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  • Ontario Midland Railroad (OMID) Discussion

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1405483  by charlie6017
 
That's really neat, I enjoy seeing old pics of equipment like this before railroads hired contractors to do
work like this and cleaning up derailments and God knows whatever else. :-)

Charlie
 #1405543  by lvrr325
 
This is probably the best view of it:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2340508 ... 312!8i6656" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you move left a bit, look back eastward you can see a rusty covered hopper that almost looks like it's captive also, no sign of reporting marks.

https://goo.gl/maps/iJBxP5yz5AF2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here you can see all four of the same cars in East Williamson, the B&M/Guilford car is on the west side of the crossing. if you go aerial, at the other end of the siding is a plow, that sprayer flatcar (looks like they bought their own) and some other piece of MOW equipment.
 #1415152  by blackbearford
 
From time to time I make deliveries to Wolcott Building Supply. At this point I can't recall if it was summer 2015 or 2016.. anyhow I found myself in conversation with an employee there - he informed me that the tracks which disappeared into the weeds just north of the road there were to receive revitalizing for a new cold storage facility. Not sure if he said anything about new building construction or use of something existing. But I asked when the last train had passed there - he said probably 20 years. Can anyone say if something of that sort has taken place? I've noticed on several Ontario, Williamson and Sodus runs I fairly often spot a headlight working along those big tangent sections of the line.. seems like the line is reasonably alive. Lastly: is there any activity south of the interchange with CSX in Newark?
 #1415158  by BR&P
 
Not sure about beyond the crossing. OMID fairly recently rehabed the spur on the south (TT) side, which serves Hughes Corn and the old Wolcott Cold Storage building. Perhaps that's what they were talking about?
 #1415174  by lvrr325
 
The only track I see disappearing into the weeds going north is the old main track and it ends there, has ended there for 25 years now. There is a Heluva Good plant the other side of Lake Ave. but it's a pretty small facility.

it would cost millions to run the track back to Red Creek to the cold storage facilities there.
 #1415268  by Matt Langworthy
 
Wayne County isn't going to spend millions of dollars relaying rail from Wolcott to Red Creek. There simply isn't enough busines to justify it.
 #1415288  by BR&P
 
I'm not sure where all this talk about rebuilding to Red Creek is coming from - nobody suggested such a thing Image. Post #....well, they're not numbered, but "Blackbearford" said they were ".....to receive revitalizing for a new cold storage facility". I'm not sure what that means, but if it's a NEW facility it would not need revitalizing. On the other hand, if memory serves me there were two cold storage buildings in Wolcott. The one was on the south side, west of the crossing, and was on the same track as the grain facility. That track has indeed been upgraded recently.

The other building was east of Main Street on the north side of the tracks, and although I am not positive, I believe it was no longer a COLD storage facility and was just being used as a warehouse. So maybe that building is being "revitalized" back into cold storage? Not likely, but possible. The track to that one seems to have been removed judging by Google Maps photos, altho the main does extend past the building near where it now ends.
 #1415312  by lvrr325
 
"new cold storage facility" could mean anything. Logic dictates it's more likely an existing facility would be re-used. The only existing facilities past the end of track are in Red Creek. Not that complicated.
 #1415327  by dj_paige
 
BR&P wrote:The other building was east of Main Street on the north side of the tracks, and although I am not positive, I believe it was no longer a COLD storage facility and was just being used as a warehouse. So maybe that building is being "revitalized" back into cold storage? Not likely, but possible. The track to that one seems to have been removed judging by Google Maps photos, altho the main does extend past the building near where it now ends.
Do you mean east of the Main Street crossing? Instead of "east of Main Street"? There are industrial buildings on both the east and west sides of the main line south of Main Street, both had tracks servicing them at one time, the sidings are still there, could the "new" service be to the other building (east side or west side) that currently has no service? The tracks do continue north of Main Street as far as Orchard Street, but the rails are broken at the Orchard Street crossing and trains must stop south of Orchard Street.
 #1415339  by BR&P
 
OK, first let's address the confusion on directions. Railroad tracks don't (usually) run dead straight - they twist and turn. So railroads designate a direction between two points. "The direction from A to B is eastward". Any train moving thus is eastbound, even though the track may have made a 180 in route and the engineer is staring into the setting sun.

The general direction from Sodus to Oswego, Hannibal, Red Creek, whatever, is east. Through RWO, NYC, PC, CR and OMID, from Sodus toward Oswego has been eastbound. So for railroad purposes you have the north side and the south side. That's why in an earlier post I mentioned "OMID fairly recently rehabed the spur on the south (TT) side", "TT" meaning "timetable" as opposed to "compass". I realize not everybody has access to employee timetables or knows how a given railroad designated any given stretch of track. But when possible, thinking of it that way is far easier than saying "the siding on the south-southeast side of the track." I know that in Wolcott the track is closer to north-south in a compass sense but I was thinking in railroad terms - sorry if that caused confusion.

As for the "new" facility, the concept of re-laying track to Red Creek is so far-fetched I do not even consider it. It was posted "Logic dictates it's more likely an existing facility would be re-used." but not necessarily so. Those old cold storage buildings are built like fortresses. The piping for refrigerant was incredible, routed all over the place and through concrete walls etc. I was once talking to a manager at such a plant and we were discussing a similar building in the next town. That place had been converted to dry storage, and now they needed more cold storage capacity. I asked about that building and he said the pipes had been partially removed and it would be incredibly complex and expensive to restore the plant to its original purpose. But "revitalization" would suggest an existing facility.

Now - as for Woclott - the following is " *I THINK* ", not certain. The last I knew, the Wolcott Cold Storage building on the timetable south side of the main, served by a spur, was still capable of cold storage. That may well have changed as it's a long time since I was there. The other building, which is timetable east of Main street on the timetable north side of the main, may or may not have been still viable as a cold storage. The only thing delivered there in my time was carloads of empty metal cans to Cahoon Farms, to be used for shipping prepared apples. I can't even swear that building was ever a cold storage facility but memory says it was.

But ALL of the above aside - what started all this discussion was some guy working in a hardware store told a truck driver something he had heard. I'm not saying the poster on this forum was wrong, but we're WAY afield from anything factual about any such customer, new OR reconditioned. OMID's first president, David Beers, used to have a saying: "Don't count the cars until they are on the interchange track". So until someone can tell us of cars actually moving over the line, I think we are Image
 #1415449  by blackbearford
 
Dead horse or not.. I appreciate all the input and enthusiasm. If we don't ask the questions, all you've got is what the guy at the store said and what you saw at the dead end of the line. Not trying to spread rumors. Does anything cross the bridge over CSX (Newark) anymore? Customers or switching moves? I assume any needed switching could be accomplished elsewhere on the line. Last time I witnessed traffic over it was a fall foliage excursion many years ago. I rode on one prior to that; Sodus to Newark and return with a Delaware & Hudson paint scheme on the lead engine. Must have been around 95' I remember the signal tower for the interchange with Conrail still there.
 #1415470  by BR&P
 
That was probably '93 or '94, and the loco was an Alco FPA4, 6777, owned by the late George Hockaday. Does this look familiar?
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 #1475411  by blackbearford
 
OMID parked a bunch of center beam flat cars between Salt and Phillips roads yesterday I believe. Saw the headlight and the cars weren’t there last week when I dropped roofing at Xerox... Looks like two sections of the cars approximately 25 total. Tried to count them through the trees at highway speed.
 #1475457  by umtrr-author
 
Someone posted a video of the movement on the Facebook group (yeah, I know) "Rochester Area Railroads and Railfans."

I know there had been centerbeams stored near the other end of the line-- surprised that these would be parked somewhere more, ahem, accessible.
 #1521447  by BR&P
 
OK, welcome back after a year and a half! Talk about a dormant thread! :wink:

Forumite C-2629 has noted in another thread that today marks the 40th anniversary of OMID's start-up. In that spirit, then, here are 3 pics from the way-back machine.

Last Conrail train heading east through Sodus. OMID power is in the siding. The Conrail engineer, not noted for being a cheerful easy-going guy anyway, returned a friendly wave with one of his own, but using only one finger! :P
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A nice thing about shortline railroading is the opportunity to stop and spot the train for photo opportunities - at least before prohibitions against cameras, cell phones, and about anything else! :( Exact milepost here is unknown, but train is eastbound somewhere between Red Creek and Hannibal, on now-abandoned track.
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OMID did not own these cars, they were owned by McHugh Brothers of NH&I fame. But 5 plain boxcars were painted with OMID marks and assigned for outbound loading, often involving pallets being returned to west coast shippers. Here the first car is placed at Motts at Williamson, as OMID's Vice President, Motts' traffic manager, and OMID's Business Manager celebrate the occasion. Date uncertain but probably early 1980.
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