and slammed into the front section of the train while passing through Hunt's Cut. Thirteen gondola cars were wrecked and the line was blocked until almost noon the next day before enough of the wreckage was cleared and the track was rebuilt to allow through traffic to resume. The P&BC wreck train with class Wodd ten wheel hand derrick car number 10651 and tool car 10626 would have been brought down from Media to clear the wreck. The PW&B wreck train with a hand derrick car would have been sent up from Perryville, probably 10 wheel class Wodd 10078, which later replaced 10651 at Media, or the new class Wa 10 wheel number 10077.

    The "Cecil Whig" reported another wreck of a southbound train that occurred in the same cut in 1927, but that time it was a local passenger train. The engine number is not known, but it was most likely a class D16sb, 4-4-0 type, or one of the 4-4-2 type E2 or E3 subclasses. The passenger train was number 4601 and the 4600 number indicates that it was a train running on a Sunday only schedule. That train had run the following schedule over a period of several years, except for a one minute change made in its Philadelphia departure time between 1920 and 1924. At the time of the wreck, train no. 4601 was scheduled to depart the PRR's Broad Street Station in Philadelphia at 7:44 AM, reach Wawa at 8:39 AM, Oxford at 9:57 AM, Sylmar at 10:13 AM and was to reach Rising Sun at 10:19 AM. The train was scheduled to arrive at Perryville at 11:00 AM, with a layover on the inside, or platform track on the south leg of the wye and a 12:02 PM departure for Baltimore. The passengers were scheduled to reach Baltimore at 12.53 PM, but that schedule may have been modified slightly between the 1924 schedule and 1927. The northbound Sunday train ran as train  number 4624.

    By 1932, #4601 was a 7:45 AM electric mu train from Philadelphia to West Chester, stopping at Wawa at 8:28 AM. The Octoraro was served by steam train #4603 which departed Wawa at 8:32 AM and reached Rising Sun at 10:16 AM and arrived at Perryville at 10:57 AM, if it was running on time.

    On the day of the wreck, train number 4601 had been late arriving at Sylmar that Sunday morning, and the engineer may have been trying to make up lost time, but the train's speed was not the initial cause of the wreck. Because of the down grade from Sylmar to Rising Sun, engineers had a habit of letting their train drift, not working steam all of the way, and that day he may have been drifting a little faster than usual. The newspaper did say the train was reportedly moving "at a rapid speed". As the train was passing through the cut, some defect on one of the car trucks of the fourth car caused that truck to derail. The newspaper did not state the nature of the truck defect and with that generalized reference it could have been any one of several things. It could have been a frame failure, or a wheel flange or tread defect, or a brake beam may have dropped down on the rail and under a wheel.

    With the 1927 date, the car most likely was a class mP54 coach and many of them had fabricated truck frames, PRR truck class 2C-P1 or 2C-P2. Almost all of the old wooden passenger cars that had been assigned to branch line service had been replaced with the steel class mP54 cars by then. The derailed cars remained coupled and therefore the air brake and communicating signal line hoses between the cars did not part. Parting of the brake line hoses would have throw the train brakes into an emergency application, parting of the communicating line hoses would have given the engineer an audible signal to stop from the communicating whistle in the cab. Partly because of the trains speed, before the engineer realized he had a derailed car and he could get his train stopped, the three rear cars were derailed and in the ditch, leaning against the bank of Hunt's Cut. The derailed passenger cars reportedly had ripped up a thousand feet of track before the train came to a stop.

    None of the train's 25 passengers, or any of the crew, were seriously injured, although they were shaken up. The first car of the train, which was a baggage car, had not derailed and the passengers were put in the baggage car and taken on to Rising Sun. The newspaper report stated wreck trains were dispatched from Perryville and Oxford to clean up the wreck. The line was still not open when the Sunday evening train was due to pass northbound, but it was run as far north as the scene of the wreck. When it arrived at the wreck, the passengers got off and walked past the derailed cars, then boarded another train. The second train had been backed down from Oxford to the north side of the wreck for the passengers to be able to continue their journey. The wreck was cleared and the track rebuilt in time for normal service over the line to resume on Monday morning. One newspaper report stated a temporary track, known as a "shoo fly", had been built so trains could pass the wreck but it would not have been possible to have done that in the cut. With a "shoo fly" track it would not have been necessary to back a train down from Oxford. Old newspapers provide us with a lot of information, but as today, they also provide a lot of misinformation.

    It is known there had been a wreck train stationed at Perryville until some time prior to the main line electrification. The exact date it was removed is not known at this time but it was probably when the car shop was closed in 1928. The wreck derrick assigned to Perryville then was a 100 ton derrick numbed 497013. But the mention of the Oxford wreck train in the 1927 "Cecil Whig" article would be most interesting, if it was accurate. As mentioned above with the freight wreck, there was only one derrick car known on the P&BC prior to 1888 when the PW&B transferred a modified steam powered derrick car to the P&BC for bridge work.  The old P&BC derrick car was #80, changed to 10651 under the PW&B. Number 10651 was the same derrick car renumbered to PW&B 10083 on 3/20/1893. PW&B was renumbered to PB&W 497008 on 8/27/1905. The derrick car transferred from the PW&B to the P&BC in 1888 had been modified with a steam hoist and was numbered P&BC 10652. Number 10652 was the derrick which broke and dropped the bridge girder in 1889 as mentioned in the January 2002 issue of the Wilmington Chapter NRHS "Transfer  Table". P&BC 10651 was renumbered to PW&B 10084 on 3/20/1893 and to PB&W 497009 on 8/26/1905. It was scrapped by the PB&W at Wilmington on 11/7/1913.

    With the known derrick car information presented above, it is most unlikely there had ever been a derrick car or wreck train stationed at Oxford, perhaps a tool car with jacks and rigging, but not a wreck derrick car. Media was one of the five locations designated for a PB&W wreck train in 1918 and until the car shop was closed. The Media wreck train was equipped with number 490711, a 50 ton wreck derrick built by Industrial Works 4/11/1900, builders number 655  Little is known about the Perryville and Media wreck trains. The Perryville wreck derrick was numbered 497013 and originally had a rated capacity of 70 tons with a five part line, later changed to 100 tons @17' with a six part line in 1913. Built by the Industrial Works on 10/27/1905, IW #1427, cost $14,425.23, original PRR class Wf, changed to W70 and then to W100a when the capacity was increased to 100 tons. The Perryville wreck train was discontinued in 1928 and 497013 was transferred to the Cape Charles wreck train. It was still in service in 1941, stored at Renovo in 1942, returned to service and was on the Elmira wreck train as late as 1963.

    The last known Media wreck derrick had a capacity of 50 tons and had been built by IW on 4/14/1900, IW #655, cost $11,740.00, original PRR class We, later changed to class W50. It was originally numbered PW&B 10086, then changed to PB&W 497011 on 9/15/1905 in the new PRR assigned number series of 1905. The April 1900 built date indicates 497011 would have been built with a main hoist only, no auxiliary hoist line, with the 4 part line located at the end of the boom. The auxiliary hoist drum  was introduced on the Industrial Works wreck derricks built late in 1900 and the boom length was increased to accommodate the auxiliary hoist line. The Media wreck train was kept on a spur between the main line track and the power house coal trestle, about mid way between the shop and station, but on the opposite side of the main track from the small shop.

    I have never seen a photo of either the Perryville or Media wreck derricks, or any of their wreck train cars. I would very much like to find photos and other information on the Perryville wreck trains from any time period, PW&B, PB&W or PRR. Finding any such information on the Media wreck train would also be of interest, since it was also called on to assist on wrecks that occurred on the section of the P&BC line located in Cecil County. © 1999, 2002, 2004 Richard E. Hall

    Please contact Richard E. Hall at 500 W. Summit Ave., Wilmington, DE 19804-1814 (302-994-3911) directly, if you have any information on these wreck trains.



SCHEDULE NOTES

Notices, announcements, schedules, etc. are provided here as a service to the members. The Chapter has no affiliation with any commercial operation, museum, or tourist line.

Now 'til whenever - America on the Move at Smithsonian Nat. Museum of American History largest-ever exhibition, has a companion Web site with material from the  exhibition, plus behind-the-scenes accounts of the making of the exhibition and more stories from curators about our objects and their place in American history-focused looks at topics ranging from maritime history to motorcycles, from racing to radiator emblems, and an examination of broader issues such as migration, gender, globalization, and technology. A powerful search tool will provide access to hundreds of objects in the transportation collections. http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove

Now 'til April 19, 2004 PAGEANT OF LOCOMOTIVES @ RR Museum of PA Photography From North American Railroad Fairs = The splendor of the great North American railroad fairs gave companies an opportunity to unveil their latest technologies and display celebrated equipment of the past. This exhibit documents the best known fairs of North America and the excitement generated by each, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia; the 1893 Columbian Exposition, Chicago; the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis; the 1927 B&O Fair of the Iron Horse, Halethorpe, Maryland; the 1939-40 World's Fair, New York; and the 1948-49 Chicago Railroad Fair.

December 27, 2003 Home for the Holidays @ Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania 9 - 5 Nostalgic glimpse at 100 years of holiday rail travel. Meet engineers, conductors, ticket agents and passengers and enjoy seasonal music and festive decorations among our world-class collection of trains. Regular admission.

April 3-4, 2004 Great Scale Model Train Show - Timonium 9-4 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD. www.gsmts.com

May 2, 2004 Baltimore Transportation Memorabilia Show - Timonium 9-4 Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD. Railroad, Steamship, Bus, Airline

June 19-20, 2004 Great Scale Model Train Show - Timonium 9-4 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD. www.gsmts.com

October 9-10, 2004 Great Scale Model Train Show - Timonium 9-4 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday, Maryland State Fairgrounds, Timonium, MD. www.gsmts.com

November 7, 2004 Railroad, Steamship, Transportation Artifacts Show 9 AM - 4 PM Montgomery County Fairgrounds, Gaithersburg, MD www.gserr.com


CHAPTER EVENTS  

Thursday Feb. 19, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dan Frederick

Thursday March 18, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Mike Burkhart

Thursday April 15, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Richard Hall

Thursday May 20, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest 2004 special category: not known at this time

Saturday May ?, 2004 ? AM Chapter Picnic ? details not known at this time

Saturday June ?, 2004 ? AM Chapter Outing ? details not known at this time

Thursday June 17, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Bill Folger program entitled: The Red Arrow

Thursday July 15, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by program by Frank Ferguson

Thursday Aug. 19, 2004 ? PM Chapter Trip Circle Trip to "Yet-To-Be-Determined"
(maybe the new New Jersey Transit from Camden-Trenton? ) Instead of the normal monthly meeting.

Thursday Sept. 16, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by ?

Thursday Oct. 21, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by ?

Thursday Nov. 18, 2004 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by ?

Sunday Dec. 5? or 12?, 2004 5 PM Holiday Dinner program by ?
Instead of the normal monthly meeting.

The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) meets at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month [except August & December] in the Darley Room at the Claymont Community Center on Green Street in Claymont, Delaware.  Visitors are always welcome. Admission to regular meetings is free. Check out our Website, thanks to Russ Fox at:   http://www.WilmingtonNRHS.com


The Transfer Table
   The Transfer Table is published six to ten times per year as the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  Items in this publication do not represent the official position of either Officers or Members of the Wilmington Chapter or the Editor of this publication.

    Permission to reprint articles and news items appearing herein is granted to NRHS Chapters and other newsletters provided appropriate credit is given.   Contributions are always welcome and should be sent to the editor at SD40GMA@aol.com or send to: P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136. Deadline for entries is the 25th of the month.

    Chapter Officers
    President:   Phil Snyder
    Vice President & Historian:  Ron Cleaves
    Treasurer:   Ralph Stevens, Jr.
    Secretary:   Dan Frederick
    National Director:   Tom Posatko
    Editor:  Greg Ajamian
    Education Fund:   Ed Thornton
    Public Relations:    Frank Ferguson, Jr.
    Trip Director & Event Photographer:  Bruce Barry
    Web Master:   Russ Fox

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