LV Service at Weedsport, NY (1950)

Hey, I think I might have found where Bridge L361A was!

Thanks to TB Diamond's MP info, I took a look at the USGS Weedsport quadrangle from 1954 and found the Auburn Branch crossed a little something called High Bridge Road a couple miles south of West Shore Jct. It couldn't be that easy, could it? I was able to look at the location on Google Maps Street View, and...check it out:

https://www.google.com/maps/...656?hl=en

The piers certainly look similar to the ones in Herb Trice's photo!

I think you got it! Those do look like the ones in the photo.

gentlemen, amazing work on locating 361A. hope to get up there this fall and get a closer look. Thanks for the great research!
Mike

lehigh310 wrote:Hey, I think I might have found where Bridge L361A was!

Thanks to TB Diamond's MP info, I took a look at the USGS Weedsport quadrangle from 1954 and found the Auburn Branch crossed a little something called High Bridge Road a couple miles south of West Shore Jct. It couldn't be that easy, could it? I was able to look at the location on Google Maps Street View, and...check it out:

https://www.google.com/maps/...656?hl=en

The piers certainly look similar to the ones in Herb Trice's photo!

And now that I look at the Herb Trice photo again, there seems to be a road running parallel to the bridge, but that's not the case for these bridge abutments, the road runs underneath (perpendicular) to the bridge in the Google Maps Street View photo, and there is no such road running parallel to the bridge at this location.

Sayre shows as 271.0 in my 1959 timetable, Auburn Branch starts at 0 but shows Auburn as 85.3 (presumably where the station was) and the Throop secondary starting at 88.0. 271 + 88 is 359. That would seem to put bridge L361A just two miles north of Auburn, presuming the same rules of being numbered for the mile it falls into apply, and presuming the 361 comes from including the mainline up to Sayre as part of the railroad.

But there's no roads paralleling the tracks anywhere in this stretch, not close by.

Info given in my previous post was distance from New York.

Auburn shows as MP 356.3.

The bridge near MP 361 would therefore be approximately 4.7 miles west (ETT direction but basically compass north) of Auburn and approximately 1.2 miles west (compass north) of Throop (MP 359.8).

That's not really far from the Highbridge Road location as suggested by lehigh310. Except that the photo shows a road roughly parallel to the bridge ...

I'm not seeing a road parallel to the bridge in the photo. If you're talking about that dark strip on the opposite side of the bridge from the photographer, I think that's the bridge's shadow, not a road.

Yes, I'm talking about the dark strip opposite the bridge. If it was the shadow of the bridge, we would also see the shadow of the bridge supports, and these do not appear.

Well...that's a good point, there aren't shadows from the supports...so back to square one? This is a puzzler...

Yes, it is a puzzler. All of the evidence seems to match with the location being on Highbridge Road in Throop, NY, except that black stripe. Maybe someone can convince me that it is the bridge's shadow.

I'm totally convinced the black strip is the shadow of the bridge. There is a tree under the center span, just to the left of the farther pier, which covers the shadow on the ground. Chop that tree down and there's your shadow. Plus note just to the right of the closer pier the black area appear to be about 30% wider - toward the photographer. No sign of an edge of pavement. As an added argument for that case, consider the shading of everything in the pic, and see how black that strip is by comparison. Way too dark to be a highway.

I'm using Google Chrome and there is a magnifier you can access on the tool bar at the bottom. I've got it blown up to 300% and just can't figure how it could be anything else.

BR&P wrote:Way too dark to be a highway

Yes, I can't argue with this point.

As I continue to examine the photo, there are shadows of the railroad ties on the metalwork of the bridge, indicating where exactly the sun was when the photo was taken. The sun would be not completely overhead, on the right side of the photo, meaning the black strip in the photo would be approximately where the shadow of the bridge should be.

So I am now convinced this is indeed the bridge over Highbridge Road in Throop, NY.

Gentlemen; yes, i agree with your findings. upon examining the original under magnification, it is indeed a shadow. there are trees showing through the shadow as well.
i hope to get there the first week of October after i visit the Trice exhibit in Auburn. perhaps more photos are in order.
thanks for the wonderful research.
Mike

I was in the area a few weeks ago and took some photos of these bridge supports — these aren't very good photos of bridge supports, they're actually very good photos of the foliage surrounding the bridge supports. So going back to photograph them in a few weeks is definitely a good idea.

However, for what it's worth, here are the photos
South Bridge Support
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15947776@N06/28486527623/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15947776@N06/28483562164/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15947776@N06/28999912502/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Bridge Support
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15947776@N06/28486520573/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very small creek alongside south bridge support, containing some railroad-related discarded items
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15947776@N06/28486524133/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;