What was this spur off the Clarence/Peanut Line?

N 43.00484 W 78.67181 is National Gypsum Co.

N 43.00288 W 78.65182 is Universal Atlas Cement Co.

SST wrote: ↑Tue Apr 28, 2020 7:02 pm I also live about 3 miles away. I'll have to take a look. Is the abutment above the escarpment or below. parallel to the escarpment or perpendicular?
I've only walked it once a few years ago and I don't remember seeing it. Something to do.

It's above/at the top of the the escarpment. The abutment is between the trail and the edge. I don't know how to consider it parallel or perpendicularly placed, it just looks like it was a support to something that led off the escarpment. That place was really flat though, fallen trees, cut up logs..no large rocks except for the crumbled stuff where dirt's worn down to that beginning layer of rock at the top of the escarpment. The biggest "rock" there was this.

# 2 Gyp plant. ( my earlier pictures expired)

First is Universal Atlas. I need to take a spin up that path”the Waterford” to see if any remnants)

Nice pictures. I tried walk the escarpment but after all the rain we just received, it was swamped. If anybody is going to walk there, wear water proof boots. Or, wait awhile.

Well I walked it today but I didn't find the abutment. I searched in the area of your pin drop but found nothing. Where was this relative to the cabin?

But I did find 5 very old concrete pedestals covered with moss but 3 with threaded metal rods coming out. I think they were just dumped here. I walked a straight line to the edge of the clif but see nothing in regards to the abutment. I'll post pictures later.

(42.9786722, -78.6524216)

These are the coordinates of the pedestals.

EDIT: These pedestals are not the traditional RR pedestals that you see along a railroad.

SST wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 2:54 pm Well I walked it today but I didn't find the abutment. I searched in the area of your pin drop but found nothing. Where was this relative to the cabin?

But I did find 5 very old concrete pedestals covered with moss but 3 with threaded metal rods coming out. I think they were just dumped here. I walked a straight line to the edge of the clif but see nothing in regards to the abutment. I'll post pictures later.

This is what I saw. I could see someone mowing their rear lawn, down below.

Interesting- appears to be faced with limestone which everyone it seems in Clarence and Newstead has either a stone fence or old building foundations of the stuff.
Mark

Wow, I didn't see this!

After viewing the top picture and then going to google SAT view, I think I found the two houses in your picture and therefore the approximate location. If I'm correct, the abutment is west of the cabin. I think that if I had walked another 100 feet west of the park benches, I would have found it. I had my small binoculars with me and "scanned" the area west of me, but obviously I didn't see it. I'll try again. You're picture helped out a lot.

I would venture to guess that this is not railroad related. It doesn't have the "standard" form that a bridge would be attached too. Plus, this looks like it was "slapped" together where most of the abutments and pedestals of a railroad have an appearance of being engineered from a blueprint. What is interesting though, that due north is the former Atlas plant with its row. But wouldn't it be a fairly steep grade if there were a connection between these two points?

The funny thing is, for all the years I drove along Clarence Center Rd and on Heise Rd and always noticing the wide clearing on the south side of Clarence Center Rd, it never dawned on me that it was for a RR. The brush on the Peanut was so unbelievably thick that it made D-Day hedgerows look like flowers. I never could see anything that would have triggered a reason to look for a spur. I was kinda surprised they converted it to a trail.

In regards to that ROW, both Clarence and Newstead have done a nice job turning both the NYC Peanut and the West Shore into nice Rail trails.
Now Newstead has extended and paved the Peanut all the way to Main Street Akron ( rt 93?), just shy of Akron Falls Park.
Funny just today heading NW back between Pembrook to Amherst I decided to take “Roads less traveled” off Rt 5 and crisscrossed both trails numerous times. Well developed with benches, parking and informational signage.

In regards where these two lines intersected (Akron Junction ) Id ike to get some information as to the diamond how traffic may have been controlled . Thanks Mark

Wow, you've left me with something else to explore! haha. I never thought the Peanut would be extended beyond the JCT. I just looked at Google SAT and street view and see its "under Construction." Last year and this year I've ridden on the WSRR trail and as I passed the mobile home park to its east, I noticed a path being carved out of the woods. It never dawned on me that this would connect the Peanut. I just thought it was a sewer line or water line or something getting installed. I hope they pave the Peanut in the park.

Here are the pictures of what I took in the Thompson Rd park. Maybe 150 feet east of the cabin and just off the trail on the left as your walking towards Thompson Rd. These maybe associated with the Girl Scout camp that use to be here long ago. I did a quick search but didn't come up with anything.

well I may be assuming the peanut was completed From Akron Junction to Main Street.
What I’m seeing is just looking west from Main Street in back of Strippet - it’s all paved as far as I can see to the west .

I drove out to Akron late yesterday and drove down 93. I too saw the path going west. So I parked the car and dragged out the bike. Its paved all the way to the WSRR. But the connection is about 1 mile or so east of the actual JCT. The mobile home park sits on the ROW. Its a very nice trail. Very nicely done. I've been on the WSRR path a couple of times this year and couldn't figure out why I missed the paving of the Peanut. But then I realized I deviate off the WSRR at Barnum Rd and head north and then hop on the Peanut heading east to the JCT and then head west back to Wehrle Dr. I never went further east of the JCT. A nice surprise.

The first run westbound, with the sun in front of me, I couldn't find anything left over related to a RR having been there. The only thing I could see was the old fence with RR tie posts and the fence attached. But on my way back, I did find a few things. I saw a couple of RR ties plowed off to the side. One concrete RR pedestal near the cement plant silos.

The cement plant is interesting. Many years I flew over it and could see a big hole near the silos. I always wanted to check it out but seeing how big that hole was, I was never really ambitious about exploring it. Speaking to my brother in law last night, he tells me that he explored it and while speaking to somebody on the property, the hole turns out to be an air vent for the gypsum mines. Because so many kids tried to get into it, apparently they filled it in. So, with easy access to the plant, someday this summer I'll check it out. Here are some pictures that I took:

This is at Rt93 looking west. Nothing done behind me into the park. They'll have to do a switch back kinda thing with the sidewalk to get down to the ROW from the road. Or dump a lot of fill to raise the path.


The cement plant silos.


This is where the actual ROW and bike path split. Straight into the grass is the ROW and obviously going to the right is the path.


This picture is at the JCT looking west. WSRR on the left and the Peanut on the right [if only it could go uninterrupted to Tonawanda].


This picture is also at the JCT looking east. WSRR keeping to the left and the Peanut in the direction of my shadow. The big tank that's been lying there forever is still there. I walked up to the fence to take a looking inside and many homes are sitting on the ROW which explains the deviation of the path. Better that then nothing. The connection is about 1 mile east around the bend.


I rode my bike on the Peanut to the WS and then headed into town. I stopped at Guys Sub. Guys has been around a long time. My family use to order subs from their sub shop when they had one at Thompson and Main St. Best sub ever! I randomly stop at the Akron shop to get a Salami sub with oil. Still the best!

Where exactly are the old silos you mentioned? I have checked Google Maps, but can not find them. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places. Thanks.

(43.0068587, -78.5127194)

I copied this with my cell phone so hopefully it will be correct. It is between rt93 and Commings. On the south side of the row.