Yesterday was my 51st birthday. For my birthday present my wife gave me the weekend to go chase railroads, which was very nice of her because my new job requires me to be away nearly every weekend.
Started off by chasing the Ogdensburgh, Clayton & Rome. Found the section north of Lowville, in the campground. It has a very nice culvert which they finished but never backfilled. Or maybe the water overflowed the culvert and eroded the embankment?
Followed my conjectural route south of Lowville, created by staring at aerial photos. I found one embankment which was slightly sloped on the top, and too wide. More likely to be an esker. I found another embankment, though, which was straight, level, and a consistent width. No strong evidence that it was a railbed, though.
North of Pixley Falls I found a bit of "road" going through a field which just didn't look like a road. It's possible that 46 was routed through the middle of the farmer's field where the old road went along the edge.
Unfortunately, the cut that I speculate leads to the western portal of aa tunnel was completely snowed-in with a good 6' of snow. It probably has snow until June. No sign of a tunnel, but I've seen reports saying that the tunnel is collapsed. The western end looks unfinished.
Found something like a fill on the south side of the river just above the Five Combines locks on the Black River canal. Also found where they would have brought the railroad back over the river, and on the western side of the river is a CLEAR embankment in the side of the hill. Runs for several miles on the western hillside.
Then I switched over to the Rome & Osceola. I'm NOT at all sure that the railroad was built to Lee Center. I saw zero evidence of a railroad north of Sleepy Hollow Road. South of it is a nice cut, which goes a few tens of feet north, but that's as far north as I see any sign that tracks had been laid. East of Steadman Road and north of Lee Center-Taberg Road is an embankment with a concrete culvert labelled 1*0* where the "*" could be any digit, but the first is most likely 9.
Found a stone arch bridge right here: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.31162,-75.54172&z=18&t=S
The fellow who lives in the trailer to the west of this road crossing says that it's definitely a railroad because it shows up on his deed as a ROW: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.32949,-75.55766&z=16&t=S
The people who live in this house said there was a railroad down this road, but I couldn't find it on the ground. Sometimes that's just how it is: something is obvious from an aerial photo, but invisible from the ground: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.32064,-75.55207&z=17&t=S
After that I went to the south end and there's a clear ROW heading up north towards Lee Center, but I saw no sign of ties or any other railroad infrastructure.
Crossed 69 and went down 46 a bit, to see that the rails had been pulled out of the highway and replaced by concrete paving stones. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.22869,-75.49650&z=14&t=M
Had dinner, met up with a friend. In the morning, I walked the inner wye: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.21620,-75.47906&z=17&t=S The north side is being used to store CSX gons. The west leg is free of brush and being used by ATVers. The south leg is completely brushed over, as is the inner wye.
This short stretch of track (probably two sticks) is completely cut off from everything: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.21306,-75.47222&z=17&t=S This siding, too:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20569,-75.44622&z=18&t=S and both of these:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20476,-75.44334&z=18&t=S (the building at the southwest which looks like it has just the steel now has nothing. Just two loading docks and tracks out in the open.
This siding is still connected: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20461,-75.44077&z=18&t=S as is this one: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20499,-75.41746&z=18&t=S but I didn't look at the complex of industrial buildings it serves.
Chased the Glenfield and Western. A very sorry railroad. Not much remains of it. Found a few bridge abutments but it's been plowed away wherever any farmer could.
On to Lowville, where even the small remnant of the Utica and Beaver River has been expunged from the plant. They needed the space for some huge tank, so the tracks were removed back to the chain-link fence.
Then on to Copenhagen, to chase the trolley line down the hill to West Carthage. Not much left of it, but that's typical of trolley lines.
Lots of cars being stored on the Newton Falls branch. Center beam cars near Carthage, and gons up near Natural Bridge. I think there's a LOT of spare gondola cars these days.
I saw the sadness that is Balmat. The zinc mine is closed again, not to reopen until zinc becomes MUCH more expensive. I presume that they'll just leave the railroad there, hoping that the mine will reopen sooner than the ties all rot away.
Saw some train between Canton and Dekalb about 5:20PM. Two CSX engines, mixed freight.
Back home in Potsdam, I stopped by the former Potsdam Hardwood plant. I knew it had been served by three sidings at one point. The aerial photo sure LOOKED like the tracks were still there. Stopped by, and yup, they were.
As of this posting, only a few of the photos are up on flickr.
Started off by chasing the Ogdensburgh, Clayton & Rome. Found the section north of Lowville, in the campground. It has a very nice culvert which they finished but never backfilled. Or maybe the water overflowed the culvert and eroded the embankment?
Followed my conjectural route south of Lowville, created by staring at aerial photos. I found one embankment which was slightly sloped on the top, and too wide. More likely to be an esker. I found another embankment, though, which was straight, level, and a consistent width. No strong evidence that it was a railbed, though.
North of Pixley Falls I found a bit of "road" going through a field which just didn't look like a road. It's possible that 46 was routed through the middle of the farmer's field where the old road went along the edge.
Unfortunately, the cut that I speculate leads to the western portal of aa tunnel was completely snowed-in with a good 6' of snow. It probably has snow until June. No sign of a tunnel, but I've seen reports saying that the tunnel is collapsed. The western end looks unfinished.
Found something like a fill on the south side of the river just above the Five Combines locks on the Black River canal. Also found where they would have brought the railroad back over the river, and on the western side of the river is a CLEAR embankment in the side of the hill. Runs for several miles on the western hillside.
Then I switched over to the Rome & Osceola. I'm NOT at all sure that the railroad was built to Lee Center. I saw zero evidence of a railroad north of Sleepy Hollow Road. South of it is a nice cut, which goes a few tens of feet north, but that's as far north as I see any sign that tracks had been laid. East of Steadman Road and north of Lee Center-Taberg Road is an embankment with a concrete culvert labelled 1*0* where the "*" could be any digit, but the first is most likely 9.
Found a stone arch bridge right here: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.31162,-75.54172&z=18&t=S
The fellow who lives in the trailer to the west of this road crossing says that it's definitely a railroad because it shows up on his deed as a ROW: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.32949,-75.55766&z=16&t=S
The people who live in this house said there was a railroad down this road, but I couldn't find it on the ground. Sometimes that's just how it is: something is obvious from an aerial photo, but invisible from the ground: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.32064,-75.55207&z=17&t=S
After that I went to the south end and there's a clear ROW heading up north towards Lee Center, but I saw no sign of ties or any other railroad infrastructure.
Crossed 69 and went down 46 a bit, to see that the rails had been pulled out of the highway and replaced by concrete paving stones. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.22869,-75.49650&z=14&t=M
Had dinner, met up with a friend. In the morning, I walked the inner wye: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.21620,-75.47906&z=17&t=S The north side is being used to store CSX gons. The west leg is free of brush and being used by ATVers. The south leg is completely brushed over, as is the inner wye.
This short stretch of track (probably two sticks) is completely cut off from everything: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.21306,-75.47222&z=17&t=S This siding, too:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20569,-75.44622&z=18&t=S and both of these:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20476,-75.44334&z=18&t=S (the building at the southwest which looks like it has just the steel now has nothing. Just two loading docks and tracks out in the open.
This siding is still connected: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20461,-75.44077&z=18&t=S as is this one: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.20499,-75.41746&z=18&t=S but I didn't look at the complex of industrial buildings it serves.
Chased the Glenfield and Western. A very sorry railroad. Not much remains of it. Found a few bridge abutments but it's been plowed away wherever any farmer could.
On to Lowville, where even the small remnant of the Utica and Beaver River has been expunged from the plant. They needed the space for some huge tank, so the tracks were removed back to the chain-link fence.
Then on to Copenhagen, to chase the trolley line down the hill to West Carthage. Not much left of it, but that's typical of trolley lines.
Lots of cars being stored on the Newton Falls branch. Center beam cars near Carthage, and gons up near Natural Bridge. I think there's a LOT of spare gondola cars these days.
I saw the sadness that is Balmat. The zinc mine is closed again, not to reopen until zinc becomes MUCH more expensive. I presume that they'll just leave the railroad there, hoping that the mine will reopen sooner than the ties all rot away.
Saw some train between Canton and Dekalb about 5:20PM. Two CSX engines, mixed freight.
Back home in Potsdam, I stopped by the former Potsdam Hardwood plant. I knew it had been served by three sidings at one point. The aerial photo sure LOOKED like the tracks were still there. Stopped by, and yup, they were.
As of this posting, only a few of the photos are up on flickr.
