Erie RR trackage in Waverly, NY

I have really nothing to do with Waverly specifically (although I am from Jersey City, and all three RRs that were in Waverly were there as well, does that count for anything?) but I would like to say that this is a fascinating thread that shows the real power of the 'net.

JMP welcome aboard!

Yes, I know Frank Evens well and will begain using him as a source asap.
I got the trestle info from a famous Valley modeler, John Reynolds...I graduated with John and he spend mucho time around the yard...I will tap him for more info. I just remember tonight that in 1972 I had to unload a boxcar spotted on a track at Loder St. which was slightly behind the freight station....I wonder if this was the lead for the elusive "trestle track"?

Thanks for the views of the mills area.....I am going out there this next week to poke around to check out the track there today and maybe locate old trackage from the 1950s.

Now for the LV footbridge....when scrapped my father-in-law bought parts of it to construct haywagons for his farm in Ulster....ironically I can visit the bridge when I please!

We have some great detectives on this problem...let's keep it going!

Great thread guys! As some of you may already know, my mother grew up in Waverly and my maternalgrandmother lived there from about 1941 until her death '87. Thus I have spent some time trackside there along EL, LV, CR and NS.

Stephen, I'm looking forward to seeing your layout. iwanted to help move that process with more maps, but this is all I found: http://www.empirestateroads.com/maps/waverly.jpg

I'd also recommend Trackside Arouind Sayre-Towandas-Waverly for pictures from the '50s. The book also has a very simple rail map of the area.

Hi Matt!
Glad to have you on board this thread.

Family connections with Waverly...great! It is a small world!

I have the "Trackside" book and it is terrific!

My proposed layout is in the planning stages right now....I spent most of Sunday PM at the site of the old and burned out shell of the Tioga Feed Mill which is in the same industrial complex as the Hagen Food Mill, formerly Kasco Mills, along with the former Quaker Oats/ Grand Union and now Lockheed Martin warehouse....I had the whole place to myself to take notes and find the lost trackage.....I am getting there but I need to go out again this next Sunday ( to avoid being arrested, I'm sure) to do more research..

In the thread I have mentioned a third track between the two mains and I discovered its leftover imprint Sunday. It apparently started just after the bridges over Cayuta Creek and ended just before the bridges over Shepard Road......just about 600 feet from where I grew up...that is why I remember that passing siding! That would make it about a mile and a half long.

More to come I hope!

stephen tubbs wrote:Hi Matt!

In the thread I have mentioned a third track between the two mains and I discovered its leftover imprint Sunday. It apparently started just after the bridges over Cayuta Creek and ended just before the bridges over Shepard Road......just about 600 feet from where I grew up...that is why I remember that passing siding! That would make it about a mile and a half long.

More to come I hope!

Steve,
that long "center siding" is mentioned in one of the "Erie Lackawanna in Color" books..I think your starting and ending points are right-on.

Im working on my 1980's photos right now, and I have a photo that shows the east end of the LV overpass, and the two mainlines get wider apart right at that point..to accomodate the "between the mainlines" long siding..
(the center siding was gone by the 80's..but the mainline tracks were still in their original "farther apart" position.)



This pic is right in front of the Tioga Mill, looking West,
you can see the Broad st extension bridge on the right.
You can see where the two mainlines widen and seperate right on the east side of the LV overpass bridge.

the three Alco RS1's are on their way to the Tioga Scenic in Owego.

Thats Mike Franz trackside, anyone know if Mike is still around?
I havent seen him since probably 1988..

Scot

Dang I miss the LV footbridge - great place to watch the action.

Hi Scot!
Yes, Mike is still around....I saw him and his brother and dad at Original Italian Grille Saturday night....Mike is a teacher at Sayre I believe...worked for awhile for the Evening Times newspaper....great folks the Frantz family....he is married and has a couple of kids.

Talked to my number one Waverly source John Reynolds this AM...he said we are correct about the passing siding and says it serviced both east and west bound traffic....started at one bridge as you noted and ended where I thought it had. John also said the elusive trestle service the GLF store, not the lumber yard as I have said ....that was on the east end of Broad St. I think I can get a map from his memory coming sometime in the future!

I just spent my second Sunday afternoon in a row trespassing out east of Waverly at the old Tioga and Kasco Mills industrial area...

There is some RR action there this weekend: They have cut down the small trees and shrubs which have overgrown the switchback into the Kasco (now Hagan ) mill.....preparing for rail traffic again....there has been none since Hagan arrived on the scene a couple of years ago.

I also checked out the Lockheed (formerly Grand Union) warehouse and walked the track which at one time connected the complex to the DL&W from the south side of the complex (right where Rt. 17 is now located)

Discovered the former trackage into the south side of the Kasco building before wheeling out of there as my visit was drawing some attention!