The P&WV Hi-Line

[Hi-Line Fan]

All these photographs and images provided on this website are a great resource for anyone interested in the P&WV; another great way to learn about the trains and the people that ran them is to talk with someone who was there....

Recently, I had the chance to speak with a relative of mine who spent forty years working for the P&WV, N&W and eventually NS.

The stories he told me were captivating, and gave a brief glimpse into a time long since passed....

Like working on one of the Avella mine runs; starting out the day by taking an engine (one of the 900s) from the coal dock, picking up a caboose, and heading west to the mines. They would pick up the loads at the many operations that once pock-marked the line through places like Avella, Penowa and Rockdale, and eventually would wind up at Hopedale. Once there, the engine would slowly shove the train over the scales. Finally, the coal loads were spotted at Pittsburgh Junction for the W&LE to pick up, and the Avella crew headed back east.

The days were long, always at least 12 hours. Back then, you could work up to 16, and sometimes it happened that way....

Each man had a small block of wood with his name on it. When you were serving on a crew, your name was placed in a rack, with the names of those currently on duty at the top. When you came back to the yard and finished your shift, your name was placed at the bottom of the rack. As crews came off, the names were shifted upwards; as yours got close to the top again, the crew caller was dialing you up....it was hard to get away - you'd be heading out the door to take your family for an afternoon out, and the phone would start to ring....

Working in the cab was always an experience; many of the engineers never came to work sober, but nobody ever really bothered them about it....a casual reminder to one of them about an upcoming meet would normally be met with a growled "I know about the meet, just keep some G.D. coal in that G.D'd fire!"

Or the times sitting up in the cupola, watching the consist ahead, with a stack of train orders a couple inches thick (this was before the days of CTC), meeting and passing other trains at nearly every siding....

Setting out hot-boxes constantly....those guys thanked God for the man who invented the roller-bearing journal. They spent so much time setting out hot-boxes it wasn't even funny. It was sickening to watch the smoke start to rise from somewhere along the train....stopping the train, walking along the find the offending axle, walking back to the nearest phone booth to explain to the dispatcher what was holding you up - all of this taking place in a raging downpour, of course!

And the steam engines were nothing to write home about either....they had trouble with holding their steam, and if you lost it, you had to stop and shake out the grates, easily adding an hour or more to your trip; needless to say that the diesels were very well received on the P&WV......

So many stories....lightning storms screwing up the defect detectors, running through from Rook to Brewster, the time old Harry Crawford fell off the caboose steps on the high bridge at Sudan, but survived because the telegraph wires broke his fall....so many great stories that I'm thankful for being able to hear, and that I thought I could share with all of you.

Just a few paragraphs in the story of the "High and Dry."

Chris Walker
McDonald, PA

[CuriousGeorge]

Welcome,

I enjoyed reading your Hi-Line memories.

Welcome to the site
Dan

[MACADO]

Hey Gene! Perhaps you should take to this guy and write another book. This was a good story.

[Longview Station]

Another book is a great idea.

Chris, suggestion, back in the 1990's
I spent several hours with several former
employees and with their permission
I mounted a video camera on a tripod
and recorded a lengthy interview.

Some of the employees I inquired with
wern't interested in being recorded.
Recording a interview is a great way to
preserve history.

VW

[Hi-Line Fan]

I would have really liked to get those stories down on tape.

This was actually the first time we'd ever met - I guess we're something like fourth cousins.

Railroading seems to run in the family....my grandfather spent eight years working on the P&WV's neighbor, the Montour. I have some stories of his as well, if anyone is interested.

Now I'm a motorman on the "Arden Electric Railway" (well, actually at the PA Trolley Museum), and I feel proud to carry on a tradition that started many years ago, whether it was thundering over bridges on the "High and Dry" or hauling black diamonds on the "Mighty M." Railroads have a place thats worked deep into the fabric of western PA, and its great that we have places like this to share stories and keep them alive.

[Longview Station]

Chris;

Can you email me off list?
MTRGPS@NetZero.Net