A scene that was common to all of us 'Classic" guys and gals.

[Miningman]

This picture instantly relays 2 things to me. First is this is a scene I saw hundreds of times. The 'look' of the locomotive, the passenger cars, the autos parked at the station ( remember those windshield visors?), even the weather. Now I never lived in Newmarket or anywhere near it but this scene is so generic it could be anywhere. My 'anywhere' was Burlington, Ontario. Thats the 2nd thing, it could be C&NW, Milwaukee Road, New York Central, Boston and Maine...heck it could be anywhere. 

Even travelling around with my folks I saw this scene everywhere we went. The mail, the express, the carts, 10, 15, 20 trains a day going to everywhere and such a vital and important part of our world. So good!

5296 stopped at Newmarket in snowy scene. Check out all those "old" cars! Note wig-wag signal. far right. 
Digital restoration Walter Pfefferle.

[Firelock76]

Sorry for the delayed response, but...

I almost broke down and cried when I saw that photo.  That blue car just to the immediate left of the locomotive is a dead-ringer for my grandfather's (my father's father) car, right down to the color!

You're so right, it could be anywhere.  I know it's Canada, but it could be Tenafly NJ just before the Erie killed steam.  Wintertime, Christmas coming, all the good memories, they just come flooding back.

What happened?  What the hell happened?  Can't just blame diesels, there had to be darker forces at work.  Or just incompetant ones.  All progress isn't "progress", if you get my meaning. 

[Overmod]

Firelock76

it could be Tenafly NJ just before the Erie killed steam.

And that is almost exactly what it looked like to me, with the Clinton Inn just out of sight to the right of the picture, and the old trolley carbarn complex down behind your right shoulder...

Along with all the other vast number of things I just missed, Erie steam (on the Northern Branch or otherwise) was one.  We moved to Tenafly when I was two, and by then the RS 2s and 3s might as well have been there forever (even though many of them were just a few years old).

"What happened" was that it got too expensive to run them.  And, not that much longer in the grand scheme of things, to run any train in that service, with two large bus companies offering faster service on trolley headways straight into Port Authority at either end of Manhattan.  We are only just getting around to approximating what was lost in 1966 ... and Tenafly doesn't want it!  It ends at Englewood Hospital.  And the buses are still more convenient.

[Firelock76]

"...and Tenafly doesn't want it!"

You're so right Overmod, the people have spoken concerning the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Extension up the Erie's old Northern Branch.  I think they're being short-sighted and foolish, but what are you going to do?

A little history for everyone else...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Branch

It's ironic.  All those towns along the Northern Branch were literally children of the railroad.  Now they want to kick "Mom" into a nursing home and forget she ever exisited. 

And here's a little video I may have posted before, but it won't hurt to post it again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzTAGCUUMtk

The other irony is those bus lines still follow the old now forgotten trolley routes, with a few exceptions.

[Miningman]

Massive chrome bumpers on all three of those cars. Does anyone know what the station wagon in the middle of the 3 cars is? 

Plenty of Studebakers around in '57. 

Thanks for the responses Firelock and Overmod. Good memories all around. 

[Penny Trains]

Nomad?

[Miningman]

Yeah could be a Chevy Nomad...no fins on it yet! Anybody with a definitive idea?

[Firelock76]

I'm not sure that's a Chevy Nomad wagon.  The butt-end of a Nomad was nearly a dead-ringer for the butt-end of the GM "Aerotrain", and the wagon pictured is dissimilar.

Could be a Ford or a Rambler wagon, but I'm not enough of a car guy to know.

By the way, I just did an Internet search, and have you any idea how tough it is to find any station wagon butt-end pictures?  All front ends!  Sheesh!

[Overmod]

Not a Nomad, not a Chevy with those taillights.  Almost certainly not a Ford.  My first guess would be Pontiac.  More remotely, perhaps, Plymouth; the rear door and bed window line is more 'chopped and long' than I remember GM wagons being.  I think I see distinctive profile lines in the sheet metal, too.  Find side views in ads and compare the metal and the window line...

[Miningman]

Found a picture of a Pontiac from the rear that matches pretty well.

Can't post the picture yet...will keep trying

1957 Pontiac Safari Transcontinental again. This one is missing the factory roof rack and chrome rockers.

 

 

[Miningman]

Or...

1955 Chieftain Colony Wagon

“Here is a picture of my 1955 Colony wagon 287 2bl. 77,000 miles.”

[Miningman]

MIKE TO THE RESCUE!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbPmPCopN4Y&t=1m12s

Check out that exhaust!

[Firelock76]

Oh brother, that exhaust!  It's enough to give an EPA agent a nervous breakdown!

Reminds me, a gent I knew years back told me that as teenagers and car guys back in the 50's he and his friends installed spark plugs in the exhaust pipes, and by throwing a switch on the dashboard they'd energise the plugs and ignite the unburned gasolene fumes coming out with the exhaust!  Said it made for a spectacular display, especially at night!  Even more spectacular if you had dual exhausts on your car like the wagon in the video.

Thanks Mike!

[AgentKid]

First things first, this picture was taken in Canada. Before 1965 there was no Canada-US Autopact, things were different here.

That would either be a Pontiac Parisienne or Laurentian. Pontiac models based on US Bel-Airs. The lack of chrome doodads is not suprising since in Canada Pontiacs were sold as equal models to Chevs, not as slightly upscale models like the US.

Bruce

 

[Miningman]

Good catch AgentKid/Bruce! Of course!!

As David P. Morgan used to say " the same but different".