Guide to the Back Mountain May 22, 1996 3
[4 eerie
Rail lines once
connected the
Back Mountain
By GRACE R. DOVE
Dallas Post Staff
Trains disappeared from the area more than
three decades ago, when Elvis was still King and
D.A. haircuts were cool, leaving a network of aban-
doned embankments to mark their passing.
The railroads passing through the Back Moun-
tain brought much-needed goods to the area and
were a vital link between Wilkes-Barre and Towanda
for the lumber and ice industries of North Mountain.
The Lehigh Valley tracks ran parallel to Route 309
from Luzerne and through the rock cuts, passing
stations at the Ice Cave Hotel at Hillside, Harris Hill
and Youngblood's Hill (Center Street)
They then headed towards Dallas where Friendly's
Restaurant now stands, then along the present
Route 415 to Dallas. At the Dallas station (the site of
the present post office) the tracks turned north
between Route 415 and Lake Street, crossing Coun-
try Club Road behind Coates Reprographics.
They then angled towards Kunkle, Alderson and
Harveys Lake, continuing to Noxen and its tannery
and the ice and lumbering towns of Stull, Mountain
Springs (Bean Run) and Ricketts, on the way to
Bernice, the semi-anthracite mines at Lopez and the
rail center at Dushore.
Dallas Township supervisor Frank Wagner re-
members the ice trains as convenient free transpor-
tation for himself and his friends, Fred and June
Ostrum.
“We'd hop a train at Fern Brook and ride up to
Mountain Springs for the day," he said. “During the
season we liked to hang out in the woods or watch
the men cutting ice at the splash dams. During the
summer the fishing holes up there were the greatest.
We carried a couple of hooks, string and some
worms in a paper bag - that was all we could handle
I.
Guide
to the Back Mountain
is produced and published annually by
BARTSEN MEDIA, INC.
Publishers of The Dallas Post and The Abington Journal
Offices at 45 Main Road, Dallas, PA 18612 and
211 South State Stt., Clarks Summit, PA 18411
Phone (717) 675-5211 or (717) 587-1148
for information about advertising in
Guide to the Back Mountain
and Guide to the Abingtons
The old train station on Harris Hill Rd. in
Trucksville is now just a memory.
Drawing by Sue Hand
while hanging on to the cars. My mother would turn
over in her grave if she ever knew I was hopping
trains.”
Because the boys weren't allowed on the trains,
they took great pains to ride unnoticed, hopping
onto cars two or three from the end where the men
in the caboose wouldn't see them. They also had to
watch out for the automobiles waiting at the cross-
ings.
“If anyone who knew us saw us, they'd tell our
parents,” Wagner said smiling. “If I saw an old green
Chevy, that was my Dad. We used to stick like glue
to the sides of the railroad cdrs so nobody would
notice us.”
The trains were also a good way for Wagner and
his friends to get to Luzerne to go dancing at the Rose
Room. Afterwards they hitchhiked home on the
Luzerne-Dallas highway (Route 309) because the
trains didn't run much at night.
“The ride over the Carverton Road trestle would
really give you the shakes," he said. “It was made of
wood and felt very high from our positions on the
train.”
Fern Brook was a popular place to hitch a freeride
on the railroad because the trains slowed down or
stopped to drop off freight at the Brown and Fassett
feed mill or at the builders’ supply depot where
Parker Fuel now stands. It also slowed down at Fern
Brook Park, a popular dance hall where the big :
bands played. The park was demolished when Offset
Paperback was built.
Although a trolley line duplicated much of the
train's route between Trucksville and Dallas, Wagner
and his [riends never took advantage of it.
“The trolley was too small and the conductor
could see right to the back,” he said. “If he saw you
he'd chase you.”
The trains rolled along what is now Route 415 into
the Dallas station, which was demolished when the
old Acme market and the post office were built.
Mayor Paul LaBar recalls playing around the huge
iron cars and the switches near Foster Street.
Continued on page 4+