March 2011

Cranberry Enginehouse Inspection Pit

Jerry shows us how wide 3 feet between the rails would have been while we examined what remains of the concrete inspection pit located inside the Cranberry Enginehouse that once occupied this site. The enginehouse was built around 1890. Not sure how deep the pit would have been, but one of the requirements would be to allow a railroad employee working access under a steam locomotive. Now filled with water, dirt and debris it was used as a creosote pit in the last years of the railroad. Would make a good project to dig this out and see what secrets are still contained inside. Found a nice baseball-sized lump of coal at this location. A coal locomotive would have last been here in 1950, but records indicate this wasn't used as a coaling location after the 1920s.