Dan Armitage

The Kid From Freeville
Growing up on the Railroad
Presented by Dan Armitage, with Peter Bellisario

Danny Armitage grew up in Freeville, NY where two branches of the Lehigh Valley Railroad crossed. From the age of 5 he hung out at the freight station behind his house getting to know all of the trainmen. This led to an unusual childhood of literally growing up on the railroad. From 1963 until the mid-1980s he rode the locomotives and cabooses over 400 times and was accepted by the crews as one of their own. For 26 years, Dan resided in the Ovid area and worked for 30 years at the Willard Psychiatric Center and Willard Drug Treatment Center. This afforded him time to study both the Willard Asylum and US Army Depot railroads. Dan now resides in Marathon, NY, with his wife Joan Portzline. His program of lecture and slides is titled: The Kid from Freeville: Growing up on the Railroad and has been presented all over central NY, covering the people and operations of the Lehigh Valley Railroad from a very unique perspective.

For In-Person Attendees: Our meetings are held at the Rainis Auditorium of Saint Elizabeth University in Morristown, NJ. For printable driving directions, please click here. Doors open at 7:00 PM, the membership portion of the meeting will start at 7:30 PM, and the presentation should begin around 8:00 PM.

For Virtual Attendees: All of our membership meetings are simulcast on Zoom and our Facebook page. The membership portion of the meeting begins virtually at 7:30 PM. The presentation should begin around 8:00 PM. For Zoom, click here to register in advance for this meeting. Virtual attendees will need to register in advance for the meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend!

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