Glad you got a shot and made the effort to post to RP. I remember driving by and seeing that structure, having only seconds to get a glimpse and thinking - "that MUST be a railroad structure!" That was in March of 2014. A search suggests demolition went into high gear a year later suggesting, also, that the breaker - the last of approximately 300 in the state of PA - is no longer standing. "Early last decade, there was talk of preserving the breaker, and state grant money was awarded for a study. But it would have taken tens of millions of dollars — a prohibitive sum — to turn the massive, out-of-the-way ruins into a historical attraction, and the idea was shelved." - May 28th, 2015 from "The Morning Call". A search of "St Nicholas Breaker" in both Google and Google Images yields quite a bounty!
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I went down the rabbit hole on some of the sites that I found when searching info for the caption. While I can't condone the activity, some of the sites where they commit breaking and entering in the name of industrial archaeology are quite interesting. Check out the one where the enter the old LV Easton passenger station - full of evidence of homeless occupancy and drug paraphernalia - not something I would care to explore.
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I'm afraid Pennsylvania deserves a grade of "F" for historic preservation. Imagine how great the East Broad Top would be if only the state had pitched in. By the way, there is a good collection of old breaker photos on the website "Capt'n Clint's Place".
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Thanks for preserving this shot!
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Posted by on January 22, 2016 | |
Excellent photograph. I wish I made it out there to see this beast with my own eyes. Thank you for sharing, Doug!
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