June 1978 The Threadless Corner_

With agreements drawn up with the State of Pennsylvania, the NY& ERR Company later found itself in a position of meeting heavy demands of residents living in a few small Pennsylvania communities. The railroad was forced to either meet these demands or change the route back into New York, where mountainous conditions would delay completion to Binghampton. If completion was delayed too long, the charter would have been lost, so the railroad met the large demands of its neighboring state.

Finally, after years of struggle, in May of 1851, the entire line was completed from Piermont, on the Hudson, to Dunkirk, on Lake Erie. Although the rails didn't join with the populous New York City, a ferry went from that city to Piermont, where a large pier had been built by the railroad company to receive passengers and freight for westward transportation. At the time of completion, the New York and Erie Railroad was the longest railroad in the world. On May 14-17, 1851, two excursion trains traveled the entire length of the line. Passengers on the excursion included the President of the United States, Millard Fillmore; the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster; Attorney General John Crittenden; many railroad officials and various politicians. The occasion was a joyous one, with thousands of people gathering in the small towns along the route, cheering as the excursion trains entered the towns. Banners waved, cannons roared, and many a speaker became hoarse after two days of giving a speech at each of the stopping points. On May 15th the trains reached Dunkirk, where a large festivity took place. I would very much like to go into more detail concerning this occasion and the construction period but limited space prohibits too much detail.

The New York & Erie was plagued with financial difficulties from its very beginning. For years after the completion of the line in 1851, many expenditures kept the company from really getting on its feet. Partially to blame was severe damage to the line in January and February of 1857 by heavy flooding. There also was the problem of lost revenue due to a rate of passenger fare war between the NY&E and the New York Central Railroad. Also, the NY&E had built its rails with a six foot gauge, which created many problems for the line, due to the fact that adjoining lines made use of the standard 4' 8-1/2" gauge. Passengers wanting to travel on another railroad connecting A with the NY&E had to wait for their merchandise to be transferred from the NY& E cars to the cars of the standard gauge line. Had the NY & E been a standard gauge line, the cars could have continued on without interruption. After a reorganization in April, 1861, a new company was formed, the Erie Railway Company, and the New York & Erie Railroad ceased to exist.

To save confusion, at this time I would like to point out that there was also a New York and Erie Telegraph Company which was constructing a telegraph line on the wagon roads of southern New York state. It was built by Ezra Cornell. Although the names are the same, they were in no way related. However, Charles Minot, superintendent of the railroad company, was aware of the telegraph line being built, and he suggested to the directors of the railroad to build a telegraph line parallel to the NY& ERR tracks, on the railroad property. The directors initially felt the benefit derived from the telegraph line would not be worth the cost of construction and maintenance; but Minot finally succeeded in convincing them to build such a telegraph line. By the end of 1850 the railroad telegraph line was completed between Piermont (on the Hudson) and Goshen, but was not in operation yet. West of Goshen, portions of the line were up, but there were many gaps to be filled before a complete telegraphic link could be made the entire length of the railroad. In December, 1850, Minot hired D. H. Conklin to test the line between Piermont and Goshen. On January 4, 1851, the wire was tested and found to be in working order. In the winter of 1851 the line was completed to Port Jervis. By spring of 1851 the line was complete as far west as Susquehana Depot.

It was in those early days that passengers, baggage, and freight were transferred from the railroad piers at Piermont onto steamboats each day. Every day the train brought in a different amount of cattle to be transported to New York City. For that reason, much of the loading activities at the pier were postponed until the train arrived. This was because enough room had to be left for all the livestock on the boats, and no one knew how much livestock was to arrive. This caused considerable delay. Operator Conklin, realizing the delay, arranged with the conductor of the stock train to send a telegram to Piermont with the information concerning the number of cattle to arrive. This act quickened the loading procedure, and was the first practical use of the telegraph for railroad business in this country.

In the early part of 1851 the entire telegraph line was completed. The telegraph line was placed under two superintendents. L. G. Tillotson was superintendent for the line between Owego and New York, and Charles L. Chapin between Owego and Dunkirk. At that time Tillotson was only 19 years old, but he was well educated in the art of telegraphy.

The first use of the telegraph in this country on a railroad for the movement of trains took place in the autumn of 1851. Until that time a "time interval system" was used. Under that system, certain trains had priority over trains moving in the opposite direction. When a train was delayed, the entire timetable became a mass confusion, and there was danger of head-on collisions. On that particular autumn day in 1851, Superintendent Minot was riding a westbound express train. An eastbound train was late in arriving at a station, so Minot decided to give the telegraph a test. The following is an account of the event as told in the book, The Story of the Erie, by Mott:

The train, under the rule existing, was to wait for an eastbound express to pass it at Turner's, 47 miles from New York. That train had not arrived, and the westbound train would be unable to proceed until an hour had expired, unless the tardy eastbound train arrived at Turner's within that time. There was a telegraph office at Turner's, and Superintendent Minot telegraphed to the operator at Goshen, fourteen miles further on, and asked him whether the eastbound train had left the station. The reply was that the train had not yet arrived at Goshen, showing that it was much behind its time. Then, according to the narrative of the late W. H. Stewart, given to the author in 1896, Superintendent Minot telegraphed as follows, as nearly as Stewart could recollect:

To: Agent and Operator at Goshen:
Hold the train for further orders.
Chas. Minot, Superintendent

He then wrote this order, and handed it to Conductor Stewart:

To Conductor and Engineer, Day Express:
Run to Goshen regardless of opposing train.
Chas. Minot, Superintendent

"I took the order", said Mr. Stewart, relating the incident, "showed it to the engineer, Isaac Lewis, and told him to go ahead. The surprised engineer read the order, and, handing it back to me, exclaimed:

"Do you take me for a d--n fool? I won't run by that thing!"

"I reported to the Superintendent, who went forward and used his verbal authority on the engineer, but without effect. Minot climbed on the engine and took charge of it himself. Engineer Lewis jumped off and got in the rear seat of the rear car. The Superintendent ran the train to Goshen. The eastbound train had not yet reached that station. He telegraphed to Middletown. The train had not arrived there. The westbound train was run on a similar order to Middletown, and from there to Port Jervis, where it entered the yard from the east as the other train came into it from the west."

An hour and more in time had been saved to the west-bound train; and the question of running trains on the Erie by telegraph was at once and forever settled.

So, with the telegraph line in working order, we come to the next part of the story -- line insulation.

There is an insulator embossed N.Y.&.E.R.R. This is the CD 736. I've tried to pinpoint an exact date on the manufacture of these, but so far have not confirmed anything. The first wire was completely up in 1851. By what I've gathered, there was another wire put up in 1856 or 1857. Where the CD 736 NY&ERR fits in is a good question. In the book, The Story of the Erie, Mott states that Mr. Cornell supplied insulators for the first railroad telegraph line. "These were of brimstone, enclosed in iron pots, and of small value." In the book, Wiring A Continent, by Robert Thompson, it is stated that the New York and Erie Telegraph Company (along the wagon roads) also made use of these insulators. They were in use on that line in the late 1840's, and the line didn't work well until they were removed from it. I think that if the brimstone insulators were used on the NY&E Tel. Co. lines and were found unsatisfactory, then the NY& ERR wouldn't attempt using the same faulty type of insulation two or three years later. I think somewhere in the recording of the facts concerning insulation on the railroad, an error was made by confusing that line with the NY&E Telegraph Company line of a couple years earlier. So, the first insulators used on the railroad may have been the CD 736 NY&ERR. It's also possible the CD 736's replaced the brimstone units in 1852 or in any year to follow, if the brimstone units were in fact used.

The railroad was in poor financial condition by 1857, and the name was changed to the Erie Railway Company (ERW) in 1861; so the CD 736 NY & ERR units were more than likely produced between 1849 and 1857. That would date them as being perhaps the oldest embossed threadless. There were also several other different threadless units used on the line, including various color and size variations of the unembossed CD 736, the CD 736 with a J on the dome, and the CD 729 J. S. Keeling. The CD 736 NY&ERR items come in at least two different variations. (see figs. 1-3 on page following) Some units are embossed on the front skirt: N.Y.&.E.R.R. (In the future this will be called variant one.)

Other units (variant two) are marked on the front skirt: N.Y.&.; and on the back skirt: E.R.R. The latter variation seems to be the scarcer of the two. Variant one has been found in aqua. These are very crudely made, and minor traces of milky swirls and olive streaks usually appear in the glass. Variant two is also found in the same shade of aqua with similar characteristics. It also comes in a color described as a darker green-gray color of glass. This is a definite color variation. I've also been told by at least three collectors, they had seen a NY&ERR in puce! To those of you who have not seen a glass article in puce, let me say it's hard to describe. The easy way out would be to call it a reddish color. Seeing one of these in dark puce would certainly make a few heads shake in disbelief! I'm not certain which type of embossing this one had. I understand there was one of these found, along with the small fraction of another.

Gerald and Esta Brown have informed me that when the old depot at Goshen, New York, was torn down several years ago, a box was found in the building that contained at least five NY& ERR's, two or three ERW's, and one tall hat. I believe all those NY& ERR's were the variant one type. These were more than likely some of the first NY & ERR's to enter the collecting scene; and those original five make up a large part of those in existence today. There aren't many of them around. As with all other rare insulators, certainly many of them were made, but not many have survived the elements. I consider the CD 736 NY& ERR to be among the most desirable of all threadless. They are an interesting hat style, are very rare, have a wealth of information and history behind them, and were a part of what was, in my opinion, the greatest work of railroad achievement.

A real big thanks must go out to Gerald and Esta Brown, who so kindly loaned to me the book The Story of the Erie. That book was of unmeasurable assistance in writing this article, and I feel very honored in being trusted with such a rare and valuable book. A big thanks to Bob Pierce for loaning me his copy of Wiring A Continent, which was of help in this article and which will be responsible for a large part of many future articles; and to Dick Bowman and Dieline Coleman for information on color variations.

If anyone has any info to share, please drop me a line at 709 Rt. 322, East Orwell, Ohio 44033. It's you folks out there in collectors-land that make this article possible each month.