This is a pictorial essay of the
facilities at Port Jervis, New York in 1997 and 1998.
Pictures were taken of the old
engine facilities, former roundhouse area and turntable in 1997.
Pictures of the Port Jervis Depot
and the REA Building were taken in May 1998.
The pictures tell the story, but
to give you a little backgroud the Port Jervis area was a major facility
for the Erie Railroad and it's successor the Erie Lackawanna Railway.
"Port" as it is still known to this day was a division point for the railroad(s)
from the late 1800's through the 1970's. It has now been relegated
to a New York Metropolitain Transit Co. storage facility for its commuter
trains.
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In its heyday, the area contained
a passenger yard for commuter layover, two large freight yards with
car shops, a small yard for storage of freight and full engine facilities
for both steam and diesel engines including a roundhouse and turntable.
Some of the relics from those days still exist today. Remnents of
the old coaling tower, a large six section concrete structure used in the
steam days to coal steam tenders and the concrete base of the roundhouse
can still be seen. Today, those facilities have been scaled down
to a small commuter yard, diesel refueling and a working turntable for
excursion runs made by steam engines. The depot has been fully restored
and upgraded by private interests and many small businesses as well as
a museum reside in it now.
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The pictures revolve around the
depot from the east side of the building moving down the front or north
side, to the west side, around the building to the track (south side)
and finally around to the east side again. Without further commentary,
here are the pictures of the Port Jervis Depot. Just click once on
the links to see the pictures.
This is snipped from an email I received: "The REA building is, indeed, a crews room, but for Conrail, who have leased and used it for several years. The MTA crews have their own building over by the storage tracks. Also, the turntable over in the engine/roundhousefacilities area has been fully restored and, most recently, re-motored, with new electric service and lighting; the controls are housed in the new shack, a duplicate of the original, from early pix. The table has been used to turn Ross Rowland's #614 and Susquehanna's Chinese-built #142. The motors are not visible at present, having been removed and stored in the DPW garage for security; ditto, the controls which disconnect and are similarly stored. Have you seen the semaphore signal recently erected at the west edge of the parking lot near the bulletin board -- it was given by Conrail after removal west of Binghamton in their signal updating . . .
Thanks again, and I renew my invitation to come see us at the museum . . .
-Jim Browning" "James
Browning"
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REA1
REA2 REA3
REA4
REA5
REA6
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