The Phoebe Snow Tribute Song

Tribute song for the Phoebe Snow, Lackawanna's premier flagship passenger train that ran from 1949-1966 from Hoboken NJ to Buffalo NY. The train replaced the Lackawanna Limited Steamer that burned anthracite coal, which was harder and burned cleaner thus allowing Miss Phoebe Snow to keep her clothes pearly white, which in turn garnered her fame and fortune! When diesels replaced steam, the Lackawanna renamed the train Phoebe Snow after their very popular, fictitious character.

[@user-hv6dv6wh7v]

I show my 12 year old son the glory of America's industrial past. the great northeast passenger routes like the Lakawanna's Phoebe Snow and the Lehigh Valley's Black Diamond and John Wilkes passenger trains as well as the Laurel Line Intermodal trolly between Scranton and Wilkes-barre, PA and their great stations and he laments. Why did it all go away dad? he asks. I don't have a simple answer for him. He wishes he could have been around when these great systems were active and viable. His grandmother remembers and tells him stories about the last trolly in Wilkes-Barre rhe Laurel Line in the early 50's and the electric busses that replaced the trollies. We never should have ended passenger service, we never should have pulled up the trolly tracks, we never should have raised the great buildings and destroyed the inner cities. So much history and utility lost. Museums and Amtrak out of Philly aren't enough. My boy says so.

[@keithwarner]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. In 1960, when I was 8 years old, we left our car at the Binghamton station, and took the Phoebe Snow to the Big Apple. Payday only came once a year for my mink-farmer father when the furs were auctioned at the Hudson's Trading Company in the garment district. My parents had seen Broadway shows for several years, but on this, my first trip, we saw "The Sound of Music" starring the legendary Mary Martin, mother of Larry 'JR Ewing' Hagman.

[@christopherorourke6362]

During the pre Amtrak days, the Lackawanna later Erie Lackawanna had the very best looking Diesel engines, the very best passenger train service between my birthplace of Buffalo & Hoboken, NJ, the birthplace of the late Frank Sinatra just across the Hudson River from New York City. The Phoebe Snow and other Buffalo to Hoboken trains, along with the Scranton-Hoboken trains would stop in Scranton, PA which is 10 miles North of Pittston, PA where my late father and late paternal grandparents were born & raised. The song about the Phoebe Snow is a great song. I do hope that passenger train service between Scranton & the New York City area does get restored, and also between Philadelphia & Scranton. All of the highways between Scranton & Philadelphia are busy and the older routes between Scranton & Philadelphia are just too slow.

[@PoetryETrain]

Thank you, this has been added to our playlists...

[@bobsit1945]

Use to ride this train from Buffalo to Scranton and back every year when I was young, Thanks

[@user-hv6dv6wh7v]

Thank You for this song and video Mr. LaBaron.

[@grahamfunnell2803]

Hi John, Really like the song and footage. We in the UK miss the glory days of steam and our great trains too !

[@Moonbeam143]

I never rode her train, but I do have a small collection of her postcards.

[@jlebaron1]

@intercityrailpal Thanks for the encouragement! Sad these great trains are a thing of the past. Seems the new roads and bypasses have brought the end to many small businesses and small cities along with the railroads that used to run through them (like Corning and Elmira!)

[@josephbaldonijr1797]

Hi John Enjoyed your video. I can relate to it because I rode in the engine of the Phoebe Snow in the 1960's. My cousin and I went to Hoboken, N.J. for the weekend. We rode in the cab because of my cousin's father who was the conductor on the train. His name was Billy Morgan. I forget the engineer's name, but it brought back memories of the first time I ever rode on a train! I will never forget the scenery on our way down! I love trains! It's a memory I share with my kids!

[@jlebaron1]

You're welcome and thanks for sharing your memory too!

[@jlebaron1]

@intercityrailpal Quite prophetic! Just heard on the news there may not be enough fuel for our own air force!

[@2NY100]

Nurse! Nurse! I fainted! Help!