Railroading on the M&NJ in the late Sixties
by C.A. Detwyler

Special thanks to John Deserto for both sending and getting this article "web ready".

M&NJ #2 is working Agway in this shot from Dolson Ave.

    Jim Wright was the engineer and I was the conductor. Sylvester "Hap" Williams was the freight agent. He had been the last Lehigh and New England Agent at Sussex N.J.. Louis Rowe kept the money straight. Lloyd Deubler filled the General Managers chair.

    All activity started at 8:00AM. The first item was for the agent to call customers and check the yard checks. Then he would make a switch list. While this was going on the train crew checked and started the engine. It was then brought out and parked by the back door of the station. Here the crew waited for the switch list.

When the list was ready it could have read like this. I won't give numbers, but it did:

Middletown
Polytherm
out 4 box loaded
1 hopper MT (empty)
1 tank MT
in 4 box MT
1 hopper loaded pellets
Agway Fertilizer
Out 1 hopper MT
In 2 hoppers loaded Potash
Agway Feed Store
out 1 hopper MT
1 box MT
In 1 box Sk (sack) Feed door 2
1 hopper loaded citrus pulp pit
Agway Bulk Depot
out 4 hopper MT
In 6 hoppers load feed above pit
Slate Hill
Martins Feed
out 1 box MT
In 1 box load Sk Feed
Balchem
out 1 tank MT
in 1 tank loaded E. Oxide

Johnson
Manning
Out 0
In 1 box loaded Sk cement
Ford/Weld Cox
out 1 box MT
In 1 box loaded Sk Feed upper door
1 box loaded Sk Oats house track
Westtown
NONE
Unionville
(Sussex) Feed
Out 2 box MT SX
In 2 box Loaded Sk feed
Terrazo Tile
1 box MT
1 box loaded stone
SX Agway
1 hopper feed over conveyor
1 box loaded peanut shells. Leave on main at Waterloo sand pit Xing.

To make up our train we would break it into two runs, Middletown first then down the line later.

    We would set out Polytherm's hopper first, then their empty boxes. These were followed by the fertilizer cars, then the feed store box and hopper. Last would be the bulk depot hoppers in the order that they wanted them for unloading. We shoved everything together, pumped up the air and took off down the line.

    The first stop was the sag between Genung Street and the Erie Bridge. Here we cut off the fertilizer and Polytherm cars. I had to climb up and go over the tops of the cars because the engine was on or just over the bridge. Back on the engine I got ready to flag the crossing as we coasted down the hill.

This diagram of the trackage around Dolson Ave will help understanding the moves discussed by Carl.

    After we crossed Dolson Avenue we cut off the feed store cars. We then pulled the bulk depot cars up the hill (south) to back them down in. As the switch stand was on the outside of the curve both the driver and I had to cross the track to the inside of the curve to give signals. Usually we did not spot cars on the pit. They had an electric rope tow to spot the cars themselves.

    Then it was back to the feed store cars. If the bulk depot empties interfered with the feed store siding, we would put the feed store cars in the File Shop siding. Then pull the empty hoppers and shove them south up the hill past the bulk depot switch. Now we pulled the feed store empties and using the puzzle switch, spot them on the empty track. Then we could pull the File Shop and spot the feed store cars.

    Now we could cross Dolson Avenue and get the empty fertilizer car and put it behind the feed store empties. We then went back up the Erie hill and got the two potash loads and spotted them at the fertilizer plant with the lead hopper door over the unloading pit.

    Next it was Polytherm's turn. We pulled past their switch and backed down into their yard. I rode the rear car on the inside of the curve. The engineer was again on the outside. Here we could use the rear view mirror and signal each other.

    After we got down into Polytherm the fun began. I had to be on the wrong side of the train as the tracks still curved away from the engineer. So we worked with the mirror and the engineer in the middle of the cab. I used a red flag so my signals would not be misread.

    First we would put the inbound cars on the track nearest the building. Then we would go into the outer track against the two loaded boxes, the two hoppers and the empty tank, pull out and couple everything to the inbounds. Then pull the whole string and put the new hopper load on the outer track. We returned to the inner track and cut behind the old loaded hopper and put that back on the outer track. Then we got the four empty boxes and switched to the outer track and pushed the two hoppers back into the bumping block and set the hand brake. Pulling out, we spotted two of the empty boxcars as we came. Back on the inner track, we grabbed the empty hopper and tank, pushed in and coupled to the other two loaded boxes. We pulled the string out and put the two loaded boxes, the empty hopper and the tank on the outer track. Returning to the inner track, we spotted the other two empty boxes. Back on the outer track, we pushed all the outbounds together, pumped up the air and left.

    We pulled back down to Dolson Ave and cut off the Polytherm cars. We then crossed Dolson Ave. and pulled the feed store empties and whatever the bulk depot had emptied and pushed them up the hill against the earlier bulk depot empties. We then re-crossed Dolson Avenue and grabbed the Polytherm cars and brought them over to the south side of Dolson Avenue. We dropped them on the main so that they cleared the empty track and the feed store track switches. We then ran around these through the puzzle switch and the empty track. Now it was time to shove the three cuts together, pump the air and head back to Houston Avenue Yard. Once there we shove everything into the coach track and break for lunch.

After lunch it was time to set up the train for the trip down the line. We set out the tile company car, 2 Agway boxes, the Agway hopper and the Waterloo car in that order. Next came the Johnson cars, Weld/Cox and Manning, and finally the Slate Hill box and tank. We were then ready to roll.

    On the trip south, we flagged across Dolson Avenue and County Route 78 and just whistled our way over the other road crossings. The #1 is at Hoops crossing on March 21, 1960.

In Slate Hill we stopped short of the Route 6 crossing and cut off the train leaving it on the main.

    Then it's up to grab the Balchem tank and Martins empty box. Then we dropped back and stopped before the crossing. I walked across and set the switch for the "A" Plant siding, stopped the route 6 traffic and we pushed the empties through to the other end of the "A" plant run around, then we spotted our loads. Now we came out and picked up our train and headed south.

    At Johnson we spotted Manning's car of cement first, then the box of oats on the house track. Next we let the empty roll down from the upper door at Weld/Cox feed. Here I set the switch for the siding, walked up and released the hand brake. If the car didn't move, the engineer had to give it one pump with the car mover (a hand operated lever assembly that is placed under the wheel of a fright car and pumped, it grabs the rail and by pushing against the wheel it forces the car to move about a half inch). I rode down the hill headed south. We left this car in front of us and I walked back to the switch, aligned it for the main and the engine and the loaded box of sack feed head south past the switch. After resetting the switch for the siding, I walked up to where the car was to be spotted and signal for them to come up the hill. He came charging up the hill at full throttle. If I stop him too late, it's off the end of the track and eight feet down into the street. If Harry, the only man employed by Warren Ford at the Ford, Weld, Cox Johnson store, hasn't cut the grass and I signal to stop too soon, the train would go sliding on the juices of the squashed grass back down the hill and we try again. When I stopped him just right releasing the hand brake had no effect when we came back to take the car and we would have to use the car mover.

    M&NJ #1 switching Johnson NY. The box car on the extreme left is on the "Hill Track". The box car to the left of the #1 is on the "Farm Track". The box cars on the right of the #1 are stuffed with hay and are on Mannings siding. (M&NJRHS Photo Archive)

    Now we coupled to our train and pulled south to the empty feed car, which we pushed to Westtown put link to wtmap here and left on a siding there. This meant leaving the Unionville cars north of the Pine Island Turnpike crossing, spotting the empty and coming back for our train.

    At Unionville the main track south of the station was used as a team track. This made for some fancy maneuvers. On arrival at the top of Unionville Hill, we would cut off our train and set the hand brake. Then we went down and grabbed the cars that were there and went back up the grade so that we could push them into the siding. We would go into the siding as far as we could without going off the end of track. I then walked back and set the switch for the main. I then walked back up the hill to the inbound train and bled off the air, released the hand brake and rode them down the hill. When I got them stopped I would leave the brake on.

    Now we could set any of the old cars that were not yet unloaded back on the main against the new loads and make sure that the hopper was over the conveyor. Then we could line up our north bound train with the Waterloo car on the tail end. With this done we could head for home.

On the return trip we cut off the peanut shell car astride the dirt road crossing that led into the sand pit.

Continuing north we picked up the empties at Westtown and Slate Hill and headed for Agway station.

    At Agway we would check to see if the feed store had an empty. If they did, we would pull it and tack it onto the bulk depot empties. Then we pulled the empty track and recoupled to our train. I then flagged Dolson Avenue and headed up the hill for home. If we had more than eight cars to go to the yard we would have to double the hill.

    Back in the yard we dropped the outbounds on the main, then got the outbounds from the coach track that we had brought up earlier in the day. We coupled both cuts together and pushed everything back to clear the coach track.

This diagram shows the track arrangement in DG yard during the 1960's

    When the Erie Lackawanna Middletown Drill came down, they would be pushing our inbound cars ahead of the caboose and would drop these on the coach track and then take off for Pine Bush.Coming back they would be engine first. They would head up against our out-bounds on the main, pump up the air and head for DW caboose first.

    Before EL showed up the #2 would be put to bed and everybody but Pete (Rasmussen) would have gone home. Pete hung around to shoot the bull with the Erie crew and got the inbound waybills and gave them the outbound waybills. If he was not there, the bills went into the telephone box on the rear of the station.

Tomorrow we do it again with a different dance card.