Rochester's Subway tunnel to be filled in

You're welcome, Parker.

I've talked to many people over the years who rode the subway at various times. A former neighbor of mine told me that she used to ride the subway to and from her job at the General Motors plant at the western end of the line. My parents, who were born in the 1920's, told me that they rarely rode the subway since it's route didn't serve anywhere they wanted to go. This seems to be a common comment from many people who were alive when the subway was in operation.
I have a copy of the "End of the Line" video which aired on WXXI-TV a few years ago. It's got some amazing footage!

The Subway was a great idea in theory... in practice it was something else. It made sense as a conduit for the streetcar lines. If we were in Philly, the service would have beed called "Subway-Surface." You had the Dewey Ave line that ran from Kodak Park into the Subway- surely that line was well-travelled? I wonder how many people rode to work at General Motors? Or how many people commuted from Brighton to downtown? You had the connecting interurbans until 1931. There was a proposal to connect the other end of the Dewey-Park line (the busiest streetcar line) to the Subway. I mentioned in another thread that provisions were made in the Subway tunnel under Rundel to continue east to the corner of Averill and Park Ave- the tunnel would emerge and cars would continue on the Park Ave. surface line. There were proposals to build an additional station stop at clinton Ave (right by the GeVa theatra), there were proposals to extend the line across the city border into Pittsford (impossible for city politicians to understand). More proposals came in the 1950s to operate RDC's in the Subway, and to use local freight lines for access to Henrietta, the then-new airport in Chili, and other routes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the city commissioned transportation consultants to evaluate re-opening the Subway. Largely to silence critics, they put impossible expensive demands on the study: welded rail, cab signals, high-level platforms, elevators, etc etc- making reopening the Subway unattractive (this is how the western part got filled in after 1976). That same transportation consultant told me that with some general repairs to the stations, track, and tunnel, the Subway could have been re-opened at minimum cost... there has been much talk and many proposals to use all or part of the Subway tunnel in Rochester. Unfortunately, talk is cheap and any serious consideration would require sizeable monetary investment- not to mention political support.

http://www.animatusstudio.com/videoprod ... ubway.html

The "End of The Line" video is also available from the NYMT gift shop:

http://www.nymtmuseum.org/

-otto-

was there any equipment saved and put in any museums?

SRS125 wrote:was there any equipment saved and put in any museums?

Subway Car 60 is the only surviving car. It is now undergoing restoration at the Rochester Geneseee Valley RR Museum.

http://www.rochnrhs.org/Semaphore/RCNRH ... AR2001.pdf

(see photo and story on Page 5)

Subway Gas Loco "L2" and the "Casey Jones" track car are at the NY Museum of Transportation. The track car is fully restored and operable and the L2 is undergoing restoration.

http://www.nymtmuseum.org/RailEquipment.html

Plug: The L-2 and Car 60 both need donations of people, services, time, and money. As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the shutdown of the Rochester Subway (June 30, 1956), it would be nice to have those items restored (operating or just cosmetically) to mark to occassion.

Car 60 is a project of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, a project of the Rochester Chapter, NRHS.

Locomotive L-2 is a project of the New York Museum of Transportation.

Together, the two groups sponsor joint museum operations every summer. Visit sometime and check it out!

Learn more about the Subway here: http://railroad.net/articles/railfannin ... /index.php

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Currently, there is a wooden staircase leading from the corner of the War Memorial right into the Subway, with no signs saying you shouldn't. They made access easier- do they want people walking around in there? No gates, no nothin. Don't take my post as an invite to start exploring down there. Just wondering what the new wooden staircase was for.

rls62 wrote:The new wooden staircase that Otto refers to is (I think) part of the city's plan for a riverwalk through downtown.

I was there a few weeks ago, and the staircase is no longer there.

I wonder if it wasn't put there temporarily for workers of some kind...?

I think the stair case was put in for when they were pushing the idea for the underground mall in the bridge over the river so the news and talking heads could get inside to see.

Chris

calorosome wrote:A couple of years ago, the Rochester D&C had an article on homeless people. Many of them live in the tunnel.

I'm sure not all of them are the hospitable variety, so I don't recommend exploring the tunnels.

Absolutely right. I went down there once with a friend and it's not pretty. We did this in daylight, so I'd hate to think of what it would be like at night.

I think the only reason that the rest of the tunnel wasn't filled in was because R&S used a portion of it to ship large paper rolls to Gannett. Will the dirt be shipped in by rail?

Any additional info on possible tours??

When are they planning to start the fill-in work??

There's not a lot to see in the tunnels. Unless you have maps and diagrams and photos to compare to... you really have to fill in a lot of the details yourself. Don't go down there expecting to find station signs or other evidence of a transit operation- all the "souvenirs" are long gone (and some are preserved in museums).

-otto-

check this out.
(I have no connection with these people! no clue who they are, I just came across these webpages awhile back..never been inside the subway bed myself..although I would love to tour it!)


http://www.industrialnewyork.com/rail/2 ... ndex.shtml

http://www.infiltration.org/transit-roch.html

http://www.infiltration.org/gallery/roch-outside.html

http://www.kittyempire.com/viewy/roch/entrance.html

No wonder the subway didn't fare well - built in 1927, way past metropolitan development of Rochester and much harder to lay down ROW to points all around. Philadelphia and other cities had streetcar lines everywhere.

Last week I just happened to watch a PBS documentary that my father taped years ago - GM's conspiracy to dismantle the nation's streetcar system and replace it with buses and interurban highways. Sad story.

Saw the same piece about GM and the subways/trolleys. According to some other articles that I've read (including Trains), Ford was in on the comspiracy, too. And even though I drive GM cars almost exclusively, I think it's good kharma that they and Ford are in trouble now- let 'em know what it's like to feel the lash of unfair competition...

Firestone and a couple of oil companies were in on the conspiracy too. It's all on paper, GM tried very hard to hide their tracks.

Anybody interested in a legal tour of the subway ??
If it can be arranged ??