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AVERY TRACK PANS
The following is contributed by Kevin Keefe, who is a Niles native:
"You combined locations in the caption for the Avery trackpan photo. Avery is actually a separate location, about midway between Galien and Three Oaks along a ruler-straight section of U.S. 12, some 25 miles west of Niles. I have personal experience with this. Back in the mid-1970s, I used to hang around the Niles depot (I was the city editor of the local paper) and one night the train crew for an incoming Amtrak job told me about the Avery pans, and that you still could see evidence of the pans in the ties. I drove out there the next day, parked my car at the Avery Road grade crossing, and hiked west. After a half-mile or so I encountered a quarter-mile section of the track where there was a shallow cut in the center of each tie, filled with ballast. The white stripe of ballast showed where the pan was. There was also some nearby concrete associated with the tower, pumps, etc. ...
There was indeed another track pan at Lawton, some 35 miles EAST of Niles. Which one is in the picture? Can't tell for sure, but from the shadows I'd guess it is, indeed, Avery. I assume that's what Goodrick wrote on the slide mount."
Thanks Kevin! This error happened because my source on the location of NYC system track pans, a 1943 station guide, accidentally omitted Avery. What Kevin's contribution lets us know is that this local is the eastbound side of the same job shown on page 101 in two photos (probably a Porter turn out of Niles) and that they will be tying up at Niles. By the way, I think Sandy produced one of the all time great railroad photos here.
