What is being built here? Belfast, NY

[nydepot]

It was mailed from Belfast, which is usually near where it was taken. The grade left to right is pretty steep but it could be the optics. The temp trestle will probably get filled. Postmarked 1906, so it's before the Erie River line was complete.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Charles

Scan003.jpg

[thebigham]

It's the fill for the Erie River Line over the B&S tracks.

More pics like this one are here:

http://gallery.alleganyhistory.org/albu ... t/Railroad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RailKevin]

So, they built a wooden trestle just to dump fill from it? That would make for a massive berm. Is it still around today?

[Wayside]

That's how they did it, with teams of horses or mules pulling cartloads of fill out onto the trestle. Took skill and nerve to take a team out there and back.

[tree68]

So, they built a wooden trestle just to dump fill from it? That would make for a massive berm. Is it still around today?

The big fill at Barneveld on today's MA&N (nee PC, nee NYC, nee RW&O, nee U&BR) probably still has the wooden trestle within it, just like all of the similar construction jobs, and the one in the picture.

The trestle at Barneveld was completed so a source for fill (the top of a hill) on the other side could be reached by rail. A bridge inspector advised the railroad at the time that he couldn't give the bridge more than two or three years, to which the reply was "that's all we need."

I've been over that fill many times. In addition, it's the beginning of the long grade into Remsen.

[thebigham]

So, they built a wooden trestle just to dump fill from it? That would make for a massive berm. Is it still around today?

Yes, still here at Bing Maps:

https://binged.it/2AXzpKk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New York State has bought the former Erie River Line from Cuba to Belfast and will turn parts of it into The Greenway rail trail.

[nydepot]

So you think it's the B&S underneath the in-progress Erie?

So, they built a wooden trestle just to dump fill from it? That would make for a massive berm. Is it still around today?

Yes, still here at Bing Maps:

https://binged.it/2AXzpKk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New York State has bought the former Erie River Line from Cuba to Belfast and will turn parts of it into The Greenway rail trail.

[thebigham]

Definitely the B&S. A better view in this pic:

http://gallery.alleganyhistory.org./gal ... elfast.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The PRR was straight.

[nydepot]

Glad to see this other photo. I know the PRR was straight. Wanted to rule out track for bringing in fill.

Here is another photo from the same area. Lots of fill and the trestle is disappearing.

Scan001.jpg

Definitely the B&S. A better view in this pic:

http://gallery.alleganyhistory.org./gal ... elfast.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The PRR was straight.

[pumpers]

That sure is a lot of fill to bring in one wagonload at a time! I wonder where the "borrow pit" was where they got it all from, or if there was a nearby big cut being dug on the Erie.

[Fireman43]

Interesting. OK Help me out here. As I drove along Rt19 many years ago I wondered what the ROW was that paralleled the south side of 19 in the area north ? of the viaduct over the Genesee - So its the B & S .... so THIS fill in the thread is part of the line that went over the Genesee ? I forget what the name of the cutoff was called but was in future years was it the Erie RR?
OK heading back north along Rt 19 a few miles till you hit the sharp bend in the river by Mill Street and before you hit CR 243 i swear there was or is a large concrete retaining wall on the NW inside of the river curve i always thought looked like an abutment for a bridge ( Rail or Highway). Is my memory failing?

thanks for any info.

Mark

[nydepot]

Both items you reference are the Pennsylvania Railroad Rochester Branch. And the trestle was the Erie Railroad's River Line.

Interesting. OK Help me out here. As I drove along Rt19 many years ago I wondered what the ROW was that paralleled the south side of 19 in the area north ? of the viaduct over the Genesee - So its the B & S .... so THIS fill in the thread is part of the line that went over the Genesee ? I forget what the name of the cutoff was called but was in future years was it the Erie RR?
Mark

[pumpers]

Interesting. OK Help me out here. As I drove along Rt19 many years ago I wondered what the ROW was that paralleled the south side of 19 in the area north ? of the viaduct over the Genesee - So its the B & S .

The B&S was west of 19 and along side it in places, but only south of Belfast. North of the viaduct in the picture in Belfast it started climbing up the hill right away to go to Rushford, well west of 19

... so THIS fill in the thread is part of the line that went over the Genesee ? I forget what the name of the cutoff was called but was in future years was it the Erie RR?

Yes, it was built by the Erie in the early 1900's , called the "RIver line", it cut the corner between the existing Erie lines, from Cuba to Portageville, and was abandoned around 1960-1970(?) . Now being turned into a trail

OK heading back north along Rt 19 a few miles till you hit the sharp bend in the river by Mill Street and before you hit CR 243 i swear there was or is a large concrete retaining wall on the NW inside of the river curve i always thought looked like an abutment for a bridge ( Rail or Highway). Is my memory failing?

YOu mean just south of Caneadea? There was what became a Pennsylvania RR line (called the Rochester Branch further north, not sure about down here) along the Genesee valley, often in the old canal R.o.W. South of Mill St it ran along what is now 19 on the east side and north of MIll st it was along 19 on the west side, crossing over near Mill St. That could be what that abutment was for. This line went out in the 1950-1960 time frame I would guess.
A good place to sort it out is http://www.historicaerials.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, which also has old topo maps, or https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/40.01/-99.93" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . But the B&S was only around about 10 years in the early 1900's, it is not on many of the maps.

[nydepot]

Conrail embargoed the River Line on May 8, 1977.

PRR went out in 1963.

[mkirsch]

Another good place to sort it out is Craigslist, amazingly enough. Just find an ad on the Buffalo or Rochester site with a map in it, expand your browser to full screen, and expand the map to full screen.

For some reason those little maps contain all the abandoned rail lines. If you zoom out they are easier to see, but as you zoom in they almost disappear, but they are still there as almost white lines on a light gray background.