I have seen the abutments and they aren't the line you are talking about, but
interesting that they are still their. Ill have to check out the pennpilot
image. Yep still work their. I work 5 day week now as as specialist.

Mike




--- In GravityRailroads@yahoogroups.com, golden6727@... wrote:
>
> Mike those abutments supported the small bridge that crossed over  Sterry
> Creek , is this what your talking about .   If you go on  Pennpilot  1937
> down where the Italian Picnic Grove is , the entrance to  the BIG warehouse ,
> there seems to have been a breaker or a mine in this  area , Joe Dutka said
> that back before Specialty Records built there was a set  of tracks that ran
> thru the area of the back entrance to Cinram's property , he  hunted that
> area when he was younger .by the way you still at Cinram ?.
>
>                      Tony Ranella Jr.
>

Tony,

Do you have a map that shows this branch line? We suspected there was a railroad
bed near where the warehouse now sits between that and the main Cinram building.
I never spotted a railroad bed off of Mid Valley Drive but the abutments of the
Winton branch can be seen from the exit ramp off the Casey heading towards E
Lackawanna Ave.

I have successfully mapped out the Erie's Jessup branches, the DL&W Winton
branch, and the Moosic Mtn & Carbondale railroad line.

What line operated the Pancoast branch?

Mike


--- In GravityRailroads@yahoogroups.com, golden6727@... wrote:
>
> As I said it starts next to St. Johns Cemetery and  would parallel the left
> side of the Underwood  road and pass thru what is now the Mid-Valley School
> , then pass  very close or go exactly thru what was the Underwood Village
> ( still on  the left side of the Underwood road ) cross E. Lackawanna Ave
> which is in  Olyphant , go thru the back parking lot of Cinram Mfg. ( maker of
> CD's &  DVD's ) and then right into Jessup  ( the town boundries of
> Olyphant and  Jessup are in the back parking lot of Cinram ) .
>
>    Now let me explain about the area where I think the Pancoast  Branch
> crossed very near the back side of Cinram , first let me say this , I  worked
> at Cinram for 21 years and I got to know the area real good , so good I
> found a few foundations of the Underwood Village , Rick will verify this , OK
> back to the branch , at the end of E. Lackawanna Ave there is a road to the
> left which is Mid-Valley Drive , along this road I happen to notice what
> looked like a railroad bed , it sits about 4 feet or so high above the left
> side  of the Mid-Valley Drive ( headed East towards Jessup ) now if we reverse
>  direction and head back to Throop , the Pancoast Branch starts to turn
> West and  would run on the West side of the Underwood Village and just about
go
> thru what  is the Scranton Craftsman Corp. in Throop , there it crosses  S.
> Valley  Ave. / Cypress and Dunmore St's and pass by George St. and then
> goes behind  Charles St. .
>
>   Now another story that stuck in my mind for many years , my  Friend Tony
> Muto lived on Charles St. with his dad Fred ( dads family  home )  Fred told
> me that when he was a kid railroad tracks went behind  their house , he
> showed me the bed , 3 house up from his at the corner of George  and Charles
St
>  there used to be a lumber yard / hardware store ( building  is still there
> but now apartments ) now back then I had no idea that it was  the Pancoast
> branch .
>
>  Fred told me that every now and then a string of box cars would be  lined
> up next to the lumber yard with supplies , my guess is that there must  have
> been a side track off the branch to do this because the track bed is
> directly behind the homes in that area .
>
>   Funny how when you were a kid and you saw things that stuck in your  mind
> as if you were taking photos and fifth years later your mind develops  that
> photo for you , well many moons ago I remember a dirt alley way across  the
> street from Scranton Craftsman Corp. , this alleyway ran at an angle in
> between Cypress and Dunmore St's , that dirt alley way was the Pancoast branch
> ,  today that alley way is slightly changed , it's wider , paved and not so
> much at  the same angle as I remember it , it's been modernize , and became
> an extension  of Dudley St. in Throop , but it's still part of the Pancoast
> branch just a  little different ..
>
>   I wish that we all can get together as railroad historians and visit
> these areas I'm talking about , it would be much easier for me to show you
than
>  to explain it all by Internet .
>
>   You can still see part of the Pancoast branch in lower Throop ,  it
> crossed Sanderson St. , the branch ran along side of today's Throop Little
> League fields near Oleckna St. lower Throop .
>
>     Rick also knows about some of the areas I've  mentioned . We were on
> the Erie's Jessup branch and the DL&W Winton  branch both of which can be seen
> at the end of E. Lackawanna Ave. in Olyphant  which becomes the entrance /
> exit ramps for the Casey Highway .
>
>   Hope I explained to all of you , where the Old grade is and the  Pancoast
> branch was , this might shed some light on the subject .
>
>            Thanks Guys ,
>
>                       Tony R.
>

"If anyone of you fellows would like to see this in person , just let me know
and I'll be glad to make arrangements on a Saturday so we can meet and look at
the Gravity as well as the Erie in Bunker Hill"

I would love to drive up from DC and take a tour with a group of people. Right
now I work on the weekends but starting in January I will have weekends off (for
the first time in 27 years). If we could arrange a group hike after the 1st of
January I'd be in for sure.

Anyone else up for a tour?

John

--- In GravityRailroads@yahoogroups.com, golden6727@... wrote:
>
> Mike , it's me Tony Ranella Jr.  That rock cut you saw is the PCC  Gravity
> Light Track , the cut is the Donnelly Cut and about 20 years ago  you could
> have walked the entire cut , now less than half of it remains . The
> switches you found were part of the Haines Junction and part of Rock Junction
> along with areas for sidings and a siding that went into Burkes Quarry  .  
Part
> of the foundation you found near the old Bunker Hill  Playground was part
> of the Gravity , then that part became part of the Bunker  Hill Breaker
> complex.
>
>   The wall of concrete was part of the huge wooden holding bays  that held
> coal for winter shipment , that side of the hill is all concrete slabs  , up
> near the old junk yard there was a switch that left the main line and
> worked it's way up along the Elmhurst Blvd. and going too the top of the slabs
> and dumping coal down into the bays , my neighbor who is 91 told me after a
> rain  the slabs were like ice and he and his friends would slide or as he
> said SKI  down the side of the hill and land on Sand St. , infact I grew up on
> Sand and  what you think is a mine opening ( along the Erie bed ) is really
> an air shaft  for the Sunshine Coal Co. mines that was part of the Bunker
> Hill Breaker and  years later becoming part of the A.D. Spencer Coal Co.
> operation .
>
>   The opening for the Sunshine Coal mines is up on top of Strickey  Hill ,
> that's the upper most part of Ash St. which sits up above Bunker Hill ,
> you'll see a gated dirt road before you turn onto Sadler Ave , back in the
> early  1980's all the remaining coal was dug out and that's why part of the
> Elmhurst  Blvd . is closed because the coal was under the road .  From the top
> of  Strickey Hill one could walk under ground directly under Ash St. all the
> way  down to the DL&W over pass near Ash & Joseph Ave. .
>
>    If anyone of you fellows would like to see this in person ,  just let me
> know and I'll be glad to make arrangements on a Saturday so we can  meet
> and look at the Gravity as well as the Erie in Bunker Hill .
>
>  Hope I helped in explaining what you found ,
>
>  Thanks   Tony R.
>

Yes,
It is D&H combination car #2 and is one of the earlier cars, being built about
1867.  It was used as a Bunkhouse for workers on the farm starting in 1899 after
railroad abandonment.  This car is similar to existing car #3.
I have many other pictures of the car in its better days.

Tom

--- In GravityRailroads@yahoogroups.com, "bucyrus6150" <bucyrus6150@...> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone, I've been a member here for a while but this is my first post
here. I came across this old car in PA right off of Rt. 106 in Greenfield
Township on the property of a golf course (near Merli-Sarnoski park)I was just
wondering if anyone has seen this before or knows if its possibly from the D&H
or PCC gravity?
>

Sorry, I completely forgot to attach the picture with my post, its now in the
photo album "Gravity Cars".

Hi everyone, I've been a member here for a while but this is my first post here.
I came across this old car in PA right off of Rt. 106 in Greenfield Township on
the property of a golf course (near Merli-Sarnoski park)I was just wondering if
anyone has seen this before or knows if its possibly from the D&H or PCC
gravity?

I think I know where that is. If you follow the ex-Erie line to the edge of the
scrapyard, this large rock cut can be seen. We stumbled across it this year
checking out the brush cutting along the Wyoming Division. On my site I have a
few pictures of this cut here.

http://nepaview.piczo.com/?g=50805275&cr=4

The page is about the Erie but in the "March 2009" updates I put a few of the
possible PCC rock cut. This cut is probably over 20 feet high.

Mike




--- In GravityRailroads@yahoogroups.com, "RAS" <ras911@...> wrote:
>
>
> Gentlemen
>
>
>
> Just a comment or two to try adding some information to your discussion
regarding the light track:
>
>
>
> West of Elmhurst where it crosses from the north side of Roaring Brook to the
south side, the bed seems to be in tact from the crossing point, down as far as
the 380 bridges. At this brook crossing, it also had to go over the active DL&W
ROW. What puzzled me about this crossing point is the light track bed and
trestle did not seen high enough to clear the tops of the DL&W train cars it had
to go over- I wish there was a photo of this trestle.
>
>
>
> West of the 380 bridge to below the #7 reservoir, the E&WV construction so
heavily damaged the light track bed that it is super difficult to tell (at least
for me) where it ran. I attached a photo of a cut through rock I believe was
part of the light track in that area- located between #7 reservoir and the junk
yard.
>
>
>
> This area would be a good choice for the next group hike.
>
>
>
> Dick S
>
> Mt Cobb
>