PRR piggyback sign in the weeds at SYR

SST sure had a good eye. Looks exactly as he reported it!

nydepot wrote:Now we see your modus operandi - tell everyone it's clearly in a restricted area, bad water, flooding, fences, security, police cars, trespassing signs - and then surprise, I got it!

Glad someone got it.

I didn't even know I was going to get it until I did. A gate was left open and I knocked on a couple doors and asked to use it. Then I just started walking through what is essentially an old dump - if anyone wants 70s era Ball jars, Pepsi bottles and even an after shave bottle, there's tons of that stuff in there.


And on that other post, we pretty well knew it wasn't a station sign given this is New York Central territory.

lvrr325 wrote:Well, it was about 3/4 of a sign. Everything you said was right except it's more like four feet in diameter.

I found a way to get to it that did not require crossing on or walking on any tracks. Fortunately it's been dry for the last few days which also helped.

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LVRR and Everyone:

I have been following this since it was first posted noting the "team effort" to rescue this PRR
artifact dating from the 1960s. Was this sign painted metal or porcelain enamel?
From the photos this sign looks like it was run over by a train probably after it had fallen off the
trailer that it was attached to...

I wonder how it stayed where it was for so many years without being noticed.
For an item that is more then 50 years old it had held up well despite the run-over damage.

I looked at the PRR Technical and Historical Society website for more TrucTrain information...
http://www.prrths.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://pennsyrr.com/index.php/data/92-o ... n-overview" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1960s-New logo for PRR TrucTrain introduced. This is the round disk that was applied to the
sides of trailers.
11/1968-Trailvan becomes designation for PC COFC/TOFC service. This name replaces PRR's
TrucTrain and NYC's Flexi-Van.

When I saw the picture of Joe's TrucTrain sign I recall seeing one as example posted in a PA.
chain restaurant - Hoss's Steak and Sea House Carlisle, PA location (1151 Carlisle Pike, Carlisle
PA 17013) as part of their local and regional historical collectibles that they have on display.
http://hosss.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I used to go there during the Spring or Fall Carlisle car show time period http://www.carlisleevents.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(2018: Spring Carlisle April 18-22 and Fall Carlisle October 3-7)

In closing it is good to see something out of the ordinary like this item found and preserved.
Anyone who is a railroad history buff like myself is glad to see the good outcome here...

MACTRAXX

Where it was is just a place I know even when I was all over the place doing more than my fair share of trespassing 20-25 years ago, I never had a reason to go into, even if you wanted to go in here it's not an easy place to go, and on the opposite side from the access road. You would only be able to see this from a train, if you were looking down, and then only during the fall or spring when there's no leaves and no snow. And then if you did see it, you'd see it was mangled and probably think it was worthless. That said I'm a little surprised no one noticed it from the train in all this time since the current station was built.

Back then I did find a "2 Tracks" sign from a crossing signal, but that one I noticed because it was on the access road side of the tracks, down the bank, out by Warners, and it was an early spring day before the plants grew back. It must be from around 1962 when they made the mainline two tracks, it's black with white lettering and fairly thick sheet steel rather than aluminum. I still have that.


This might be porcelain, but the lettering seems to be painted. However, it does have the keystone, some examples I saw people posted for sale, the keystone was gone or faded away. Considering the prices I see on the nice ones, what I "paid" for this one seems very reasonable.

Congrats on the rescue. Appreciate your determination. It would have bothered me knowing that the sign could have disintegrated into "iron particulate."

The sign may not be worth much in monetary value but to me it's what it represents. And with that the sign is invaluable. Take good care of it.

It has been brought up a couple of times in this thread as to why nobody has seen this sign. Out of 100 passengers on a Amtrak run, how many of them even look out the window for a lengthy period of time (like me) and on top of that even knows what "PRR" stands for? This sign probably has been noticed before but to everyone else it's just more garbage.

How many rail fans have actually taken A commercial train (Amtrak) anywhere? Excursion trains not included.

The sad thing with stuff like this is, how much better condition would it be in if it had been rescued 30 years ago?

Somewhere about 2006 I was walking through the weeds at the east end of Manchester Yard. Found a switch lamp which had been lying there since LV days. Pretty well shot by now, and I keep thinking of the times I was right near it in about 1980 and didn't see it then.

MACTRAXX, the sign was painted metal.

SST wrote:It has been brought up a couple of times in this thread as to why nobody has seen this sign. Out of 100 passengers on a Amtrak run, how many of them even look out the window for a lengthy period of time (like me) and on top of that even knows what "PRR" stands for? This sign probably has been noticed before but to everyone else it's just more garbage.

How many rail fans have actually taken A commercial train (Amtrak) anywhere? Excursion trains not included.

I do but that's mostly during winter...

SST wrote:This sign probably has been noticed before but to everyone else it's just more garbage.

Just guessin' here - maybe it's been face down all this time, and some scavenger found it and decided it was too big and heavy (not to mention identifiable) to bother with, and left it face up...

tree68 wrote:

SST wrote:This sign probably has been noticed before but to everyone else it's just more garbage.

Just guessin' here - maybe it's been face down all this time, and some scavenger found it and decided it was too big and heavy (not to mention identifiable) to bother with, and left it face up...

make sense. the paint didn't fade away badly from sun and weather...

If so it was still done some time ago, the only things disturbed in any way down there were the deer trails.

In the area the sign was sitting, was it moderately surrounded by trees? With the summer sun up high, the leaves on these trees would have given good protection therefore protecting the paint from fading. Regardless of the protection, I was at least in the right place at the right time while it faced upwards. I have good glasses.

LVRR and Everyone:

I searched for more images of PRR TrucTrain signs of this type and I found that the ones pictured
were porcelain enamel on steel. Search title "Pennsylvania Railroad TrucTrain Sign" - examples:

http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l800/pi ... 4181_1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PRR Porcelain Enamel TrucTrain Sign - Note damage around I in Pennsylvania...

http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l800/pi ... 3638_1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nice condition-some chipping damage - PRR logo near perfect...

What is the size/diameter of this sign? After looking at Joe's TrucTrain sign again I think that
he has a larger painted steel sign. It shows that there are size variations of these signs...

One thing about porcelain enamel signs - they tend to be heavy. Any idea how much the one
that you now have weighs? Did you have any trouble carrying it away?

I do think that your damaged sign was made of porcelain enamel - I do not think that painted
steel would have held up in this condition for a long length of time in the elements as this one has.

Can you post a picture of the back of this sign?
Was there any maker's name or markings anywhere on the sign front or back?

It is a good thing that you went in and rescued this sign when you did...As we now all know
March is coming in like a lion with a significant snow event for Upstate NY. Here Downstate
we could have had a major snowstorm as part of this 'Noreaster had there been colder air as
a part of this storm...February ended up being the warmest on record for the NY City region.

MACTRAXX

It was pretty light, I'm terribly out of shape and I managed to carry it out myself maybe 100 yards. So maybe it is just painted. I had some porcelain REX signs (pried them off the old International box truck in a junkyard) and they were thicker and quite heavy for their size. I also was able to clean one of those up with a little brake fluid to pull off the spray paint someone had blacked it out with.

The diameter is around 4, 4 1/2 feet. The back seems to be plain.