Photos Owned & Submitted by Jim Gelser
Captions are credited to Jim. |
Pennsylvania Railroad
Photos of the Deep Cut Telegraph Office
@ mile post 53
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 1.1 |
 2.2 |
 3.3 Inside |
 4.4
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"Martha Vail on the Semaphore Signal Tower. You can see the controls from the telegraph shack up the tracks to the signal tower. I expect that there were levers near or inside the telegraph shack in order to operate the signal. Photo 1.1 when
enlarged, shows what could be the levers where the signal could be controlled.
The Block Operator, as they were called, would have to climb the tower to clean the lenses of the signal, trim wicks, and replenish with kerosene.
The rest of the photos give a good description of the location of Mile Post 53 between Williams Rd. and the Old Short Tract Rd. The Old Short Tract Rd. being the bridge in the background. (about 3 miles north of Portage Bridge)
Martha Vail worked at Deep Cut for several years. My father, William H. Gelser worked there from about 1919-1923."
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Below, LEWIS & Oakland locations |
(Map section of USGS survey/topo maps 1905) Shows location of Lewis Switch;
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Lewis was place just north of Deep Cut.
From what I have been told, there was a siding used there so trains could pass.
Also pusher engines were used to assist trains up the grade from Nunda. Once at Lewis, the pusher engines would return.
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 Lewis Switch
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"PRR Oakland.....could have been used for a freight building or track maintinence. I have no information on this photo"
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"PRR tracks..... was taken about the time the track was torn up.
(Glen Iris in the background)"
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Pennsylvania Railroad
WRECK
at Mile Post #55 |
"These photos were taken of a wreck at mile Post #55 just south of Deep Cut (Town of Portage).
I understand that there were 3 men killed, the engineer, fireman and the brakeman.
There had been a washout and the engineer had missed the signal at Deep Cut and went on to meet it's end. As the locomotive fell the tender and railroad cars followed.
I went to the Nunda Library and searched the Nunda News for the years 1918, 1919 with no results.
One of the photos in Dad's collection has the year 1918 written on the reverse side, 3 men killed. The part about missing the signal at Deep Cut is from another persons story as he interpreted from an
article he said was in the Nunda News archives. (I should have asked more questions when I had the chance)"
The photos "01 & 03" were taken with a film camera of the original photos. I reproduced them from a 35mm slide. As you can see they are of very poor quality. I do not have the originals.
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#01-shows the locomotive and a boxcar
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#02-appears to be the impression in the earth that the locomotive, tender and railroad cars made.
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#03- shows the wreckers lifting the tender
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#04-a part of the washout
This concludes the wreck @ Mile Post 55 sometime in 1918, Pennsylvania Railroad.
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