Before the stack trains, the little Suquehanna railroad was starving and would have gone broke. Attorney and railfan Walter Rich purchased it and little-by-little he added trackage and customers. He made a deal with Sussex County, New Jersey, which saved the viable stretch of the Lehigh & Hudson River, to operate the freight. In 1986 there was one customer at Sparta, which required a 30-mile run to Warwick, NY, to interchage cars. The Susquehanna assigned one of its two oldest Alcos to this severed branch, either RS1 252 or S2 206. The line generally ran only Saturdays, and at 10 miles an hour on the excepted track. This line had all the charm of a classic short line, and we see that here at one of the many rural crossings. This was dairy country during steam days, and it once had three major railroads taking milk from here to Gotham. The flagman Paul Yanosik is actually a member of the signal department. He was a railfan and avid modeler, so rather than drive all over Sussex County turning on the crossing protection, he preferred to ride with the crew to flag each crossing that needed it, lulled by the distinctive chant of a McIntosh & Seymour 539 engine. And who could blame him?
