ex-Lackawanna switchback in Ithaca

[Otto Vondrak]

Scot mentioned the grade and remains of a former DL&W switchback was visible on maps and photographs of Ithaca. Could someone elaborate on the history of this switchback and what it was used for?

http://gold.mylargescale.com/Scottychao ... erial6.jpg

-otto-

[scottychaos]

Otto,
the switchback existed simply to get the DL&W to "downtown" Ithaca..
it came into Ithaca from Owego, but Ithaca is built on the side of a very steep hill..
the area up near Cornell University and Ithaca College is elevated quite a bit above downtown and "lake level"..
the hill was too steep for a straight rail line down the hillside, so they built a switchback to make the grade more manageable!
just like in the mountains..
The LV also had a line up "on the hill"..the former EC&N..
and the passenger mainline down at "lake level"..
(the LV tracks that are still there today..)
but the 2 LV lines in Ithaca were not directly connected in Ithaca..because of the hill..
they had to go all the way back south to VanEtten before they joined!

There was a plan to join the two LV lines at one point, by laying a cog railway down Cascidilla creek..the locomotive with the cog was ordered and delivered!
but the line was never built..
more here:
http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/leviathan.htm

but since this line was never built, the DL&W line was the only railroad connecting both "upper" and "lower" Ithaca..

thats all I know abotu the switchback..which isnt much.
anyone ever see any photos?

Scot

[henry6]

for switchback in ithaca see taber's dl&w 20th cent and see History of Railroads of Tompkins County. Basically it is how the Cayuga and Susquehanna (DL's Ithaca Branch) got up and down the hill after the planes were abandoned.

[duey]

scotty...little note on the Auburn Branch of the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad. I grew up in Lansing, and my house was about midway between the former South Lansing and Freeville stations.

Behind our house was a wooded and marshy area a couple hundred acres in size. One day as I was exploring the backwoods, I came upon this obviously man-made berm. Thinking originally it was some sort of drainage barrier, I later discovered that it was actually the elevanted trackbed of the former Auburn Branch of the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad.

I was totally intrigued by the idea that some 100 years earlier, trains (not many) traveled back and forth right behind my house!

Should anyone be in the area, a portion of the former ROW and trackbed is visible at the intersection of Warren Road and Asbury Road in Lansing.

[EHBLABEY]

When I was in college in the late '50s and early 60's, the former DL&W switchback was used by the Lehigh Valley to serve the plant of Morse Chain Company on South Hill. A pair of EMD switchers would take an occasional empty gon up the hill from downtown Ithaca to be loaded with metal turnings. I don't know how long use of the switchback trackage lasted, but I suspect it continued into the Conrail era.

[Otto Vondrak]

Very interesting! Thanks all for the info.

-otto-

[SRS125]

I thought the line that traveling down thew lansing, venice, and so forth was called the Auburn and Ithica Railroad chartered by the Lehigh Valley in the early 1880's. Did the name change or something??

[scottychaos]

I thought the line that traveling down thew lansing, venice, and so forth was called the Auburn and Ithica Railroad chartered by the Lehigh Valley in the early 1880's. Did the name change or something??

Srs,
see this link for the timeline of that line:
http://nyow.railfan.net/nyow/auburn/story/intro.html

The Auburn & Ithaca branch of the LV was the line that ran directly along the East shore of Cayuga lake..
the line that is still in use to take the coal trains up to the powerplant.

a totally different set of tracks from the "Auburn Branch" of the NY&OM.

Scot

[SRS125]

ah ok it gets vary confueseing with all these line going north and south in the county. The 3ed line along Owasco Lake is the Southern Central I rembered that one the outher 2 always lost me.

[henry6]

Check book, "Railroads of Tompkins County". IF you are in NY state and its not in your library, ask your librarian to borrow from anothr library. It was done about 50 years ago then updated within the last 20. New version has upgraded and very detailed maps which explained a lot of the confusion I had. I really don't think anyone here can do as good a job as a look at the book and its maps!

[SRS125]

I have that SVP Railroad atlas compareing that with outher maps give diffrent names I have seen at leased 4 maybe 6 diffrent names for the new york central. Lehigh valley can be a hard one with all of there paper railroads as well they out down that name on the maps intesd of there name on occation.

[calorosome]

Apologies for the late reply...

Conrail switched to Morse Chain works until a 1984 derailment closed the line. I camped at Buttermilk Falls in 2001 and stumbled onto the old DL&W ROW and switchback.

If you visit Buttermilk Falls state park and walk down to the maintenance barns (gated off to traffic), you can spot tracks through the woods. Conrail never pulled these up and they are orphaned. This was the grade along South Hill out of Ithaca, and many of the original DL&W screw spikes are still in place in the ties.

I followed the grade all the way to the plant and there are other orphaned track sections still in place...! I know, long walk - but I can walk miles in the woods.

I discovered this stretch when I was camping there in June 2001.

The Morse Chain works is now a transformer plant and can be seen to the left of 96B as you head north downhill towards downtown. The DL&W crossed 96B right by the plant, I remember crossing signals still in place in the mid/late 1960s. The ROW grade is discernable in front of the plant.

There is a traffic light at that point - turn right and you parallel the ROW to your right. At the next street is a sign for a trail. This trail is the old ROW. As you walk the trail it will go up a hill, too steep for a ROW. Continue walking straight and you will shortly cross a pair of concrete bridges at different elevations - this is the north point of the switchback. From here you can sight where the switchback ROW went. I could never find the south point of the switchback and suspect that it is heavily obliterated by modern development. The ROW of the switchback up the hill is heavily overgrown.

From Buttermilk Falls to the Ithaca DL&W station there is next to nothing left.

April/May is an ideal time to trace this out.

[bwparker1]

Last time I was in Ithaca, about 2 years ago, a walking bridge had been built over Route 13 to connect the ROW that is along South Hill with the ROW that would connect into the present day NS Ithaca Secondary. I was guessing that it was becoming a rail trail.

Can anyone confirm this?

Does anyone have pictures of the line in use by Conrail or the LVRR?

Brooks

[henry6]

...in the early 60s, lived on Hudson St. on Ithaca's South Hill right near the switchback and drove Coddingotn Rd. to Willsyville often to follow the DL ROW. So, having been in Ithaca last Sat. (2/19) I came back to Bingo via Hudson St and Coddington Rd. Since the leaves are gone, and despite the cover of snow, the ROW is seen perfectly from Aurora St to Willsyville, switchback portions (pedestrian pathways) and all! Even the old E. C. & I. roadbed is still visable! If you go: beware of turkey flocks, deer herds, llamas, and motorists who don't know and don't care about what you are looking at and for!!

[calorosome]

The bridge is fenced off on both ends, no way to cross it. No sign of a trail being built on the ROW.

Thanks for the tip on Coddington Rd to Willseyville, I will explore that. Always wondered if the ROW paralleled a road.