Funny things you remember.

[JCitron]

This came to me the other day. When I was about 7, we went to visit my grand parents who were living in Pemberton New Jersey. It was a long ride, but very eventful for a 7 year old interested in trains. For the whole trip from New Haven, CT all the way down through New York City, we paralleled the old New Haven Railroad. This was back in 1968, just before Penn Central, and the old company was still running the McGuiness colors and a lot of vintage equipment. Little did I know it at the time, but this was the end of the New Haven. After that the electric motors were killed off and everything was painted black. I would say almost appropriate if you think about it.

When we finally got to Pemberton, we passed by a junk yard. To this day, I cannot find it on any Bing or Google map, but perhaps I'm looking in the wrong area. The highlight was a couple of old steam locomotives. One was all white, as though in a primer paint. The other was more normal looking. The old white one looked to me like an American 0-4-0 and the other like a Pacific. This is retrospective because at 7 years old, we don't think of the names of things like this. The old "white ghost" was in terrible shape, but the more normal one still had its bell and whistle.

What made me think of this? I don't know. It came to me the other day on the way to work. Darnedest thing though, I still can't find that junk yard on any map!

John

 

[Euphod]

I don't recall the junkyard in Pemberton from my misspent youth, but I do hazily recall a white locomotive...

 

[sawyer811]

I like this idea...

Once, a few years back, i heard a story of an old 0-4-0 saddle tank engine strapped to an MKT flat car on an industrial siding. Me and my dad went off to find this siding, and we hit the proverbial 1950's gold mine. there was a ribbed-side Milwaukee caboose, an old, six-axle heavyweight coach labelled "Bunk Car" and about a dozen old freight cars...including an old wood-sheathed outside braced boxcar. I never found the 0-4-0, but i swear to this day there was a bunker and part of a cab of a steam engine, with a trailing truck underneath, sitting on the rails in that siding, poking out from behind a warehouse. I found out later that there was a 2-6-2T saddle tank in the city for a while...but it has since vanished.

 

[JCitron]

I don't recall the junkyard in Pemberton from my misspent youth, but I do hazily recall a white locomotive...

Whereabouts would that be? I may be off in my details. Remember that was 43 years ago when I took the trip down there. I do remember it was along one of the typical roads of the period. The ones made of cement block sections so the car goes bang, bump, bang, bump along the road. I had a flashback of sorts regarding these roads a couple of years ago when I was out in Oklahoma. They still have roads like that out there!

Anyway, thanks for the little insight. I'll keep looking at my aerial photos. I'll find my junkyard yet!

John

 

[Euphod]

Whereabouts would that be? I may be off in my details. Remember that was 43 years ago when I took the trip down there. I do remember it was along one of the typical roads of the period. The ones made of cement block sections so the car goes bang, bump, bang, bump along the road. I had a flashback of sorts regarding these roads a couple of years ago when I was out in Oklahoma. They still have roads like that out there!

Anyway, thanks for the little insight. I'll keep looking at my aerial photos. I'll find my junkyard yet!

John

Sorry John, but "hazily" was the operative word in my last post! If it comes to me, I'll respond!

 

[Retro00064]

Whereabouts would that be? I may be off in my details. Remember that was 43 years ago when I took the trip down there. I do remember it was along one of the typical roads of the period. The ones made of cement block sections so the car goes bang, bump, bang, bump along the road. I had a flashback of sorts regarding these roads a couple of years ago when I was out in Oklahoma. They still have roads like that out there!

Anyway, thanks for the little insight. I'll keep looking at my aerial photos. I'll find my junkyard yet!

John

Ah, one of my favorite types of road (if not my most favorite)! You will find examples of this type of road that has been resurfaced with asphalt--which seems to sometimes make the bang-bump and clickety-clack worse! There are still some of the original 1960's (I believe) concrete ramps along the I-440 Beltline around Raleigh with the clickety-clack that have not been resurfaced.

It does seem that asphalt is being used nowadays for roads where concrete may have been used in the past. I would not doubt if asphalt is cheaper than concrete, thus being a possible reason!

Concrete stands the test of time and traffic though. The 1980's concrete pavement of the I-40 freeway below Raleigh (part of the Beltline) was used for at least 20 years before being resurfaced in recent years. And the aforementioned Beltline ramps still seem to be in nice condition. Try that with asphalt!

It was somewhat recently that the local news reported that a section of Glenwood Avenue in downtown Raleigh was being torn up and repaved, because the original circa 1930's (if I remember correctly) concrete pavement was causing problems (and I would not doubt if it had been resurfaced before).

Sorry, couldn't resist. Just my roadgeek side expressing itself, I guess.

Regards,

Retro.