by Mike Bednar/photos as noted
It is well known that Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of the earliest railroads to fully dieselize its operations. The Lehigh’s first efforts to dieselize were directed to the various yards and terminals prior to World War II. Four pre-war EMD SW1 units were purchased between 1939 and 1940. Numbered 112-115, they found homes in the area of New York City districts and Jersey City Float jobs and also on the branches at Cortland, Auburn, and Rochester, N.Y. In 1950, LV management was already intent on banishing steam for good and thus went to Alco for their lightweight switcher, the S-1, numbering their acquisition LV 117. This was used in the Sayre area and the management sought to buy two more SW1 units to bolster their diesel fleet. The SW1 had acquired a reputation of being highly reliable, so EMD received the order for two SW1s that were delivered in December 1950 as the 118 and 119. The 118 was based at Sayre and primarily was used on the local on the State Line and Sullivan Branch. This local was based out of Sayre when I hired out in 1966. If I remember correctly, it ran at night and when I listened on the Wyoming Dispatchers wire I would usually hear Sayre Telegraph announce the local with either the 117 or 118.
I would also listen to the New York Division Dispatchers wire when the myriad of the New Jersey’s vast network of locals were assigned. Crew dispatchers like Buddy Pay or Ed Skidmore would announce, “Here are the Ponies!” and state the names of the conductor, engineer, and engine number on every job working the New Jersey Terminal. I almost always heard the 119 working the Float job at Jersey City or the Harlem River jobs. Being late-built SW1’s, the 118 and 119 were better equipped than the earlier SW1’s by having the No. 6 air brake, rather than the No. 14 on the older ones. Incidentally, Buddy ran book out of the dispatcher’s office in the 1960s. He was a good crew dispatcher, but even a better bookie.
ABOVE: On January 8, 1972, Dave Augsburger, brother Dan and myself made a pilgrimage to Sayre. From the pedestrian walkway we took this picture of newly arrived units at the service track. The 118 has recently come in off the SL&S job. You will note the engine access doors are open — no doubt a result of overheating while running via the main line from Towanda to Sayre. The 243 and 251 are idling as they wait for their assignments. —Photo by Mike Bednar
In January 1969, I was force-assigned to South Plainfield, N.J., to work the New Market agent job. South Plainfield Yard usually had three switchers based there to handle the local traffic. A switcher was assigned to each of the two drill engines working around South Plainfield — the 11:00 a.m. local to Read Valley (SPRV-1) and the Clark local (SP-C4). The three veteran switchers were cycled through Oak Island Engine House via “Peddle” jobs that changed the units out for 30-day inspections and heavier repairs that couldn’t be handled by the two exceptionally talented mechanics who worked the service track. The mechanics, Mike Flick and John “Spanky” Sedlak could usually fix anything that needed to be worked on, but sometimes even they could not work enough “magic” on the units and a “Peddle” would have to run to South Plainfield or Perth Amboy in order to change out various units.
One day in March, I arrived at 8:00 a.m. and looked towards the engine tie-up track. I noted that the engines had been changed out overnight. The South Plainfield Drill was using the 184, an EMD NW2 built in 1949. The 291, an EMD SW9 built in 1951, was on the service track and behind that was good ol’ number 119 idling away in the sunshine. At first, I thought it was shut down, but it idled so quietly I couldn’t tell. At 11:00 a.m., Clayt Turnbach, Wilmer “Sy” Seifreid and the crew of SPRV-1 arrived and yard clerk Pat Trischita asked the crew what unit they wanted to use. I can still hear Sy exclaim, “Not the 119!!” He further added that the 119 couldn’t get out of its own way. He wanted an engine that would get up to track speed quickly. So, Sy was assigned the 291, which made him smile. That left only one diesel available for the next crew.
ABOVE: On my way back from Sherban’s Diner, I took this shot of the 119 at South Plainfield, N.J., in April 1969. She’s waiting for the “Clark Job” (SPC-4) to go east to Clark. That afternoon, Engineer George Gordon has accepted the fact that the 119 is permanently “his” engine. —Photo by Mike Bednar
At 3:00 p.m., the crew on the Clark job arrived. Richard Beishline was the conductor and when he saw that the 119 was the only engine left for him, he burst out in laughter. “Wait ‘til George sees this,” he chuckled. He was referring to George Gordon (his engineer). When George arrived, his face turned red and he said to South Plainfield Agent Bill Mingos and myself, “How do they expect me to get the work done with that?” The next day the South Plainfield Drill had the 184, SPRV-1 had the 291 and SPC-4 the 119. When George climbed aboard this time, he was much calmer. It seems the 119 was a pretty good little engine. He even made more money with it since it wasn’t very fast.
I was displaced out of New Market in April 1969 and immediately started working as yardmaster at Richards Yard (near Easton). Sometime in early 1970, the responsibility of caring for the units at South Plainfield and Perth Amboy was transferred to the South Easton Engine House, so, the 119 made its way to the Easton area.
ABOVE: An Extra Read Valley Turnaround comes west through the signal bridge at Dempseys (Steel City), Pa. The crew has been out all night and will have a pick-up at Florence to move the Allentown (LV) cars to East Penn Jct. —Photo by Mike Bednar
There were a lot of locals working out of Easton and also five drill engines working out of Richards every day. These locals needed a unit that could make respectable speeds between stops. SW8s, SW9s or NW2s from EMD, DS-4-4-1000’s or S12s from Baldwin and the high-wheelin’ ALCO RS-2s and RS-3s performed admirably, but the 119 just couldn’t “make time.” So, Trainmaster Darl Smith had the 119 assigned to Allentown to work the 1st and 2nd trick drills that served the West End and Barber Branches and the various customers between East Penn Junction and Gap Junction on the main line. The 119 had finally found its place on the railroad, as it was perfectly suited for these two assignments. Speed was not of the essence for these jobs, but dependability was! And the 119 was a very dependable unit.
In April 1972, the LV took over the CNJ trackage in Pennsylvania, which created a severe power shortage all over the system. The Flemington – Read Valley job out of Easton handled the least amount of cars per trip, so “Smitty” (trainmaster) decided the 119 would be assigned to this work and run as an AF-1 (Allentown -Flemington) out of Allentown coal yard in nighttime hours. This job soon earned the nickname “Air Force One” referring to the less-than-lightning speed it attained while running over the 50 miles on main line track from Allentown to Read Valley…
