Abandoned tracks

Thanks Matt...I saw my P after I posted...complacency left it there...old habit. Once I start spelling something wrong, I just can't seem to shake it. Kinda like putting on a sock-sock-shoe-shoe, so you're "even"...

GOLDEN-ARM wrote: This is just south of RT-23, along the border with (what's the name of the town, that gets flooded every year, and all of the houses are on stilts ?) some town, whose "soggy" name escapes me, at this moment. A pretty decent pizza joint, not far from there, was a good spot for beans, while waiting to get out. Regards

Pompton Plains, perhaps?

Hello can someone answer a possibly question.Going out of arcade ny route98 into sandusky ny .on the left hand side .there is a bunch of old concreat piles which at one time held rr bridges .going across a wide open field..and on the other side nothing showing there was ever a railroad rightaway ..was this part of the DL&w line ......the old bridge piles are on the right side of the road in route98 sandusky if your heading in towards arcade ny 14009 ...was told by some might be old dl&w line......lokks like it was rip up very long time ago .......any iformation welcome thanka

tippy1980 wrote:Hello can someone answer a possibly question.Going out of arcade ny route98 into sandusky ny .on the left hand side .there is a bunch of old concreat piles which at one time held rr bridges .going across a wide open field..and on the other side nothing showing there was ever a railroad rightaway ..was this part of the DL&w line ......the old bridge piles are on the right side of the road in route98 sandusky if your heading in towards arcade ny 14009 ...was told by some might be old dl&w line......lokks like it was rip up very long time ago .......any iformation welcome thanka

Is this what you mean?
http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?BnS-be ... o.ny.track

Dont belive so becuse these old bridge piles look real old might be but was told this was rip out years before the old rochester line was .......and was told these lines are from long ago .just moved out this way a few years ago.that other line on the map was futher down the road a old local told me ..

tippy1980 wrote:Dont belive so becuse these old bridge piles

Can you locate them on this aerial photo?
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.50450,-78.38470&z=13&t=H

If that photo isn't high enough resolution, try the DOQ on that same link.

tippy1980 wrote:Dont belive so becuse these old bridge piles look real old might be but was told this was rip out years before the old rochester line was .......and was told these lines are from long ago .just moved out this way a few years ago.that other line on the map was futher down the road a old local told me ..

Could be one of two RRs: the Tonawanda Valley & Cuba RR or (more likely) the standard Buffalo & Susquehanna RR. Both cross Rt. 98 between Arcade and Sandusky.

TVC was a narrow gauge line built in the early 1880s. It was not successful and was tirn out in around 1894 when the RR company was reorganized (for the second time). A remnant of the TVC survives today as the Arcade & Attica.

The B&S was a standard guage line built in the 1880s and 1890s, running from Buffalo to the edge of northern PA. It was a rural operation purchased by the B&O in 1932. The middle section of the line was washed out in 1942, and not replaced due to meager traffic levels. A portion of the line along the NY/PA border (south of Wellsville) was purchased in 1954, and became the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton RR, which operated until 1979. Because they lasted longer, I'm assuming the tracks you saw were B&S.

Matt, do you know if the B&S was built on the same railbed as the TV&C? I can only find one railbed through that valley.

RussNelson wrote:Matt, do you know if the B&S was built on the same railbed as the TV&C? I can only find one railbed through that valley.

Parallel railbeds, but TVC was built on the cheap so I doubt its reamains are easily seen. The line suffered under a pair of bankruptcies and even the portion that survives today (A&A) is in weak condition. TVC was also abandonned nearly 50 years before the B&S was dismantled, giving nature more time to reclaim the ROW.

I'm pretty sure that there are visible remains of the TV&C in other places. For example, I've found some suspicious lines whiich are pretty level and have gentle curves just north of Cuba Lake. Do you know if anybody has ever written about about the line? The closest I can find is Dick Palmer's newspaper clippings. According to wnyrail, the TV&C crossed Cream Ridge, but if they did, it must have been crazy steep.

Matt Langworthy wrote:

RussNelson wrote:Matt, do you know if the B&S was built on the same railbed as the TV&C? I can only find one railbed through that valley.

Parallel railbeds, but TVC was built on the cheap so I doubt its reamains are easily seen. The line suffered under a pair of bankruptcies and even the portion that survives today (A&A) is in weak condition. TVC was also abandonned nearly 50 years before the B&S was dismantled, giving nature more time to reclaim the ROW.

The B&S from Wellsville to Buffalo was torn out in 1917-ish, not anywhere near 50 years after the TV&C.

The abutments you speak of are ex-B&S.

Charles

I'll pull out Lewis' A&A book tonight but I belive the B&S was built on the TV&C once it gets near Sandusky. The B&S on the A&A is the section from the wye in Arcade near the enginehouse to near the interchange with NS. The B&S as it came into Arcade came in on the old TV&C. The TV&C came into Arcade and is the current line to Curriers.

Charles

Well, if you look around on wnyrails.org, it appears as if the TV&C and its successor the BA&A was bought by the B&S to run from Wellsville to Buffalo. So, you have TV&C building in 1880, 1881 from Attica to Currier to Arcade, Sandusky, Freedom, Rushford, Hardy Corners, Rawson, and Cuba (and perhaps south to Hinsdale). They went bankrupt in 1894 and immediately became the BA&A standard-gauged from Attica to Arcade then west to Yorkshire and south to Sandusky. Then in 1904 they were sold to the B&S for their Wellsville to Buffalo line. In 1916 all was torn up and sold for scrap. Not clear what happened to the Attica to Arcade line while the B&S owned it. Clearly, though, the B&S sold it to the Arcade and Attica intact, along with the branch line to the PRR in Yorkshire.

To add to the fun, the TV&C predecessor, the Attica and Allegheny Valley Railroad, graded most of the route between Attica and Arcade, although they ran out of money before they could lay rail. How much do you want to bet that the TV&C built on the A&AV grade? Now THAT would be difficult to prove. Might be do-able with lots and lots of research in the county clerk's office. Let's say that you found a bit of railbed between Arcade and Attica which wasn't A&A. How could you tell if it was relocated from TV&C, or TV&C relocated from A&AV.

Quite a puzzle!

The B&S never owned the Arcade to Attica part. The B&S got parts of the TV&C south of Arcade. Those portions were abandoned in pieces.

Charles

nydepot wrote:

Matt Langworthy wrote:

RussNelson wrote:Matt, do you know if the B&S was built on the same railbed as the TV&C? I can only find one railbed through that valley.

Parallel railbeds, but TVC was built on the cheap so I doubt its reamains are easily seen. The line suffered under a pair of bankruptcies and even the portion that survives today (A&A) is in weak condition. TVC was also abandonned nearly 50 years before the B&S was dismantled, giving nature more time to reclaim the ROW.

The B&S from Wellsville to Buffalo was torn out in 1917-ish, not anywhere near 50 years after the TV&C.

The abutments you speak of are ex-B&S.

Charles

Are you sure? This link indicates the year was indeed 1942. In order for the the tracks that became WAG to be physically connected to the B&O prior to the flood of '42, there would have been at least a connection between Wellsville and the BR&P in Freedom. [/url]