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June 09, 2006 Sitting here thinking about D&H operations in the East End of Wilkes-Barre in the mid to late 70s. I recall that I was in grade school and used to take the long way around Bowmen Street to look at the train cars. At this time the main line (that is now Wilkes-Barre Blvd) was just a spur. It ended at Scott Street. It passed Addy Ashpalt and J&H Concrete and went under the Butler Street Bridge. It seems that this spur was for the overflow of cars from Hudson. A cut of cars would come in, sit on the tracks next to Bowman Street stay there maybe 2-3 days and them be gone. We used to sit on the steps of the Butler Street Bridge. Once or twice the kids fooled with the brakes on the cars and one would roll down the spur to the end of track at Scott Street. Then I would get a chance to see a locmomotive, but most of the time all you got to see is the cars. The B&M blue box cars, D&H bridge line box cars, MEC tricolor boxs, remains of the Reading in faded green, some jade green Penn Central cars. Sometimes you got gons and flat cars. A lot of those Rail-Box cars too in the late 70s. Every week a new cut of cars to look at. Rarely did I see the locomotives. There was a garage on Conygham Ave. I used to ride my bike up to there. If I was up there then I might see a locomotive, but mostly a parade of cars.
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