Erie + Agnes

ERIE LACKWANNA & HURRICANE AGNES Detours on Canadian Pacific
Two SD45Ms (***) lead Erie-Lackawanna train PO98 east through Bayview Jct. on 26 June 1972. (Bruce Mercer photo)
Hurricane Agnes in the Summer of 1972 turned railroading in the eastern U.S. upside down, both figuratively and literally (in some instances). Agnes traveled up the east coast, and then moved inland to New York and Pennsylvania. Several eastern railroads were already on the brink of bankruptcy, and the storm made it a reality. Property damaged in the region was set at $2.1 Billion (or $12.8 Billion in 2021 dollars). Agnes's impact on the railroad industry was profound and felt for years afterwards. The hurricane also affected Canadian railroading, with both CN and CP seeing increases in traffic volume, most of which was generated by detoured trains off the Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna. (The Erie Lackawanna right-of-way had many wash outs due flodding of the Chemung River in the Corning-Elmira area. Thanks to Bruce Chapman, CP train dispatcher in Smith Falls, Ontario from 1969 to 1974, there is an unofficial record of Erie Lackawanna trains that detoured over the CP between June 25th and July 11th -- 18 eastbounds and 14 westbounds.

ERIE LACKWANNA & HURRICANE AGNES

Detours on Canadian Pacific

Two SD45Ms (***) lead Erie-Lackawanna train PO98 east through Bayview Jct. on 26 June 1972. (Bruce Mercer photo)

Hurricane Agnes in the Summer of 1972 turned railroading in the eastern U.S. upside down, both figuratively and literally (in some instances). Agnes traveled up the east coast, and then moved inland to New York and Pennsylvania. Several eastern railroads were already on the brink of bankruptcy, and the storm made it a reality. Property damaged in the region was set at $2.1 Billion (or $12.8 Billion in 2021 dollars). Agnes's impact on the railroad industry was profound and felt for years afterwards.

The hurricane also affected Canadian railroading, with both CN and CP seeing increases in traffic volume, most of which was generated by detoured trains off the Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna. (The Erie Lackawanna right-of-way had many wash outs due flodding of the Chemung River in the Corning-Elmira area. Thanks to Bruce Chapman, CP train dispatcher in Smith Falls, Ontario from 1969 to 1974, there is an unofficial record of Erie Lackawanna trains that detoured over the CP between June 25th and July 11th -- 18 eastbounds and 14 westbounds.

* * * Erie Lackawanna Detour Photos * * *

EL Train PO98 ducks under the bridge at Bayview Jct in Toronto on 26 June 1972. (Doug Lawson photo)	EL U25B #2519 leads Train TC1 at Burlington, Ontario. on 2 July 1971. (Bruce Mercer photo)
While U.S. citizrns are busy enjoying the July 4th holiday, some Canadian railfans are "celebrating" the passage of EL symbol SF100 with EL #2501 and two hi-nose N&W GP35s providing the muscle. (Bruce Chapman photo at Smith Falls, Ontario)	By the summer of 1972, EMD-built F7/F3 boosters were gradually a vanishing breed. However, the EL still had a sizable fleet, including a few that worked into Canada on detouring trains. (Bruce Chapman photo at Smith Falls, Ontario)
EL #803 (ex-EMD SD45 Demonstrator #4353) and a trio of four-axle freighters haul an EL detour through Bowmanville, Ontario in July 1972. (Doug Hately photo)	TC1, the last Erie Lakawanna westbound detour slammed trough Burlington, Ontario on 9 July 1972. (Bruce Mercer photo)
*** Two messages have already been received from people saying, "Hey what's going on, those are SDP45s!" For the record, SDPs were build with a steam generator; these units never had a steam generator instead the extra space was ballasted with concrete. The elongated car-body facilitated the use of a 5000 gallon tank for a longer range between fuel fill-ups. Additionally, the rear hood on SDP45s, 40s and 38s had flat ends (see attached photo). The rear hood on the SD45M came to a modest point similsr to those on standard SD40s and 45s.	Korean National Railroad SDP38 #6354. (R. Craig photo)

* * * Erie Lackawanna Detours * * *

Eastbounds in June 1972
Date	Train Symbol	Assigned Locomotive Power	Loads/Empties	Smith Falls Departure Time
25th	--	EL 3614-3624-2573	83/43	2200
26th	NE74	EL 3631-2518-3636	100/3	1750
26th	DH100	EL 2555-2566-D&H 604	74/22	1820
27th	PO98	EL 366l-3652	86/22	0120
	NY100	EL 3665-2517-3628	84/12	0810
	TC100	EL 2560-3621-2578	95/29	1750
28th	PO98	EL 3664-3648-2520	109/9	0630
	SF100	EL 3307-3314	94/8	2000
	TCS4	EL 3620-3634	76/29	2200
29th	NE74	EL 3668-3639-3630	110/2	1720
30th	SF100	EL 3623-3602-2552	72/20	1845
Eastbounds in July 1972
3rd	DH100	EL 2514-D&H 707-D&H 612	115/14	1230
3rd	TC100	EL 2554-D&H 616-D&H 613-EL 2402	80/35	2015
4th	SF100	EL 2501-N&W 1314-N&W 1301	79/6	1420
6th	PC4	EL 3659-2629-2562	103/5	1230
6th	NE74	EL 3663-3624-2585-2415	109/3	1330
9th	TC4	EL 3603-3628	79/10	2030
11th	PO98	EL 3658-3642	72/25	1400
Westbounds in June 1972
Date	Train Symbol	Assigned Locomotive Power	Loads/Empties	St. Luc Departure Time
26th	TC3	EL 3657-3658-7082	18/96	2315
26th	PBX	EL 3310-3313-2409	25/110	1730
27th	PBX3	EL 2519-2454-2512	9/115	0815
28th	TC1	D&H 612-D&H 707	13/102	0315
29th	PO97	EL 3607-2582-2456	5/65	0100
30th	AP1	EL 2524-2562-2567	1/72	0001
30th	PO97	D&H 603-EL 3652	23/88	1400
Westbounds in July 1972
1st	NE97	EL 3624-2413-2505-2501	43/66	0400
1st	TC3	EL 3630-3622	10/71	1545
2nd	TC1	EL 2519-2454-2512	25/86	0230
3rd	NE97	EL 2510-2412-2409-2407	9/95	2315
5th	AP1	EL 803-2570-7102-2563	19/47	0001
8th	TC3	EL 2562-3610-2584	5/91	Luc 0045
9th	TC1	EL 3612-2558-2577-2564-2523	6/100	1730
Locomotive Power EL 800s - EMD SD45 EL 2400s - Alco C424 EL 2450+s - Alco C4245 EL 2500s - GE U25B EL 2550+s - EMD GP35 EL 3300s - GE U33C EL 3600s - EMD SD45 D&H 600s - ALCO C628 D&H 700s - GE U33C LV 300s - GP38 LV 400s - Alco C420 N&W 1300s - EMD GP35		Train Symbols (From / To) AP1 - Croxton to Buffalo ATC4 - Buffalo to Binghamton Cannon Ball 100 - BX74 - Buffalo to Hornell DH100 - Gang Mills to Binghamton EP1 - Elizabthport to Scranton (??) NE74 - Chicago to Maybrook (New Haen) NE97 - Maybrook to Chicago NY100 - Chicago toCroxton PBX - Piggyback Chicago to Boston (via D&H) PBX3 - Binghamton to Chicago PC4 - ?? PO97 - Port Jervis to Meadville PO98 - Marion to Croxton PX74 - Port Jervis to Croxton (??) SF100 - Chicago (Santa FE) to Croxton TC1 - Croxton to Buffalo TC3 - Port Jervis to Buffalo TC4 - Buffalo to Croxton TCS4 - ?? TC100 - Marion to Binghamton
Additional Info "Erie Lackawanna Railroad in Color" by: David R. Sweetland Bruce Chapman Bruce Mercer Gray Trainpix -EL Train Symbols (website) The Diesel Shop rosters

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