Hi Schuyler,

1. Viewing these images pretty much daily as I am on the erielack email list, where five images
are posted daily, the use of tie plates (which I presume you meant to say) is the rare instance,
not the norm, not at all.

Oops! Yes, I did mean tie, not fish! That's what I get for posting late at night...

But: I'm not disagreeing that the use of TIE plates was a rarity on the DL&W at this time. I was just pointing it out for everyone else on the list, who are too used to post-WWII railroading.

2. In later years, the DL&W may have been a high speed main line, though it never would have
rivaled the Nickel Plate. But in 1912, or thereabouts, speed was not the issue. We’re moving
coal here, not perishables.

I was referring to the mainline in general, not these specific cars and how they'd be handled. If this is "just west of Scranton" then it's right around Factoryville or Dalton. The schedule for First Class trains between Scranton and Binghamton states 58.55 miles in 1.25 hours, for an average speed of 46 MPH. That's pretty darned fast for ANY mainline.


But......I suppose we've spent far too much time talking about track, and not cars! More on those soon.

Regards,
Ray Breyer
Elgin, IL