• L&H Memories: The TIN Man

  • Discussion of the L&HR and its predecessor the Warwick Valley Railroad for the period 1860-1976 at its inclusion with ConRail
Discussion of the L&HR and its predecessor the Warwick Valley Railroad for the period 1860-1976 at its inclusion with ConRail

Moderator: David

  by jmchitvt
 
(I covered this subject long ago. The earlier posting is not currently in this forum.)



I'm not recreating "Alice in Wonderland". There WAS a "Tin Man" on the L&H!!

It (He") was under a farm bridge crossing a little west of Great Meadows.

You see, after a heavy eastbound was OS'd at G its whereabouts (before radio days) left the dispatcher in the "dark".

A heavy ascending grade started east of Oxford (trains were under-powered - only 2 RS-3's were the rule) and continued

just beyond Townsbury. Well ,you had no clue if enough sand was loaded in the units, wet leaves on the track, a double-up

into Pequest required a set out, etc, and wanting to get the DL&W trains onto the main at Andover; how far to set up #31?

Get the idea ? It's the weekend and Jack is off at Great Meadows so no OS from there either.


Well, after a long, long wait, that rumble of two RS-3's starting to get a roll on HO-6 with 75 cars almost blew your headset

off when "The Tin Man" activated with a roar!! Then and only then did you know when THE most important symbol freight,

often a solid consist off the B&O at Cumberland MD, and all those projections and promised deliveries. would make OB-2 or

OB-4 on the New Haven and into New England.



(For the technically minded: there was a microphone in a steel case under this bridge and it was ALWAYS on. No one

passing took much notice because we heard hunters/fishermen conversations and no vandalism occurred to my knowledge.

But, bear in mind, that for a road that never would be CTC with track lights, and before you could activate a wayside and

just ask a trains location, this WAS the solution to find out, and our little L&H again "just had it all together!!)
  by Paul Miller
 
Think I found a picture of that Tin Man, thinking I put it in the book. Heard a unique story from one of the employees about that overhead pass. They were approaching it (by train) in the late 1960's, and they noticed a boy on a tractor passing above, when all of a sudden, the whole overhead bridge collapsed. Apparently, the boy wasn't hurt too bad, and the train was able to stop in time. There's much overgrowth and landscaping rubbish where it sat now, behind the horse farm on Route 46. That same employee also mentioned the Tin Man to me.