Railroading has aways been in the Bashant blood. It certainly got its start in Tupper Lake because so much of the economy depended on moving materials and people by rail. Many family stories revolved around experiences about railroading. This subsection is dedicted to some of those memories.
My father was a Road Foreman of Engines on the New York Central Rail Road and he retired from what became the Penn Central Rail Road when The NYCRR & PCRR merged. Our family life revolve around the sacrifices that were made by a father who was on call 24/7. Holidays were meaningless since rail travel ramped up and the probability of problems increased with the rail traffic volume. A phone call on Christmas day was like a call any day, if there was a problem, dad had to go.
There were benefits. Train rides in the cab of a diesel engine was a thrill.
When I was quite young, typical telephone phone service was based on party lines. You shared the line with several of your neighbors. But because of dad's work, they needed unimpeded access to him so we had a private phone line. That was a big deal!
I recall a particular day when a diesel had derailed, I gave my father my camera and asked him to take a picture. It was winter and the likelyhood of his dragging my too large top view camera out to the scene, seemed remote. But when he came home he handed me the camera and this is the resulting picture.
We lived on railroad time. When the rest of the country went to daylight savings time, the railroad remained on standard time. So in the summer we had "time" and we had "railroad time" always an hour earlier. That always became a family joke when anyone ask what time it was.
This photo popped up on a Penn Central Website and I asked my mother how it came about. I contacted the webmaster and he clarified the content which is below the photo.
"At an unknown location in December 1971 is PC SW1 8544. Stenciled under the engine number is the name "G.H. Bashant," who was Gordon Howard Bashant, Sr., PC's Road Foreman of Engines until his retirement in 1970. Shop forces honored Mr. Bashant by naming the locomotive for him around the time of his retirement, although he later requested that his name be removed. Also notice the white frame stripe and silver trucks. Penn Central locomotives normally did not receive such a flashy treatment in the paint shop. Photo by G. Wilsuz, Stephen Foster collection."
News articles - Utica Observer Dispatch
Training class at Elecro-Motive Division, General Motors, Detroit MI. My father Gordon Bashant, third row from bottom, 2nd from right.
Map of NYCRR Adirondack Division
NYCRR Depot, Tupper Lake NY - 1908
Depot and yards at Tupper Lake. Grade crossing with New York & Ottawa Railroad just beyond station, governed by semaphores. Yards are visible to the left. Circa 1908 [Harter Collection]
Tupper Lake Station in Watercolor by Dr. Gordon Bashant
Family speculation identifies crew member Gordon Bashant, my father, as being 12th from left (9th from right). In 1931 he left Tupper Lake to marry my mother and move to Utica. See Census page, 1930 census. Timing is right and there is a similarity, but no proof.
Grandpa Bashant (Senior Steam Locomotive Engineer) Train number 4561, Adirondack Division - Saranac Lake - August 1950, appeared in the Tupper Lake Free Press, April 30, 1997 resulting from an interview with Uncle Floyd on the railroad era.
Grandpa Bashant - On and off the train
Photo of Grandpa Bashant identifying last trip from Tupper Lake to Utica. Signed by him and his Fireman (and son) Floyd Bashant. This conflicts with Utica Observer Dispatch article on Bashant page. Regardless, this is a great photo of Gramp!!!
Grandpa Bashant's father Levi wins the Oak Desk in a Rail Road Raffel, he is identified as living in Malone, NY at the time.
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Railroad Men Honored - Four of the guests of honor at Saturday's "Next Stop! Tupper Lake!" benefit are shown above with their wives. From left, Bob Daggett and Lorraine, Louis Malerba and Mary, Florence and Gerald Stone, and Marge and Floyd Bashant.
New York Central Rail Road Station - Utica, New York. Parts of this structure were from the original Grand Central Station in New York City and was disassembled and reassembled as seen here in a pre-war photo, on the site of the present Penn Station in Utica. My father had always said this was the full station moved from NYC piece by piece, but evidence my research indicated differently. I spent many hour is the old station as it was my fater's primary place of work, although in reality his place of work was along the hundreds of miles of track where the engines moved...or didn't move.
Locomotive 759 stops at the New York Central Station, Utica, NY in 1968. This photo and the following photos and accounting of this Locomotive 759 were among my father's affects. He was not particularly sentimental about this kind of documentation until the last few years of his life. Because of his role as Road Foreman, he was often given this kind of memorabilia. I recall he commented that this #759 was the same number as a diesel engine that was giving him particular problems. So even the very number 759 brought bad memories.
Locomotive 759 - "Locomotive 759 is part of the huge collection of steam locomotives that were saved from the scrapper's torch. This collection is on display at the Connecticut River at Bellows Falls, Vermont."
Watch for more on Railroad Vignettes
Article in Ogdensburg Advance - 1901 identifying my Great Grandfather as a raffle winner at a railroad event.