Howdy, everyone! I have been away from modeling and the forum for years and years now, and am getting ready to re-immerse myself in both. My previous life on here, I was more of a lurker, but am hoping to change that a bit. Prototype-wise, I enjoy the old Erie Mainline, mostly as it progressed through Orange County, New York. I grew up in Chester in the 1980s, only about a hundred feet from the Erie depot, and was there for the end of the trackage through the area. I vividly remember watching the crews come through and tear up the track from my bedroom window. For years, I have been collecting photographs, postcards, and other memorabilia from the immediate area as part of fully research the history of that part of my childhood. Modeling-wise, I am in the planning / plotting stages of what to do in order to get back into things. I am diving back into research again, with the intent on starting out with an HO Scale diorama of the Erie depot in Chester, NY - and just far enough up the street to include the house I grew up in. I am aiming right for around 1980/1981, when there was still freight and passengers running through. Previously, I was working in N Scale and was considering going to Z Scale. Fast forward to now, and years of being a desk jockey have taken its toll on my hands. Because of that, I am going the other way, and returning to HO Scale after more than 30 years away from it. In addition to all of that, I've started collecting Erie (and successor) ephemera that I can relate to my geographical area of interest. Since I work from home, I figured it was time to re-theme the decor in my home office. In the next year, or so, am planning on relocating back home, to the Hudson Valley. That should boost my involvement in all aspects of researching/collecting/modeling, being within driving distance of many of the existing points of interest. Probably more than anyone cared to know, but feeling a bit chatty today. Hope to get to know you all for a long time to come!
Hi JM, glad to have you back. Look forward to creation and progress. EDIT - Forgot to mention that I grew up in Westchester County about 35 miles southeast of you on the NYC Harlem Division, about 40 years before you. Don't know anything about the Erie, but hoping to learn from your creation.
Welcome back JMFerris! I too was away for many years, because of a day job promotion the cost me 60 hour work weeks, but I retired early. I just got back into modeling 2 months ago, but it's all coming back. Be sure to post pictures of your modeling efforts for us.
Welcome back, yourself, rray! I hear you about the work weeks, as I put in similar hours. Speaking for myself, at least, it has not been bad, since I could not see myself doing anything else for a living and still fully enjoy what I do - at least that is my opinion on it today, subject to change. Absolutely will post pictures. Probably will start with a couple of kits to get back in the swing of things, and then start doing some scratchbuilding. I'm thinking that I am very likely going to start with dioramas, at this point, with an end goal of finding them a lovely place on a larger layout, once I replant my roots.
An Erie fan! I lived in northern NJ in the early '80s and occasionally railfanned up your way. So then, has the original Erie main been removed through Chester and Goshen? Does the L&HR/NYS&W still see service through Greycourt? It's been over 35 years since I last saw the area. Here are two old Kodachromes from that time. Do these depots still stand? The Erie's Middletown, NY station, March 1981. Was your avatar taken here? The Erie's Goshen, NY station, October 1980:
Well met! Always a pleasure to meet a fellow prototype fan! Good eye! Indeed it was, albeit a bit before my time. The date on that one is 1951, I believe. It has been completely restored, going back to the mid-90s. The Erie Depot in Chester has been restored, too. That is the home of the Chester Historical Society. Glad to report that the Goshen station is still alive and kicking, preserved and serving the Village of Goshen Police Department. The Mainline between Chester and Goshen is, sadly gone. Last train on there was in 1983, and they ripped them out not long after. Same for between Chester and Greycourt and, for the most part into Monroe towards Harriman. Most of the yard is gone, too. I've got some really nice shots from a few years before they were torn out. In August 1980, Ed Steinberg had written an article for Model Railroader on Greycourt. I reached out to Andy Sperandeo about fifteen years ago, trying to get in touch with Ed. Andy had forwarded my letter on to Ed, and he sent me 8x10s of all of the shots that were in the article and about a dozen that did not make the article. Will have to dig them out - they are in my "prototype research box" somewhere in my storage unit. Today, a good part of the Mainline around that area is the Orange Heritage Trail. 14.5 miles, last I checked, of beautiful rail trail. Greycourt is down to two short sidings and the industry (was a golf cart sales and service place in the early 80s) has been torn out and replaced by houses. Have seen some shots of Norfolk Southern still running periodically through what is left. I've not been there in about ten years now (soon to be rectified), but the old turntable is still off of the spur that crosses Greycourt Road, if you know where to look for it in the weeds. Found some really good shots of the area, in general, in Robert McCue's "Erie Railroad's Newburgh Branch" book - a lot of them that I hadn't seen before.
Thanks very much for updating me on the may changes in the area. I'm happy to know that a number of depots have survived! I recall getting lost during my outings, not being able to locate Campbell Hall or Moodna Viaduct, though I did have a successful day following the NYO&W right-of-way up through Summitville and beyond. It was in the pre-Internet, pre-GPS era and my highway maps weren't much good for finding obscure railroad spots. I did find Maybrook, but even in the early '80s there was almost nothing left. My apartment in northern NJ was adjacent to the long-abandoned NYS&W and shortly after my employer transferred me away, the NYS&W was rebuilt! Arrrgh.
Getting lost is half of the fun. I miss being able to get lost, honestly. I've not been up near Summitville probably since around the time that you were there. Maybrook brings back a lot of memories for me in the 80s. Spent just about every weekend at the flea market there, across and up a small bit from where the yard used to be. Think that they tore out the drive-in where the flea market was in the early 90s, and the wonderful Maybrook Diner closed not long after that. You were so close to Campbell Hall from there. That is part of the charm of Orange County (or bane, according to my wife). Pretty much everything that is easy to find is off of I-84 or Rt. 17 (along with 17M and 17K). Everything else is largely county roads, with a lot of them going back to carriage routes in colonial times. My father is a bit of picker, and I learned a lot of those roads only by years of repetition. Moodna is something else... You were closer to it when you were at Greycourt, and going up and take 94 out towards Salisbury Mills would have been the most clear route to get there. When it comes into view, right past Washingtonville, it is quite breathtaking. I had taken NJ Transit out of Middletown, who still runs commuter service on the east side of the Hudson, and going over it is just spectacular. Had moved away when I was around 12 the first time, and never realized how close it was to me when I had lived there. Moved back in my early twenties, and it was one of the first weekend drives that I took, to go and see it. It is funny, because a lot of this is ticking the boxes of what I want to have on my layout after we move back (again). Lots of memories in the area, and I definitely am planning Greycourt, Chester, Goshen, and Campbell Hall to be a part of that. My mind has already been spinning around how much of each locale I can feasibly fit in, trying to find the best areas of interest for each. That is when I keep thinking about going back to N Scale again, just so that I can fit more in than I can in HO. At the rates my hands are developing arthritis, I just don't think I can do that kind of detail work any more. My luck, by the time we move back, I'll have changed my mind and moved to O Scale.
That's true I suppose -- serendipity has brought me many good photos over the years. Do you have the Next Station Will Be .... softcover book for the line you'll model? I think the series was published by the Railroadians starting in the late '70s and the subject is century-old photographs of Erie depots. I love this sort of book; almost feels like you can walk right in to the photos. If you don't have the volume, it's Vol. VI - New York to Port Jervis, c. 1979. For whatever reason, fans seem to be disinterested in this sort of thing and the books have become inexpensive.
Funny you bring that up, because I did order that book last week. Picked up a "like new" copy from the used section on Amazon for something like nine bucks, I think. Really looking forward to getting that one! It is Volume 11, and it has Greycourt right on the cover. Have a few more books on my wishlist that I'll be picking up from ELHS, too. Definitely notice the drop-off, not just in prototypical interest, but just traffic in the hobby, in general. It is sad to see all of this coming to pass. It is one of the driving forces that keeps pushing me to research and acquire, before some of this stuff is lost forever. I've been enjoying finding some of the older maps, too, like earlier atlases and Sanborn fire insurance maps, even if they aren't really close to my era. Saw a couple from the late 1800s on the Library of Congress site, and I spent so much time just staring at them and how much things have changed. Would really like to find some of the ones from the 1950s through the 1970s (when Sanborn stopped producing new fire insurance maps), but none of my locally available libraries have access to their database. Will rectify that once I move back, too, since the New York Public Library and New York State Library both have access. That, right there, is going to be a gold mine for my efforts.
I just edited my previous post to add that Vol. VI - New York to Port Jervis, c. 1979 has many photos on the main, including in your area Harriman, Monroe, Oxford, Greycourt, Chester, Goshen, New Hampton, Middletown (Main Street), Middletown (station as seen above), Howells, Otisville, Guymard (Graham) and Port Jervis. Glad that you found Vol. XI with the branches. Yep, I definitely share your interest in historic research. One of my greatest regrets while living in NJ was to not drive the Erie main from Port Jervis to Deposit. A significant number of structures still stood in the early '80s and I missed seeing them. However, it was all a long way from home and I was a broke recent college grad. I do have some nice slides of the Port Jervis station, SF Tower at Suffern and numerous points further east.
Excellent! Back to Amazon for another. Thank you, kindly. I've been considering Monroe for my long-term plans, as well as Middletown, having lived in both places at one point or another. Never realized how much I've moved around until now, and will again at some point. Going to need to put up one of those steel buildings to house things, at the rate this is going.
Oh, before I forget to mention it, do check out this wonderful website, packed with rare period photographs as taken by John W. Barriger. The Erie album can be found at [ https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157640479663145 ]. Monroe, Greycourt, Goshen, Middletown, Guymard and many others are there, all taken in the '30s. You'll want to look at them all, but start at Erie 114 to hone in on your main interest. You can click on the photos for more information as added by fans. I've added notes on many photos at the site, which spans dozens of railroads in thousands of photos.
What an absolutely wonderful trove of pictures! Thank you, very much. As much time as I have spent online, and I had not run across these before. Those will be quite helpful!
