Gulf Trestle Lockport NY

Few ( no many ) questions on the Gulf Trestle.
I’ll try and keep them straight with corresponding pics.

The Somerset RR. Was it named after the coal plant or was this an existing rail company?

In regards to the trestle , it appears it was in existence to serve the manufacturing plants below prior to the coal plant ?

I see the line is torn up north of Old Niagara road and still intact south of Old Niagara .
Looking at Old Niagara Road there is a spur that rises up from the south cut and dead ends at the road.
What would this had been used for ?

Ok

Here are the pics I was trying to load

Trestle was built to serve the power plant. I believe Somerset is the township or village the plant was in.

I'm not certain, but the rail line MAY have followed an old trolley line northward part of the way. Somebody please confirm or refute that.

Yes the plant is in town of Somerset. My curiosity is about that RR are posts about 100’s of hoppers scrapped after the plant closed.

More questions is how were those companies down in the ‘valley’ served before that trestle?

"I'm not certain, but the rail line MAY have followed an old trolley line northward part of the way. Somebody please confirm or refute that."

Yes, there was an old trolley line (abandoned) between Lockport and Olcott (Olcott was a bit of a summer resort).

The Sommerset RR (named after the town where the power plant was located) followed the trolley roadbed until it crosses the old Hojack ROW, then went East about 5 miles on the Hojack ROW. The it went North a few miles on a totally new ROW to enter the power plant.

The Gulf Trestle was built new to serve the power plane circa 1980 ish. There is also a new built bridge over NYS Route 18 just in in front of the plant.

"I'm not certain, but the rail line MAY have followed an old trolley line northward part of the way. Somebody please confirm or refute that."

Yes, there was an old trolley line (abandoned) between Lockport and Olcott (Olcott was a bit of a summer resort).

The Sommerset RR (named after the town where the power plant was located) followed the trolley roadbed until it crosses the old Hojack ROW, then went East about 5 miles on the Hojack ROW. The it went North a few miles on a totally new ROW to enter the power plant.

The Gulf Trestle was built new to serve the power plant circa 1980 ish. There is also a new built bridge over NYS Route 18 just in in front of the plant.

I do not believe any of the companies in the "valley" ever had rail service, but I could be mistaken.

Ok , there are spurs to the plants now - maybe put in after the trestle was built

Prior to the Somerset RR, the lower town ("valley") businesses were served. The rail spurred off the Falls Road south of where the Lake Road/Matt Murphy Bridge is. There is an oddly angled driveway, because the ROW was just to the left of it.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1824482 ... FQAw%3D%3D
When the Somerset RR went in (trestle built), the smaller trestle over the canal was removed and Route 78 was connected to Market Street by newly built Matt Murphy Bridge.
The ROW ran in front of Niagara Fiberboard on Van Buren Street (maybe serving them? or whatever the business was called 40+ years ago) and got to Mill Street- there was a factory that burned and was razed south side of Olcott St @ Mill (there were tracks in the ground when the building was standing) and then got from this point to a bridge that still stands over 18 Mile Creek-see where Gooding takes a left curve just after Harwood- https://maps.app.goo.gl/tnUfJUv8R2z7zZiy8 - at the north side of this along Mill Street you can see Van De Mark Chemical and follow Mill St to the west and you'll see the rails.

The part of the Somerset RR that stands- these businesses are served by it. In the current google maps overhead you can see white tanks with the black bands sitting in there. And I just noticed that that gooogle overhead is new because the tracks are gone north of Old Niagara Rd.

As for the siding that comes up to Old Niagara Road- looks like it was used for lower town cuts of cars while coal trains ran through.

Great info from all. _ thanks .
I’ve got to go back to checking out the area where the original access to lower town as it came off the Falls Road.

I know there was another thread on here not I many years ago explaining tjat connect - it may have been from you .

Thanks again

Mark

Fireman43 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 11:45 pm I’ve got to go back to checking out the area where the original access to lower town as it came off the Falls Road.

I know there was another thread on here not I many years ago explaining tjat connect - it may have been from you .

If you go there, right at Market and Lake Road (Matt Murphy Bridge over the Erie Canal- merges into Rt 78 and Reid's Hot Dog Stand is there), just look for the driveway bent towards Market Street.

And I may have gained that knowledge from a thread in this forum, or I looked at early 1900s maps of the area I forget now. But living in the area led me to try to figure it out.

Brian

A relative of mine sent me this....https://www.newfanehistoricalsociety.co ... y.html#two

There are 3 parts to this story and I believe part 2 has information about the IRC serving Newfane to Olcott. Thought maybe this would add a little something to the conversation. It's a bit long but its good info.

thanks for the history link - heck of a story.
Read all 3 parts , the details are amazing .who would have imagined all this building and infrastructure in Olcott if you drive it today .

I noted this mention in part 2

“The trolley line and steam locomotive lines crossed at one point in Burt, and so to keep the lines safe and avoid accidents, instead of the lines crossing directly, the trolley line had a large underpass built below the railroad line, complete with large, heavy stone walls. Burt Van Horn II also had a spur track added to the trolley line which ran to his family’s nearby cold storage buildings along Creek Road – as profiting from the track was always the main goal for his wanting the lines added locally.

Guess time to satellite view this area , although I imagine filled in I wonder if any remnants of this underpass.

DGC-24711 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 06, 2024 10:04 pm As for the siding that comes up to Old Niagara Road- looks like it was used for lower town cuts of cars while coal trains ran through.

It's not a siding, it's the tail of the switchback to get from the Somerset RR grade to the lower town area.