CSX Charlotte Runner

Gyro wrote:Rode my mini bike past there may times during the late sixties, to swim in the river at the large round concrete docks.

Since we have a few guys on here who remember the area, I'll recall that nasty German Shepard "Lady" on Bennington Drive who roamed freely along the tracks, and also the annoying dogs on Sheppler Street who would chase along side our bicycles while we put our feet up on the handlebars and hoped the dogs would give up before the bike slowed enough to require more pedaling.

Oh, the perils of railfanning!

We use to hit the tracks at the field off MacArthur, near the power utility. The RR cops were our main concern and I don't believe we ever saw one. The big thrill swimming the river was yelling snapping turtle and 6 kids trying to climb the steel ladder on the side of the concrete dock at the same time. Thinking the other night how few photographs we took. Other than cost, why bother. Nothing would change. Now I bike through there, nearly every good weather day and can't really remember how it was.

Work has started at the Charlotte end.

BR&P wrote:

I have not been there recently, but between tracks being removed, power lines being built, and trees and brush growing up, I'm sure this would be unrecognizable today.

Great pics!

I hiked the area around Black Bridge a couple of years ago. It's very overgrown, with lots of vegetation growing out of the bridge itself. I accessed the area from a cul-de-sac off of Lake, it's City property, now. The RoW for the dock branch straddles the cemetery, I walked up that, across the bridgs, and then on over to the RoW which went into Matthews&Fields (and at one time beyond there).

I've been following Rochester-area threads on here for some time, and decided to join. There is a lot of valuable information here, amazing, really.

The coal trestles on the river fascinate me, I've hiked the trails at Turning Point and have tried to visualize what went on there. One big question I have is which one burned? I've also wondered about the really old line which ran across the big berm there in the park, it looks lime it could have been an approach for the trestle which was in the turning basin.

The fire (I think there may have been several) was down by the river's edge and burned what used to be the slip for the car ferry. Both Pietrak's BR&P book and Rafuse's "Coal To Canada" books have pics of how that used to look when in operation.

I believe the berm you are talking about accessed the old Roberts Dock.

Got a few more pics printed. These are from 1962, and the Second Belt is coming up from Charlotte with an unusually short 1-car train. First pic looks across Dewey Avenue (Barnard's Crossing). The second shot is just a few hundred feet south, and the train has stopped to cut off the power and pull some empties from Nichols Wyman Lumber. The structure at the right is where Empire Blower Company loaded a car or two a year - the track went right through that shelter and I believe there was an overhead crane or chainfall which could bring the large ductwork out and place it on a flat car.

Nice shots, DRB!!

BR&P, do you know when the Belt's second track was removed? It's my understanding the entire line used to be double tracked up to Charlotte.

I can't give a date on the removal of the second track. I'd guess late 40's early 50's but that's speculation. I THINK that in the late 50's, the remains of the ties etc were still in place, and at some point they were removed to make an access road. (we kids used to call it "Central Road"). But the second track was certainly gone by 1960.

I have train orders from NYC&HRRR from the 1890's and the line obviously was double track back then. I THINK passenger service ended in the 1930's. Maybe C2629 or TBDiamond can provide more info. I also sent an email to an old timer (even more ancient than me! ) to see if he remembers.

The ties for the second track were still in place in the late fiftys. I think but am not positive they were removed in 1960, but don't bet your life savings on that.

RailKevin wrote:BR&P, do you know when the Belt's second track was removed? It's my understanding the entire line used to be double tracked up to Charlotte.

BR&P wrote:I can't give a date on the removal of the second track. I'd guess late 40's early 50's but that's speculation.

Talked to my friend who says he remembers making drops over the crossovers just south of Hague Street in the 1940's. He did not say just when, or if the second track was still in all the way to Charlotte back then. I'm aiming at breakfast with him next week, sometimes in person works better than email questions.

Thank you. I am wondering if the decline in passenger traffic had anything to do with the second track removal. Freight traffic on the Belt must have still been booming at that time.

I don't remember the date but I believe it was mid to late 1930's that the passenger service on that branch ended. So yes, that was probably THE reason they did not need the second track.

Talked to my friend today. He says he is SURE the second track was in to Kodak in the mid 1940's, may have been in all the way to Charlotte but not positive. He does not know when it was torn out - after all, about 70 years back is a long time to recall! He remembers working Kodak on one of the Belt jobs with a conductor named Luzier but can't remember his first name. Back then he also worked the State Street job with a conductor named Danzig, and that guy's son was Kenny Danzig who was a conductor here in the 1970's.

Last, I asked about the Ridge Road West entrance to Kodak, he said that was already there in about 1944. He said that in much more recent times, he was working there and right about at the Kodak gate, he pulled a date nail from a tie and it was a 35. So a good guess for putting in the "new" entrance to Kodak would be about 1935-36.

I found an old card today on which I had jotted down the mileages on the Charlotte Branch. No note on where I copied the info from nor the effective date, but I'd guess 1890 or so given that Yates and Roberts Docks are shown. I'd guess the mileage is computed from whatever "Rochester" station was in use on the main line at that time.

Brown St. 1.07
Ames St. Jct 1.84
Otis 2.88
Driving Park 4.04
Barnard 6.37
Roberts Dock 7.70
Yates Dock 8.55
Double Track Jct 8.86
Charlotte 9.31
RWO Crossing 9.56
Ontario Beach 9.93

Going back to our discussions several pages back regarding Yates Dock, sometime pretty soon would be a good time to make a hike of the area while the brush is still dormant. Perhaps meet at the parking lot for the park, at the foot of Boxart Street, and walk down across the bridge over the turning basin. Anybody interested in setting something up?