Thursday, October 22, 2015

Sayre, Pennsylvania, Shop Views, Lehigh Valley Railroad

The shops at Sayre, Pennsylvania was a large facility at the home of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was completed in 1904. The LV built and repaired its own locomotives in this shop from 1904 to 1925 and at one time both the shops and yard alone employed an estimated 3,000 railroad workers. The structure finally came down in 1988. According to the February, 1904, edition of the industry publication "American Engineer and Railroad Journal" we read the following note on the progress of the shop's construction: 

"The large new shops in process of construction at Sayre, Pa., for the Lehigh Valley Railroad have not been provided for as to machine tools, although the traveling cranes, the power plant equipment and other important features were purchased a short time ago. The buildings are being erected at a cost of some $750,000." 

In the two postcards below, published at the time of its completion, we see one of traveling cranes lifting a locomotive with shop crew members posing proudly for the photographer. The second card provides us with a view of locomotives under construction on the erecting floor. The last three cards are circa 1910.





In the following card, we see another interior view of locomotives either being built or in for repair. The engines in the foreground all have headlights mounted on top of the smokebox; the one in the distance has its headlight mounted on the smokebox front.



The cards below show just how large this shop complex was. The first has a unique inset of an interior view photograph.






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