Touring the Erie Railroad

Coming out of the staging yard, the model portion of the Erie begins at Binghamton New York. The second section of Train 98 is eastbound from Elmira with a string of reefers. They're loaded with perishables from the west. The Lackawanna Train Masters in back wait for the Phoebe Snow to clear the station. Binghamton yard has interchanges with the Lackawanna and the Delaware and Hudson. The four F7s run as a set of two A units and two B units permanently coupled as number 710. Great Bend is named for a twist in the Susquehanna River. It's a farm community with a feed mill and the ever-present creamery on the outskirts of town. Hugging the riverbank, the Erie mainline arrives at Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. The Fs glide past the historic brick depot that now serves as a division headquarters and station. Two GPs next to the station are taking a welded steel tower to a refinery in Bayonne, New Jersey. The concrete Lanesboro Bridge is relatively new. It replaced a steel truss in the 1930s. The most photographed spot on the Erie, Starrucca Viaduct. A grade of 1.7% is the steepest on the line. Even 6,000 horsepower is not enough to lift this much tonnage. So two GP7's will help the F units across the bridge. The railroad moves back into New York through an undeveloped section. The hot shot reefer train moves through Narrowsburg. The town boasts, a feed mill and a station. The Narrowsburg lumberyard is across the tracks from the depot. This scenic spot is a cut and fill between Narrowsburg and Cochecton. Cochecton is a farm community that sees a lot of vacationers for the resort at Lake Huntington. There's also another Borden's Creamery here. Lackawaxen is the junction of the plan branch line for the Wyoming division. BQ tower guards the interlocking. Port Jervis yard borders New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Gillinder glass plant on the left provides a lot of revenue for the Erie. Train 98 ducks under the West Main Street Bridge. Commuter cars wait for their afternoon run as the F units pass the Port Jervis station. The reefers are headed for a ferry boat ride into the Duane Street Market in New York city. The depot was built by the Jerry Britton construction company.