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The Erie As Seen From a Lineside Newspaper
1911-1930



News articles on the Erie Railroad are largely from the pages of the weekly "Hancock Herald", as gleaned by Lordville, NY historian, Emily Homer. The following compilation is from the "History of Lordville" being researched and compiled by Ms. Homer and is reprinted with permission. Dates given are newspaper publication dates.


August 17, 1911: Effective August 1st, the Erie Railroad which has heretofore carried bicycles free as baggage, charges 25 cents to any place outside of New York State, or passing through other states into New York State.

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"Sullivan County Democrat", March, 1912: Tickets on sale daily until April 14, 1912, $49.50 via Erie Railroad to California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, British Columbia and points in the West. - ADV.

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May 16, 1912:

Discontinuance of Observation Cars

The observation parlor cars which have been of such convenience to Erie travelers have been discontinued on Erie trains 3 and 4 between New York and Cincinnati. No reason is given for the change which took effect last week. The Pullman sleeping cars are now in use.

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December 26, 1912:

Faithful Service Rewarded

John Brown, foreman of Section 17, Lordville, NY, was the recipient Tuesday of a letter of recommendation, accompanied with a check of $125 and award of "Prize Section" from the Erie Railroad Co. for the best-kept section between Jersey City and Salmanca. This distinction was earned by faithful and meritorious service, and is one to be proud of. The people of Lordville congratulate Mr. Brown and owe their thanks to him for the honor of having the "Prize Section" sign erected in their town. The Erie Railroad Co. is magnanimous, in more ways than one, in their recognition of faithful service.

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April 24, 1913: "Town Topics": Yesterday forenoon at 10 o'clock the new automatic electric signals on the Erie were placed in operation between Susquehanna and Lordville. They were already in operation between Port Jervis and Callicoon, and men were engaged in completing the connecting link between Callicoon and Lordville.

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August 7, 1913: "Town Topics": An effort is being made to have the words, "Hancock, N.Y." appear near the Erie depot as many times as possible. The idea is to have passengers recognize the village. They appear on Hornbeck's excelsior mill, and will appear on O'Rourke's scale house and Criddle's mill as soon as Leo Weinberger can finish them.

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April 9, 1913: Erie Retrenchment Hits Hard
The retrenchment policy decided upon by the Erie railroad is being felt. Orders were received at Susquehanna last Saturday to the effect that each clerk will work but three weeks in a month in the future.

The section hands have been cut to twelve and one-half cents per hour and will work but eight hours a day, while several switch engines have been taken off. Several hundred employees suffer because of the new policy. Raymond Peck, helper at the Hancock depot, was laid off Tuesday.

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July 15, 1915: Conductor Lord Promoted
Erie Conductor Charles Lord, who has had charge of the Honesdale branch passenger train, has been promoted to the position of Conductor on trains 7 and 8 on the main line. His run is from Jersey City to Hornell, and he commenced his duties yesterday. He began running as a brakeman on the Jefferson branch in 1870. He changed from the main line to the branch 8 years go as a matter of choice.

Charles Lord, on the Honesdale branch, has been a conductor since 1883.

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June 22, 1916: Lordville news: The Erie Co. are building a new concrete culvert under the railroad here which will be quite an improvement when finished.

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June 29, 1916: Answering the Call
Although war has not been officially declared by President Wilson against Mexico, a state of war practically exists. Throughout the country during the past ten days, in answer to the call for militia for border patrol duty, all has been hustle in the various armories preparatory to leaving for concentration camps.

Saturday night the Ambulance Corps of Binghamton passed through Hancock on the Erie enroute to Camp Whitman . . . .

Tuesday and yesterday 12,000 of the New York and other eastern states' militia were ordered to Texas. Several train loads of the troops passed through Hancock via the Erie and O & W Railroads.

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August 24, 1916: "Additional Locals": Two carloads of soldiers went through Hancock last evening on Erie train 3, bound for Arizona.

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November 16, 1916: Equinunk: Michael Cuddihe, who has had the railroad's Lordville section in charge the past year, has been promoted and is now at Susquehanna filling his new position.

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April 5, 1917: Lordville: A contingent of the 71st N.Y. Regiment passed through here eastbound Monday for distribution somewhere along the line of the Erie Railroad.

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April 24, 1917: Agricultural Mobilization

The Meeting at Hancock Operate House Fairly Well Attended

The Erie Railroad has authorized all division officers to allow employees, or farmers, or others outside of the Erie service to use, free of charge, any unoccupied land owned by the company that is fit for growing purposes, and will assist in securing seeds if there is any difficulty in obtaining same at local points.

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June 28, 1917: Erie's Bad Wreck in Hancock
Fourteen loaded cars in fast freight derailed and smashed . . . carload of lard, eggs and auto trucks for France part of Big Omelette . . . tracks broken for 7 hours . . . no one injured.

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August 23, 1917: Horses for the War Zone
Several train loads of western horses have gone yesterday over the Erie railroad the past few days, bound, no doubt, for European ports. One day recently 28 carloads were fed and watered in Deposit.

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November 15, 1917: "Town Topics": Monday morning two train loads of soldiers from the State of Washington passed through Hancock via the Erie, enroute to France.

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November 15, 1917: Erie Railroad Co. First in Field
The Erie Railroad is first in the field again, this time with the first national army hospital car, which has been designed and standardized by the Erie Mechanical Department . . . . The car is now in New Jersey where it is being held in readiness for Uncle Sam's soldiers . . . The main portion of the car contains seven two-story cots on each side and has, therefore, capacity of 28 patients. It has regular hospital equipment and provision is made for doctors and nurses.

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December 6, 1917: Troop movement figures to date indicate that the railroads of this country have safely transported approximately 1,500,000 soldiers to training camps and embarkation points since August 1st. 500,000 of these men have made journeys necessitating overnight travel, and have been moved in tourist or standard sleepers furnished by the Pullman Company . . .

As a result of this cooperation between the Government, the railroads, and the Pullman Company, half a million soldiers have been spared the discomforts of making long train trips in day coaches.

To assure the safety of the men in transit, the railroads have adopted an average speed of 25 miles an hour for all troop trains except when freight cars, needed for the transportation of equipment, are included in the trains. The speed is then reduced to 20 miles an hour.

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April 4, 1918: "Additional Locals": On Thursday last, one of the mail pouches thrown from the Erie passenger train No. 4 at Lordville went under the wheels, and with its contents was ground to pieces. The "Hancock Herald", for subscribers at Lordville and Equinunk, also Fish's Eddy put in by mistake, shared the fate of the other mail carried.

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May 23, 1918: Among the many special trains, mostly bearing troops, that passed through Hancock on Sunday was one carrying 129 Italian soldiers enroute from the Pacific coast who were made prisoners by the Austrians in their drive into Italy last winter. They escaped through Siberia to the Pacific coast, where they were picked up by a Japanese man-of-war and landed at one of our Pacific ports. They were on their way back to Italy to resume the fight against Austria.

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August 1, 1918: "Town Topics": Quite a number of troop trains have been rushed to eastern embarkation points, via the Erie and O & W Railroads this week. One train of eighteen coaches, Tuesday evening on the Erie, contained troops from Texas.

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October 3, 1918:

Special Train to Boost Loan - Carrying Literature,
War Trophies and War Heroes Will Arrive This Morning

The special train to boost the Fourth Liberty Loan, carrying war trophies, war heroes, and speakers, will arrive at Hancock via the Erie Railroad this Thursday morning at 9 o'clock.

On the exhibit cars are carried a Browning heavy machine gun, Vickers and Lewis rapid firers, liquid throwers of German and French make, a 16-inch shell, the price of which was $5,000, French and German bomb throwers, German trench mortars, aerial torpedoes, and depth bombs used to vanquish the German U-boats. Two flat cars carry camouflaged big guns.

The train will remain until 11 o'clock on the siding near the depot, and the cars will be arranged so that persons entering them on the one end will be able to walk through and see everything in a thoroughly systematic manner. . . .

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January 9, 1919: "Town Topics": Erie section foreman, John Stephens and his crew of six men miraculously escaped death on Saturday last. There was a wreck near Lordville, and he and men were proceeding to that point to render assistance when overtaken a short distance east of Hancock, on a sharp curve, by the Milk train. They escaped injury by jumping, but their hand car was wrecked by the engine.

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January 23, 1919: "Town Topics": Four trains loaded with returning soldiers passed west through Hancock on the Erie railroad Sunday.

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August 18, 1921: "Local and Personal": In a freight wreck on the Erie at Kilgour Switch, west of Lordville last Thursday afternoon, 4,000 chickens were injured or killed.

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December 1, 1921: Erie Mail Trains are Heavily Armed
The Erie mail trains now carry a number of heavily armed guards to ride in the cars. These men, all members of the U.S. Marines, have been assigned to this work by Postmaster General Hays. Their orders are "shoot to kill any person or persons who attempt to molest the mails or interfere with a mail train".

The guards work in pairs and are consistently on the watch for robbers. Hubert Merchant and Wickham Fox left Deposit last week for Binghamton, from which point they will be sent out by the government to guard U.S. mail coaches on railroad trains against bandits.

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June 8, 1922: Devastation by Floods Greatest in History
Cloudburst sweeps away houses, bridges, highways and railroads in Delaware, Sullivan and Wayne Counties Saturday afternoon; Village of Long Eddy suffers heavy losses; Erie tracks covered near Lordville; traffic delayed until noon Monday, one laborer killed in Erie repair work.

Some sections of the double track between Lordville and Long Eddy, particularly at Bouchouxville, were buried under tons of earth and gravel. In other places the roadbed was completely washed away . . . . The Erie had 100 men working at Long Eddy and 300 at Lordville to repair tracks temporarily. No trains ran from 2 p.m. Saturday till about noon Monday.

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October 18, 1928:

ROOSEVELT IN HANCOCK YESTERDAY
Gave Short Talk From Rear Platform of Erie Passenger Car

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democratic nominee for Governor of New York, on a two-week political tour of the state, made a brief stop at Hancock yesterday afternoon, enroute to Binghamton on Erie train No. 1, where he made a speech last evening.

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March 7, 1929: "Interesting Events Around Hancock": A warning is issued to residents of Hancock and vicinity of the increasing number of hobos seen to alight here from Erie freight trains. Owing to construction of a new bridge at this place, all trains are obliged to reduce speed. This offers an excellent opportunity for this type of tourist to look over the town. As a precautionary measure it might be well to see that windows and doors are well latched.

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January 2, 1930: Lordville, Dec. 30: Track foreman J.E. Fisher was awarded the Erie section prize of $100. It is one of several prizes given each year to the foreman having the best section on each division.

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January 16, 1930: "Interesting Events Around Hancock": During the past weekend there were at Hancock, parked in an Erie switch near the depot, when not on the road, two gas cars. On the side of one was printed "Detector Car, Sperry Rail Service". Inquiry revealed the fact that this particular car was equipped with apparatus to detect defects in the rails, an innovation in that line of work. The instruments locate the defects as the wheels pass over the rails. Two defective rails were located in the vicinity of Lordville.

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