Montour Junction in 1917.
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Movie of the flooding of Montour Junction from Hurricane Agnes, 1972. Movie
courtesy of Donald Obeldobel taken by his grandfather Joseph Placek. |
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(Gene Schaeffer Collection)
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Today (31-Jul-2010) I was given the oppostunity to visit with the family of the late R.D. Scott who was storekeeper at Montour Junction during my short time associated with the Montour Railroad.
The purpose of todays visit was the invitation for to me to pick up for
preservation the photograph collection of Don Krater whose father
Howard Krater was employed with the Montour, with both families being
combined through marriage. I had met Howard and son Don back
in 1994 just a day or so after US Air Flight 427 crashed in
Hopewell. I had taken along the video camera and recorded the
conversations with Howard who had spent his career on the Montour RR
as Lineman.
The Scott Family wanted Don't photograph treasures preserved as best as
possible and with his many Montour RR photographs, I was given that
opportunity. One of the more striking photographs in Don's collection
is a color 11x14 glossy that is strikingly sharp and well exposed
looking in on the Enginehouse at Montour Junction. The photograph
is full of detail even in July 3, 1977. To start off with, the walkway
on the bridge over Montour Creek, The enginehouse bridge as it was
called still carries its red dress paint, before someone decided
P&LE green was the color of the day. The water stand pipe is still
standing.
The sand track does not have the tank car used for fuel oil storage
after the gigantic storage tank was found leaking and put out of
service. Sadly, the original low boy switch targets have the new
reflectorized aluminum ones that came from up river. Several
piles of brand new ties are stored off to the left near the car yard.
The now preserved X-1 is present and accounted for sitting out the day where she spent most of her off time career.
The "Straight" track between the buildings still looks good
after being completly rebuilt with new ties then surfaced that I
participated in while still working on the track gang. I remember we
jacked the rail up at least a foot or so, removed bad ties and placed
new ones, along with alot of new ballast. The rail head looks
like it is sanded as it very well could of been. Often, if flat spots
were found on locomotive wheels, abrasive shoes were installed on
the locomotives trying to remove the flat spot(s). If you use your
imagination you can see the pathways where the hostler helper
and train men walked numerous times per day as train crews lined
themselves out of, then back into the enginehouse. The new mercury
vapor flood light is now mounted high atop one of the telephone poles
almost dead center in the photograph.
After leaving the Scott Family residence in Moon Township, I headed
over the hill arriving Montour Junction a short time later. I was able
to drive around the enginehouse, but as we all know, not much is left
to see. The lenghty 300' concrete slabs for the two buildings still
remain. Trees and such have claimed much of the land, except the
general area where the diesels were fueled.
The 11x14 photograph was a refreshing step back into time. Its frightening to think this photograph is now 33 years old.
Gene P. Schaeffer
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Sandhouse at Montour Junction.
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SW9's #73 and 84 are at
Coraopolis, PA on October 19, 1980.
The Montour was wholly owned by the P&LE
by this time
(at one time the PC owned 50%). - Doug Kroll (www.rr-roadtrip.com) |
Interchange of the
Montour with the P&LE |
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| Here are some additional photos of engines in
Montour junction from Doug Kroll |
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| This is a panoramic view of Montour Junction
looking towards the west. The picture was taken from the large concrete
tower located at the end of the yard near the CSX tracks. The items in the
pictures below have been identified in the photo. |
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This is the old foundation for the Montour
Railroad shops. Not much remains here but the foundation and the base floor.
You can see many of the bricks of the old walls for the building
strewn about.
N 40 30.682
W 80 08.854 |
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Here is a mystery foundation that
we found on the way up to the junction buildings. Only scattered building
materials and a small wall remain.
N 40 30.593
W 80 08.933 |
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We
are at a loss as to what this structure is. It appears to have been
moved from it's original location. The concrete near the top of the
pier is worn like something picked it up and moved it and the concrete
was broken away in the process. The top has what looks like a pulley on
the top but it is bolted to the concrete and is immovable despite what
appears to be an axle in the center. It also does not have a grove
around to keep a belt in place. if it was even used for that. The iron
work is quite interesting. Perhaps some strongman can remove the iron
wheel and use it as a decoration in the home. The goal post looking
thing most likely held a battery of transformers.
Update: The pier was originally located near the coaling dock as the base
for the gantry crane that was used to clean out the loco ash pits. The clam
shell bucket that was used with it also sat next to the base up until the
shops were dismantled, at which time it too was scrapped. The girder works
of the crane must have been scrapped years before, I never saw that portion.
I was told that they planned to set the crane up in the car repair yard for
their use after the steam loco's were gone, but it never happened.
History by Tim
Sposato |
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| Here is a concrete structure with imbedded
timbers. Perhaps this thing is an altar to the men and women that worked the
Montour (not really). The wood that is embedded in the concrete is charred
from fire or strong heat. Again, we don't know the use of this. Can someone
enlighten us please. The first picture relates the location of the 'Altar'
to the pier with the wheel described above. You can see the charred wood in
the middle picture. The third picture is from the top of the concrete and
shows a small pit located on the top. The panoramic view of the shop
grounds show the concrete foundation that the shop air compressor sat on. It
was designed to keep the compressor above the normal flood stage of the Ohio
River. This was under the common roof of the backshop building, next to the
electrical shop.
History by Tim
Sposato
N 40 30.714
W 80 08.832
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There are two bridges that led into
the Montour Railroad shops. Both of the bridges are gone. The concrete
abutments still exist for both. This is the bridge that is farthest from the
beginning of the yard. We think the large pipe was placed after the Montour
was dismantled. |
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This is the end of Montour Junction and the
beginning of the Montour Trail.
N 40 30.020
W 080 08.947 |
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Here are the pictures of the ruins
of the other Montour shop bridges. The picture on the right show erosion
caused by Hurricane Ivan flooding 17-Sep-2004. |
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All that remains of the track are ties that only
tell some of the story of the activity that went on here.
N 40 30.455
W 80 08.807 |
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Ruins |
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A Ghost of it's former self. How long before the
Montour Junctions remains are completely hidden? |
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| We found some old concrete ties |
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Here are some old rusting rail
tongs |
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This old bridge was built in 1934
and is still in very good shape. This bridge led to the connection with the
P&LE on the east end of Montour Junction.
N40 30.506
W 80 08.942 |
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Here are the remains of and old cinder block
trainmen's shanty just below Rt51 and to the left of the bottom of the
stairs. This was used in the late days of operation. Not much, just a
washroom, lockers, table and chairs. Next to the shanty there used to be two
18" diameter air tanks bout 10' long that were used for air testing cars in
the yard. These came off a 2-8-2 type steam locomotives.
History by Tim
Sposato
N 40 30.376
W 80 08.846 |
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This is the remains of the old
Fairbanks scale that wasn't used much
at the end of operations. There is an area to the RT51 side of the pit that
was the scale house. The house was wood construction and had some nice old
furnishings still in it into the beginning of the 1980's. The steel beams of
the scale were manufactured by USS.
History by Tim
Sposato
N40 30.619
W 80 08.962 |
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"This is an old style gauge rod used to hold the
correct gauge in the track. These were used a lot where there were bad ties.
The yard tracks were full of them."
"I know when I first worked the track gang, I put 100's of them on, most were
the rod bar type with a bent hook on one end and the other end threaded.
This end would have a cast steel clamp that fit the rail base and was drawn
tight with a nut & lock washer. You'll most likely find some of the around
the yard also."
by Tim
Sposato
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Here is an old shovel and pipe bender. |
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Historic Pittsburgh Image of Montour Junction |
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Montour
Railroad 
